okay the name of the messages
god gives more grace god gives more grace last week we looked
at verses one to seven in james chapter four and i want to go
over verses six and seven again today and we're also we have
time we're also go over verses eight to ten as well and the
grace of god is an inexhaustible well you cannot exhaust the grace
of god you cannot exhausted It's an inexhaustible well of living
water and it springs up and it's overflowing with everlasting
life. We know the scripture says where
sin abounds, grace does much more abound. It's super abounding
grace. God's grace is just not grace,
it's super abounding grace. Now we fail everywhere, don't
we? We fail in all things we do. but beloved god our great god
he never fails god's grace never fails it never fails it always
accomplishes what he sets it out to do and we see here it's
so clearly bought forth that god's grace abounding grace james
chapter four verses five ten let's read that Do you think
that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us
lastest to envy? But he giveth more grace. Look at that. Our God gives more
grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves,
therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you. cleanse your hands you sinners
purify your hearts you double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep
let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness
humble yourselves therefore humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord and he shall lift you up now James brings forth here in
verse 6 that God resists the proud but he gives grace to the
humble again god's grace is infinite it's just like him it's infinite
it's eternal his grace never changes it's eternal grace it's
infinite grace and we as god's people have an infinite bounty
of god's grace in christ jesus our lord inverse for in this chapter brings
forth the other depravity of man because if god does not have
mercy upon us we will be forever lost we will be forever lost
inverse for also brings forth how we who are safe struggle
all the time in this flash but but praise be to god for grace
and for verse six where we see that god gives grace to his people
he gives grace to the humble those who have been humbled by
the holy spirit of god we've been bought low by the holy spirit
of god we've been made to see our desperate need for christ
Now the scripture reference for this verse is found in Proverbs
chapter 3, verse 34. If you want to look there, you
can. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 34.
And then also consider these words in light of the master
who said, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.
And he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Proverbs chapter
3 verse 34 says surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace
unto the lowly. He gives grace unto the lowly.
We've been bought low, beloved, by God the Holy Spirit. And in
turn, if you would, the first Peter, Peter brings forth this
same vein of thought And I'm going to read James 4,
6 again. It says, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith,
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
And then in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 to 7, again, remember,
too, remember who the author of these words are. it's got
the holy spirit who's the true author of these words and we
will see here we saw in in the old testament there in proverbs
how ties in with james james got that reference probably from
that verse and then now we see peter also will bring forth the
same thing look at this in first peter chapter five verses five
to seven likewise you younger submit yourselves unto the elder
yay all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with
you melody for god what here we go resists the proud and give
grace to the humble so we see that they now in the old testament
and now in the new testament as well humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of god if he makes all chewing due time
that ties in with the words of our master in matthew twenty
three twelve and whosoever show exalt themselves shall be a base
to be bottle and he that humble himself shall be exalted so we see again scripture always
like always say scripture and donnie bells one told me that
scripture will always back up scripture always you're always
find that scripture will always back up scripture no scripture
stands alone and then it says humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of god and in first peter five six if he makes
all to do time casting all your care upon him for he in that
wonderful all if we could only learn that right like brother
joe terrell says the hardest thing for us is to enter into
the rest of christ just the rest just read we see that bought
up later on as we go through this first these verses today And see the portion where it
says, God resisteth the proud? Resisteth there in the Greek
means to be against. It's used in the sense to set
an army in array against an enemy. So God, like an army set against
another army, is against the proud. That sure goes against
modern Christianity, doesn't it? It says God loves everybody
and wants to save everybody. Well, that sure goes against
that vein, doesn't it? No, it means to set an army in
array against an enemy, to arrange in battle order. Oh my. So beloved of God, the miracle
of God's grace is the fact, is the fact that we no longer resist
