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Introduction
It has been a couple of week since we were in James.
Last week, we, as a local church, has some business to address and so we spent last Sunday night do just that.
When we were last in James, we studied James 4:9
Now, this evening, we are turning to the last verse in this section or paragraph which is the next verse, James 4:10
Now, just for a moment, let’s go back and do a little review.
Already, we have covered the first section of this chapter that included verses 1-6.
In those verses, the Holy Spirit emphasized a major spiritual problem all of us, as believers, deal with daily.
It is our flesh and its lusts.
Each day we battle our own flesh.
There are three major enemies that we deal with constantly.
They are the world, Satan, and the flesh.
In this passage, the Holy Spirit is giving us vital information concerning our battle with the flesh.
His warning is very clear.
If we give in to the flesh and feed it, it will only grow bringing us to a point where we become God’s enemy.
A place any sincere follower of Christ does not want to be.
Thus, we are to rely on God’s help (His grace) by obedience to His instructions concerning overcoming the flesh.
In other words, if you want victory of the flesh, you must do things God’s way.
All of which leads us to section we are currently studying.
In this section, the Holy Spirit relays specific instructions for winning the battle against the flesh.
It is His way.
Already, we learned that we must:
Submit - Arrange yourself under God’s control and authority.
Resist - Stand against anything related to Satan and this world (his realm).
Draw near - Hightail it to God.
Cleanse ourselves - Seek forgiveness and cleansing.
Be afflicted, mourn, and weep - Be serious about sin and its consequences.
Now, in our verse this evening, the Holy Spirit concludes this section with verse 10
There are two key verbs listed here.
In fact, this verse is not very long, but full of important information.
The two verbs are “humble yourselves” and “he shall lift…up.”
Note that both are directed at us.
We are instructed to perform an action and then, based on that action, God will do something for us.
The phrase “humble yourselves” is a single Greek word.
It is used 14 times in 11 verses in the New Testament.
In the King James, it is translated either as “abase (-d, -ing)” or as “humble (-eth).”
It’s literal meaning is to make low or bring low.
The phrase “he shall lift…up” is also a single Greek word.
It is used 20 times in 16 verses.
It is translated either as “exalted” or “lift (-ed) up.”
It means to lift up with the connotation of exalting someone or lifting another person up.
What is interesting about these two verbs is this!
They are often used in conjunction with one another.
I will give you a few examples of what I mean.
I believe there is an important correlation here that I hope to explore in just a minute.
Here are some things I learned as I was studying this passage.
What is the next step in overcoming the flesh?
Humble Yourself Before God
We must make ourselves low.
That is something important that I took from this week’s study.
It is not God that makes us low even though God has the ability to do so.
No, He chooses to let us make the decision as to whether or not we are going to lower ourselves before Him.
Not again our text along with its sister passages once again.
The subject is not stated here but understood because it is a command statement.
Essentially, we know the subject is “you.”
James 4:10 (KJV 1900)
10 [YOU] Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Note the words of Matthew and Luke on the same subject.
In each case, the onus is on us to make ourselves lower than God.
Pride is a Dangerous Choice
The issue is pride.
Pride is all about lifting ourselves above others.
We fill our hearts with pride even to the point that we think and know better than God.
It was pride that filled the heart of Satan.
Satan used pride in his appeal to Eve as encouraged her to disobey God.
Did you see the appeal to pride there?
He suggested that she would be as “gods” knowing good and evil.
It was an appeal to be like or better than God himself.
From there, she easily succumbed to Satan’s advances giving into her own pride.
Now, God is saying to us the following.
If you want to overcome the flesh, you must make yourself lower than me.
In fact, you must make yourself the lowest of all people.
In your own mind, you must become as nothing.
Go back with to the Luke 18:14 and note its context.
I think there is valuable lesson there for us to learn concerning pride and humility.
Note the attitude of the Pharisee.
He was full of pride.
As such, his trust was completely in himself.
There is not mention of him humbling himself before God or even asking God to help overcome his pride.
Instead, his focus is how grateful he is that he is not like others.
In his own mind, he is a legend.
He is bigger and better than others.
If you look closely, you will note that five times he used the person pronoun “I.”
Just this week as I was teaching in VBS, I reminded the kids that that word “sin” begins with a “s” and end with the letter “n.”
What is the middle letter?
It is the letter “I.”
The moment we begin focusing on ourselves we place ourselves in a position to sin.
O, by the way, the word “pride” also has the letter “I” in the middle as well.
This Pharisee was a prideful and sinful man.
There is one other thing to note about this Pharisee.
He compared himself with other men.
Note he said, “I am not as other me are…even as this publican.”
We place ourselves in great danger when we begin to compare ourselves with others.
The parallel passage to this in 2 Corinthians reads.
Pride lifts us up.
It says we are quite capable of standing on our own.
Additionally, it leads us to think we are better than others which is a dangerous place.
The Bible is filled with warnings against pride.
Instead of lifting up ourselves up and comparing ourselves with others, Christ taught that we must humble ourselves and focus on judging ourselves in light of His Word.
Humility is the Divinely Recommended Choice
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