May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of James and the fourth chapter and we'll read the last
five verses from verse 13 to verse 17. The epistle of James
chapter 4 and reading from verse 13 to the end. 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 vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth
away. For that you ought to say, If
the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now
ye 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. The epistle of James is very
direct in the words which are spoken and it's a wonderful blessing
if you and I are given grace to read this little epistle carefully
and prayerfully and then to desire to walk it out because there
is much gracious and wonderful instruction for us. In these
verses we've read together this evening show to us one very clear
and important consideration and that is we don't know how long
we shall live on this earth and that consideration should be
before us at all times. We should always live our life
as today is the last day of our life and not make an assumption
that we will go on for days or weeks or months or years because
we know not what the Lord has ordained for us. But the great
and wonderful blessing will be if each one of us is found ready
when we shall be called from this earth. And of course, every
one of us will be, unless we're still on the earth when the Lord
returns. But that time will come. It is the most certain thing
in our lives, the day of our death. So we should be concerned,
therefore, to live our life like that, to live our life in the
fear of the Lord every day, And the wonderful advice that we're
given here is, as James says, go to now, ye that say to day
or tomorrow, we will go to such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain. And we have to be very careful
that we don't follow a pattern like that, that we plan our little
life and we have a good idea where we're going and what we're
going to do and everything we think is nicely mapped out. Well, let us never forget that
our life is as a vapour. Let us never forget the Lord
knows all about us. The Lord knows what is before
us and therefore we should always come in this gracious way that
we are directed into as James tells us here, that we should
always say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or
that. And I sometimes think it's a
very good evidence and it's a very good witness as we walk in this
earth and on this earth, as people say, well, can you do this and
can you meet on this occasion? to be able to respond and say
yes if the Lord will because such an answer will often produce
a question and an opportunity to speak therefore about the
things of God. We should not therefore just
carry on in a worldly way because here we are told to speak like
this. We ought to say It's not something
which is of no consequence. We ought to say, if the Lord
will, we should do this or that. We may think about it sometimes,
but it's good if we actually say it. You see, we have the
Word of God before us to direct us in our little life on this
earth. And it's a wonderful privilege
for us to have set before us how we should walk and what we
should say in the world in which we live. The tendency is for
people to hide their light, really to be ashamed of what people
will think or what people will say. My friends, you and I should
never be afraid and never be embarrassed of what people may
think, what people would say. because they are but dust and
will perish. But through saying such truth
as we are directed to, it may have a direct and a gracious
effect upon such to consider themselves whether it is so,
if the Lord will. And so we're thankful indeed
that we have the truth of God set before us to direct us and
therefore not to make any assumption that we'll be able to go and
do this and go and do that. It may even not be a year ahead,
it may just be tomorrow. We always need to recognise and
say if the Lord will and I'm sure if the Holy Spirit speaks
to our heart we will recognise the truth of the description
we have here that our life is even a vapour that appears for
a little time and then vanishes away. We don't know how long
that little time is for every one of us. It may be longer,
it may be shorter, we know not. But one thing we do know is that
it is in evidence as the picture we have describes it so adequately
It's just like a vapour. We know what a vapour is, probably
the clearest position is when we have perhaps a boiling kettle
and we see the steam rise up from that and as soon as it's
turned off, well, so quickly, it disappears. That which was
very evident has gone, just like our lives. There they are one
day and the next day they're gone. And it's a very solemn
consideration. But we should thank God that
we have a solemn warning in the Word of God to direct us and
to instruct us, not therefore to carry on in an aimless way. We just do not know what a day
or an hour may bring forth. And so we may ask or realise
the Word of God tells us, be ye also Ready. Ready for that time when we should
die. Ready to stand before our maker. Ready to stand before the judge
of the whole earth. Now one thing is very clear.
