He Gives More Grace

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.

In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, a general boasted that while he marched on Madrid with four columns of soldiers, his ‘fifth column’ was already inside the city—sympathizers working to weaken defenses and open the gates at the right moment.

That is the most dangerous kind of enemy: the one already inside the walls. James 4 tells us that the church has a ‘fifth column’ too—not just out there in the world, but in here, in our own hearts.

The most dangerous enemy of the church is not out there. It’s the sinful desires at war within, and God’s answer is not self-defense but humble repentance. Let’s turn our attention to God’s Word. James 4:

[1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

Wars and fights are going on inside the church, James says. And the source of these conflicts is not circumstances or people outside the church. It’s coming from inside of us. There’s an enemy in our heart.

We know from other letters that the early Christians struggled with factionalism and personal conflicts just like we do. This should not surprise us, because the Bible teaches that there is, in fact, a war going on in the heart of every Christian between our sinful passions and the desires of the Spirit.

[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.

It is very unlikely that anyone reading this letter had actually murdered someone. James is borrowing again the teaching of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Harboring anger for someone is itself a violation of the sixth commandment. Murder comes from a heart consumed with anger and envy.

And so, James here is providing us with a progression to show us how sin often works.

It starts so small. You notice what someone else has. You feel the envy of ‘Why not me?’ You replay it in your mind. Resentment grows, and now, in your heart, the other person is no longer a brother or sister but an object of resentment. [examples]

Instead, James says we should be talking to God about it. But there’s a deeper issue. Even if we do finally talk to God about it, our prayers can become part of the problem.
[3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

In other words, we want the wrong things. That’s what sin looks like at the core. We want what we can’t or shouldn’t have.

Instead of looking to God in dependence as a child looks to their father, trusting His provision, we spend our energy pursuing worldly gain. And if we do pray about it, it’s only because we see God as a divine wish-giver. What can He do for me?

Years ago, there was a reality show called Joe Millionaire. It was a bachelor show where a group of women were told they had the chance to marry a wealthy man, but it was a lie. Joe was a construction worker, not a millionaire. They only made one season, and it got terrible reviews, because the whole thing was cringy.

But James is telling us that the same thing is going on in the heart of a Christian. We don’t want God. We want what God can do for us. He becomes the sugar daddy of our idols. And it’s not ok!

[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.

James joins the cries of the Old Testament prophets accusing God’s people of idolatry. In ancient Israel, the people never completely abandoned God for false gods. Instead, they always tried to add the false gods into the mix. They wanted to get the benefits from worshipping all of them.

James says it doesn’t work like that. You cannot intentionally pursue the world and claim loyalty to God. That’s adultery. God is not ok with the world being our side chick.

And this temptation comes in many forms. There are liberal, moderate, and conservative ways to be in love with the world. All three are guilty of baptizing worldliness with an appearance of godliness. Grace becomes an excuse to ignore sin, and truth becomes an excuse to hate people who disagree with us.

Why are we defending the world in any of its forms? Why are we giving it our allegiance, our heart? The only King that deserves our worship is Jesus. The only Kingdom that deserves our allegiance is His. Giving our heart to anyone or anything else leads to envy and conflict.

[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”?

The Greek here is famously difficult, but one common reading is that God, who placed the human spirit in us, longs jealously for our undivided devotion.

This isn’t petty jealousy. This is covenant love. God is a jealous husband watching us chase after other men. He had every right to cast us aside, but instead God’s jealous love resulted in the cross. He responded with grace instead of wrath.

And this is where we most clearly find the Gospel in the letter of James.

[6] But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

God gives more grace. More grace than what? More grace than our sin. James exposes deep compromise in the heart of every Christian and covers it with grace.

And then he reveals his purpose in the letter up until now. All the talk about temptation and the tongue and our lack of concern for the poor and idolatry… what’s the point? Humility.

James understands that the way Christians get better is only by being humbled. Trying harder without humility leads to pride, not lasting change.