God. Because by nature, we resist
God. we flee from god by nature so
the miracle of god's grace is now we submit ourselves to god
by his grace and mercy there's nothing in us that would cause
us to do that it's all by the grace and mercy of god in christ
and plus not what a miracle god takes proud
arrogant self-righteous sinners like me and like you and by his
grace in his mercy he causes us this is him working in us
isn't it he causes us to rejoice in him he gives us faith to believe
after were born again by his almighty power and then he gives
us faith to believe and we run to christ all what a great god
we have So he rejects those that trust in themselves. He rejects
those. Self-righteous people who trust
in themselves. Those who despise others. I told
y'all I was a Pharisee before the Lord saved me. I was in religion
before the Lord saved me. And I used to think, oh, how
can that person be a Christian and do that? Oh my, the Lord
sure took me, took me down a lot of notches. You realize, no, I'm the chief
of sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. Those who think they're
holier than thou by their words and their actions, he's against
them. They're nothing but proud, self-righteous
religionists. Proud of themselves, proud of
their supposed gifts, proud of what they do. Pride is, they're
full of pride. Now we struggle with pride too,
don't we? We do. All of us do. All of us
do. You ever see a man with a collar? They're identifying that they're
religious. I like what one grace preacher
told me when I first started preaching. He said, one thing
with God's preachers, you can't pick us out of a crowd. We look
just like everybody else. It's true, isn't it? It's true! We don't go around
wearing no collar, identifying ourselves as supposedly more
holy than anyone else. No, that's just self-righteous
pride, beloved. So these who the Lord's against
are full and rich and increased with goods, and in the world
they stand in need of nothing, and even in their thoughts they
stand in need of nothing. They think that they're blameless
before God, and yet they're guilty. And yet they're guilty. God opposes
them. That's what the scripture says.
God opposes them. He sets himself against them.
He thrusts them away from him. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven. Now, these folks, these
folks are religious folks. In Matthew seven, we're going
to see here. These are people who say, Lord, look at all these
things we've done for you. Now this portion of scripture,
I remember hearing Brother Henry preach on this. There's a sermon,
if you get your hands on it, I think it's on Sermon Audio,
I never knew you. And he preaches on this text. Oh my. Absolutely incredible. Matthew
chapter 7. You know our Lord, He just, He's
so far above His enemies, He just sits and laughs at them.
He has them in derision. Man would rather believe a lie
about their supposed free will than believe the fact that God
has to save you or you'll never be saved. Listen, Matthew chapter
7, verses 21 to 23. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord. So these are religious people,
beloved. These are people who supposedly call on the name of
the Lord. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many
will say unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? Have we not done all these things? Have we not done these
things? In thy name cast out devils? in my name done many wonderful
works you know something they're doing you remember in the other
portion of scripture we're not going to go there but when the
lord's talking to his people and he says he says when when
they say when did we do these things lord when did we serve
you when do we do these things and in he starts telling them
when you visit the sick when you give a cup of water when
you did this these people instead are pronouncing all the things
that they've done you've been around religious people They
tell you, you just ask them one thing, and they'll keep you busy
for hours, telling you about things that they've done. I know, I was there. Instead of telling you what Christ
has done, well, they don't know what Christ has done. See, that's
the problem. And how do we know that? Well,
look at the next part of this verse here. Then while I profess
unto them, I never knew you. I never gnosked you, in the Greek.
I didn't have an intimate relationship with you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." Well, they just raved about what they'd done. And the
Lord said, that's just wickedness. I never knew you. I'm not knowing
you from the foundation of the world. Now, does He know everybody?
Of course, He's God. But He's talking about that intimate
relationship when the Father gave the son of people and again i can ask is is a union
it denotes a union between a husband and wife who's the bride of christ his
people his people you don't know these other folks he's against
them he said against them and god's people are bought low we
know we cannot save ourselves we know we have no ability to
save ourselves we know we cannot cleanse our own sin in our many
sins but we do know that the blood of jesus christ cleanses
us from all sin we do know that don't we and we trust in him
we've been we've been showing our desperate need for him and
we are amazed that god for christ's sake has forgiven all our sin
now we just want to others about We don't know who the elect are.