You and I won't be ready in and of ourselves. You and I won't
be ready because of what we've done Because of our work, we
will only be ready if we possess the grace of God. We should only
be ready if we possess the life of God in our souls. Only be
ready if we possess that new life, that new birth. That is
absolutely essential for every one of us. It won't matter what
happens in this world but it will matter what happens to our
soul when we die and therefore may we all be concerned to be
ready when that call shall come and that call will come when
for us time will be no more and then eternity where there is
no time good thing if you and I sometimes think about and ponder
these truths because they are not things which are generally
set before us. We live in a day of small things,
we live in a day of carnal things, we live in a day of light things,
we live in a day of false religion, we live in a day when many so-called
truths are put before the people and yet they lack the truth of
the Word of God. Well, let us bless God today
that we do have the Word of God which directs us so clearly as
to the condition of the things which work in our lives individually
and to the world at large. We only have to ponder, don't
we, and think about the times in which we live and how they
are rapidly becoming worse and worse. Quickly, the days are
passing. Quickly, men and women, boys
and girls, are hasting to a never-ending eternity. My friends, the world
is hastening towards the end of all things. We know not when
that will occur. It may be sometime yet. It would
appear from the words we read in the Word of God that things
will get very bad, before the Lord comes in all his glory. We may have to walk through and
live in much worse times yet. What a blessing to know the Lord
is on our side. What a blessing to know the Lord
is our support. What a blessing to know, above
all things, that Christ has died, yea rather is risen again. and he's died to redeem our souls. The vital thing in our life is
to realise that it is a vapour and to know with that blessed
God-given faith that we do possess that new life within, that new
birth. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
a living reality to us. The Lord Jesus Christ is alive
today. He is alive forevermore. People don't believe it. It is
true. And all of us will have to stand
before that great judge of the earth, all my friends, to know
then that we're not relying on our religion, but we're relying
upon that which God has given to us, that great and glorious
gift of eternal life. There's no greater gift that
you and I can receive than the gift of eternal life because
it will never perish. The gifts of this world will
vanish away. The gift of eternal life is eternal. And what a blessing if we have
the wonderful evidence of that in our lives. To know therefore
that we have passed from death to life from darkness to light
and to praise God for it. And I believe if the Lord gives
us this gracious evidence, the effect will be to make us truly
bow down and to worship God and say, not unto us, not unto us,
but unto thy great name, all belongs, all the honour and all
the glory. there's no greater blessing to
be found amongst those who praise God from whom all blessings flow. So in these few verses we have
in this fourth chapter of James we see clearly set before us
the truth that you and I must pass away and that you and I
are in the control of Almighty God and we cannot bring the day
of our death forward and we cannot put it back. It is a day known
to Almighty God and so may we be found rightly walking in this
evil world in which we live and be found in that glorious way
of looking unto Jesus for help, for direction, for instruction,
and to be kept in this evil world in which we live. The Apostle
Peter, he knew what it was to fall. He knew what it was to
deny his Lord and Master. He also knew what it was to be
kept by the power of God through grace unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last times. A great blessing for you and
me today. if we know what it is in our
lives to have been kept by the power of God and surely that
gives great cause for thankfulness, great cause for praise that we
haven't been left to just wander on into this sinful world, into
all the depths of sin which surround us. to know the keeping power
of God is a wonderful favour and a wonderful blessing and
it's great reason to praise God. And so may we understand that
our life is like this, a vapour that appears for a little time
and then vanishes away and that none of us may be found boasting
of our things But now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing
is evil. We should never boast of what
we have done. My friends, we should boast of
what Christ has done. Because he is worthy of all praise,
of all adoration, when we consider the glory of what he has done
through his death upon the cross at Calvary to redeem our souls. So that as we have this evidence
that our life is a vapour fleeting away, yet we have that good hope
through the grace of God that it is well with our souls. We don't want to carry on aimlessly
in this life without a realisation that it is well with our souls. To be able to say in answer to
that great question, is it well? To be able to say humbly and
truthfully, it is well. Let us not deny the blessed work
of the Spirit in our hearts. Sometimes people seem to think
it's a mark of grace to deny the work of God. How sad and
how solemn it is to deny what God has done. Let us acknowledge
it. Let us praise God and bless Him
for it. And to humbly say, it won't be
with any boasting in ourselves, but it will be boasting of what
Christ has done in redeeming us in saving us from the wrath
to come. Well, let us not rejoice in our
boastings then, because all such rejoicing is evil. We need to
have a very clear view of this, a single eye to the honour and
glory of God and to not be sucked in by the deceitfulness of our
great adversary, the devil. What he does, he always has,
right from the Garden of Eden, and he will do, right until the
end of time, is to try and deceive the Church of God. My friends,
may we give him no quarter. May we be able to say, Christ
has said, the Lord has said, You see, the more you and I know
the Word of God, the more you and I will be able to quote Scripture.
