Last week we had a guest speaker, TJ Freeman, from the Brainerd Institute. We were not able to record his edifying sermon on friendship in ministry due to our technical limitations.

Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 153 “God Gives Grace to the Humble” James 4:1-10. I apologize for some microphone trouble that lasted for a few minutes of this recording.

Our primary text for March 1 was James 4:1-10. For our first reading we read 1 Peter 5:1-11. Two weeks ago we said that some scholars think James 3:13-18 is the thematic highpoint of the letter. Some of these same scholars also think that James 4:1-10 is the hortatory highpoint of the letter. Some other scholars think that these two sections together form the thematic highpoint of the letter.

There are differences of opinion about what the theme of James is. One way to express the theme of James would be: “Seek godly wisdom to progress to spiritual maturity”.

What is James encouraging (exhorting) us to do in 4:1-10? James is encouraging us to seek the grace of God in humility because

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 (both quoting Proverbs 3:34).

This assertion is of the utmost importance to growing in grace. We need the grace of God to grow spiritually. So we need to be humble. How to be humble? By repentance. James gives us a good description of repentance in vv7-11 without using either the noun repentance or the verb to repent. The 10 imperative mood verbs in these verses can be a challenge but they do help us to understand evangelical repentance (repentance that flows out of the Gospel as applied to us by the Holy Spirit).

We need to remember that James writes to his fellow believers in this letter. So making progress toward spiritual maturity must begin with regeneration (being born again). That leads on to faith and repentance. We can say that we were born again to live a “life of repentance” by faith.

"God Gives Grace to the Humble" James 4:1-10

  1. A Coherent Reading of James 3:1-4:16
  2. Conflict (4:1-4)
  3. Grace (4:5-6)
  4. Repentance (4:7-10)

Scripture References: 1 Peter 5:1-11; James 4:1-10; Proverbs 3:34; 2 Timothy 2:22-26;

JI Packer on repentance from Concise Theology

“Repentance is a fruit of faith, which is itself a fruit of regeneration”