Just tell people about Christ. God knows who they are, but we
don't have no clue. So we just tell everybody about
the great things that God has done for us. And our great God's
given us a new nature. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Now we have a new heart. We're clothed in the perfect
righteousness of Christ. When God looks upon us, he sees
Christ. my and though we're still sinners we rejoice in the fact
that we have complete justification before God in Christ isn't that amazing isn't that incredible now we're as secure as the folks
in heaven you know that We don't feel that all the time,
do we? As we get tossed to and fro and we think, oh my Lord,
how can I be such a sinner and be saved? Because it's not dependent
upon you and I. It's dependent upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and what He's done. His perfect, complete, sin-atoning
work. And we rejoice. that were perfectly
righteous in God's sight were sinners and yet were perfectly
righteous in God's sight because of the righteousness of Christ
see that's the missing note from today's preaching you heard me
say that I'm gonna keep saying it because it's true men and
women are going about nowadays trying to establish their own
righteousness we trust in Christ who is our righteousness he's
our righteousness God gives us grace, doesn't he?
He gives us grace. Every day he gives us grace. Every hour he gives us grace.
And every minute he gives us grace. And every second he gives
us grace, doesn't he? We don't always see it. We're
not always aware of it. But we live a life based upon
God's grace and mercy. He's so good to us, beloved.
Daily we're loaded down with benefits, the scripture says.
daily. His mercies are what? New every morning. New every
morning. It's wonderful. And he gives
us grace to sustain us in trials, doesn't he? He gives us grace
to deliver us in temptation. He gives us grace to restore
us when we fall. He gives us grace to be content
with his providence, to not murmur against his providence. He gives
us grace to comfort us in times of trouble. He gives us grace
to help us in times of need. He gives us grace to keep us
from the snare of Satan. He gives us grace to strengthen
us in our labors for Him, or our labors in this world. He
gives us grace to direct us in life. He gives us grace to support
us in death. He gives us grace to bring us
to glory. Therefore, we conclude what? Salvation of the Lord.
From beginning to end and everything in between. Now, we're not what we want to
be, are we? We're not. We're not what we want to be.
If we were what we wanted to be, we wouldn't sin anymore,
would we? We hate sin now. but we're sinners, well we're
trapped in this body, aren't we? And we're not what we ought to
be, or hope to be, but praise be to God, we're not what we
used to be. We're not what we used to be.
God's showing us great mercy, hasn't he, in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Oh my. Now let's read verses seven and
eight together, and we see an exhortation And then a wonderful
promise. Verse 7, submit yourselves therefore
to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh
to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. So we're to
submit ourselves to God, which again is the opposite of
our nature. Our nature is to flee from God
in our natural state. but when we're born again we
desire to submit to god don't we we desire to submit ourselves
to in order to do that god must give us a new heart and a new
spirit because by nature we won't do
that and then we wonder in awe at the regenerating power of
god the holy spirit who turns again rebels into worshippers
that's what he's done with us isn't he he's turned the rebels
into worshippers and house it has done that all according to
his almighty power in his will as it pleased him to do so we
say me please don't do so aren't you thankful that it pleased
him to do so and after we're born again by
the holy spirit of god we willingly submit ourselves to christ But we have a daily struggle,
don't we, with the flesh? The world, the flesh, and the
devil. We have a daily struggle. And here we see in our text,
we're to resist the devil. He's an enemy who we are to oppose. He's being crushed by Christ.
He's being crushed by Christ, but it tells us here to resist
him. And here, flee from him. Trust
in Christ. Rest in Christ. And here, flee
from him. That's what it's all about, just
resting in our King. You'll think, well, there's something
I gotta do. Sure, I gotta fight him and puff. No, just rest in Christ.
Just say, I'm such a sinner. I have no hope outside of Christ.
