James 4:7-10
~17 min read
💭 Consider this: Of the commands given by the Apostle James in this passage, which do you find most difficult to obey and why?
TRANSCRIPT
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for today's message is taken from James 4:7-10.
In our previous message, we have considered how James was dealing with the conflict in the church. Although he was writing to the church, he was referring to the unbelievers who were causing trouble in the church, for he called them the enemies of God. The local church, like Bethel BP Church, is made up of believers and unbelievers. Therefore, it is possible for someone to be in a church, to worship for many years, to grow up in the Sunday school, to be a baptised member, or even to serve in a certain capacity, and yet be an unbeliever—an enemy of God.
Throughout this book, James' purpose was for the professed Christians to test their faith, to find out whether it was true or false. He did not want anyone to be deceived into believing that they were saved while the reality was that they were not saved and they were on their way to hell. To all those people who were willing to look to God for salvation, no matter how sinful they were, no matter how much they loved and followed the world, and no matter how enslaved they were to the sinful passions of the world, God's grace had more than sufficient power to save, redeem, purify, and sanctify them.
This was the main emphasis of this passage. It was a call to salvation—a great invitation to come to Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you are a believer and you are thinking, ‘Well, since this passage is about a call to salvation and essentially it is about the gospel message, then it does not apply to me because I'm already a believer.’ Have you ever questioned your own salvation? Have you ever questioned if your profession of faith is real or not? Most certainly you have. Then I urge you to take this passage and ask yourself this question: Have I experienced all these things mentioned in this passage?
Salvation is not just to mouth certain words. It is more than just a profession of faith. There must be certain things that will back our profession of faith. This is what we want to learn from this passage. The title of our message is "What Constitutes True Salvation.”
I. A Submission To God
Firstly, there must be this submission to God. Beginning with James 7:4, "Submit yourselves therefore to God." The word "submit" is a military term which means to rank under, like the soldier who is a private is ranked under the corporal, and the corporal is ranked under the captain, and the captain is ranked under the general. That is the idea. No one can be saved without first submitting himself to God, to willingly come under His sovereign authority as Lord, to follow His will no matter what happens.
Submitting to God is to obey His word about Jesus Christ and the gospel, to follow Him not only as our Saviour but as our Lord as well. That is why we commonly use the phrase ‘Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ Jesus is not only our Saviour; He is the Lord of our lives. So to submit to God is to acknowledge that He alone is in control of our lives, how we ought to live, what we ought to do or not to do.
Dear friend, if you are an unbeliever, you may reject the existence of God. However, He is still the one who brought you into this world, and He is the one who determines when you leave this world. You cannot live in this world for one second more than you should if the Lord does not permit you. That is our sovereign God. The earlier you know this truth, the better it is so that you will submit yourself to Him.
If you are a believer, ask yourself these questions: Is Jesus truly the Lord of my life, or am I still so full of myself? Everything I do—my actions, my words, my thoughts—are they done in view of who He is and what He has done for me? If Jesus is truly my Lord, am I submissive to His will? When my friends' children are excelling in school and my children are struggling, having trouble with their lessons, do I blame God? When I lose my job, do I doubt and question? Is God sovereign in all things? Is He in control of everything, including me losing my job? When I fail in my health, am I angry with God, or do I trust that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose?
Every one of us has to answer these questions personally.
II. A Resistance Against The Devil
Our second point is: Resistance against the devil. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." To "resist" means to stand against, to oppose. James had previously said, ‘The friendship of the world is enmity with God, and whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.’ In other words, there is no middle ground, no neutrality. You are either for God or you are against Him. If you are for God, then you must oppose the devil.
The devil has many names. He is called the deceiver, slanderer, accuser, the father of lies, and so forth and he wants to take control of our lives. Before our conversions, we were the children of the devil. We were walking according to the prince of the power of the air—that is Satan. We were walking according to the course of this world. But upon our conversions, we now belong to Christ. We have become the children of God.
Our salvation brings about a change—a change of masters, a change of allegiance, and a change of family. We are turned from serving the devil to serving God. We are turned from being slaves to Satan and sin, to being slaves of Christ and His righteousness. There must be a radical change, and this radical change will cause us to resist the devil and his evil temptations.
For the unbelievers, the devil is happy with the condition they are in, and he wants them to remain in that condition, with no resistance against his control, no struggle against his evil world system, no fight against sin, all the way until they die. If that is your condition, where you see no resistance, no struggle, no fight, something is terribly wrong because that is an indication that the person is lost.
For the believers, the devil is not happy because there is this constant resistance against his control, and he will do everything he can to overwhelm them. The only way to resist the devil is through the word of God. A classic example in resisting the devil is found in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. For 40 days and 40 nights, the devil tried to tempt our Lord Jesus with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. But each time, Jesus quoted the Holy Scriptures: ‘It is written, it is written, it is written.’ And in the end, the devil could do nothing but to leave Him alone.
