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James chapter 4. James 4. The passage tonight is verses 
7 to 12, James' call to repentance. Remember that last week we saw 
his condemnation of the people of God for their conflict with 
one another and their enmity with God. Well, tonight we will 
notice how he encouraged, exhorts, commands the people of God to 
repent from their ways, to seek the Lord, to seek to repair the 
breach between them and God and between them and one another." 
I'll begin reading in chapter 3 at verse 13 and read through 
4.12. It's beginning in chapter 3 at verse 13. "'Who is wise 
and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct 
that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you 
have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast 
and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend 
from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking 
exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom 
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing 
to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and 
without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness 
is sown in peace by those who make peace. Where do wars and 
fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires 
for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not 
have. You murder and covet and cannot 
obtain. You fight and war that you do not have because you do 
not ask. You ask and do not receive because 
you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers 
and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the 
world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to 
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do 
you think that the Scripture says in vain, the spirit who 
dwells in us yearns jealously, but he gives more grace. Therefore, 
he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 
Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from 
you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse 
your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 
Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to 
mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight 
of the Lord, and he will lift you up. Do not speak evil of 
one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother 
and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the 
law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law 
but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is 
able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for this, your written word. We pray again for the ministry 
and the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray that you would help us 
to take these things to heart. We pray, God, that you would 
help us to repent and help us to forsake sin, help us to see 
peace with our God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us as 
well to conduct ourselves toward brethren in a godly and Christ-exalting 
way. enable us to bridle the tongue, 
enable us to operate according to that wisdom that comes from 
above, and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. Well, remember that in James 
3 at verses 1 to 12, he highlights how bad the tongue of man is. The tongue is an unruly evil. No man is able to tame it. And 
then in James 3, beginning at verse 13 to 18, he speaks about 
the two types of wisdom. There is a type of wisdom that 
comes from above. There is a type of wisdom that 
produces godliness and righteousness and peace and unity and all those 
sorts of things. But there is a wisdom that James 
calls demonic. And if you look specifically 
there at James 3.15, this wisdom does not descend from above, 
but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking 
exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." And then as 
we move into chapter 4, there is still a strong connection 
to what has preceded. James in 4, verses 1 to 6, condemns 
the rotten fruits of demonic wisdom. The people to whom he 
is writing are operating according to that wisdom that's not from 
above, but that wisdom which is from below that produces confusion, 
that produces chaos, that results in NVN self-seeking. We see where 
James addresses the two-fold problem of the people of God 
in verses 1 to 6. In the first place, they have 
conflict with one another. There is wars, there is fights, 
there is battles going on among the people of God. Again, not 
literally, but metaphorically. In the way that they treated 
one another, the way that they spoke to one another, it was 
indicative of a battlefield and not a good church service or 
church services. He then addresses their enmity 
with God. in verses 2b to 6, and essentially 
what was happening is that the people of God were not having 
their prayers answered, so James condemns them or tells them the 
reason why. He then highlights specifically 
their enmity with God vis-a-vis their spiritual adultery. They 
had played the harlot against God. They had engaged in spiritual 
whoredom. they had indeed engaged in turning 
away from the Lord. And that is precisely what James 
says in verse 4. Adulteress says, do you not know 
that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore 
wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 
And then verse 6 functions transitionally. As James cites Proverbs 3, I 
believe that this statement in the first part of the verse, 
God resists the proud, further condemns the people of God that 
are conducting themselves in the manner described in verses 
1 to 5. But the fact is that God gives 
grace to the humble. So the transition has seen that 
now this provides the basis for the call to repentance. You'll 
notice that repentance isn't just do these things, but rather 
it is first and foremost Seek the God who gives more grace." 
In other words, we need that provision in order to enable 
us to repent. There's a series of 10 commands, 
10 imperatives that James gives from verses 7 to 10. The only 
way to comply with those is by the grace of God. These are not 
things given to man that he can do in and of himself. Certainly, 
it does highlight our responsibility, and certainly we do need to engage. 
but we need to do so in dependence upon the grace of Almighty God. So we'll look at this call to 
repentance under two considerations. First, repentance toward God 
in verses 7 to 10, and then secondly, repentance toward brethren or 
one another in verses 11 to 12. But notice verse 6 and this provision 
of grace. Verse 6a, but he gives more grace. In the context where He is addressing 
the sinfulness of His audience or of His hearers, He never leaves 
them without hope. He doesn't leave them broken, 
battered, and bruised, but He points them to the reality that 
God gives more grace. That is our God. That is the 
mercy that we have in Him through our Lord Jesus Christ. There 
is divine provision to remedy our sinful conduct, and God has 
that grace available for His people. It says that at the end 
of verse 6, with God gives grace to the humble. Now, that doesn't 
mean we need to go out and master humility and then we'll be fit 
to earn God's grace. That's not what he means there. 
