Open: Start by singing "I Surrender All."
All to Jesus I surrender; all to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all,
all to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender; humbly at his feet I bow,
worldly pleasures all forsaken; take me, Jesus, take me now.
The Longing Of God's Heart Is For All Of Us To Draw Near To Him With A Fully Surrendered Heart.
- one of the great themes throughout the Bible is the passion God has for his people to walk in close proximity to Him. I mean you see that everywhere, right? Right from the very beginning opening pages of Scripture all the way through the Bible - it just flows out of the pages that God wants people to live in close proximity to Him. In the Garden of Eden we are told that Adam and Eve walked with him daily and conversed with Him conversationally and there was just this closeness and intimacy and nearness if you will. And that wasn't by accident but by design. It was God's desire and design that our original parents would relate to God on this very personal intimate level. The passion of God's heart has always been for people to have a passion for him. "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." (2 Chron. 16:9)
- The problem we struggle with is that we come with partially surrendered hearts.
Let me ask you, when you came here this morning did you come with the attitude that you will do whatever this book asks you to do. Or did you come with the idea that you will judge whether or not what the Bible says is right for you or not. Did you come with the idea that you will let God's word judge your thoughts, attitudes, behaviors and motivations or you will first judge whether or not what God's Word says today is applicable to your life? I think the attitude the Lord is looking to establish in our hearts is "I come surrendered" - but I think the attitude a lot of people have is, "Let me hear it first" If I come up to you and say, "Will you do me a favor?" You're likely to say, "Tell me what the favor is first." Right? Why? Because you don't trust me and I don't blame you. You don't know what I'm going to ask or how big the commitment is. You don't know how big of mess you are getting yourself into. - and I don't really have a problem with that on an interpersonal level. We live in a world where people try to get us to sign on the dotted line before we actually know all the terms of the contract. What's not OK is when we do that with God and His Word. When we come in want to determine in our own minds whether or not God's Word applies in our life -- we want to judge its merit an application for ourselves -- that's not a surrendered heart. We will surrender right up to the point that it agrees with our way of thinking. - That's not surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. What God is looking for is an attitude that says, whatever this book says, I will do. So before we even get into the study today the question I want to ask is this, "Are you going to do what it says, or do you want to hear first?" Willing to do what it says With No Limits? No matter what? Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22) - Jesus has made if far easier for you to approach God than it is for you to approach the president of the United States.
What Steps Must We Take To Draw Near? (James 4:7-10)
James gives us ten-point road map that shows us how to draw near to God. That's what is contained in the verses 7 through 10. Ten straightforward statements that are really unequaled to any part of Scripture, other than this passage. James is writing with a sense of urgency that is deeper than anything we have seen from him so far. Submit to God, Resist the Devil, Come near to God, Wash Your hands, Purify your hearts, Grieve, Mourn, Wail, Change Your laughter, Humble yourselves. All are commands by the way. Nothing that James says in this passage is offered in order to facilitate discussion, much less debate, between him and his readers -- this is not one of those passages that says, "Consider for yourselves whether or not ...." This isn't a "reason-it-out-and-decide-for-yourself" kind of deal. These are elements that a surrendered heart embraces without reservation. These are given as urgent commands, not as suggestions. -- Not something we should consider doing. They are what the sovereignty of God requires.
First step, Submit Yourselves to God. S
ubmit yourselves, then, to God. (James 4:7)
The starting point, the "you are here" location, if you will, or, better yet, "you should be here" location on James' map to drawing near to God is this: submission. What does that mean? Webster's defines submit: to yield oneself to the authority or will of another. That's exactly what the biblical word means. Very simply it means to align ourselves under the authority of God. (hupotasso) Come under God's authority. It means basically to line up under. It's used of troops under the general...get in your rank under the authority of God. Before submission can occur -- there has to be recognition and acceptance that there is an established authority. Why do we balk against submission? Because we refuse to accept that someone else has authority over us.
Authority is one of the flesh's most prized possessions. Anytime the authority issue is not understood -- there will be conflict. You see it in marriages -- arguments over who gets the final word. You see it in the work place: employees arguing with the boss over which way is the better way to do things. You see it in churches: small groups within the church having turf wars over who is charge. Like gang members spray painting graffiti over whose territory is whose -- we don't like to submit to another authority.
Why does James start here? It strikes directly at the heart of the problem described in verse six--pride. God opposes (stands ready to do battle with) the proud. God gives grace (all of His greatest treasures) to the humble. Submission is the opposite of human pride. It's impossible to draw near with complete surrender of authority and submitting to God. Biblical faith requires that we surrender to the comprehensive authority of God over every facet of our lives. The degree that we accept this determines how close or how distant we are to the Lord. Nearness to God begins at the point where we accept His comprehensive authority. Separation from God begins at the point where we reject his comprehensive authority.
