Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (31.3)

The General Epistle of James

James Chapter 4:7-10 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

True religion draws near to God (vv 7-17)

Submitting to God’s authority

v7.       In light of the grace that is offered to the humble, there is only one thing to do: submit to God; surrender to Him as a conquering King, and start receiving the benefits of His reign. James puts it this way: Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

Now next we have a specific promise of God, a rhema of God: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  To solve the problems of carnality and the strife it causes, we must also resist the devil; this means to stand against his deceptions and efforts to intimidate - as we do this, we are promised that he will flee from you

Interesting and significantly, James does not prescribe that Satan be cast out of believers by a third party; instead, he simply challenges individual Christians to deal with Satan as a conquered foe who can and must be personally resisted.   Today there are those who make ministry out of casting demons out of all sorts of people, even out of believers.  That can never be.  The blessed Holy Spirit of God indwells the believer, and He does not share His abode (which is your body) with demons.  So it is impossible to cast out demons from believers. 

Unbeliever may and can be possessed by demons.  To drive out these demons from possessed people requires someone stronger: Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house (Matt 12:29). That person is God Himself.  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb 4:12).  So it is the precious Gospel that will convict and convince a man of his sins, and when that person by faith receives the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and depend on Him absolutely for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, then the Holy Spirit enters into Satan’s house (the strong man’s house) and cast out the demons from that possessed man’s body, and transform that body into the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Since James is talking to believers, the question of casting demons out of them therefore does not arise.  So James says instead that believers are to resist the devil. The word resist comes from two Greek words: stand and against; James is telling us to stand against the devil; Satan cannot possess the body of believers, but he sure can make his influence felt by being around the believers.  But James says that Satan can be set running by the resistance of the lowliest believer who comes in the authority of Jesus' work on the cross! When Satan comes to a believer with the pride and envy of the world, we are to resist such temptations. Faith, humble prayers, and heavenly wisdom, are the weapons of resistance. The language is taken from warfare.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints (Eph 6:13, 16-18).  And the divine promise is that if you resist the devil, he will flee from you!

v8.       Here is another specific promise of God, a rhema: Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Actually within this promise (rhema) is also an invitation. It is no good to submit to God's authority and to resist the devil's attack without walking in relationship with God; and we are promised that He will draw near to us as we come to Him. 

But if we have to draw near to God, it means that there is a drifting apart of our relationship with God in the first place.  How did this happen?  Did God distance Himself from us?  No, we are the one that caused this drift in relationship.  God is holy, and our sins cause us to grieve and quench the indwelling Holy Spirit. How do we draw nigh to God? By prayerfully resisting Satan who opposes our access to God. 

To draw nigh to God, we need to put away sins in our lives.  That’s why this verse goes on to say: Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  Long ago the Psalmist said: Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Ps 24:3-5).  It is thus perfectly clear that sinners cannot ascend into the hill of the Lord to stand in the holy place.  The Psalmist says that the people who can do so are those whose hands are cleanse through the righteousness from our Lord Jesus Christ.  So cleanse your hands ye sinners simply mean to get right with God.

Now we already saw previously that the heart is the source of all impurity.  To purify your hearts means to get rid of your spiritual adultery (i.e. worldliness). James then calls these sinners double minded.  In what sense are they double minded?  In the sense that their loyalty is divided between God and the world!  That’s how Satan wants us to be in, but that’s not what God wants us to be in.  Put away your sins, get right with God, and you will draw nigh to God; in turn, He will draw nigh to you.

v9.       Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. As we do draw near to God, we will be convicted of our sin; so we are compelled to find cleansing at the cross.  We are to have the mourning appropriate to those who have offended a holy God.

v10.     Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.  As we do come as sinners before holy God (not as self righteous religionists), and humble ourselves before God, He will lift us up - because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and the unmerited favour of God always lifts us up. 

This verse reminds us of what Peter says: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time (1Pet 5:6).  Humbling oneself in the sight of the Lord or under the mighty hand of God means continuous humility in the presence of Him who alone is worthy to be exalted.  You have to recognize His presence in all your ways, and that is the truest incentive to humility (to know that God is present always, and He never leaves you or desert you).

God will revive the spirit of the humble (Isa 57:15), He will hear the desire of the humble (Ps 10:17) and he will at last lift them up to glory. Before honour is humility (Pro 15:33). The highest honour in heaven will be the reward of the greatest humility on earth.