James 4:6-8, ‘But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit 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.’
V10, ‘Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.’
James is an elder of the Church in Jerusalem and brother of Jesus. He got the revelation of Jesus, what he is and what are His ways. He says about faith and in chapter 4, he talks about the worldliness. We need to come to God daily with humble hearts.
V1, ‘What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?’ V2, V3, ‘You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.’
We need to come to the throne of grace, every day for the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
V4, ‘You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.’
He talks about the spiritual adultery. Friendship with the world makes us an enemy of God. It takes us away from God.
V5, ‘Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? ‘
God is more eager to give us His Holy Spirit to us, how eager are we to ask and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit from God? When we are making friendship with the world and get carried away by them and by the lusts of this world, we are against God. God wants us to come to His presence every day and receive grace so as to overcome these lusts of the flesh.
1 John 2:15, ‘Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’
Do not love the world because the love of the Father will not be in us.
V16, ‘For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.’
The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. We can overcome these by having ‘faith’ in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:4, ‘For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.’
The victory is through faith in God. James and Apostle John are in one accord, in saying that the victory, is only by the ‘faith in our Lord’.
James 1:2-4, ‘Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’ V5, ‘But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.’
V12, ‘Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.’
When we fight a good fight of faith, when we persevere under all these trials, we will be approved and receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised, to those who love Him. This is the promise of God to those who love Him.
V8, ‘being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.’
We should not trust our own understanding or the ways of this world and say we trust in the Lord. We should not be double-minded.
V9, ‘But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;’ V10, ‘and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.’ V11, ‘For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.’
If we trust in our own understanding, we sill slowly fade away!
James 4:7, ‘Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.’
Submission to God is very necessary so we can resist the devil. Resist all the schemes of the devil in our flesh and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ‘Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded’. We need to purify our inner and outer side of ourselves. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Jeremiah 45:4, 5, ‘Thus you are to say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, what I have built I am about to tear down, and what I have planted I am about to uproot, that is, the whole land.’ 5 But you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh,’ declares the Lord, ‘but I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.’”’
Baruch was kind of a secretary to the Prophet, Jeremiah, he used to write down what Jeremiah used to dictate to him. Are we seeking something great in our lives for ourselves? Do not seek them – ‘the honor of men’ but seek the glory of the Lord, everyday in our lives.
Daniel humbled himself and took strong decisions for himself and God gave him the prophesies of the end times.
Daniel 1:8, ‘But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.’
Regarding the temptation of food, we see that Eve was tempted by the food, when she sinned, she plucked the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; Israelites also did not keep the Sabbath on the seventh day, they did not care for the Sabbath day and the Sabbath year was also not taken into consideration; the Lord was angry with them. They had to be exiled to Babylon. Daniel was in Babylon, but he took a strong stand regarding the food, that he won’t take part in the King’s table, that he might not defile himself and went through the humble means.
Daniel 10:12, ‘Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.’
Firstly, Daniel took a firm decision regarding the food, secondly, Daniel understood what he needs to do, clearly through a vision and he humbled himself and his words were heard by the Lord. When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, there might be areas, where we don’t know how to take decisions but when we humble ourselves and wait for the Lord to talk to us, then that is how, we receive wisdom and understanding from God. Daniel stood strong and true to the Lord.
Daniel is praying for his people. He is seeking the Lord in prayer and fasting, in dust and ashes. It is only through prayer and supplication that we can seek Him.
Daniel 9:3-6, ‘So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.’
Daniel says, ‘we have sinned’. He is taking the blame, though he was upright.
V7, ‘“Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.’
V18, ‘O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
Daniel is praying, ‘for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion’
V22, ‘He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 23 At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.’
Daniel was heard and given insight with understanding, he was highly esteemed and was given understanding of the visions. When we submit ourselves to the Lord, we will also receive revelations. We see that Daniel, took others iniquities also and prayed to the Lord that ‘we have sinned’. This is the attitude we need to have, to pray for the Church and not seeking our own selves like the message that was given to Baruch.
John 1:19, ‘This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”’
This was the humble confession of John the Baptist, when the Jews were asking, ‘who are you?’ He is frankly saying that ‘I am not the Christ’.
V21-23, ‘They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”’
Are we also just the clear voice of encouragement and life to the Church, or are we having a high existence of our ‘self’? When somebody asks us, ‘who are you?’ can we humble and submit ourselves and say, ‘I am a nobody’!
John 1:25-27, ‘They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”’
He is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, ‘It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.
We see the humility of John the Baptist.
V29-30, ‘The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’’
V33, ‘I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”’
Are we also able to testify, that He is the real God, the real Son of God? We can be a voice pointing towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 11:4-6, ‘Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”’
John was asking, ‘Are you the Messiah?’
V7-11, ‘As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces! 9But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ 11 Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.’
This is one of the opportunities we as new covenant Christians are getting that ‘the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.’
V12, ‘From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. ‘
It is not the outer violence we have to do, but inwardly, we need to feed our faith, whatever happens, we need to suffer violence, get away from the lusts of the world and take hold of the kingdom of God.
Romans 12:3, ‘For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.’
According to the measure of the faith given to us, we need to see ourselves and not think highly of ourselves. If we submit ourselves everyday to God, He will reveal truth about you and show the truth about Jesus and slowly He will help us to submit ourselves to Him. We can draw near to Him and He will change us day by day and give us more grace each day.
Matthew 7:1-2, ‘“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.’
We need to judge ourselves first in the light which Jesus Christ had given us. The way we judge others, we will also be judged.
1 Corinthians 4:4,5, ‘For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.’
We need to wait until the Lord’s time and He will bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts. Judge ourselves, seek the Lord in humility.
Galatians 6:3, 4, ‘For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.’
Let us judge ourselves individually and not judge others. We need to have lowly thoughts about ourselves.
V14, ‘But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’
When we do this, we are hidden in Christ and it is not we, but Christ who is doing everything through us. We are crucified to the world and the tendency to boast also is crucified.
Hebrews 4:12, ‘For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’
When we submit ourselves to the Lord, He will make clear to us, what are our thoughts, intentions and we see that the sword is pierced, wounding both the sides and the motives and intentions of our hearts are revealed.
V13, ‘And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.’ V14, ‘Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’
We need to have this confidence that, when we come to Him and ask for mercy and compassion, He is more eager to give us, the Holy Spirit to us, when we cry out to the Lord.
James 4:16, ‘But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.’
We need to humble ourselves and show compassion and mercy towards others, if not it is a sin!
