James chapter three and verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Amen.

May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

The title of our sermon today is The Fruit of Righteousness. The Fruit of Righteousness. And I think that that is a delightful little phrase for the people of God to think upon. The fruit of righteousness. There you are, just put a little highlighter on that little phrase. If not in your Bible, at least in your mind. And roll it over in your thoughts in the coming days. Just meditate upon that little phrase, the fruit of righteousness.

Because I think that phrase tells us that there is a visible consequence of grace in the life of a believer. There is a fruit of righteousness. There is a measurable change born of grace that becomes the experience of God's mercy in a believer's life. The fruit of righteousness is what righteousness produces in a believer's life.

Christ is our righteousness. He is the only righteousness of his people. The Lord looked upon men. The Lord looked from heaven upon men. And he saw that our hearts were evil continually. The thoughts of our hearts were only evil continually. The Lord looked upon the hearts of men and said that they were deceitful and desperately wicked. The Lord knew that all men were sinners. And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ is become the righteousness of His people. He is what Scripture declares Him to be and declares His name to be. Jehovah, our righteousness.

Jeremiah 23 verse 6 says, In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Righteousness is the gift from God. It is a gift from God and we have seen previously that it is a free gift. Paul tells the church at Rome of, he speaks to the church at Rome and he tells them of they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness. So the gift of righteousness is recognised in scripture and it is preached by the apostles, the gift of righteousness.

Righteousness before God is never obtained by works. It is a gift, a free gift. It is never obtained by works. It is never bestowed under the law. It is never earned or merited by anything that we do. It is not natural to us, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is God's free gift to his elect. God first considered us righteous in Christ, and he did so in the everlasting covenant, out of his love for us before the world began, setting us there apart in Christ and dealing with us constantly under the suretyship of our mediator. He loved us and continued to love us despite the fall. When we were sinners, enemies and strangers in our natural state, he loved us and regarded us righteous in Christ.

But the Lord does not merely consider us righteous. That would be wonderful. That would be a wonderful thing, a merciful truth in itself. But there is more. Justification, which is what being righteous is. Justification goes beyond God declaring us righteous. God actually makes us righteous as well. God's gift to us is righteousness. There is righteousness that is imputed. James spoke about that in chapter 2 verse 23 when he was speaking about Abraham. Paul had done previously as well. There is a righteousness that is imputed and there is a righteousness that is imparted. And we read about that in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, 31. A righteousness imputed in justification and a righteousness imparted in the new creation, in conversion, and in spiritual life.

Paul tells the Ephesians in chapter 1 verse 3, God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And the new creation which is created by God, created by the Lord Jesus Christ. The new creation is pure, perfect, and impeccable, just as Christ is pure, perfect, and impeccable.

Paul tells the Romans in chapter 3 verse 22 that they possess the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. It is unto all and upon all them that believe. Same apostle tells the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, God hath made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we who knew no righteousness might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us. He took our sin. He didn't simply take the punishment for our sin, though of course he did that. Not just the guilt of our sin, though he did that too. He became guilty before his Father. He became culpable under the justice of the law. and therefore he was justly condemned to suffer and die. But I hope we understand this. There was no injustice at the cross. Justice was perfectly satisfied because Christ assumed all our sin, all our guilt, and all our punishment. He took it upon himself. He was not only our substitute, but also our surety. He took our sin, he took our guilt, he took our judgment, and he took our punishment. He carried our sin in his own body on the tree. He was prefigured, remember, in the Old Testament by the scapegoat that had the sins of the people laid upon it. And then it was taken out into the wilderness, bearing the sins of his people. That the very sins were carried away. That is the nature of the cleansing. That is the nature of the righteousness. the holiness, the purity that we have been given.

Christ bore our sins and carried our sorrows, for which he was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, for which he was wounded, bruised and chastised. He is not an as-if substitute who died as if he was guilty. who died as if he was a sinner, who died as if he was properly condemned, but a real substitute who really took our sins and really makes us righteous in the new man.

Peter, the apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 3, verse 4, speaks of the new nature, the divine nature. by which we have escaped the corruption that is in the world. And he speaks of the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible. Now, let me be amongst the first to acknowledge that we are not perfect in our own nature, and our sinful human nature accompanies us all the days of our life. But equally, brothers and sisters, let us not understate the new nature, the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It is as fit for purpose, the purpose of worship and service at the hand of God as our old nature was not. And this is the effect of what Christ accomplished on the cross. The old man is incurable and the new man is incorruptible. And it is from this incorruptible new man that the fruit of righteousness is produced and revealed.

I mentioned yesterday that the fruit of righteousness is an Old Testament phrase from Amos chapter six and verse 12. And there the prophet is lamenting how those who are at ease in Zion, which is another poignant phrase, had turned judgment into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock. Bitterness and poison betrayed the true character. of those who were at ease in Zion, those false professors of a past age.

These woeful leaders, these woeful characters had mimicked the true spiritual gifts of repentance and faith by counterfeiting them in the natural man. much in the way that repentance and faith are imitated artificially today by free will duty faith preachers. There is nothing more offensive to God than insincere pretend religion. Churches can claim all the converts that they wish. They can gather all the sizes of memberships that they wish. They can tell everyone that they are saved and going heaven if they wish. But if there is no true spiritual transformation, it is just another empty barrel full of air.

