James 4

Who's sitting beside you? I want to ask that again who's sitting beside you, you know Another question I want to ask to get us started is this I want you to be honest Okay, we're in we're all in church so we can all be honest. All right. Are you a backseat driver? Raise your hand if you are a backseat driver, come on, let's be honest All right, let's give it up for all the backseat drivers. Come on Yes, yes, I see some pointing at others that's in denial but but but but anyway You know Whether you are or not, I I thought it's interesting. Do you guys realize now they sell cars that self-drive? Yeah, have you heard of that? If you guys you guys really matter of fact, my brother He just bought one and yeah, he did and he was telling me Steve was telling me He said, you know, I can just get in the car top in the destination I can just sit back and chill and it takes me there It drives it to the parking lot and parks the car. I said you're kidding me. He said no It actually drives better than I do Tina said yes, amen He went on to tell me insurance is cheaper. I said I can see why Steve in your case I Whether a backseat driver you you got a car that self-drives you or you you do it old-school and you you just do it yourself I want to talk today about who's sitting beside you and I'd like for you to look at James chapter 4 we're gonna go through the entire chapter verse by verse and And and hopefully we can learn more from what James was sharing. It starts with this James says we're two wars and fights come from among you Dude, do they not come from the from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and you do not have you murder and covet and cannot obtain you fight and war You do not have because you do not ask You ask and do not receive because you ask a miss that you may spend it on your pleasures So in chapter 4 James begins With with talking about wars and fights now, he's asking he said, where do these come from? We're doing wars about now once you understand something. He's not referring to a physical fight. He's not referring to a war

He's he's actually talking about an internal battle that Christians deal with and he's talking again to the Christians now inside a believer We know there's a constant battle going on and it's between the Holy Spirit and the flesh There's always this battle inside that you and I deal with Paul even says in Galatians 5 17 He says the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit Against the flesh this battle this war it's going on in inside of us. So today I want to give you an analogy As I was putting this this message together a thought came to my mind It's like this is very similar to just going through life like like driving an automobile automobile And so today first of all, I want to ask you a question How many of you know what type of car this seat came out of? Anybody will guess you what? Chevrolet somebody said anybody think it's Chevrolet raise your hand. Come on. We got we got a lot of hands raised We got a lot of hands raised. Okay, all of you guys were wrong Oh, oh somebody said see you were faked off by the Chevy emblem on the on on the steering wheel, weren't you? This is actually a seat out of a 1963 Ford Galaxy Yeah 1963 forgot same year that I was born Rick Atkins father goes to the Ford dealership and buys this car brand new It's beautiful. It's red. It is gorgeous These are the this is the original upholstery in the car from 1963. It's incredible in it Well as I was thinking about life and in a comparison to an automobile, I called Rick this week I said Rick, I know you're restoring your father's car that that 1963 Galaxy He's going all the way through it and I said by chance would you happen to have the front seat out of it? He's like, yeah, can you bring it to church on Sunday morning? I need it for for an example. He said sure so I got the seat and now it's like well I need a steering wheel So I go out into my garage and I pull this off the the shelf. It's on the top shelf It's been sitting up there for a while. Anybody want to guess what this came out of? Bell air come on somebody nailed it. It is a bell air. What year? 57 56 Steve knows 1956 bel-air the car

Actually is in my garage We've had it. We've had it for years and years and years and and so they just don't make cars the way they used to I mean this car has pretty much zero plastic other than the interior. I mean steel bumpers They you know, it took a with a steering wheel this big to got to steer him though Because it's all you can do to guide us those big tanks, but here's what I wanted to share with you This is what came to my mind This is this is what I envision life being like You know, all of us were born into sin every single human being we bought we were born with the sin nature That was passed down from Adam and we know that and so when I started thinking about my life I was thinking about I've always loved automobiles. I've always loved cars. My name is named after a car Pacer Some of you don't even know that but but but anyway, it was a terrible car But But just so you know, that's so a car guy And so when when I was uh, I was thinking about this. I was thinking about life and And in in life, we're all born with this sin sin problem and we start journey We start we start going through life as young kids and we don't know the Lord and and the Holy Spirit's not in the car Our passenger side the the person sitting beside of us I'm gonna I'm gonna call him the flesh anybody know the flesh Anybody familiar with the flesh most of us are so the flesh Was sitting here beside me now being a car guy. I just could not wait until I got my driver's license I mean, I honestly I can remember I really can remember praying I didn't pray about a lot when I was young, but I did pray about this I said Lord don't let the rapture take place before I get my driver's license. I Did because I could not wait to have my own car and to be able to drive down the road it was just what I was looking forward to so eventually I get it and Then life began and I'm and really I would compare it to like a joyride. I Mean life is it's it's everything's cool. It's joyful It's fun and and I'm getting my direction from the flesh But here's the problem The the flesh would give me direction and I'd make turns and I'd go this way and I'd go that way But it it never ended. Well, can anybody relate?

