James chapter 4 verse 13. 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 ye know not what shall
be on tomorrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth
away. For that he 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 not, to him it is sin. Now the first thing we see here
is a caution against presumption. A caution against presumption.
He says, 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. Go to now. If you have a King
James Bible, you look in your marginal reference, it'll say
James 5.1. You look down at James 5.1, it
says go to now. And if you look in your marginal
reference, it says James 4.13. Go to now. The word is reflect. Think about
what you're saying. Think about what you're saying.
Today or tomorrow, we will. Today or tomorrow, we will go
into such a city. We will continue there a year. We will buy. We will sell. We
will get ganged. Just think about that. Our hearts
get filled up with our plans. And we get some excitement and
encouragement about what it is we plan to do. What we've got
set in our minds that we're going to do for tomorrow. But two things
we need to consider. Verse 14, he says, Whereas ye
know not what shall be on tomorrow. We don't know what tomorrow even
holds. We can't presume what we'll do
tomorrow. as if we really will do it, when
in reality we don't have any idea what tomorrow holds. And then secondly, he gives this,
he says there in verse 14, for what is your life? It is even
a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. You know, you wouldn't put much
confidence in vapor. You wouldn't rest in too much
assurance in that which is fading away. He says, your life is even a
vapor that appears for a little time, then vanishes away. If
God's not in our thoughts today, when we make our plans for tomorrow,
then if it comes to pass tomorrow, and we actually get to do what
we plan to do, he won't be in our thoughts on when we do that,
which we plan to do. If we make our boast today of
our plans and what we're going to do tomorrow, then when they
come to pass, you know who we're going to boast in? Us. Well, he gives a sure word next
for us to always remember. Here's the second thing, a sure
word to always remember. Verse 15, for that you ought
to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. Now, it's not that you have to
go around saying this audibly in every single thing you say.
What's very important, and nothing wrong with that, but what's very
important is that this is the first thought in your heart.
That you know this in your heart. I find myself very often saying
to somebody, you know, I'll meet you there tomorrow and hang up
the telephone or whatever and just immediately think, well,
if the Lord will, I will. That's our thought. That's being
in our heart. if the Lord will. We don't know
what's going to be on tomorrow, but if the Lord is willing, there'll
be a tomorrow. If He's not willing, then tomorrow
you'll meet Him at the great white throne of judgment. Do
you know who God is? Do you know who He is? Look at
Isaiah chapter 46. Look at Isaiah 46. He says in verse 9, I am God,
and there is none else. God, and there is none like me.
Verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient
times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Now that's who can
say unreservedly that he's going to do his pleasure. Listen to
this now. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country.
That's what he can do. Hey, I've spoken it. I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will do
it. hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted,
that are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness,
it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry,
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." That's
a comfort to a believer, to know he will. To know he will. He will bring the man to execute
his counsel from a far country. And He will execute His counsel.
And He will accomplish the thing which He purposed. And He will
set His people where they need to be, provide for His people,
give for His people, do for His people. He will. In Zion, for Israel, which is
His glory. You and I, look at Romans 8.
You're familiar with this, but we need to see this. Romans 8. When's the last time that you
really worked everything together just like you would have it to
be worked out? Not to mention all things, but
when did you just work out everything so that everything worked out
just like you wanted? You wouldn't add anything to
it. It was so perfect. I don't think that's ever happened
for any man. But look who He is. He does work
everything together and He does it for someone in particular
and He does it according to His will, according to His purpose. Look at Romans 8, 28. And we
know, the believer knows this. This is where we can rejoice
in this. We know that all things work
together. Not just haphazardly. He works them together. All things. The good, the bad, the storm,
the sunshine, the sorrow, the joy. He works all things together
for good to them that love God. To them who are called according
to His purpose. It doesn't matter how it affects
those that aren't His. It doesn't matter how it affects
those that He has an everlasting love and brought and called to
believe on Him. He's doing everything He does
in this world for them He loves, who He's called, who He's made
to love Him. And He said back there in Isaiah,
I started doing this from ancient times, from old, from way back. Now look at verse 29. For whom
He did foreknow, Those that He intimately, everlastingly loved
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Those He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Lady luck? The world will receive that.
Chance? The world will receive that.
Blind faith? You can say that. But say everything
was predestinated by God. Uh-oh. The world won't stand
for that. That's what He said. He predestinated
them to be conformed to the image of His Son, that His Son might
be the firstborn among many brethren. He did it for His Son. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. He did it. He did it all. He works all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Well, back
there, we'll be turning to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2. Here's
another thing he said. He said, your life is a vapor.
Your life is a vapor. The believer can say, but my
times are in His hands. This vapor is in His hands though. It's 1 Samuel 2.6. 1 Samuel 2.6. The Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. Did you think you did that? He bringeth low and lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, lifteth up the beggar
from the dunghill to set them among princes, and to make them
inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them. You see,
all our actions and all our conduct is under the control of the Lord.
The fact of the matter is, everybody in this world is the servant
of the Lord. Satan is the servant of the Lord.