Just as Amos, how often the Lord condemned the hypocrites of his day, attaching the same woe to his exposure of their false religion as Amos had done in his day. And of course the epistles do the same. James will go on to say, of this wisdom of which he is speaking, the wisdom of the earth. He will call it the devilish wisdom of this earth. He will say that the devilish wisdom of this earth causes confusion. And there will be no greater experience of confusion than on that great and awful day when Christ declares to vast numbers of professing Christians I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

We have a saying, no one counterfeits a three pound note. I could give you an adaption of that for my American listeners. No one counterfeits a $3 bill. forgers counterfeit what is real and genuine. And James is speaking about what is genuine. And he uses Amos' phrase, the fruit of righteousness, to describe true fruitfulness in the Lord's people and to encourage The God-honouring qualities that reveal the presence of genuine faith and spiritual life in a believer.

James calls this wisdom. And then he calls it wisdom from above in order to distinguish it from the worldly or natural wisdom of men. And there's a strong correlation here. There's a strong connection between faith and wisdom. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 5, the Apostle Paul says, Our faith does not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Spiritual wisdom is faith. Spiritual wisdom is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for full salvation.

Our Lord Jesus is often presented in scripture as the personification of divine wisdom. For example, in the book of Proverbs, we find that where wisdom is spoken of as being a person, as a woman, in fact. And yet that is a personification of Christ. And Christ is said in the New Testament to be made unto us wisdom. 1 Corinthians again, chapter 1. The wise man builds his house on the rock that is Christ. And the wise one of whom the Apostle James is speaking here is one made wise in the truth of Jesus Christ. True wisdom is a metaphor for spiritual life. And James is speaking to all who have Christ in their hearts and therefore are wise unto salvation. Such a person, says James, reveals his new nature, her new nature, by their persistent walk and talk. James calls this a person's good conversation. It's the outward manifestation of the spiritual new creation. It is the fruit of righteousness. And James contrasts Christ's wisdom, which is the wisdom from above, with the wisdom which is natural.

Worldly wisdom and earthly knowledge has limited value. It is fleshy, it is carnal, it is preoccupied with natural things. It cannot attain to or enjoy spiritual things which are spiritually discerned. It has the opposite effect. It provokes bitterness, rivalry, envy, strife in a man's heart. That doesn't come from Christ. It's wisdom of an altogether different sort. It is wisdom from an altogether different source and spirit. It does not come from heaven like the good and perfect gifts from above mentioned in chapter 1. But is, says James in verse 15, earthly, sensual, devilish.

There is a wisdom that is from heaven and there is a wisdom that is of the earth. And James is distinguishing between these two. But it's not the wisdom of man that he wants to dwell upon. It's the wisdom of Christ that's in view. Having exposed, having mentioned, having condemned the vanity of earthly wisdom and shown what its manifestations are, he is going on to talk about what is pure and holy in Christ.

James returns us to the saving wisdom of Christ or Lord Jesus. This wisdom, or faith we might call it, of which Christ is the source and substance, the beginning and the end, the author and the finisher. This wisdom is pure, says James, it is peaceable, it is gentle, it is eager to help those in need. These are what characterise this saving wisdom, this spiritual new life that is implanted in the believer. Such wisdom, James tells us, is full of mercy and fruitfully productive of good works. And James gives us a beautiful catalogue of worthy descriptions. He's describing the Lord primarily. His wisdom is not partial. His wisdom will not tolerate hypocrisy. Christ is pure and peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, and his presence in the believer's life by faith produces similar qualities.

Those who live by faith in Christ ought to and will perform good works. They will be, they must be Christ-like. They will do so with meekness of wisdom, says James. This wisdom is Christ in a believer's heart and the good works following are with meekness of wisdom. They're not showy, they're not proud, they're not self-promoting. They're performed with quietness and modesty so that the glory might be Christ's and all the praise might be given to God. Those who boast of religious knowledge or ascend religious hierarchies or speak about progressive holiness ought not to glory in their self-proclaimed status. Their bravado is pride no more. Heavenly wisdom produces good works quietly performed. Earthly wisdom generates noise and clamour, pride and confusion, and every evil work.

James supplies a fine description of a true believer. He is pure because he is justified in Christ and God sees no sin in his people. In possessing Christ, he possesses pure wisdom. He relishes a pure conscience and he follows a pure religion. The pure religion that James has spoken of in chapter one. And such a one is undefiled before God, righteous and holy in the sight of God, perfect in Christ Jesus. Such a believer strives for purity of life, longs to keep his conscience clean. And when he cannot through the frailty of the flesh, he promptly seeks forgiveness and he aches to be rid of this body of death.

A true believer is peaceable like his saviour was peaceable. A true believer is peaceable. Peaceable men and women enjoy the peace of knowing their sins forgiven and reconciliation with God. As servants to the Prince of Peace, in the body of Christ, they encourage peace amongst the brethren. they willingly extend peace to their neighbours amongst whom they live. With the gentleness and meekness that characterised the Lord Jesus Christ, they desire to live at peace with all men and offend none unnecessarily.

Having been blessed with mercy from God, they practise being merciful to their brethren in Christ and to those who are outside of Christ. Having known forgiveness, they are quick to forgive. Having known restoration, they are quick to forget. What Christ puts in, they give out. And this is all the fruit of righteousness. It's the practical exercising of faith in God and the practical outworking of obedience and service to God. It's not driven by law, but by love. It's motivated by gratitude, not fear.

He who first loved us imparts his love to us and then calls it forth from us in our love to our brethren and to our neighbours and to our God. The Father justified his elect by imputing righteousness to the guilty. Christ the Son has cleansed the elect with his own precious blood and made them holy as he is holy. God the Holy Spirit has sanctified us and quickened us together with Christ with newness of life, calling us to salvation that we should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

The Apostle Paul wished for the believers of Colossae that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. To this, James would lend a hearty amen on behalf of you and me and all the Lord's people. And I trust that we can add our amens to that as well. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.