SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
James 4:4-6
Jerry Vines
4/14/99
You don’t have to read long in the book of James to discover that James was
indeed a fearless preacher. He is preaching the Word of God to early believers there in
Jerusalem probably. And he deals with all of the major difficulties and obstacles to
Christian living and he deals with those matters which keep them from behaving the way
a Christian ought to behave.
In the first three verses of this chapter he met head on the problem of making
pleasures the aim and the goal of your life. It is possible for a Christian who knows Jesus
to get so enamored by the things of this old world and the pleasures and the enjoyments
of life that he lets them become uppermost and primary in his life. So, James hit a hard
lick at the matter of pleasures.
Now, in verses 4,5, and 6 he meets head on another problem. He deals with the
problem of worldliness. There is a little comfort in this to me when I remember that the
book of James was one of the first letters that was written in the New Testament. It is
some comfort when we deal with problems of worldliness in our day to be aware of the
fact that even in these early years of the Christian faith there were Christians who were
having problems with this matter of worldliness.
James talks about it. He mentions two times in verse 4—the world. He says the
friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whoever will be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God. You have to keep in mind the particular meaning he has here for world.
He’s not talking about God’s beautiful world of nature. He is not talk about the world of
people, but he’s talking about the world as a system organizing itself in opposition and in
hostility to God. The world is that system of society that seeks to pull us away from the
Lord and pull us away from total devotion to Jesus Christ. When you study the New
Testament you will discover that the believ ...
James 4:4-6
Jerry Vines
4/14/99
You don’t have to read long in the book of James to discover that James was
indeed a fearless preacher. He is preaching the Word of God to early believers there in
Jerusalem probably. And he deals with all of the major difficulties and obstacles to
Christian living and he deals with those matters which keep them from behaving the way
a Christian ought to behave.
In the first three verses of this chapter he met head on the problem of making
pleasures the aim and the goal of your life. It is possible for a Christian who knows Jesus
to get so enamored by the things of this old world and the pleasures and the enjoyments
of life that he lets them become uppermost and primary in his life. So, James hit a hard
lick at the matter of pleasures.
Now, in verses 4,5, and 6 he meets head on another problem. He deals with the
problem of worldliness. There is a little comfort in this to me when I remember that the
book of James was one of the first letters that was written in the New Testament. It is
some comfort when we deal with problems of worldliness in our day to be aware of the
fact that even in these early years of the Christian faith there were Christians who were
having problems with this matter of worldliness.
James talks about it. He mentions two times in verse 4—the world. He says the
friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whoever will be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God. You have to keep in mind the particular meaning he has here for world.
He’s not talking about God’s beautiful world of nature. He is not talk about the world of
people, but he’s talking about the world as a system organizing itself in opposition and in
hostility to God. The world is that system of society that seeks to pull us away from the
Lord and pull us away from total devotion to Jesus Christ. When you study the New
Testament you will discover that the believ ...
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