I'm just gonna trust my King. He'll flee from you. He'll flee
from you. Oh, my. inverse eight we see
a promise drawn i did god and he will draw ninety you cleanse
your hands you sinners and purify your heart to double-minded now
works-based mongers they get a hold of these verses here we've
we've been seeing this we've been what this is less than twenty
eight now in james we've been seeing all through this work
this this last these the study how how uh... works-based mongers religion
this can get a hold of these verses and face see this is what
you got to do But that's not what these verses
are about. What does it mean to draw nigh to God? What does
that mean? Well, again, some may give a
long theological exhortation. But I like what Brother Tim James
brings forth. It's simply believing. Believing on Christ. Just believing. Turn, if you
would, to Genesis chapter 3, and then put your finger in Ephesians
chapter 2. In light of what we see here,
draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
The nearness spoken of here is not a physical nearness. It's
a spiritual nearness. It's a spiritual nearness. what
drives us away from god as humans arson arson is what drives us
away from god it's our flash it's man's natural
tendency in our lost and fall in the state to run away from
god how do we know that let's look at our father and mother
genesis chapter three of all people on this world. Look at this. And he fell in the garden, right?
And we fell with him, didn't we? Look at this. Now we're going
to see here. We'll see what Adam and Eve did.
We all sprang from them. Genesis chapter 3, verses 6 to
10. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and the tree to be desired, to make one wise, She took of the
fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. That's men there trying
to work their way to heaven, right there, fig leaves. Workspace
salvation just puts a bunch of fig leaves on people. We need to be clothed in the
righteousness of Christ, don't we? And in order for that to
happen, there has to be an innocent one that dies. Oh, yeah. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of day. And what
did Adam and Eve do? The same thing that we all do
in our natural state. Right? And Adam and his wife
hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. See, that's naturally
what we do. We hide ourselves from the presence
of God amongst the trees of the garden. They hid themselves thinking,
we're going to hide amongst these trees. He won't know where we
are. He's God. He's God. And the Lord God called on Adam
and said unto him, where art thou? Now, he didn't ask that
for information, did he? He already knew where they were.
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden. I was afraid because
I was naked, and I hid myself far from God. Hiding from God. That's our natural ways. When God finds us, right, because
he's that shepherd going after the lost sheep, right, he doesn't
find us seeking him. He finds us hiding from him. The only reason we seek God is
because he's done a work in us. That's the only reason. so the
tendency of natural man whose fallen just like adam and eve
in our text in genesis is for us to run and hide from the lord
now turn if you would to ephesians chapter two we're like i love
this portion of scripture i just absolutely love this portion
of scripture and our flesh drives us away from god it's always we who leave god's
presence he didn't go nowhere And do you notice that God sought
out Adam and Eve even after they'd fallen in that text we just read? He sought them out. They didn't
seek him. They were hiding in the trees.
Oh, my. Do you know we're brought nigh to
God by God? We're brought close to God by
God? We who are fallen and lost sinners,
we being bought, we who are as people who are born again by
the Holy Spirit of God have been bought nigh, bought near to God. How? By faith. But also something
more important than that, though, by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at this, Ephesians chapter
two, verses 11 to 17. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hand. So
there we are. This is a picture of us, Gentiles in the flesh.
We're all Gentiles here. And we were called that by those
who are called the uncircumcision. That's the Jews. That at times past ye were without
Christ. Look at that. Being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That's
the estate of lost men and women right there. They may have a
hope in something in this world, but they have no true hope. They
have no true hope. Look at this. So what a state. We know that in that state we
can't help ourselves, right? We're powerless to save ourselves.
Praise be to God. Here's another but. But now in
Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh, by
how? The blood of Christ. God himself
brings us to God. God the Son brings us to God
the Father. Made nigh, but close, by the
blood of Christ. for he is our peace, what a statement,
who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, in
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. came and preached peace to you
which were afar and To them That were not Now
let's go back to James with that in our minds James chapter 4
verse 8 and now we can see that we're bought nigh We're bought
near by the blood of Christ So this isn't talking about a physical
nearness. This is talking about a spiritual
nearness before Let's read that verse again with that in mind.
Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
How is one's hands cleansed? How is one's heart purified?
We can't cleanse our own hands. We can't purify our hearts. Well,
beloved, the cleansing of hands and the purifying of heart is
only accomplished by God the Holy Spirit. And he gives us
faith, which is a gift of God, right? Men and women make a lot
of their faith. Faith is given to us. It's a
gift of God. If you have faith in Christ,
rejoice. He gave you that. God gave you that. He gets all
the glory. And hands represent the works
of the flesh. And hearts, again, represent the affections. Being plural, it's double-minded.
