The Source of Real Peace

James, and this is the second part of a section of chapter 4 verses 1-10, the second part of war and peace.

That's what I've named this study of these particular passages, and I think that's primarily the subject. And not so much, of course, world peace, you know, peace between nations, and yet I think we can discover that some of the principles that are taught by James apply on the bigger scale.

But obviously he's writing to believers, and so the remedy or the way to peace is going to be only one way, and that is through a relationship with Christ, which is not likely to happen with the nations as a whole.

So we could hope, and we work to that end, but we trust God with all of that. So this is primarily talking about the peace, war and peace that we can experience as believers in our relationship with God, but also, of course, our relationship with one another.

And so that's the subject, war and peace, of these verses, and actually I forgot to correct that. It's not through verse 12, it's through verse 10.

But we divide it into two parts, war and peace, the source of all wars, that's verses 1-5, where do wars and fights come from among you? And then, of course, that's the question, and then he answers that question.

That was our study last week. And then the source of real peace. And I take just a few, a couple of sentences out of verse 7, submit to God, resist the devil.

And by the way, some of you were not here, I think, last week, and I do have all of the notes in one place, if you want to pick that up afterward, but we're going to be starting, if you haven't already noticed, well, your first sheet, which is verse, excuse me, page 5, I think.

Isn't that right, page 5? Okay. All right, so the source of real peace, that's our subject tonight. And verses 6 through 10, so there you have war and peace.

So the source of real peace, verses 6 through 10. And divide this into four parts. And the first one is the resource, the resource for real peace.

The resource, but he gives. And in a nutshell, there's your source or resource for real peace.

And it's God, he gives. And that's what we're going to discover here tonight. All right. Now, to understand the full meaning of verse 6, we must keep it connected to verses 4 and 5.

Now, we looked at 4 and 5 last week, though I didn't spend a lot of time talking about, you know, verse 5, I think. But you have to keep it connected in order to understand.

Because this is not, he's not just ending at one spot, the subject of war, and then that's all. And then now we're just going to start with a new conversation, a new direction, peace.

They connect together. They dovetail together. And so for us to understand how he begins verse 6 and then goes into, I think, his teaching on peace, then we need to keep these connected so we understand what's going on here.

And here are the verses 4 and 5. And we looked at those, you know, very quickly last week. Adulterers and adulteresses. And remember I mentioned last week that in the original text there's just one word there and it's adulteresses.

And so he's not singling out the ladies, okay. Actually, he's talking to the church who is the bride of Christ. So bride, female, adulteresses.

And so we're all a part of that. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity or hostility with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

You can't have it both ways, you see. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.

So what does that mean? Jealously. That the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously. In fact, it really is the word that many other places in the New Testament is translated lust.

So, in fact, some versions of this particular text, I think the New American Standard may use lust. I don't remember which one. Yes, does it have lust or does it have jealousy?

Mine has lusteth in me. All right, now the King James uses the word lusteth. That's right. And it is the word that would generally be translated lust. And so it's kind of strange, isn't it?

I mean, to think the spirit who dwells in us yearns lustfully or lusts for us. And I would add to that that this word, epipatheo, is usually, in fact, every other place, it conveys a negative, kind of a negative connotation, sinful connotation.

And so how could that be? This is what we need to understand before we can go really any further. And I would say to you that the meaning of this particular verse, verse 5, is debatable.

It's debated by Bible scholars of every theological persuasion. I'm talking about very conservative as well as moderate and liberal. Even among those who are very conservative in their theology, this particular passage is debated.

There's some who hold that it means one thing and others who hold it means another. For example, is it the spirit, capital S, spirit of God or the spirit, lowercase s, spirit of man?

They say, well, you know, I'm looking right at my Bible. And if you have a New King James, it's a capital S. And so the Bible translators are taking that position then, aren't they?

That we're talking about the spirit as in the sense of God, God the Holy Spirit, that he lusts. Other translations, I think the New American...

Well, how about the ESV? Does it have a lowercase s? Lowercase s. So obviously the translators of the ESV have taken the other position.