What this means, to quote J.I. Packer, is that “we never move on from the gospel; we move on into the gospel.”

The grace that justifies is the grace that sanctifies. The Christian life is a life of constant repentance and faith. We don’t move on from that. We just move into a deeper love for and dependence on God. And that requires a greater knowledge of our sin. It’s a constant dance of truth and grace in harmony.

For all the practical truth found in the first 3 chapters of James, this is the foundation. Now that he has crushed us under the weight of our sin, James tells us what to do with it.

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

Submit is a military term. Fall in line. Break ranks with the devil and willingly place yourself under God’s authority. And something will happen. James says the devil will flee from you.

To be clear, the devil isn’t afraid of a solitary Christian standing outside the authority of God. He’s scared of God.

If you’ve read the children’s book, the Gruffalo, or seen the film – it’s not the mouse that scares away the fox, the owl, and the snake. It’s the giant monster behind him. The place of safety is with God.

[8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

This is a direct call to repentance being given to professing Christians. Draw near. What does that mean?

Imagine a husband and wife who are still living together, but growing apart. From the outside, everything looks fine. They share the same address and the same last name. On paper, they are still married. But emotionally and physically they are drifting.

That doesn’t happen overnight. It’s something that builds over time as one or both spouses starts to check out from the relationship and give their heart to other things… or other people.

How does something like that change? It starts with humility. Someone has to make a move in the other direction. “I’ve been distant. I’ve shut you out. I’ve been giving my heart to everything but you. I want to come back. Can we talk? Can we start over?”

Spiritually speaking, a lot of Christians live in God’s house. We go to church. We say and do a lot of the right things. But our hearts drift away from the Lord. That’s our natural tendency.

While that’s happening to us, nothing has changed on God’s side. He’s not playing hard to get. God is ready to respond to our humble repentance with renewed grace and real presence.

But repentance is also wholistic. It’s not just a change of heart. It starts there, but it also changes our behavior. This is why James says to cleanse both our heart and our hands. God isn’t looking for empty words. He wants our hearts and our lives. But we will not draw near to Him again until we are broken. That’s just the way it works. James says:

[9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

This is about the seriousness of our sin and the emotional impact it has when we realize that our sin, all of it, is basically adultery against the God who loves us with an everlasting love. Repentance without godly sorrow is not true repentance.

There’s a conviction that we feel, and it always comes before the joy. And I’ll tell you, one of the most dangerous things about American Christianity is that we skip this part of the Gospel and quickly move to the good news.

You’ll hear a lot of sermons out there about how much God loves you and happy God wants you to be. You won’t hear a lot of sermons about how sinful you are.

But skipping the sin and the guilt is missing the Gospel entirely. It cheapens God’s love and obscures the path to real, lasting joy.

We hear some good advice and get some good vibes and go right back to being selfish. Our relationship with God becomes transactional. What can you do for me, God? I’ll do something for you if you do something for me.

He’s not your fairy godmother. He’s your King. He’s your Creator.
He’s good, but He’s also holy.

We come to church to be reminded that God is better than we think He is because we are worse than we think we are.

[10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

There are only two possible outcomes at the end of this text.

You will either humble yourself and be exalted by God, or you will exalt yourself and be humbled by God.

This is not a difficult concept to understand. Imagine two people interviewing for the same job. The first person packs his resume with exaggerated accomplishments, talks big, and name drops important people. The second person provides an honest resume, acknowledges his weaknesses, and gives credit to others who have helped him along the way.

Which person is the wise employer more likely to hire? In today’s culture, I’m not so sure. But we understand the principle. Who would you rather have as a friend, an honest fool or a smart liar?

God is not impressed by spiritual self-promotion. He draws near to the lowly, trusts the repentant with more, and in the end—whether in this life or the next—he is the One who lifts us up to make it clear to everyone that He did the necessary work.

That’s why the Gospel works the way it does. And as we draw near to God’s table, let’s come together with humble hearts – returning to a God showed us how much He loves us AND how much He hates our sin at the cross.