It's like it never ended. Joyfully. It's a matter of fact it always Ended on a dead-end road Left with questions and Not happy and all these things. I'm looking for instant gratification. I'm looking for joy and It's not there. It starts out there. It's it's it's it's awesome to start out with I met Connie at 15 years old and by the way back in the day You didn't have to be 16 to get a driver's license You could drive at 15 if you had someone in the car who had a driver's license Connie was 16 She had her driver's license. I was legal at 15 driving down the road first date Man, we're we're awesome. My grandmother rode beside me to her driveway She got out of the car got in the car with my mother and I pulled in her driveway like I'm big stuff What I didn't know until later years later is Connie said I saw the whole transaction take place I was looking out the window. I saw your grandmother get out of the car. I had no clue I didn't stop for enough far enough back, but so here we go. We're going through life We're dating and We're living in the flesh. We get married and we're still living in the flesh and Dead end after dead end after dead end Marriage wasn't going well Struggling finances you name it and there was a struggle and the reason The person sitting beside me was giving me bad instructions. It was the flesh But what happened around 20 years old 22 years old? I mean, I we're raising the Bible belt, right? Everybody knows of Jesus. Everybody knows of God Everybody knows the church Everybody's been told that in the Bible belt so About in my 20s my early 20s. I started feeling conviction Like this is just not really what I want for life

Marriage finances none of that is really working out and I started feeling the Holy Spirit touching and drawing me To the point where I realized I need to be saved I've never been born again. I need I need to accept Christ and That happened I remember falling on my knees and asking the Lord to save me and to forgive me he'll do that for anyone. It doesn't matter how bad you've been, how good you've been, what family you were born into or not born into, it doesn't matter. He said whosoever will and so I invited him in and here's what happened. This is this is the way I would explain it. The flesh which had been riding in the passenger side seat for for over 20 years, now he had to vacate that place, that position and he was now put in the back seat. Are you guys with me? And the Holy Spirit moves in the front seat. He not only saved me but he came into my life and he starts giving me different direction. He starts showing me things that that I didn't realize and giving me a plan for a future and a hope and for good things in our marriage and things start changing. I mean honestly he started taking us down roads through life that that turned out so much better than I could ever imagine. They were hard at times. There were times it's like God are you sure? Yes. He would take us down and this is the way James started the book. Count it all joy when you go down that road that that leads to trials because I'm working in your life. You see before I was going down the happy road that wasn't so happy in the end but now I'm going down a road that's really going to bring fulfillment and purpose and intentionality and it's awesome. So Holy Spirit's with me and it's going great and and and and the flesh is in the back seat and man we're moving on now. We're saved. I'm telling everybody I go to the people I work with and I'm sharing Jesus with them. I'm fired up. Anybody remember when you got saved you were fired up you wanted everybody to know right? And now let's go into verse 4 because James is leading us straight into this this chapter and here's what he said. Verse 4 through 6 he makes a shift and he says adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world if you want to invite the world into your your

passenger side seat he said that makes himself an enemy of God or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in you listen to this yearns jealousy but he gives more grace therefore he says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Now you may wonder why does he start talking about adulterers and adulteresses? Well let let me share something about James 4. In the original Greek language James only used one Greek word there for for where the King James Version translated two words adulteresses and adulterers and that word that James used is moihelis. Moihelis listen to me the definition is an adulteress not the male version it's a feminine noun but King James when they translated he obviously saying you know probably in his mind like this needs to apply to everyone the male and the female so they added it in here but really James was very intentional about the word that he placed in there the reason was the reason he used adulterous adulteresses is because you and I are the bride of Christ are you guys with me he's speaking to all of us males females he's talking to all of us because since we're the bride of Christ he's saying you guys are spiritually committing adultery so I want you to understand something remember we're saved we're driving down our new road we're going to church we're paying our tithes you know and and Holy Spirit's giving direction the backseat the flesh is still talking there's a couple things I want you to pick up and don't leave today without hearing this number one you are always driving the car I want you to I want you to hear that I believe that firmly I know there's some theologians would would maybe look at that differently but I believe in free choice that if for some reason I decide that I will listen to the voice in the backseat and take a left I have the power to do that because he left me in charge to drive the car okay second thing I want you to hear this is very important the flesh never leaves the automobile Throughout your life as long as you live as long as you have a pulse The flesh is going to be in your car He's going to be around. He shouldn't be in the front seat

