It is true that Christians sin. They sin all the time and every day. Every day they prove that they need a Savior. This is the result of the fallen human flesh that desires things contrary to God’s will. Yet, another desire also resides with the Christian: a love for God. This love for God is a result of seeing his glory (2 Cor 4:4-6) and results in the desire to obey God (1 John 5:1-3). The desire to obey God, though not always followed – leading to sin, leads the true Christian to repent over sin because that is what he wants to do. The Christian wants to be like his Savior, therefore he repents of his sin. To listen to this sermon, please click on the following link: James 4:9, part 3.
Many look at repentance in the Christian life as saying you are sorry for doing what you want to do (sin) or delighting in what you like (the world). In a sense, this view believes that we are repenting against our desires. Since we desire the wrong thing, we repent because we know it is wrong, but be don’t really mean it (or we mean it little) because really we are doing what we want when we sin. This understanding misses a major part of the Bible’s teaching on the new birth. When we are born again, we are given spiritual appetites, so that we want to delight in God and we desire to do God’s will. In this view, repenting of sin is not forced or coerced, but is exactly what we want to do, because we want to love and obey God. To listen to this sermon, please click on the following link: James 4:9, part 2.
James calls his readers to admit that they sin, trust Christ for forgiveness, turn from sin, and obey God. True repentance has God in view: all our sin is against God. It also involves repenting of sin, not just the consequences of sin. Lastly, repentance does not involve blame shifting, but acknowledges that no sin against God is acceptable. To listen to this sermon, please click on the following link: James 4:9.
James called on his readers to live according to the wisdom from above rather than the wisdom of the world. He understood that to the extent that we are friends with the world we are separate from God. Since we are to be faithful to God and God alone, such an alliance with the world is spiritual adultery. James urges his readers to rely on the grace of God for our sin – to trust in Christ to make us right with God. At the same time, he urges them to repent of their sin. We must understand what it means to repent, then do it for the glory of God. To listen to this sermon, please click on the following link: James 4:7-9.