And today we'll continue this
wonderful study in the book of James. It's been very profitable. I found for myself it's been
a very profitable study as we've gone through the book of James.
I was told years ago when I was in religion, I got to stick close
to the mic here, years ago when I was in religion, I was told
that it was a book of legality. But I'm finding as we go through
this book, it's a book of freedom and it's a book of various exhortations
for us. as believers, and it's just been
wonderful. It's been a wonderful journey
through this book. Now last week we looked at verses
13 to 15. Today we'll read verses 13 to
17 to get the context of the verses that we'll be looking
at. And remember too, when we're studying the Word of God, as
we study the Word of God, and as God the Holy Spirit illuminates
the Scriptures for us, what I would hope that would
happen to us is that we would keep our eyes more focused upon
Christ and of course that's that's the whole purpose of preaching
is to bring Christ forth before you and before myself as I'm
studying and the whole to present Christ and him crucified and
the Holy Spirit is the one who has to take it and apply the
words that the preacher speaks and we preachers I was talking
to someone yesterday about this we preachers are always amazed
at the fact as we get together and we talk, that we speak words
and the Lord, somewhere between you and I, the Holy Spirit takes
those words and he applies them to each one of you, individually. You each receive something from
those words. And that's where the scriptures
talk about whether the word of God won't return void. It'll accomplish what the Lord
Jesus has that word sent forth for. So I know for myself, I
can speak that this has been very profitable that way for
me, because I've been studying before I preached to you, and
I'm learning and growing as well in the study. And so it's just
been wonderful. It's been just a wonderful, wonderful study.
So let's read these verses here, verses 13 to 17. Go to now, ye
that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and
continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas
you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapor that appears
for a little time, and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, If
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now
you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is
sin. So last week we looked at verse
14. And we saw how short our life is. It's like a vapor, scripture
shows, before us. So it's like a vapor in the winter
when we breathe out. And that vapor is there for a
second, isn't it? I remember as a kid, we used to go around
and go, just for fun. And you see that little vapor
come out. And then it was gone. We were always amazed. We used
to say, watch the smoke come out of my mouth, not knowing
it was air. But that was just something we did as kids. And
we can see that even as adults. So our life is like a vapor,
or like a shadow. Think of this too. When you're
walking on a sunny day and you see your shadow before you, and
then say you go behind a, you walk by a building, and the sun
is obscured, and your shadow disappears. That too is like
how quickly our lives can just vanish, just be over. just be over. And this COVID,
this epidemic that we've been going through, is proof of that,
isn't it? That's one thing. I was talking
to my daughter on the phone yesterday, and one of the things she brought
forth is, this has taught me, she said, Dad, this has taught
me to live life to the fullest each day, but to cherish you
and mom and Joshua. because we don't know if we have
tomorrow. And it was really neat. And it
opened up into a discussion about what we're studying, too. And
it's just incredible to see how this virus, this pandemic, has
definitely brought forth to us the frailty of our lives, how
quickly we can... You have healthy people going
into the hospital, and in a week or two later, they're dead from
this virus. So it just shows you And you
notice something with this virus, this pandemic too, is that it's
indiscriminate, isn't it? It doesn't care if you're rich
or poor, or it doesn't care if you're old or young, right? It's incredible. It's absolutely
incredible. So our lives can be here one
second and gone the next. And we must live each day as
if it's our last day, because we don't know if it is. So enjoy
the day that the Lord puts before you. Enjoy the day. Fence off
today from tomorrow. Don't worry about the things
of tomorrow, because it's today. Now that's hard for us to do. It's very hard for us to do. But we ought to do that. And
we ought to give every day, Thanksgiving, for the great things that the
Lord has done for us. He saved us from all our sins.
We're saved from all our sins. But wicked men would dwell in
the body, but suddenly God comes and snatches away their souls.
Life is short, and we must lay up storage for a short voyage.
And this life is like a voyage for us. We're heading to another
country, beloved. We're heading to another destination,
a better country, the scripture says. So let us lay up for a
short voyage, rather than the long one. And that's what this
is teaching us, is that our lives are really short. Really short. How do we know what will be on
tomorrow? Well, we don't, do we? We don't
know what's coming tomorrow. But we do know that tomorrow,
and all the tomorrows that will follow, are in the hands of our
great King. He has them all. He has all our
tomorrows in His hands. He knows the exact time when
we're going to depart from this world. When we will enter that
port, if you're thinking of our life as a voyage on the ship,
we're entering that port where we sail no more into the heavenly
Canaan land. We've reached our destination.
