Warning Against Worldliness

James 4

¹ What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions ₁ are _y at war within you? ₂ ² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask _z wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴ _a You adulterous people! ₃ Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? _b Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit _c that he has made to dwell in us"? ⁶ But _d he gives more grace. Therefore it says, _e "God opposes the proud, but _d gives grace to the humble." ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. _f Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ _g Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. _h Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and _i purify your hearts, _j you double-minded. ⁹ _k Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ _l Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹ _m Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. ₄ The one who speaks against a brother or _n judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only _o one lawgiver and _p judge, he who is able to save and _q to destroy. But _r who are you to judge your neighbor?

1. Cross References
   Romans 7:23
   But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
   1 Peter 2:11
   Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
   
2. Cross References
   1 John 5:14
   And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
   
3. Cross References
   Isaiah 54:5
   For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
   Jeremiah 2:2
   Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
   
4. Cross References
   John 15:19
   If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
   1 John 2:15
   Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
   Matthew 6:24
   No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
   
5. Cross References
   1 Corinthians 6:19
   Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.
   2 Corinthians 6:16
   What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
   
6. Cross References
   Isaiah 54:7 - 8
   For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
   Matthew 13:12
   For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
   
7. Cross References
   Isaiah 54:7 - 8
   For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
   Matthew 13:12
   For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
   
8. Cross References
   1 Peter 5:5
   Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
   Proverbs 3:34
   Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
   
9. Cross References
   Proverbs 3:34
   Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
   
10. Cross References
    1 Peter 5:8 - 9
    Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
    Ephesians 4:27
    And give no opportunity to the devil.
    Ephesians 6:11
    Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
    
11. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 15:2
    And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
    Lamentations 3:57
    You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!
    Zechariah 1:3
    Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
    Malachi 3:7
    From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?
    Luke 15:20
    And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
    
12. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:16
    Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.
    
13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:14
    O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
    
14. Cross References
    James 1:8
    He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
    
15. Cross References
    Matthew 5:4
    Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
    
16. Cross References
    James 4:6
    But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
    Isaiah 57:15
    For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
    Luke 1:52
    He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
    Matthew 23:12
    Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
    
17. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 12:20
    For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish - that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.
    1 Peter 2:1
    So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
    James 5:9
    Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
    
18. Cross References
    Matthew 7:1
    Judge not, that you be not judged.
    
19. Cross References
    Isaiah 33:22
    For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.
    
20. Cross References
    James 5:9
    Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
    
21. Cross References
    Matthew 10:28
    And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
    
22. Cross References
    Romans 14:4
    Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.