So how are the hands cleansed? We'll turn to Romans chapter
6 if you would and then put your finger in Colossians chapter
3 Romans chapter 6 and Colossians chapter 3 how are how are our
hands cleansed? Let's see here Romans chapter
6 verses 12 to 14 Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body right we resist sin don't we as much as we can
we do and We hate it in ourselves more than in anybody else, that
ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your
members as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourself unto God.
Just come to God. Rest in Him. Trust in Him as
those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God. for sin shall not have dominion
over you for you are not under the law but under grace hallelujah we're not under the law we're
under grace why because the law has been
fulfilled in our place by Christ Jesus our Lord so the law that
had a rightful claim on us no longer has a claim on us that
claim has been paid in full beloved Now, do we just go around and
do whatever we want? No, Tom, and I talked about that
a couple weeks ago. Absolutely not. The love of Christ constrains
us from sin. I don't know one grace preacher
to tell you you can go out the door and do whatever you want.
That's antinomianism. We don't believe in that. But
we are not under the law, beloved. Christ is what? The end of the
law for what? For righteousness. For all his
people. That's good news for sinners.
Now, how's the heart purified? Well, the heart is the affections,
right? Turn, if you would, to Colossians chapter 3. And the
affections, by faith, we have our affections turn to another. The faith that God gives us turns
our affections to Christ, doesn't it? Again, it's all his work. We've been given a new heart,
which now what? Hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Who's our
righteousness? The Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture
says that in the preaching of the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed. Paul wrote that in Romans. And
who's revealed in the preaching of the gospel? The Lord Jesus
Christ. And Paul tells us over here in the book of Colossians
to set our minds upon Christ. Look at this. Colossians 3, verses
1 to 4, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set
your affection there, that's the heart, on things above, not
on things of the earth. Don't get carried away with what's
going on in the world. We look at it and say, what a
mess. In our eyes, it's a mess, but it's not a mess in God's
eyes. He's absolutely sovereign over
all things. so set our minds not on the things
going on on the earth but set our minds on Christ and him above
for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God look
at that when Christ who is our life and he's our life he's our
all in all shall appear then shall ye also appear with him
in glory now let's go back to James and we'll look at these
last two verses here these last two verses verses 9 and 10 I'm
just going to be real quick running out of time here But look at
these, it says, verses 9 and 10. Be afflicted and mourn and
weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Now how are you to afflict
yourself, mourn, weep, and cease from mirth? Well, only by believing
and resting in Christ. See, what this is talking about
is telling us to cease from our labors. In Leviticus it says
this, Leviticus 16, 29, this shall be a statute forever unto
you that in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month
you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether
it be one of your own country or a stranger that sojourneth
among you. So it's talking about a Sabbath, a rest. Resting in Christ is believing,
not laboring in the flesh. Christ is our Sabbath. He's our
true rest, isn't he? He's the believer's only rest.
Brother Tim James brings forth that resting in Christ is referred
to as affliction. It's hard. It's hard, yeah, yeah. It's hard. It makes us mourn because our
flesh wants to do something else, doesn't it? See, there's the
battle between the flesh and the spirit, beloved. Ceasing
from laughter just because it's painful to pride and painful
to lay ourselves in the dust before God. We desire that. The
spirit desires that, doesn't it? But the flesh, the flesh,
the flesh, it's a constant battle. It's an affliction, you see?
So people take these verses and they say, well, you've got to
do this and you've got to do this way. You can't laugh. That's not what it's talking
about. It's talking about the affliction
of the flesh. Resting in Christ afflicts our
flesh. Our flesh weeps and mourns at
its demise. And when we acknowledge that
our flesh has nothing to do with our salvation, my oh my when
you and you tell you what you can see how people react tell
them that salvation's not pen on anything they do it's all
dependent upon christ and watch the fireworks