JAMES 4:1-102009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: James 4:1-10

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009. And that is what God has called us to do to Him. We are called to submit, to arrange ourselves below Him, under Him, under His authority, to be obedient to Him and to be surrendered to His control, to His will and not our own.

But there's some problems when we are not submitted to God. And first, as we look at James chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, he will share with us the symptoms of when we are not submitted to God or unsubmitted symptoms. We find it first as we begin in verse 1. It says, where do wars and fights come from among you?

He starts by asking the question, where do wars and fights come from among you? He's talking to believers in Jesus Christ. He's talking to the church and he says, what is the source? There's wars and there's battles going on within the church.

Now, to back it up just a little bit, in James chapter 3, we were talking about the wisdom of God as we ended the chapter last week.

And how the wisdom from above is first of all pure and then it's peaceable. And we looked at that word peace a couple of times as James uses that word a few times. And we understood that that peace of God is a huge part of the wisdom of God. And those who are wise, those who are walking with God, those who have the wisdom of God, well, peace...

is a very important and dominant characteristic in their life and in their relationship with others. Heavenly wisdom is pure and peaceable and gentle and willing to yield and full of mercy and good fruits. He goes on in verse 18 of chapter 3 and he says, Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Those who have the wisdom of God bear forth the fruit of righteousness. It's fruit that is sown in peace. And it's sown by those who make peace. So James asks the question now, if the wisdom of God is pure and peaceable, and if the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace, then where are these wars and fights coming from? What is the source of

of these wars and fights, of these battles that take place between those who name the name of Christ. And the point that James is making is that it's not from above. These things are not part of the wisdom of God. They're not from God. They're from some other source. And where is that source? Well, he tells us at the end of verse 1, he says, "...do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?" The source of these wars and fights...

the source of this contention, the source of these divisions within the body of Christ, he says, is our desires for pleasure that war within our members. It's our desires for pleasure. It's not from above, it's from within that these wars and fights are coming from. Paul the Apostle, in writing to the Corinthians, says,

It tells them in 1 Corinthians 3, 3, you are still carnal. Now, how would you like the Apostle Paul to write a letter to you, point a finger at you and say, you are still carnal. The word carnal, it means to be fleshly. It means to be subject to our natural desires and cravings and subject to our sinful condition. He says, look, you're still carnal. You're still acting like you're bound in the sinful condition.

He goes on to say, for where envy and strife and divisions are among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? James says, the source of these things is your desires for pleasure. Paul says, it's because you're carnal that these things exist. You're behaving like mere men. These things are not from God, but these things, well, they're from the carnality that is in us. A carnal person is one who is ruled by their flesh and

One who is ruled by their own desires. And it produces in us wars and fights. Now, we might think that James is exaggerating a little bit here. What kind of war and how bad could it be, you know, between Christians? And yet, the word war, it means to destroy much. And the reality is that when there is divisions in the body of Christ, and when there's Christians who...

are against one another, that there is much destruction as a result. That there is much damage that is brought forth when there is division, when there is these battles and fights that go on. Do Christians have wars and fights? Yes, it does happen. James asks, where does it come from? It happens, but where does it come from?

We don't use swords or guns, not typically, when we battle one another. Someone said, thank God. Yeah, that's good. But it doesn't mean that it's not destructive. We have a storehouse of bitterness often. And we go in there to rearm and to pull out. And we use this...

This bitterness we use. What James talked about in chapter 3, the danger, the destruction of the tongue with gossip and slander, manipulation. And these become our armaments for this battle that we wage. It's like a guerrilla warfare. We have spy networks and undercover agents and

I've seen it. There's these battles and there's these movements and there's these strivings for power and just hatred amongst one another. And it does not fit. It's not from above. It's from, James says, these wars and fights are from the desires for pleasure that war within your members.

And of course we camouflage it all with spiritual language and try to make it look like it just fits into the spiritual framework and spiritual surroundings. But underneath the camouflage is this wickedness. It's these desires for pleasure. It's this carnality. It's not from God. The scripture tells us plenty of times that the need for the body of Christ is unity.