Any distance that exists between you and the Lord is in one way or another rooted in pride.
We saw back at the beginning of this chapter that the distance that exists between us and another person -- interpersonal conflict exists because of what? Pride -- self-centered desire. Pride results in a distancing between us and other people and it also causes a distancing between us and God. Pride pushes us away from others. -- an expression of autonomy -- I rule myself. I accept no other authority. I have the last word over what I want to do, how I want to act, how I want to think. Pride is the declaration that I am my own authority. Pride is the declaration, "I am my own god." You have distance in your life between yourself and others -- because you've chosen to set yourself apart from others. Self is high -- all others are low.
Submission -- is the exact opposite. Submission carries with the acceptance of a higher authority. And aligning oneself under that authority. If pride causes distance, then submission results in closeness. Submission is dying to pride and living under His authority. If He speaks are you willing to obey? If He designs your life, are you willing to follow in that design? It's not a word that means a passive giving in, it's like enlisting in military service, in fact some have translated the word "enlist"...enlist under God, in the service of God, give you allegiance to God, to obey His commands, to follow His leadership. It speaks of a readiness to do whatever you're commanded to do. It's exactly where Paul was when slammed in the dirt, he looked up and said, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Give me my orders because he understood that submitting to God, submitting to the Lord was putting himself under His command. It means to do the will of God from the heart no matter what the cost.
Jesus must have complete control. You cannot simply say, "I know who Jesus is. He is the Son of God. He's the Savior of the world. I pray to Him every night," and at the same time say, "I'm my own man (or woman). Jesus is going to just have to accept me the way I am. When I die, I'm sure Jesus will see that I've done more good then bad. I'll meet God on my terms."
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)
This verse is really addressing the Gospel -- because when Jesus spoke these words he was really referring to his own death on the cross at Calvary. A grain of wheat has to die; then it has to be buried in God's good earth. Else you don't get a harvest. You don't get amber waves of grain without a certain amount of death and burial. Jesus had to submit himself to death -- submit to the cross -- submit to death and burial. He had to place himself in a position of submission and die to every impulse that would pull him away from his purpose. Unless he died there would be no Gospel harvest. Unless he surrenders all -- there is no salvation. No reason to celebrate. No reason to rejoice. But because he submits, there is the miracle of multiplication. I'm here -- you're here -- and millions have been here are part of His Body around the world.
Submission is the door everyone must walk through in order to draw near. It's the door to God's future for your life. There really isn't any future without a submissive heart. No miracle of multiplication. To get food from wheat, you have to remove the grain from the old stalk it grew on. It will generate life only if it is pulled away from its old source of life and buried in the ground where moisture and nutrients will bring forth its life. Submission is dying to self-rule and self-reign. -- It's surrendering to God's rule. -- and the interesting thing that happens is that as self dies -- grace and joy begin to live. Arrogance dies and humility rises. Complacency dies, and joy in the gospel rises. A critical spirit dies and a more celebrative spirit rises. The starting point to drawing near is submission.
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The next stop on James' road map for drawing near to God is seen in the second half of verse seven. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." If you are truly living your life in submission to the sovereign will of God, then your life will also reflect a resistance to everything and anything that is contrary to the will of God. Resistance is the second stop on the road to drawing near to God. The Greek word translated here as "resist" means, "to stand against or oppose" We can only submit to God in our day-to-day lives if we are actively engaged in resisting Satan, the enemy of God. There's no middle ground. You are either under the lordship of Satan or under the lordship of God, there is no middle ground. Ephesians 2:1 says You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil--the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Becoming the friend of God means immediately becoming the enemy of Satan. You used to be the child of the devil, you used to be submissive to his mastery, and now you are taking your stand against the devil and that means you take your stand against everything that he stands for, everything that he perpetrates, everything that he propagates, everything that he instigates. You take your position against Satan, against his system.
If you don't grant him authority over you -- he has no interest in you. That's the reason he flees. He runs to the next person who foolishly gives him authority over their life. What the devil craves his authority. -- autonomy -- self-rule. He not only wants self-rule but he also wants to rule over you. You mind, your emotions, your decisions. How does he do that? He tempts you with the same ploy he used in the Garden -- "You can be self-ruling -- like me. Ignore God's rules -- just like I did. Make up your own rules -- It's what I do." In following for that we are actually placing ourselves under his authority.
Note catch this: You see what James is saying recognize that everyone is already living under someone else's authority. You think you are living under your own authority -- that's only an illusion. You are either living under the authority of Satan or God. So James is telling his people to do is make a transfer of allegiance from one to the other. James is saying transfer your allegiance away from Satan and everything he's involved in. Transfer your allegiance to the true God and Satan will flee from you.