That it's not the Holy Spirit, but it's the spirit of man that the Bible is talking about here. All right, so is it then... Here's the question.

Is it God's jealousy, his lust for man's pure devotion? Or is it man's lust for the world? Well, so which is it?

Well, I'll tell you my position. I think the plain meaning of the passage... When I say the plain meaning, I mean just when you read it, this is what seems very obvious.

The plain meaning of the passage is that God is jealous, even lusts after our undivided devotion.

I think that's the case here, and I'll give you a couple of reasons why. First, when James writes, the scripture says... He's quoting, in a sense, quoting scripture.

But in this case, when he says, the scripture says, he's referring to a basic principle that's taught in scripture. About how God relates to his chosen people.

It's kind of a paraphrase, maybe bringing together of several key Old Testament passages and even a New Testament passage.

And we'll see those here in a minute. All right? Meaning he is jealous for them. Jealous for his chosen people. For his people.

For all of us who are born again believers. He's jealous for us. And here are those passages. Exodus 20 and verse 5. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Now, is it okay for God to be jealous?

Yeah. Is it all right for us to be? Well, not except in one sense, in a similar sense that God is jealous. God is jealous over those who belong to him.

I'm jealous for my wife. She belongs to me and no one else. And so in that sense, we can experience some of this. But God is a jealous God.

Exodus 34, 14. For you shall worship no other God. For the Lord, whose name is Jealous. That's rather interesting. Is a jealous God. He's a jealous God.

And then New Testament passage, even though the word jealous doesn't appear there. The idea is there. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?

And you are not your own. For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit. What? Which are God's.

All right. We belong to him. We belong to him. He has a right to be jealous for us. Not just jealous that we belong to him, but jealous that we live like we belong to him.

That we are. He's completely and totally devoted to us. And that we be totally devoted to him. And so God lusts after us.

So plain meaning in that sense. Second, verse 5 is the explanation for what verse 4 declares. So it all fits together.

And so it helps us understand. I think it helps us understand verse 4. What it declares helps us understand that what he's talking about in verse 5 is God's jealousy toward us. That we be totally devoted to him.

So here are a few questions. Just looking at verse 4. Why would God call us adulterers and adulteresses? I mean, why would he?

Why is, and here's another quote from verse 4, friendship with the world, hostility toward God. Why is that the case? Why is it that whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God?

Why is that? Well, the answer is verse 5. Because God is jealous for his people. He lusts for us. And in the only possible way that that word lust could be good.

He lusts for us. He's jealous for us. All right. So this, then, that be the case, that leaves us with a very high, and I would even suggest to you, even impossible standard for us.

For us to reach, to maintain, with our own strength, obviously. A high, high standard. That we'd be 100%. See, God lusts for us.

And He doesn't want our attentions, our devotions, our commitment to be divided between Him and anyone or anything else.

That we'd be totally devoted and committed to God is what He lusts for. He's jealous for.

And that's a very high standard. God must be number one. And it's not enough just to want Him to be number one. I say, I mean, it's kind of building the case that this is this very, even all things equal, impossible standard for us.

Because the moment God is not number one, at any moment, when God is not first, we've gone over to the enemy's side.

We are traitors. We've joined the opposition. We, you know, we're not God's friend. We're His enemy. That's not what I'm saying.

It's what the Bible is teaching. So how do we achieve that? I mean, how do we reach that kind of high and lofty standard? And that's what God desires.

He lusts for. And so the reality is, if left to ourselves, we will choose the world every single time. I think it's important for us to admit that, know that.

That if it's left to us, no other influence, no other enabling power, on our own, we will always choose the world.

Because we're fleshly. We're sinful. We crave the things of this world. And we just do.

And we can't, by ourselves, can't help ourselves. We love the things of this world. We love the things of this world too much.

It's our natural affections. We're talking about that unredeemed part of us. We've already discussed this in our study of James. And it's taught elsewhere in Scripture.

The flesh. Paul wrote a great deal about the flesh. And the lusts of the flesh. Another way to describe it would be natural affections. Our natural affections.

