Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Is God Resisting You? /*

 

 

James 4:1-10

 

‘Every baby starts life as a little savage.

He is completely selfish and self-centered.

He wants what he wants when he wants it — his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch.

Deny him these once, and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless.

He is dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no skills.

This means that all children — not just certain children — are born delinquent.

If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal — a thief, a killer, or a rapist.’

This report was produced in 1926 by The Minnesota Crime Commission.

It reported on the growth of crime and reached a startling conclusion.

Does it sound out of date to you?

Is it totally wrong, off-base or biased?

This was not a report produced by the church about ‘sinners’, it was written about every person.

It was a conclusion on the human condition in a way, our condition of being sinners; sinners who are involved in a war within themselves.

What is this internal war?

 

James 4:1-10 (NLT) \\ 1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?

Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.

You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.

Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

4 You adulterers!

Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?

I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires.

As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”

7 So humble yourselves before God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you.

Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

9 Let there be tears for what you have done.

Let there be sorrow and deep grief.

Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

[1]

The root of the human condition is sin, and sin is based in “pride”.

James tells us that God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble

 

| Job 35:12 | There they cry out, but He does not answer, Because of the pride of evil men.

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| Ps 10:2 | The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

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| Prov 8:13 | The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

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| Prov 11:2 | When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

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| Prov 13:10 | By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.

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| Prov 14:3 | In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, But the lips of the wise will preserve them.

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| Prov 16:18 | Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

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| Prov 21:24 | A proud and haughty man—“Scoffer” is his name; He acts with arrogant pride.

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| Prov 29:23 | A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.

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Why do we fight?

Why do we quarrel?

Why do people steal, lie, cheat, beat up and even kill one another?

Why do we do the things we know we really should not do?

In Romans we see Paul’s understanding of the condition of man.

In Romans 8, we see two laws at work in our lives, “the law of sin & death”, and “the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”.

Just as there is a pulling effect to the law of gravity, pride is the pulling effect of the law of sin.

Pride will always pull us in the direction of sin!

 

Pride’s root is selfishness, it’s about me and I’m the most important, pride keeps us from seeing others needs and situations, just our own.

If lying is the language of the Kingdom of Darkness, then pride is the attitude of the Kingdom of Darkness.

The hugest thing about the problem with pride is that “God resist the proud!”

I’m going to take some time and share something’s about “pride” from a study by “Freedom in Christ Ministries”.

*1.

Pride makes us feel special and unique*: This does not refer to the uniqueness of being created in the image of God; rather, it's the undue self-esteem which makes us feel more important than other members of the Body of Christ.

*2.

Pride leads us to concentrate on our rights instead of our responsibilities*: We're always looking at how our rights have been violated instead of looking at how we can be responsible and accountable to God and people.

One statistic out says, that 98% of Americans, won’t take responsibility for their own lives.

*3.

Pride produces hardness of heart*: We become insensitive to the needs of others.

The first sign of hardness of heart is when we begin to withhold love from others.

*4.

Pride produces a lack of forgiveness:* "Why should I forgive them?

They hurt me."

 

*5.

Pride produces self-pity*: Self-pity is a bottomless pit; it's never satisfied.

Usually we get into self-pity because we violate the scriptural injunction not to compare ourselves among ourselves (2 Cor.

10;12)

 

*6.

Pride produces fear of man*: We become more concerned with what people think than with what God thinks.

There are usually two causes:

1.

We haven't seen the greatness of God for the situation, or

2.                  Our focus is on ourselves rather than God.

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*7.

Pride produces an un-teachable spirit*: How long does it take us to repent when conviction has been brought by the Spirit of God?

If it takes a long time, there is some work the Holy Spirit needs to do in the area of pride.

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*8.

Pride prefers selfish interest over other's needs *

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*VIDEO (Service video)*

 

*9.

Pride will not admit mistakes*: We blame others and excuse ourselves; and then we say, "You're picking on me.

Why are you doing that?"

 

*10.

Pride leads to stinginess*: We are afraid there will not be enough left for us.

*11.

Pride is sarcastic in humor*: We cut other people down with humor.

Sarcastic humor implies, "You're not going to be elevated above me in any way; therefore, I'm going to cut you down so that I can look down on you."

Sarcasm is not of God.

Godly humor edifies; it builds up, and it's very creative.

\\ *Pride leads us to rely on our own wisdom and understanding*: It brings about an inability to see clearly, to think things through, and to hear the Word of the Lord.

If pride has a place in our hearts, we'll misunderstand what God is saying.

*12.

Pride produces an independent of non-submissive spirit*: This leads us to adhere to the letter of the law, neglecting the spirit of the law.

*13.

Pride causes impatience with others, calling it a personality conflict*: It's not a question of who's right or who's wrong, but how I respond.

*14.

Pride responds with judgment, slander and criticism*: Sometimes speaking the truth to someone who doesn't have a right or a need to know.

*15.

Pride produces discontentment*: Are we discontent with where God leads us and the people He has put us with?

Are we always wanting to be somewhere else, doing something else?

If God has led you to where you are, get your heart in the situation until you are content with where He's led you; stop looking somewhere else! God does not authorize spiritual butterflies nor spiritual bumblebees.

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*16.

Pride needs to be begged to do something*: If you need to be begged to do something that's within your gifts and abilities, ask yourself why.

Is it because you want to become the center of attention?

*17.

Pride makes excuses before it begins*: If the Spirit of God is going to receive the glory in and through your life, don't make excuses that rob the Spirit of God from receiving any glory.

Just shut up and do what you've been asked to do.

*18.

Pride produces insecurity and low self-image*: The way we can become the center of attention is by concentrating on our insecurity and our low self-image.

Usually there is insecurity in our lives because we haven't seen God for who He is.

If we'll see God for who He is, we'll be so excited and expanded with who God is that we'll then be able to handle the revelation of who we are and put our lives in proper perspective;

                                                                                                                                        Then we won't need to be insecure anymore.

*19.

Pride expects others to consult us, and is offended when we are not consulted *

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*20.

Pride demands that others go through what you went through*: If something was a requirement for you to get to a certain spiritual plateau, then it's got to be a requirement for everyone else.

 

*21.

Pride is envious or jealous*: We don't rejoice with other's blessings, but rather concentrate on why we weren't blessed.

Pride is at the heart of this selfishness,

 

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*22.

Pride tries to touch God's glory*: In relating the stories of what God has done through our ministry, if we find ourselves taking credit for God's work, and we will find ourselves dying spiritually.

*23.

Pride always wants to be strong*: We don't want to receive from others or to be vulnerable so that we have to receive.