And you know who drove the ship all the way there? the captain
of our souls, beloved. He's the one. Oh, my. Think of the ark. I was talking
to Dan and Kathy yesterday, and we were talking about the ark.
And think of the ark. God told Noah, build an ark. The only reason Noah was told
by God to build an ark, the scripture says, is because God gave grace
to Noah. Because the scripture says, Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The only one who made us
to differ is God. We found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. And God told Noah, build that ark. So he built the
ark. God supplied everything to build
the ark, didn't he? Yeah, he went to work, he built
the ark, but God supplied everything, all of it. Ark was built. God bought two animals of every
kind. And then the scripture says,
God shut the door. Noah didn't shut the door. God
shut them in. And everybody who was in that
ark was safe from the wrath outside because God shut them in. You
know, all we who are in Christ are safe from the wrath of God.
And that rain represented the wrath of God. It fell upon those
people who were mocking and laughing. That rain fell upon them, but
God shut them in and they were perfectly safe. So not a drop
of rain, not one drop fell upon them or anyone inside. Because
remember that ark was pitched and that represents the blood
of Christ, beloved. Sealed, sealed up with the precious blood of
Christ. So not a drop of God's wrath
will ever fall upon us because it fell upon our Savior. So we're
trusting the very one who has all our tomorrows in his hands.
And when our tomorrows are finished, when today is the day that we're
going to go with the Lord, He'll just take us home. Oh, what peace. What peace that
gives us. What peace that gives us. And we live every day like it's
the last day, giving praise and glory to our great God. Thanksgiving
to our great God who saved us from all our sins. When you consider the shortness
of our life, the frailty of our life, it makes we who are God's people
want to flee to Christ every day. It makes us hunger for heaven,
doesn't it? When we see everything going
on in this world, it makes us hunger for heaven. But don't
worry, beloved. Our life's like a vapor. Soon
we'll be with the Lord. Soon we'll be with Him by His
grace and mercy. And think of this, God knows
all the future. Do you know all things are present to our God? He doesn't live in time and space.
Everything's present to Him. Scripture says He knows the end
from the beginning. He knows it all. He knows how it's all
going to wrap up. He knows when it's going to all
wrap up. He knows the very second we're
going to breathe our last breath and be with Him. Nothing. Nothing eludes his all-seeing
eyes. Nothing. It's wonderful. What peace that gives us. We
talked about that this week, sister. What peace that gives
us. Knowing that our God is in full control. Knowing that he's
running everything. That our lives, and think of
this, if he can run everything in this world, everything, I'm
talking, You know, stars flying across the sky, and the weather
patterns, and all this stuff. Air to breathe, right? He gives
rain for the just and the unjust. Do you know He gives air to the
just and the unjust? He gives everything to us, doesn't
He? If He can run all that, He can save my soul. That's easy
for Him. He can keep me. That's easy for
Him. I'm just a little speck of dust in his creation. Why
do we think more of ourselves than we should? We think, oh
boy, I don't know if I can take this to the Lord. This is a big
problem. Take it to the king. Nothing's too small and nothing's
too big. Take it to him. If he can handle running the
universe and everything in it, all things visible and invisible,
then our problems are absolutely nothing to him. This church is his. The church
is the people. We who are here, we're his by
purchase, by possession, by creation. He can take care of us, isn't
he? And he has, and he does, continuously. It's absolutely
amazing. So nothing's too small for us
to take to the one who holds all our tomorrows. Just take
it to him. Take it to him. Don't ever think
something's too small. Now, the knowledge of the future
is hidden from us, and we ought not to pry into it. We ought
not to pry into it. We will benefit greatly from
being ignorant of the future. Could you imagine if we knew
the day that we would die? I don't want to know that. I don't want to know that at
all. I'm so thankful that the Lord hides that from us. See, because then it makes us
live each day as if it's our last. Makes us hold our kids
a little tighter. or grandkids a little tighter. Makes you a little more tender-hearted
to those around you. Because we don't know if we have
tomorrow. And since our great God is with us, we should therefore
then be content leaving the future to Him. Leaving the future to
Him. And think of this, the one we're
leaving the future to has unerring wisdom. He never errs in his
wisdom. We err in our wisdom. Have you
ever done something and look back on it and go, boy, I shouldn't
have done that. Right? God doesn't do that. He
doesn't do that. We do, but God doesn't do that.