It's not the case that you go out and you walk old people across 
the street and you carry dogs or you help little, you know, 
kitties out of the tree and you really, really humble yourself 
and then you'll be fit and deserving of God's grace. That's not sort 
of the connection. God gives grace to enable compliance 
with the series of commands that are going to follow. But it is 
imperative upon the people of God to resist pride themselves 
and to seek, by the grace of God, to cultivate humility. One of the overarching sins that 
James is dealing with is the sin of pride. And God resists 
the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Motier says that 
James, having pointed to God's sufficiency with reference to 
He gives more grace, points on to our responsibility. So the foundation is the provision 
of God's grace according to verse 6. And now the responsibility 
of God's people is outlined for us in great detail in verses 
7 to 12, in our repentance toward God and in our repentance toward 
one another. But note this repentance toward 
God, verses 7 to 10. It's very similar to what we 
find in 1 Peter chapter 5, where the apostle Peter cites the same 
proverb in a very similar context in which Peter is telling the 
people of God to cultivate humility. In 1 Peter 5.5, likewise you 
younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you 
be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. 
That's imperative for the people of God to be clothed with humility. I think the background, at least 
I have read it, suggested that the background was Peter's remembrance 
of the upper room. Remember when the Lord Jesus 
Christ took off his outer garment and wrapped himself with a towel 
so that he could get down on his knees and wash the feet of 
the disciples. Perhaps that image is riveted 
in the mind of the Apostle Peter, and he uses this verb choice, 
be clothed with humility, the way the master is clothed with 
humility. For God resists the proud but 
gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves 
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due 
time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." So 
what James writes, Peter writes, essentially, to the people of 
God to call us to a faithful life of humility before our great 
God. Now, let's look at these particular 
imperatives. In the first place, there is 
a necessity for submission to God. Now this shouldn't surprise 
any of us. None of the particular imperatives 
that are in this section, they shouldn't come as a shock or 
as a surprise. Remember that these people had gone away from 
God. They had gone a-whoring from 
God. In their friendship with the world, they had embarked 
on a pathway of spiritual adultery. They had engaged in a departure 
from Him. And so the divine response or 
remedy by God's grace is to submit to God. The way to fix your situation, 
brethren, is not to continue to run from Him. The way to fix 
your problem is not to continue to hide from Him. The way to 
fix your problem is not to absent yourself from corporate worship. The way to deal with your problem 
is not to skip the Lord's table. The way to deal with your problem 
is not to ignore your Bible or to ignore prayer. This seems 
to be a fundamental default setting for God's people. They engage 
in some particular sin, or perhaps it's a pattern of particular 
sin. They find themselves at a distance from God, and the 
very thing that they most desperately need, they will not apply themselves 
to. They will not submit themselves 
to God. Perhaps it's just more of an 
evidence of pride. I'm not going to go to God. I'm 
okay on my own. Peter, or James rather, says, 
submit to God. Bow before the King of kings. Manton, I think, describes this 
submission in a very excellent way. He says, there must be subjection 
to God's will, the whole man to the whole law of God. I love 
that, the Puritan emphasis on a universal obedience to God. You see, it doesn't do for us 
to obey God on Sunday but live any old way we choose, Monday 
through Saturday. It doesn't do for us to sing 
our hymns of praise on a Sunday night and then go live like the 
devil on a Monday morning. It is the whole man to the whole 
law of God. We are not those who pick and 
choose. James will indict or condemn, 
rather, that approach to God's law in verses 11 and 12. So, 
Manton says there must be subjection to God's will, the whole man 
to the whole law of God. To submit to God is to give up 
ourselves to be governed by His will and pleasure. our thoughts, 
our counsels, our affections, our actions, to be guided according 
to the strict rules of the Word. Now, we might interpret the following 
imperatives as an illustration of, or a fleshing out, what it 
looks like to submit oneself unto God. The second thing that 
James says is to resist the devil and he will flee from you. It's 
an interesting place to put that. I think there's probably a couple 
of reasons why he does so. When is the devil likely to launch 
a counterattack? When you are a whoring from God, 
when you are bowing to Baal, when you have neglected the Father 
of lights and whom there is no shadow of turning, no variation 
whatsoever, is the devil seeking to keep you, or is the devil 
molesting you as earnestly when you're already far from God? 
I submit, brethren, that when you submit to God, you will sense 
resistance. You will sense assault. You will sense the opposition 
trying to keep you from God Almighty. And so James says, therefore, 
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will 
flee from you. The devil is the antithesis to 
God and therefore must be resistant. He must be opposed. The devil 
will launch these counterattacks when you hear a sermon and you 
say, hey, I'm going to actually take James seriously and I'm 
going to seek to submit to God and get my life in order. Now, 
it doesn't usually happen that you'll hear the hallelujah chorus 
and the heavens open and the birds, bluebirds attending your 
way. There is opposition. There is resistance when you 
seek to do that which is good. Paul, dealing in a bit of a different 
context, nevertheless illustrates the same point. Go back to Romans 
7 for just a moment. Romans 7, 14 to 25, we don't 
have time to look at all of it, but our focus is on verse 21. Romans 7 is Paul's treatment 
concerning remaining corruption in the life of the believer. 
In other words, Paul is a godly man. Paul is a Christian man. 
Paul has been conquered by sovereign grace. Paul is a believer. He is one who is rightfully connected 
to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's been justified by 
faith. He's living the life of sanctification. 
