2. Submitting to God “Real Life” [James] Series [19] James 4:7-10

3. THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS AND FIGHTS [RECAP ] Root Cause #1: conflicting passions within us (vs. 1-3). [selfish desires/the flesh]  “You desire and do not have, so you murder…”  “You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel…”  “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions…”

4. THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS AND FIGHTS [RECAP ] Root Cause #2: friendship with the world that fuels self- gratifying desires (vs. 4-5). [spiritual adultery/the world]  “friendship with the world is enmity with God…”  “[loving the world] makes oneself an enemy of God…”  “[God] yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us…”

5. THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS AND FIGHTS [TODAY] Root Cause #3: the devil luring us with pride (vs. 6-7). [pride/the devil]  “God opposes the proud …”  “Resist the devil…”

6. THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS AND FIGHTS [TODAY] Worldly Remedies [that do NOT cure the root causes]:  Deny: pretend everything is fine/normal.  Avoid: avoid “those” people/conflicts/place.  Escape: use pleasure to numb it (illegitimate & legitimate); compensate with something else.  Fix-it-your-way: win the fight!; apply street-smart wisdom, figure out short-term solutions, find self-help/wikiHow, etc. In today’s text (4:7-10), our focus question is this: “What are the godly remedies that cure the root causes?”

7. James 4:7-10 [ESV] 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

8. James 4:7-10 [ESV] 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

9. James 4:7-10 [ESV] 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

10. GODLY REMEDIES THAT CURE THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS & FIGHTS 1)SUBMIT YOURSELVES to God as you choose the road to humility [vs. pride]. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God… 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (vs. 7a,10)  The word, “submit” [hupotasso] means to place oneself under the authority of another. Humility always us to submission to God/people.  The essence of humility is not attitude but submission and obedience.  We face the fork in the road daily: humility vs. pride.  Then, what does it look like when we submit yourselves humbly to God? See the following verses 7b-10.

11. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

12. GODLY REMEDIES THAT CURE THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS & FIGHTS 2)DRAW NEAR TO GOD as you resist the devil. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (vs.7b-8a)  To resist the devil, we must draw near to God; to draw near to God we must resist the devil.  Notice the sequence of promise: we must first draw near to God rather than waiting God to draw near to us.  We must first resist the devil before the devil flee from us.  Have you drawn near to God lately? Have you resisted the devil lately?

13. Before we can stand before Satan, we must bow before God. Peter resisted the Lord and ended up submitting to Satan! Warren Wiersbe

14. GODLY REMEDIES THAT CURE THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS & FIGHTS 3)REPENT OF YOUR SINFUL WAYS as you purify your hearts. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (v.8b)  If the essence of humility is obedience, the first thing we must do as we draw near to God is to repent [= change of direction] from our sins.  In repentance, this is our work/obedience: to clean up our wicked ways in behaviors and to purify our hearts.  By nature, our hearts are divided by mixed motives—to purify means to choose single-mindedness on God’s will.  Therefore, true submission brings radical changes in our inner and outer life.

15. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you? Jeremiah 4:14

16. GODLY REMEDIES THAT CURE THE ROOT CAUSES OF QUARRELS & FIGHTS 4)WEEP OVER YOUR SINFUL WAYS as you become deadly serious about sin. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. (v.9)  To weep and mourn over our sins means to recognize the weight of our sin and its ramifications.  By nature, our hearts minimize and rationalize our sins.  True repentance involves godly sorrow which leads us to submission to and dependence on the Spirit’s leading.  Therefore, we are to be deadly serious about sin and any necessary reformation in our lives!

17. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

18. Brokenness: Our Response of Humility to God As long as self is in control, God can do little with us, for all the fruit of the Spirit (enumerated in Gal 5:22-23), with which God longs to fill us, are the complete antithesis of the hard, unbroken spirit within us and presupposes that it has been crucified. Being broken is both God's work and ours. He brings His pressure to bear, but we have to make the choice. If we are really open to conviction as we seek fellowship with God (and willingness for the light is the prime condition of fellowship with God), God will show us the expressions of this proud, hard self that cause Him pain. Then we can stiffen our necks and refuse to repent or we can bow the head and say, "Yes, Lord.” Brokenness in daily experience is simply the response of humility to the conviction of God. And inasmuch as this conviction is continuous, we shall need to be broken continually. - Roy Hession

19. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE 1.In submitting to God I must humble myself before God and people.  Humbly submit to the leading of the Spirit.  Humbly submit to the people around you. 2.In submitting to God I must draw near to Him and resist the devil.  Draw near to God first—then, God will draw near to you.  Resist the devil first—then, he will flee from you. 3.In submitting to God I must repent from your sinful ways radically.  Repent from your sinful ways.  Repent from your double-mindedness.

20. THIS WAY TO PRIDE ? THIS WAY TO HUMILITY