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Well, let's again seek God in
prayer and ask for his gracious spirit's presence with us. Thank you, our Father, for this
opportunity to worship you. Thank you, our Father, for this
opportunity to hear your word. And we pray and ask that you
would graciously pour out your Holy Spirit upon all of us, that
we would all hear your word aright, receive its truths with submission,
as we've even sung, into our hearts, and that we would then
act upon what we have learned from your word. We need your
grace. We need your Holy Spirit. We
need your presence. And so please be with us now.
And we ask for these mercies in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. In my study, In my home, on my
desk, I have two bookends made of stone. The bookends are virtually
identical in appearance with some slight variations. Sandwiched between those bookends
are several Christian books which address different subjects, although
each of those books has a connection with the other books, The primary
connection which ties, as it were, each of those books to
each other is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each book
addresses the gospel of Christ. But they're not identical books,
they're different. There are additional secondary
connections among those books, sandwiched between these two
bookends, such as the theme of living the Christian life and
the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Well, in the passage
that we will study this evening, James verbally does what I have
just described regarding the bookends on my desk and the books
that are sandwiched between them. James uses two bookends, as it
were, submission to God in verses 7 and 10 of James chapter 4. and then he sandwiches between
those two bookends of submission to God various gospel truths. So that's the passage we'll study
tonight, so please turn in your Bibles to James chapter four,
and we'll begin our reading at verse seven. James chapter four
and verse seven. Be subject therefore unto God,
but resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God
and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and he shall exalt you. And there we end our reading
of God's word. So as we begin our study of this
passage, we must first note the important connecting English
word in verse 7, that word therefore. And that word points us back
to verse 6. And in verse 6, we read that
God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Therefore,
James reminds us in verse 7, each believer must be subject,
must submit himself unto God. So this is the first bookend
of our passage in verse 7. Here is a call to every believer
to subordinate himself or herself to God, to place himself, to
place herself, heart, will, and life under God's control. to yield cheerful and willing
obedience to all of God's commands. Such cheerful, willing obedience
and submission to God is absolutely vital for James now issues nine
imperatives in rapid-fire succession in the following four verses.
and obedience to these commands will be a manifestation of submission
from the heart and the will to God. So notice now in verses
7 and 8, two commands and two promises. Verses 7 and 8, two
commands and two promises. First of all, notice in verse
7 the clear command given to each believer. Resist the devil. Every Christian is to take his
stand against the devil by refusing to yield to him and all of his
temptations. Easily said, not always so easily
accomplished. We must remember that the Bible
teaches us that the devil is the slanderer. For as the prince
of evil, he slanders God. He slanders everything and anyone
connected with God. He slanders God's character by
insinuating that God's word cannot be trusted, and therefore God
should not be trusted, and neither should God be obeyed. The Christian,
the devil would have us believe, should not submit to God. This
is not good, the devil would have us believe. But of course,
the devil himself does not submit to God, and he wickedly and persistently
endeavors to prevent everyone and anyone from doing so. Because
of these spiritual realities with reference to the devil,
the Christian's resistance to the devil must be persistent,
uncompromising, and unceasing. Three important words. They're
similar but not identical. The Christian's resistance to
the devil must be persistent. You must not give up. They must
be uncompromising. Don't compromise with the devil
and his temptations. And they must be unceasing. That
is, you never stop throughout your entire life. Such spiritual
and practical resistance to the devil cannot be accomplished
in the Christian's strength. You, if you're a Christian for
more than a few months probably, you realize this. The Christian
cannot resist the devil in his own strength. No Christian is
a match for the devil. And therefore, each Christian
must put on the whole armor of God, which the Lord has provided,
and daily use both offensive and defensive armor to resist
the devil. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians
6, and you don't need to turn there, you perhaps have already
thought of that passage. He actually used the same word
in verse 13 of Ephesians 6, which James used here in verse 7, when
Paul wrote, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you
may be able to withstand the devil in the evil day. You see,
it's that word withstand that you may be able to resist. Now
it's not my purpose tonight in this message to point out or
explain each part of the whole armor of God, but at the same
time I do believe it is vital to remind you briefly of several
of these armor pieces which you as a Christian must use daily
in order to resist the devil. You must take up the shield of
faith by which you will be able to quench all of the fiery darts
of the evil one. You must take up the sword of
the spirit, which is the word of God, and use that word to
resist the devil. You must take up the weapon of
all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the
spirit in order to resist the devil. Our supreme example, of
course, is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we must imitate and follow
as we resist the devil, even as he did, and he did so successfully
throughout his life. He has shown us how to resist
the devil. He used the sword of the Spirit,
even the Word of God, to resist the temptations of the devil.