But as Paul has found, as we all have found, the life of sanctification 
is no easy thing. In other words, trying to live 
a godly life, trying to be faithful to the Lord is not always easy 
or simple. In fact, look at Paul's words 
in 719, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil 
I will not to do, that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not 
to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in 
me. You see there's this sort of opposition within Paul himself. 
There is this principle, this spirit, this desire to do what 
God calls him to do. There's also this remaining corruption 
that opposes every step of the way. He brings this out in Galatians 
5.17, the spirit lusts against the flesh, the flesh lusts against 
the spirit. These two are contrary to one 
another so that you don't do the things that you want. There 
is this battle raging in the hearts of God's people. Now note 
verse 21 when we really I evidently see this situation. Notice in 
verse 21, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the 
one who wills to do good. When do you find this law that 
evil is present with you, Paul? When I will to do good. You have 
to appreciate what he's saying there. You have to understand 
what the issue is. I find this law not when I'm 
reading the morning paper. I find this law not when I'm 
building tents. I find this law not while I'm 
wandering down the street in the marketplace buying apples. 
and, you know, whatever it is that Paul ate on a given day. 
I don't find that law then. I find the law when I will to 
do good. I find the law when I go to my 
Bible. I find the law when I go to pray. 
I find the law when I go to church. I find this opposition present 
in my own heart when I seek to do that which is pleasing to 
God. Perhaps you've had that experience 
in your own life. You know you ought to pray. You 
know you ought to get on your face before the high king of 
heaven and lay out your petitions before him. But I should check 
Facebook first. I should see who tweeted lately. 
I should update my profile. I should go have another cup 
of coffee. I should check on the baby. That's not always a 
bad thing. I should do anything and everything 
but pray. You see, when you go about to 
read the paper or update your Facebook profile, is there opposition? Is there resistance? Is there 
this inner struggle or turmoil? Probably not. It's when you will 
to do good. I find that a law. that evil 
is present with me, the one who wills to do good." I think James, 
again, making a similar observation in a bit of a different context, 
is highlighting the reality that when you go from the place of 
conflict with brethren and enmity with God, where Satan is very 
satisfied for you to be, and you therefore then submit yourself 
to God to try and fix the mess by His grace that you have created, 
expect some opposition, expect some resistance. So the exhortation 
is to resist Him, but note the blessed promise, and He will 
flee from you. I love the sublimity of this 
statement. I love the simplicity of this 
statement. There are those out there in 
the name of Jesus that have made a lot of bank on teaching people 
how to deal with the devil. On teaching people through CD, 
well it used to be CDs. Kids today, what's a CD? We're 
at the point where that's all gone. But guys used to sell cassette 
tapes on how to deal with the devil. They would have conferences. In fact, I went to one at the 
bequest of a friend. I went to one of these conferences, 
it was all day, in a very nice hotel conference room, and the 
purpose of it was that the guru was going to teach us how to 
cast out demons. And it intrigued me that persons 
that were demon-possessed knew to buy tickets and knew to go 
to this hotel room and knew to go to this particular conference 
so they could have their demons cast out. It just really perplexed 
me. But there's a lot of money to 
be made in teaching people this whole idea of spiritual warfare. James is cheap. James is free. Resist him, and guess what? He 
will flee from you. For greater is He that is in 
us than he that is in the world. You see, you cannot ever fall 
into that particular pit of saying, the devil made me do it. The 
devil may have enticed, the devil may have set up some temptations, 
the devil may have assaulted, the devil may have resisted, 
the devil may have opposed, but the devil cannot make you sin. In fact, if you resist the devil, 
James tells us, in this beautiful sublime statement, he will flee 
from you. Imagine that conference, get 
a bunch of people in a nice conference room at a place in Vancouver, 
have them pay their fee, have them show up and say, resist 
the devil, he will flee from you, drop the mic and leave. 
They'd feel gypped, they'd feel shorted. There's always got to 
be something more that we can do. Just obey God. When all else 
fails, brethren, just obey God. Now, thirdly, note the necessity 
to draw near to God. It goes along with submission, 
but it has more of a religious connotation. It has more of a 
intimate connotation, more of a union connotation, the command 
to draw near to God. It is absolutely appropriate 
and fitting in the context because in James 4.4, he has said that 
you have become friends with the world. So your departure 
from God now necessitates, by way of repentance, drawing near 
to God. In fact, Manton points that out 
beautifully. We withdraw our hearts from God, 
and therefore, no wonder if we do not feel the effects of His 
grace. So God, or rather James says, 
draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Now, structurally, 
it's the same pattern as we find in verse seven. We have this 
command and then we have a promise. Resist the devil, that's the 
exhortation. And then the promise is, he will 
flee from you. Verse eight, draw near to God, 
that's the exhortation, and he will draw near to you. Again, 
the sublimity and the simplicity of this statement. What do I 
have to do in order to get God to draw near to me? Draw near 
to Him. How do I fix the breach between 
me and heaven? Go to church. How do I repair 
the ruins that are my life? Pick up your Bible and read. 
