The Friendship of the World

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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“The friendship of the world is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:44Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4)). This verse is a powerful testimony, which judges the walk and searches the heart. The world’s true character has now been manifested, because it has rejected and crucified the Son of God. Man had been already tried without law and under law, but after he had shown himself to be wholly evil without law and had broken the law when he had received it, then God Himself came in grace; He became man in order to bring the love of God home to the heart of man, having taken his nature. It was the final test of man’s heart. He came not to impute sin to them, but to reconcile the world to Himself. But the world would not receive Him, and it has shown that it is under the power of Satan and of darkness. It has seen and hated both Him and His Father.
The world is always the same world: Satan is its prince, and all that is in it — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life — is not of the Father, but of the world. Since the fall, the heart of man, the flesh, has been always at enmity against God. It is often thought and said that since the death of Christ, Satan is no longer the prince of this world, but it was precisely then that he declared himself as its prince, leading on all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, to crucify the Saviour. And although men now bear the name of Christ, the opposition of the world to His authority remains the same.
Christ Dishonored
Only observe and see if the name of Christ is not dishonored. Man may indeed be taught to honor it, but it is nonetheless true that where he finds his enjoyment, where his will is free, he shuts out Christ, lest He should come in and spoil his pleasures. If left alone, he does not think of Him; he does not like to be spoken to of the Saviour; he sees no beauty in Him that he should desire Him. Man likes to do his own will, and he does not want the Lord to come and oppose it; he prefers vanity and pleasures.
We have the true history of the world and its practical principles in Cain. He had slain his brother and was cast out of the presence of God, despairing of grace and refusing to humble himself. However great God’s goodness, man would not be disturbed in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, nor submit himself to the authority of another; he would have the world for himself, fighting to obtain it, and snatching it from the hands of those who possessed it. Now, it is evident that the friendship of this world is enmity with God. As far as in them lay, they cast God out of the world and drove Him away. Man desires to be great in this world; we know that the world has crucified the Son of God — that it saw no beauty in the One in whom God finds all His delight.
J. N. Darby (adapted)