He can't do anything the Lord doesn't give him permission to
do. The enemies of Christ and your enemies can't do anything
but what He allows them to do. And you're His servant. So that
everything around us and everything that takes place in our lives
is under His absolute sovereign control. He is the Almighty. Mighty over all. And He does
all for the glory of His name. He said, I'm going to set salvation
in Zion, in my church, in my holy mountain, for Israel, my
glory. My glory. His glory. And He does it for the... Whatever
He does for His glory, if we trust Him and we're His and we
love Him, we can rest assured it's going to be for our good.
Because whatever He does for His glory is always for the good
of His people. It always is. So boast not, brethren. We depend entirely upon Him. Therefore, all our plans and
all our conduct in the midst of our plans, if our plans don't
come about, if tomorrow we don't go to where we planned on going
and something interferes in everything, submit to Him. Depend on Him. He's doing it. He's doing it. Well, here's the third thing
in our text. The offense of not submitting
to the Lord. What's the crime in not considering
these things about our Lord? Do we have company? What's the
offense in this? Look at verse 16. When you do
this, you rejoice in your boastings, and all such rejoicing is evil.
It's not only presumption to put confidence in ourselves. He says it's evil. It's evil. It's rejoicing in our boastings
as if we're independent of God. We're going to do something independent
of God. It's rejoicing in things that
we have absolutely no power to bring to pass. The wicked through
the pride of his countenance will not seek God. God's not
in all his thoughts. That's what we're dealing with
here. We're dealing with pride. We're dealing with pride which
makes men presume, I can do what I want to do. I can bring to
pass what I want to bring to pass. That's the main culprit
that James has been dealing with from James chapter 2, well from
the first of the book, but especially from James chapter 2 on. We saw
it in James 3. He said, one is your master. So don't go around trying to
be like little miniature gods and have this superior air about
you, as if you can bring something to pass, teach others. He says there's one lawgiver.
who's able to save or to destroy. That means there's one law and
there's one who gives it. There's one who can give his
law in the hearts of his people and make it effectual in the
hearts of his people so that he destroys everything that would
come between you and him. He can save and he can destroy.
And he can give this law. I can't do that. I don't know
what a man's heart is. I don't know. I don't know how
he's repentant. I don't know how he's sorrowful.
I don't know how he's mourning in his heart. I don't know that.
But he does. And if I yoke you and constrain
you, I might can get you to do something outward. But he can
get you to do it in the heart, from the heart. That's what he's
talking about, to speak evil of the law, to judge another,
to usurp this authority. It's to speak evil of the law
of liberty, the law of grace, the law of love. Because he said,
don't do it. It's to speak evil of the Lord
who's able to save. You know what it is? It's to
deny the power of God. It's to have a form of godliness,
but to deny the power of God. But brethren, the end of all
things is at hand. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be sober and watch
and pray. This is the will of the Father.
Not that you make your boast, not that you make all your big
plans, not that you, that's the first and foremost thing in your
thoughts, but that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, His
Son. That's the will of the Father.
I get so sick of hearing religious folks, oh, I just want to, I
just look at what I'm doing, make sure I'm in the will of
God. Well, if you're in Christ, you are. If you trust in Him,
you are. If you submit to Him, you are.
And if you're not, it don't matter what you're doing. He's the pearl of great price.
All the treasures of God are hid in Christ Jesus. Full redemption. Full righteousness. Full sanctification. Full justification. Eternal life. If you have eternal life, it's
not going to be real disappointing to you if tomorrow doesn't come,
will it? In fact, it will be a joy. Lynn and I were on the
way home the other night, Thursday night, and we were coming down
Curliss Avenue there, just before we get to Burke Street where
we live, and you can see across that big field. And I looked
up and there was a, I don't know if it was something going on
at Princeton or what it was, but there was one of those big
searchlights, you know, sticking straight up out of the sky, just
a huge light. And the first thought that came
to my mind, and I said to her, I said, what if you looked up
and that was the Lord coming? And me and her both without even,
we both just stopped for a minute and both almost at the same time
said, it made my heart flutter. It made me like happy. It made me joyful to just think
about that. You feel that way? Do you have
that abiding in you that you look, you're hastening to that
day? You look with anticipation to
that day? Oh, he says, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved this
world, the love of the Father is not in him. You know what
this world consists of? This is what God says this world
consists of. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's what this world consists
of. And that's not of the Father. It's of the world, and the world's
gonna pass away, and all that lust is gonna pass away with
it. But rather than exalt ourselves, rather than presume upon vanity,
which is what we do when we make our plans, thinking we can accomplish
something independent of God, we presume it upon vanity, upon
ourself, a vapor. Instead of that, the Lord gives
such simple, clear instructions. I love how the Lord confounds
the wise. Don't you? It's not enough. Patty and I were talking about
this the other day. Adam named everything in the garden. And
I'm convinced that he called a line a line. I know it's a
different word for it, different languages, but he didn't call
it Erasticus, Lambeus, Blagadablagadus, that men do. We have to give
everything this huge name and try to make everything, we have
to gloss everything with what we consider to be wise and look
really wise. Listen to this. Verse 7, James
4, 7. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Is there anybody here that don't
understand that language? Submit yourself, therefore, to
God. Isn't that simple? It's just
simple. If you don't want to hear this,
it's because you don't want to hear this. If you won't do this,
it's because you just don't want to do this. It's not because
he hasn't spoken it. It's not because it's not clear.