Brethren, draw near to God and the promise affixed is that He 
will draw near to you. Again, Manton points out, this 
isn't supposed to be a one-shot thing. He says, drawing nigh 
to God is not the duty of an hour or in season only at first 
conversion, but the work of our whole lives. If you have not 
accepted the reality yet, as a believer in Christ, these are 
your marching orders. This is the way you're supposed 
to conduct yourself. Now, James prescribes it here 
to a particular situation where brethren were rotten toward other 
brethren and where they, by their spiritual whoredom, had drawn 
away from God. But this is essentially the way 
we need to live each and every day. Every single day we need 
to submit to God. Every single day we need to resist 
the devil. Every single day, we need to draw near to God. 
Every single day, for every single week, for every single month, 
for every single year, that we continue on the face of this 
earth. Christianity is not a flash in the pan. Christianity is not 
a hundred-yard dash. Christianity is a long-haul race. It is a marathon, and you need 
to get running, and you need to follow this path, and this 
needs to be your marching orders. It is that simple. Draw near 
and He will draw near. Resist the devil, he will flee 
from you. Draw near to God, and what does 
God say? He will draw near to you. Isn't 
that beautiful? God draws near to us. Yes, most 
certainly He draws near to us in His grace and mercy and kindness, 
because as James says in verse 6, He gives more grace. Notice then, fourthly, the necessity 
of moral purity in verse 8b. He says, cleanse your hands, 
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Now, 
some take odd, you know, not odds with James, but find it 
odd that James calls Christians sinners. In fact, I think MacArthur 
says there's no way he's dealing with Christians. I think he's 
absolutely dealing with Christians. The context hasn't changed. We're 
not dealing with a different class of people now. He's not 
said, OK, conflict with brethren, enmity with God. I'm going to 
tell the believers how to get right with God. I'm going to 
bash the sinners over the head, and then I'm going to come back 
and deal with the Christian. No, these are Christians, brethren. 
Who of you doesn't remember or doesn't know very keenly that 
you're a sinner? I mean, if somebody were to say, 
you sinner, what, would you get offended? How dare you call me 
that? Of course I'm a sinner. That's 
what I need Jesus for. Of course I'm a sinner. This 
is the reason for the gospel. If I wasn't a sinner, I wouldn't 
need Jesus. Of course I'm a sinner. Our sinnerhood 
isn't good. It's not something we ought to 
be proud of, but it is that sinnerhood that connects us to God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus came to save sinners, not 
the righteous. So James takes aim at the people 
of God and he uses extremely pointed language. I mean, this 
is, if there's one thing we can say or should say about James, 
he really doesn't care if you're offended. He doesn't want you 
to be a delicate snowflake. He doesn't want you to run from 
his church crying because you dared call him a sinner. James 
wants to get the job done. James wants to shock his readers, 
his hearers, his audience. He wants to shock us, slap us 
in the face like we deserve, metaphorically speaking, to show 
us our need. But there is this necessity of 
moral purity. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, 
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James deals with double-mindedness 
in James 1.8. He is a double-minded man, unstable 
in all his ways. It's the same word that he uses 
here. While he doesn't use the word 
in James 3 with reference to the tongue or with reference 
to the two types of wisdom, double-mindedness, I think, comes to the forefront. 
There's this double use of the tongue. There is this two kinds 
of wisdom. James wants the people of God 
who profess the true religion, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, 
to be of one mind, to be consistent, to be faithful, to be what you 
say you are, to pony up. Don't live like the devil. Don't 
live like the world. If you sin, go to God. He gives 
more grace, but don't be duplicitous. Don't be divided in your allegiance 
to God Most High. The cleansing of the hands indicates 
our actions or our deeds. The purification of the heart 
indicates disposition. In other words, it's a whole 
cleansing that's in view. It's not just the heart, it's 
the actions as well. It's not just the actions of 
the externals, but it's also the heart. It's the whole man. 
coming to the whole God, seeking to obey or comply with His whole 
law. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, 
you double-minded." I think temple imagery is in the background. 
