Drawing Near to God (James 4:7-10)
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 miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

This section of the epistle is in a classic couplet form that is commonly found in wisdom literature such as Proverbs. This section is a series of rapid-fire exhortations to godliness, and, except for promises accompanying a few of the exhortations, James gives us no commentary on any of them.
 

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. – This is an encouraging promise—if you resist the Devil, he will flee from you. However, this must be a persistent resisting of the devil—it takes effort and perseverance. Recall that our Lord steadfastly resisted three temptations (possibly more) before the devil departed from Him (Matthew 4:11). How do we resist properly? —Our Lord cited Scripture in response to Satan's temptations.

Matthew 4:4 – But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" [Deut. 8:3]

Matthew 4:7 – Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" [Deut. 6:16]

Matthew 4:10 – Then Jesus *said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"[Deut. 6:13]

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. – We certainly want the Devil to flee from us. Even more, we want God to draw near to us. There is no greater blessing than to enjoy the delightful presence and fellowship of the Lord. As we resist the Devil, we should draw near to God.

To understand what it means to "draw near" to God, it is instructive to consider some Biblical examples …

Exodus 3:1-6 – Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Isaiah 6:1-5 – In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

Exodus 20:18-19 – All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die."

Exodus 33:18-23 – Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."

But God is nevertheless to be feared, when we consider the awful punishment that awaits the unsaved and the painful chastisements He sends upon His own people. Yet, His overwhelming greatness and power is a great comfort to us, knowing that He can and will conquer all our enemies and will bring us safely into His heavenly kingdom.

Unworthiness: When Isaiah saw the Lord, He experienced a sense of utter unworthiness and uncleanness, as well as feeling totally ruined or undone by what he had seen. Again, this is attributable to God's unspeakable purity and unimaginable holiness.

Desire: Moses, knowing the fear he experienced on prior occasions, nevertheless asked God to "… show me Your glory!" Despite the fear, Moses found God to be so wonderful and delightful that he wanted to experience more of His glory. Isaiah, after feeling so undone from seeing the Lord, was then cleansed by the hot coal placed on his tongue, and eagerly responded to God's desire for a messenger…

Isaiah 6:8 – Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Isaiah 46:5 –To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike?

Isaiah 46:9 –Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Isaiah 45:12 –It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I ordained all their host.

Psalm 8:3-4 –When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

Job 12:7-10 –But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

Psalm 19:1-4 –The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. …

When we consider the Lord Jesus Christ, and the great price He paid to purchase our forgiveness—suffering the horrors of the cross, bearing the punishment we deserved for our sins—we see both the utter holiness of God that required such a sacrifice, as well as the incomprehensible love that was willing to make such a sacrifice for such unworthy, rebellious sinners as ourselves.

As we ponder the greatness and glory of God—His eternal power, holiness, wisdom, understanding, loving mercy, beauty, justice, etc.—we come to love Him and to delight in Him more and more. These are thoughts upon which we ought to meditate often. As we do, we draw closer to God, and He draws closer to us.
As we draw closer to God, we will develop…

1. A profound sense of awe and wonder at His greatness, power and majesty.
2. A profound sense of respect for Him, regarding Him and His reputation with the utmost sacredness. We should be shocked to hear jokes made of Him, or to speak of Him in a trivial or demeaning way.
3. A profound sense of His supreme importance. He is the ultimate Reality upon which all else depends. Everything else in life is transitory and passing away. All of life should be lived for His glory.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – In order to draw near to God, we must come to Him in holiness—abstaining from what is evil or unholy, in thought or deed. James is very bold here, addressing his hearers as "you sinners". Yet, the true child of God raises no objection, for he knows in his heart that this charge is all too true. We cleanse our hearts and lives through confession and repentance, as we ask God for the grace to be genuine and persevering in our repentance.

1 John 1:9-10 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

1. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Our repentance must be inward as well as outward. It is not enough to put on a show of piety—the hands only—our religion must reach down to the heart as well.
2. Mere good intentions. True holiness cannot live merely in the heart, but must manifest itself in godly behavior. We must cleanse our hands as well as our heart.

Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. – James is not saying that it's wrong for Christians to laugh or be joyful. The problem is that too often we rejoice over things of this world, and fail to grieve over our own sin. We need to learn to mourn over our sins rather than delighting in them.

We should not be "fluffy" Christians who take pleasure in the trivial things of life. Rather, we should take seriously God, sin, judgment and salvation. We should live as though we know the one true and living God, as though we truly care about sin and righteousness, as though we believe in a literal hell and a literal heaven, and as though we genuinely cherish the immeasurable compassion and mercy God has shown to us.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. – Perhaps the most serious and pervasive sin among humans is our pride and arrogance. If only we had a proper sense of our own sinfulness, and of God's utter majesty and holiness, it would humble us greatly. Such humility is most appropriate and desirable, for it shows that we see ourselves and the Lord in proper relation to one another.

Those who humble themselves before the Lord are the ones who will be exalted by Him. This is not speaking of a works-based salvation. Instead, it is saying that those who will be saved (and "exalted") by God are the same ones to whom He has given the grace of true humility by His Holy Spirit. Both future glory and present holiness are gifts which God sovereignly gives to His elect people. You can recognize a true Christian by his humility before God.