A Better Way
Notes
Transcript
David & Jonathan - building a model ship they got for Christmas
Almost done, but there was this small part on the back of the ship that was going together
David was pushing and pushing, I walked into the room and saw what he was doing - Be careful - you’ll break the ship
This is where the brethren were in James:
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
They were fighting and warring against each
Back to the ship
If it’s not fitting like it’s supposed to there must be something else not quite lined up correctly elsewhere
He looked at the ship for a moment and began pushing and pushing again
Again, I gave instruction - check carefully - if it’s not fitting something is out of alignment
Jonathan took a turn, and started pushing like David.
Again, I gave instruction
Jonathan looked checked things and sure enough there was a piece slightly misaligned - he then pushed the piece and it snapped into place
James saw the brethren struggling trying to make the pieces fit -
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
God can help you with this. There’s a better way. The fighting and warring doesn’t have to be. God has a better way!
Grace is unmerited favour - help, strength
Refers us to:
Strive not with a man without cause, If he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, And choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord: But his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: But he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners: But he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: But shame shall be the promotion of fools.
Solomon, speaking to his son, warned of wrong friends - those that lead a direction he ought not go
Those that keep trying to force things into their lives that do not fit, find trouble and difficulty in their lives
Those that humbly begin to examine what is misaligned or out of place in their lives find God’s help, His strength
Those that fight what God declares, find the Almighty God resisting them:
Cain - when we tried to bring his own works to God for salvation - God resisted him
Nimrod & the builders of the tower of Babel tried to build a society based upon humanism, pride, and a one world society apart from God they found God resisted them and confused their very communication
Pharoah declared:
Ex 5:2
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
God resisted Pharoah
Nebuchadnezzar
Haman
Alexander the Great - cutting off his life in its prime
Napoleon - sending snowflakes to stop his onward march against Russia
Voltaire - who disclaimed the Bible and said Christianity was bound to be exterminated only for him to suffer great horrors upon his deathbed that terrified the nurse looking after him, and then the for the Bible he claimed to be doomed to be printed from his former properties
God does not suffer defeat. Those things that look like defeat are things God uses for good.
This can be seen by us humbling ourselves stating, God, You’re right. This is not fitting. Show me. Teach me. I want my relationships to fit.
The Israelites that humbled themselves before God saw:
Salvation
Captivity turned to freedom
Provision
Direction
Victory
Protection
Amazing Grace:
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will see me home.
Victory from God
Victory from God
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Second part of that verse
The Devil is stronger than we are. He is more clever than we are. He is not afraid of us. He is older, more experienced, and knows how to deceive us.
His is so powerful that when Michael the archangel opposed the Devil on his own standing or strength - Jude 9
The Devil did to Job:
Destroyed his finances
Destroyed his property
Destroyed his family
Inflicted him with disease
Turned his wife and friends against him
Filled his life with troubles
He is not afraid of us. Our strength, our power, our stamina, our standing is no match against the Devil.
This is why James does not tell us to “Resist the devil...”
This is why the full context is ALL OF verse 7
Jesus submitted Himself to this very principle:
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
It is written
Moses submitted himself to this same principle:
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
When the Devil stirred a rebellion - They fell on their face before God and the people and let God perform justice and judgement
Remember the context of this portion of Scripture - warring, fighting among the brethren
Submit to God
Pray!
Know and follow God’s Word
Trust God to take care of the situation
Evangelist Tom Williams - wanted to witness to a lady at the till in a shop - she looked at the queue and started to protest - I pray that you would - she suddenly stopped - said, yes - he presented the Gospel to her and she got saved and no one complained as the queue grew - God resisted the Devil
It is our place to submit, and let God do His work
Change in Course
Change in Course
Change in position
Jam 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Adam and Eve - before sin - they walked with God and wanted to be with Him
After sin - they hid from God - they were lost and had to be found
Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!
Luke 15:11-17
And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Are you tired of the emptiness of living apart from God
Older couple - husband and wife - older car with bench seats in the front
Dear do you remember how we used to sit close as we drove together?
Yes, I remember
Dear, do you remember how we used to snuggle as we drove together?
Yes, dear, I remember
Why don’t we sit close and snuggle together anymore?
Dear, I haven’t moved!
This is what the prodigal son realised:
Luke 15:18-25
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
The father never moved
The father continued looking
The father was waiting to receive
The father anticipated the return
Cleansing of the heart
Jam 4:8b
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
The reason why we often don’t go to the Lord when strife occurs between the brethren is:
Ps 23:3-4
He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
We know that there is iniquity - wrong doing in our hearts
A clean heart desires to be with our holy God
Realisation of one’s standing
Jam 4:9
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
The context here is that brethren were laughing and joyous over how they had wrongly treated other Christians
Did you hear what I said to him? HAHAHA
Did you see how I got them back? High five
They were on a high horse
David after he sinned with Bathsheba thought he had gotten away with it
God sent Nathan to pull David off of his throne through a pointed finger stating
Thou art the man!
Afflicted - painfully or miserably removing that which is has made one callous
Tear away that callousness from your heart through heaviness of tears
Laughter - loud laughing
Luk 6:21
Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Lu 6:25
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
Pro 14:9
Fools make a mock at sin: But among the righteous there is favour.
Mourning - sorrow of death
Joy - that which causes cheer
Heaviness - to cast down the eyes - it is looking down realising the sorrow and dejection
Picture of deep conviction - what you are doing is hurtful and against what God teaches His family should be
Dignifying the transformation
Jam 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
A broken heart leads to a transformation of direction of the course of the situation
Ps 30:5
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
2 Chron 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
John Gifford had been a John Bunyan himself, only unspeakably worse. John Gifford had at one time been a Royalist officer in the great Civil War; and like so many officers and men on that bad side, he was a man of a very bad life. In the course of the conflict he fell into the hands of his enemies, and for some transgression of the laws of war he was condemned to death. But by the devotion and the determination of his sister he managed to outwit his jailor and to escape from his prison.
After some hairbreadth escapes Gifford was enabled somehow to set up as a doctor in the town of Bedford, where he continued his old life of debauchery and was notorious far and near for his hatred and ill-usage of the Puritan people. But one night after losing all his money at cards—“as God would have it,” as Bunyan was wont to say—Gifford was led to open a book by the famous Puritan Robert Bolton, when something that he read in that book took such a hold of him that he lay in agony of conscience for several weeks afterward. “At last,” as his old kirk-session record still extant has it, “God did so plentifully discover to him the forgiveness of his sins for the sake of Christ that all his life after he lost not the light of God’s countenance, save only about two days before he died.”
No sooner did John Gifford become a changed man than, like Saul of Tarsus, he openly joined himself to those whom he had hitherto persecuted, and ultimately he became their beloved pastor. The three or four poor women whom Bunyan one day saw sitting at a door in the sun and talking about the things of God were all members of John Gifford’s Free Church congregation.
God brings healing, a lifting up, when we humble ourselves
Paul said to the troubled church in Corinth - Godly sorrow worketh repentance
I waited patiently for the Lord; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.