They're drawn. They're drawn to the things of this world. We make worldly plans disregarding God's Word.

Have you ever done that? We make worldly purchases. Robbing God.

And rob God. We have worldly priorities. Fitting God in when and where it is convenient. That's our tendency.

That's who we are. If all things equal. If left to ourselves. We are by nature adulterers and adulteresses.

In the spiritual sense. And therefore we have no peace. If this is true. And this is all rather negative.

Then what's the answer for that? There's got to be some answer. And the answer. God's resource. Comes in verse 6. But.

By the way. A perfect place for. For a conjunction. But. He. Gives. More grace. God. And so. And so.

That's. That's the bottom line. Isn't it? God is. Jealous for us. That is in the sense that. He lusts for our complete devotion to him. In everything.

In our thoughts. Our hearts. Our actions. In everything. God. That's what he lusts for. But. We can't do it. And won't do it.

But. He gives more grace. And there's the resource. Grace. Grace. And. You can kind of look at. Those two words. More grace.

And. First. He gives more grace. Megas. You don't have to think very hard. Come up with. Word we have in our English.

That comes from this. Mega. Great. Greater. In fact. Some versions. Translate that way. Greater grace. He gives greater grace.

Mega grace. That's what. What we need. One preacher I heard said. We need. A dump truck load of grace. Every single day. Otherwise.

We. We cannot. We cannot even. Begin to approach. What God is jealous for. From us. Apart from. His grace. In fact.

If we. Attempt to do it. Any other way. Other than grace. God won't accept it. If we try to do that. In flesh. We can't do that. I.

I would say. We won't do it. If it's. Left to the flesh. But. We can even. Attempt some. Show of it. In the flesh. And God will not accept it. Does. God doesn't want that. He only wants what.

He has empowered us to do. By his grace. And so. He gives us more grace. And then. Of course. The word grace. More. Grace. Well. That just fell out of my.

Fell off the clip. I'll put it in my pocket. But. Grace is the word. Charis. Favor. Used in the theological sense.

Biblical sense. It's very much attached to God's covenant. With us. It's very much attached. Then to.

A kind of favor that is unmerited. So he gives. Great. Greater. Grace. Greater. Favor. Let me just give you this definition.

And I think I've given this. To you before. But. Grace. We could define it. We're not talking. Of course. About. Grace. In the sense of. What.

What is. Must. We must have. In order to be saved. No salvation. Apart from grace. I'm talking about. The sense of salvation. In the context of salvation.

Or redemption. Talking about. Ongoing grace. That we need. And grace. Is the dynamic. Quality. Of the spirit of God. Operating in us.

Enabling us. To do his will. And then. This verse. I think. Very familiar. But. Certainly the. Second verse here. Philippians 2.

12. 13. Therefore my beloved. As you have always obeyed. Not as in my presence only. But now much more. My absent. Absence. Work out your own salvation. With fear and trembling.

So we're not talking about salvation. In the sense of. The beginning point. Our conversion. Regeneration. And conversion. We're talking about. Ongoing. Salvation.

In fact. Really. We could use the word. And should use the word. Sanctification. The ongoing. Work of the Holy Spirit. In our lives. Conforming us. To the.

Very life of Christ. And it's a work of God. That we participate in. But he says. Work it out. That is ongoing.

Work it out with fear and trembling. And then this. Verse 13. For it is God. Who works in you. Both. To will. And to do.

For his good pleasure. That is a. I think. Perfect verse. To define. What. Grace is. This greater grace. That God gives. It is.

God working. In you. In me. In you. To do two things. Working in us. To give us. The desire. To do what pleases him. And working in us.

To enable us. To do. What pleases him. The desire. To do it. And. The power. To do it. Is how. We could understand. That this is grace. And so God.

Gives. More grace. Greater grace. Without that. There is no possible way. That we could ever. Ever please him. No possible way.

We could ever do anything. That is. In agreement. With. With what he desires. From us. And is jealous for. So this resource.