There's a need, there's a command for us to be united together, not to be at odds with one another. In Galatians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul tells us that the fulfillment of the whole law is in one thing, and that is, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The law is summed up in this. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you're not going to murder, you're not going to covet, you're not going to steal. Because you love them as yourself, you will fulfill the law.

But in contrast to that, in Galatians 5.15, he says, But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. If you don't love your neighbor as yourself, then watch out because you're going to be bringing destruction to one another. You're going to bite and devour one another. The command for us is to love one another. Fights and wars have no place. It's not from above. Where is it from?

Well, he says your desire is for pleasure. In Galatians 5, the very next verse, Paul says, Again, he's saying, look, love your neighbor. That's the fulfillment of the law. If you don't do that, watch out, you're going to bite and devour one another.

Here's the answer. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. You see again, He's revealing the same source, the same thing. It's the lusts of our flesh. It's our carnality. It's our desires that cause these wars and these battles and this biting and devouring and this gossip and slander and maliciousness and this bitterness. It's not from above. It's not of God, but it's from within. It's from our flesh. It's from our desires and desires.

And that is where they come from. Wars and fights come from our fleshly desires. And they're an indication. They're a symptom that shows, that reveals that we are not submitted to God. But it's not the only symptom. Look at verse 2. He says, You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask.

So he gives us a few more things here. He says, first of all, you lust and do not have. Here's another indication, another symptom that we are not submitted to God. You lust and do not have. Now when we think of lust...

automatically in our mind, because it's so often used in this context, we think of sexual things, that lust has to do with, you know, the gratifying the flesh sexually. But that word lust is not limited to that. Although for sure it includes that, lust just means to have affections directed towards something, to desire and to long after something. To desire and long after something is to lust. Right?

And so he says, you lust and do not have. Now let me ask you, do you desire things that you do not have? Do you have a strong desire for things that you do not have? Do you long after things that you do not have? It could be in reference to material things and perhaps that's something that you really struggle with and you have this strong desire, these cravings for whatever it is. The boat, the transportation, the...

Material things of this world. Do you long for those things which you do not have? Or it could also be a relationship. That longing for, that desperation for some type of relationship or entering into a marriage. And it's just this strong desire, but you do not have it.

It could be a position, it could be a position of favor, it could be some type of status that you're longing for, that you're desiring, but you do not have. Lust is another symptom that reveals that our heart is unsubmitted to God, that we are not in submission to God. It's a symptom that reveals our heart so that we can see and understand, that we can recognize our heart is in a dangerous place.

He goes on to say, you murder and covet and cannot obtain. Now, notice the picture that he's painting here, this contrast. You're desiring, you're lusting, you're craving lust.

and yet you do not have. So as strong as your desires are, and although you're craving desperately, you don't have it. And you're murdering and coveting, you're trying desperately, you're fighting, and you're murdering, and you're coveting, and you're having all of these emotions and feelings, and you're desperately going forward, but you're unable to obtain, no matter what you do, you can't grasp hold of that which you're longing for, and that which you're desiring.

And that's the state of a person who is not submitted to God. It brings them to murder and to covet. Now, like with wars and battles, I doubt James is really talking about actually pulling out a knife or some other type of instrument or weapon. It wasn't the candlestick that he's talking about here, but that was a reference to Clue and it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter 5,

That a heart of anger is where murder begins. The heart that is angry, that is full of wrath. Jesus says that if we're angry, whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of judgment. Because that's where murder begins. That anger without cause in the heart. He says you murder in covet. You have this anger inside.

This desire to kill, wishing that people were dead. These are symptoms that reveal that we are not submitted to God. When we have this type of rage, this type of animosity towards the people around us. The word covet, it's the same word we looked at last week. It means to envy.

It's someone who grieves because, well, they don't have what it is that they want. Not only do they have these strong desires for it and they're craving for it, they're wanting it, but they're grieved, they're depressed, they're upset because they don't have what it is that they want. And they're trying desperately to fulfill that desire and to meet that need that they think that they have and they're unable to.

