Fourth chapter of James opens
with these words. From whence come wars and fightings
among you? Come they not hence even of your
lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not. Ye kill
and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war yet
ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because
ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the
Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. But he giveth more
grace. These verses give us a terrible
picture of the heart of man and the fruit of it. From whence
come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even
of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not,
ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war,
yet ye have not because ye ask not. What a picture of the natural
heart we see here. How wicked it is, how relentless
in its pursuit of its lusts and desires, its self-glory, its
pleasure. How restless the natural heart
is, always lusting, always at war, always striving and never
obtaining. Ye lust and have not, ye kill
and desire to have and cannot obtain. never obtaining that
which it seeks, always seeking happiness and pleasure and acclaim,
but never truly finding it because it's not there to be found in
the darkness of this fallen world, steeped in sin and rebellion. What a picture also this is of
men in religion. Religious men, despite their
religion, despite their words, despite their proclamation that
they're seeking after God, what do we see among them? What did James know of among
the Jews, the scribes, the Pharisees of his day? What had they done
to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Religious men. are always fighting,
always at war, always lusting after position over each other,
after glory, after the honor of men, always striving after
a righteousness that they cannot obtain to. Asking of God, praying
unto God, but asking amiss. Never praying by faith, never
truly seeking the glory of God but seeking their own desire
and their own glory. Pretending to be friends of God
when in reality they are friends of the world. You adulterers
and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. You know, what a picture this
is, of men and women in religion, pretending to be friends of God,
when at heart, they're still friends of the world. But indeed, James is writing
to believers here. And what a picture this is of
the flesh of the believer. Quite apart from those who know
not God and quite apart from the religious world in which
men seek by their own will and works to attain unto a heaven
that cannot be obtained. Here James writes unto believers
whose sin in the flesh brings about wars and fightings among
them, one with each other and within their own hearts. From
whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence
even of your lusts that war in your members? ye lust and have
not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and
war yet ye have not because ye ask not ye ask and receive not
because ye ask and miss that ye may consume it upon your lusts ye adulterers and adulteresses
Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the
Scriptures sayeth in vain the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? Yes, this is a picture of the natural flesh within the
believer that wars against the Spirit of God. That wars against
the new man of grace. That strives for glory and honor. This is what causes the troubles
in the church between one brethren and another. But it's what causes
the troubles within our own hearts as individuals. All the doubts. All the arguing. All the strife
and trouble. How we desire to know God and
yet how we lust after this thing and that thing. How we want the
pleasures of the world. How we want glory and honour
one of another. How we want some praise. And what does it result in? We
never obtain that which our flesh seeks for. But all we see as
a consequence is war, fighting, strife, envy, unbelief, doubts, fears. This passage describes us all
as believers. We're all adulterers and adulteresses,
unfaithful to our husband, Jesus Christ always turning back in
the lust of our flesh to the things of this world or turning
back to the law and works to direct our steps always turning
away from our husband to another to another lover to another husband
Turning back to the former husband, the law, as though Christ cannot
guide us, as though Christ cannot lead us, as though we have to
add something to him, to his gospel, to his righteousness. Always looking for direction
from another source. And how our flesh always looks
to the troubles and the trials that come our way and seeks to
address them in its own power how it turns from Christ so regular
is our turning so frequent is it that we are rightly described
as adulterers and adulteresses Oh, you may say that outwardly,
according to the law of God, you've never done such a thing.
But the believer knows that in his heart, that's all he is,
day by day, desiring this world, walking in his own pride and
for his own glory, and how he abhors himself when the Spirit
of God reveals unto him just what he is. James writes in plain terms but
the believer hears and says yes James that's all I am by nature. Always turning back Always turning
from grace to law, from faith to works, from the spirit to
the flesh, from heaven to the things of this world, from Christ
alone to self, to my own wisdom, my own desires, my own glory.
