James 4:1-12
Victorious Prayer
Verse 1, From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
A. This verse is directly related to James 3:13-18, where Jesus talks about the two kinds of wisdom and their result upon us.
B. The problems we face with our internal conflicts is because we don't submit ourselves to God in prayer like we ought to. Likewise, those problems with other individuals can most often be settled by praying.
1. Every failure is a prayer failure.
2. Every sin is a prayer failure.
3. All needs are filled by prayer. James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning.
I. Verse 2 - The problem of Unoffered prayer. (Thinking isn't praying, it's worrying.)
Verse 2, 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.
A. Ask and ye shall receive - God doesn't act until we ask.
1. Tell the story of the boy trying to move a big rock, but didn't ask his father to help him.
2. Illustration of many good oranges kept in "store" and a small boy stealing a small bitter orange instead of asking for good oranges (or even asking for a small bitter orange) How many blessings does God have in "store" for us that we are not asking for?
B. Praylessness is a sin.
1. I Thess. 5:17 - Pray without ceasing.
2. Luke 18:1 - Men ought always to pray.
II. Verse 3,4 - Problem of Unacceptable Prayer.
Verse 3, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. {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.
A. Verse 3 - Asking amiss.
1. There is a knowledge that God gives to all, but there is not a knowledge as to why God gives to all. (For His own glory and our good.)
2. Asking for our own comfort and pleasures and boastfulness instead of asking so we can have something to use for God's glory.
a. Asking for a car for us, but not intending to use the car in God's work.
b. Asking for a home for us, but not intending to use that home to house the people of God.
c. Asking for a job for us, but not intending to serve God while on that job or after we have that job.
B. Verse 4 - Asking without total surrender.
1. Spiritual adultery - If a man knew his wife had a boy friend, he wouldn't knowingly give her money to go out with him.
a. Matt. 10:37 - We must love God more than our parents or children, otherwise we're not worthy of Him. (Note: the spouse is left out because two become one in marriage, and a person shouldn't hate himself.)
b. Ezk. 6:5-16 - Israel was worshipping God in their imagery (v. 12).
2. Friendship of the world - not the earth, or the people of the earth (for we are to love all people), but a friendship to the customs, amusements and principles the world operates on.
3. Enmity with God - at warfare against. Matt. 6:24 - Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.
4. Whosoever - anybody
a. lost people.
b. saved people.
c. saved church members.
d. workers in the church.
e. We must have our closest friends in the true service of God, not in the world.
5. The enemy of God - Revealed by the following facts.
a. A conformity to the ways of the world as opposed to the ways of God.
b. More friends in the world than in the church.
c. Enjoying recreation more than church services.
d. Pursuing recreation in the same manner (style, expense, so forth) as the world.
e. Enjoying living in the world so much, we don't look forward to the world to come.
III. Verse 5 - Principles of Undeniable Prayer.
Verse 5, Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
"The scripture saith" - There is no passage in the Old Testament this is quoted from. This wording probably refers to the entire principle of Old Testament teaching that the nature of man is positively inclined toward evil.
The following are five principles of successful praying. Note the order: successful praying must work in this order.
A. Verse 5 - Sensitivity to the Spirit. We must think of ourselves in two ways, Rom. 7:15-25.
1. The natural man is toward evil. The natural spirit in man desires jealously to possess that which our neighbor possesses.
2. The spiritual man is lead by the Holy Spirit to righteousness. (This part is used especially since the first part of verse 6 speaks of God giving more grace.)
a. Spirit - The Holy Spirit.
1) I John 2:27 - Holy Spirit teaches us.
2) Rom. 8:9 - If we don't have the Holy Spirit we are not of Him.
b. Eph. 1:13 - Dwells in us - comes at salvation.
c. Verse 6,7 - Lusteth to envy - His Spirit jealously desires us to completely worship God by showing us people that are totally satisfied in the worship of the true God.
B. Verse 6,7 - Submission to the Father.
Verse 6, But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. {7} Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1. You don't have to worry when you submit yourself to God because you can never go wrong trusting God.
2. When you leave the decision with God, He will always give the best.
3. Romans 8:28 - This is the entire meaning of this verse.
C. Verse 7 - Standing against the Devil.
1. The way to stand against the devil is to submit yourself to God.
2. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
a. You won't be able to defeat Satan because he is stronger than you, but he isn't stronger than God.
b. When you concentrate on fighting the devil off, you aren't concentrating on submitting yourself to God.
D. Verse 8 - Separation from the world.
Verse 8, Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
1. Ps. 66:18 - The Lord will not hear with iniquity in our hearts. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
2. God will always hear you when you ask Him to forgive you of your sins and iniquities, then He will answer your prayers.
E. Verse 9, 10 - Seriousness and soberness in our service.
Verse 9, Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. {10} Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
1. This doesn't mean that you do this in public, we do this privately.
2. God, who sees in private, shall reward openly.
3. Matt. 5:16 - In public, we are to let men see our good works, and glorify God.
Verse 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.
IV. God will hear our prayers when there is a personal application of scripture. The result of following the above five principles causes us to control our tongue. Verse 11, - compare to James 3. Not talking about speaking the truth when it's not gossip.
A. I Tim. 1:20 - Paul warning Timothy about Hymenaeus and Alexander.
B. II Tim. 2:17 - Paul warning Timothy about Hymenaeus and Philetus.
C. II Tim. 4:14 - Paul warning Timothy about Alexander the coppersmith.
The Application of Verses 5-10 will cause us to look to Christ alone
Verse 12, There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
V. The Lawgiver.
A. The one lawgiver is Jesus Christ
1. Only He has the power to save and destroy.
2. When we judge our brother we are putting ourselves in the place of Christ.
B. There is a difference in judging our brother and judging his actions.
1. Judging our brother is to say: "If I were you, I'd do this or that."
2. Judging his actions is determining the correctness of his deeds and loving him all the while.
3. Paul was not judging anybody when he revealed what they did. Actually, he was protecting Timothy from falling into the hands of the wicked. This is a good thing for us to do also.
C. God will answer our prayers when we see that He is the lawgiver.
1. When we really see that He is the lawgiver, we will submit ourselves unto Him.
2. We will not be so overly concerned about what others think of our lives, or actions.
3. Pleasing God will be the most important thing in our lives, nothing (and nobody) will take His place.