James 4:6-10
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit 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 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Because we have a tendency to resurrect the old man of sin who wars against God’s Spirit within us, we need to rely ever more on His all-sufficient grace. The grace which alone brings salvation from God’s wrath also is sufficient for our sanctification. But if we do not yield to His working in us, but instead well up with self-sufficient pride of life, He resists us by thwarting our efforts as He gives lessons to work humility in our souls. It is better to yield to His Spirit and submit to God’s work and will, resisting the devil and his work that points us to our desires instead of our Lord and Master’s. When we draw near to God in willing obedience out of love in His grace, then He draws nearer to us and the devil is put on the run. This means that we work out salvation’s sanctification by ceasing our pursuits of the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25), and set our thought and actions on what we are told must be done that our hearts may be made clean (Psalm 119:9-11, 51:2-3) with faith that works. If we do not deeply mourn for our sin as demonstrated by King David and other witnesses throughout scripture, we fall short of the target set for us. Only through being broken by our continuing sin and our warring against it by His Spirit (Romans 8:12-13) can we learn humility and find exaltation in Christ (1 Peter 5:6) who is the lifter of our head (Psalm 3:3). We yield in humility to find effectual grace.
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