And you must do the same. And of course, this is a good
reason to memorize the Scripture, to bring it into your mind and
heart, and then to have it at your hand in those tempting moments
of the devil, to use the sword of the Spirit. But notice the
promise connected to this command. In verse 7, he, the devil, will
flee from you. That's what James declares. Resist
the devil, that's the command, and what is the promise? He will
flee from you. When the Christian resists the
devil's temptations and purposes and does not succumb to them,
then, James says, that's what will happen. The devil will flee.
The promise which James proclaims is, we must remember, a Holy
Spirit-inspired promise. This is not just the promise
of some earthly individual disconnected with the Spirit of God. The Apostle
James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us this promise. Whatever
power Satan may have, the Christian can be absolutely certain that
he has been given the ability, in union with Jesus Christ by
faith, to overcome that power of the devil. So don't misunderstand
me. I'm not suggesting that you go
looking for some fight, as it were, with the devil. I'm not
suggesting that you do silly things that are unscriptural,
that some professing Christians say you should do, where they
say things like, I rebuke you, devil. I'm not suggesting that. I'm not saying that you should
not be verbalizing anything to the devil. But the devil is indeed very
powerful. He is not omnipotent. He is not God. but you have the
ability in union with Jesus Christ by faith. God has given you that
ability through union with Jesus Christ by faith to succeed in
resisting the devil. Do you believe that? Or do you
believe that you must just accept the fact that you are a victim
And whenever there's a temptation from the devil that you have
no choice but to basically give in. Or maybe you think, well,
I'll resist a little bit, but it becomes very tough, very hard.
It becomes so hard, I can't continue to do this resisting. I have
no choice but to just give up. That's all actually false. Again,
in union with Jesus Christ by faith, You can do what James
says here in verse 7. Resist the devil and he will
then flee from you. But notice the second command
now in verse 8 of James chapter 4. Look there in your Bibles. Pastor Hoffmeier has already
mentioned this particular portion. Draw near to God. This is a command. James' purpose to encourage believers
who are daily and frequently pressed down by many temptations
to persevere in their faith in Christ. Christians can become
easily discouraged by the persistent and relentless spiritual warfare
in which they are engaged. Christians can even despair of
any relief, can despair of deliverance, can lose hope. Their grip by
faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ can weaken, and they can begin
to question, what should I do? What can I do? God through James
graciously commands each Christian, drawn near to God, James is highlighting
the breathtaking privilege which is yours as a believer in Jesus
Christ. Each and every Christian has
direct access to the one true and living God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. You need to step back from the
busyness of life at times. You need to get some quiet place
and quiet time. You need to turn off your cell
phone, turn it upside down. You need to close your laptop
computer. You need to make some time to
think about this reality, that you, as a believer in Jesus Christ,
you have direct access to the one true and living God. through
faith in Jesus Christ alone. Drawn near to God, this is James'
command. He's not suggesting it. He's
telling you this is what you must do, what you should do.
You're commanded to do this. But notice the promise joined
to this gracious command in verse 8. draw near to God? And what is the promise? He will
draw near to you. When any Christian draws near
to God, through God's word and prayer, through the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is drawing near, as I've already said, to the living
God. And what do you know about the
living God from your Bibles? If you read your Bible regularly,
you should know a lot about the living God. What does it reveal? The God that you are to draw
near to, who will then draw near to you, is omniscient. He knows
everything about you. He is also all-wise. He knows
exactly what is best for you, the individual Christian. This
God is omnipotent. He is able to do all His holy
will in and through your life. He has the power to deliver you
from every remaining sin. He has the power to transform
you into the image of Jesus Christ. He is also abundantly gracious
to helpless, needy sinners who are trusting in Christ. He's
abundantly gracious. He's not stingy. He's not reluctant. He is faithful to His Word and
faithful to your soul. And He's faithful because He
is that in His very character. And He who has begun a good work
in you will complete that good work. He is faithful to do that.
