Rev. David Holwick ZF James series #11
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey [Similar to sermon of 7/17/94]
October 7, 2007
James 4:4-10
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I. Do Christians have to change?
A. Notorious testimonies: Mickey Cohen, "Christian gangster."
Back when Billy Graham first began his crusade ministry, a
notorious gangster named Mickey Cohen attended one of the
meetings in Beverly Hills.
Very few people had heard of Billy Graham at this point.
Mickey Cohen was much better known.
Cohen rubbed shoulders with celebrities and movie stars, never
missing an opportunity to place himself inside the spotlight.
He even took part in a "Life magazine" pictorial titled
"American Gangsters."
In 1949, one of Cohen's "associates" was converted by Graham.
The man renounced his life of crime and made restitution for
the things he had stolen.
Mickey heard about this and was amazed that the man wouldn't
even accept help from him because Mickey's money was gained
from crime.
Mickey was intrigued and asked the man to arrange a meeting with
"that guy who's converting all those famous folks."
A meeting was arranged, and along with a few others, Mickey
Cohen sat and listened to Billy Graham preach the gospel.
It is said that he even raised his hand at the end of the
message in a show of interest.
But his life of crime continued and he ended up in prison.
When he was released, a Los Angeles evangelist named Bill Jones
made it his personal mission to lead Cohen to Christ.
After Cohen heard Jones's simple gospel presentation, he
repeated a prayer to accept Christ.
The evangelist was elated and word soon spread that Mickey
Cohen, the once dangerous mobster, had turned his life over
to Christ. Hallelujah!!!
But Mickey seemed to be more interested in portraying the image
of a "nice guy" Christian than in actually living the life
of one.
He soon lost touch with Jones, and began to hang around with his
old buddies from the criminal underworld.
The disheartened Jones confronted Cohen to tell him that as a
Christian, he needed to put distance between himself and his
old buddies in crime.
Puzzled, Cohen responded, "Jones, you never told me that I had
to give up my career.
You never told me that I had to give up my friends.
There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian
businessmen.
So what's the matter with being a Christian gangster?
If I have to give up all that - if that's Christianity - then
count me out."
Two men responded to the gospel.
One chose to change his life following his conversion.
The other chose to remain unchanged.
We all laugh at his simplicity, but how much different are we
than Mickey?
#1062
B. Modern Christianity is missing repentance.
1) We want to make our faith attractive and easy.
2) We don't want to offend people, or drive them away.
3) We want to make it easy for us, too.
II. Our God is a jealous God.
A. Church adulteresses. 4:4
1) Few events endanger a relationship more than adultery.
2) Relationship to God is a marriage, not slavery. (Old Testament)
3) Sin breaks God's heart, just as adultery does ours.
4) All sin is sin against love.
B. We cannot be friends of the world. 4:4
1) "World" here stands for world's standards, as opposed
to standards of God's Kingdom.
a) We cannot love everything.
b) Some choices have to be made, and some are difficult.
2) God demands much, but there is a reason.
a) The world's ways lead to brokenness and death.
b) God's way leads to life.
C. God longs for us. 4:5
1) Verse 5 is the most difficult to understand in the book.
a) KJV, NIV: "our spirit tends toward envy (sin)."
[note NIV footnote]
b) Better: "God longs for our spirit."
c) This fits in with the emphasis on spiritual adultery.
1> God wants our undivided love.
2> He doesn't share.
2) "He gives more grace" is a new sentence. 4:6
a) God make great demands, but gives great grace.
b) The greater the demand, the greater the help.
1> We can never be tempted beyond our limit. 1 Cor 10:13
III. Just as I am?
A. Some think God's grace trumps any response from us.
A theologian named Norman Pittenger once wrote:
"We do not receive the grace of God because we are good and
confess our sins.
It is the other way round.
It's always God's grace which come first, ... his forgiveness
awakens our repentance.
'Just as I am, without one plea.'
The whole point of the Christian gospel is that God loves
and accepts us just as we are."
B. Repentance still matters!
Christian pastor and writer John Stott thinks Pittenger's idea
is a very confused statement of the gospel, however.
He writes:
God does indeed accept us 'just as we are,' and we do not have
to make ourselves good first - indeed we cannot.
But his 'acceptance' means that he fully and freely forgives
all who repent and believe.
It doesn't mean he condones our continuance in sin.
Again, it is true that we must accept one another, but only as
fellow penitents and fellow pilgrims, not as fellow sinners
who are resolved to persist in our sinning.
No acceptance, either by God or by the church, is promised to us
if we harden our hearts against God's Word and will.
Only judgment."
#988
IV. Certain attitudes follow those who wish to be close to God.
A. Movement. "Come near/resist." 4:7-8
1) Toward God.
a) Spiritually, are you where you should be?
b) When we come near, he meets us.
2) Away from the devil. 4:7
a) It's not enough to do the right things.
b) You have to stop doing the wrong things.
B. Desire for purity: "Wash hands." 4:8
1) From ritual to morality.
2) Purity requires single-mindedness.
a) Not enough to be torn, must make a commitment.
1> Many take a laid-back approach to salvation.
2> Christianity becomes a part-time hobby.
b) Real salvation is shown by fruit of life committed to God.
C. Emotional reaction. "Grieve and mourn." 4:9
1) How emotional do you get about sin?
a) Sin must be hated.
W.M. Taylor has written:
"True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the
penalty;
and it hates the sin most of all because it has
discovered and felt God's love."
#21937
b) Sounds negative and morbid, but often necessary.
c) Americans treat sin too lightly.
2) Have you ever hated your sin so much you wept over it?
a) Russian Baptists - no tears, no genuine repentance.
An early missionary to Russia complained that Russian
evangelicals seemed to feel that a person must
make at least one public confession with weeping.
"This they call conversion."
"I have heard people question the reality of someone's
conversion experience if they were not sufficiently
impressed by the remorsefulness of his weeping."
#2729
b) Emotions can be faked, of course, but real emotion
shows sincerity.
3) Genuine spiritual change should shake us to our soul.
a) If never moved in heart, you're probably not converted.
b) (John Wesley and "heart strangely warmed")
V. The way to God is through humility.
A. God doesn't help us until we see our need.
B. Humility is hard for us.
1) Associated with demeaning concepts like submission.
2) Mickey Cohen thought he could get God to submit to HIM.
a) Genuine salvation works the other way around.
b) We must be willing to do what God wants.
C. Where do you stand with God right now?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 988 "Does God Accept Us As We Are?" by John R. W. Stott, Christianity
Today magazine, November 22, 1985, p. 27.
# 1062 "The Conversion Of A Notorious Gangster," original source unknown,
but it is probably derived from Chuck Colson's book "Loving God."
# 2729 "Remorse Requires Weeping," by Walter Sawatsky in his book "Soviet
Evangelicals Since World War II," 1981, p. 342.
#21937 "W. M. Taylor On Repentance," Rev. Brett Blair's Illustrations by
Email, www.sermonillustrations.com, December 9, 2001.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
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