James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
Most people quote this precious Scriptures by itself without ever reading
the surrounding passage of Scriptures. This passage of Scriptures is truly
precious, for it tells us how to draw closer to the omnipotent, omniscient
and omnipresent God of the universe. It tells us how to walk with God!
James 4:1, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Let's begin at James 4:1-3, which warns the believer against covetousness. Perhaps more than any other sin, the desire to have things has ruined America's families and churches. Nothing will hinder a believer's walk with God quicker than lust, covetousness and greedy. Of the 3-enemies that the Christian battles: the world, the Devil and the flesh; the flesh is our biggest enemy as Christians, because we live with the flesh 24/7. We can turn off the TV and shut out the sinful world, and we can resist the Devil as James 4:7 commands us; but the flesh is always with us, like a ball and chain to the work of God (Romans 7:24-25).
James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
James 4:4 warns believers that friendship with the world makes a person God's enemy. This truth is straightforward and simple, not difficult to grasp. A person who befriends the world by assisting them in their wicked agendas, false religions and sinful activities is God's enemy. God has MANY enemies today! Very few people are saved and love Jesus Christ enough, fearing God, to depart from evil (Proverb 3:7).
The most abused verse in the Bible is perhaps Matthew 11:19, where Jesus is called “a friend of publicans and sinners” for eating and speaking with them. May I say, Jesus did not march in any homosexual parades, nor did Jesus befriend anyone who was actively committing wickedness, nor did He establish close relations with people who were involved in evil. Jesus spent most of His time with the Apostles and disciples. Jesus had His own ministry and spent His time preaching the Gospel, helping the misfortunate and needy. Jesus simply befriended all people with the Gospel, and He was kind toward humble sinners.
Most of the professed Christians in the world today aren't even saved, because they are following a false religion; such as Catholicism, Mormonism or the Seventh-Day Adventism cult. Of the remainder of professed Christians in the world who are truly saved, nearly all of them don't walk with God as they should. They are worldly, immature or in some cases backslidden into sin.
I know a sincere man who attends the Catholic Church because his wife is a devout Catholic. He used to be a Baptist, but tells others that he converted over to Catholicism for his wife. The man professes faith in Christ and has denounced the Catholic religion to me in private. Yet, he regularly attends Catholic Mass, bows to their statues at the front of the Church, chants their vain repetitions, and supports the biggest demonic cult in the world. I do not condemn the man, for we are all guilty sinners deserving of Hell fire; but he is a friend of the world and God's enemy. Only God knows if he is a genuine born-again believer. I do not judge.
James 4:5: “Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”
James 4:5 refers back to the lusts and covetousness of verses 1:3, and the love for the sinful world in verse 4. If you want to walk with God, then you have to depart from the sinful world. I don't need to explain what this means, because you know. Everyone knows what the sinful world is, and their wicked establishments. If booze is served, and women are not clothed properly, and Rock music is played; then it is a house of sin.
Jas:4:6-8: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
God resists arrogant and sinfully proud people. We are commanded to SUBMIT to God before any mention is made of resisting the Devil. As a born-again believer, if you don't submit yourself to God by searching the Scriptures (John 5:39), then you won't grow in the Lord (1st Peter 2:2) and you won't feel the presence of God in your life (John 15:1-7).
When your walk with God is what it ought to be, you'll have a burning desire in your heart to go soulwinning and share the Gospel with others (Proverb 11:30; Romans 10:15). You know that your walk with God is right when you have no evil desire toward your neighbor. It's interesting that commandments 1-5 of the Ten Commandments deal with man's relationship to God; and commandments 6:-10 of the Ten Commandments deal with man's relationship to man. This is why Galatians 5:14 states, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Mark 12:30-31, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” All of the Law and Commandments of God can be fulfilled in simply loving God and man. You don't need a doctorate's degree in divinity to know that. Any child can please God by loving God and man. This is the heart of walking with God. Drawing near to God is not a theological road into the so-called “deeper-life.” I always hated that term. You can keep your deeper-life, I'll just love God and my neighbor, and keep winning souls to Jesus, while helping the misfortunate.
James 4:9: “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
If you want to walk with God, then you need to develop a broken heart, because God lives with a broken heart (2nd Peter 3:9). God doesn't rejoice in the death of the wicked. God hates the way of the wicked; but He does not hate people. So many people blame God for the wickedness in the world; but God has His reasons. Proverbs 3:5-7 warns
Jas:4:10: “Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.as:4:11: “Speak not evil one
of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his
brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge
the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jas:4:12: There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art
thou that judgest another?”
Jas:4:13: “Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year,
and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas:4:14: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away.
Jas:4:15: For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do
this, or that.”
The very divine being Who spoke
the universe into existence with the Words of His mouth (2nd Peter 3:5),
wants to fellowship with (James 4:8)
The Promise of Eternal Life
The Bible tells us that salvation comes only to those who enter through the DOOR into Heaven. John 10:1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” This door is the STRAIGHT GATE which leadeth unto life...
Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
