Conflict Within the Church part 3 Draw Near to God

Now we are progressing through James chapter 4 in our study that's called Good Works Flow From Good Faith. Now we've been in this subject for two weeks and that subject is conflict within the church. Now we've looked at the reality of church conflict. I know some of us understand that reality because of our experience and our time of being in the life of the church as sinful as it may be and troubled as it may be but last week we we moved into the behavior that is behind that conflict. This just really progresses in a very logical order.

Now we are going to look at the people that are behind this church problem and we're going to understand the root issue of this church problem and the root issue here this morning is the fact that there are unregenerated people in the life of the church. Lost people who were in the church. So if you go back to verse 1 in chapter 4 and you just study this progression we really see in the beginning this this reality of church conflict then we see this behavior that is behind the conflict and now we're really going to see the people that are behind all of this conflict. Now James is not the only person to have this problem within the scriptures.

I don't know if you know that. Let's go back a little bit to Paul's ministry. Paul's ministry there in Corinth and you don't have to turn there but we see the reality of lost unregenerated people in Corinth. Now if you know much about Corinth and the work of God there in Corinth. Corinth was a Roman city it was a very Greek city it was a steeped in Greek culture but Corinth was known for its immorality. As a matter of fact there was a little phrase that was popular in that day a synonym for immorality and that synonym was to Corinthianize.

Another words in that culture and in that day if you were to talk about immorality if you were to talk about debauchery and drunkenness you could call it to Corinthianize. That was just a synonym for how wicked the culture was but Corinth the church was founded by Paul on the second missionary journey. You can find that in Acts chapter 18 and we've heard of people like Priscilla and Aquila who were a part of that work of God but if you study the the books of first and second Corinthians you see that Corinth the people they were still tied to the culture. The church was full of factions.

It was very carnal and worldly and they struggled with immaturity that in the the lives of the people but there was another great problem that was there in Corinth and you find that at the end of second Corinthians in chapter 13. Paul gets right to the very end and then what does he say he says test yourselves to see if you were in the faith he says examine yourselves or do you not realize or do you or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test. What is Paul saying there?

Paul has been writing out of his heart and he's saying you have problem after problem he's identifying sin after sin people after people and what does he do he gets to the end and what he says is there are some of you who really need to test your salvation some of you really might not be saved it is the same problem that James faced. Well let's go back a little further to the ministry of Jesus all through Jesus ministry as he had this great crowd of people following him he had the problem of lost unregenerated people in the midst of the work.

I'll just give you an example I've referred to John chapter 6 so many times as I preached and taught John chapter 6 is a great two-day lesson and many sermons that are there in that account but it's a great miracle there the feeding of the 5,000 now I don't know if you know this this is the only miracle that is recorded in all four of the gospel accounts it contains one of the seven wonderful I am statements Jesus talks about I am the bread of life I don't know if you are familiar with the I am statements but there were great crowds that were following Christ at that time as a matter of fact the scripture says that he fed 5,000 men it does not mention the number of women and the number of children who obviously were there but Jesus had a problem in the midst of the crowd those who said they were genuine followers there were great numbers of those who were lost and without Christ Jesus taught he taught about the truth of following him and at the end of that two-day ministry endeavor all of the people had left he had identified the many reasons why they followed him he had problems with people in the midst of the work who were not saved we also see this in teaching like the parable of the wheat and the tare and the parable of the sower what am I trying to show you James has a problem here with lost people in the church this is not a singular problem Paul had this problem and also Jesus had this problem now what am I trying to show you I want you to see and I want you to understand before we get into the message that lost people within the church is not uncommon lost people within the four walls of the church it is not uncommon now they never are a part of the spiritual church but they might identify with and claim to be part of the physical church a lost person can never be a part of the body of Christ their main name might be on the church roll but they are never born again their name is not on the lambs written in the lambs book of life and they are not a part of the true church although they might be within the four walls of the church I was reminded of this in church history I have been reading on a particular book for several years I go back and forth to it I don't know why but it's a biography about Jonathan Edwards written by Ian Murray it's a very well read written book it's a lot of information there it's one of those that if you're gonna highlight and mark about every other phrase is gonna be marked up but as I've been studying and going back and looking at that great Chuck a church conflict that Jonathan Edwards had in his church he describes the reality of lost people in the fellowship he says it's just inevitable because the church on earth is in an imperfect state what I what I want you to see there is conflict within the church here that James is writing to multiple peoples and churches who have fled Jerusalem and what is