Lust most often is associated with the flesh and carries immoral connotations. However, it simply means to crave and desire something beyond a light or casual "wanting." It is the expression of great longing, and a demeanor that exemplifies the unwillingness to do without something. Similarly, the word envy carries with it the sense of desire to have something that someone else has. While James is referring to the negative influence that lust and envy have on the human spirit inherent in the very nature of what they are, he is also by contrast, indicating how the Holy Spirit longs for fellowship and ownership of us. This fellowship and ownership brings about radical deliverance and ultimate change from the warring and strife that James had previously written about earlier in the chapter. I especially like the transitional verse that James uses to bring about this idea when he writes, "But He gives more grace" (James 4:6 NKJV). God distributes more grace in order to have me. He distributes more grace that I may walk with Him and fellowship with Him. He desired it so much that He said, “If it takes more grace than anything previously given to this point, then I’ll ‘cross' that place now and give my only begotten Son." I belong to God. "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV). The Holy Spirit wants each of us that He may transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit wants to ...
Lust most often is associated with the flesh and carries immoral connotations. However, it simply means to crave and desire something beyond a light or casual "wanting." It is the expression of great longing, and a demeanor that exemplifies the unwillingness to do without something. Similarly, the word envy carries with it the sense of desire to have something that someone else has. While James is referring to the negative influence that lust and envy have on the human spirit inherent in the very nature of what they are, he is also by contrast, indicating how the Holy Spirit longs for fellowship and ownership of us. This fellowship and ownership brings about radical deliverance and ultimate change from the warring and strife that James had previously written about earlier in the chapter. I especially like the transitional verse that James uses to bring about this idea when he writes, "But He gives more grace" (James 4:6 NKJV). God distributes more grace in order to have me. He distributes more grace that I may walk with Him and fellowship with Him. He desired it so much that He said, “If it takes more grace than anything previously given to this point, then I’ll ‘cross' that place now and give my only begotten Son." I belong to God. "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV). The Holy Spirit wants each of us that He may transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit wants to ...
Hill-Sermon-1.docx