And so this idea of coveting or envy, it degenerates into a desire to make war upon what other people have because you're so miserable because you don't have what it is that you want. And so you make everybody else miserable because misery loves company. That's the idea that's encapsulated in this word, to covet. It's grieving over what you do not have. And it's a symptom of a heart that is not submitted to God.

So again, do you lust and not have? Do you have these strong desires? Do you grieve over things that you do not? Is it upsetting to you? Is it frustrating to you that you do not have these things? James says, look, that's an indication that your heart is in a bad condition and that you are not submitted to God. Notice what he says at the end of verse 2 though. He says, yet you do not have because you do not ask. Right?

Again, he says, look, you lust and you don't have. You're murdering and you're coveting and you cannot obtain. He says, but you don't ask. I'm sorry, you don't have because you don't ask. I like what one teacher said in regards to this. He says, James is telling us that we ought to wrestle with God instead of wrangling with others.

Many times we're fighting with others because of the condition of our heart and what we want and where we want to be. And he says, look, you need to wrestle with God. Have you asked God? Have you ever thought about your murdering and killing and fighting all these people and creating wars and divisions? And have you ever thought about just asking God for that thing which you think you need? He says, you don't have because you don't ask.

In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Jesus says, Ask, and it will be given to you. This is a little side note from really the thrust of the message this morning. There's some things that God has in store for you, but he is waiting to give them to you for when you ask for them.

Sometimes we say, why am I unable to really be filled with the Spirit and to walk with the Spirit? God says, I'm right here. God gives much more grace. Grace abounds. God has plenty for you. Ask. Ask God. Wrestle with God. You think you need those things? You think you deserve that position? You think that's where you're supposed to be? Wrestle with God. Take it to the Lord and spend time in prayer with God. Either He'll set you straight,

And that time in prayer will work that out. Or you will have what you ask because you've asked and seeked and knocked. And God is faithful to His Word. So often though we're not asking God. Instead we're trying to figure out our own way to get what we want. And that's a symptom of a heart that is not submitted to God. Just because we ask doesn't mean that we receive. And that's what James explains in verse 3. You ask and do not receive.

So in some cases, the reason why you don't have what it is that you're thirsting for is because you haven't asked. In other cases, you asked, but you didn't receive it because he says you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. God answers prayer, I'm sure you've heard this taught before, in three ways.

In simplicity. I mean, there's lots of things that he could answer. But the three basic ways are, yes, he says, yes, you have the thing which you ask. No, no, that's not in my will for you. That's not good for you. That's not part of my plans for you. That's not what I'm going to do. So, no.

Or the third one is wait. The time is not right. I do want to do that for you. I do want to work that in your life. I do want to accomplish that. But the time for that is not right now. Yes, no, not maybe. Yes, no, and wait are the three ways in simplicity that God answers our prayers.

And so it's not true that in every case where we ask and do not receive, it's because we ask amiss. Sometimes it's just not what God desires for us. And he says, no. But here what James is saying is, listen, if you ask and do not receive, well, it's a heart check. You need to check your heart and find out, are you then unsubmitted or not submitted to God?

He says, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss. That word amiss, it means to be ill, to be sick. He says, look, you ask, but what you're asking and what you're asking for and the purpose of why you're asking for it is sick. It's ill. It's perverted. It's not healthy. It's not really asking God. It's not prayer. You may call it prayer. You may think it's prayer. You may, you know,

Preface it by saying, Dear Jesus, and you may end it by saying, Amen, but that doesn't make it prayer. That doesn't mean that you ask because your asking was amiss. It was unhealthy. It was not what prayer is all about. Prayer is about accomplishing the will of God. And yet he says here, you ask amiss or because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. You don't have what you've asked for. You have not received what you've asked for.

How much of our prayer is for our own pleasures? How much of it is for our own selves that we would be satisfied or that we would have our needs met or that we would accomplish what we want to accomplish? How much of our prayer is focused on ourselves and based upon our desires and our will? And we ask amiss because we think God is our heavenly genie. And so we say, Heavenly genie, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And we say...

Here's my three wishes. Here's what I want. But that's not what prayer is about. When we ask God in order to spend it on our own pleasures, Spurgeon says this. He says, when a man prays this way, he asks God to be his servant and gratify his desires. That's his own desires, not the Lord's desires. He says, worse than that, he wants God to join him in the service of his lusts. He will gratify his lusts and God shall come and help him do it.

