Good evening. I trust God's given you a good week and that you've been refreshed and strengthened and blessed and enjoying the good sunshine, able to get out hopefully in a garden somewhere. and get your exercise and things, but I'm thankful that we can exercise ourselves tonight in the word of God in our continued study of James. And so if you want to turn your Bibles to James chapter four, we're going to look at verses six through 10. All right. And let me update us on where we're at in the study as we, as you turn your Bible to that chapter. Last week, we looked at diagnostic questions regarding God's will versus man's will. If you remember, we, ended chapter three looking at God's will with diagnostic questions. Is this the will of God? The questions were, is it pure? Is it peaceable? Is it gentle? Is it persuasive? Is it merciful? Is it fruitful? Is it impartial? Is it sincere? Is it good and peaceful? We ought to be able to take that list. The wisdom that's from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy being treated. We ought to be able to go through that list and examine whatever it is in our life that we're considering is this God's will and check off the boxes that it would be those things because God's wisdom is those things. But then we looked in chapter four at diagnostic questions about man's will and examining in our lives, is this something that I'm doing that is not God's will, which is entirely possible for us to do, to get going in something that God hasn't directed us in? And so there's diagnostic questions about that. Does your flesh want it? Is it a desire of the flesh where you say, well, this is of God, and it's not really of God. It's just your desire. from whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that warn your members?" And that that striving that caused the difficulties that James was dealing with among the brethren would have been fleshly desires. Does it satisfy? It says, he lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. And it's like, even though they did everything they could to get it, they just, like the donkey and the carrot, it's perpetually out in front of them. And that's what sin does. Sin doesn't satisfy, but we talked about how God satisfies. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness. Does it satisfy? And then is it something that you have prayed about? It says you fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not. Have you just assumed that this is fine and this is what I'm gonna do? Or have you taken the time to take that to God in prayer? And then, if I am praying about it, am I asking God to do something contrary to his word? It says, he asked and received not, because he asked amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. And there, even though you're praying about it, you're praying about it, in that case, according to the flesh. And so, is it worldly or is it godly? Ye adulterers, and adulterers is very strong language, spiritual adultery, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. And it's just kind of two different things, isn't it? It's either pleasing God, or if it's pleasing ourself, it's not pleasing God. And so we need to discern that. And then does it recognize the rightful jealousy of a holy God? Do we understand that God is very passionate about our purity, very passionate that we be in the center of his will, doing that which is pleasing to him? And do we recognize it as we pray about this, that God is rightfully jealous and we want to give benefit to God and honor God. and his jealousy. Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. The spirit of God is very passionate that we be rightly related to God. Now, as we continue our study of James, James is going to point us away from self-dependence that he started with in James chapter four. And then he's going to point us to the place of God dependence and God's grace. Verse six says, but he giveth more grace Wherefore, he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. God gives grace, and that's the place of God-dependence, where we want to be, where we're receiving. grace from God. I grew up in Wisconsin and a lot of water in the area where I'm from. I'm just across from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. And there's kind of a lot of lakes, a lot of rivers. And where I'm from, there's a river, the St. Croix River, that I grew up just a few blocks from there. And it's a mile across almost at a part of the river near my house. And then I've got Lake Malaloo, another lake that joins up to the St. Croix. on another side of my house that was just a few blocks away and I grew up fishing on those and I had a buddy Cliff and we'd go out in an old leaky rowboat and we'd bail water with a can out of that rowboat and if you didn't do that I suppose at some point we would have had a big problem. But now we've grown up and God's blessed Cliff and he's got a bass boat Now, and so last time I was back in the States, he took me out fishing. We had a good time, just like old times. And on the St. Croix River near my house, there's a place where a train bridge goes across that river. And as you look at it, it looks rusted to bits. I mean, it's still functioning, still works, but it's a rotating train bridge. And so when trains aren't coming, it's open. And so ships or boats could go through. And then it turns back to connect, obviously, the train line and everything. Uh, when a train comes and we were fishing down below that and the train was coming and, uh, the bridge started to turn and what was amazing to me, I, I imagined in my mind, if this thing turns, it's going to go, you know, squeak and, and, uh, shake and rattle. Uh, but it just went click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, really quietly. And I realized as I looked at it that that thing must have a lot of grease in there to make it function. Without that grease it would seize up and without that grease it would be horribly noisy. Grease made it possible for that bridge to function. You know, grace not only makes the Christian life work, but it makes the Christian life work well. Grace is what God has given that makes it possible that it can do what it needs to do. And so