James: Faith That Works Part 14
Notes
Transcript
Cyanide prevents the cells of the body from using oxygen. When this happens, the cells die. The bring and the hear are most vulnerable.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
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.
Pride is poison to the church body.
Pride is poison to the church body.
Pride says if I don’t get my way someone is going to pay.
The symptoms of this sick church all have an underlying cause, namely pride.
Fights, quarrels, murder,
Pride is self-centered living.
Pride is self-centered living.
Desire, covet, spend it on your passions!
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
3
3
A prideful attitude
It is about me.
It is about me.
I am most important.
I am most important.
I don’t need you.
I don’t need you.
Like Cyanide that prevents the cells from getting the oxygen they need
Pride cuts man off from God’s grace.
Pride cuts man off from God’s grace.
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Pride positions us in battle against God.
Pride positions us in battle against God.
ἀντιτάσσω antitássō - Translted Opposes
antí (against) and tássō ( to arrange) To set an army in array for battle.
God arranges Himself in battle against prideful people.
To set an army in array against, to arrange in battle order.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Rom
What is the antidote to pride?
Submit means yielding to God’s authority.
Submit means yielding to God’s authority.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
2. Resist means rejecting the authority of our enemy.
2. Resist means rejecting the authority of our enemy.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James
10,000 Sermon Illustrations Charles Spurgeon
The great British preacher Charles Spurgeon was keenly aware of the dangers of pride. After his sermon one Sunday, Spurgeon was met by a woman who exclaimed, “Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, that was wonderful.”
“Yes, madam,” Spurgeon replied, “so the devil whispered in my ear as I came down the steps of the pulpit.”
Spurgeon had it right. Genuine compliments are no sin, but he knew that puffing God’s people up with pride is one of Satan’s favorite tactics. One reason the enemy uses this trick so often is that it is so successful.
Drawing near means seeking relational intimacy with God.
Drawing near means seeking relational intimacy with God.
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.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
I must deal with the stuff in my life that displeases God.
I must deal with the stuff in my life that displeases God.
Contrition - Key Word!
True spirituality means being broken over my sin.
True spirituality means being broken over my sin.
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. D.L. Moody
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. D.L. Moody
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
The essence of Gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. - Tim Keller