Submit yourself to the Lord. Resist the devil. He will flee
from you. He wants you to say, there's something more to it
than that. He wants you to say, oh, now you've got to do something.
He wants you to be lifted up in pride and boasting of what
you've done. The Lord says, resist Him and
submit yourself to God. He says, ask God for wisdom. Look at verse 8. Draw nigh to
God and He will draw nigh to you. That's what He says. Ask God
for wisdom. How are you going to draw nigh to Him? Call on
Him. Don't call on Him. Ask Him. What
did He say in James 1.5? If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God. What's going to happen when you
ask Him? When you come to Him sincerely desiring for God's
wisdom, what's He going to do? He says, He giveth to all liberally
in abundance. And He doesn't upbraid you. He says, set your mind on one
object. Set it on Christ Jesus, on one
object. Look at verse 8. The second portion
of verse 8. Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. That's just as simple as saying,
set your affection on Christ. Don't set your affection on religion
and the world. Don't try to set yourself on
this world and the world. Cleanse yourself. Separate yourself
from this world. Turn away from this world and
set your affection, your attention on Christ Jesus. Humble yourselves in the sight
of God. Look at verse 9. Be afflicted and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. You know when it says, let your
laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness? That's
repentance, brethren. Turn from that which causes the
worldly joy and the worldly care, the ease of this world, and turn
to Him. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and He shall lift you up. It's called repenting
from all else and trusting Christ, believing on Him. That's what
it is. That's just so simple. But pride says, I will, I will,
I will. Listen to the uncertainty that's
in your I will. Listen to it. What is your life? It is a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. Say, I will, I will, I
will, all you want to. The moment He takes away your
breath, all your boasting is out the window, right with your
spirit. But get hold of how certain this
word is from the Lord who's able, the Lord who's mighty to save.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift
you up. There is no wavering with Him. There's no ifs, ands, or maybes
with Him. It is sure, the Lord shall lift
you up. Well, it's a greater offense
for you who have heard the word of the Lord and do not obey Him. Look at verse 17, James 4, 17.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth not, to
him it is sin. God hasn't left anybody here
in this place in darkness. in the sense that he's come to
this place with the gospel, with the light of Christ. You're hearing
the light of Christ, the light of the gospel. The gospel is
going forth in a general call right here to everybody. He's
not left anybody in this room without the light of the gospel.
You hear these words. The Lord said, He rejoiced in
the Spirit and he said, I'm thankful, Father, that you've hidden these
things from the wise and prudent and you revealed them unto babes.
And he told his disciples, he said, you're blessed because
your eyes see. Your eyes see. And he said there
was kings and prophets that have desired to look into the things
that you've seen and you've heard. Isaiah didn't get to see what
you have the hindsight of seeing. He saw it by the eye of faith,
but we have a more sure word of prophecy. Christ has come.
He has put away the sin of His people. He's risen to the right
hand of the Father. We've seen this gospel open up
unto the Gentile world. We've seen it go out unto the
ends of the earth. We see His gospel being preached
freely in the four corners of the earth. And we saw all along
He say He would do it, He would do it, He would do it. Well,
how awful for us to just take so lightly and just
not even care about these things when there was men of old who
wanted to see these things. They would have searched these
things diligently to know these and rejoice in these things.
And we're just going to take them and say, well, I got, I'm going
to go prove some horses tomorrow, prove some livestock I'm planning
on buying, make sure I don't have time to worship. I don't
have time to look into these things. Well, Mark 1. Mark 1. I want to end with this. I want
you to see this. Mark 1. Verse 40. There came a leper to him, beseeching
him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou
wilt, If you're willing, Lord, thou canst make me clean. That's
how you come to God. I read the commentaries and people
want to say, well, this was doubting in that leper. I don't think
so. That leper didn't have a reason to doubt. He was a leper through
and through. It was his only hope was Christ. He came there. He beseeched him,
he kneeled down to him, and he said, Lord, if you're willing,
if you're willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus moved with
compassion and put forth his hand and touched him and saith
unto him, I will, be thou clean. That's what he said he'd do,
didn't he? That's what the Spirit of God said through James he
would do. Ask him, come to him. That's what he said he'd do.
He'll lift you up, he said. The Lord said, I will be thy
clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. Are you a leper? Are you a leper? Through and through a leper?
You're looking at somebody who is a leper through and through
in myself. That's all I am. Sin, disease,
wretchedness in my flesh dwells. No good thing. But say no more,
I will, I will. But come to Him, humble yourself
in the sight of God and say, if thou will, you can make me
clean. And oh, to hear these words,
I will. I will be thou clean. Now that's a will I want to put
my trust in. One time somebody, we first had
Will and somebody, they said, what did you name him? I said,
William. What you going to call him? I
said, Will. I said, free will! I said, oh no, I pray sovereign
will. Sovereign will. That's a will
you can put your trust in. I pray he'll give you grace to
do that.