That was how the Lord responded to the devil. Remember when he
was baptised and led up into the wilderness for those 40 days
and tempted by the devil, the gracious Lord, the blessed Lord
answered the devil with Scripture. Don't try and be clever yourself.
Remember the Word of God. Quote the word of God. So when
he tells you, well you can do this and you'll be alright and
you'll feel good doing that, tell him Christ has died. He rather has risen again and
I desire, as the Apostle James tells us here, to humble ourselves
in the sight of the Lord. Yes, what a blessing it is to
be a humble believer, not a proud believer, There are those people
who are proud in what they have done. My friends, there's no
room for what we have done and how wonderfully indeed the Apostle
picks up that theme in the second chapter to the Ephesians, which
as most of you know we're going through at the moment in our
prayer meetings when he tells us, For by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. There's no room
for boasting of anything that we've done, for we are His workmanship. Bless God for that. To know that
the Lord has worked in our hearts, His workmanship, and His workmanship
will never fail. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, that means to do His will, that means to follow
His way, and don't forget, His way was much darker and rougher
than ours, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Wherefore remember that ye being
in time past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision,
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands,
that at that time you were without Christ. Well, we've all been
there. Bless God tonight if we are now
not there. At that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. Then you see we have this glorious
but now. As I've often said, there are
a good number of but nows in the Word of God. Here's a wonderful
one. But now, in Christ Jesus, and nowhere else, in Christ Jesus,
you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ, brought near to the Saviour. made nigh. His work, not our
work. Wonderful, isn't it? To think
that the Lord so graciously and gloriously works in our hearts,
blesses us with a life of God in our soul. And the Apostle
goes on to say, for He is our peace. My friends, there's no
true peace outside of Christ We may look for it. We may struggle
to obtain it. The world is all the while trying
to find peace. My friends, there's only peace
in Christ. Peace in that great and glorious
finished work that He has done. May we bless God tonight for
this wonderful work of the Saviour. To realise here we are passing
through time with our life There's just a vapour which is going
to vanish away. You know, we read that 39th Psalm,
so it clearly speaks to us about these things and as the Psalmist
David, a man of God, a gracious man, he says, Lord, make me to
know mine end. That's not being morbid, that's
being realistic. Lord, make me to know mine end.
And the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail
I am." We are, you see. We are very frail. Our life is
just a little thread which can be broken at any time. Behold,
thou hast made my days as a hand-breath, and mine ages as nothing before
thee, just like a vapour. However old we are, nothing.