behind all this is a work of the enemy and it is lost people within the church now what's the title of the message the title of the message is church conflict church conflict part three but yet it goes on to say draw near to God because James is going to tell us and show us what these lost people need to do as he addresses them and he has been addressing them from verses one all the way to verse five really through the entire book of James now I'll put our information on the screen for us and you can write our main truths down as we go but we see the title of the message conflict within the church part three draw near to God let's look at our verses together starting in verse six we'll go down to verse 10 James says but he gives a greater grace therefore it says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble submit therefore 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 be miserable and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned the morning and your joy to gleam bloom humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you now let's dive right into the verse and our first verse this morning in verse six and let's look at main truth number one God's grace main truth number one God's grace now the beginning of verse six can be easily skipped over but it is a great verse and a small verse at that on God's grace go back to the verse but he gives a greater grace we're not careful we can miss that and I want us to to take a moment and dive into that portion of verse six first I want you to remember the context we must remember the context well what is the context these struggles these conflicts these stripes that are within the church and he goes on to describe James does their behavior he says that they are murderers in their thoughts they are adulterous in their in their connection with God they are in friendship with the world they are enemies of God I mean it's word after word that describes their behavior he talks about this this obvious quarreling and fighting going on the life of the church so the the context is a big mess a big mess lost people running rampant in the church and obviously save people would have been affected by this but second I want you to notice God's response to this conflict God's response what does it say he gives a greater grace in that what the scripture says now the new international version says it very well it's easy to understand it says but he gives us more grace this simply means where more sin is found that's the context more grace is given by God that might sound strange to some but that's what James is saying there is a lot of sin that is abounding in this situation but yet James says that God desires to give us more grace it sounds a lot like what Paul says in Romans chapter failed five you don't have to turn there Romans chapter 5 verse 20 Paul says and the law came that the transgression might increase but where sin increased grace abounded all the more in that nice Paul says exactly what James says and James says what Paul says and it is wonderful that we see God's grace is even in a greater abundance where in this situation that is so sinful now what I think we need to see here in this portion of our six is that we must have a biblically healthy view of God's grace let me explain what I mean there are two extremes if we're not careful we can fall into there are some of those who are somewhat legalistic in their view and they can can can shy away from God's grace when they come to a portion of scripture like this when they read all the way down to verse 5 they can just jump back and say let me tell you God just needs to get those people they're lost and they need to be rooted out of the church God just get them God just get them sometimes people who are a little bit legalistic will approach it that way but then there are some of those who are on this other side I call them those who have greasy grace they just they got a little too much grace and what they do is they just put grace everywhere grace everywhere and they don't even want to deal with the verses verses one through five why it makes them feel uncomfortable now what am I trying to show you there is a a trap that we will fall into and what we must do is stay balanced there is a balance between God's grace and God's judgment God lists their sin here God shows us the lost people running amok but yet the word shows us that God is even more gracious that wouldn't be our attitude our attitude in the life of that church would be God get them God get them God get them now what's the key to staying balanced the key to staying balanced is always being in the word digesting what were the word knowing the word understanding the word praying over the word and letting our views and our convictions and our understandings be adjusted to what the word says I'll never forget those days when I was really a young Christian and I was in the life of the church and my pastor brother Dennis would be preaching and he would preach verse by verse on Sunday morning verse by verse on Sunday night verse by verse on Wednesday night there were many times brother Dennis would preach and I would say wait a minute brother Dennis is off I would go get in the word I didn't go gossip and I didn't go have a barbecue brother Dennis I just got in the word and I got in prayer and I studied I studied and sometimes a month later I would go brother Dennis was right not that brother Dennis was perfect no it is the word that keeps us in balance and there is a balance here that we must see there is so much more of God's grace that he wants to give let's move on the main truth number two I want us to see God's warning God's warning look at verse 6 again but he gives a greater grace therefore it says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble kind of changes gears there the second portion of this verse is a lot different than the first portion that we've just looked at now James will not allow himself to get out of balance and so what we see here is James is quoting proverbs proverbs 3 verse 34 now you remember in our introductory message the who of the book of James there were some who were critical of the book of James some in church history have not really liked the book of James that's why there are some