Always turning from the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus
Christ to my own sin, iniquity. evil, unbelief, doubts, fears. And yet all the time thinking
that somehow we are serving God and living for his glory. How double-minded we are. How
wretched we are in the flesh. How prone to sin, to fall, to
stumble. From whence come wars and fightings
among you? Ye lust and have not. ye kill
and desire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war yet
ye have not because ye ask not, ye ask and receive not because
ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lust. How many of
our prayers are just prayers for God to give us natural pleasure,
natural prosperity which would lead us so often
away from the feet of Jesus Christ, no longer dependent upon him,
but standing up in our own pride and our own glory. How sinful
we are. And yet, as Paul writes in Romans
5, and yet, where sin abounded, grace did much more. about. Paul writes there that
moreover the law entered that the offense might abound but
where sin abounded grace did much more abound that as sin
have reigned unto death even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In spite of what we are by nature
in spite of what we were, and in spite of what our flesh remains
as, as believers. How thankful we can be that James
goes on to state that he giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. No matter how far we fall, no
matter how much we lost, no matter how much we stumble, no matter
how unbelieving our natural hearts may be, He giveth more grace. He will always give more grace. Where sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. He gave us more grace. He gave
more grace in the beginning, when lost in our sins, when covered
in filth, when lying in the gutter. As wretched rebels unto God,
God sent his gospel unto us in power. He found us wherever we
may be, however far off, however much in rebellion, however much
in hatred towards his Son, those for whom Christ died, the Spirit
of God comes unto. And wherever we may have been,
He came unto us, He sought us out, and He found us, and He
brought us more grace. More grace than all our sins
from start to finish. More grace than we could ever
imagine. He came unto us in grace and
He saved us with grace. And He still does. Wherever we
may go as believers, however far off we may seem to be, however
cold our hearts may grow, however great the fightings and wars
within our hearts may become, however much trouble we may cause
our brethren, in the end, God will humble us. and draw us back
unto him and teach us what we are and lift our gaze to see
his son crucified in our place and show us his blood that washes
from head to toe for he giveth more grace. No matter where we
are No matter how weak we are, no matter how far we fall, if
we are in Christ, chosen from eternity, chosen from the foundation
of the world in Christ, if we are His for whom He suffered
and died, He giveth more grace. He always will. For His own shall
never be lost. of those that the Father gave
him, none shall be plucked out of his hands, none shall be lost. He won't leave us to ourselves,
no matter what we do, no matter how strong the flesh may be,
no matter how far we may backslide, no matter how much trouble we
may cause in the church, no matter how much we may do, no matter
how much we may consume our lust, no matter how much strife and
warfare we cause, he will bring us back to himself, he will humble
us, he will lead us back to his throne, lead us back to the feet
of Jesus Christ, he giveth more grace, he won't leave us to ourselves. Why would he? Why would he? Christ gave his own life for
his own. He gave his own life for the
church. He died that they might live,
that she the bride should live. Then will he let her, will he
let any believer leave him in the end? No. He giveth more. grace, more grace, more than
he's given you thus far, more than you can imagine, he shall
always give 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, ye sinners,
and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. 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. For he giveth more grace
to those he humbles by grace. To those he humbles by grace. By nature, we are so, so proud. So proud in all that we are and
all that we do. So desirous to be thought well
of. So desirous for others to look
up unto us. So careful of how we portray
ourselves to others because we want to be thought well of. We're
so proud. The natural man is so proud,
so arrogant. What characterizes him? When
you look upon the events of the world and history and those that
rise to prominence, what do you see in man? You see his pride
when you look upon your own self and consider why you go here
and go there, why you've done this and said that. What's behind
it all in reality but your pride. But God's people are made humble. They are a broken people. They
are broken hearted, contrite, lowly. They're brought to see
that they are nothing. nothing before a holy God, nothing
before a righteous God. They have no righteousness in
themselves. They're nothing but vileness,
nothing but wretchedness, nothing but sin within. All their thoughts,
all their desires, all their words, all their actions are
stained by sin. They're sin from head to foot
and they know it. They know it, they're broken
by the gospel. When God's word comes unto them,
though they were proud, they're brought low. Though they were