When they went to the tabernacle or they went to the temple, the 
priests had purification rites before they went and worshipped 
at the altar. We read at the outset of worship, 
Psalm 23, 3 and 4, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord, or 
who may stand in his holy place, he who has clean hands and a 
pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn 
deceitfully. You see, there is a moral purification 
that is in view here. In other words, if you are genuinely 
repenting, that involves cleansing. That involves, ultimately, it's 
Christ who cleanses. He's not suggesting that somehow 
we can cleanse ourselves the way those old covenant priests 
put their hands into the laver. We seek cleansing, we ask for 
cleansing, we pray for forgiveness, we fetch mercy from God Most 
High. But it is intriguing in this 
particular context, the order. I suggest that many of us would 
say, cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, 
you double-minded, and then draw near to God. Wouldn't we? Well, tough question. I haven't 
given you any time to think about it. What's our default sort of 
response to God? I have to fix things before I 
draw near. I have to stop this sin before 
I go back to church. I have to get things in order 
before I pick the Bible back up. I have to cut off this particular 
association or get rid of this particular wicked thing before 
I seek the Lord. No, James' order is conspicuous. Draw near to God and He will 
draw near to you. It's in that context, it's in 
that intimacy, it's in that union and communion with God that you 
are now fit to cleanse your hands, you sinners, and to purify your 
hearts, you double-minded. In other words, the presence 
of God is absolutely crucial for moral purity. Alec Motier 
makes the observation, I think he's right on. He says, logic 
might suggest that we must clean up our lives and then draw near 
to God. James' logic is otherwise, for 
it is when we know the reality of His presence and come under 
its holy influence that we are at last in a position to face 
the demands of holiness and find ourselves motivated by the desire 
to be like our God. You see, here's the devil's logic, 
whispering in your ear on a Saturday night, don't bother going to 
church tomorrow, because it's the Lord's table, and you have 
not lived like you ought in this past week. You have been quite 
the wretch. You have engaged in this particular 
activity, this particular activity, so you ought to sit tomorrow 
out. You wouldn't want to be a hypocrite now, would you? James' 
logic is contrary. Draw near to God, and he will 
draw near to you. When that unity or that communion 
or that intimacy is had, then you by grace will be able to 
deal with your sins. I just still can't get it. I'm 
not going to go to church because I've sinned this week. Well, 
first of all, church isn't a reward for having not sinned during 
the week. You hear this with people outside the church. Well, 
the church is full of hypocrites. Absolutely. Praise God, hypocrites 
have somewhere to go. Praise God Almighty. I never 
hear of anybody standing outside a hospital saying, don't go in 
there, it's filled with sick people. Well, thankfully, there's a place 
for sick people to go. Thankfully, there's a place for 
hypocrites to go. Thankfully, there's a place for double-minded 
to go. Thankfully, there's a place to seek, fetch cleansing and 
purification. It's in the corporate means of 
grace, oftentimes through the supper, that God does these things. So never let your sin keep you 
from the Lord. Always go back. Now again, you 
gotta deal, you gotta cut off hands, you gotta gouge out eyes, 
you gotta deal radically with your sin, but the answer to your 
sin problem is not a distance with God. The answer to your 
sin problem is closeness with God. Fifth, the necessity to 
mourn over sinfulness. Notice the three terms he uses 
in verse nine, lament and mourn and weep. Boy, what a killjoy. 
Lament and mourn and weep. Manton comments on why the three 
verbs. Why so many words to one purpose? 
The whole verse in the next is of the same train. It is a hard 
duty and needeth much enforcement. Lamenting and mourning and weeping 
over sin? I mean, that's not probably on 
our top 10 things to do in a day, is it? OK, I need to lament, 
mourn, and weep over my sin this morning. We just don't typically 
think this way. But drastic times call for drastic 
measures. And James says, look, you need 
to get things right. You need to quit looking at sin 
as something joyful, enjoyable, pleasant, and happy. and you 
need to lament over it, you need to mourn over it, you need to 
weep over it. James, in many respects, is very much akin to 
the prophet Amos and also the prophet Joel. In Joel 2.12 we 
read, Now therefore, says Yahweh, turn to me with all your heart, 
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So, rend your 
heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, 
for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, 
and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and 
relent and leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering and a drink 
offering for the Lord your God. You see that same emphasis there 
in terms of our repentance toward God, our approach to God, our 
ascent to God into the holy hill of Zion. Turn to me with all 
your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. The 
Apostle Paul highlights the types of sorrows or the sorrow that 
is fitting for Christian believers in 2 Corinthians 5. You can turn 
there, 2 Corinthians 7. 710. He says, those who lament and mourn and 
weep, those who are affected by their sin in such a way that 
it provokes from them a response of sadness. That's what James 
says. Isn't that good remedy for people 
that are living like the world? You'll get by yourself and you 
just cry over your sin. So we just don't think that way. 
I've got to deal with my sin. I need to buy a book on how to 
deal with sin. Why don't you go cry in the corner about your 
sin? That might be, you know, balm 
to the soul. See your sin for what it is in 
the sight of a holy God. Take out, you know, Deuteronomy 
chapter 5, Exodus chapter 20, and read through those commandments 
and see yourself as a transgressor of that law and a wanter of conformity 
unto that law. You see that and let it produce 
in you lamentation, mourning, weeping. And then he goes on 
to say, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy 
to gloom. Again, I don't think James is 
suggesting that if your grandchild does something funny, you can't 
laugh. It's a laughter, it's a frivolity, it's a shallowness 
with reference to sin. Jesus says the same thing in 
the Beatitudes in Luke chapter 6. Those who laugh now will weep 
later. Those who weep now will laugh 
later. You see, far too often sinners 
treat sin the way Solomon describes in Proverbs 10, 23. To do evil 
is like sport to a fool. So James' admonition, lament, 
mourn, and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your 
joy to gloom. In the context of repentance, 
have a change of mind and heart about this conflict with brethren 
and about this spiritual whoredom and lament over it, mourn over 
it, weep over it. Stop laughing about it. Stop 
writing it off. Stop belittling it. Stop pretending 
like it's not an issue. You need to quit your laughter. 
You need to quit your frivolity. You need to repair the situation 
with God via this a set of instructions according to His grace. And then 
finally, the necessity of humbling ourselves before God in verse 
10. Humble yourselves in the sight 
of the Lord and He will lift you up. It's not the same word 
as submit, but conceptually very similar. So you've kind of got 
the ends of a loaf of bread here. You've got in chapter four at 
verse seven, submit to God. Chapter four, verse 10, you have 
humble yourselves before God. You see, what's the point? God 
resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore, 
James ends this series of imperatives with reference to our approach 
to God with this particular statement, humble yourselves in the sight 
of the Lord. And again, he affixes or he attaches 
a promise to it. Humble yourselves in the sight 
of the Lord and he will lift you up. It's an intriguing thing. 