Of more. Or greater grace. Is constantly. Flowing. But only flowing. In the life. Of those who are humble. So we. We have a qualifier here.

That James gives us. We must be humble. And let's just. Kind of. Let me just walk through this verse. The rest of this verse. God. Resists. That is.

He. Pushes away. And. You know. Best. Analogy. That I could give you. I.

Played football. When I was in high school. And. On occasion. I played. What they call. Tight end. And I could. Catch. Passes. On occasion.

And I had to run. With that ball. And I was taught to. When I had. A defender. Coming after me. To tackle me. I was. Taught. Either to. Be.

Faster than he was. Or. To have. Better footwork. Than him. And try to get around him. Or. Put my arm out. And stiff arm him. Push. Push him away.

So that I could continue to run. Toward the goal line. So I'm. Pushing him. Away. Doesn't always work out. Obviously. Because sometimes. I just grab the arm.

And jerk you down to the ground. But. But that. Visually. That kind of describes. What God does. For those. Who are. Who are. Proud. God.

Resists. He pushes away. Those. Who are proud. Now remember. He's talking. About. Believers. I mean. This is in the context. Of the believer. The believer can be. Very proud.

And. And. Operate. According to the flesh. In fact. Let's add that word. The proud. God resists. The proud. The arrogant. Haughty.

Self-sufficiency. That's. That's what the. The word means here. That you can make it on your own. You know. You know. Maybe. You know. I've been a believer a while.

And I know how to do things. And so. I can do this now. I don't need God. Don't need to trust him. Don't need to come to him every day. Don't need to humble myself.

I mean. You know. God. You take part. You take that part of it. That I can't do. And I'll take care of the rest. You know. That kind of. That kind of mentality. Prideful. Arrogant.

Self-sufficiency. God resists. The self-sufficient. But. Gives. And this is. Another one of those. Continuous action verbs. Gives.

And gives. And gives. He gives. And gives. And gives. Gives what? He gives. And gives grace. Again. Unmerited favor. Charis. Unmerited favor.

He gives. And gives. And gives. Grace. To whom? To the humble. To those who are utterly dependent. Dependent. And submissive.

Toward God. Dependent. Upon God. And submissive. To his will. And his lordship. Over our lives. Alright.

So that's the resource. And then. Second. The response. Response. For real peace. How do we respond? Verses 7 through 8.

First part of verse 8. Contains three. Commands that we must obey. As our response. To God's greater grace. So we participate in this.

So we obey some commands. That are going to make operational in our lives. This grace. This greater grace that God gives.

First command is submit to God. Submit to God. This is by the way.

The definition of humble. In the previous verse. Submission. Remember utter dependence. And submission upon God. So.

We relate to God in humility. We humble ourselves. Before him. I can't do it. God. I don't have it in me to do.

What you require. What you desire. I humble myself before you. I can't make it. I can make it by the world's view.

I can even convince myself that I'm making it. But in reality I cannot live one holy moment apart from your grace. I humble myself. that. And so when we operate according to self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and self-gratification, and many others I could add, we then effectively do what? We cut off the grace of God that He has for us, that He's given to us. It's like we've cut ourselves off from that because we're going it alone. We're trusting ourselves, trusting our abilities, trusting our experience, our knowledge, trusting whatever, but anything apart from God. So God gives grace to those who submit their lives to Him. Humble. Second command, resist the devil. Submit to God, resist the devil. It's really very simple. Now the word, it's interesting, the word resist here is not the same word as we had there in verse 6. You know, talk about stiff arm God resists the proud. It's a different word. It's translated the same way in most of our English texts, but it's a different word. And it's one, you know, different from the one referring to God resisting the proud. The meaning is active resistance. So when we're going to resist the devil, not just turning our back on him or turning away from him or turning our eyes away from him, we're not just simply saying no to the devil. There's an activity going on. It's an active resistance that brings into play all of our spiritual disciplines and so forth, including prayer, especially prayer. And by the way, the term there is a military term. I used a sports illustration. This one is very clearly borrowed from the context of military engagement, warfare, and it describes a defensive stance that we take. Now, it's active in the sense that I have put on the armor. You know, I'm standing against the enemy. I'm not just going to stand passively there and just pay him no mind, you know, resist what he wants me to do. I'm going to be actively resisting, defending myself and putting armor on and so forth. And so we are to actively resist the devil's will for us, and that could include a number of things. What's his will for us?