arrogant, They're brought to nothing. Though they were full
of their own self-righteousness, they're brought to see it filthy
rags before a holy God. When God makes himself known
unto them, they fall down to the ground, as Isaiah did, seeing themselves as wretched. Woe is me, I am undone. They see the filthiness of their
heart and the filthiness of their lips, that all that they are
is sin. How the glory of God, when it's
revealed unto a sinner, breaks him, humbles him, brings him
love. That's what God will do when
he comes to a sinner in the gospel. to then lead Him unto His Saviour. And when they're brought to such
a place, they come to know God's grace, God's boundless grace,
God's saving grace, God's free and sovereign grace, God's wonderful
grace, that though they're lost, That though they're sinners,
that though they're rebels, that though all they've done unto
God is reject and persecute and trample his son underfoot and
crucify him with their hatred and unbelief. That all they've
done is reward God with their hatred and opposition and enmity. that seeing that they are nothing
but guilty sinners before Him, worthy of His condemnation, worthy
of hell to come, He brings them by grace to His Son, to the cross,
to that place where God met with men and showed them His mercy,
declared unto them His righteousness. manifested his love for sinners
such as them he brings them to his son and he shows them grace
and he says you're mine your sin your rebellion your unbelief
your hatred is there laid upon my son who bore your guilt and
took it away. They're brought to see his blood
shed for them to wash them clean. They're brought to see a saviour
who died that they should live. And time and again the child
of God, when he rises up in the flesh, when his flesh overcomes
him, When he turns his gaze away from Christ, when as an adulterer
he turns away, unfaithful, unloving, God comes under him, breaks him,
humbles him, and points him unto that Saviour who loves him and
gave himself for him, points her unto her Saviour, who loved
her and gave himself for her. He leads the believer unto Christ. Time and again he giveth more
grace. Every day we turn our back upon
Christ and every day he'll lead us again by his gospel to the
foot of the cross, to the feet of Jesus Christ. and opens the
eyes of faith to see a suffering saviour who loves from the beginning
until the end. Every time we turn away from
Christ, every time we turn to the world, every time we turn
to our idols, God causes us to learn again that we are nothing.
And Christ is all. We're brought down from our haughty
ways. Brought down from our pride. Brought down from our arrogance.
We're brought to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord. To
humble ourselves. Because the grace that he gives
humbles us. He gives more grace that he might
lift us up. Do you know this? Do you know
this believer in your own pathway? How often have you played the
harlot? How often have you been an adulterer,
an adulteress? How often have you been unfaithful
to Christ who loves you? How often do we turn? But yet, how often? We know in wonderful experience
that in spite of all that we are and all that we do, he giveth
more grace. He giveth more grace. Wherefore he sayeth, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Unto the humble. But who really is humble? Who really is the humble? Are we really the humble? How can we be? In ourselves we're
full of pride still. In ourselves we have the flesh.
So often rising up. How little humility we see. Who really is the humble? Who
really was brought down so low that he might be lifted up? Christ
is. We are only that, that we are
in Christ as believers. If we're humble, we're humble
in Him. If we're lifted up, we're lifted
up in Him. If we're given more grace, we're
given more grace. him what the Lord does in his
people and for his people he does because they are in Christ
and the paths they walk in the steps they tread are the paths
and the steps that he walked in and he trod for them James
exhorts humble yourselves Submit unto God, resist the devil, draw
nigh to God, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, be afflicted
and mourn. And yet how can we? How can we
humble ourselves? How can we in our own selves
submit to God, resist the devil, draw nigh to God, cleanse our
hands, purify our hearts, be afflicted and mourn? We can't
by ourselves and we don't by ourselves. How can we? How can we? Only in Christ. In Christ, we're humbled. In
Christ, we submit. In Christ, we resist the devil. In Christ, we draw nigh unto
God. In Christ, we're cleansed. In
Christ, we're purified. In Christ, our natural heart,
our flesh is afflicted and mourns. But in Christ, in the Spirit
of God, we joy and rejoice in Him forevermore. In Christ, only
in Christ, as He did, as He endured, we do in Him alone. He humbled Himself. He submitted
unto God. He resisted the devil. He drew
nigh unto God. He cleansed His hands and purified
His hearts. And in Christ, we are and do
the same. He humbled himself in coming
from heaven's glory to the depths of this dark and evil world. As we read in Philippians 2,
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death. even the death of the cross. What a humility this is. What
a humility and a humbling this is. We speak of being humble
and we have no idea. We have no idea. We speak of
certain people and describe them as saying, that's a humble man.
