Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (31.2)

The General Epistle of James

James Chapter 4:3-6 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

v3. In the preceding verse, James says that ye have not, because ye ask not.  But what if you did ask God and yet receive nothing?  Well, James now says: Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.  It is not enough to ask for good things, but we must ask with a good spirit and intention. Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it (your object of prayer) upon (literally, “in”) your lusts (literally, “pleasures”); not that ye may have the things you need for the service of God. If ye prayed aright, all your proper wants would be supplied; the improper cravings, which produce wars and fightings, would then cease. Even believers' prayers are often best answered when their desires are most opposed.

James earlier said that when we pray, we should ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord (Jas 1:6-7).  Now he tells us that in praying we should not ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.  Hence learn that for effective fervent prayer to bear result, our prayer must be anchored upon a specific promise of God (which is how we ask in faith without wavering, because we are claiming a promise of God).  The moment our prayer becomes directed towards self, we are likely to be asking amiss.  And God simply does not answer such prayers that we may consume it upon our lusts.

Friendship with the world is enmity with God (vv4-6)

v4.  Adulterers and adulteresses is an Old Testament way of rebuking God's people for their attraction to some form of idolatry; their covetousness is idolatry and friendship with the world

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks (Jer 3:8-9).

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Col 3:5).

Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?  That is the question all believers have to answer.  How so?  What is the world? It is made up of men whose motives and acts are aliens to God, for example, its selfish lusts, and covetous and ambitious wars and fightings. 

God is totally different: He is love, merciful, holy, etc.  So James says: whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  James recognizes that we cannot both be friends of this world system in rebellion against God, and friends of God.   Notice that even the desire to be a friend of this world (whosoever therefore will be a fried of the world) makes one an enemy of God.   Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1Jn 2:15).

Listen to what the Bible has to say about this:  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt 6:24).  Mammon of course is the world system and everything that the world represents.  The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit has a jealous yearning for our friendship with God.  Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit with your compromises.

v5.       Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 

First we need to understand that what is said in scripture is never in vain.  The Bible is God’s word, and what God says is truth: Sanctify them through they truth: thy word is truth (Jn 17:17).

Secondly, note that the exact wording of this sentence, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy, cannot be found in the Bible.  Most probably James was not citing a particular passage but summarizing the truth expressed in several Biblical passages.  So what is the meaning of:  The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 

Simply put, we can say it this way: Does the Holy Spirit that God hath placed in us lust towards envy in the same way as ye do in your worldly wars and fightings? Certainly not! You are therefore walking in the flesh, not in the Spirit, while you thus lust towards (i.e. with envy) one another. The friendship of the world tends to breed envy; the Spirit produces very different fruit.

Since the indwelling Holy Spirit does not lust towards envy, then this verse must be talking about the spirit which naturally dwells in man, and that spirit is always producing one evil imagination or another, always emulating such as we see and converse with and seeking those things which are possessed and enjoyed by them. Now this way of the world with its pomp and pleasure, and falling into strifes and quarrels for the sake of these things, is the sure consequence of being friends to the world.

v6.       But he giveth more grace. God is faithful, if you depart from envy, He gives you more grace to do so. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  Pride is the mother of envy, and as noted earlier, it has its origin in Satan, for by it Satan fell.

The last phrase, but giveth grace unto the humble, reminds us of another verse: Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly (Pro 3:34).  And what is meant by scorneth the scorners if it is not a reference to those who think that the scripture saith in vain?

Who are the proud?  Well that word in the Greek means one who shows himself above his fellows.  Now it is God that puts someone above you, and if you seek to show yourself above one whom God has place above you, you are actually lifting yourself against God. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God (Rom 13:1).  And so James here says that God resisteth the proud.  

Now the word resisteth is a powerful word.  It describes God setting Himself in battle array against them.  In other word, it speaks of God being an enemy of the proud.  There is no greater disgrace than for God to proclaim a man an enemy of God, and for God to then go into battle array against that enemy.

James goes on to say that while God resisteth the proud, He giveth grace unto the humble.  Who are the humble?  Well they are the opposite of the proud.  The humble are people who are unenvious, uncovetous, and unambitious as to the world. Compared to the disgrace the proud received by being the enemy of God, the humble is honoured by God who gives him grace, yea even more grace. Wherever God gives true grace, he will give more; for to him that hath, and useth what he hath aright, more shall be given. He will especially give more grace to the humble, because they see their need of it, will pray for it and be thankful for it; and such shall have it.