Text: James 4: 6-8

6 But he gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify
your hearts, you men of double mind.
BACKGROUND
a. Author
The author of this letter identify himself simply as James the date that writing this book is
probably A. D 150
The letter is being addressed to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations as mention James
1: 1.
The Epistle of James was written to help us understand and attain spiritual maturity.
In (James 1:4) “...that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
James, the brother of our Lord.
a. He is the most likely candidate for the author of this epistle
b. Even though he humbly identifies himself only as “a servant of God and of the Lord
Jesus Christ” (James 1:1)
James wrote The Epistle Suggests That People Were Having Problems In Their
Personal Lives and In The Church...
1. They were going through difficult trials
2. They were facing temptations to sin
3. Some were straying from the faith

Title: Draw Near to God

Basing on the passage that has clearly read to us, I would like to speak on the theme Draw
near to God. In the gospel the final word is not condemnation, but an appeal for change of
mind and heart. No matter how rebellious a man is, if he will turn to God, if he submits
himself to the Lord he will welcome and be lifted up.
1. Be Humble (V 6)

6 But he gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble. As we see in the above verse

The word Humble in Geek is “Tapeinos” being express as descent, humble, Being humble
and submission to God would put an end to their fights and quarrels and give them peace

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with one another. As we read from the verse itself, God opposes the proud this word is too
powerful to us to understand but it’s a reality. The word “opposes,” or “resists,” is a Greek
term antitassetai, a military term meaning “to battle against.” Whether a believer is called to
resist his human spirit which tends toward envy or to rejoice in the Holy Spirit who jealously
yearns for each believer’s edification, the call is to shun pride and to submit humbly to God’s
authority. The cure for conflict is a humble spirit which is rewarded by God’s unmerited
favor. James continued by showing in Jas_4:7-12 how humility is related to peaceful justice.
The ordered thought of this and the previous verse has been given thus: “God loves us with a
feeling comparable to the strongest form of jealousy, or even envy, but that jealousy does not
lead Him, as it leads men, to be grudging in His gifts; rather does He bestow, as its result, a
greater measure of His grace than before.

APPLICATION

This is perhaps the most wonderful thing of all. The truth is God will exalt those who come to
him humbly as Peter says. In some translations say that God will “lift you up” but I'm
inclined to think “exalt” is more what God has in mind. In my experience I have come across
a lot of humble people as I have walk this journey of life, there are a lot of people who are
rich and brilliant but they are very humble and God lifted up their life in various ways. So,
with strong confirmation from the text itself, God rewards the humble.

2. Submit Ourselves To God (V 7)

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The word  submit is a Greek term (hupotagete) means “to align one’s self under the authority
of another” or to put ourselves under God’s control, under His care, power and strength to
yield to God to His will and command.” The picture is one of an army in orderly arrangement
under its commanding officer. James passes from the statement that it is the humble whose
hearts are open to receive God’s grace to the injunction to his readers submit yourselves to
God. For the readiness to submit ourselves to others, explain to us exactly about the
characteristic of humility. This is based upon what James just said in verses 3-6.Submit to
God - This first command states the theme of verses7-10.

Resist the devil - The military metaphor continues with the word resist is a Greek
term (antistete), which means “to oppose,” “to stand against the devils.” The readers must
take their stand against Satan who is their real enemy. He will flee from you these words

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explain to us- This promise assures victory and success. The power of Satan should not be
underestimated, but neither should it be over -estimated. The question is “Do we resist the
Devil ……Let’s us ponder on this?

This victory is based upon what Christ accomplished on our behalf on the cross. Satan has
been defeated, and now as believers in Christ we share in that victory. Pride and selfishness
allow the devil to assert his influence in our lives and set us in opposition to God. We must
submit to God and stand against the devil.

The first thing to do is to submit to God. This means that we must be subject to Him, ready
to listen to Him and obey Him. We must be tender and contrite, not proud and stiff-necked.
Then we must resist the devil. . We do it also by using the Scriptures as the Sword of the
Spirit to rebel him. If we resist him, he will flee from us. This is the confirmation message
that we clearly understood from the very passage being read and shared to us.