grace, the definition of grace, the biblical definition is of the merciful kindness by which God exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of Christian virtues. And you read a definition like that, and you think, wow, I mean, that is something that I need. I need grace, and our world really needs grace. And so grace is God's gift to mankind. We see in our text in verse six, it says, but he giveth more grace. Grace is always given. It's always something that we receive from God. It's not something that we can earn. And in our text it says, He giveth more grace. In other words, He's already given grace and He gives grace abundantly beyond that. Grace began for anybody at the point of salvation. And so Ephesians 2.8 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God." Somebody that is brought to a new relationship with God as their father, having their sin forgiven through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and his death, and his resurrection for them, and having received that from God, what they received was grace. unmerited favor that God gave, that took away their sin, gave them the gift of everlasting life. Grace allows a sinner to come to the Savior. Titus 2.11 says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. And so that grace is available to everybody that would come to the place of grace and receive it. God is willing to give that and beginning at salvation. Romans 5 21 that is sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And so that grace again is given by God to reign in our life and make us what we ought to be and give us eternal life through Jesus Christ. So grace is a priceless treasure, which opens to us all of God's goodness. So as we come to our study tonight, what I want us to focus on, as James puts it into our text, is getting ourselves to the place of grace. And it's really a place of humility, where we can receive grace from God, because our text says, God resisteth the proud, in verse six, but giveth grace unto the lowly. And the next several verses deal with that place of lowliness, where to get to to get to that place of grace. Let's pray and ask God to help us as we come to our study tonight that the Spirit of God would help us to get to the place of grace. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the grace that you give. I need your grace, and we need your grace even tonight. And as we listen to the word of God, it's the grace of God that helps us to understand it, that helps us to get it, that puts it into our hearts and life and makes it practical so that we can put it on our feet and walk and use it. And Lord God, I pray that the spirit of God would help me as I speak. And without your enablement, I am nothing. I have no ability of myself, and I covet Lord, the grace that you give and the guidance that you give and the help that you give and the illumination that you give. And Father, it's a wonderful thing as when we experience the leading of the Lord in our lives, as we speak for God, whether witnessing or teaching or preaching the Bible. So I pray, God, may we know that reality tonight and may the Spirit of God use this passage to give us the grace that you desire us to have and get us to the place of that grace. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right. getting ourselves to the place of grace. You know, God's Word tells us where we need to be to get there. So we're gonna seek to follow God's word. If I had a treasure map, and I'd love to have a genuine treasure map, my kids would know this. They'd absolutely say, you know, this is not just a hypothetical here. Dad would really love to have a treasure map. But if I had a treasure map, I would set aside every other duty that I could possibly set aside to get to that place of guaranteed reward. I mean, I would be focused upon getting there. I would carefully measure every step, you know, X always marks a spot on a treasure map, and I would be pacing it out very carefully to make certain that, you know, 10 paces, 20 paces, whatever, to get right to that X marking the spot. I would spear no effort or expense. If I knew that there's genuine treasure there, I would invest everything I possibly possessed to get to that place. Well, James has a treasure map for us here in chapter 4 about the place of grace. And what God has to offer us in that place is beyond price. It is priceless. I mean, somebody would do well to set aside everything they could possibly set aside to give themselves to carefully examining their life, even tonight as we look at the Word of God to say, I'm going to be very careful that I get to that place of grace, sparing no effort or expense to get there. And so to get ourselves to the place of grace, the first place we need to go is go to the place of submission. Go to the place of submission. Verse seven says, submit yourselves therefore to God. To submit, to put oneself under. And so that word, here's many definitions of it for you. Submit, to arrange under, to subordinate, to subject, to put in subjection, to subject oneself, to obey, to submit to one's control, to yield to one's admonition or advice, to obey, to subject. And so submitting is putting ourselves under a God-given authority. And it's a Greek military term, the word that we find in our text here, It means to arrange troop divisions in a military fashion under the command of a leader. In non-military use, it was a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden. And in the military, it would be that, yes, sir, I am under your authority. Whatever you say is whatever we will do. And we've got many God-given authorities. If you stop and just think about the many that we have. And the Bible speaks about those authorities that God has given to us and our responsibility in each case to put ourselves under that God-given authority and submit. It speaks about government and employers in 1 Peter chapter 2. It says, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, or unto them that are sent by him. So whether it's the king or the governor that's under the king, or those that are sent by the governor out as other authorities within government. for the punishment of evildoers, the police and such, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, and not using your liberty for cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." And so it's speaking about those earthly authorities, put yourselves under in a place of obedience and well-doing underneath them. And then it says, servants, be subject, submit to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. Even to somebody that would be a bad boss. A boss is somebody that God has given to us within our life, and that's somebody that God says we are to submit to. And that's the place of grace, is the place of submission. And then within church, there's a submission that takes place even within the leadership opportunities that God has put within our assemblies. 