Watchman Radio Hour

David Shulze: Welcome to the Watchman Radio hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shulze, your announcer. The Watchman Radio hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker, Alex Dodson, to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn to the book of James, and we'll begin reading in verse 4 of chapter 4. Let us hear the word of God. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us tends toward envy, but he gives us more grace? That is why scripture says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, oh Father, as we come to study your word, we pray that you will send forth your Holy Spirit in great convicting power.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Today it's difficult to tell the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian in our culture. We do many of the same things. For example, many Christians observe the Sabbath day very much like non-Christians, except that they may go to church on Sunday morning. The rest of the day they do the same things as their non-Christian counterpart. They say the divorce rate among people who call themselves Christians is not much different from the rate among non-Christians. There are Christian couples who live together outside of marriage, at least for a while, exactly like their non-Christian counterparts.

Christian young people have sex outside of marriage just like non-Christians do. Some Christians go to the same movies and laugh at the same immoral jokes as non-Christians do. There are Christians who have children outside of marriage just like non-Christians. There are Christian men who view pornography. Today there are people who call themselves Christians who approve of things God says are wrong. For example, the whole issue of same-sex marriage can be cited. There are those who call themselves Christians, especially among young people who are now approving of such marriages, though the Bible teaches otherwise. Many times Christians live lives that are inconsistent with their profession simply because they don't know what the Bible teaches and don't seek to put the Bible's teachings on morality and life into practice.

We have become a church of worldly Christians in this nation. We are not fully devoted to Christ. We have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. God has a place in our life, but so does the world. We try to please both and end up getting further away from God as the world pulls us into its mold. It says in Romans 12:2 do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Our problem today is that far too many Christians are letting the world draw them into its pattern. They are not being transformed by the renewing of their mind in the word of God. The church needs cleansing. We need Christians who will not compromise with the world. Our text then is James 4:4 which again says you adulterous people. Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Christian should not compromise with the world. It's easy to be sucked into the world's mold.

We're living in an age when the media tries its best to set our standards for us. If we're not careful, we can be drawn into standards that are contrary to the standards of God. The media seeks to mold us by its standards. It could care less about the standards of God. Hollywood produces movies today based upon a standard that is in enmity with the law of God for the most part. Very few movies today seek to conform to the standards of God's law on morality and reverence for God. There was a time, years ago, when the motion picture industry had a moral code to which they adhered, but no more.

Living We're living in a culture at enmity with God. The Christian needs to be aware of compromising with the world. Let us see in the first place that our first allegiance is to God. Again our text says you adulterous people. We're called to be faithful. James addresses his audience as adulteresses. Those who have been unfaithful. We are called not to be adulteresses, but to be faithful to God. Alexander Ross in his commentary on this passage says the true reading here seems to be adulteresses. A familiar Old Testament idea is that Jehovah is the husband of his people.

To this corresponds the New Testament idea of the church as the bride of Christ. Hence, no doubt, the feminine here, departure from the living and true God is spiritual adultery, according to Psalm 73:27 and other Old Testament passages. You have broken your marriage vows to God, James says to his readers. If you are a friend of the world. That is the force of the question which he asks and the statement which he makes here. There are two rivals for the love and allegiance of the human heart, God and the world. Whoever then chooses to be a friend of the world comes forward as an enemy of God.

To To make pleasure the chief end of life, to be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, is to be on good terms with the persons and forces which are hostile to God. RBG Tasker writes we should interpret the expression metaphorically. Our Lord called the generation he had come to serve an adulterous generation because it was disloyal and unfaithful, refusing to see the obvious signs of God's love manifest in the works of Jesus. It demanded a special sign. The disloyalty of Israel to God was often designated adultery by the prophets, and the feminine word used by James suggests that he had especially in mind the wantonness of Hosea's wife in whose unfaithfulness the prophet was bidden to see an acted parable of the unfaithfulness of God's people.