Dear friend, Satan cannot hold us against our will. Whenever we sin, we sin willingly. He cannot lead us to sin without us agreeing. In the face of temptation, we must resist the devil by holding on to the word of God. And when we do that, he can do nothing; he has to flee, he has to release his hold on us. However, he will come to us again and again through the evil influences of this world, but he can be defeated repeatedly if you and I are equipped with the word of God and if we put on the whole armour of God that is found in Ephesians 6:7-10. Only then will we be able to resist the devil.
Look at the next verse, verse 8: "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." Basically, to resist the devil is to turn our backs to the devil, and to draw near to God is to turn our faces to God. So there is a turning away, and there is a turning toward. And the truth is that when we go after God, He will go after us.
All of us are familiar with the story of the prodigal son in the Bible. He asked his father for his inheritance and squandered all the money. Later, he repented of his actions and turned to go back home. But while he was still far away from home, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. And what did the father do? The father ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. That is a wonderful picture we have here. When we draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to us. As one theologian rightly said, ‘When we inch toward God, He will step toward us. When we step toward Him, He will run to us. When we run to Him, He will fly to us.’ That is our loving Heavenly Father.
Essentially, James was calling the people to pray. The essence of prayer is the heart drawing near to God. Prayer is the soul's desire to come to God, to receive His salvation, love, grace, and mercy. No sinner who calls upon God for salvation will be rejected. Jesus Himself said, ‘No one who comes to me will be cast out.’
God's salvation will not be delayed, but immediate. God will not say to you, ‘Well, let me think about it. Maybe I will give you the answer by tomorrow.’ No, rather He will save you right away, immediately, the very moment you call upon Him through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
We see that happening even when our Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross of Calvary. One of the criminals who was hanging beside Jesus called out to Him, ‘Lord, remember me when Thou enters into Thy kingdom.’ At that point in time, Jesus was already on the verge of His death. Even just to catch His breath, He had to push Himself up to draw breath into His lungs, and by doing that, the nails would rip through His nerves and bones, causing excruciating pain. Despite His own suffering, Jesus turned and said to him, ‘Today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.’
Perhaps that is the most wonderful picture of a person drawing near to God, and God drawing near to him—immediately, instantly. For those of us who are believers, isn't it true that we have not only experienced this truth in our conversions, but even in the darkest moments of our lives?
There were times when we lost our dearest loved ones, when we were desperate, when we felt so dejected and depressed, when we were lying on our sick beds with no one to turn to nor anyone who could help us. And we cried out to God, ‘Lord, help me.’ Then we experienced this love and comfort, and we felt this sense of peace that surpasses all understanding.
Today, we see many little children running around the church. Whenever one of these little ones falls down, you will notice that all the heads of the parents will turn to see if it is their child. When the parents notice that it is their child who has fallen, their immediate thoughts would be, ‘Is he hurt? Is it serious? How serious is it?’ And these thoughts will be running through their minds as they scoop up the child in their arms and say, ‘It is all right, Daddy and Mummy are here.’
How much more will our Heavenly Father, who loves us with a perfect love, will do to us? The moment we cry out to Him in prayer, He will come to us. But salvation is not only turning to God; there must also be a turning away. Remember, one must resist the devil, turn away from his wicked ways. So, there must be a turning away from sin. The unbeliever cannot come to God apart from repentance.
III. A Repentance From Sin
This brings us to our third point: A repentance from sin. Therefore, James said in the second part of verse eight, "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." Here, obviously, James was speaking to the unbelievers, for he called them sinners.
In the Old Testament Levitical law, the priests could not enter into the tabernacle or temple to minister the sacrifices unless they first washed their hands. Otherwise, they would die the moment they approached God before the altar. The washing of hands signifies cleansing from sin.
Isaiah the prophet said in Isaiah 1:15, "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear” - why? Because - "your hands are full of blood." So, what must you do? Wash and cleanse yourself, put away the evil of your doings from My eyes, cease to do evil. In other words, you must repent and turn away from your sins, otherwise God will not hear.
Only when the sinner turns to God in repentance and in faith then Jesus Christ will cleanse his sins and purify his heart by His precious blood. So, salvation involves turning to God and turning away from our sins. You cannot be calling out to God and yet holding on to your sins—that is to be double-minded.
A double-minded man is someone who lacks integrity. He says something and does something else. He says he believes in God, and yet holds on to his sins. Therefore, a double-minded man cannot possibly be a Christian. Actually, the literal meaning for double-minded is much stronger than just double-minded—it means to have double souls. It is impossible to have two souls or two hearts, one in heaven and one on earth. Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24).
