Good morning and welcome in everybody. 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. ⁵ Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
⁶ But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. ⁹ Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
First of all, adultery is to get involved with other lovers rather than abiding with your own spouse. As a Christian, we are supposed to love God above and beyond all others, which is the essence of the first commandment. But just like physical adultery, some people will commit Spiritual adultery against the Lord. When we are baptized into the Christian faith, we become a part of the bride of Christ and enter into a Spiritual marriage with Him. Just as a wife is never to depart her husband, we are never to leave or walk away from our precious Lord Jesus, or the teachings of our faith. Just as an Earthly wife leaves her own husband, it is an act of betrayal and treachery against the Lord.
“Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 3:20
The Apostle Paul wanted the church to be as a chaste virgin for Christ, and when something is chaste, it is virtuous, pure, and free from sin. The bride of Christ is to be like a faithful wife who loves and obeys her husband all the days of his life. Spiritual adultery is about committing unfaithful and disloyal acts against the Lord Jesus and His teachings. Like a disloyal wife, it is to develop greater friendships with others rather than the husband she has committed her life to.
When a woman claims to be a follower of Christ and chooses to get married, she is required to obey her husband in everything, and humble herself to his complete rule and authority over her. This is the exact same way that the bride of Christ must act towards our Lord Jesus Christ. As I’ve said for twenty years, if a wife can’t submit to her husband’s rule, it’s impossible for her to submit to the teachings of Christ. Disobedience breeds disobedience, nothing else. Whether He serves Christ or is a complete unbeliever, she must fear, love, and obey his rule.
Ephesians 5 ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. ²⁴ Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Christian women are supposed to be chaste keepers at home, but in these latter days, some have chosen to venture out further and further into the world, developing closer relationships with others rather than with their own husband.
“(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:” Proverbs 7:11
For some women, abiding at home just isn’t enough, so they begin to wander out into the world, searching for other things to do, rather than being content with what they already have. This is what was going on in the church, and the Apostle says that they were committing spiritual adultery against Christ. Do you know why that is? They were beginning to roam too far away from home, and becoming ensnared in the things of the world. They were like a treacherous wife who leaves her husband’s side, simply because their love for the world was greater than their love for him.
1 John 2 ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
So when the bride of Christ begins to depart the commands of Christ and befriend the world instead, they become the enemy of God. An Earthly wife places herself in the same position when she arrogantly and rebelliously walks off on her own husband. Again, this is why the Apostle compares adultery to the disobedience of the church. Like an unfaithful wife, they were beginning to leave the one that they were betrothed to, and getting involved in things that were outside the teachings of the Christian faith. Open and willful disobedience to the will of God is a direct result of pride. A woman who professes Christianity and departs her husband is filled with pride, usurping her lawful authority, just as the devil does to God. God does not embrace that type of wickedness, but will resist it instead.
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Proverbs 8:13
Enmity is a feeling or condition of hostility and ill will. It is to feel animosity or hatred towards something or someone. God hates what is evil, therefore if you are walking in the Holy Spirit, you will also hate what is evil.
“Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” Psalms 97:10
So the Apostle warns the church that they had better humble themselves before God, just as a wife must quickly humble herself and return to her own husband. Those who are too proud to do that will forfeit their own salvation.
Jude 1 ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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.
In order for a bride to love her husband, she must obey him perfectly. In order for the bride of Christ to love Jesus, she must obey Him perfectly.
John 14 ²¹ He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. ²² Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? ²³ Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. ²⁴ He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Abraham was called the friend of God because he did what God told him to do. The refusal to obey, only proves that you really don’t love God from the heart. Like a loyal and faithful wife, we must abide at Christ’s side and obey Him in everything we do, because those who choose to befriend the world will only find out that they have become the……
……Enemy of God
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
tlkjbc.com
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 