To doubt God, I think, probably leads the list. Isn't that the first thing he did with Adam and Eve? To doubt God, doubt his goodness, doubt his word, doubt his promises.

That's Satan's will for us. That's Satan's will for us, to doubt God, to deny God, right? His counsel to us through his word, his will as he reveals it to us, his purposes for our lives, and as those are revealed to us. And so to deny God those things, that's what the devil wants, and we're to resist that actively. To disregard God, his presence, and God is right here with you.

And you don't acknowledge him, pay any attention to it. Acknowledge that he's there with you, even when you are where you shouldn't be and doing what you shouldn't be doing. God is right there.

And to disregard God is exactly what the devil wants you to do. That's his will for us. To disobey God, obviously. That is his righteous commands. To degrade God, his honor, his glory.

We do that in many different ways. You know, how we speak of God or don't speak of God when we're in the presence of unbelievers or other people. We don't bring him into the conversation.

We don't, we're not thankful. We degrade God. We don't give him honor, don't give him glory. That's exactly what the devil wants. The devil doesn't want God to be glorified. He doesn't want you to participate in that. And I would even add, diminish God, his sovereignty.

When we don't trust him, we're diminishing who God really is, diminishing his sovereignty and his power, diminishing other things about him, his goodness, and so forth. So these are the things that the devil wants for us, desires for us. And we're to actively resist those things.

And then what is the promise if we resist the devil? James says, he will flee from you. That's quite a promise. You believe it? I wonder if we do. This is exactly what God says. Just plain simple. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It always comes back. There's not a one time and you're done with it. Okay? That's a good point. Because it's an ongoing every day. But I'm talking about in the moment when suddenly the devil is participating, you know, active around you and he's prompting your flesh. Maybe it's at a moment of decision about a certain direction to go or a word to say or a thought to think or whatever it may be. And there's that, suddenly there's that battle and you're in the throes of it and you know you are. And you have a choice at that point to give in to the devil's way. You may not always think that it's his way, but to give in or to resist. If you resist, then he will flee. And we take this as a promise, he will flee every time. And I like this quote. The devil is not called the tempter in James, which is interesting and yet explainable because the temptation results from evil desires within self, within us. We studied that back in chapter 1 verse 14. But the devil is close by the temptation.

He's close by there. Temptations and conflicts that humans cause. And we cause these things ourselves because it comes out of our own flesh and our own cravings of our flesh. And the devil's right near. And he's near those temptations and conflicts. Nevertheless, if he is consciously resisted in submission to God, that's the active submission, active resistance, in submission to God and his word, then the devil cannot fight back and must flee the attack that is our, that's our resistance to him.

It's a great, great quote, kind of puts it all together. All right, the third command, draw near to God. So submit to God. Resist the devil. Draw near to God. That's the third command.

And so here's the idea. While you are resisting the devil, you're not just resisting him apart from any other activity. But while you're resisting him, actively resisting him, you are drawing nearer and nearer to God is, is the idea behind this phrase, draw near to God. It's a continuous, ongoing kind of activity in our lives. And we do it through prayer, of course, through Bible study.

We're drawing nearer. That's what's happening when we are spending time in prayer and Bible study all the while, constantly resisting the devil every time he attacks. And, and so we are drawing near to God through prayer, Bible study, private as well as corporate. I mean, what we're doing right here tonight, kind of corporate Bible study. But corporate's not enough. You must have your own private Bible study.

Very important. Through service and worship and through fellowship with God's people. Through obedience to God's Word. All those things. Many others that we could possibly list. Some broad categories.

So this, we're doing these at the same time. We're resisting the devil. And all the while drawing nearer and nearer and nearer to God through all of these various disciplines.