Illustration

In my journey as a young boy, I come across a lot of temptations in my life, there are
times as a boy im tempted many times, I realised now if only I draw near myself to God,
I would be able to resist all temptations that comes my way, I experience walking and
journey with God with all the temptations that I need resist from, makes me to fight the
battle with him, understanding and realising that “ Submitting myself to the one who
have called me to be in his vineyard, I believe each and every one of us seated here this
morning we are not able to resist temptations that comes our way especially that people
look at us as people who are righteous, holy but deep down inside we are on the way to
resist our temptation. Let us ponder on this question “What temptations are we going
now….think about this question for a moment Let us continue to submit and draw
ourselves to the God who can fight the battle for us.

APPLICATION
I believe each and every one of us, cannot run away from temptations, though we are
theological trained people, yet a lot of things to resist and flee from temptation as we
continue to stay in this institution. Be it pride, lust, Hatred, laziness and thinking we are
betters than our teachers, our parents looking down at someone thinking that we are better
than others these are the small temptations that hinders us to come and draw near to our God.
Therefore……. we should submit ourselves to God and His word. What this means is to
focus our mind upon God and His word immediately when temptation strikes us. Dear

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Friends, it is hard to turn away from temptation, push it out over your mind and begin to
think about God and go over and over His word in your mind. Resist the devil by focussing
our mind upon Jesus and the word of God. As written in the word of God Hebrews 12:2
“looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right
hand of the throne of God.”

3. Purify Your heart (V8)

8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and
purify your hearts, you men of double mind.
This is the continuous from the previous verse. The opening sentence of verse 8 provides
both a parallel and a contrast to the last half of verse 7. Resistance to the devil, when he
approaches the Christian try and deflect him from serving the Lord.
The word Purify often use in the Bible with a ceremonial meaning, is use by Peter to
describe the purification of the soul which result from the initial obedience to the truth of the
gospel. Purify our hearts refers to inner word cleansing and purity. Cleansing and
Purifying stem from the Old Testament Isaiah 1: 16 “Wash yourselves; make yourselves
clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil.” Provisions for
priestly purity in ministering the things of the Lord, but both had also come to be use in
ethical purity.. The Psalmist required ‘clean hands and a pure heart’ for those who will
stand before the Lord (Ps. 24:3-4). James ask the same of those who would draw near to God.
Can we do this? Can we be Pure Assuredly not by themselves, but still in order to peace
with God there must be so much purification of the heart that it shall no longer be double-
minded. When you cease trying to serve two masters, and submit yourselves unto God, He
will bless you.

APPLICATION
We may ask the question who is that person to come near Him? So friends the person that
God does not like to come near to Him, is the person with unclean, sinful hands and an
impure, wavering heart. A person must do two things before he can come near to God.
The person must clean the hands. Some had unclean, sinful hands and James pulled no
punches. He called them just what they were: Sinner if any of us have unclean hands if we
have touched what God forbids us to touch we are not only sinned, but we are sinners. The
point is that our hands must be cleansed of sin before we can approach and come near to God.

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God will not respond He will not come near a person unless his hand is cleansed.
Dear brothers and sisters, we must purify our hearts and quit wavering between God and
temptations. We cannot have a divided loyalty between God and the world. God does not
allow a divided loyalty. If we are double minded and try to follow God only in times of
troubles, then we have failed to walk with him. If we don’t have pure heart we cannot
draw near to God. !!! Because our God is a Holy God if there is something in our heart
which is against the will of God we need to repent and led the Blood of Jesus will washed
away all of our transgressions.

CONCLUSION
With the advance of science and technology, sometimes it leads us to do something wrong
which is against the will of God, which sometimes we cannot resist the temptations and flee
from it which result in going far away from God and our hearts fail to draw near to Him..
As James has called for the believers to be humble, to submit oneself to God and to purify
our hearts in Him. So according to James the believers who has the right to come near to God
is the believers who walks in one fellowship and communion with God; who keeps his hands
clean and his heart pure; who walk in the prayer all day long, confessing and keeping himself
pure. Dear brothers and sisters, we thank God we worship our God who can forgive us in
many ways by drawing near to Him and through repentance we are forgiven.
I would like to quotes this quotation “The more we are close and draw near to our God he
will fight the battles for us, the devil will be defeated by the power of drawing near to
God”
In Response to the message I would like to invite L2 to lead a song entitle Nearer to God”

Approved by:____________________________