The Revival of Religion in the Soul | James 4:4-10
For the past three years, my wife Laurie and I have spent a long weekend each January serving our Sovereign Grace Churches by leading and facilitating a National Assessment for prospective Sovereign Grace church planters. For two days, we study them. We study the men and their wives. Our aim in studying them is to offer discernment as to where they are in their developmental process and their readiness to launch and to lead a Sovereign Grace Church. We look for indicators such as proven leadership gifts, pronounced preaching gifts. We look for “soft “leadership skills such as self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Can they explain the Good News of the Gospel? But the one indicator to which we pay closer attention than, perhaps, any other, is what we call a “vitalized marriage.” A vitalized marriage is one where there is discernible love and respect. A “vitalized” marriage is, as the term suggests, a marriage that is vital. It’s alive. It’s thriving. A vitalized marriage is one where there is public evidence of private closeness and intimacy. Just by the way they relate to one another, the couple emits a joy and satisfaction in their relationship with one another that is attractive and desirable. And the reason we say a “vitalized marriage” is one of the indicators we look for, above all the other leading indicators in a prospective church planting couple, is that we have found that a “vitalized marriage”, is the “knockout punch.” When it comes to the work of launching and leading a church, a “vitalized marriage” is the “knockout punch.” That is, a prospective church planter might possess a proven leadership gift, a pronounced preaching gift, he might have all kinds of killer competencies. But if his marriage is weak and joyless, it will eventually knock him out. It will take him out. On the other hand, a prospective planter might have somewhat marginal gifts, relatively average competencies. But if he has a vitalized marriage, it will strengthen him. It will sustain him. And it will inevitably spread a stabilizing influence throughout the entire relational and organizational system of a church.
And it’s not only true for church planters. It’s true for every marriage and family. In fact, it’s true for every human relationship. And if it’s true for every marriage, and family, and every human relationship, Oh my, then it is especially and most significantly true of the one relationship that matters more than any other relationship - namely, our relationship with God. A vitalized relationship with God is the “knockout punch.” Left unattended, any and every relationship will decline and decay. But especially, and most significantly our relationship with God.
Until the day we depart from this world, there will never be a day that our souls will be free from the natural impulse to drift and decline spiritually. This side of heaven, there will never be a day that our souls, by nature, and apart from God’s ordained means of preservation, will not decline and decay. And it is that sobering and serious matter that is addressed in James 4:4-10. And it is with this pastoral burden in view that James addresses the ways and the means of reviving and revitalizing every believer’s relationship with God. So, let’s give our attention to James 4:4-10.
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. 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”?
But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
—James 4:4-10
In Biblical literature like we have in the letter of James, we identify the author’s main point by looking for various signals. One signal is the author’s use of commands. In these versus, there are no less than six commands. Another signal is when the author uses the word, “therefore.” In these versus, the author uses the word, “therefore” three times. Another signal is when the author uses repetition. We tend to repeat ourselves when we’re trying to make a point. And in these versus, the author appears to emphasize the virtue of humility by highlighting it twice, by introducing it with the word “therefore,” and by using it as a command. V. 6,
He gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God . . . (10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
—James 4:6-7, 10
So, I would summarize James main point here like this:
Humility is a gift God gives to His people for the purpose of creating and maintaining a vital relationship with His people.
How does it work?
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” Sound familiar? In that old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” if there is a line with which we can all relate, that’s the line. Because we all know how prone we are to drift, to depart from, to leave the God we say we love. And it is a gift of God’s grace that we know that – know how terribly prone we are to leave Him. And so, it is also by God’s grace, we cry, “Let the fathomless fountain of your goodness and greatness, like shackles, like chains restraining a prisoner from escape, bind our wandering and adulterous hearts to you.”
Humility is a gift God gives to His people for the purpose of creating and maintaining a vital relationship with His people.
That’s why James says in 4:4, “You adulterous people!”
Up to this point, James has repeatedly addressed the recipients of this letter as “brothers,” as “beloved brothers.” And now, suddenly, “You adulterous people.” Literally, “You adulteresses!” That is how Scripture refers to God’s people when they give in to their wandering, drifting, spiritually unfaithful desire for soul-satisfaction in things other than and before their spiritual husband. They’re like a cheating spouse. Is that you? Is that us?