He concludes saying, such prayer is blasphemous, but a large quantity of it is offered. Spurgeon says this, when a man prays this way, when a man asks God in order to spend it on his lust, he says, God, you're my servant, and you are going to help me satisfy and gratify my lusts. Come and do it. And Spurgeon says, that's blasphemous, and yet a large quantity of that type of prayer is offered.

He says, James says, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Prayer is not about getting our will and serving our own selves, but it's about accomplishing God's will. You remember what Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter 6 with the Lord's Prayer? There in verse 10 he says, your kingdom come, pointing to God, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer is about your will, God. What is your will? God, I want to accomplish your will. What is it that you want to do? Where is it that you want to go? How is it that you want to work? It's about the Lord. It's about the Father. It's about Him and His will. It's not about my will and my pleasures and my desires and what I want and what I want to accomplish and where I want to go. It's about His will.

So do you ask of God and not receive? You don't have to raise your hand, please. But do you ask of God and not receive? It may be an indication that you are not submitted to Him. Let me back that up just a little bit further. 1 John chapter 5. The Apostle John says there in verse 14 and 15, this is the confidence that we have in Him. This is the confidence we have in God. That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. Here's what John says. Here's something we can be confident in. We don't have to question this. There's no doubt about this. We have confidence in this, that if we ask anything according to His words,

Where's the focus again? Your will be done. If we ask anything according to the will of God, if we ask anything according to what He wants to do, and according to His plans and His purposes, and for His glory, then we know that He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, He says, then we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. We have this confidence. If you pray according to the will of God,

He hears you. And if He hears you, then you know that you have the petitions that you have asked. But if you ask and do not receive, perhaps you're not so concerned about the will of God. It's an indication that you are not submitted to Him. Ask according to God's will. Be submitted to Him. And your prayers will be answered. That's something you can be confident in.

And so he gives us these symptoms of a life that is not submitted to God, the unsubmitted symptoms of wars and fights and lusting and murdering and coveting and asking and not receiving. But as we're talking about symptoms, understand that symptoms are just symptoms and symptoms are not the real problem.

I shared with you about the doors of the Spanish ministry house and when I talked to this guy, Roger, and he came over, I was showing him and I was showing him one of the doors and I was saying, look how, you know, we close it but it doesn't really latch and you can push on it a certain way and it just opens right up and so I'm showing him the latch, I'm putting him here and look at the latch and look how it doesn't latch and

And he doesn't look at the latch. He steps back. He looks at the frame. He looks at the hinge. He puts it in the right place. And then it works perfectly. He realizes the latch was just a symptom. That was not the real problem. The real problem is over here. And so he took care of the real problem and solved the symptom. It fixed what I thought was the problem.

In the same way, these are symptoms. We don't go around and try to, you know, fix the wars and fights and the lusting and murdering and coveting and asking and not receiving. Those are symptoms of a deeper problem, a more serious problem. And what is that problem? Well, that problem is the unsubmitted state. It's the way and the condition of a person who is not submitted to God. And we find this in verses 4 through 6. Look at verse 4.

He says, These are pretty heavy words that James is sharing.

These are pretty difficult things that he is saying right to our face as plain as day. You know, sometimes we wish he could maybe be like the Apostle Paul and kind of flower it up and kind of talk real long and get us confused and, you know, a sentence that's this long. But James, just right to the point, smacks us in the face and says, Adulterers and adulteresses. Should we be offended? He says, look, do you have prayers that are not answers? You're an adulterer, James says.

It's because your heart's not submitted to God, James says. Now again, God says yes, no, and maybe, and this is not true in every case, but how much of our prayers are for our own desires? How much of our prayers are not answered because our hearts are not submitted to God? He says, look, if you have fights and wars and you're lusting and you're murdering and coveting, you're asking and not receiving, any one of those is an indication that you are not submitted to God.