You must believe that as you draw near to Him. And you must
believe that He is truly loving. If you are a real Christian trusting
in Christ alone, you should be able to say to yourself, my God
in Christ truly loves me. Am I always lovable? No. Am I many times objectionable
because of my remaining sin? Yes. But nevertheless, this God
who is my Savior in Christ truly loves me. And because he loves
me, he will indeed draw near to me as I draw near to him,
and he will hear my cries." Perhaps James had Psalm 145, verse 18
in his mind. We don't know that. I'm just
suggesting maybe he had that scripture in his mind when he
penned these words. In that Psalm we read, Jehovah
is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon
him in truth. So those are the two commands
with two promises. But now let's look at six individual
commands. The rest of verse 8 all the way
through verse 9. Six individual commands. Cleanse
is the first there in verse 8. Cleanse or wash your hands, you
sinners. In this context, James was clearly
writing about spiritual realities. He was not writing about Old
Testament ceremonial washings. He was not concerned about the
physical washing of one's hands as the Pharisees so often were. James used the word hands as
a synecdoche, that is, a figure of speech by which a part, in
this case hands, represents the whole, in this case the entire
man. James wanted his readers and
us today to understand that the removal of moral defilement,
which is connected with our outward behavior, is commanded by God. I'm going to say that again. The removal of moral defilement,
which is connected with our outward behavior, is commanded by God. Remember, James previously addressed
these professing Christians as those who can sinfully engage
in pleasures that war in their members. Verse one of chapter
four. He also told them that when they
have a friendship of the world, they are spiritual adulteresses
who are unfaithful to their God and Savior, who is like unto
a husband. And although their friendship
with the world begins in the heart, such friendship with the
world eventually manifests itself in sinful deeds done with the
body. No doubt James assumed that many
of his readers were genuine Christians, but they needed to be reminded
of the seriousness of any departure from godly behavior. And therefore,
with a sharpness and terseness, he addressed them as sinners,
in verse 8. Again, he regarded them, no doubt,
the majority of them, as genuine Christians. But he wanted them
to understand they must be living godly lives. And so, with a sharpness
and terseness, he addressed them as sinners, in verse 8, to sober
them. Because if they practiced sins
with their bodies, they would indeed manifest that they were
sinners. Sinners in a dangerous state,
spiritually speaking. But notice now, secondly in verse
8, Purify your hearts, you dumble-minded. James then moves on to address
the absolute necessity that every Christian purify his heart. Again, James uses a figure of
speech, the heart, to represent the entirety of man's spiritual
being. Holiness of heart must be supreme. It must be a supreme concern
to every professing Christian. Such holiness of heart will include
the thoughts, the imaginations, the affections, the desires,
the drives, the motives, everything. Outward conformity to the law
of God without inward conformity to the law of God in the heart
is hypocrisy. Outward conformity to the law
of God without inward conformity to the law of God in the heart
is hypocrisy. And James does not want any of
his readers to be hypocrites. James' words should remind us
of Psalm 24, where we read, Who shall ascend the hill of Jehovah? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that has clean hands and a
pure heart. He that has clean hands and a
pure heart. Very likely could be that James
thought of Psalm 24 as he penned the words of chapter 4 here in
his epistle. But note in verse 8 of chapter
4 the word which James used to address his readers at this point. He used the same word to address
them previously in chapter 1 and verse 8. As a faithful pastor
and as a spiritual heart surgeon, James does not want any of these
Christians to be double-minded. A double-minded individual is
someone who wavers between following and obeying God on the one hand,
and following and obeying the world on the other hand. Such
a professing Christian attempts to be a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ, while yet his heart is wedded either to a particular
sin or to the world and its ways. And when any Christian permits
any specific sin or any friendship with the world to entice him
away, pull him away from total, single-minded, wholehearted allegiance
to God, that individual has then become double-minded, with divided
loyalties, and will eventually become spiritually unstable. To profess to be a genuine disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to profess to be seeking God's forgiveness
and fellowship while cherishing and practicing consciously and
willfully what God hates is mockery. Mockery of God. Cherishing and
practicing consciously and willfully what God hates is mockery. I'm a Christian. I'm a member
of the church. I come faithfully to every Lord's
Day service. I read my Bible. I'm a Christian. But in the heart, in the life,
There is that cherishing and practicing of some sin that you
know in your conscience God hates because God's Word reveals that
he hates that specific sin. To do this is to scorn and disdain
the God of heaven and all of his perfect holiness. To be double-minded
is to regard with contempt and treat as nothing the Lord Jesus
Christ and his death on the cross under the wrath of God. Christian, do you understand
this? When you are cherishing, not repenting of a specific heart
sin in your life, And you know that as a pattern, this is a
sin that you have been indulging and even, as it were, protecting. When you do that, as a Christian,
you are regarding with contempt and treat as nothing the Lord
Jesus Christ and his death on the cross under the wrath of
God. To do that is to grieve the Holy Spirit whose work it
is to sanctify every believer in Jesus Christ. So what should you do if you
realize that you are such a double-minded individual sitting here tonight? You have some uncleanness in
your behavior that you know about, you know God knows about, but
no one else knows about it. You have some sinfulness as a
pattern in your heart, indulging that sin in your heart as a pattern
of life. You know about it, obviously.