In the 20th century, at the beginning of that century, there was a gangster in New York named Mickey Cohen. He was involved in all kinds of organised crimes. He was the boss of the Cohen crime family. Apparently, he was associated with the infamous Italian mafia, Al Capone. Once, Mickey attended an evangelistic worship service where Billy Graham was the speaker, and he appeared to be interested. As a result, many Christian leaders began to visit him because they knew that his conversion would have a great impact in society. One night, after the evening worship service, he was urged to open his heart and call out to Jesus to come into his life. Cohen did just that, but several months later, it was evident that he was still back to his life of crimes.
When he was confronted by the Christian leaders about why he was still doing the things he did before, his response was that ‘No one had told me that he would have to give up his work and his friends.’ And he infamously said, ‘After all, there are Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians—why not a Christian gangster?’
We may think that is ridiculous, but that is exactly what some professed Christians are doing. On one hand, they want Jesus; on the other hand, they want to hold on to their sins. On one hand, they want heaven; on the other hand, they want the world. That is impossible. That is to be double-minded. That is to be double-souled.
Dear friend, are you such a person? Are you living such a life whereby you say you love Jesus, and yet you are still so in love with the world? You say you want to live a life of righteousness, but your life has nothing to do with God's righteousness nor His glory. It is just all about you and your life—it is a life of sin, worldliness, and unrighteousness.
We are not saying that a Christian is perfect, or sinless perfection, no man is. We are speaking about habitual sins—living a life with this pattern of sin. It is better for us to know our spiritual condition today than to deceive ourselves into believing that all is well with our souls, and then swing into eternity—it will be too late. We must repent and come to Jesus, repent of all our sins, and turn to Him, the only One who can save us.
IV. An Understanding Of Sin’s Gravity
Our final point is: An understanding of sin's gravity. To be saved, one must understand the gravity of sin. Sin is not a laughing matter; most certainly, it is not something to be taken lightly. There is a price to be paid for sin, and it is a price that none of us can pay.
Look at verse 9: "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." The word “afflicted” means miserable—it carries the idea of being broken, feeling wretched because of one's circumstances. When the unbeliever realises that he is sinful, lost, eternally separated from God forever and ever, he cannot help it but to be miserable—be afflicted.
Can you imagine knowing that you will be going to hell—a million upon a million years you will still be tormented in the lake of fire, a place the Bible says where the fire never stops burning? How can you not grieve and weep? How can you still have the appetite for laughter and joy? No, the problem with the vast majority in this world is that they do not pause to think about their sins. ‘What about my sins? Who can save me from my sins? How will God deal with my sins?’
But that is precisely where Satan wants them to be—to think that everything is all right, that this is the only life there is, this is the heaven on earth, so to speak, so just eat, drink, and be merry. There’s no such thing as heaven and hell, and there’s no such thing as judgment. Man is able to see the physical aspects of total opposites—by that I mean they know that in life, there is good and evil, light and darkness, day and night, joy and sadness, life and death. But sadly, when it comes to the spiritual aspects of total opposites, that there is God and Satan, heaven and hell, eternal life and eternal death, judgment and blessing, sin and righteousness—they just shut their eyes and refuse to believe.
No wonder the Bible says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)
When the Spirit of God opens your spiritual eyes to see these things, and you realise that there is a price to pay for sins, that it is appointed unto man once to die, after this the judgment. And even if you were to die a million times, you cannot pay the wages of sins.
That is when you will be afflicted and miserable. That is when you will weep and grieve. That is when your laughter will stop, and you will start to mourn, and your joy will be turned to this heaviness of heart.
What must I do? The only thing you can do is to turn to the one who came for you, took all your sins to the Cross, died for you, shed His precious blood to save you. He was buried because of you, and He rose again from the dead to give you life and resurrection. He is none other than our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Only Jesus can save, and He alone can forgive all our sins. You reject Him, you reject the only way. When you humble yourself and turn to Him, He will lift you up from the miry pit of sin and death. As verse 10 tells us, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
For those of us who are believers, we know the gravity of sin. Because of our sins, that was why Jesus must come. He must die and shed His precious blood, without which we can never be saved. How then can we play the fool with sin? How then can we take sin lightly? How can we adopt this attitude, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter because God will forgive me anyway?’ God forbids that we have this kind of attitude. Each time we sin, we ought to be miserable. We ought to grieve and weep. We ought to be sad and sorrowful.
Our attitude should be like the tax collector who stood far away, who dared not even look up into the heavens but smote his breast and said, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’ And Jesus said, when we humble ourselves and come to Him, He will lift us up, and then we will have the joy of the Lord. Oftentimes people want to have this joy of the Lord without understanding that there is something that precedes this joy of the Lord, and that is this deep grief for sin.