Every time God gives us a command, he gives us a blessed reason 
why we should obey that command. Oh, Christianity is harsh. There's 
all these commands. Yeah, rejoice in the Lord always. 
Again, I will say rejoice. That's rough. Resist the devil 
and he will flee from you. Wow, that's terrible. Submit 
yourselves to God or draw near to God, he will draw near to 
you. I mean, these are the kinds of commands that we find in this 
particular section and they're all affixed or attached with 
a promise. Humble yourself in the sight 
of God or in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Manton again says, we are all 
by nature proud and would be exalted. The way to rise is to 
fall. That's great. The way to rise 
is to fall. I remember Ryle, on blessed are 
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He 
says, if you want to build high, you must begin low. It is pride 
that God opposes, it is humility that God delights in. So that's 
repentance toward God. Let's look finally at the repentant 
response to brethren in verses 11 to 12. I would suggest the 
background here is Leviticus 19, 15 to 18. James quotes Leviticus 
19.18, calls it the royal law in James 2.8. We don't have the 
time to sort of flesh all that out, but most likely that's what's 
behind the scenes in James' treatment here. Notice the prohibition. Do not speak evil of one another, 
brethren. That's the prohibition. Don't 
do that. Chapter 3, verses 1 to 12, he's dealt with the tongue, 
the unruliness of the tongue. Chapter 3, 13 to 18, he's dealt 
with this demonic wisdom where there is envy and self-seeking 
and this bitterness and this confusion and this strife and 
all those sorts of things. So the prohibition by way of 
how we repent with reference to our brothers and sisters is 
to not speak evil of one another. Now, it's a broad statement. He doesn't say do not gossip, 
do not slander, do not backbite, do not generate false charges, 
but he does because this idea of speaking evil is comprehensive. No evil, no gossip, no slander, 
no backbiting, no tail bearing. Everything you find in scripture 
that is condemned with reference to the tongue is included by 
James in this statement. Do not speak evil. Manton says, 
the word implies any speaking which is to the prejudice of 
another, be it true or false. You see, you may relate something 
about somebody that's actually true, but it's not your business 
to relate it. Just because somebody tells you 
something doesn't mean you have carte blanche to post it on Facebook. So it could be something true, 
but it may serve to prejudice or be prejudice toward that particular 
person. When somebody says, can I ask 
for your confidence in something? Now, if they confess to murder, 
you can't keep confidence. You gotta report that. But man, 
brethren, you don't have to tell everybody everything that everybody 
always says. It's just not the way it goes. 
He says, the Scripture requires or requiring that our words should 
suit with love as well as truth. Now, I've said that this speak 
evil is a broad and sort of generic way to condemn everything that 
has to do with the sins of the time. Calvin applies it very 
narrowly and very specifically to the sin of judgmentalism. And I think in some sense, I 
think the connection is strong, because Paul deals with a similar 
situation in Romans 14. And 4, verse 4, he says, who 
are you to judge the servant of another? In other words, there 
is this tendency in the people of God to lord their opinions 
over everybody else and make them submit, not to God, but 
to them in terms of their own preferences. As well, it seems 
to jive with what Jesus teaches in Matthew 7, verses 1 to 5. Do not judge lest you be judged. 
Again, Jesus is not condemning all judgment. Neither is James 
in this particular context. But the idea of judgmentalism, 
This censorious spirit, this nitpicking way that we have with 
one another. Calvin says, we see how much 
labor James takes in correcting the lust for slandering. For 
hypocrisy is always presumptuous, and we are by nature hypocrites, 
fondly exalting ourselves by calumniating. That simply means 
to speak evil of others. It's an old word that means that. 
Calumniating others. He says, there is also another 
disease innate in human nature, that everyone would have all 
others to live according to his own will or fancy. This presumption 
James suitably condemns in this passage. That is because we dare 
to impose on our brethren our rule of life. Again, I think 
it's broader than that, but I think Calvin's point needs to be taken 
into consideration, along with Romans 14 and Matthew 7, 1 to 
5. This idea, this attitude that 
everybody has to do what we say. When James goes on to speak of 
us serving as judges instead of doers of the law, I think 
that adds a bit of more sort of credence to that interpretation. The people of God are simply 
not God. I know that's a tough one for 
us, but that's what he says in 11b and 12. You're not God, brethren. You cannot function as God. That 
is not your calling, not your task, not your job. So the general 
prohibition is do not speak evil of one another, brethren. Note 
the reason. He who speaks evil of a brother 
and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the 
law. I think this goes two ways. When 
he does this, he speaks evil of the law and judges the law 
because he doesn't do what the law says. The law says he is 
to love his neighbor as himself. And if he is not loving his neighbor 
as himself, he is saying, suggesting, or tacitly implying that he doesn't 
care one whit about the law. He is judge over the law, speaking 
evil of the law by not obeying the law. And as well, if it is 
this idea of judgmentalism or this censorious spirit, he is 
setting himself up as over the law. You see, we need to allow 
God the Holy Spirit to allow or to guide his people according 
to the law of God. That doesn't mean we can't encourage. It doesn't mean we can't remind. 