And then what is the promise? Keep this thing on my ear. What is the promise for those who actively resist the devil and increasingly draw near to God?

What's the promise? There's a promise attached here. God will draw near to you. Isn't that a wonderful promise? What does that mean? I mean, sometimes God's not near?

Well, actually, no. He's, you can't go anywhere where God is not. You know, He's omnipresent. Everywhere present.

Nowhere absent. Best way to define omnipresence. Everywhere present, nowhere absent. It's not that God is not there at other times. It's talking about God being near in a manifest way.

In an experiential way. Where you know His presence. And the peace that that brings. You know, so it's a manifest presence.

I think the best way to describe it would be, I think I've used this illustration before. Let's say you're at a baseball game, ball game. You're up in the bleachers and watching the game and it's boring as usual.

Anyway. And, you know, a couple of seats over from you. Some guy is, you know, eating a hot dog and he gets choked and he can't breathe.

And so someone says, is there a doctor anywhere near? Is there a doctor? You know, yelling out for a doctor. And let's say just one seat in front, one row in front of them, there's a doctor sitting there.

And so they're calling for a doctor. And is the doctor near? Yeah. He's right there. But He doesn't manifest His presence until He says, I'm a doctor and He goes and helps that man.

He activates His presence in that sense. And God doesn't always manifest His presence. But here's a promise though. As you draw nearer and nearer to God, God draws nearer to you.

He manifests His presence in your life. His manifest presence. And then third, the repentance.

The repentance. And they're, you know, the only obstacle to God being near is our distance.

Now think about that. The only obstacle to God being near manifesting, in the sense of manifesting His presence, the only obstacle to that, the barrier to that is our distance.

See, God is never, ever away from us. And if you feel like He is, it's not God who moved out, it's you. And so our distance.

And so the distance is always caused by sin. Now, we don't go a moment in any day without sinning. What I'm talking about is unresolved, unrepentant of sin.

When sin then takes hold and we allow it to persist, whatever that sin is, then there's distance between us and God.

And so that's an obstacle. So what's needed is repentance. Isaiah 59, 1 and 2. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God. What is it that separates us from God? It's sin. Sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear.

This applies clearly, and this is a good text, and I've used this text in sharing the gospel with an unbeliever. Certainly the principle applies to the problem of sin in a person's life that is between that person and God.

You know, all that sin comes short of the glory of God. There's sin between us, and we can't get to God because of our sin. So it has separated us in an eternal sense, apart from salvation, saving grace.

But it also applies to the believer's life because if we allow sin to come in unrepentant of, then there's a separation.

And He's hidden His face from us. So He will not hear. I heard Adrian Rogers say many a time, you know, the Bible's full of promises that God will hear your prayers, but there are some promises that He won't.

And here's one of them. If we let sin come between us, and therefore there is not broken relationship, because the relationship was never dependent upon us in the first place, but there is broken fellowship, communion with God.

And so there's the need for repentance. That's the solution. Turning from sin. Turning back to God. Verses 8, the latter part of verse 8 through 9 contain three more commands.

In fact, in this block of passages, there are seven commands total. So we've looked at three. Now there are three that are connected to repentance, deal with our need for repentance.

So here's the fourth command. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. That's in the form of a command. Cleanse your hands. Why?

You're a sinner. Cleanse your hands. And what's the idea? The focus there, hands are kind of on the outside of us. And so the focus is on the outside.

That is the things we do. The activity of our lives. Need to clean up everything around us. Things we're doing and so forth. So, you know, what you do with your hands, that's what He's talking about.

What you do with your ears. Even though He doesn't say ears, it applies to the external activity, actual actions of sin. So, yeah, I thought of that little kind of children's song.

So what you do with your eyes and what you do with your mouth and what you do with your feet. You know, where you go. And so forth. So the focus is on the outside. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

This is all part of repentance. Repentance. Repentance is not just simply changing your mind about something. Even though the word repentance, metanoia, means a changing of the mind.

But in the theological sense, it means a totally new direction away from the way you were going and the way you were thinking and the things you were doing and turning to God and things He wants you to do and places He wants you to go and so forth.