that that equate the book of James to the wisdom literature why because he's quoting the book of proverbs right here in other words he has the same mind in the same heart of the writer of the book of proverbs we won't turn there but that's what he's writing here this is James not being out of balance now let's divide this portion of the text first I want us to see God's reaction to the prideful God's reaction to the prideful go back to the verse but he gives a greater grace therefore and says God is opposed to the proud now the word opposed here is key the King James says the word resistive the English standard version is the same as a new American that I'm reading from so you're looking at the word opposed the King James resistive now this word opposed now get this it is a military word this is a military word which speaks of a full army ready for battle get that picture this is a military word that speaks of a full army ready for battle the proud simply means to arrogantly putting arrogantly putting oneself above others it carries the idea of boasting so what we have here is James says and the writer of Proverbs says those who are proud those who arrogantly put themselves above others and they are boastful in their position God literally opposes them like a standing army ready to go into battle that's God's reaction to the prideful but second notice God's reaction to the humble God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble God simply gives grace to the humble this is very simple there's really no division here because it's so obvious we see this in James earthly ministry how did he react Jesus earthly ministry excuse me how did he react to the Pharisees they were prideful they were arrogant they were boastful and he resisted them he opposed them but yet how did he receive the sinner how did he receive people like the woman at the well people like the tax collectors those who came in great humility how did he receive them there was so much more grace to give Jesus just flushes out this verse anytime somebody would come with pride he would oppose them like an army they could never follow him and be a part of his ministry why he opposed them to their face but yet when those who came with a humble heart there was always grace to give one Bible commentator that I read said consequently and finally therefore the worldly Parsons conflict with God involves a forfeiture of divine forgiveness God has no use for the proud because they have put themselves beyond God's grace in that interesting that Bible commentator says they have put themselves beyond God's grace why because they have a prideful heart and God always opposes the prideful and let me tell you there is a tremendous lesson here I want to repeat that there is a lesson I said earlier this is a warning and the warning here the lesson here is this there could be some people even in our midst who remain prideful I've seen it all through the years the minister is preaching the word God is working in the church and there are always people who are prideful they resist the work of God they don't like it they might say it like this well preacher we've always done it this way well it doesn't matter how we've always done it when God starts working things start changing I've seen people resist it when people start getting saved I say it like this I've seen it before sometimes when religious people start getting saved there will be people who will oppose it I've had conversations with some of you here when you've told me about how God saved you people in your family people in your church opposed it why because they did not understand and they did not they were prideful and God always always always resist the prideful he opposes them you're gonna see as we continue really the context of these verses is is is an evangelistic endeavor by James the the situation here is he's dealing with the lost you might not see it I didn't see it till I got into the language and I thought about people in the life of the church who when God was moving they were prideful in dealing with this thing called salvation I will never forget now I'm gonna I'm a minister so I can pick on ministers but I'll never forget years ago a minister that I dealt with he led a very contradictory life a hypocritical life and lo and behold an evangelist came through his church and preached the gospel and he got under great conviction and he began to get honest and talk about how he was uneasy about his soul for years but yet there was something that welled up in him and he was great pride and I dealt with him a little later as he came to me about problems and I just graciously lovingly pointed out things in his life and he swelled up with pride he welled up with pride he did not want to hear I literally opened up the Bible and quoted verse after verse after verse and I could see his face turn red I could listen to his language step to the left and step to the right step behind step up front get away from what the word it was an opposed it got opposed his prideful heart and that's what James is saying James is saying there is an abundance of grace to be given but not to those who are prideful I've seen other people do this in the life of the church they because God's working and the Word is preached and truth is brought out they reveal their prideful heart let's continue let's look at main truth number three and truthfully this can be a little lengthy and I don't want to take too much time but there is a lot right here starting in verse seven but let's look at number three main truth number three God's commands go back to the verse now he says admit therefore 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 be miserable and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you now truthfully verse 6 sets up verse 7 now we must understand the context this is conflict in the church James has been exposing the reality he's been exposing their behavior and now we see that verse 6 he says there's grace to be given but yet some of you are very prideful and God will oppose you but now James gets into a series of commands as a matter of fact when you look at the language there are 10 commands in these four verses 10 commands now we know that they are commands because of the language construction