James 4:7-10 James' Roadmap to Repentance and Faith in God
Our text is James 4:7-10 but I would like for us to read James 4:6-10. James 4:6-10 says, “But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. ’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the LORD, and He will exalt you.”
The larger context: in James 4:1-6 it is about quarreling and fights among God’s people. In James 4:13-17 we are exhorted not to speak against each other.
James 4:6 & 10 speaks of receiving grace and being exalted by the LORD.
If we are to receive grace and be exalted by God we must consider what James says in vv. 7-10: submit, resist, draw near, cleanse our hands, purify our hearts, be wretched, be mournful, weep, turn, humble ourselves. Failure to do this will not help us overcome these sins and it may even bring on God’s severe discipline and judgment. (Isaiah 22:12-13)
This world does not usually admire and reward humble and meek people. No, it is the proud, the arrogant, and the self-seeking who are exalted. (James 2:1-13) Before Paul was saved he enjoyed great success in his society. Paul testified, “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.” (Galatians 1:14)
Before Paul became a Christian he was a man who knew the Jewish traditions, believed them, lived by them, and defended them unto imprisonment and death. Because of this Paul displayed great zeal against anyone who did not support these traditions.
Question: Where did this extreme zeal lead Paul? These things led Paul to advance in ‘Judaism’ faster than many other men his own age. Illustration #1: In King David’s day there was a group of men who were known as ‘David’s Mighty Men’. This group of men were the best of the best fighting men. Among these mighty men there were three men who were chief among them and they were men of great renown (2 Samuel 23:8). Similarly, in Paul’s day there was a group of extremely zealous men for the traditions of their fathers and among the most zealous of these men was Saul. Therefore, Saul was becoming renown in these things.
Illustration#2: Paul was like a soldier who excels at every mission. Think of Paul as a soldier who had so much success that he would be given an opportunity to become a Navy Seal. When he excelled at being a Navy Seal he would be promoted and made a platoon leader. After a short amount of time Paul would be promoted again and made the commander over all the special operation forces. And if everything continued to go as planned he would eventually become a five star general and he would soon become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff which is the highest position.
The leaders in Jerusalem trusted Paul and they knew that he would do the dirty work that no one else would do. For example, Paul, by his own initiative, asked the leaders in Israel for permission to persecute the church of God and to destroy it. (Acts 9:1-3) Paul received permission to do this and it appeared like nothing was going to stop him from succeeding.
And yet, something unexpected happened to him on his way to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-19) Paul describes this moment in Galatians with these words, “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to m, in order that I might preach Him…”. (Galatians 1:14-16)
Imagine the power that must be involved in the effectual call of God that can convert a man like Saul. (James 1:18) Think about the power of God’s grace which can transform a man who describes himself as having been the chief of sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15)
Who could have ever imagined that Paul, who was once so exalted among his own people, would one day testify, “I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death...fools for Christ’s sake...weak...held in disrepute...To this present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless...reviled, persecuted, slandered. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things”? (1 Corinthians 4:8-13) When Paul was humbled and became a servant of Christ he was no longer exalted in this world.
In the Book of Philippians Paul speaks about how Jesus had made him His own. (3:12) Then Paul says this in Philippians 3:17-20, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…”.
Here Paul speaks about how important it is to keep our eyes on godly people and imitate them. We are to consider men like Paul and James who were once prideful and zealous for the teachings of this world but now they are humble men who have become servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:1; James 1:1 & 2:1)
Question: If we were to look at Paul, or James, or someone like them what would we see?
I think that James gives us a picture of what we would see in James 4:7-10. He gives us 10 commands that every believer should be obeying so that God is pleased and so that they will receive God’s grace and be exalted by Him.
James 4:6 says, “But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the LORD, and he will exalt you.” However, If we do not do them He is not pleased with us and He will not exalt us.
If we will not do this consider what Isaiah 22:12-13 says, “In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die....Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,’ says the Lord of hosts.’”
Let’s consider the 10 commands that James writes in our text. #1- If we were consider James he would be ‘submitting to God’. (7a)
As we have seen the context of these commands has to do with ‘fighting’ and ‘quarreling’ among God’s people. These sins occur because our sinful passions, our hedonistic desires. We want and cannot have, we desire and cannot obtain, so we commit sin. James says that this is a symptom that we are an adulterous people who are seeking to be friends with the world and have become enemies of God. James is referring to people who are allowing themselves to be controlled by the desire of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. (1 John 2:15-16) Therefore, the first thing we need to begin to do is to submit ourselves to God.