The problem isn't that we don't have the power to defeat Satan in our lives -- the problem is we don't actually resist him. I ran across a parable -- it's a little fairy tail actually -- but it graphically illustrates why some of us spend our lives in bondage instead of enjoying the freedom God wants to bring into our lives
- YOU TUBE file "The Prince and the Dragon"
Ill. - There was once a great and noble King whose land was terrorized by a crafty dragon. Like a massive bird of prey, the scaly beast delighted in ravaging villages with his fiery breath. Hapless victims ran from their burning homes, only to be snatched into the dragon's jaws or talons. Those devoured instantly were deemed more fortunate than those carried back to the dragon's lair to be devoured at his leisure.
The King led his sons and knights in many valiant battles against the dragon. Riding alone in the forest, one of the King's sons heard his name purred low and soft. In the shadows of the ferns and trees, curled among the boulders, lay the dragon. The creature's heavy-lidded eyes fastened on the prince, and the reptilian mouth stretched into a friendly smile. "Don't be alarmed," said the dragon, as gray wisps of smoke rose lazily from his nostrils. "I am not what your father thinks."
"What are you, then?" asked the prince, warily drawing his sword as he pulled in the reins to keep his fearful horse from bolting. "I am pleasure," said the dragon. "Ride on my back and you will experience more than you ever imagined. Come now. I have no harmful intentions. I seek a friend, someone to share flights with me. Have you never dreamed of flying? Never longed to soar in the clouds?"
Visions of soaring high above the forested hills drew the prince hesitantly from his horse. The dragon unfurled one great webbed wing to serve as a ramp to his ridged back. Between the spiny projections, the prince found a secure seat. Then the creature snapped his powerful wings twice and launched them into the sky. The prince's apprehension melted into awe and exhilaration.
From then on, he met the dragon often, but secretly, for how could he tell his father, brothers or the knights that he had befriended the enemy? The prince felt separate from them all. Their concerns were no longer his concerns. Even when he wasn't with the dragon, he spent less time with those he loved and more time alone.
The skin on the prince's legs became calloused from gripping the ridged back of the dragon, and his hands grew rough and hardened. He began wearing gloves to hide the malady. After many nights of riding, he discovered scales growing on the backs of his hands as well. With dread he realized his fate were he to continue, and so he resolved to return no more to the dragon.
But, after a fortnight, he again sought out the dragon, having been tormented with desire. And so it transpired many times over. No matter what his determination, the prince eventually found himself pulled back, as if by the cords of an invisible web. Silently, patiently, the dragon always waited.
One cold, moonless night their excursion became an attack against a sleeping village. Torching the thatched roofs with fiery blasts from his nostrils, the dragon roared with delight when the terrified victims fled from their burning homes. Swooping in, the serpent belched again and flames engulfed a cluster of screaming villagers. The prince closed his eyes tightly in an attempt to shut out the carnage.
In the pre dawn hours, when the prince crept back from his dragon trysts, the road outside his father's castle usually remained empty. But not tonight. Terrified refugees streamed into the protective walls of the castle. The prince attempted to slip through the crowd to close himself in his chambers, but some of the survivors stared and pointed toward him.
"He was there," one woman cried out, "I saw him on the back of the dragon." Others nodded their heads in angry agreement. Horrified, the prince saw that his father, the King, was in the courtyard holding a bleeding child in his arms. The King's face mirrored the agony of his people as his eyes found the prince's. The son fled, hoping to escape into the night, but the guards apprehended him as if he were a common thief. They brought him to the great hall where his father sat solemnly on the throne. The people on every side railed against the prince.
"Banish him!" he heard one of his own brothers angrily cry out. "Burn him alive!" other voices shouted.
As the King rose from his throne, bloodstains from the wounded shone darkly on his royal robes. The crowd fell silent in expectation of his decree. The prince, who could not bear to look into his father's face, stared at the flagstones of the floor.
"Take off your gloves and your tunic," the King commanded. The prince obeyed slowly, dreading to have his metamorphosis uncovered before the kingdom. Was his shame not already enough? He had hoped for a quick death without further humiliation. Sounds of revulsion rippled through the crowd at the sight of the prince's thick, scaled skin and the ridge growing along his spine.
The King strode toward his son, and the prince steeled himself, fully expecting a back handed blow even though he had never been struck so by his father. Instead, his father embraced him and wept as he held him tightly. In shocked disbelief, the prince buried his face against his father's shoulder.
"Do you wish to be freed from the dragon, my son?"
The prince answered in despair, "I wished it many times, but there is no hope for me."
"Not alone," said the King. "You cannot win against the dragon alone."