It’s certainly a jolt. And James, for sure, means it to be a “wake up” call. He means for us to give that serious thought. But that sharp rebuke is also meant to be a means of grace. For God sees himself as the spiritual husband of his people. From heaven, he came and sought a bride. And he’s no “swinger.” He is a one-woman man. He chose his bride before the foundation of the world – that his spiritual bride would be holy and blameless, pure and faithful, loyal and devoted, forsaking all others for him. He established an unconditional marriage covenant with his bride. He signed it. He sealed it, and legalized it by His own blood - till death us do part.
And from his side, there is no unfaithfulness, no wandering, or flirting, or unfaithful, sleeping around. Oh no. No, it’s our side. We’re the ones with the inordinate passions. We’re the ones given to dissatisfaction with our heavenly spouse. We’re the ones who drift from what first attracted us. We’re the ones in whom the romance dies. We’re the ones whose eyes roam. It’s in our hearts where the “love we had at first” declines. There are lots of dead marriages in the world. James asks us to consider if our marriage to God is one of them.
It’s an important question because there is a spiritual fog that attends spiritual adultery. That’s why James goes on to say,
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 4:4b
Do you not know? How can you not know?
I can think of more than one hard talk I’ve had with unfaithful spouses over the years. They sound like blithering idiots. “Yea I know it’s wrong. I really do love my wife/husband. But I think want this person. I can’t bear to lose my family, my relationships, my church. But I . . . “ “What’s wrong you?! Do you even know what you want, what you desire? Snap out of it!” And James is saying the same crazy-making fog is what happens when Christians are unfaithful to their spiritual husband. And his words are a gift of God’s grace – like smelling salts to a boxer who is woozy from taking a direct shot to kisser.
But just as important, James offers us the hope of a re-vitalized relationship with God. V. 10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
That is not a promise for a promotion. That is not a promise for success. That is not a promise for greater esteem, praise, influence, or achievement. That is a promise of God’s vitalizing grace. God will lift you. God will raise you. God willrestore your soul. He will revitalize your broken and backslidden relationship with him.
There are few things more challenging than restoring and revitalizing a marriage after the betrayal of adultery. And it is not so different with regard to our spiritual marriage to God. But according to James 4:4-10, the very heart of this letter, there is a path to true revival of true religion in your soul. And if that is what you need today, listen. It does NOT start with you. It starts with -
Reliance Upon God’s Grace
If there is to be restoration and revitalization of our relationship with God, the hope lies not with us. It lies with God.
But he gives more grace.
—James 4:6a
I know I say it often. But I don’t believe I can say it enough. When we read the word “grace,” we are so conditioned to hear the notion of “unmerited kindness.” “Give grace. Give grace. Give me grace like God gives us grace. Be gentle. Be nice. Give grace.” And God’s grace certainly does include his unmerited kindness.” But this word means so much more. God’s grace is nothing less than his active, dynamic, and empowering presence. When God gives grace, more grace, he is doing much, much more than merely cutting us some slack, or going easy on us, or bearing with us, or just being undeservedly nice. Rather, God is asserting His deep, divine, effectual, transformative power. Someone who has committed spiritual adultery against their heavenly husband does not need “slack.” They need a slap across the face. And perhaps that’s the best way for us to understand v. 4. It’s tough talk! Because tough talk CAN BE a means of God’s grace to snap someone out of their tangled thoughts and poisoned passions.
But they also need to know that God is tirelessly and relentlessly committed to them. He’s not going anywhere. His marriage vow is NOT a contract based on conditions. His marriage vow is a covenant signed with the blood of His son that cannot be broken. He will not let his bride go. His electing grace is established in eternity past. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He called you to belong to him before you were born. His reconciling grace is expressed in the suffering and dying of Christ on the cross. He took your sin, your unfaithfulness, and laid your blame on Jesus. And his indwelling grace is experienced through the spirit he has made to dwell within us.