In the same sense, worldly-minded Christians are adulteresses. In modern English it would be better perhaps to translate by some such expression as unfaithful creatures. Just as God in the Old Testament is constantly depicted as the husband of Israel, so Christ was thought of by the early Christians as the heavenly bridegroom and the church his bride. When God calls us to follow him, he calls us to be faithful. And then let us see that we need to seek God first in all things. This is our calling as Christians. In Matthew 6:33 it says but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

This is our calling to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness in our life. This is our first allegiance. RBG Tasker writes the Christian cannot, without compromising his position, divide his affection between God and those forces in the world which show either complete indifference to God or are openly hostile to him. And then let us see in the second place beware of letting the world draw us away from God. Again our text says you adulterous people. Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

The world's ways are at enmity with God. The world's system does not seek to put God in his way first. The world's system is a system that goes its own way without concern for God. That's what the word world means here. It's not that we are to remove ourselves from this planet or have nothing to do with our neighbors who are not Christians. It's not that we're not to love God's creation and care for it. It's not that we are to have no interest in the things of this life or to do only church things all the time.

The world is a system at enmity with God which seeks to draw us away from him. RBG Tasker writes it should be noted that the text emphasizes the truth that it is the deliberate choice by the Christian of worldly conduct which constitutes him an enemy of God. It may often be that the Christian finds himself quite unwillingly in an atmosphere pervaded by worldly standards. He cannot help being where he is. James is saying that to seek out such company of set purpose is like walking over into the enemy's camp. This truth is better brought out in the translation.

Whoever wishes to be a friend to the world makes himself an enemy of God. If we seek to be a friend of the world, we may very well find ourselves in with a group that is at enmity with God. We can get caught up in popular opinion and support something totally contrary to the word of God if we allow ourselves to be molded by the culture around us. And then let us see the ways the world draws us away from God's way. There is the way the world in our modern culture treats the Sabbath day.

For years in this country the Sabbath day, our Lord's day, was honored by the nation. Few stores opened on Sunday. Great commercial sports events were not held on Sunday. Sunday was considered a special day by the whole nation. Even non-Christians observed the day as sacred. Yet today we have almost totally repudiated this view of the Sabbath that our forefathers had. Today the culture around us treats Sunday just like any other day. Stores stay open. Great commercial sports events are held. Sunday has become sport Sunday. We have become a 24/7 society. Sunday means little anymore. Christians are drawn into this view of the Sabbath in droves.

We have forgotten about the way our forefathers observed the Sabbath or consider their view out of date. Yet the Bible's teaching on the Sabbath is not changed. We still have the same Bible our forefathers had. And in that Bible the fourth commandment says remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. Neither you nor your son nor daughter nor your man servant or maid servant nor your animals nor the alien within your gates.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. But he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Our culture does not follow that commandment anymore. Such commandments have been taken out of the public square put in a back room so no one will see them. The world draws us into its mold and draws us away from God's commands such as observing a Sabbath day as our forefathers did. Another way that the world's influence is seen is in the way we worship in this modern culture.

In former times people went to church to worship and honor God. They put on their best clothes and went to church and sang hymns that honored the Lord. They went to please God and not themselves. Today much of our worship has become people pleasing. We have air conditioned buildings, padded pew cushions, the best state of the art sound systems and video equipment. We have worship bands that entertain us. We have preachers that give us attractive, people-pleasing sermons. We come as we are in our informal attire, never thinking about dressing differently to honor the day and honor our God as our forefathers did.

So much of the world has crept into our worship services today. So much has changed from former days when Sunday and church worship were a time to honor our God. Today many of our worship services tend more to honor and please men than to honor and please God. The world also seeks to draw us into compromising biblical morality. Our culture does not honor biblical morality anymore as its previous generations did in the past. So many live together outside of marriage today. Many live together first and marry later as if this was the accepted pattern. The Bible teaches that such relationships are immoral.

Jesus confronted the woman at the well for living in such a relationship. In John 14 verses 16 through 18 it says he told her go call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, you are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Jesus not only tells this woman that she has had had too many husbands, implying multiple divorces, but that she was now living with someone outside of marriage.

He was showing her her sin. Yet today we as a culture have come to accept this idea that it is okay for couples to live together outside of marriage. Such an idea would have been considered wrong by previous generations in this nation. Yet the culture of the world seeks to draw us into its idea of morality. Another thing that is become acceptable in our culture is this idea of having children outside of wedlock. In some parts of our society this type of thing happens far too frequently. Yet we as a society tend to tolerate and accept such lifestyles without criticism.

