CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

Verses 1-10 speak against lust. The apostle has just said that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, but lust is the enemy of all peace. It works perturbation in the saints and in their intercourse with God; they pray, but God does not hear them.

^[p. 158] Verse 4. There is no agreement between the love of the world and the love of God, one destroys the other.

Verse 6. God it is who gives, but He gives to whom He chooses, namely, to the humble.

Verses 7-10. Do you desire to avoid the danger and the evil consequences of lust? Humble yourselves, submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, purify your conduct, feel your state. These things wound the pride of the flesh, but are able to keep us in a true state in the presence of the Lord who Himself will lift us up, and then it will be without danger.

Verses 13-17. We are again reminded of dependence and submission to God. It is not for us to choose our ways. To do so would be forgetting the authority of the Lord, obeying our lusts and acting in a boastful spirit.