It doesn't mean we can't help. But brethren, when we jump over 
the law of God and start cramming our preferences down others' 
throats, we are now saying that the law of God is not sufficient. 
We're now saying that the law of God isn't going to work. We're 
now saying that in order for you to be really holy, you've 
got to obey me. It has become Pharisee-ism. We don't want to break the Sabbath 
command, so we'll set up all these stipulations and rules 
that you can only walk so far. Now, there's an appearance of 
wisdom, there's an appearance of sanctity, but it's bondage, 
it's legalism, it's to suggest that God Most High doesn't know 
how to protect the Sabbath command. It is to suggest that God Most 
High doesn't know how to deal with His unruly people. We do. 
We're better at sanctifying our brethren than God is. Our rules 
are more effective than the Decalogue. Do we really want to stand in 
that particular position? No, says James. This is absolutely 
positively not how you want to stand. Note the result if we 
assume this posture. I'm sorry, verse 11, he who speaks 
evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the 
law and judges the law. Now, here's the result. If this 
is your pattern, if this is your way, if this is your manner, 
if you are the Lord, the brethren in the church around you, the 
Lord of the brethren in the circles in which you run, if you judge 
the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. The one who, speaking evil of 
his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law, demonstrates 
he is not a doer of the law, but a judge. He has set himself 
up as a rival lawgiver. He has set himself up as a rival 
sanctifier. He is actually contended with 
the Holy Spirit in terms of how best to serve the people of God 
in being holy. And James says, don't do that. 
Absolutely, positively, 100% don't do that. You need to know 
the difference between the law of God and a preference that 
you hold to. You need to know the difference 
between what is commanded clearly and explicitly by God and an 
application that you make of that law and how you plan to 
put it into practice in your home. When you take that application 
that you plan to put into practice in your home, and you put that 
on par with the law, and say that everybody who seeks to apply 
this law must do it in the way that I do it, you are a rival 
lawmaker against God Most High. That's not where you want to 
be. Again, we can help, we can encourage, we can be kind, we 
can be gentle, we can say, you know, I have found this to work 
for me. But typically, brethren, it doesn't 
come out that way. Typically, it's my way or the 
highway. You don't do it the way I do it, I'm going to treat 
you differently because I think you're in sin. On preferences, 
I've often said, I think I said it probably when I first started 
off here, what's going to kill the church is probably not Pastor 
Porter or me standing in this pulpit and preaching that Jesus 
is a creature. I don't think that's going to 
happen, God willing, the Lord keeping us in his grace and his 
mercy. What kills churches are the sorts 
of sins that James is dealing with in the trenches, this preferential 
attitude, this cliquish way, this four churches in one sort 
of a thing. The homeschoolers here, the public 
schoolers here, the Christian schoolers here, the everybody 
else here. Brethren, we have to guard our hearts when it comes 
to matters of preference. You may be lock stock convinced 
that your way is the right way, but if it is not explicitly revealed 
thus in scripture, you are not a rival law giver. And notice 
how James goes on. He makes this declaration in 
verse 12, there is one law giver. The ESV and other New Testaments 
have, there is one law giver and judge. And I think that's 
probably appropriate here. There is one law giver and judge 
who is able to save and to destroy. Do you really want to assert 
yourself as a rival lawgiver to this one who is God? Do you really want to assume 
the role of judge of the brethren in light of the lawgiver judge 
who is able to destroy? Probably in James's mind is Matthew 
10. Fear him who has the power to 
kill both body and soul. In hell, that lawgiver is able 
to destroy. You don't want to contend with 
him. You want to back it down. You want to stop speaking evil 
of the brethren. And he ends with this rhetorical 
note, who are you to judge another? If I could just tease that out 
for him for a moment, who are we to judge another? Who do we 
think we are, sinners that we are, wretches that we are, malfunctioned, 
dysfunctional human beings that we are? I mean, we put on a good 
front, we all clean up well, we come into this place on Sunday, 
and everything looks beautiful. Well, maybe not beautiful, it 
looks decent. But we're a mess. Who here has mastered sanctification? Who here has mastered obedience 
to the Decalogue? Who here never covets? Who here 
never lusts? Who here never has a bitter heart 
or resentment toward others? Who here has never engaged in 
ideology? We say, I'm not bowing to Baal. 
The moment you put yourself before God, you are an idolater. Who 
here hasn't blasphemed? Who here has perfect Sabbath 
observance? In other words, who are you to 
judge another? Thank the Lord God that he gives 
more grace, stand in line, hold out your hand, and praise him 
from whom all blessings flow. You simply are not the kind of 
person you think you are to be able to judge others. You're 
a mess. Embrace your mess and take it 
to God and watch him do kind things with you. So thus the 
exposition, the instruction here is not meant to do away with 
the civil magistrate. If the idea is judging in verse 
11, this does not mitigate against the role of civil magistrate. 
No more judgment whatsoever. Of course the civil magistrate 
must judge. It doesn't do away with ecclesiastical judgment. 