Question: What does it mean to submit to God? James, who described himself as a servant of God (1:1), has been teaching us that we are to submit to God’s Word and obey it. (1:22-25) God will not exalt someone who will not listen to His Word, submit to it, and obey it.
I have found it comforting to see that submitting to God is the first command James gives. I say this because when we are quarreling and fighting with other people we may believe that it is impossible to submit to others. Indeed, it is if we have not first humbled ourselves before God and received His grace. James 4:7-10 is a good text to begin with when we are trying to address sin, but we tend to deal with sin thinking that will bring God’s grace. We often put the cart before the horse in this way.
Have you ever gone to marriage counseling, family counseling, or any other type of counseling and these verses were the first thing that was brought up? James 4:1-12 is both to be considered in the corporate and personal context. Each of us should be submitting to God and receiving His grace so that we might be exalted out of these sins.
#2- If we were to consider James he would be ‘resisting the devil’ and seeing him flee. (7b) Question: Do you know that you are engaged in a spiritual battle? (Ephesians 4:26-27, 2 Corinthians 12:7, )
In Luke 8 Jesus told ‘The Parable of the Sower’. He teaches that the Word of God is preached and the very first attack against the Word of God is that ‘the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.’ (8:12) The devil seeks to blind the hearts of men so they cannot be saved. (2 Corinthians 4:4) If you are committed to ‘submit to God and His Word’ you will inevitably come under Satan’s attack. (Matthew 4:1-11)
If you do not know that you are engaged in this spiritual battle then you are not even resisting the devil and there is no chance that he will flee from you. (Ephesians 6:10-20) In Acts 19:11-20 we read about the seven sons of Sceva who are described as ‘itinerant Jewish exorcists’. These seven men tried to cast out a demon from a man and the demon answered them, saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (15)
Could it be that the demon knew about Paul because his life was characterized by the things spoken of in James 4:7-10? It was Paul’s practice to submit to God and His Word. (point #1) The devil would come against the Word of God but Paul would resist him and he would have to flee. Perhaps Paul would follow Jesus’ example when He said to Satan, “Be gone Satan! For it is written in the scriptures…”. (Mt. 4:10) When Jesus did this we read, “Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him.” (4:11)
These ‘itinerant Jewish exorcists’ had never submitted to God and His Word but they tried to engaged in Christian warfare like Paul did and it did not go well for them. (Acts 19:11-12, 16) Therefore, we should now ask ourselves two questions.
First, are you submitting to God in prayer and in the Word?
Second, do you realize that you are engaged in spiritual battle?
#3- If we were to consider James we would see him ‘drawing near to God’. (8a)
The Biblical Equation in James 4:7-8a- Command #1 {submit to God and His Word} leads to Command #2 {spiritual warfare with the devil} which leads to command #3 {draw near to God and He will draw near to us to minister to us} (Matthew 4:11; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10)
Illustration: For the last several years we have had ducks in our pond. The mother duck guards her children carefully. As they grow she allows them to venture out a little farther but if they go to far and are separated from her they are in serious trouble. Those ducklings who have the best chance at surviving are those who stay close to their mother. Similarly, a wise Christian always draws near to God through the Word and Prayer.
When Adam and Eve encountered the Devil in the Garden of Eden they should have drawn near to God through prayer and remembering His Word to them. They did not do this and so they sinned. After they sinned they ran even farther away from God, but God drew near to them and showed them great mercy. (Genesis 3:8-9) Believers are invited to draw near to God to receive mercy and grace. (Hebrews 4:16)
Question: If the LORD has drawn so near to us even when we have sinned, can we not be even more assured that He will draw near to us when we call out to Him, seek Him, and draw near to Him?
Question: How do we draw near to God? In the immediate context of our text we draw near to God…
Through prayer asking for things that are according to His will. (4:2-3)
We draw near to God by submitting to His Word. (4:6-7a)
We draw near to God by resisting the devil by knowing that we have the Holy Spirit in us (4:5). The devil will try to tempt us as he did Jesus by saying, “If you are a child of God do this or that.” The devil must flee when we apply the Word of God in faith. (4:7b) When we do this God draws near to us and minsters grace to us. (Mt. 4:11)
One of the ways we know that we are truly drawing near to God is that we will see our sins and confess them. We will say with Isaiah, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) As we see and confess these sins the LORD will draw near to us and cleanse us as He did for Isaiah, saying, “Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:5)
This being the case, let us consider commands #4 & #5- If we were to consider James he would be ‘cleansing himself’ and ‘purifying his heart’ (8)
We saw that in James 2 James gave the recipients of this letter a test. Not many of them passed this test. Well, in our text today we see that James is willing to test himself and then respond wisely and with understanding. James evaluates his life and he determines to deal with any sin that is found.
