The Enemy of God

MARCH 29, 2020 STUDY NOTES JAMES 4:4 BIBLE TEACHER: CLIFTON JONES THE ENEMY OF GOD INTRODUCTION We know that Satan is the enemy of God. We know that the demonic forces are the enemies of God. But James identifies others who turn out to be an enemy of God His identification of who they are and his description of them may shock you The church of today must learn who they are SPIRITUAL ADULTERY (JAMES 4:4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, James is speaking to both men and women and he is still speaking to Christians We discovered in the previous verses that James is often using figurative language He wants our attention he is driving his points deep into our souls When he says, “You adulterous people, he is not referring to “adultery” in a literal sense He speaks of “spiritual adultery” which is often found in Scripture Spiritual adultery speaks of the unfaithfulness of God’s people James just covered an area of spiritual unfaithfulness in the previous verses James was writing to people who knew the relationship between God and Israel His Jewish readers were familiar with the OT scriptures In the OT Israel is presented in a marriage relationship to God (Jeremiah 3:14) “Backsliding” means that they were unfaithful, turning away from God, turning to idols “Married” figuratively spoke of their covenant relationship with God Israel was often unfaithful to God, but God remained faithful to Israel “Adultery” was a common OT figure of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God (Jeremiah 3:6) The Lord spoke of Israel’s improper relationships and their idolatry as spiritual adultery Israel was guilty of “Spiritual Adultery” when they departed from God’s Law Listen to what Jesus called the Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law in Matthew 12:39 “Adulterous” refers to those who were neglecting their duties toward God and turning to worldliness They were identified as “adulterous” because they were an evil and sinful generation James says, worldly minded Christians are “adulteresses,” meaning that they are unfaithful to God In the NT, Jesus Christ is presented as the “Heavenly Bridegroom” The Church is presented as the “Bride of Christ,” the picture is that of an eternal relationship The spiritual relationship between Christ and the Church is compared to a marriage Spiritual adultery refers to the one who is married to Christ but is in love with the world There should be no illicit love affairs going on in our relationship with Christ By the grace of God even though we might be unfaithful Christians God will not divorce us Scripture presents to us a wonderful truth when using marriage to identify with our salvation The picture of marriage unto Christ presents our present and future relationship with God But the modern marriage procedure does not reveal to us what the Bible is telling us We must have an-understanding of the customs and procedure of the oriental marriage There are three main stages to an oriental marriage: Betrothal, Presentation, and Celebration The betrothal was a marriage agreement between the parents of a son and the parents of a daughter The groom or the groom’s father would pay a dowry to the father of the bride The betrothal agreement was a legal contract agreed upon in the presence of witnesses From the time of the contract the couple would be known as husband and wife They were to remain faithful to one another throughout the betrothal period There was to be no sexual relations until after the final stage of the marriage The symbolism of the betrothal stage presents our present relationship with Christ The present church age is the betrothal stage Paul described the Church as a pure virgin espoused to Christ in 2 Corinthians 11:2 God has entered into a heavenly and eternal agreement with the True Church Jesus came in the flesh to be the bridegroom and He paid the dowry (Ephesians 5:25) The Church has a written and legal contract that is good for eternity There can be unfaithfulness on our part but there will be no divorce The Christian must now be faithful and true unto Christ, we must be faithful until He returns The Presentation stage identifies with the return of Christ The Bridegroom would go to the house of the Bride to claim her for himself The marriage contract would then be fulfilled between the parents The marriage of the couple would then be consummated He would take his bride back to his father’s house (are you getting the picture?) One day the “Heavenly Bridegroom” is going to leave the Father’s house to receive His bride. He is going to call forth the bride from her present home (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) Jesus is going to come from heaven to receive the church and take us to the Father’s House (John 14:2-3) Christ will present the bride unto himself (Ephesians 5:27) Christ has every right to do that: He gave himself for the bride, He loved the bride, sanctified, and cleansed the bride He prepared a place for the bride; He prepared the bride for the place He will come for the bride, receive the bride, and present the bride The presentation stage symbolizes the rapture of the church and what follows in heaven The Celebration stage was a marriage feast that followed the wedding ceremony It was similar, to the wedding reception of today, but much more festivity was involved Many guests would be invited and there would be a lengthy celebration It would last from one day to a week or even longer The length of the feast would be determined by the wealth of the bridegroom’s father Are you getting the picture? Consider the wealth of our “Bridegrooms Father” The beginning of the future celebration stage will be for 1,000 years and then extend into eternity The time of the celebration will come (Revelation 19:7) “The Lamb” is Jesus Christ, “His wife” is those who are saved of the OT and NT age The groom is the center of attraction, “give honor to Him,” the wife has “made herself ready” “Ready” refers to the righteousness of the saints Which was only possible by the grace of God (Revelation 19:8) By the grace of God, the bride is arrayed in a wedding garment ready to bring honor to the Groom By the Grace of God, the Church must remain