Very every man at his best state is altogether vanity. And what a good thing that is
when the Holy Spirit shows us naturally in our best state we
are but vanity. But to look out of ourselves
and realise that in Christ Jesus, yes we are a new creature and
we are made complete in Him. not in the things that we do
of our own nature for our own selves' gratification. And David,
he concludes this psalm by saying, Hear my prayer, O Lord. He had a real prayer, didn't
he? You know, sometimes we forget that prayer is a reality. It's
not just a mere form of words, mere repetition. It's that when
we are blessed with that access of the throne of grace as David
was and as may we be and there are so many prayers in the book
of Psalms and indeed throughout the Word of God that we can look
at and desire to follow. Hear my prayer O Lord and give
ear unto my cry. You see he wanted God to hear
him. He didn't want just to mutter
a few words and then forget what he'd prayed. He wanted God to
hear him. There was the blessed urgency
in his prayers. It's a great mercy for us, you
know, if there is an urgency in our prayers. And I know that
prayer is hard work. The devil's at our right hand
to try and shift us away from it. And it's very hard sometimes
to concentrate in prayer. You may think that's strange
and why should it be so? Well, the devil hates us praying. Sometimes, you know, we have
to pray on. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give
ear unto my cry. I often think and mention, as
you know, it's lovely to read a cry. A baby cries. Can't speak, can't do anything
else. It can cry, and the cry draws
attention of the parents. So we don't have to have a well-formulated
prayer to come to our God. He knows our heart, but it's
good we can come like this and cry unto God. Hold not thy peace
at my tears for I am a stranger with thee, a stranger with thee,
with God. Christ was a stranger on this
earth and if we are true believers with our life as a vapour, what
a mercy it is to realise that we are a stranger and a sojourner
as all my fathers were. What a blessing it is to realize
the truth of the Word of God. And then, you know, the psalm
of Moses is a wonderful psalm to direct us and to encourage
us. And Moses speaks, he was an old
man when he died, 120 years old, but he tells us in the 12th verse
of this 90th psalm, So teach us, to number our days, that
we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." And this is heavenly
wisdom. And this is applying our hearts
to the things of God. We often find ourselves applying
our hearts to the things of time, which perish. What a blessing
it is if we apply our hearts unto wisdom, those great things,
those vital things, those things which are eternal, Oh, that we
might have a more, a greater realisation of eternity. What a blessing it is, eternity. As you know, I sometimes mention
that case of Robert Murray McShane preaching at Dundee. He was a
blessed man. And he often preached about eternity
and as he passed through the gates and came to the door of
that church in Dundee, he had a stone laid down with one word
written upon it. Eternity. So that as everybody passed over
the threshold, they realised They were going
to hear about eternal things. What a good thing, if every time
we pass over the threshold to worship, we realise we're coming
to hear about eternal things. not trivial things, eternal things. So Moses comes to the end of
this short psalm and he says, let thy work appear unto thy
servants and thy glory unto their children. You see our life is
but a vapour, it's vanishing away, may such a desire, such
a prayer be from our lips to our God and Let the beauty of
the Lord our God be upon us. What a word that is, isn't it?
The beauty of the Lord. Well, what beauty do we see in
Christ? You know, as we read in the Song of Solomon,
the bride of Christ, she saw a beauty in Christ. And she said, He is the chiefest
among ten thousand. and the altogether lovely. And
this wasn't a figment of imagination. This was the reaction of her
soul. My friends, may it represent
our desires and our concern that we may have right views of the
Saviour. Again, we live in a day when
people have very small views. Jesus isn't very precious. He isn't very real. And you can
clearly see that because they're not interested in talking about
him. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit moves us. And let the beauty of the Lord,
our God, be upon us. And establish now the work of
our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands, establish thou
it. Oh, it's a good thing to be established
in the things of God. We're pretty often concerned
about being established in the things of this world. It's far
more important to be established in the things of God and to realise
the importance of them. and by comparison, the vanity
of the things in this world. You know, we're blessed, aren't
we, with the Word of God? You think of Solomon, who wrote
the Song of Solomon. He also wrote the book of Ecclesiastes
and what truth there is in that. And it's good if we ponder it
more and more. I remember hearing Frank Gosling
say years ago, to the young people and he said, read the book of
Ecclesiastes. Read the book of Ecclesiastes.
And it's good to read it because what's the whole theme of it?
