Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3459
“But He gives more Grace.” James 4:6.
PRACTICAL as the Epistle of James is, this Apostle does not neglect to extol the Grace of God. He would be very unpractical if he did. There are some professors of religion who talk as if they loved the doctrines and loathed the duties. They cling to the faith, while they shrink from the works! They accept the principles that are announced, but refuse the precepts that are enjoined. Herein they err. Yet we would be equally at fault and, perhaps, commit a graver error, were we to be biased in the opposite direction! Did we constantly expound and enforce the great things to be done by us without reference to the greater things that have been done for us. Did we commend the fruits regardless of the root from where they spring. Did we applaud the deeds of men without lauding the Grace of God, we would, I say, commit a graver error! Happily we have been taught both the saintship and the service, the Covenant engagements, as well as the creature obligations, the Divine enabling and the divers abilities of Believers that are set in motion, so that we discern without difficulty how the principle of Grace combines and co-operates with the practice of goodness. In our conflict with the natural spirit of enmity, Grace takes the form of, “more Grace,” and it is bestowed upon us that we may be able to overcome and prove victorious.
We shall first consider the words of our text in their natural connection. Secondly, we shall contemplate their general instructions. Then, thirdly, we shall connect them with a special application, seeking, each one of us, to appropriate them to ourselves.
I. Our Text in Its Natural Connection
Directly you look at the matter, you are struck with the contrast. It is not merely that a comparison is instituted, but two potent motives are confronted—the one a strong instinct, the other a liberal endowment. “The spirit that is in us lusts to envy, but He gives more Grace.” On our side it is a “spirit”—a turbulent passion! On God’s side it is a sweet gratuity—a supply of more Grace! We fretful and murmuring, anxious and complaining. He, far from grudging, stinting, or withholding (which would be a fit retaliation), succors us and augments and multiplies His liberality, as if to compensate the aggravation of our waywardness by the enlargement of His concessions! The spirit that is in us complains of God, as though we were jealous that He gave more to others than to us. Still, the Spirit that is in God goes on to give, saying, “Is your eye evil because Mine is good? May I not do what I will with My own?” The spirit that is in us undervalues what we possess, because, under some aspects, it may not be equally precious with that which somebody else possesses. But God, instead of taking away from us what He has given, because we judge Him so unworthily, only gives more! “He gives more Grace.” One might have supposed, that because “the spirit that is in us lusts to envy,” therefore we should discover God opposing us, restraining the bottles of Heaven, commanding the dew no longer to fall upon us and withdrawing all the benedictions of His love! But no, it does not say, “He is opposed to us and, whereas we run in one direction, He runs in another. His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways. And then, again, our ways are not His ways, nor our thoughts His thoughts. We do not rise to Him and He does not stoop to us, so as to lower His Character, by meeting us with that return that would seem due to us if strict laws of retaliation were carried out.” Note that contrast! Note it always! Observe how weak we are, how strong He is—how proud we are, how condescending He is—how erring we are, and how Infallible He is! Note how changing we are, and how Immutable He is—how provoking we are, and how forgiving He is. Observe how in us there is only evil, and how in Him there is only good. Yet our evil but draws His goodness forth, and still He blesses! Oh, what a rich contrast!
Do we not get a hint, here, as to the quarter from which we are to derive the weapons of war against our sin? “The spirit that is in us lusts to envy.” What will you say to this? Will you, therefore, sit still and consider that you are excused because this is a positive instinct of your nature? Do you say that envy is a natural proclivity, a craving passion of many men and that it is, therefore, to be accounted of rather as a mental cast than as a moral crime—a flaw in one’s constitution rather than a fault in his conscience? Or, to say the worst, more of a distressing temptation than of a detestable transgression against God? Ah, no, my Brothers and Sisters, there is not a word in Holy Scripture that gives the least countenance or the faintest indulgence to any sin! Indulgences for sin may come from Rome, but they never come from Zion! I have known persons attempt to exculpate themselves after a fit of anger by a cool acknowledgment like this—“I was always hot-tempered.” What is that but a bitter aggravation? You do but admit that your sin is of long standing and frequent recurrence! You confess, indeed, your greater guilt, and there is no repentance to regret it, no force of conviction to forsake it. So it is with envy—“The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy.” So much the worse for our spirit! So much the more guilty we are. This is not only an infirmity which our circumstances have betrayed, but it is an inherent quality of the animal, debased propensity of the creature! Oh, how defiled must the nature be to which vice is as natural as a black skin to the Ethiopian, or as a spotted skin to the leopard! In vain your every plea—you cannot lighten the sin, albeit you may heighten the shame! There is no cause to tamper, but there is a call to arms. “He gives more Grace.” This is as much as to say, “Sit not coolly down and parley with the spirit that is in you lusting to envy, but up! Resist, withstand and oppose till you quench it!”