You know God knows about it. No one else may know about it,
but you're doing this. You see, you're being double-minded. And what should you do? You should give up. Is that right? Of course not. You don't give
up. What should you do? First, get
your act together, clean yourself up. Well, in one sense, you should
clean yourself up by repenting, but you must go straight to the
Lord Jesus Christ immediately with all of your sins and all
of your guilt and ask for forgiveness for those specific sins and those
specific impurities of your heart and life. You must immediately
abandon those sins. Give them up. Abandon the impurities of heart
and life, all of them. You must do what we are urged
to do through Isaiah the prophet. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return unto Jehovah and he will have mercy upon him
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts, says
God, are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
says Jehovah. That is what you are to do if
you are double-minded sitting here tonight. You are to go straight
to Jesus Christ immediately. You are to confess your sins
of heart and life. You're to abandon those sins
of heart and life. You're to call upon the Lord,
for he will indeed abundantly pardon such sinners. But now
look at James chapter four, and look at verse nine. We have the third, the fourth,
and the fifth. imperatives here given to us by James. And with
these three words, be afflicted and mourn and weep, James, like
many Old Testament prophets, was calling the Lord's people
to a repentance that would be characterized to some degree
by a sense of one's wretchedness because of sin. Remember the
words of the apostle Paul, the words of the apostle Paul, the
words of Paul the Christian, the real Christian, where he
said, wrote, wretched man that I am. Paul did not write wretched
man that I was, though that was of course also true, but he wrote
wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? You see, we must have a sense
of our wretchedness because of the reality of our sin. So we
are to be afflicted. Grief in one's heart for offending
God. There must be an all-encompassing
sincere sorrow for sin. James was not saying to these
readers in verse 9, go around and publicly display your weeping. He wasn't saying that. He was saying that your repentance
must involve these realities. You must have from your heart
an all-encompassing, sincere sorrow for your real sins. Perhaps James, whose mind and
heart was immersed in the scriptures, perhaps he thought of Joel chapter
2, where we read, Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn you unto me
with all your heart. and with fasting, and with weeping,
and with mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments,
and turn unto Jehovah your God, for he is gracious, and merciful,
and slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and repents
him of the evil. Again, we don't know, but it
could be that James had such a passage in his mind as he wrote
these words in verse 9. Or perhaps James thought of the
apostle Peter when he denied knowing the Lord Jesus Christ
on the night of his betrayal. You all are familiar with that
history. The Lord turned and looked upon Peter And Peter remembered
the word of the Lord, how that he had said unto him, before
the rooster crow this day, you shall deny me three times. The Lord turned and looked upon
Peter. Peter remembered the Lord's warning
words. Peter saw the reality of his
sinful speech. his sinful, impure heart. And what did he do? He went out
and he wept bitterly. Have you ever wept? I don't mean
in public. Have you ever wept bitterly over
the reality of your sin? Have you ever felt the wretchedness
of your sin? Have you ever been grieved in
your heart for offending God? These are questions that James
would have you answer as we work through this passage. But now
notice in verse nine, James writes, let your laughter
be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness or to gloom. Now with these words, James was
not teaching that Christians can never laugh or have joy here
on earth. Both laughter and joy are gifts
from God when they are used biblically. Christians are not to walk around
on this earth with a continual spirit and behavior of sadness
and gloom. James was aware, however, that
Christians can, at times, slide into a casual attitude toward
sin. that can begin in the heart and
then manifest itself outwardly in their behavior. And when this
occurs, a Christian can engage, for example, in unseemly laughter
at sinful, off-color jokes at the office or in the university
with barely a twinge of conscience. Professing Christians can, sadly
at times, overstep the bounds of legitimate Christian liberty
and involve themselves in a worldly joy which dulls and deadens their
conscience. These real dangers gave James grave concern. James wanted these Christians
to understand again that friendship with the world, hypocrisy of
life, and indulging any sin as a pattern of life especially,
was a serious breach in their relationship with their loving
Heavenly Father. He wanted these readers to understand
that if that breach is not healed according to the gospel of repentance
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, temporal, spiritual problems,
even disasters could possibly result. These truths were intended
by James to sober these believers. And they are intended to sober
you tonight. And again, James is not saying
after this church service tonight, after it's over, that you should
all just sit around, not talk to one another, be sad, not smile,
not chuckle, not laugh. It's not what James is saying.