We've got no idea what humility is. Christ, the King of Kings,
the Lord of Lords, the Son of God, became man, born in an evil,
wicked world. coming into this world and generation
that rejected Him, every one of us, He humbled Himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That's
the humility of Jesus Christ, that He should go to the very
depths, into the abyss, into the darkness at the cross and
under the judgment and the wrath of Almighty God against sin. Against all our wretchedness,
all our rebellion, all our hatred, all our unbelief. He bore what
we are, that filthiness within. He was judged because of it.
He bore that for all his people throughout all time. What humility! He submitted to God. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done. He did that which was pleasing
unto the Father every day. He submitted to God. How often
we resist the will of God. How often we fight against it.
When trials come our way, we don't like them. We pray they
may be taken away even if God sends them for our good. Even
if he sends them to humble us and to purify us and to cleanse
us, we resist. Yet he submitted by faith unto
God. He resisted the devil and all
his temptations. He drew nigh to God. He cleansed
his hands. He purified his heart. He was
afflicted. He mourned. And in Him we did
all He did. In Him we are all He is. In Him we receive the grace of
God. He giveth more grace, wherefore
He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. How are we humble? in Christ
alone. How do we serve God in Christ
alone? How do we submit to God in Christ
alone? How do we resist the devil in
Christ alone? How do we draw nigh unto God
in Christ alone? How are we cleansed and purified
in Christ alone? We are humble in Him. We're brought
low in Him that He might lift us up. For He was lifted up. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and He shall lift you up. Christ came and He suffered. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. He died because of our sins. Believer, He died because of
your sin. He died because of our iniquity. He went to the lowest depths. But in so doing, he wrought a
great victory. In so doing, he took away all
our iniquity, all our rebellion, all our unbelief, all the lusts
and the envies and the watering of our flesh. He took it all
away. And having suffered in those
hours in the darkness, forsaken of man, forsaken of the Father, having suffered all, He cried
out, it is finished. Laid in the grave, buried, enduring
death for his people, he rose up. on the third day victoriously. He rose up with a shout. He rose
up triumphantly. God lifted him up. He rose up
from the grave and all his people rose with him. He rose victorious,
sin conquered, death taken away. Righteousness brought in eternally
for his people, everlasting life. The Lord lifted him up. And he lifted his people up in
him. He giveth more grace. Yes, he died that we in him should
live. He gave himself. He suffered
to save his people. He giveth more grace. Oh, what grace. What salvation
He wrought! What mercy and love that took
Him to such a place for such a people as you and I to deliver
from such sin and bring in such righteousness. What grace! And having done this, having
gone to these lengths Will he not save his people in the end?
Will he not be long-suffering to their rebellion, to their
unfaithfulness, to their daily sins, to their daily unbelief,
to their daily fear, to their daily lust? Will he not watch
over them to the end? Will he not save his people?
Will he not bring them through every trial? every temptation,
every fall, every tribulation, will He not bring them to Himself
perfect in the end? Wherever they stumble, however
far they fall, wherever they may go, whatever trouble and
strife they may cause, however much they may hurt the Brethren,
whatever they do, will He not bring them in? perfect in Him
in the end. Will He not give them more grace? Yes, He will. Yes, He will. I praise God that He giveth more
grace. More grace. He giveth more grace. Why? For Christ's sake. God gave His Son. He gave Himself. He gave all, then will he not
give more grace to those for whom he gave Christ? To those for whom Christ gave
his own life, will he not give more grace? He giveth more grace. Why? For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. He's the reason. He is the reason. He is the reason
he giveth more grace. O believer, look unto Christ
and Christ alone, for he giveth more grace. Amen.