1 Peter 5, 1 says, the elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And it's talking about that authority that God has given to pastors or church leadership, that that is to be taken graciously and wisely, administered, and not lording it over the flock, but leading by example. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder." And so now it's switching to those that are following the leadership of that local assembly and saying, submit yourselves unto the elder. Ye, all of you, be subject one to another, that the right authority structure be followed in the church, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." And as we hear that last phrase, it's reminiscent of what we've just looked at in our text here in James, that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Where's grace found in the place of submission in that text, speaking again about the authorities that God has put in the church. Hebrews 13, 17 speaks about that as well. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. 1 Corinthians 16 speaks about it with an example that Paul gave to the church. I beseech you, brethren, you know the house of Stephanas, that is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. And Paul said, I'm seeking to raise up godly leadership. within these churches as an apostle. He had oversight in the office of apostle over the local church, which nowadays we don't have anymore. It's just the local church and the pastoral authority that God has put within that local church. But Paul was saying, I've established these authorities by God's direction and submit to those authorities as God would have you to. Why? Because that's the place of grace. Within the family, God has given Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, but the Bible says in Colossians 3.18, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Put yourself under the God-given authority that God has placed in your life. Colossians 3.20, children, obey your parents in all things. for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Husbands won't always get it right. Parents won't always get it right. They may say things not as well as they could have said. Think pastor won't always get things right. Government won't always get things right. Bosses won't always get things right. And they may even be, have failed and somehow in their authority. And yet God says, put yourself under the authority that I have given. You know, does our sin nature like to submit? I mean, there is something about us that makes submission very difficult. But you know, what do we call a lack of submission? A lack of submission or a disrespect of God-given authority and a disobedience and a rejection of God-given authority is called rebellion. It's the sin of rebellion. And if you think about in a military aspect, we'd call it insubordination. And a soldier that refuses to obey his commanding officer, he's going to be put into a military prison. He's going to be court-martialed and have to come before tribunal and give an account of his insubordination and his rebellion. Why? Because the consequences to his comrades, especially in a time of war, could have cost lives because he didn't obey his commander. You know what? God does not take rebellion lightly. If we think about King Saul, that God had put in a high position of leadership and yet he had a spiritual authority, Samuel, that he usurped authority from and also rebelled against God. Samuel said to king Saul for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being king and if we were to look at and say Disobeying my earthly authority we would think is not as bad as witchcraft certainly not as bad as idolatry and yet God says it is and that is because we have Separated ourselves from the authority of God with a place of grace begins in that place of submission. And so if I want God's grace, I need to put myself under, first of all, my earthly authorities that are under God's authority and that God has placed over me, and then put myself in that place of God's authority. And certainly if I'm under God's authority, then I'm gonna be right in all these other earthly authorities as well. So go to the place of submission, the place of grace. And then secondly, this evening, Go to the place of resistance. Verse 7 says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And to use the Bible idea here, it's to put the battle in a ray against Satan. Strike your colors, put the weapons on, get ready to fight. What kind of a soldier would go into battle without his kit? He goes out and he doesn't have his machine gun or rifle. He doesn't have his armor on. If he could have an armored vehicle, he's not in that armored vehicle. A soldier like that is of no threat to the enemy. The enemy looks at it last because the only thing that that soldier can do is flee. If we leave our armor off, will be destroyed. If we leave one part of our kit off of us and we go into battle and we don't have that piece of armor on, then we're vulnerable and we certainly can't resist as God desires us to resist. Ephesians 6, of course, is a great passage that God has given to us in his word that speaks about the armor of God. And it says in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for he wrestled not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wakenness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand." And twice it says in that passage, put on the whole armor of God, take unto you the whole armor of God, because you need every bit of