So, cleanse your hands. We're talking about repentance. And then the fifth command, purify your hearts. You're double-minded. And of course, obviously, the focus here is on the inside.

The heart. What's going on inside? The problem, and He says the problem with the heart is double-mindedness.

Meaning it's mixed. It's mixed. In its loyalty to God. And I think the best way to understand the word purity means to be single-minded.

Certainly, that's the idea here in this context, in this verse. He says, purify your hearts, you're double-minded. And so, purity means to be single-minded. And single-minded means your heart wants one thing.

And that's God. That's God. And to please Him, to honor Him, to obey Him, to live for Him. It's God.

If a thing is not compatible with God, whatever that thing is in your life, His will, His purposes, then I don't want that in my life. That's what this repentance is all about.

If a thing becomes more important in my life than God, then I don't want that in my life. Is that what we should be resolved about? If a thing contradicts what I know is God's Word, clearly taught in His Word, on any particular subject, then I don't want that in my life.

Sixth command, lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. That sounds a little uplifting, doesn't it? Well, what's the subject here?

The subject is sin. The subject is repentance of sin. The subject is that thing that keeps us separated from God so that we are not experiencing His greater grace operating in our lives to be able to desire and do what pleases Him.

So it's sin. So the subject is sin here. And so James is referring then to Christians who have embraced the things of this world. Their hands are dirty with sin.

Their feet are dirty with sin. Their hearts have been polluted with worldliness. What should they do? They should be broken about it.

Sad. Mourn. Weep. There's not enough sadness and brokenness over sin in the body of Christ. That's what happens when God sends revival, true revival, whether it's in a personal sense or in a church, a community, or a nation.

That's happened before in our nation. Not in this century. Well, not last century and not in ours so far. In fact, we've gone over a century now in our country with no national great awakening or revival.

That means not any of us have ever experienced that like the great awakenings of the late 1800s. And so what we need is to be broken about sin and sad.

There's just not much of that. In fact, we're more lulled into accepting it. And as time goes on, we kind of, you know, we get up, get a little sad of our sin and then that kind of dies and greater sin comes and we're sad about that but not as sad as we were before and we just kind of lulled into kind of a, you know, we don't have any kind of feelings whatever about it.

And yet Jesus said that this is the mark of a true believer. We go to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, 4, Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

I'm not talking about mourning over some sad event or mourning over a loss of something. This is talking about mourning over sin. And He says, Blessed are those who mourn.

He's talking about what identifies a true believer is that a true believer mourns over sin. And He said, Blessed are you for you will be comforted. And then finally, let me wrap this up, the reward.

The reward. Verse 10 then contains the seventh and final command in this section and it's connected with the ultimate reward.

Here's the command, seventh command. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. So this too has a command with a promise. Now, the key here is the concept humble yourselves.

We can't, should not miss that here. Actually, in the Greek text, that's one word. Humble yourselves. It's the same word humble that appears other places in the passage, earlier in the passage, but it's in a certain form that helps us understand that it's something we do for, do ourselves.

Humble yourselves. So the idea is this, we should humble ourselves now rather than fall into the Lord's humbling of the proud. Remember, God resists the proud.

He humbles them, pushes them away. And so, let's, let's humble ourselves before it rather than reach a point where God humbles us.

Now, I know this is not a word, but it's actionary rather than reactionary. There's no such word as actionary. Right, Jan? Barbara, we've got other teachers in here.

That would be a better one to ask to the dictionary than the one they have, I don't know. Yeah, maybe so. But, at least convey the idea, right?

Alright, now what is the reward? The reward is He, not you by the way, will lift you up. He will exalt you. Some versions use the word exalt, and that is a better translation.

Now, sometimes God is pleased to exalt us in this life. Sometimes God does that. Lifts us up, exalts us, and, but the idea is the ultimate exaltation in eternity.

Because you can be lifted up in this life only to fall down, but ultimately we'll be exalted never to fall again. And, that's the reward for those who humble themselves and the sight of the Lord.

. the sight of the Lord.