"Father, I am no longer your son. I am half beast," sobbed the prince.
But his father replied, "My blood runs in your veins. My nobility has always been stamped deep within your soul." With his face still hidden tearfully in his father's embrace, the prince heard the King instruct the crowd, "The dragon is crafty. Some fall victim to his wiles and some to his violence. There will be mercy for all who wish to be freed. Who else among you has ridden the dragon?"
The prince lifted his head to see someone emerge from the crowd. To his amazement, he recognized an older brother, one who had been lauded throughout the kingdom for his onslaughts against the dragon in battle and for his many good deeds. Others came, some weeping, others hanging their heads in shame.
The King embraced them all. "This is our most powerful weapon against the dragon," he announced. "Truth. No more hidden flights. Alone we cannot resist him."
- How many here have either heard the roar or the whisper of the dragon? How many here have hidden their sin and said over and over "never again" but climbed back onto the dragon's back time after time. How many here cowered in shame thinking you have to keep your sin hidden because of the judgment that will come your way if others only knew. How many people have given up thinking you will never be able to resist him? Peter wrote this in our battle against the enemy. "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world" (I Peter 5:8-9).
God will give you a shield against every steely barb the enemy throws at you. But your power to resist will not be found in yourself. It has to be in someone who is greater than the enemy who seeks to deceive and destroy you. Your only hope for resisting the temptations and roadblocks Satan will inevitably throw at you is if the object of your faith, all of your faith, is Jesus Christ. If you place any of your faith in yourself, in your friends, in your family, or even in this church, if there is anything that takes your eyes off of Christ in those times when resistance is required, then you will find yourself climbing back onto his back one more time.
So James says this -- "Come near to God and He will come near to you." (James 4:8)
James tells us that the devil will flee from those who resist him. James has written this verse as a "when . . .then" proposition. What that means is that Satan is only going to flee when he is resisted. We cannot draw near to God if we have no desire to be in close proximity to Him. The desire of our heart must be to have intimate fellowship with Him. It isn't just to believe in a system, it is to know God. It's the pursuit of an intimate love relationship with God. It's the desire to come into fellowship as a true worshiper.
Drawing near is not limited to the understanding of biblical data. -- it is living in personal intimacy with the Lord. You can't do that without the revelation of Scripture. But it is not limited to head knowledge.
"The one thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple." (Psalm 27:4) Being near gazing at the beauty of the Lord was David's passion. He delighted in the Lord and studied His ways not limiting His study of God to the Scriptures that were passed down through generations. David was compelled to know God experientially and became awed and fascinated by the wonder and the majesty of God. He was mesmerized by God and by His nature and character.
Come near to God -- see Him for who he truly is. Gaze upon Him. His eyes saw you as you were being formed in your mother's womb. He looked upon you with kindness and chose you to be His very own. He saw something in you that He found desirable and then and He continues to gaze upon your life with eyes of love throughout each day. He sees a beauty in you that no other can see for He sees you as He intended you to be. Jesus sees you as His lovely bride that is spotless and unblemished without flaw or wrinkle. He sees today exactly who you will become on that day of His great feast. In His loving eyes you are already that glorious one. He sees how you struggle for purity and to walk uprightly. He sees beyond those moments when you might fall on your journey and sees you as victorious as you someday will become. He sees your every act of kindness and plans your reward for those things done in secret, that He finds so precious. He sees every cup of cold water given and each word of encouragement you have spoken and His heart swells with pride for you. He sees those little deeds that you have deemed insignificant and He magnifies them as He shows the Father how well you are doing.
All of your concerns are ever before His eyes. Never does He turn His eyes from you for He is captivated by the beauty that He sees in you. He watches over you with the eyes of a jealous and protective Daddy watching over His young. He sees you when you rise and when you are asleep. He sees you when you come and when you go. With eyes of pure love He gazes at you and cherishes you. He saw you when you were yet a sinner and He saw qualities in you that invigorated His heart and He was compelled to pursue you for His own. With His eyes He saw the cross as a small price to pay to have companionship with you. As He hung with His arms stretched out, nailed to the cross He looked at you with eyes full of mercy and said, "I do this for you for the joy set before Me!" His eyes have never looked back with regret. Wherever you are this day, He is still looking at you with the same eyes of grace and mercy as He did on that day. Consider His beauty! Consider His love for you! Just consider!
- why would you not draw near to Him today? He knows your needs before you speak them. He answers before you call. He has planned your rescue before you stumble. He endured the sweating of blood in the garden, so that you did not have to endure what you deserved. He willingly gave Himself to the centurions, so you could be free. He took your stripes on His back that you may be healed. Determined to secure you for His own, He committed Himself to pay whatever the price required. It required everything that He had.
