James 4:7-10

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. ⁹ Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Over the past several weeks, we have been learning about worldliness, what worldly wisdom is, and why they are both so detrimental. Worldliness and worldly wisdom consist of jealousy and selfish ambition. Essentially all manner of evil in the world comes from the sinful hearts and selfish desires of fallen mankind. The world system is rooted in lust and pride (1 John 2:15-17) and all who align themselves with that type of living make themselves opposed to God and His purposes (James 4:4-6). What is the solution to such worldliness? It is humility found in submission to God. In James 4:7-10, we are given five things we are called to do in turning from worldliness. These five things are essentially a five-fold description of what we call repentance. This week, we will examine the first two of those five aspects of repentance.

The first action James calls on us to take in response to worldliness in our hearts and lives is found in verse 7. We are to submit to the Master. The answer to the selfish ambition of worldly wisdom is submitting to God rather than our sinful desires. The fighting that James addressed in 4:1-3 resulted from those he wrote to being guided and controlled by their sinful desires. The word “Submit” in the Greek language was a military term used to describe ranking under a superior. It is a passive form and would communicate a voluntary submission. The same root of the word occurs again in verse 10 in the Greek word for “Humble.” The word implies lowliness and making one’s self low in relation to someone else. There was a time in all of our lives when were under the leadership of Satan. We “walked according to the course of this world” and lived our lives continually “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (Ephesians 2:2-3). By God’s grace, believers have been saved from that and been brought into God’s kingdom and His family (Colossians 1:13). By submitting to God, believers “resist the devil.” The word “resist” means to oppose. It is another military term that describes taking a firm stand against an enemy. The same concept appears in Ephesians 6:10-13 where Paul instructs believers to “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” The devil, of course, is the great enemy of God and His people. He is the serpent from the Garden of Eden. He is referred to in the Old Testament as Satan, which means adversary, and in the New Testament as the devil, which means slanderer. In an age full of confusion about spiritual warfare, believers are not called to oppose the devil with formulas for casting out demons, verbally rebuking him, or someone authoritatively binding him with a command or Scripture passage. Instead, the only instructions believers have for spiritual warfare in the Bible is to stand against Him by taking on the armor that God has provided in salvation. That armor is put on in prayer. The way we resist the devil is by submitting to God. We don’t stand and fight in our strength, but we’re called to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10) by taking on “the whole armour of God” (Ephesians 6:13). When Moses and Aaron, on two occasions in Numbers 14:1-4 and Numbers 16:1-22, were opposed by doubting Israelites, they didn’t try to argue or fight. Instead, Numbers 14:5, 16:4, and 16:22 tell us that they fell on their faces before God in prayer. It is only when we “Submit to God” that we “Resist the devil” and he flees from us. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us how we do this. We don’t resist the devil by learning tools of demonic exorcisms. Instead, we do so by “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). We find that Jesus responded to the devil’s temptations with the truth of the Word of God and the devil left him (Luke 4:13).

The second action we are called to take in response to worldliness is approaching God’s throne. A key component of repentance is also found in verse 8 which tells us to “Draw nigh to God.” The worst thing that we can do when we fall into sin is to run and hide as Adam and Eve did, even though this is our natural reaction from shame. We must recognize that, as believers, we have been brought near to God by the blood of His Son Jesus. We have the promise that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We have the promise that there is “no condemnation” in Christ (Romans 8:1) and that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ (Romans 8:35-39). We are thus invited, rather compelled, to go to the throne of God for forgiveness and restoration. We are called to go to God with our sin and selfish worldliness recognizing that “He giveth more grace” (James 4:6). God calls us to come to Him. We have to humble ourselves before Him and respond to His call leading us into repentance (Romans 2:4). There is what Vance Havner called a “holy desperation” we must have for God. It is a desperation for God put in our hearts by Him for intimate fellowship with Him and separation from sin. It is in our brokenness and humility that He will meet us. Psalm 34:18 and 51:16-17 both emphasis the “broken heart” and “contrite heart” that God will never turn away from. We are called to “come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). It is in that place that God will draw near to us.

Perhaps the most beautiful picture of submitting to God and drawing near to Him from sin is found in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. It is there that we read the story of the son who demanded his father’s inheritance ahead of time (essentially wishing for his father’s early death) and he goes away to squander that inheritance in the utmost forms of sinful living. When he became broken and desperate in the pig pen, some of the most amazing words are recorded concerning him. Luke 15:17 tells us “he came to himself.” His eyes were opened, he remembered the goodness of his father, and he recalled how well the father treated his lowest servants. He went home to be a servant rather than a son, but the father saw him from a distance and ran to him before he could make it all the way home. He came toward the father and the father ran to him. He fully restored the son and threw a large party for his return. This parable demonstrates the love of God for sinners. It demonstrates the grace and mercy of God that is poured out on repentant people. Will you draw near to Him today?