The whole theme of it is very clear. All is vanity or vanity
and vexation of spirit. Solomon tried to find happiness
in the things of time and he failed. It's a good job he did. Bless God he did. And bless God
that we have the result of that study, that he endeavoured to
find happiness in this life. No, it's not available, not true
happiness. It's all vanity, all vanity and
vexation of spirit. Oh my friends, what a blessing
there is to look beyond the things of this world. to realise there is a glory to
come, there is a habitation, there is an inheritance which
is incorruptible and undefiled and which is reserved in heaven. Now, if God blesses us with the
reality of his spirit, to know that we are passed from death
unto life, to know that the Blessed Saviour has died upon Calvary's
cross to atone for our sins, to know that we are complete
in Him, that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness, then we can truly believe that there is a
place in glory reserved for us. That's a very humbling thought
a very humbling consideration. But it's true, no doubt about
it, because the Word of God speaks to us and the Word of God encourages
us in that wonderful truth. You know the Apostle Paul, when
he spoke to the saints at Colossae and the faithful brethren which
are grace-bound to you and peace from God our Father, he said
this, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and the love which he had to all the saints,
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. You see, that's a wonderful thing,
isn't it? If we have truly heard of that. And then, he goes on
in the third chapter and he tells us this. If ye then be risen
with Christ, and all God's people by the grace of God are risen
with Christ. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. And if our life is a vapour,
it's quickly passing. Are we seeking those things which
are above? and the right hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead and
your life is hid with Christ in God." Oh, united with Christ. A wonderful thought, a wonderful
truth. When Christ who is our life,
Well, I hope he is. Is Christ our life tonight? Is
he your life? Is he my life? Is he to us, as
already said, the cheapest among 10,000 and the altogether lovely? When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. What a promise that is. Something to truly look forward
to, isn't it? And then the Apostle speaks and
he says, Mortify therefore, means put to death, our members which
are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
and evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. What a mercy if we are amongst
those who are born again in the Spirit and desire spiritual blessings,
those which God gives freely. And so we have these words then,
what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears
for a little time and then vanishes away. Well, if we all have a
good hope through grace, May it's well with our souls. The
day will come when we shall see the Saviour as He is, without
a veil between. We shall be in the heavenly throng,
praising God from whom all blessings flow. And my friends, no sin,
no sorrow, no sadness, but eternal joy and eternal happiness and
joining that new song. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. He is worthy to receive our praises. He is worthy to receive all that
we can bring before Him for all that He has done. Oh, let us
never wander far away from Calvary. Let us never remember the great
cost of our salvation. Let us never forget the value
of that shed blood, as the Apostle Peter says, redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ. Oh, do we value it? Well, our life's a vapour. It's
vanishing away. May we truly value it. May it truly be precious to us. Something which is precious,
is valuable. Yes, it's a wonderful mercy then
to know the truth of it in our own hearts. So it's not just
something that we read of, but we've had, by the grace of God,
the application of that shed blood on our conscience and to
know that we are indeed under the blood. On that Passover night
there was only safety under the blood. Today, there is only safety
under the blood. My friends, may you and I know
it. May we bless God for it and may
we not be satisfied until we have the evidence that we are
indeed under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all of us then are fast hastening
through life. This vapour, which appears for
a little time, is there now. It will soon vanish away. And
then where shall we be? We will be in one of two places.
Either in heaven, in eternal bliss, with the Saviour and the
saints of God, or in that terrible abyss of hell where the devil
and all his angels forever and ever. No grey areas in the things
of God. Very clear. And yet the devil
endeavours to turn us away from the reality of the truth of God,
to try and convince us we must concentrate much and the things
of this world and give little attention to the things of God. My friends, may it be the complete
reverse. So the things of God have the
total priority in our life and the things of time which vanish
away may take second place. Oh may God give us that grace
and today may we therefore go on our way recognising the truth
of what James tells us here where, as ye know not what shall be
on the morrow, but what is your life? It is even a vapour that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Well, may
we be ready when that time shall come and may we be ready to go
and to be, as the Apostle said, with Christ, which is far better. Amen.