No, so let's trust his unerring wisdom. Oh, my. Next, look at verse 15. We see in verse 15, It says, for that ye oughtn't
to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
So may our resolve be as what's brought forth here to say, if
the Lord will. Now, I'm not talking we have
to go and everything we do say, well, if the Lord will. But that
should be on our minds. Religious people take this stuff
and then they say all the time. I've learned to say Lord willing
more because it's true. But it doesn't have to be something
we have to check boxes with all the time. We know it, don't we,
as God's people? We know it. I'll make a plan,
and if the Lord wills that plan to come by, then so be it. It'll
be a blessing. Just leave it in his hands. Just
leave it in his hands. Lord willing. And one commentator,
I like this, one commentator said, our lives should be written
across our lives should be the words, if the Lord wills. I like
that. Written across our lives. My
oh my. So may we as believers resolve
to let these words be written across our lives. For that ye
ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or
that. Instead of saying we're going
to go to such and such place, or we're going to do this, or
we're going to do that, Well, Lord willing, I'll do that, even
in our minds. Lord willing, it'll come to pass.
Do you know that this is the condition that the New Testament
saints lived in? This is why I wanted to hit this
verse a little bit more, because there's some scriptures I wanted
us to look at. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 1. We're going to look at a few scriptures here. And
we're going to see that this is something that they commonly
spoke of. as believers. And Lord Willen is talking about
if the Lord's will be done. If we go somewhere, Paul said
he was hindered sometimes by God. He was hindered even by
Satan. But that was God's will for that to happen, right? And
then other times he had freedom to go into certain places and
preach the gospel fully. And we are to be agreeable to
the sovereign will of the Lord. For everything which comes to
pass in this world comes to pass because of his will. Look at
this in Romans chapter 1, we'll read verses 8 to 12. First, I
thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith
is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness. whom I serve with my spirit in
the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you
always in my prayers. Look at this. Making request,
if by any means, that now at length I might have a prosperous
journey by the will of God to come unto you. So we see Paul's
even writing like this. We see James writing like this.
Now we see Paul even speaking this here. By the will of God
to come unto you. For I long to see you. that I
may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. You know, when you get together
with fellow believers and you get that burning in your hearts
and you'd be talking on the phone or sitting around talking and
you just get that kinship, it's wonderful, isn't it? It's absolutely
wonderful. Well, that's what Paul's talking
about here by the mutual faith, both of you and me. Sometimes
just talking to a fellow believer about the Lord will get you so
excited and just give you such peace, won't it? Because why? Because our minds are being taken
off the things around us and our minds are being centered
around Christ. We see in verse 10, of Romans
chapter one, that one of the things Paul requested at the
throne of grace, that he might have the opportunity to visit
the church at Rome. And he prayed that it might be
the will of God for him to have a prosperous journey, which means
profitable, a profitable journey, a profitable visit among them.
He's not saying, well, I hope I go there and get lots of money.
He's not talking about money at all that way. He's not talking
about that. He's not saying, well, if I go
visit here and there and there, I'm going to get some money for
preaching. He's not talking about that at all. He doesn't care
about that. God provides for him everything he needs. He's
not talking about that. He's talking spiritually, that
they might profit spiritually and that he might profit spiritually
from his fellowship with them. Do you see how Paul puts himself
on the same level as other believers? I love that. I really like that. I'll be honest with you. That
just rings my bell for seeing a preacher doing that. Because
that's how it should be. Paul knew that he was no better
than any other saint. He said, I'm the least of all
saints. That's how we should be as gospel
preachers. We're being gifted with the ability
to preach. And God puts us places to preach.
But we ought not to. We ought to remember where we
came from. We were in the same pit as everybody else. And what
Scott Richardson said, the ground is level at the cross, right? We're all safe sinners, aren't
we? And I just love that with Paul. He says, not only are they
going to profit, but I'm going to profit too. You know, every
time I get together with a believer or talk with a believer on the
phone, I always come away going, my, What a blessing to be amongst
the people of God, to be able to talk about our
Savior, to be able to talk just about our lives, too. We are truly an honored people.
We are truly a blessed people to have one another. Number one,
to have our King, but also to have one another in the sweet
fellowship that we can enjoy with each other. And then turn,
if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Paul wrote this to the church
at Corinth in the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 4.19. And then put your finger in Hebrews
6. I'll give you fair warning on
that one because we're going to be heading there too. 1 Corinthians
4.19 in Hebrews chapter 6. Look at this in 1 Corinthians
4.19, he says, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will. See, this was common speech among
the saints. I'm going to come see you, if
the Lord will. And if the Lord will, that's what he's saying.