But he's going to be in the car and And and and we all need to hear that. So why did Paul why did he say this the wars? Why did he say, you know, you commit adultery? Here's the reason he said it is Because what happens so many times in a Christian's life is we're doing great We're serving God and we're living for Jesus and the Holy Spirit's given us direction But the voice of the flesh continues to talk We eventually begin to listen to him and they swap seats We cheat on God We cheat on God and We bring the flesh right back to the front seat See God talked a lot about adultery in the Old Testament because Israel so many times would turn from God Go back to false gods. Go back to you know, and he would call it adultery and It's true. It's spiritual adultery and to be honest with you guys Probably in this room every single one of us have committed spiritual adultery at one time in our life Because the flesh is always in the car And whenever we give him an ear we start lick listen to him His next response is listen to me is to get back in that front seat When he's back in the front seat, that's when the spiritual adultery is taking place, but also listen to me as well That's where that's where James says that God is jealous God the Holy Spirit is not okay in the backseat Did you hear me? He will not ride in the back seat without allowing his voice to be heard As a matter of fact, he will start a divine rescue mission He'll come after you with everything. He's God because he is not good being back there He saved you he delivered you he set you free. He's your Savior. You're his son You're his daughter and he's not okay with you taking directions back from the flesh So here he's on this mission to get back

He's ready to get back in his rightful place It's it's it's it's God. That's how much he loves you. I Want you to I want you today to realize something That every single one of us have to deal with the flesh See it's easy for me to set up here in this 63 Ford Galaxy And tell you how to do it It's easy for me to stand up here week in week out and preach that's not hard. I Mean they AI can do it now I'm gonna tell you what's hard What's hard is when I get up tomorrow morning and the in the the voice of the flesh is in my ear What's hard is telling him to shut up and get back there you don't have a right in my life That's not that's not easy and let's be real. We all have to deal with it That's what that's what James is saying. He's very clear on it. We see it throughout the Word of God So realizing that the flesh is always in the car There's some things that he lays out here that that that will help us There's some things that he shares with us and he basically tells us here's what you do To keep the flesh out of this seat listen, it comes in verse 7 through 10 therefore submit to God Resist the devil and he'll flee from you Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners. Remember he's talking to Christians and Purify your hearts you double-minded You double-minded lament and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom Humber yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up I want you to look at a word right here real quick back in the Greek The word is is translated submit. This word is hoop a taso Hoop a taso is a Greek military word meaning to come under the command of a leader Willingly coming under their submission and following them. This is what James is saying you see I've talked to a lot of people that talk about resisting resisting the devil resist the devil. I rebuke you devil I resist you devil, but we forget the first part the first

Part of that is submit yourself to God. Are you guys with me? Come under his submission. Submit yourself to the Word of God. Submit yourself to the teachings of God. If you submit yourself to God, that becomes a game changer. Now, need to listen to this if you're taking notes or mental notes, listen to this. You cannot resist the devil in your own power. Can I hear an amen if you believe that? I'm going to say it again. You cannot. Don't think you're a match. Don't think you can do it. You cannot resist the devil in your own power, but I want you to listen to me. The devil is absolutely terrified of a believer who is submitted to God and who is living out under God's authority. The devil is terrified of you because you came under submission of God. And he understands if I mess with God's girl or God's son, I'm messing with God. So James goes on and he said this, he said, Satan, the enemy, will flee from you. You want to know how to keep him out of this seat? Submit to God. Come under God's authority, under his Word, under those things right there. So this is important. Verse 11, now he continues on right here and he says, do not speak evil of one another. Brethren, he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but you're a judge. There's only one law giver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? So right here we see James go right back to the tongue.

