The passage we've been examining, James 4:1-10, culminates with this tenth verse where James talks about humbling ourselves. This truly is the capstone of repentance. This is what the end result of true repentance is: real humility. That's something that's actually elusive in itself. Spurgeon said that the person who is truly humble is grieved over his great pride. The person who thinks he's humble has not yet discovered what humility is because he doesn't see himself. We are all conceived in iniquity, brought forth in sin. We came into this world of our father, the devil, for whom pride is his defining characteristic. When you read about Satan's rebellion in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, you see he exalted himself. He wanted to be like the Most High. This was the essence of Lucifer's rebellion. He rebelled against God because he wanted to be like God. He didn't want to stay in his position. So he wanted to be like God; that was the essence of his sin. Then what was the essence of the temptation that he gave to Eve? What is the essence of sin itself? He said, "You shall surely not die." Remember in the garden? God said, "In the day you eat of it, you will die." Satan said, "You surely will not die for God knows in the day that you eat it, eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will become like God." So he's saying, "Don't you want to become like God? Eat of the tree. So the essence of sin is a desire to be like God. The very heart, the very inward principle of sin is itself pride. It is a desire to exalt self. True humility is willing to receive and to be corrected. To be humble, that is what humility is, to be lowly.
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