they are all in the imperative I don't know if you understand what an imperative is when those of us who are parents tell our children what to do hopefully those are not suggestions when they get out by the road maybe they're playing out in the yard or playing out in the churchyard and if they get out by that busy highway we do not suggest to them to get away from that road no we so get away from the road that's that's an imperative what James is saying these are not suggestions these are commands so let's just divide these one by one and I want you to listen close I will be a little more simplistic because I want us to get the meaning and I don't want us to clutter it up because it's very very simplistic first I want you to notice he says submit to God submit to God in the original now listen this is a military term this is a military term which means to be under rank and it is a voluntary submission I guess if I could say it like this it's like a buck private who must be in submission to a general he is a he is a subordinate there is one who is over him and his attitude is of an attitude of submission and what James is saying is just like a buck private you better submit to God and you better come with a humble heart voluntarily submitting to God and see that's what James is saying I commend you to submit to God see for us what we must see is a man a woman or a young person can never be born again unless they submit to God now in your notes if you're taking notes I want you to write a big R right there because this is nothing more than the responsibility of man that's what James is saying you submit to God this is man's responsibility second I want you to see these says resist the devil resist the devil now these two go hand in hand in submission to God as Lord when we come to faith in Christ and Christ has become our Savior and God saves us we have a new Lord we have a new master we have a new boss therefore we can then resist the devil now this word resists it means to oppose or to stand against and this is a word of repentance this is a picture of repentance because when we turn our back on our sin when we turn our back on self we therefore resist Satan we oppose Satan and the work of the enemy in our life this is very black and white now this word devil here it means the accuser or the one who is speaking slander it is the most common title for Satan in the world and listen there is a dividing line right here what he is saying is you were either in submission to God or you were in submission to the enemy you were in submission to the devil himself but James commands he says you better submit to God and therefore you better resist the devil oppose the devil again you better write that red letter R because this is personal responsibility third I want you to see he says draw near to God draw near to God now this work this means to draw near as in a living breathing relationship to God let me say that again this draw near to God it means it implies drawing near into a living breathing relationship to God the only other example I can think about is marriage see when we come to the altar and it's we come to the altar and we enter into Christian marriage we enter into now listen a living breathing relationship with one another we become one with that one that we marry there comes down the altar a man there comes down and all the altar a woman and by a work of the spirit the two become one and that is a great picture of what we see here in this verse this draw near to God means drawing near in a living breathing relationship this is true salvation true salvation brings about a desire for a living intimate personal relationship and look we must see that this is not a profession but a possession this is not a profession of a faith that's just words this is a possession of a living breathing relationship that's what he's commanding them to do he says submit therefore to God resists the devil and draw near to God drawing near to and desiring a living breathing relationship not a profession but a possession fourth I want you to see he commands cleanse yourselves you sinners go back to the verse on this one verse 8 draw near to God and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners now right here there is a key word to all of this and we must get it it is the word sinners if you write in your Bible I want you to circle that word sinners because this word shows us and one a little later shows us James heart and get this in the original this word for sinners is only used in addressing unbelievers all through the New Testament when this word is used it is always used in addressing the lost and there is much misinterpretation right here in this verse in in preacher terms what we say is you must have biblical hermeneutics what that means is dividing and interpreting the Word of God and the first word of biblical interpretation is scripture interprets scripture if you want to know the meaning of a word or what it means in its context go and see how it's used in other places so what we see here is this Jesus said I have not come to call the righteous but sent sinners to repentance that's in Luke 532 same word in Luke 8 13 the tax collector said God be merciful to me a sinner of the same word Paul in Romans 5 19 says as through one man's disobedience the meaning were made sinners the same word even so through the obedience of one the many may be made righteous what am I trying to show you everywhere you look at this word in the New Testament it is addressing sinners lost people that's what James is doing go back to the verse draw near and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners you lost people again write the work the letter R because this is man's responsibility to submit to God to resist the devil to desire a living breathing relationship and to desire to cleanse themselves verse 5 the truth number five or number five he says purify your hearts James is speaking of an of inward sins here now earlier he had spoken of the hands that that that's indicative of outward sins there is another word here which denotes that these are lost people and this word double-minded go back to the verse cleanse your hands you sinners purify your hearts that's outward and inward you double-minded now