faithful to Christ until He returns James explains that “friendship with the world” is spiritual adultery know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? How do you think a husband reacts when he finds his wife is being unfaithful? How do you think a wife reacts when she finds her husband has been unfaithful? How do you think God reacts when a believer is having an illicit love affair? James calls that illicit love affair, “friendship with the world” “Friendship” has the meaning of “an intense and deep affection,” meaning “to fall in love” Worldly “friendship” is easy to identify, you love other books more than you love the Bible You love worldly pleasures more than you love to pray When there is something on Sunday that is more important than church Christian living is when “worldly ways” no longer come “out of” our daily life Friendship of the world is “worldly ways” coming “into the life” of the Christian Worldly ways have become so common that many church goers don’t even see them James says, “Don’t you know?” Have you lost your spiritual insight? Paul said (1 Thessalonians 5:21) God’s Word reveals that which is true, that which is false, that which is good and evil Through Bible study and the leadership of the Holy Spirit we will make right decisions You don’t have to participate in sin to know that it is sin You don’t have to take the lid off-of a garbage can to know what is inside When the label on a bottle says “Poison,” you don’t drink it to see if it is deadly The Bible gives us the warning labels, danger, don’t participate, don’t even touch (1 Thessalonians 5:22) Paul said, if it even has the appearance of evil, leave it alone, avoid it completely We cannot fully understand what James is saying without understanding the “world” The “world” is the system opposed to God, with its ways, principles, and aims The whole system of humanity that man has organized without God and apart from God The “world” is the system directed by Satan (John 12:31) Satan is the ruler of this world for the time being (John 16:11) Christ defeated Satan when He died on the cross and arose from the grave Satan is still allowed to do his work as the deceiver (1 Peter 5 :8) His ultimate defeat will come when Jesus returns (Revelation 20:10) Through the cross and resurrection of Christ, Christians are delivered from the realm of Satan’s dominion Before we were saved, we were under the power of the old nature of sin Now that we are saved, we have the power to defeat Satan and sin (Romans 6:6) As Christians we don’t need a friendship with the world, Paul gives us an example in 2 Timothy 4:10) Christians have a choice you can love this present world or have love for the return of Christ (2 Tim. 4:8) To flirt with sin and love worldly pleasure is “friendship with the world” And when that happens, we have made ourselves “an enemy of God” enmity with God? As a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God When you take your stand with the world you are standing against God When you make the world your friend, you make yourself an enemy of God The fact that you have conformed to the world declares you as an enemy of God You have no one to blame but yourself James is not referring to God’s attitude toward us, God still loves us He is referring to our attitude toward God Affection toward the world is hostility toward God “Enmity” is the opposite of love it is when you are standing on the side of the enemy whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James wants to be sure that we understand his point There is no real life or peace found in being a “friend of the world” The word “friend” has the meaning of a companion, one that you want to spend time with You want to spend time with them because you have fallen in love with them CORONAVIRUS How we spend our time has been changed due to the coronavirus I have some thoughts or questions concerning the present conditions that Christians are facing today Because of the Coronavirus pandemic we are not joining-together in a Sunday worship service We do not know how long this restriction will last The question is, how long is faithfulness to Christ going to last? Christians are not getting the encouragement and spiritual strength from a worship service together Satan’s temptation to commit spiritual adultery will be great, will we see an adulterous generation? Will we see Christians neglecting their duties toward God and turning to worldliness? Satan will present our free time as an opportunity to be a “friend with the world” Do not allow Satan to steal your spiritual insight, stand strong as a Christian Don’t spend all-of your free time with Satan and the world, turn off the TV, lay aside the cell phone What an opportunity we have-to spend time with God in Bible study and prayer We need “Heavenly Wisdom” that comes from God’s Word, we need prayer today You need prayer, our world needs prayer, America needs prayer, your community needs prayer Your family needs prayer, your church family needs prayer, your neighbors need prayer Paul’s words have never been more important to us, 1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing. What a time it is to learn about, look for, and love the return of Jesus, Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Take a good look at your love for Christ during the current circumstances Listen to James, where is your friendship today? Is Satan your friend today? Is sin your friend today? Is a sinful world your friend today? Listen to James, if so, you are an enemy of God It is time to love God and one another, communicate with God through Bible study and prayer Use our present circumstances as an opportunity to communicate with family and friends Get on the phone and talk to one another, don’t spend all-of your time talking about the negatives Cheer one another up, laugh together, share the joy of Jesus that coronavirus cannot take away Get your joy from the Word of God and then get on the phone and spread that joy Listen to John, 1Jn 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. You now have time to talk to people you haven’t talked to in a long time, do it today Share what Paul prayed with others, Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.