And it puts you in the condition of being an adulterer and an adulteress. He's talking about spiritual adultery. And spiritual adultery is when God does not have His rightful place in our lives and hearts. When He is not where He belongs as our Lord, as our Master. When we're not in submission to Him. We're involved in an adulterous relationship spiritually. Because we are His bride.

And on the day that we were born again, when we received the gift of Jesus Christ upon the cross, we said, I do. We gave ourselves to be Him, His forever. We say, I committed my life to the Lord. I gave my life to God. We said, I do. We're His bride. And so when our hearts are unfaithful to Him, that's adultery.

We may play it down and say, well, no, I'm just a little less committed. I'm just not as on fire as I once was. Now, let me ask the married people, would you accept that from your spouse? Well, honey, I'm just a little less committed than I once was. I mean, ultimately, I plan to be with you, but I'm just flirting and having fun. I'm just kind of gratifying my desires right now.

But I'm going to be with you forever. I mean, I'm coming back. I'm still here, aren't I? I'm right here. That's how we are as Christians sometimes. I'm here. I'm in church. I'm gratifying my desires. I'm just kind of, I'm not as committed as I once was. That's adultery. It's spiritual adultery. Just as we would not accept it from a spouse, God does not accept it from us.

It's spiritual adultery. Wars and fights and lust and murder and covet and asking and not receiving, they're indications that we are in a spiritually adulterous relationship. And our hearts have wavered and He is not in His rightful position in our hearts.

Not only are we spiritual adulterers in that state, but we're friends with the world. Friendship with the world. He says, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? He says, don't you understand? Don't you realize? When your heart's divided, when you've got one foot in Christ and one foot in the world, don't you realize that friendship with the world is you're choosing sides. You may think you have one foot in and one foot out.

But in reality, you've chosen to be against God. You've chosen to be a friend of the world. When Jesus said, I'm not of this world and my kingdom is not of this world. The scripture tells us we're not of the world. We're in the world, but not of the world. The world is a place that's not ruled by God. It's treason to befriend it. Friendship with the world is

is to be an enemy of God. Friendship with the world is not tolerated by God. He explains that further in verse 5. He says, Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously? The spirit, the Holy Spirit within us yearns jealously because God is a jealous God. Now often when we think of jealousy, we think that it's bad. And very often it is bad. But it's not only bad.

God is a jealous God, the scriptures tell us. Exodus 34, 14 tells us, You shall worship no other God, for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God. God is jealous for us when we worship other gods. He is jealous for us when we begin to devote ourselves and give other things the attention that belongs to Him. When we submit ourselves to other things instead of Him, He becomes jealous.

Jealous. He is a jealous God. And it's rightful jealousy. It's right for Him to be jealous. In the same way, again, a husband and wife, and the one says, well, I'm just kind of flirting and hanging out and just having a good time. It's right for there to be jealousy there. It's right for there to be, no, we committed ourselves to one another and I'm faithful to you, God says, and you're not faithful to me. The Spirit who dwells within us yearns jealously. The Spirit who dwells within us will not be content.

With us befriending the world. Because friendship with the world, he says, is enmity against God. He says there at the end of verse 4, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. See, you have to choose a side. You cannot walk with God and be a friend of the world. To love the world puts you at odds with God or against God.

1 John 2.15 tells us, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. It doesn't get much clearer than this. It's quite clear. Friendship with the world puts us at a state of enmity with God. To love the things of the world or the world says the love of the Father is not in us. In verse 6, he explains a little bit further. He says, But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That word resists means to set in battle array. It's not just a simple, you know, God says, well, I'm just going to make it a little bit more difficult for you if you're full of pride and full of yourself and unsubmitted to me and a spiritual adulterer, and I'm just going to make it harder for you. No, this is choosing sides in a battle.

And God resists the proud. He sets himself in battle array. He says, no, I will have no part of that. I won't compromise with it. I won't play with it. I won't just allow it. I will defeat pride. Anything that sets itself up against me, God says, it's not going to stand. He resists. He sets himself in battle array against the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. So choose your side. Which side do you want to be on?

Pride is a part of the world system. Pride is when I say, Lord, I want to do my way and I want to do what I want and I think what I have to say is more important than what you have to say and I'm going to do it my way because I think I'm more important and I'm full of pride. And God says, you're my enemy. I will defeat you. I will prove to you that you are not what you think you are. I will prove to you that your ways are not better than mine.