double-minded in the original it means double sold and this is a classic word that means a hypocrite or a liar that's what James is saying you were double sold you were hypocritical you were liars you were living in a hypocritical lifestyle you were living a total lie that's what James is saying that's what it means to to be double sold again this is man's responsibility because he commands them to purify their hearts then vert then six notice six he says be miserable James is simply saying that you should be miserable over your condition you see the context these people he's identifying them he's writing he's not calling their names but what he is saying is you should be miserable when one truly understands their condition before God they should be miserable that's what James is doing he's showing them exactly who they are and he's saying you should be miserable in Luke 18 verse 13 the tax collector was miserable was he not he wouldn't even lift his his head his face towards heaven because he was in a miserable state again this is responsibility seventh I want you to see commands them the morn he commands them the morn this is grief this is despair over sin this is despair over their condition I can think of a great example it fits but it does it I remember I remember a situation where someone in our family they had a a loved one who was going through a horrific divorce and this particular person was old school they happen to be biblical and when that love one went through divorce they entered a time of mourning because their their their their child was going through divorce they stayed in the bed for a week mourning that sin that was in their child's life and that's what he is saying here he says I command you to mourn to grieve to be in despair over your condition then he says I command you to weep this is external behavior of an inward miserable condition didn't we see that in our study of Nehemiah in old in the Old Testament on Wednesday nights he he was in mourning and he wept bitterly he wept out loud because of the sin of the people and what James is saying is you should be at a place of weeping over your sin and over your condition and then night he says let your laughter be turned to mourning James is saying do not continue in your worldly prideful life but see your condition and react in a condition of mourning let your laughter be turned to mourning I used to go to church again this fits but it does it I used to go to church with an individual who went through terrible terrible tragedy his father was murdered and you can be talking with this particular man about anything and he could be happy as can be things can be going just right and that issue could be brought up and he would immediately go into a place and a time of mourning because he never got over losing his father he could not and he would not and he did not ever get past that and that's what James is saying let your laughter let your prideful your worldly attitude be changed into a position and a condition of mourning and then the tenth command is he says humble yourself humility is necessary for salvation let me repeat that humility is necessary for salvation and humility is the beginning of salvation and it is completely necessary again we are looking at man's responsibility in the original the term humble yourself it means to make oneself below before another he's saying make yourself low before God now let's go back to the verse he says this is a command submit therefore to God resist the devil draw near to God cleanse your hands you sinners purify your hearts you double minded be miserable mourn weep let your laughter be turned to mourning humble yourselves take a low position before God and listen in dealing with these verses verses seven through ten most people make the mistake of thinking that this is addressed only to Christians and it's not James is calling for an examination of their Christianity James from chapter one verse one it's been issuing test after test after test after test and I'm gonna be honest with you if I was called of God to preach an evangelistic meeting for a week I believe I would preach James I don't believe I would go to the wheat and the tare I don't believe I would go to the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 maybe to reference it but James gives test after test after test what was he doing he was testing their faith testing their faith testing their faith and now he is calling them out but are there lessons for us who were saved here yes I like how John MacArthur helps bridge the gap listen to what he says this text like the epistle as a whole includes admonitions to believers to put away any remaining vestiges of their former worldly living that continue to mar their spiritual lives but the primary emphasis is clearly on those who claim to be saved but are not the term centers a term used only to describe non- Christians is key in identifying the recipients what is James saying that word is key to identify James's intentional audience although there were Christians around who could have been benefited and see what I want to say to us is this we must understand that look salvation is a two-sided coin and what we happen to see right here in James is one side of the coin let me give you an example let me explain let me further explain the example one side of the coin of salvation is the sovereignty of God all through the scriptures we see that man can never be saved unless the spirit initiates the work man can never be saved unless the gift of repentance is granted salvation is first from God what did Jesus tell Nicodemus he said you must be born from above it is a work and it is a gift of God which comes from a glove above so on one side of the coin we have the response the sovereignty of God man can never be saved outside of the work of God but yet on the other side of the coin we have the responsibility of man and what James has done is he has turned that coin over and he is showing us man's responsibility to teach one side at the expense of the other is a violation of God's Word and it is a sin against God and it is bad doctrine there is a mystery that we see right here this mystery of God's sovereignty a work of God totally of God but yet man's responsibility and I'm gonna tell