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?”
—James 4:5
God gives grace, more grace, grace so personal and powerful that it draws us into union with him. It’s grace so strong, so dynamic and true, that it makes us, causes us to long for our dead hearts to be made new.
So, if you’ve drifted. If your relationship with God is dry, lifeless, unsatisfying. If your spiritual marriage to your heavenly husband is on the rocks. Listen. God’s grace is greater, abounding, unmeasurable and will lift you and exalt you, and revive you again.
Now the revitalization of your soul begins and ends with God’s grace. But it is also accomplished through our –
Rediscovery of God’s Word
We know one another by listening to one another. And in the same way a human relationship cannot be vital without hearing and understanding, without open and honest communication, the vitalization of our relationship with God is nurtured by paying careful attention to God’s His voice communicated through His Word. Vv. 5-6, The Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us” . . . . It says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
True revival of the soul is Bible saturated. It’s not just a renewed longing for spiritual things. Tom Cruise has a hunger for spiritual things. I’ve heard it reported that Gen Z college students are generally interested in spiritual things. Buddhist monks are interested in spiritual things. But real revitalization of the soul, the kind wrought by God’s active and dynamic presence stirs with it a fervor for the Bible. If you want to take the temperature of your spiritual marriage, here it is. A vitalized relationship with God, revived by the Spirit of God dwelling with you, is marked by eager attentiveness to the Word of God. You want to know where revival is happening? It’s happening where preachers preach the Bible with greater unction and earnestness. It’s happening where parents are instructing their children in the truth of God’s Word. It’s happening where men and women, boys and girls, people of all ages are hungry to read, and meditate, and memorize, and study the Bible. That is an unmistakable sign of a humble heart, a vitalized relationship with God. And it is an unstoppable means of fanning the flame of true religion in your soul. But there’s more. The active and dynamic grace of a vitalized spiritual marriage to your heavenly husband will also include a –
Restored Sense of Reverence for God
Just as it is God’s grace that produces a delight and disposition to take God’s Word seriously, so it is God’s grace that moves us to take God Himself seriously. James 4:6-7.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
—James 4:6b-8
Humble submission to God. It is an evidence of God’s grace, and it is a means of accessing God’s grace. You want the devil to flee from you? Here’s the knock out punch – pick up the sword of the Spirit and pursue a humble, reverent, submissive, vitalized relationship with God. The devil has no inroad when we place ourselves under Christ’s authority. God is a consuming fire and jealous husband – in a good way. And when God draws near, the nearness of his presence produces, or restores a sense of reverence and awe. Fourth, a vitalized relationship with God always happens when, by the power of His grace, we -
Return to God Through Confession and Repentance
A broken and contrite spirit our heavenly husband will not despise. Look again at vv. 8-9,
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
—James 4:8-9
One commentator describes these verses as “one of the most strongly worded calls to repent that we find anywhere in the New Testament.” True repentance is about turning away from the ugliness of sin and running to God for mercy. True confession is standing before a holy God and saying, “I am the man.” Repentance means crying out from the heart, “My God, my God, why hast thou accepted me?” When the grace of God moves upon and among a people, consciences are pricked and convicted sinners confess their sins. And of course, on the other side of the coin, grace-empowered repentance leads to rising faith in Jesus Christ and his sin-atoning work on the cross. One of my favorite dead Christian authors writes,
“If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually-minded believer, it is, that, after all God has done for him – after all the rich displays of his grace, the patience and tenderness of his instructions, the repeated discipline of his covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, there should still exist in the heart the tendency of which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God. Truly, there is in this solemn fact, that which might well lead to the deepest self-abasement before him.”
—Octavius Winslow
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Truly there is in this solemn fact, grace, more grace, that which might well lead to the deepest self-abasement before him. May it be so. May it be so. For therein lies the blessing of a vitalized relationship with God.
Humility is a gift God gives to His people for the purpose of creating and maintaining a vital relationship with His people.
Therefore, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:10).
Humble yourselves before him in deepest self-abasement, and he will exalt you. He will lift you. He will carry you. And His life in your soul will rise.