You're setting yourself up in opposition to me, God says. This is the condition of a person who is not submitted to God. Spiritual adultery, friendship with the world, and an enemy of God. This is where perhaps you are today. And so what is the solution? How do we fix this? Do you have to stay there? No, you don't. God gives more grace.

He gives us an opportunity to change our condition, to change our state. You don't have to stay. I don't have to stay in a state of spiritual adultery and being an enemy of God. He gives us an opportunity to change. And so what do you do? What's the solution for not being submitted to God? What's the unsubmitted solution? Verse 7. Therefore, submit to God. Pretty simple, right? Makes sense. If the problem...

is that we're not submitted, than to fix it. How do you deal with those wars and those fights? How do you deal with those lusts and those cravings within that you can't control, that drive you and that grieve you and that make you so upset and miserable? How do you deal with those? You submit to God. You don't go try around, you know, run around and fulfill those desires. You don't go try to make peace. You submit to God. This is the real problem. And the solution is to reverse it. If you're unsubmitted,

He says, therefore, submit to God. Again, the word submit means to arrange under, to put in subjection, to obey, and to submit or surrender to one's control. God is calling us. James is saying we must voluntarily put ourselves under God's authority so that we obey Him. And we ask Him what He wants us to do and then we do it. And we do not do what we do not have permission from God to do.

You see, this word submit is a military term. And I was never in the military, but perhaps, Fiki, you can help us out with this, okay? So, it's my understanding that you cannot do whatever you please, whenever you please, whenever you are in the military. Is that correct, Fiki? Yes.

So you don't go and, you know, go to your commanding officer and say, Sergeant, I'm sleeping in today. I had a rough night and I just, you know, want to take some time in meditation and I'll meet you out on the field when I'm ready to get up. Can you do that, Fiki? It doesn't work that way, right? I'm pretty sure it's not how it is. You can't say, well, I'll be right back.

I don't really feel like this cafeteria food right now. I mean, it's not really appealing to me. It doesn't really look good. I'm going to go get a hamburger. I'm just going to borrow one of the Hummers. And I'll be right back. Can you do that, Fiki?

You cannot do what you have not been told to do. And you cannot do what you don't have permission to do. And you must do what you have been told to do. Your commanding officer walks in and your bunk's on the other side of the room and he says, what is this doing over here? Well, it was next to the door and people were talking and it was bugging me. You cannot just do whatever you please. You're submitted. You obey. You do what you're told and you don't do anything until you're told. That's what it means to be submitted to God.

We do what we're told. We do what God says. There's no explanation. There's no exceptions. There's no like, I just thought and I had a better idea and I was going to go this way and I thought. God says, forgive and we are to forgive. We're not to decide, well, I'll forgive but on my terms. We're not to whiffle and waffle about it and say, well, maybe and then I'll hold on to this and I just can't but God said to so you have to. It's required. God says, don't do this.

Submit to God. Don't do it. God says, do this. Make disciples. Don't make excuses. Make disciples. Submit to God. We're to be obedient to God. We're to put ourselves voluntarily, completely under His authority. And part of doing that is

He's resisting the devil. He says, Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resist the devil. Now, this word resist is not the same one that we saw just a minute ago which meant to set in battle array. We're not to set in battle array against the devil and we got to fight the devil. No, no, no. This resist just means to stand against.

See, you're submitted to God. You're being obedient to God. All you got to do is stand and say, I am submitted to God. I'm where God wants me to be. I'm doing what God has told me to do. Resist the devil. Just stand where God has told you to stand and he will flee. The devil is not the terrible enemy that we make him out to be. Don't get me wrong. He's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

But when we're submitted to God, all it takes is for us to stand in submission to God and say, I'm going to be obedient to God and the devil will flee. The real battle, the real struggle is not against the devil, but it's against our flesh. What was the source of the problems of the wars and fights? It's our own desires. It's our lust. It's our carnality. It's our strong desire to sin. It's our sinful condition.