that armor to be able to successfully resist the devil. And so let's briefly speak about the different parts of the armor that God has given to us. The first one is right doctrine. put on right doctrine. It says in verse 14, stand therefore having your loin skirt about with truth. And it's the belt of truth. Having your loin skirt about with truth. Truth is what does the Bible say. A lot of people like to say, you know, how do I feel? Or what do I think? But what we need to know for us to embrace truth is what does God say about it? Not what does man say, not what does preacher say, or what does some religion say, but what does God say? And so the first thing is to put on that right doctrine. Secondly, get right with God. Make sure that you're in a right relationship with God, that you have purity of heart before him. It says, in having on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate is what covers the vitals. It's what protects us as Satan is firing away at us. And what we need there is purity. We need true holiness through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of God and the mercy of God. Proverbs 28.1 puts it this way, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. There's going to be a great boldness in us to go out and to fight and to stand against Satan, but we have to have on that breastplate of righteousness. And so get right doctrine, get right with God, and then get the gospel out. Verse 15, says in your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The shoes that we wear as Christian soldiers is the gospel. And what God has given to us to advance against the adversary is the evangelism and the good news about Jesus Christ and his death and his resurrection and his ability to save a man from their sin. And Satan fears the gospel more than anything because the gospel is what invades his territory. The gospel is what turns somebody from being on his side to being on the side of God. and we need to make the gospel known. And so get right doctrine, get right with God, get the gospel out, get in God's word. It says in verse 16 of Ephesians chapter six, above all taking the shield of faith, where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And the shield that we lift up in our hands and fight for God, that shield is God's word. Back in World War I, There's a story told about a soldier that was saved when a pocket Bible, which he was carrying in his pocket, saved him from a German bullet hitting his heart. Leonard Knight, 17 years old, had put the Bible in the breast pocket of his uniform when he was shot at by an enemy. You know God's word like that in man's heart is what protects us as satan starts are are flying out at us It's what the bible says in psalm 119 thy word Have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee and it's what is protecting us From that temptation that satan is flinging at us And then get assurance of salvation It says in verse 17 of that text and take the helmet of salvation Do you know for sure that you're saved? Are you 100% sure that if you died, you'd go to heaven? I've asked a lot of Catholics that question. Are you 100% sure that you'll go to heaven when you die? And almost all of them, I think I can think maybe of one exception, even recently, and it struck me because I hadn't heard it from a Catholic before. This person actually said that, yes, I am sure, but 99.9% of Catholics that I've ever spoken to and asked this question, they'll say something like this. I want to go to heaven, but nobody can be sure. And yet the Bible says in 1 John 5.13, How can I successfully resist Satan if I don't even know for sure that I'm on God's side? And so part of the armor is that helmet of salvation. I know that I'm on God's side because I have personally put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and received God's gift of everlasting life. And then use God's word. It says the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. This is the dagger that cuts and slashes that we fight with. Remember we talked recently about the temptation of Christ and spoke about how he responded to those different temptations of his flesh with the words, it is written, it is written. And so what we need to do is pick up the truth of God's word and go at it and get into battle and say, you know, wait a second, God's word says, and take that battle and resist the devil. You know, Satan is a great adversary. And to get to the place of grace, we need to get on God's side and go into battle against the great adversary. C.T. Studd was an Englishman, he was a cricketer that was very famous, had the records in cricket, he was from a wealthy family in England, but he gave up his inheritance and he went as a missionary to China and India and Africa, but he said this, nail the colors to the mast. That's the right thing to do and therefore that is what we must do and do it now. What colors? The colors of Christ, the work he has given us to do. The evangelization of all the un-evangelized. Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible. By faith in the omnipotence, fidelity, and wisdom of the Almighty Savior, who gave the command. Is there a wall in our path? By our God, we'll leap over it. Are there lions and scorpions in our way? We will trample them under our feet. Does a mountain bar our progress? Saying, be thou cast into the sea, we will march on. Soldiers of Jesus, never surrender. Nail the colors to the mast. Let me ask you, are you in that place of grace? Are you in that place of actively resisting because you've got the armor on and standing with God? Are you in the place of grace of resistance? Are you in the place of grace of submission? And then thirdly, go to the place of faith. Go to the place of submission, go to the place of resistance, and then go to the place of faith. It says in verse eight, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. If I asked you, how do you get to God, it might be somebody that's listening in might say something like, well, you go to church, you go to a cathedral, and they've got the smoke and the incense, and that's where you go to find God. But can I say this, no matter where I am, at home, at church, at work, or wherever I am, there's