Matthew chapter 18, if your brother sins and he doesn't repent, take 
two or three witnesses. If he doesn't listen to them, 
tell it to the church. If he refuses the church, then treat 
him as a tax collector and as a heathen. That's not an imposition 
of our preferences upon a brother. That is the execution of godly 
discipline in the context of the church that Jesus sanctions 
and Jesus is for. This passage does not call us 
to be non-discriminating. Remember in Matthew 7, 6. A passage 
interesting where people think Jesus is teaching us not to judge. 
And then in Matthew 7, 6, Jesus says, don't throw your pearls 
before swine or take holy things and cast them before dogs. Isn't 
that a judgment? Isn't that discrimination? Doesn't 
that indicate that we're able, at least at some level, to determine 
who's a dog and who's a pig and not to throw holy things before 
them? Jesus is not dealing with what people commonly think he's 
dealing with in Matthew 7, 1-6. But this does not mitigate against 
that. If there's a dog or a pig, you 
don't throw holy things before it. James is talking about the 
context of God's people wherein there were fights, there were 
wars, there were battles. James says, knock it off, quit 
speaking evil of one another, and quit acting as judge and 
jury over your brethren because there's one lawgiver and judge 
who is able to destroy. If you want to set yourself up 
against him, you are going to lose. Well, brethren, we see 
in this section the gracious basis of the call to repentance. God, who delights in mercy, gives 
more grace. The one who bids us submit to 
Him, to resist the devil, to draw near to Him, to cleanse 
our hands and purify our hearts and to lament and mourn and weep 
and let our laughter be turned into sadness or gloom, that God 
That God gives us the grace and enables us to comply with these 
particular imperatives. Secondly, we ought to observe 
the conspicuous connection in the call to repentance. Now for 
those of you who are interested, at least the way I have treated 
the subject matter, it's what's called a chiasm. You have an 
A section, a B section, a B section, and then an A section. We go 
from conflict with brethren to enmity with God, fix the problem 
with God, and then deal with the problem with men. A, B, B, 
A. That's for those who are so inclined 
in the chiastic structure, at least as I've treated the material. 
But you need to appreciate the specific order. You've messed 
it up with the brethren, you've messed it up with God, fix it 
with God, then fix it with brethren. What's the point? There is a 
priority in the Ten Commandments. There is a priority in the way 
that James treats these matters. In other words, we are not going 
to fix our horizontal relationships until, by the grace of God, we 
fix the vertical relationship. We are no good to our brethren 
unless we have drawn near to God. We are no good to one another 
unless we are communing with our God. Now, brethren, you see 
that through the prophets, they had turned away from God, and 
as a result, adultery, murder, all manner of barbarity is going 
on in the Commonwealth of Israel. Well, there's a theological reason. 
When you abandon the first four commandments, why would you care 
about the last six? If you disregard and reject God, 
why in the world would you be kind to your fellows? There is 
a conspicuous order here, and it is specifically that God facilitates 
us fixing relationships with one another. And then finally, 
we ought to appreciate in the larger context the continual 
need for bridled tongues and wisdom from above. The specific 
command in verse 11 and the necessary implication of a failure to comply 
in verse 12 reiterates James' emphasis upon the tongue, James 
3, 1 to 12. It also reiterates James's emphasis 
upon the two types of wisdom. We want to shun demonic wisdom 
and we want to pursue eagerly this wisdom from above. These are things essential for 
the proper maintenance of the people of God in the context 
of the church of God, also in the family, in the home. We ought 
to make that application as well. You want things to go well in 
your Christian life? You want things to hum smoothly 
along? Brethren, mortify the tongue, 
cultivate the wisdom that is from above by the grace of God, 
and seek to comply with his word. When there's no other way to 
figure out how to do what we're supposed to do, we ought always 
come back to the owner's manual, seek his instruction, and by 
his grace, put it into practice. Well, thus the exposition, thus 
our encouragement. It is an encouraging message, 
too. I know I didn't smile a lot, but it's a call to repentance 
fortified by a provision of grace. And that grace is available to 
God's erring people. That grace is available to those 
who have engaged in conflict with brethren, who have gone 
a-whoring from God. He gives more grace. That grace 
is available for unbelievers, too. The way of approach to God 
isn't fundamentally different for the unbeliever. Submit to 
God. draw near to God. Of course, 
by faith, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, 
looking to him who has, by his life, by his death, by his resurrection, 
provided redemption for sinners. So the same instructions, at 
least to a degree, are for non-believers. Come unto the Lord draw near 
to Him, and He will draw near to you. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank You for Your Word, we thank You for the clarity and 
the pointedness of James, and I pray that You'd help us to 
take these things to heart, help us in the context of our local 
church to put these things into practice, Help us to not speak 
evil of one another. Help us not to set ourselves 
up as rival lawmakers and as judges. Help us to fear you and 
to love one another and to proceed in a way that is pleasing in 
your sight. Thank you that you not only call us to repentance, 
but you surround it with grace. You tell us that you give more 
grace, that you give grace to the humble, that you call us 
to humble ourselves in your sight, and you will lift us up. All 
of these encouragements, God, may they indeed cause us to move 
forward, to move on to heaven above. And we pray these things 
through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief 
time of meditation and then be dismissed.