He goes right back to the Word and he's talking about the impact of our words. And so I want you to notice something. Here in the Greek, when he says that we are not, he says, do not speak evil of a brethren. This is the loudest language of the Greek vocabulary. And here's what, here's the way I would translate it. If you're doing that, stop it and stop it now. Did you hear me? If you are talking bad about brothers and sisters of the faith, that's your brothers and sisters, James is saying you stop it and you stop it now because it's bringing destruction. When you do that, let me ask you a question. I get up tomorrow morning, I get some information that something negative or bad about one of our church members. And I look over at Connie and I say, can you believe they've done this again? Can you believe that this and believe that and they're, man, they're just no good. Let me ask you a question. Where did that information come from? Huh? From the flesh. And if I allow that to happen, what's happening? The flesh is changing seats with the Holy Spirit. And now I'm getting my information from the flesh. And this is what he's saying. He's saying, stop it. Because as Pastor David talked about last week, he talked about all the churches that have been divided and all of his friends that he had talked with over the years and most of them said, I don't even know how it started. Probably just with some words. Well, I don't like Pastor Pacer's seat on the stage. The fact that he would cross contaminate a Chevrolet and a Ford. I don't like that he wears blue jeans and tennis shoes.

Well, I don't, well, I don't care. I'm not saying that to be arrogant. I'm saying I care what Holy Spirit says to me. Do you understand? Because that's where we take our directions from. So if we're talking bad about people, let's stop it. Let's just be reminded today, let this vision of this seat come into your mind and say, you know what? I'm not going to do that anymore. So look on at verse 13 through 16 and he goes on and he said, come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such city and spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? Is it even a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away? Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or do that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Now I want you to notice something. James is not saying that you shouldn't plan. He's not saying that. saying that we shouldn't plan. Here's what he's saying, that we should take our instructions not from ourself or we're being arrogant. I'm gonna do this. I'm starting a new company. I'm starting a new business. I'm starting, I'm doing this and I'm gonna buy that. He's saying, listen, that's not the correct way of doing it. Here's the correct way, if the Lord wills. I want to listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say in this. See, the Holy Spirit will give you plans to prosper you, not to harm you. If you'll listen to him, you'll go somewhere. If you listen to yourself, it's not gonna turn out well. I'm telling you that from example, okay, because I've listened to the flesh. So if we listen to

the Lord, we're gonna go somewhere. Last verse and James ends chapter 4 with this. And by the way, next week we'll be wrapping it up. I'm gonna be teaching from chapter 5 and I would encourage you to study and read and I had one, I had Rick Adkins, he said, you know, you asked me to bring this seat in and I had no clue how you're gonna work a seat into chapter 4 of James. I said, well, this is just what I seen, Rick. We're gonna work it in here. But last verse today is, therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, what is it? It's missing the mark. If I know to do good and I do not do it, and this is the way James finishes up chapter 4 by repeating the concept of being doers of the word and not just hearers alone. So when I hear the word, whether it's preached, taught in groups, discipleship, my personal study, it's very important in our life that we rightly divide, that we look at the context of what it's saying, and we look for an opportunity for application. How is that applied to my life? If we do that, we're being obedient. And this is what, this is what James is telling these early Christians. They've fallen into some of these traps. So in closing, I want to leave you with this question. Who's in your car? Who's in your life? I told you earlier that the flesh has lost his seat, but he's trying to get back. And here's what my goal is. Here's what I felt like the Holy Spirit spoke to me, Terry, is that you not only need to get the flesh out of the front seat into the rear, you need to put the flesh in the trunk of the car. Put him in the trunk. Put him in the trunk. Say, put him in the trunk. We need a t-shirt that says, put him in the trunk. Put the flesh in the trunk. Because here, hey, he's always gonna be in the car. How the car? Well, you can't, because we're still in the flesh. We're still living. But you can, I had a lady come to me after the second service. She said, I don't have a trunk. I got an SUV. I said, do you have a rack on top? What was that movie where they put their mama, grandmother, whoever on the top of it? Mr. Mom or whatever. Anyway, put it, just listen. When he's in the trunk, he's still talking. The flesh never stops talking. But now, his voice is muffled. I can't hear you. Are you with me? Oh, he'll never

