Goodmorning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of James.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
When we are baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, we are buried underneath the water by submersion, and we rise up to begin a new life of service towards Christ. At that moment, our past sins are forgiven, as we make a lifetime commitment to Him never to depart. The Christian life is very much like a marriage. In a Christian marriage, the man represents the Lord Jesus, and the woman represents the church. (Eph 5:31-32) Just as a baptized woman is commanded by Christ never to depart her husband, we are never to depart the church or scriptural teachings. There is no turning back.
Jeremiah 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Departing the teachings of scripture is to commit treachery against Christ. Just like a marriage, we make a commitment to Him for the rest of our lives, never to leave Him. When a wife chooses greater friendships outside of her marriage, her love and close relationship for her husband is diminished, and her love for others and the things of this world are increased.
A prime example of this is when God chose to save Lot’s family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. She intentionally decided to walk off on her own husband, and to return to the world that God was going to destroy. God had chosen to save her for Lot’s sake, but she really didn’t believe, and was destroyed herself.
Genesis 19:15, 17, 24-26 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot’s wife loved the world so much that she wouldn’t let it go. She wanted to go back “home” from whence she had left. Her home was the world. She loved it more than her own husband and children. She also didn’t have any fear of God concerning the repercussions that were going to happen to her because of what she did. Like a lifelong commitment in a marriage, a true Christian will never turn from their faith. Christ has the Words of eternal life, to whom shall we go?
To be saved eternally one must possess genuine faith in their hearts. True faith will develop a love for God and a desire to do His will and walk according to the purpose that He has called us to. Sadly there will be those who begin the Christian Life but because of impenitence and unbelief will come short of paradise.
Jude 1:5-7 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
When someone is a friend of the world, they love the things of this place more than God. It’s like committing adultery against God because your love becomes greater for the world than it is for Him.
1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Nothing in this world can be greater than our relationship and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Our love must be completely focused on Him above and beyond anything else. Some of the disciples of Paul left the Christian faith, because their love for this world was greater.
2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Esau loved the world more than his own birthright.
Hebrews 12:16-17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Judas loved the world more than Jesus and sold out Christ, betraying him to the authorities.
Matthew 26:14-16 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
Whatever you love the most, becomes the focal point of your time. The more time that a person spends focused on the things of this world, the less time that they are focused on spiritual things.
Mark 4:18-19 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
When you choke something, you deprive it of oxygen and life. Time is a very important commodity, and you must choose how you’re going to use it while you are here on the Earth. There are an innumerable amount of things that can pull you away from a close relationship with Jesus. They simply are things that you love more. When your love is misplaced it takes your eyes off a strong relationship with Christ.
When you begin a marriage you take upon yourself a lifelong commitment to your spouse to permanently stay by their side. Such is the Christian Life. When you become a Christian, you make a lifetime commitment to Christ Jesus, to love Him perfectly and never to depart Him. Whatever we go through, whatever we must endure, whatever sufferings we might have to deal with, Christianity is a never ending commitment to the one who laid down His life for our salvation, a spiritual marriage from which there is……
…… No Turning Back
Let’s think about these things for right now, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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