Biblical Equation: Command #1 {submit to God and His Word} leads to Command #2 {spiritual warfare with the devil} which leads to command #3 {draw near to God and He will draw near to us to minister to us}. This leads to #4&5 and the grace to see and address the sin in our hearts.
Like Isaiah, as James comes humbly to the LORD he sees his sin. He confesses this sin to God and seeks God’s grace to be sanctified of it. (James 1:13-15; 1 John 1:9) God will not exalt and give grace to those who are prideful and who do not desire to be clean and pure.
If men like James and Paul and other mature Christians are willing to be an example for us in these things, should we not follow their example. As we are learning in Sunday School from Hebrews 6:1-2 there are so many believers who sin and they do not know how to be cleansed and be restored. They need to learn to repent and have faith in God to forgive and sanctify us. As we do this sin will no longer side-line us, make us unproductive, and keep us from maturing and being fruitful.
Our text today reminds us that the best Christians still sin. The best Christian among us still needs to pursue purity. The last five verbs encourage us to go through this process regarding sin by ‘being wretched, mourning, weeping, sorrowing, and humbling’ ourselves before God.
#6-10- If we were to consider James he would humble himself and deal with sin by ‘being wretched, mourning, weeping, sorrowing, and humbling’ himself before the LORD because of his sin. (9-10)
James speaks of ‘being wretched’. When a believer desires to be exalted by God sins he will be miserable. He will loath the sin that he sees in himself. Paul considered his sin and said, “Wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24)
A person who desires to be exalted by the LORD will ‘mourn’ over the sin that he sees in his life whether big or small. When a believer sees their sin they will have great distress and look to the LORD and His mercy saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress.” (2:2&8) Like David the humble and submissive Christian will draw near to God and say, “My iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs on my head; my heart fails me.” (Psalm 40:12) When sin blinds us and makes us unable to see we may find that our mourning, weeping, and sorrowing over sin will cleanse our soul and restore our sight.
Can you imagine looking at men like Paul or James and seeing them ‘weep’ over their sins?
Paul and James were tough men but when they saw their sin they could mourn, weep, and sorrow over it. They did not do these things to be seen by men. They would deal with these sins while alone with God as they submitted to Him, drew near to Him, and then God convicted them of these sins. God will exalt a person who deals honestly with his sin.
James says, “Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Paul tells the Philippian believers that they are to be joyful at all times. (Philippians 4:4) However, James is reminding all believer that they are never rejoice in sin and evil. They are never to find joy in that which the LORD hates.
Proverbs 10:23 says, “Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool…”.
Proverbs 15:21 says, “Folly is joy to one who lacks judgment…”.
A believer is to mourn, weep, sorrow over sin. They are to turn their laughter into mourning and their joy into gloom. Paul confronted the Corinthians when they failed to do this. They should have mourned over the sin being committed by someone in the church but they did not. They boast of this sin which is something not even the world would do. (1Corinthians 5:6; James 4:14)
Therefore, Paul called upon them to display godly sorrow that would lead to repentance. (2 Corinthians 7:8-10) Once the Corinthians experienced godly sorrow that led to repentance they could not rejoice and boast in sin; rather, they would be ashamed of that sin.
Lastly, Paul exhorts them again to, “Humble yourselves before the LORD” and then gives them this promise, “and He will exalt you.”
James has spoken a lot about repentance in this passage and if we will do this the LORD Himself will exalt us and give us His mercy and grace. (Hebrews 4:16) James ends our text today by giving us a promise. The one who will obey these commands will be exalted by God. James leaves no room for us to doubt, “He will do this!”
Proverbs 24:16 says, “The righteous falls seven times and rises again”; however, our text today reminds us that this righteous man does not pull himself up by his own bootstraps. No, the LORD restores, heals, and lifts that man out of the miry pit of destruction when they submit themselves to God and humble themselves before Him.
In Psalm 40 David, like Paul and James, shows us that there are two opportunities for us to practice what we see in James 4:7-10.
In Psalm 40:1-3 we see that we do these things when we first receive salvation. When we see our sins and cry out to God for help He will save us. We can then testify with David, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog.” Can you testify with David that you have been exalted unto salvation?
We also see in Psalm 40 that after this happens a Christians whole life is characterized by seeing sin and confessing it to God for forgiveness and for the deliverance from them. (12-13) Is your life characterized, as David’s was, by continuing to confess your sins and to look to the LORD? Do you humbly come to God saying, “May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the LORD. As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought of me. You are my help and deliverer; do not delay, O my God!’”? (40:16-17)
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