Once, an old preacher was informed that in one of his services, a certain woman had experienced the joy of the Lord, as in she was converted, she had believed in the gospel. Then he asked this most penetrating question: ‘But was there any sorrow?’ He knew that there is always this deep grief that precedes the real joy. There's always this feeling of hopelessness, lostness, grief, and humility before the joy of the Lord will come.
Remember the prodigal son, which we have considered a moment ago. He humbled himself, came to the father, and said, ‘I have sinned against heaven and against you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ What did the father say? The father turned to the servants and said, ‘Bring the best robe, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, kill the fatted calf. We will have a banquet tonight because my son who is dead is now alive. He is lost but is found.’ There was great rejoicing, and the prodigal son was lifted up.
Dear friend, we are all like the prodigal son. We have gone astray in our sins, in our pursuits of worldly things. The question is: have we returned home to God, or are we still lingering in the world of sin?
Have we truly experienced true salvation? True salvation constitutes a submission to God, a resistance against the devil, a repentance from sin, and an understanding of sin’s gravity. Come home to God today. Today is the day of salvation because tomorrow may never come. May the Lord teach us, help us, that we may apply these truths into our lives.
Let us pray, Father in Heaven, indeed sometimes when we read this passage, we tend to think that it is only for the unbelievers, for it is a call to salvation. It is a great invitation to come to Jesus. Indeed it is, but at the same time, it does apply to us too who profess to be believers. Because throughout this book, James was asking all the professed believers to test their faith, whether it be real or not.
We want to test our faith, whether we truly believe in Thee or not, or it is just a profession of faith with no meaning at all. Our profession of faith must be backed by certain things, and Thou has taught us through this passage that true salvation constitutes certain things, and that is a submission to Thee, a resistance against the devil, a repentance from sin, and an understanding of sin’s gravity.
Oh Lord, if we have experienced all these things, praise be to Thee because it is the wonder-working of Thy Spirit and cause us always to live out this truth. If we have not experienced these things, oh Lord, may Thou convict our hearts today. For truly, today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late, for tomorrow may never come. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF JAMESFacing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 1]Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 1]James 1:1-4
Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 2]Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 2]James 1:1-4
The Need For Wisdom In Times Of TrialThe Need For Wisdom In Times Of TrialJames 1:5-8
Trial Is No Respecter Of PersonsTrial Is No Respecter Of PersonsJames 1:9-12
How To Deal With TemptationHow To Deal With TemptationJames 1:13-15
Remember Who God Is And Who We AreRemember Who God Is And Who We AreJames 1:16-18
Be Receptive To The Word Of GodBe Receptive To The Word Of GodJames 1:19-21
Doers of the WordDoers of the WordJames 1:21-25
Be Responsive To The Word Of GodBe Responsive To The Word Of GodJames 1:22-25
Are You Transformed By The Word?Are You Transformed By The Word?James 1:26-27
The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 1]The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 1]James 2:1-4
The Sin of PartialityThe Sin of PartialityJames 2:1-13
The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 2]The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 2]James 2:5-13
Show Me Your Faith, And I Will Show You MineShow Me Your Faith, And I Will Show You MineJames 2:14-20
Faith In ActionFaith In ActionJames 2:21-26
A Warning To Want-To-Be TeacherA Warning To Want-To-Be TeacherJames 3:1-2
Seminar: The Role of the Sunday School Teacher (Part 2 of 2)Seminar: The Role of the Sunday School Teacher (Part 2 of 2)James 3:1-13
The Power Of The TongueThe Power Of The TongueJames 3:3-6
The Taming Of The TongueThe Taming Of The TongueJames 3:7-12
The Danger Of False WisdomThe Danger Of False WisdomJames 3:13-16
The Blessing Of Heavenly WisdomThe Blessing Of Heavenly WisdomJames 3:17-18
Dealing With Conflict In The ChurchDealing With Conflict In The ChurchJames 4:1-6
War And PeaceWar And PeaceJames 4:1-10
What Constitutes True SalvationWhat Constitutes True SalvationJames 4:7-10
Speak No EvilSpeak No EvilJames 4:11-12
God’s Plan Or My Plan?God’s Plan Or My Plan?James 4:13-17
Physically Rich But Spiritually PoorPhysically Rich But Spiritually PoorJames 5:1-6
How To Be Patient In Times Of TroubleHow To Be Patient In Times Of TroubleJames 5:7-11
Simply Speak The TruthSimply Speak The TruthJames 5:12; Matthew 5:33-37
What To Do When It HurtsWhat To Do When It HurtsJames 5:13-18
The Value Of The SoulThe Value Of The SoulJames 5:19-20
