James 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

God wants us to stop and consider our view of His Word. We know that today, the majority of professing Christians do not consider God’s Word as pure and preserved. The majority of what is called Christianity today uses one of the many perversions. Sadly, there are those within the Independent Fundamental Baptist camp who are talking of the need to “update” the King James Bible. The devil is having a heyday.
God’s Word never needs to be updated. The King James Bible has gone through some upgrades in spelling of certain words. However, the doctrines have not been changed since the King James first came out. Those who are calling for an upgrade of the King James Bible now, are not holding to the doctrines of God’s Word. That is why they want to corrupt the only true English version of the Bible. The good news is that they will not succeed. They may come up with another perversion, but the KJV will remain.
In our text, James was directed to remind us that the spirit that is in man lusts to envy. It should be no surprise to any born again Christian that we have an enemy that exists inside of us. God has stated that often. God refers to it as the “old man” or the “flesh”. The born again Christian will not be completely changed until we get to glory. Envy is sin and it is something that must be guarded against for the true child of God. It cannot be allowed to infect the Christian. We must put that spirit to death. The apostle Paul stated: “I die daily”.
In verse 6 we see that we do not need to yield to that spirit of envy. God gives more grace. This grace is that enabling grace that helps the child of God to behave like a child of God. We cannot do that in the flesh. We cannot do that on our own. We can honour God when we draw from that grace that He has made available for every true born again child of God. The apostle Paul was told: “my grace is sufficient for thee”. He was content with that fact, and every true child of God needs to be content with that fact.
James continued in verse 6 by reminding us that God resists the proud. The proud Christian will fall. He will be exposed for the weak saint that he is. God cannot bless the Christian who wants to love the world. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Those who trust in God and submit to His will, are able to move forward in their walk with the Lord. There are things that Christians look at and the flesh says, ‘I cannot do that’. That is a true statement. In the flesh the saint cannot please God. However, the true child of God is not supposed to walk in the flesh. He is to mortify the flesh and put on the new man. Sadly, we do not always do that, but when a true child of God is out of step with the Lord, He chastens him to bring him back into line with where he must be.
In verse 7 we see that we, those who are saved, must choose. We need to submit ourselves to God. That is the only right choice for the true child of God. When we submit ourselves to God and draw on His grace, we can resist the devil. We do not follow the Charismatic heresy and tell the devil to get lost. We are never told to engage the devil. We resist the devil and he will flee from us.
Verse 8 tells us how we resist the devil. We do that by drawing nigh to God. He is our strength. The true child of God is not ashamed to run to God for help. God, the Holy Spirit, indwells the true child of God. He will help us to see the need to call out to God for help.

I Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

When the true child of God draws nigh to God, He is right there to draw nigh to him. God is not a petty God. He does not get into a “mood”. He is always there to help His humble child. It is necessary for the true child of God to cleanse his hands. God calls the compromised saint a sinner. He wants us to see things as they truly are. The world loves a professing Christian who will sit down for a beer or cuss or turn on the rock music, etc. They love that. They want to believe in a god who loves sin. They do not want a righteous and holy God. The true child of God loses his testimony when he adopts worldly ways. Of course God will not leave His child in that place of sin. He will chasten him to bring him out of that place.
The true saint cannot be comfortable in any type of compromise. He must purify his heart. God rightly calls the compromised saint “double minded”. He is saved, but he wants to behave like a lost person. The New Evangelical, emergent church philosophy has tried hard to “modernize” the definition of a Christian. The ‘worship teams’ are one of the ways they suggest God has changed. They are worshipping, but it is not God they are worshipping. The fact that people can remain in that wickedness is evidence they are not a true child of God. God is not in that stuff. He is separate from sinners. He draws sinners to come to Him and be saved. The saved person is given a new nature and old things are passed away, behold all things are made new. The old sinful lifestyle is no longer the desire of the true child of God. That is what God’s Word tells us.
In verse 9 we continue to see a much different attitude for the true child of God, than what the N.E. crowd says. Peter went out and wept bitterly when he finally acknowledged his sin at Jesus’ trial. He did not go out and throw a party. He realized what he had done and he did not know what to do about that. When the news came that Jesus had risen from the dead, he did not know what to make of that. He ran to the tomb but Jesus was not there. He met with the other disciples and he said he was going back to fishing. That was tangible and he could handle that. It was a tough life, but he knew how to do that. Jesus did not leave him there. Jesus met the disciples as they were tired after fishing all night and catching nothing. Jesus told them to cast their net on the other side. The apostle John knew right away that this was Jesus. When Peter heard that, he left the nets and the boat and the other disciples and he jumped into the water and came to shore as quick as he could. He needed to meet with Jesus.
Jesus did not condemn him. Jesus forgave him and challenged him regarding his loyalty. Peter was a saved man, but he needed some help. At that point, Peter had not yet received the indwelling Holy Spirit. That would come after Jesus’ ascension. In the meantime, he needed to get back to what he had been called to do. Prior to Jesus’ ascension, the apostles were told to gather in the upper room and to wait for the promise of God, the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell them and to empower them for the work they needed to do.
Peter lacked the joy of the Lord after he denied Jesus Christ. He did not get that joy back until Jesus restored him to right fellowship. He did not lose his salvation. He lost that joy that God promises to His child when we walk in obedience to His will.
In verse 10 we are again reminded of the importance of humility. If you are truly saved, stop resisting the truth. There is a great blessing in being forgiven by God and being restored to that rightful place that He has designed for His humble child. You cannot manufacture that place. It is a gift of God for the humble saint. It is there for every born again Christian. To be lifted up by Jesus Christ is not that superficial stuff that the Charismatics talk about. It is not manufactured. It is real and it is a true blessing. The true child of God will know this. The fraud will deny it and settle for his empty, humanistic joy.
Don’t settle for that emptiness. Trust in the true God and know His peace and blessing which is provided by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf.
Pastor Bartel