Gospel Wednesday: James Chapter 4

James Chapter 4

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.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 makes himself an enemy of God.Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” - James 4:1-6 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James4:1-6&version=NKJV
Pride, envy, strife, murder, covetousness, friendship with the world. These will all keep us from heaven, even if we've obeyed the Gospel. God expects faithfulness and obedience to Him. Don't buy into once saved, always saved which says we can commit all the sins we want, even murder, and still go to heaven. 

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. - James 4:7-10 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James4:7-10&version=NKJV
Sin in our lives? Humble ourselves before Almighty God. 

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 are not a doer of the law but a judge.There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? - James 4:11-12 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James4:11-12&version=NKJV
Don't be speak evil of others and don't be super judgmental. We created no one. God created us. Therefore we don't what is in anybody's heart. Only God knows that (1 Samuel 16:7). 
The next time you catch yourself judging somebody's motives (and I've been guilty of this as well). Ask yourself: did I create this person? Do I know their heart? The answer to both questions is no. That should stop judgmentalism, which stems from pride, for sure. 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, 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? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. - James 4:13-17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James4:13-17&version=NKJV
Do not boast about tomorrow for it may never come. Knowing to do good and not doing it, is sin. Sin of omission. 

And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their headsand saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. - Matthew 27:39-40,46,50 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew27:39-40,46,50&version=NKJV


Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” ), - Galatians 3:13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians3:13&version=NKJV


But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. - Ephesians 2:13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians2:13&version=NKJV


and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. - Colossians 1:20 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians1:20&version=NKJV


But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. - Galatians 6:14 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians6:14&version=NKJV



1. Hear

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. - Romans 10:17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans10:17&version=NKJV


2. Believe

Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” - John 8:24 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John8:24&version=NKJV


3. Repent

I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. - Luke 13:3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke13:3&version=NKJV



4. Confess

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 10:32-33 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew10:32-33&version=NKJV


5. Be baptized

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. - Mark 16:16 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark16:16&version=NKJV


6. Remain faithful

Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. - Revelation 2:10 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation2:10&version=NKJV


For more information on obeying the Gospel contact your local church of Christ


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