He's addressing the heart. He's addressing the outward behavior. He's addressing spiritual realities. And he wants you to examine yourself
and ask and answer the question, am I a friend of the world? Am I double-minded? Am I impure
in my heart? to answer those questions. But
now notice in verse 10, a concluding command and promise. Verse 10. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and he shall exalt you. This is the second bookend
of our passage. Remember that the first bookend
in our passage was there in verse 7, be subject therefore unto
God. Or the new King James says, therefore
submit to God. And James now in verse 10 reiterates
and emphasizes the absolutely vital need for this grace of
humility in the hearts and in the lives of every Christian. To humble yourself as a Christian
in the sight of the Lord, as James says here, means to throw
off all pride, whether gross or subtle pride, whether internal
pride or external pride, to throw off, to abandon, to forsake pride
in all of its manifestations. To humble yourself as a Christian
is to forsake arrogance, haughtiness, and lofty opinions in your attitudes,
your demeanor, your words, your behavior. To humble yourself as a Christian
in the sight of the Lord is to become aware increasingly of
God's greatness, God's holiness, God's omnipotence, God's love,
God's grace, and your own insignificance, your own sinfulness, remaining
sinfulness if you're a Christian, your own helplessness, your lovelessness,
your unworthiness to receive any mercy from God. Why are we proud? Why do we feel that evil sin
so quickly welling up from within the heart when some brother or sister doesn't
acknowledge us as we think they should? Or when some brother
or sister in Christ says something or writes something and you think,
how could they say that to me or write that to me in that text
message? Well, maybe they said or wrote
some things that were not right and sinful. But your response,
how could they do that to me? Well, who are you? Do you think you're so significant? Do you think you're the king
of kings? Why are we so quickly so proud? Why are we so quickly to point
out the pride in others when we ourselves are so exceedingly
proud? Oh, he's a very proud individual. Well, that statement, I think,
manifests that you're proud because you think you're somebody special. but to humble yourself as a Christian
in the sight of the Lord. We need to remember that God
is present in this auditorium. God is here seeing all of us. And unlike me, who can look from
right to left and see all of you, God sees into your conscience
God sees into your thoughts. God sees into your heart, your
motives, your affections. God sees everything about everyone
here in this auditorium. To humble yourself as a Christian
in the sight of the Lord is to become aware of God's greatness,
holiness, omnipotence, love, and to become aware of your own
insignificance, sinfulness, helplessness, lovelessness, and unworthiness
to receive anything from God. But God graciously promises that
when any sinner when any sinner truly humbles himself in the
sight of the Lord. Amazing wonder, he will exalt
that sinner. That's what the text says. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall exalt you. Isn't this what we read of in
the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? Two men went
up to the temple to pray, Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee
stood and prayed with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not
like the rest of men. He was full of pride. But the tax collector, standing
afar off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, smote
his breast with conviction of sin, saying, God, merciful to
me, the sinner." And what did Jesus say in reference to that
parable? This man, the tax collector,
went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee, for
everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he that humbles
himself shall be exalted. Well brethren, by way of review. In this passage in James 4, there
are two commands and two promises in verses 7 and 8. There are
six individual commands in verses 8 and 9. There's a concluding
command and promise in verse 10. And what are some lessons
to learn from this? Well, surely the most obvious
lesson is this. We see the absolute necessity
for the grace of humility in every Christian's life. Remember
how the disciples were arguing, who's gonna be greatest in the
kingdom of heaven? Jesus on that occasion called
a little child to himself, set him before those disciples, and
said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become as little
children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself, Jesus said, as this little child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Surely The overarching
teaching of this passage is that Christians need to be men and
women, boys and girls, who are clothed with true gospel humility
in their hearts and in their lives and in every aspect of
their lives. But that will never happen unless
you are turning away from all your sin, including pride, trusting
in Christ alone for forgiveness and cleansing and transformation. Jesus Christ came into the world