We resist the devil, he flees. We resist temptation, we resist those lusts, and they continue to knock, and we got to continue to resist, and we got to keep on submitting to God, and putting God's word and what God says over our own desires and feelings and what we want, and when we want it, and how we want it. And we say, God's more important, and I'm going to listen to Him, and I'm going to do what He says, and that's more important than what I say and what I want to do, and that's submitting to God. And that's the real battle.

Resisting the devil? That's just standing in that submission and he will flee. But the real battle is are you going to voluntarily, willingly place yourself under the authority of God so that you're obedient to him no matter what you think, no matter what you want, because he is Lord.

Going on, verse 8 says, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. So part of submitting to God is not only resisting the devil, but it's also drawing near to God. Part of submitting to God is drawing near to God. This is incredible. This is what God desires. And this is what we need. This is what is best for us. And guess what? This is what will really satisfy us.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. You don't have to fear that submitting to God means that you're going to be miserable the rest of your life. No, that's why Jesus died. He died. The whole point of God's plan of salvation is to have relationship with us. And He commands us to draw near to Him. And to not draw near to Him is rebellion against Him. It's disobedience.

to not draw near to God. He says, look, submit to me, draw near to me. And that's where it's different than the military. I don't think, maybe, again, Vicky, you can correct me, that drill sergeant said, now what I want you to do is I want you to come to my bunk and I'm going to tell you about my life and I'm going to tell you how much I love you. Did he say that? Did he say that?

But God says, hey, I want to tell you about how much I love you. And I want to show you great and mighty things that you've never seen. God says, look, I want to bless your life and pour into you and show you who I am. And I want to know who you are. And I want to be close to you and have a real relationship with you and talk with you. And you can talk to me and draw near to me. It's part of submitting to God. This is what God has commanded. Draw near to me. Submit to God. When you draw near to him, he says, he draws near. He pulls his chair a little bit closer. Oh, great. You want to get close? I want to get close to you.

Let's spend some time together. You see, the irony is we fight, we war, we lust, and we covet. We're still not satisfied. When we surrender and we submit to God, we find that He meets our needs and satisfies our soul. And all along, the things that we've been wanting and craving, we find in a relationship with God. So draw near to Him. Get to know Him in His words. Spend time with Him in prayer. Spend time worshiping Him.

fellowshiping together, all those ways that he's given us access to him and to his presence and to draw close to him and he will draw near to us. We're to draw near to God and he says also, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Cleanse your hands. Now, did your parents, when you were young, ever make you wash your hands before you ate?

That was because they hated you, wasn't it? Man, those terrible parents you had. They hated you. They made you wash your hands. No. They wanted you to be able to enjoy the food you're eating without tasting dirt. They wanted you to be healthy. In the same way, God says, I've got a great meal for you. I want to draw close to you. I want to share myself with you. There's good things. Let's wash your hands. Let's clean you up.

He says, cleanse your hands, you sinners. Now, a sinner is one who's devoted to sin. Look, you've been devoting yourself to sin. You've been set in this way and you've been committing yourself to this. Let's clean you up. Isn't it amazing that God gives us an opportunity to cleanse our hands? No matter what you've been doing, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've involved yourself in, He gives you the opportunity. How do we cleanse our hands? Well, here's a good pointer. First of all, you've got to take them out of the dirt.

And that is repent. Stop. Turn from sin. He says, cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. How do we do that? We often turn to 1 John 1.9 because it's so clear and it's so important that we remember if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Confess. It means to agree with God about your sin. He washes us. He cleanses us. He purifies us.

We need to repent. We need to wash our hands, confess and acknowledge our sin to God. Verse 9, he says, Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. So cleanse your hands now. Lament and mourn and weep. And you say, See, I told you God wanted to make me miserable. This lamenting and mourning and weeping, number one, it's not for forever. It's for this season. And number two, it's not for the time that you've been submitted to God.

It's for the time that you haven't been submitted to God. You lament and mourn and weep. He calls us to lament and mourn and weep over that time, over that period, over that areas of our life where we've not submitted to God and we've fought and we've warred and we've lusted and murdered and coveted and craved and not been fulfilled. That's something to lament and mourn and weep over. Not the time that we are submitted to God. There's great rejoicing in that. God has...