you in going through the Word of God as we deal with the issue of salvation it will be one side of the coin then the other side of the coin one side of the coin then the other side of the coin and look Bible theologians call this now listen a paradox a seeming contradiction but it's no contradiction here because this is a mystery let me give you another paradox which we readily accept let me ask you the question who wrote the Bible was it God or was it man and the answer to that question is both yes God wrote the Bible some of it he wrote with a very finger of God some of it he said write this down word by word but yet some of it is clearly the personality of man coming out don't we see that in the epistles don't we see that in everything that Paul wrote we see Paul's love and his personality coming out but yet man wrote the Bible God wrote the Bible a paradox a seeming contradiction and that's what we see right here but James has the other side of the coin and that is the responsibility of man I give you some examples when we look at church history there are men who would fall in the category of what we would call Calvinistic really holding on to the sovereignty of God me and like George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards but yet when you read their writings and you read their sermons clearly they communicate man's responsibility but yet you can go and you can read the sermons of John Wesley you can read the hymns of Charles Wesley those who would be on the other side they wouldn't call themselves Calvinistic but yet when you read their sermons what do you see when you listen to their hymns yes man's responsibility but God's sovereignty because what were they trying to do communicate the paradox but what do we see right here in James what is he doing he is identifying the people that are behind all this behavior and he what is he saying he's saying listen you better get saved you're lost and you better submit to God resist the devil draw near to God cleanse your heart purify your double-minded your sinners be miserable over who you are and what you're doing mourn and weep and change your laughter to mourning humble yourselves before God and I'll tell you in my experience of the past I am thankful that I came from a church where the responsibility of man was preached I am thankful that the weight of man's responsibility was preached I'm gonna tell you when messages like this were preached and when texts like this were dealt with yes the convicting power of God was unleashed but yet we must step back and see it is only God that convict it is only God that can work it is only God that can enable this law center to do these things and we step back and say it's a great mystery I don't understand and I'll tell you we must study doctrine but yet we must study the word we must build the church yes we must be a praying church yes we must know that we are truly born again but let me tell you I'm afraid in our culture if we're ever going to have a true heaven-born revival we must have a revival of true born again ism in the church why because listen our churches in our culture are just like these churches right here our churches are full of lost people now I'm not advocating perfection none of us are perfect but James is identifying a group of people who need to be saved and they're causing problems in the church in our culture where you have come from where I have come from in so many places the standard has been lowered it's easy believe ism everywhere it's just this profession of faith it's no big deal you can come down the aisle and pray a prayer look church the sinners prayer is sending more people to hell it's not in the scripture there will be there will be thousands of people who are inhaled who have made a profession of faith and I believe if we have a genuine work of God we will have a revival of the new birth because what do we deal with we deal with the same thing that James is dealing with a lot of lost people in the piece now I don't say that arrogant me I don't say that with an ego it breaks my heart I've seen it I've watched it I've seen religious people come to be saved and they were born again just like James is trying to do this work so what do we see right here the big picture take a step back with me let's go back through the verses and then we'll close what is the source verse one of quarrels and conflicts among you is it not is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members you lust and you do not have so you commit murder and you are envious and you cannot obtain so you fight in quarrel you do not have because you do not ask you ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures you adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards god therefore whoever wishes to be the friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god or do you think the scripture speaks to no purpose he jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us but he gives a greater grace praise god for the greater grace therefore it says God opposed is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble now the commands submit therefore 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 purify your heart you double-minded be miserable and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning in your joy to gloom humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you now what all I want to say is I close there could be someone here today and you're just like this and I want to say to you what James would say draw near to God and he will draw near to you draw near to God do what James says that tells me that someone could be wondering and concerned about their soul they can get in their closet they can close their door and they could do what James says and according to what the word says God will work because when a sinner will humble himself and draw near to God God will draw near to them and look I will tell you you were on the first base of getting towards salvation it's a work that only God can do but it's exercising that wonderful responsibility so conflict within the church part three draw near to God let's pray father I pray that you will work this morning teach us these truths in a great wonderful way Lord I pray that you would help us to