And we'll know not the speech of them which are puffed up,
but the power. So those little words, four words, if the Lord
will. So again, this is a common saying
among God's people in New Testament times. And it would be good for
us to follow their example, eh? It would be. And we see in this
little clause in our text, if the Lord will, this brings forth
that we ought not to promise anything to others about tomorrow. I had a friend of mine, he was
gonna have a yard sale this weekend. He's an older fellow and he wants
to get, to get rid of some of his stuff, and I had told him
a long time ago that I'd help him. I said, oh yeah, I'll come help
you. And then since we're doing this study, I'm thinking, Lord
willing. But you see how we naturally
just say that stuff? Well, Lord willing, I'll be there
to help you. Turned out he canceled, but I
was willing to go help him. Oh, my. But Lord willing. But it wasn't the Lord's will,
right? It wasn't His will. My, oh, my. So we are not ought to promise
anything to others as to the future or determine within ourselves
that, oh, I'm going to live this long, and I'm going to have all
this. Remember the man with the barns last week? Well, I'm going
to build my barns even bigger. I'm going to put all my stuff
in one giant barn. And the Lord said, thou fool,
tonight I require your soul. My, oh, my. See, that man stored
up for years thinking, I'm going to be good. I'm good. I'm set. Little did he know the
Lord required his soul that night. So Paul is here with good reason.
He scoffs at the rations of mankind in planning what they're due
10 years afterwards. They don't have the security
for even living the next day. And we're not bound again to
use these forms of expression, but we should consider the truth
of these words in our hearts, if the Lord wills. And try not
to sin in a presumptuous way. Remember last week we looked
at it, it was the sin of presumption. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna
do that. It's a sin of presumption. We don't know. We must subject
all our plans to God's will, all of it. All of it to God's
will. That's why we can say, I don't
know what I'm going to be doing in five years if the Lord lets
me live. We don't. We don't know what the plans
of the Lord are for us. We have no idea. Now turn, if
you would, to Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 to 3. And we see
Paul here bring forth, again, the same thought in these verses. Hebrews 6, verses 1 to 3, says,
Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of
laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this is what I want to look here, verse 3. And this will
we do, if God permit. Lord, will it. same kind of thought. So it should be the determination
of every gospel preacher to preach Christ. The great truths of the
gospel. I don't know if I have tomorrow,
so today I'm going to preach the gospel. Just preach it, wherever
God has called them to do that. And there may be many adversaries
for the gospel preacher, and there will be. He may be reproached,
he may be slandered, he may be deserted, but he must preach
the gospel. Must. Must continue to preach
the gospel. Must preach the complete, sin-atoning
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The perfect work done by him. And whenever God permits him
to preach, he must preach, if God permits, or if God wills
it. God's permission is to be observed
in the ministry of the word, in giving gifts to men, in placing
them where he wills, in making their ministry useful and successful.
It's all according to God's will. See, even preachers are prone
to take a little glory. John Claude told me years ago,
and I am so thankful, I'm so thankful he told me this. He
said, Wayne, the most important thing is preaching the preeminence
of Christ. Don't seek the preeminence. Those words have been ringing
in my head since he told me those. And it's so true. The gospel
preacher, we are not to seek the preeminence. We are to give
glory. If we say, look at this, we're to say, look what the Lord's
doing. Look what he's done. It's not
about me. I'm just a mouthpiece. And when
he's done with this mouthpiece, you just raise up another one.
Right? It's true, isn't it? It's true.
We know because faithful men have gone home to be with the
Lord who preached in their generation. God raised me up to preach in
my generation. And I'll tell you what, I am honored and grateful
that I'm here to be with you, that he brought me here. More
and more, I am just so thankful for all of you and for the privilege
of preaching the gospel to you. I love you all dearly. I didn't
even know you six years ago. Isn't that amazing? Look what
the Lord's done in six years. It's been amazing. It's been
absolutely amazing. And it's all Him. He gets all
the glory. He gets all the glory. All of it. So we see here brought
forth in these verses the frailty of human life again. We're like
a vapor. One person said like a bubble
on the water. You ever see a little bubble on the water It disappears.
I never even thought of that one. I like that. Just a little
bubble. Frogs will blow up bubbles, right? Or fish, they come up,
they're gone. That's how our life is. It's
like a little bubble. A little bubble on the water.
Formed and then dissolved into air. And instantly lost. Instantly gone, right? Once that
bubble breaks, it's gone. That's what our lives are like. So let us bring the reasoning
of the scriptures here before us to heart. Do we know what
it is to come to make plans when we don't maybe
have tomorrow? Do we know that our life, truly
my life, is like a vapor? I know we hear these things,
but have we really took it to heart that my life is just, I'm
going to be here one minute and gone the next. And be in glory instantaneously.