stop talking. But I can't, I can't hear what he's saying, because I've got him in the trunk. I submitted to God. I've cleansed my hands. I'm doing these things. And, and he'll beat on that trunk wanting back out. And if we give him just a half a chance, he'll be back out. Where's the flesh wanting to sit? Where at? It wants to sit right beside you. Whose seat is this? Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit lives inside of us. And that's where he needs to stay. Let's not put him on the back burner. Who's in your car? I said earlier that we were all born with this human sin nature. But God had a plan. And God's plan was that he would send his only son named Jesus. I am so grateful for Jesus. Because when I had no clue where to go next, he knew exactly what I needed. And he was going to give my wife and I a family. We were going to have sons. We were going to have grandchildren. We were, God was going to do some amazing. God was going to call me to pastor a church one day. At an amazing church like you guys. Guys, you that know me well, I'm the least qualified, the least likely. God had a plan, and He just said, if you'll put me in the right position, put me in the right position, I'll do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think according to the power that works in you. And this is what the Lord wants to do for all of us. He wants to do it for all of us. Jesus came. He was born of a Virgin Mary. He did good work. She went around, and He changed the world. He took 12 guys and poured into them and made disciples and trained them and prepared them, and then sent them out all over the world. And He's had a greater impact than any one person, any hundred people ever, to walk the face of this earth. But Jesus, we know, died, gave up His life, was crucified on a Roman cross, said it's finished. His body was taken down, laid in a tomb, sealed up.

You guys know on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead, and He revealed Himself to James. I'm going to tell you, you know why James was so convinced of what he's saying? He didn't start this chapter, this book out with James, the brother of Jesus. You know how he started it? James, the bond servant. The bond servant willingly went to the master and said, I'm yours for the rest of my life to serve you and serve in this house. And they would pierce his ear. They would take the awl and pierce his ear on the doorpost, and that told everyone that knew that bond servant that he intentionally, willingly submitted to his master. And I want you to understand something. That's what you and I, that's what you and I are called to do. Lord, I'm going to serve you until I die. With all my heart, I want to share Jesus with everyone I can and all of you. This is a beautiful setting. When you can gather with the body of Christ, we don't have to worry about machine guns coming through the door, we're not underground, we can just worship. This is beautiful. We're blessed to live where we live. We praise the Lord. Thank God that we're just where we're at, and we can see people come to the Lord. Let's stand. I'm going to ask the prayer team, if you guys would come to the front. Worship team is getting ready to do one last song, and I'd like to just ask you to really be conscious and reverent at this moment, because many times during this moment, people make decisions that are eternal. Give their life to Christ, and that's my prayer. If you don't know this Jesus I'm talking about, you're loved. If you're tired of driving, maneuvering, navigating your own life, give Jesus an opportunity today.

If you've allowed the flesh to creep in, let's just put Him back where He belongs. Right now we're going to take some time for prayer. Anything that you need. You need encouraged, you need healing in your body, you want to make a decision, invite Christ into your life, anything that you would like, I would invite you to come. We would love to pray for you. Amen? Anybody love Jesus in this house today? Come on. Woo! On a hill in Israel, mercy spoke for me, mercy spoke for me, oh mercy spoke for me. It was on Golgotha Street, His death brought liberty, His death brought liberty, oh His death brought liberty. May I never... Most in anything, except the cross of Jesus Christ. May I not forget the blood he shed, it is by his death I am alive. Because of Christ I am alive. What a humble sacrifice, love that washed me clean. Love that washed me clean. Oh, love that washed me clean. What a blessed mystery, oh, his punishment my peace. His punishment my peace. His punishment my peace. May I never boast in anything, except the cross of Jesus Christ. May I not forget the blood he shed, it is by his death I am alive. May I never boast in anything, except the cross of Jesus Christ. May I not forget the blood he shed, it is by his death I am alive. Because of Christ I am alive. Come on church, I just want you to praise this morning. I just want you to lift your hands and lift up your voices and sing out hallelujah with me.

Sing it with me, sing hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus rose in victory. He's another life in me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus rose in victory. He's another life in me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus rose in victory. He's another life in me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus rose in victory. He's another life in me. May I never boast in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ. May I not forget the blood he shed. It is by his death I am alive. Because of Christ I am alive. Because of Christ I am alive.

I am alive because of Christ, I am alive Hallelujah, hallelujah, Lord we just give you praise this morning, Father God. We thank you for everything, Father, we thank you for your sacrifice, your love, your power and your strength, Lord, we are so grateful for all of it, Lord I thank you for this word this morning, Father God, and I just pray that we can use it and apply it to our lives and step out into the world and to continue to bring more people to your kingdom, Father. Thank you, Jesus, and I just pray that we all can continue to have an amazing Sunday and an amazing week, and in Jesus' mighty name I pray, amen. God bless you all, have a fantastic Sunday. Amen.