Something former generations looked down upon we now accept. Such views and attitudes are worldly and are contrary to the law of God. So many men today have become addicted to pornography. It has become so easily available, especially on the internet, that many men are destroying their lives and negatively affecting their families by viewing such filth. Yet we as a nation tend to tolerate such things that former generations would have shunned. The world would try to convince us that pornography for an adults is not that bad. Yet God's word tells us that if a man lusteth after a woman in his heart, he has committed sexual immorality.

Hollywood would try to convince us that it's normal to speak curse words and that everybody's doing it. Yet God's word tells us that we should not let any uncleanness come out of our mouths. Today the word world tells us that modesty is something of the past, especially in dress. Today the world tells a woman to look sexy. Yet the Bible tells us to dress modestly always. Many young people continually play video games and become addicted to to them. Many are filled with sex and violence. Yet the Bible tells us to be careful what we let enter our minds and to use our time wisely.

The world always seeks to draw us away from God's way. Now let us see in the third place that we need to live our lives in the presence of God. We need to live to please him always. In Colossians 3:23 it says whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for men. In Colossians 3:17 it says and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, we should live our lives in the presence of God to please him. Our goal should always be to please God and not to please the world. We're not to live to please the world. That's That should not be our goal. We should not follow the crowd. We should question the media when it tries to lead us by its standards. James 4:8 says come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Here James calls us to give up our double-mindedness.

That is trying to follow God and also trying to follow the world. He calls us to repent of such. We can't be double-minded and please God. Matthew Henry writes worldly people are here called adulterers and adulteresses because of their perfidiousness to God while they give their best affections to the world. Covetousness is elsewhere called idolatry. And it is here called adultery. It is a forsaking of him to whom we are devoted and espouse to cleave to other things. There is this brand put upon worldly-mindedness that it is enmity to God. A man may have a competent portion of the good things of this life and yet may keep himself in the love of God.

But he who sets his heart upon the world, who places his happiness in it and will conform himself to it and do anything rather than lose its friendship, he is an enemy to God. It is constructive treason and rebellion against God to set the world upon his throne in our hearts. Whosoever therefore is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. He who will act upon this principle to keep the smiles of the world and to have its continual friendship cannot but show himself in the spirit and in his actions too an enemy of God.

Sometime we have to go against public opinion. The majority of the people may say something is all right, yet God's word says it's wrong. We have to choose between public opinion and God's word. If we choose God's word we may not be so popular. We may lose friends. We may be ridiculed. Yet we will be a friend of God. Public opinion seems to be favoring same-sex marriage if we believe the latest polls. Yet we must stand up on biblical principles and let our voices be heard. God's word must have our allegiance, not public opinion. Our lives must be lived in the presence of God and not in the presence of public opinion.

The majority may be wrong. Our standard should always be the word of God. Yet when a society tries to separate itself from God's word, then it forsakes the standard upon which this society was originally built. May God bring us back to his word as a nation. May he send another great awakening to bring us to the conviction of our sins and draw us back to him. Now what about you today? Maybe you've never really come to God through Jesus Christ. The only way we can be made right with God is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must come to him in repentance and faith. Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. And so we call upon you today to repent at once and turn at once from your sinfulness and turn right now to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe on him. And he will give you forgiveness of sin and eternal life and follow him as the Lord of your life. Our Father in heaven we thank you for your word. We pray, oh Lord, that you will help us not to compromise with the world. We ask your forgiveness, oh Lord, as Christians in this nation for compromising with the world.

So many times we choose the world instead of choosing what you want us to do, Lord. Help us to do your will. Help us to abide by your standards, oh Father in heaven. We pray for this nation. We pray that you will pour out your spirit in great convicting power all over this nation. That you would send another great awakening to awaken us to our great sins to convict us of sin. And then we pray the nation as a whole will turn back to you. And we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.

David Shulze: We hope this week's broadcast has been a blessing to you. If you have any questions about Mr. Dodson's message, please write us. You may email us at info@watchmanradio.org. Our mailing address is Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon 97213. That's Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon 97213. You may listen to this broadcast at any time on the internet at www.oneplace.com. In the list of ministries just select the Watchman Radio hour. This week's program and previous programs are always available there for listening. Our web address is www.watchmanradio.org. That's w a t c h m e n radio dot org, www.watchmanradio.org.