God has wonderful things for us as we walk with Him. But we're to lament and mourn and weep about how we've cheated on God and been unfaithful to Him. About how we've offended Him with our sin, our rebellion, which is an affront to Him, an offense to Him. We forget to consider how our sin affects God. It's painful and hurtful to Him. It's offensive to Him. We need to take it seriously and lament and mourn and weep and not be so casual about it. Verse 10 says,

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. As we submit to God, we resist the devil, we draw near to Him, we cleanse our hands, we lament, mourn, and weep, and finally, we humble ourselves. To humble means to make low, to bring low. Stop telling God how good you are and how much you deserve. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Have a right and accurate estimation of yourself.

So that you come in the sight of the Lord. You say, Lord, I need you. And I'm nothing without you. Lord, help me because apart from you, I can do nothing. That's what Jesus said. Make yourself low in the sight of the Lord. He'll lift you up. He'll meet your needs. You humble yourself. That's your responsibility. That's my responsibility. It's following the example of Jesus. Philippians chapter 2. He was God.

But He humbled Himself to come in the form of a man. And He came not just in the form of a man, but in the form of a servant. And He came to be obedient. And not just to be obedient, but to be obedient to the point of death, even the death upon the cross. You're nowhere near God. Jesus humbled Himself to become obedient as a servant, even to the point of death. We're called to do no less, to follow His example, to make ourselves low, to humble ourselves from the sight of the Lord.

We're called to submit to God. If there's fights and wars and lusting and murdering and coveting, and if you ask and do not receive, it's an indication you may not be submitted to God because the source of those things is not from above. And if you're not submitted to God, understand you're in a state of spiritual adultery. You're a friend of the world and an enemy of God. It's not a good place to be. So you need to submit to God.

Surrender to Him. Give up. Jesus said, you have to lose your life in order to save it. I know it's backwards, but when you surrender, when you lose your life, when you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus, you'll find the abundant life that He promised, the life that He desires to give. One closing example, the example of Jonah. Remember the prophet Jonah? God tells him, go to Nineveh, I want you to preach this message. And you know Jonah, he...

He's not a fan of Nineveh. He runs the other way. He gets on a ship. He's trying to get to the farthest end of the earth. He tried to get out of the sight of the Lord so he didn't have to humble himself. He gets swallowed by a big fish. Finally, three days in the fish, he gives in. Okay, Lord, I'll go. Finally, he submitted. Okay, God, I'm going to go. So the fish spits him out. He goes to Nineveh. He walks through and says, 40 days, God is going to judge. And

The people repent. They turn back. They get right with God. The whole city is saved. Does Jonah walk away? Wow, what a crusade. So blessing, man. Hundreds of thousands of people get saved. Hallelujah. Praise God. Is he joyful? No. You know how it goes. He goes up on a hill. He's looking down. Okay, God, judge him. When are you going to judge him, Lord? Wars and fights. A storehouse of bitterness. That's what Jonah has.

And he's upset. Now listen, God's work got accomplished and people got saved and there was a wonderful thing went on. The only one who was miserable was Jonah. He was the only one. God didn't miss out on the work that he wanted to do and the people, they got saved, but Jonah was miserable. He was a bitter man. In the same way, you can fight, you can war, you can covet, you can try not to submit. Understand, God's still going to accomplish his work.

With or without you, He's going to accomplish it. Whether you're happy about it or not, He's going to do it. People are going to get saved. God's work is going to be accomplished. You can be a part of it and be joyful by submitting to God. You can experience the fullness of what God has for you by submitting to Him. Or you can fight it and be miserable and bitter all by yourself. It's up to you. We have the choice. Submit to God. Lose your life for Christ.

And you'll find that that's the very thing that saves your life, that meets your needs, that fulfills that longing and the desires in your soul. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray for those who are not submitted to you. And God, I ask that you would help them to acknowledge, to see that need, to recognize the symptoms, to recognize the state that they're in, that they would turn to you, that they would repent, and that they would surrender to you completely.

Help us, God, to walk in obedience to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.