James 4:1-10
The Mechanism of Faith- Part 7

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at
war within you? 2  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you
fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3  You ask and do not receive, because
you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4  You adulterous people! Do you not know that
friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God. 5  Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He
yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 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 double-minded. 9  Be
wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 1
Central Idea:

The chaos around us is born from the conflict within us

The Fort Sims massacre:
August 30, 1813
Alabama
The real death toll was near impossible to know, but it was at least 250 settlers who lost their lives. It
was also the brutality with which the Creek Indian attack stamped in the image of the few surviving
eyewitnesses. Men, women, children, and slaves were scalped and mutilated. Age and gender were no
deterrent from the brutality.
Fort Mims could have been a much different seen, but the pride of the leader within the Fort caused
them to be caught with the East Gate open, despite Major Beasley being warned just hours earlier
that Creek hostile Indians were hiding in the woods.
POI: It was the inward failings in the fort that left the people open to devastating destruction.
Likewise, James 4 warns us that it is what is within us that can lead to the destruction
around us.
The battle/massacre at Fort Sims was fought within from the beginning.
TRANSITION: James 4:1-10 plainly tells us that there is a war within, and it tells us how to
win.

MAJOR POINT: Personally, war should never be fought if the objective isn’t clear. So, there is a
war within you. What is the objective?
TWO OPPOSING SIDES:

1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 4:1–10.

James 4:1-10 gives us a clear distinction of both sides: “Passions” vs. “Draw near to God”
(Note to self: Be sure to mention each roman numeral)
I. Let’s unpack these two sides
II. Passions (James 4:1-5)
a. The Greek word for passions (ἡδονή, hēdonē) is where we get the word hedonism. It
means pleasure-seeking or self-gratification.
b. The word “lusts” does not necessarily mean sensual passions. It simply means
desires. These desires are at work in the members of the body, and they excite the
flesh and create problems. Please keep in mind that the body itself is not sinful; it is
the fallen nature that would control the body that is sinful body. The flesh is human
nature apart from God, just as the world is human society apart from God. This is
why Rom. 6 exhorts us to yield the members of our bodies to the Spirit: see also the
emphasis in Rom. 8 and Gal. 5. Note also what James says in 1:5 about our desires. 2
c. 4  You adulterous people! 3 — James 4:4
i. SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
ii. Spiritual adultery is being married to Christ (Rom. 7:4) yet loving the world (2
Cor. 11:2–3). 4

III. James 4:7 is a clear, no-fluff, command for how we get on a path to “draw near to
God.”
a. 7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 5 — James 4:7
i. Submit
ii. Resist

IV. What is a healthy spiritual image for godly submission?
a. If a child has a fork and is about to stick it in a power outlet, you see it and yell,
“STOP!”
b. If the child then stops, they have submitted to an authority that has their best interest
in mind, despite the desire being the power outlet.
c. The satanic image of godly submission that the world has injected into the human
mind is that under duress, we bow the knee to an authoritarian.
i. Ironically, that is what happens when we succumb to temptation.
ii. God doesn’t operate that way!
iii. Yes! One day, every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is
Lord because everyone will know that he undeniably is!
iv. It is a truth. It is a fact. It will be carried out not under duress, but in
absolute awe of His splendor.

V. Draw Near to God
a. This can be super confusing language.
b. Draw near…to a God who is omnipresent????

2 Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books,
1992), 730.
3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 4:4.
4 Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books,
1992), 730.
5 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 4:7.

c. Do not interpret this by only thinking of our physical nature!
i. It is impossible to make sense of it through only a physical application.
ii. While the full scope of what this looks like is probably hard for us to
describe in human language, there is a better way to understand it than
simply thinking of physically moving closer to an object.
iii. Possible Illustration: Call on someone for assistance. Show how
moving closer to a person move me farther from another point. Conclusively,
this shows it is impossible to understand this language physically.

d. Relationship Interpretation.
i. To draw near to God in a deeper way than physical movement…
ii. To draw near to God in a relationship…
iii. He will draw near to you….
iv. God wants to be close to you…But you must want to be close to
Him.

e. But you cannot love what God hates and truly love God
i. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded 6 — James
4:9
ii. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to
gloom. 10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 7 — James 4:9b-
James 4:10

CLOSING:
What is winning the war within you?
The way up is down. God’s exaltation always follows humiliation.
When pride is crucified, grace is resurrected.

6 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 4:8.
7 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 4:9–10.