All because of the mercy of God. Do you know we're already citizens
of another country? Do you know we already have our
citizenship in heaven? We're already citizens of another
country. We're just passing through, aren't we? We're purchased by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He purchased us on Calvary's
Cross. And now we're ambassadors. Every
one of us is an ambassador for Christ. And what does an ambassador
do? Well, he brags on his country, doesn't he? He brags on the King!
Oh my! And you know what? We're
soldiers for Christ. You know that too? We're soldiers
for him. Brother Tom, you know what it
means to be a soldier. And you were a soldier in the
army. Now you're a soldier for Christ, brother. What a great
honor. We serve the captain of the Lord's
host. We serve the commander in chief
of heaven. That's remarkable, isn't it?
Oh, my. Citizens of a different country.
How? By the will of God. by the will
of God, because it pleased Him to do so. And one day, when this
all ends up, we're going to be in glory. We're going to be in
glory the minute we breathe our last breath, if the Lord don't
come back before that. And why? All because of a union
we have with Christ. All because He's the head and
we're the body. Without Him, we can do what?
Nothing, the scripture says. Nothing at all. So never forget
that you're God's property. Don't ever forget that you're
God's property. You're God's property. He purchased you. He made you. I like what they say, we're his
twice. He created us and he bought us.
It's true, isn't it? I got so far ahead of myself
and off my notes, but let's go read verse 16 now. But now you
rejoice and boast, and all such rejoicing is evil. So James is
bringing forth that such boasting about tomorrow is very presumptuous.
It's the sin of presumption. Without regard to the will of
God. Being presumptuous about tomorrow
without regard to the will of God is sin. We make plans, blueprints,
without a reference to the will of God. Again, we should always
subject our plans to the will of God as believers. And warnings like this are often
received with contempt by the ungodly. They say, what do you
mean you should always subject your life to the will of God?
What do you mean? Well, because he's in control. We saw he has
the power to what? Save and to destroy, doesn't
he? Now, we should subject ourselves to him, shouldn't we? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And God's people do.
God's people do. And you know, people who act with contempt to us saying
we do this by the will of God, it's not through ignorance, it's
through contempt. They hate God. They might not come out and say,
I hate God, but they do in their hearts. You know how I know that?
Because I was there. When God saved me, he made me
realize Even though I didn't say I hated him, by my sinful
actions, I was saying that. By my saying, I won't have this
man rule over me, I was acting with contempt to God. And isn't
it amazing that he takes, this is what's incredible about the
grace of God, he takes a person with contempt to him, and he
turns him into somebody who's praising him. That's a miracle, isn't it? There's
a miracle happening every time the Lord saves someone. It's
a miracle right there. Oh my. Let's read verse 17 here.
Therefore to him that knoweth it good, knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So a person who knows what
is right with regard to what's being written before this passage,
which is putting a watch on our tongues, sowing discord among
the brethren, slander, evil speaking, idle boasting concerning our
lives and daily activities, To him who does not bridle their
tongue like that, it's sin. We know better. If the will of
God is revealed to me and I refuse to obey it, or I postpone my
obedience to it, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Do not postpone your
obedience to gospel. Today is the day of salvation.
Today. Today. Do not postpone your intended
service for Christ. Do not postpone your witness.
The time is short, isn't it? It's short. Soon we'll be here
now and we'll be gone tomorrow. But while we're here, we'll do
all things for the glory of God according to the will of God.
Now, for all who will listen to this message, here are three
things that are sure. Soon you'll meet God in judgment because It's appointed unto man
once to die. If you're not clothed in the
righteousness of Christ and washed in his blood, you will perish
for eternity. But if you believe on Christ
Jesus unto life everlasting, God will give you eternal inheritance,
an eternal inheritance. Fear not, little flock, for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So what should our attitude be
before the Lord as a church regarding the future? There's a called
out assembly here in Almont, confident faith. Confident faith,
the Lord's will will be done. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Humble submission, humbly submitting
ourselves to the will of God. Earnest zeal, let us earnestly
and zealously seek to do his will for the honor of his kingdom,
for the honor of his name, for the furtherance of the gospel.
That's why we're here, for the furtherance of the gospel and
for the increase of his kingdom, which he adds to. It's not up
to the preacher. It's not up to you. It's not
up to me. It's not up to anybody. God is the one who gives the
increase. God is the one who does that. In this, I know whatever
God's will about the future may be, it is the very best thing
possible for us, for us. It's precisely what we who are
the children of God want. We want His will to be done.
And what do we say? Glory be to our great God. Glory
to our sovereign God for the mercy that He's showing you and
I. And we pray that as this message goes forth, that He'll use it
for His glory to draw in His lost sheep all around the world.
That's our hope, isn't it? And that God's people will be
built up in Christ. Oh, may He receive all the glory,
honor,