not only to forgive his elect their sins, but to transform
them from the inside out that they would be just like him. And what did he say on one occasion? Come unto me, all you who labor
and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, learn of me. Why? For I am meek and lowly
in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. He was characterized
by this grace of humility, perfect humility. And so from this passage,
there is a clarion call to all of us, myself included, to repent
of every aspect of being double-minded as a Christian. What specific sin, I ask again,
what specific sin, if any, are you holding on to? You know you
should not hold on to that specific sin. You confess that specific
sin frequently, maybe daily to God through Christ. You say you
want to be done with that specific sin, but then you don't truly,
really from the heart repent. And you are wavering back and
forth, back and forth. And you're unhappy. And you should
be unhappy because you're double-minded. The Lord Jesus Christ can forgive
you for that double-mindedness and the Lord Jesus Christ can
rescue you, deliver you from that double-mindedness. But you
must go to him and acknowledge that double-mindedness and ask
for his forgiveness and deliverance. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
for pardon and salvation and do so without delay. But then
the last lesson this evening from this passage. Salvation
is all of grace. Our good works do not earn forgiveness
or salvation. Our obedience to God's commands
do not earn us merit in the presence of God in heaven. And yet, It
is also totally true that the Christian life is a life with
many, many commandments from God. Isn't that clear from this
passage? James was not a legalist, but
James was not an antinomian either. James was on that razor's edge
of truth. believing, proclaiming the gospel
of Jesus Christ, but also knowing that the Christian life is a
life that does have many commands because God in his word has given
many commands to believers. And in this very passage, there's
command after command, after command, after command. And your
heart attitude towards those commands will reveal a lot about
your spiritual health. If you heard these commands this
night from this passage, and inwardly you're thinking, I really
don't like this. Just talk to me about God's grace. Too much of commands, commands.
But that's what's in the passage. What is your heart attitude towards
the commands of God in his word? It should be, command what you
will, Lord, and give me the grace to wholeheartedly obey your commands. And Lord, I know that my acceptance
with you is not based upon my obedience, not based upon my
law-keeping. It is based upon Jesus Christ
alone, His perfect righteousness, His blood shed on the cross,
His blood that cleanses away all my sins. It's in union with
Christ by faith that I am accepted by God the Father in heaven and
will be in the day of death and the day of judgment. But at the
same time, Lord, help me as a believer to honor you in this life, in
my heart, in my life, in this world. Help me to honor you by
being one who is really concerned to evangelically, from the heart,
obey all of your commandments. The Lord said, if you love me,
you will keep my commandments. It shows forth love to Jesus
Christ. So this passage clearly teaches
us our good works do not earn forgiveness or salvation. but
God gives his people many commands. And we should not regard any
of his commands as an irritation, a bother, a burden, but rather,
as the apostle Paul stated, I delight in the law of God in the inward
man. I believe he was referring to
the 10 commandments, maybe all of the word of God, but the principle
there is he delighted in God's law. and we are to do the same,
and God can enable each and every one of us to have such delight
in God's commandments. Well, may the Lord help us to
indeed take to heart the truths in this portion of James' letter.
So let's close in prayer. We cry to you, our gracious Father,
and ask that you would work in our hearts that none of us would
have impure hearts, unclean hands, that none of us who are your
disciples would be double-minded, be lovers of the world, friends
of the world. Lord, we ask that you would work
in all of our hearts, that we would honor you by our living,
inwardly as well as outwardly. And we pray that whenever we
sin, and we know we will sin, May we always immediately go
straight to Jesus Christ, your son, our savior, for forgiveness,
for cleansing in his blood. Lord, help us also as your people
to be an obedient people, to find delight in your word and
in your commandments. We come to you, our God, and
ask for all of these realities so that you will be honored and
glorified. and we would be bright, shining
lights in this very dark world in which we live. So hear and
answer our prayers as we come now in Jesus' name. Amen.
James Part 27: Christian Humility and Submission
Series James
| Sermon ID | 71325231544120 |
| Duration | 54:16 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | James 4:7-10 |
| Language | English |
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