09/02/2026
Here is our Calvary Discipleship Path (CDP) homework for this week.
Looking back at Last Sunday's Message: James 4: 1-10—"Friends With God, Not With the World.”
Scripture verses for meditation and application:
- James 4: 1-10: Last Sunday we looked at:
I. The Core or Center of Worldliness: worldliness begins in the sinful desires of the heart: James4: 1-2.
-The sin of worldliness is to live our lives in accordance with the ways, narratives, and ethics of this sinful world. Instead, as disciples of Jesus, we have been transformed by the grace of God, the power of the gospel and the new life of His Holy Spirit to live in accordance with God's ways and His kingdom, and NOT the kingdom of this world system which is (for a time only) under the control of Satan.
APPLY: Ask the Lord to change the desires of your heart and to create in you a hunger for Him, His law, and His righteous ways; and ask Him to reveal to you "worldly" ways of thinking, speaking, and acting/living that you may have adopted. As God reveals to you and convicts you of 1 or 2 ways in which you have been engaged in such worldliness, Repent of these and ask God to renew you by his grace. Ask the Lord to show you how easy it is to listen to the false narratives and untruths of the world and to fill you anew with the truth of His word.
II. Some of the Characteristics of Worldliness:
a. Prayerlessness or praying for things from the wrong motive of sinful desires-- James 4: 2b-3.
b. Worldliness is a form of "spiritual adultery," (Verse 4: James exclaims: "you adulterous people." Whenever we sin we commit spiritual adultery against God and are unfaithful to God and the salvation covenant He has made with us in Christ.
-READ these OT passages about spiritual adultery: Isaiah 54:4-5; 57:3; Jeremiah 3:20 and the entire chapter of Ezekiel 16.
APPLY: Ask the Lord to forgive you of forsaking Him and His commands and of all manner of spiritual adultery. Pray that the Holy Spirit will empower you by divine grace to be a faithful disicple of Jesus.
c. Worldliness = friendship with the world, which = enmity with God--James 5:4. READ also the following passages:
-John 17:14-19: Notice how Jesus prays, not that we would be taken out of or escape from this present evil world order, but that the Father will "keep us from the evil one;" and "sanctify" us (to be made holy and to be set apart from sin/self/Satan and consecrated unto God and His service) "in the truth" of God's "word." APPLY: Ask the Lord to sanctify you in the truth of His Word, the holy Scriptures, through the blood of Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit.
-John 15:18-20: ASK: Why would or why do people of "the world" (non-believers who neither know nor serve Christ) hate us as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ? What is it about the gospel of Jesus and the moral/spiritual life to which God calls us that engenders such anger and or hatred? Then, PRAY and ask God for courage in the face of and love for those who hate or mistreat you. Ask the Lord for boldness and courage to be faithful to Him and to stand for the truth of His gospel/Word, unashamed of the gospel, and at the same time to have love and grace toward those who hate or treat us like enemies.
III. God's Cure For Worldliness--James 4:5-6.
A. God's Jealous Love for Us, His People--James 4:5. Read Exodus 20:5 and Deuteronomy 4:24. What does the Bible mean when it says that God is jealous God?
B. God's Saving, Sanctifying Grace--James 4:6! Pray and ask God to empower you by His Spirit, to overcome the temptations of the world and worldliness by His sanctifying grace!. Read Titus 2:11-14.
IV. God's Call to Repent From our Worldly ways of thinking/speaking/living AND to Draw Near to Him--James 4:7-10
A. God calls us to grieve, mourn and weep over our sin and worldliness--Verse 9
B. "Submit yourself to God"--Verse 7:
C. Resis the devil and the allurements and temptations of this world--Verse 7
D. Draw near to God in repentance--Verse 8
-READ Romans 12:1-2 and ASK: How can I renew my mind today and present my whole self to God as a living sacrifice?
APPLY: Ask the Lord for 2-3 practical temptations of Satan to worldliness that you can resist and to show you how instead you can draw nearer to Him.
MEMORIZE THESE VERSES:
- 1 John 2:15-17 : “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. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (ESV)
- -Titus 2:11-14 (NIV 1984): “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared unto all men, 12 It teaches us to say “No to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
RESOURCES: Here are some links to resources for James 3:13-18:
--Here are 3 Sermons by Pastor Alistair Begg based upon our text in James 4:
-https://youtu.be/qHY6xDJklUY?si=skPpzqeMqEyEKDUD
- https://youtu.be/OjIALrgejZI?si=3AdJEskvQs6TOXhT
-https://youtu.be/H-DI5ieXBeo?si=FNBea_nujlX1SVNV
LOOKING AHEAD PRAYERFULLY TO SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2026:
-Prayerfully meditate upon our Scripture text for Sunday's upcoming message: James 4:11-12—No Fault-finding Judgmentalism Allowed!
