God Resists the Proud, But Gives Grace to the Humble - James 4

Intro:

James 4:1–3 CSB

1 What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? 2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Point #1: Passions are Things We Want and Care About…There is a War Within Us About Wanting Good Things or Bad Things.

Sometimes we want what is good for us…sometimes we want what is bad for us.

Sometimes we fight with those around us, or parents, or brothers and sisters, our friends, people who are not our friends...

Often, we fight with those around us because they don’t want what we want…then there is a struggle to see who gets their way.

James says we do not have because we have not asked God!!!

John 15:7 CSB

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

If you remain in me…what do you think that means?

Remaining in Jesus means to everything for Jesus (because we love Him), doing everything through Jesus (with his help), doing good because of Jesus (Because Jesus takes care of us and helps us).

WHEN WE LIVE LIKE THIS WE WANT WHAT JESUS WANTS AND HE GIVES US WHAT WE ASK BECAUSE WHAT WE ASK FOR IS WHAT JESUS WANTS!!!

How far can people go to get what they want?

They murder...

They covet… (Covet is a fancy word for wanting what someone else has, not being content with what God has given us). Do not covet is one of the 10 commandments.

Why don’t we get from God when we ask sometimes?

We have wrong motives (a motive is the reason we want something).

We ask with the wrong heart (what we ask for is not good for us or for other people).

A big part of belonging to Jesus is loving what Jesus loves and hating what Jesus hates!

James 4:4–6 CSB

4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. 5 Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Point #2: The Church is the Bride of Christ (Jesus), We Shouldn’t Love Anything Else More Than Jesus!

What is a bride? (a bride is a wife who married a husband)

When we choose to belong to Jesus we become part of the church. The church is called the bride of Christ. (We love Jesus like a wife loves a husband).

Adultery is when a husband or wife loves someone else that is not the person they are married to.

James calls people that say their Christians but love other things more than Jesus adulterous.

Jesus tells us to be friends with Jesus, not friends with the world (things of the world, things that the world values).

When we do this, we become an enemy of God.

What is an enemy? (someone who works or fights against us).

James 4:7–10 CSB

7 Therefore, submit 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, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable 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.

Point #3: Submit to God (follow His lead). Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

Submitting to God means we do what pleases him with a good heart and a good attitude!

Resist the devil means we don’t do the bad things that the devil wants us to do...

When we actively do what God wants and resists the things the devil wants the devil must leave us, God says!!!

Have a kid push you as hard as they can…I move because I didn’t resist...

Now lets we what happens when i resist…I didn’t move...

Draw near to God: Spend time with God...

What are some things you can do with God? (Almost anything!)

i. James tells us when we draw near to God, God comes closer to us!!!

James tells us to wash or hands and clean our hearts… (Jesus helps us with this)!

James tells us to be sad for the wrong things we have done.

He tells us not to be happy when we have got our way it doing what does not make God happy.

James tells us to humble ourselves! (Not make a big deal about ourselves)

Humbling ourselves means not claiming our rights or privileges...

The trick is to not thing you deserve it! - Rip

We put others before ourselves...

When we don’t make a big deal about ourselves, God will make a big deal about us!

James 4:11–12 CSB

11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Point #4: Don’t Say Bad Things About Others (Criticize)...

If you don’t have anything nice to say, _________________! (Don’t say anything at all)

That saying come from the Bible!

God is the judge…he makes the rules…He decides who is right and who is wrong…He who is innocent and who is guilty.

We ask those who belong to Jesus do get caught up in all of that , we are just loving and kind to every

James 4:13–17 CSB

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. 15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.

Point #5: Don’t Think We Can Do Whatever We Want: Trust in and Rely Upon God!

We can hope to do things…if they are God’s will.

We don’t assume anything as those who follow Jesus...

We say, “I want to do this, or go here, if its okay with Jesus!

So when we make plans we say, “If its The Lord’s Will!” (If its okay with Jesus!)

James tells us they were bragging, but they were bragging out of their foolishness!

Finally, James tells us, “If we know that it is good to help someone or to be kind to someone and do not do it, it is sin!”

Sin is doing something that is against God’s will (What God wants!)