only one place to go to draw a knight to God, and that is the place of faith. And the reason is, faith is what makes drawing a knight to God possible. Hebrews 10.22 says, let us draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The place to get is the place of faith, faith in God's word, faith in the work of Christ, faith in his access to bring us to God. Hebrews 11 verse six says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So that faith is absolutely necessary for us to approach unto God. It's only possible by grace through faith. Abraham, an Old Testament believer, walked with God, but he walked with God by faith. James 2.23 in the scripture was fulfilled, which said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. And Abraham, as he's a man that was called the friend of God, and he had that close, I mean, if anybody drew an eye to God, it was Abraham. He walked with God, and yet he walked with God by faith. Noah did the same thing. Genesis 6, 9, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man. He was a righteous man. That righteousness is impossible. We know if you study the book of Romans, righteousness is impossible outside of justification. God declaring us righteous by faith. He was a just man by faith. Imperfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. And so even as New Testament believers, we're rightly related to God by faith and specifically faith in Jesus Christ. Luke 8, 21, he answered and said unto them, my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. And those would be ones that are in close relationship with Jesus and who is God and so draw nigh to God. How do you become that relation of the Lord Jesus? Well, it's by faith. Acts 16, 31, they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. That person's doing the will of God. That person's obeying God. They've accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. John 14, verse six, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. Again, I wanna draw an eye to God, but the only way to draw an eye to God is to go through the cross and the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did. And that is the place of grace, grace given by faith. If you want saving grace, it's in the place of faith in Jesus. Believer, let me remind us that the place of grace is still found in the place of faith. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, for we walk by faith, not by sight. And it's still our privilege that he giveth more grace. He gives it to the humble, the humble person is that person that is in that place of dependence. upon God. Are you getting to the place of grace? It's the place of faith. It's the place of resistance. It's the place of submission. And then it's the place of cleansing. It says, cleanse your hands, ye sinners. You know, often our sin is what separates us from God. Isaiah 59 too says, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Our sin has come in and has broken our relationship with God and our fellowship with God. It's divided us from God. And so we need to be cleansed. I've become a power washing fanatic during these days of isolation. I've got a pressure washer. And so I like to get that pressure washer out. And I've taken that to anything that can be pressure washed that's outside has been pressure washed. I've done the retaining wall. I've done the pavements. I've done my monoblock drive. But I love that thing because you just spray it and you watch the dirt just peel right off of whatever you are spraying. You know, the problem with sin is not only God looks at it and God goes, I don't like that. It's that our sin separates us from God. But God is a pressure washer or a power washer and ability to cleanse sinners and to make sinners clean. 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11 says, "...know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate..." That is a femininity in men that is homosexuality. "...nor abusers of themselves with mankind." Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And God is saying, these sinners are absolutely separated from God for eternity. But then it says this, But such were some of you, but ye are washed, ye are cleansed. You're sanctified, you're justified, declared righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And so God in his grace has taken us and we're saved and brought us back into a relationship with God. And that is the place of cleansing. And that's still the place, even as a believer, where we receive grace. is that place of being right in our relationship with God. Go to the place of cleansing. And then go to the place of conviction. It goes on in verse eight to say, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. This is somebody that has conviction. They believe in the God of the Bible and the truth about Jesus Christ. I've met people that attend even a Church of Scotland or say, you know, many people would say they're part of the Church of Scotland that aren't actually attending. But even those that maybe attend a lot, and I've asked them, I said, do you believe in God? And a lot of times the response I get, which I'm not surprised by anymore, is this. They'll say, I hope there's a God. They don't really know. They have no conviction about God's Word. They have no conviction about who Jesus Christ is and what he did for them. 1 Kings 18.21, Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. They're double-minded. And this is what James is speaking about. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. You're like, well, I want to believe in that, but I want to believe in that as well. And God would say, if you want to get to the place of grace, come to the place of conviction. Come to the place where you pick up the Bible and say, you know, it's in black and white, this is what God says and I believe it and I adhere to it and I'll obey it because I know that what God says is true. Conviction. There's a wonderful chorus about conviction, it's this, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. Let me ask you, friend, have you decided to follow Jesus? Are you in that place of conviction where you adhere to the word of God? You're in the place of grace because you're in that place where you say, God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. And then let me ask you, have you gotten to the place of soberness? That's our last point this evening. It's not just the place of conviction and cleansing and faith and resistance and submission, but one last thing, it's the place of soberness. It says in verse 9, be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. And that's sobering. I mean, can you imagine giving this advice, you know, somebody needs something, needs God to work in their life, and you tell them, look, go put on sackcloth and ashes and rend your garment and rend your heart before God and bow down and lower yourself in soberness if you want to meet with God. I saw a picture that my dad shared with me when my grandpa passed away. My dad went out to Colorado and Durango is where my dad's from. And the Durango Herald had a picture in the paper of a man standing on a cliff and he's on the edge of that thing and looking out. And it's a distant picture, but I imagine he might've had a smile on his face. But when my dad was there that week, that cliff collapsed. And so they showed the picture because it's sobering to see a man standing and this man probably was having a good day, having a great time, taking a great picture. But when he looked back at that photo the week following, there would have been a soberness in his heart thinking, you know what, I could have died. COVID-19 is not something that we are laughing about or thinking is great, but can I say this about COVID-19 is a great opportunity for our world to be sobered. Sports are closed. Entertainment is shut down. The world has stopped. And there is death and there's a realization that, you know what? This is something that could be very serious. I could lose my life. And you know what? That is a great place for our world to be because it's a place of grace. Ecclesiastes 7, 2 says, it's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart. It's better to go to a funeral than to go to a party because it gives you the opportunity to really think and to understand that life is very, very serious. Today you might be thinking, you know, I'd really like to get to that place of grace, but somebody that is party hardy and entertainment focused and just living their life up and turning the music on and turning the entertainment on and tuning out, God is never going to get to that place where they will receive God's grace because they've never gotten to that place of brokenness before God and soberness, realizing their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. And same for us as a church and the way that we look at COVID-19, we ought to wake up as a church and say, dear God, you know what? I want to be sobered by this because I need to recognize myself as well. How much I need the power of God and the grace of God and the enablement of God to do the work of the ministry. And there's people dying and going to hell and they need to hear from me about Jesus Christ, but it's not going to happen without the grace of God. And we ought to, as well, just get to that place of soberness and say, you know what? I need, I need God's grace. And so if we had a real treasure map, you could go with me and we'd have a great time and we'd invest everything we could in finding that treasure because it's worth it. Anything that we could sacrifice to find that treasure would be worth it. Grace is incomprehensibly valuable. You know, what are you doing to get it? What are you willing to do to get it? Are you willing to go to these places that the Bible has spoken to us about here in James chapter four, whether you're a sinner friend or a Christian friend, wherever you find yourself today, are you willing to go to the place of submission? Are you willing to put yourself under God? Are you willing to put yourself under all the authorities that God has given to you? That's the place of grace is the place of submission. The place of grace is a place of resistance. I'm not on the devil's side anymore. I am against the enemy and I need to arm myself accordingly as a believer, as an unbeliever recognize I need to trade sides and turn my back on this ungodliness and turn myself towards God. What about the place of faith? You can't draw an eye to God without faith. I mean, if you're gonna come to God, you gotta come believing his word, believing his truth, believing in Jesus. That's the place where you receive grace. It's a place of cleansing. You can't get close to God with sin in your life. You've got to be willing to flush it out and deal with it and let the blood of Jesus Christ come and cleanse it, take it away. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Are you in the place of conviction where you say, I adhere to the truth of the word of God. This is what God says. That's where grace is going to be found in that place of conviction and decision, not double-mindedness where somebody says, well, I don't really know whose side I'm on. Somebody that's decided for God. And then a place of soberness, recognizing, you know what? Wow, I need the grace of God. God help me. If you're in that place, get ready. Grace is coming. because the Bible says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. That's the place of grace. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the grace that you give. I thank you, Lord, for your help even just now in sharing the truth of the word of God. I thank you for each one that's listened to it. I pray, God, send forth grace. I pray in your incredible power, Father, that people would understand the immeasurable blessing that you desire to give. Oh, it's worth giving up anything for. And Father, somebody may wrestle in their heart just now and think, you know, if I get saved and I get to that place of submission to God, I got to give up my music, my friends, my drink, my dress, my pornography, my worldliness, my desires, my goals, my ambitions, and all these things. But Father, we give up junk to get something eternal. And Father, I just pray that the Spirit of God would encourage that heart, take that step of obedience, follow God. And Father, we get ourselves to the place of grace. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen.