Turn to James chapter one, James
chapter one. I changed my mind. I want to
read all eight verses, beginning verses there. We'll be addressing
verse five through eight, but. It says, James, a servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith work of patience. But let patience have her perfect
work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavers is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not
that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. Now, in our last study, we saw
that the life of the child of God is a life of temptation,
that being trials and tribulation. What does that mean? I don't
want to wear that word out, but I want to just get you on a train
of thought that maybe it'll help all of us. What does that mean? a life of trials and tribulations
to the believer I'm talking about now. It's what we, by our own depraved
natures, would call or consider a life of trouble, a life of
worry, anxiety, burdens, affliction, adversity, hardship. Tragedy, trauma, difficulty,
problems, misfortune, suffering, distress, misery, wretchedness,
just plain old unhappy, sad, full of heartache. and grief,
and even pain. That is the life of a believer. James said in verse two, that
we should count it all joy when we fall into these trials. And he stated why we should do
so. These trials and temptations
and these struggles are trials of faith. That's what this book
is all about, James. I had the wrong conception of
it for most of my life. It's a book about faith. It's
a book that promotes faith, not works. Everyone mistakes this
book to be a book that presents works as a necessary thing. No
place in this book does it say that our salvation comes by any
work. These struggles and trials of
faith, for that reason, because they are struggles of faith,
these trials, They have to do with the object of faith. Now
think about that. What is the object of faith?
Faith, just not some puff of smoke out here that we call faith. Faith has an object and it's
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that means that the design of these God-ordained trials is
to bring us to lay at the feet of our sovereign Lord, all of
them, all of them. He sends these things to wean
us from the world and teach us not to murmur and complain against
His providence. I was thinking this morning, you
remember the woman that had the issue of blood, a menses problem. She bled continually. She had
it for 12 years. She, I picture this, sneaked
up. She sneaked up behind Christ
and touched the border That's the lowest part of his robe,
and she was crawling. So many people around, she couldn't
get to him walking. She crawled in between everybody's
legs. And she got to him, and she touched the hem of his garment,
and immediately, her issue of blood stopped. And Christ said, who touched
me? Who touched me? And when everybody
denied it, Peter said to him, Lord, there's a whole throng
here around you. They're pressing against you,
following you, bumping up against you. Why would you ask who touched
you? He said, somebody touched me.
That's exactly what he said. Somebody touched me. because
I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. That word virtue is
our word for dynamite, dunamis. Dynamite has gone out of me.
And when the woman discovered that she'd been caught, she came
to him, fell down in front of him, and declared unto him and
all the people what cause she had touched him and how she had
been healed immediately. And this is what our Lord said
to her. He said, daughter, be of good comfort. Your faith,
your faith has made you whole. Her problem, her trial, her temptation,
her suffering, her pain, her anxiety, and all those things
forced her, brought her, lured her to the Lord Jesus Christ,
His person, His person. Keep that in mind as we go further. Today, The
passage that we consider here addresses the fact that when
these trials come, the believer sometimes, if not always, has
questions. That woman had been to a dozen
physicians. None of them could help her.
She did everything that with her own flesh and her own mind
that she thought might help her, she tried. Her last straw was
going to Christ. That's where the Lord brings
us. That's where the Lord brings us. We always, most always, have questions. And sadly, we're born to natural,
free will, works religion. And our questions often reveal
that we're not completely done with works. Why me? Why did this happen to
me? What have I done? We wonder what
we've done wrong in the past that has brought such judgment
upon us. Now, that word I used intentionally,
judgment upon us, but that thinking is wrong. It's just wrong on
a lot of levels. Let's look for a minute at what
that really means. First of all, thinking that some
sin that we committed in the past caused our trial, what we
call judgment, is to think that we have no sin in the present. I did that way back then. What
happened now? Well, I've been, I'm not sinning
now. Is that arrogance or what? Second
of all, that sort of reasoning reveals that we're in unbelief
concerning the truth that all our judgment was finished in
the suffering of Christ. That's not judgment. That's not
That's not even a consideration. And thirdly, such thinking indicates
that we just might be able to undo the trial that we're enduring
by some good admirable deed that we might do now. In other words,
reform. And the fact is that these trials
are necessary. It's called medicine for our
souls. At least I call it that. And the language used in verse
four, if you'll look at it, let patience have her perfect
work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. When
are we going to be perfect and entire? Ask yourself questions when you
read these words. When we shed this flesh, when
we leave it in the grave, that's when we're going to be perfect
and entire. And in the meantime, we grow in grace and in knowledge. We're in a fight to keep the
faith. We feel a need to understand. And the amazing thing is in our
fleshly, what should be termed our fleshly need to understand
things that are happening to us and what we're enduring and
what we're going through and all that stuff is, our need to understand is shown
in His compassion, in our Lord's compassion and understanding
He says these words, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God. Kid says, why? Daddy says, because
I said so. That's not what our Lord does.
That's not what he does. He says, if you lack wisdom,
ask of God. Now the context of these words
indicates that the wisdom that is lacked here and to be asked
for is not a general wisdom such as what's required to get an
MBA at some university. That's not the wisdom this is
talking about. It's wisdom specific to the trial
of faith that one believer is going through, a believer is
going through. The wisdom of God alone can give
an answer to this. It'll bring us to rejoice and
count it a joy when we fall into these temptations and it teaches
us patience as we've already seen. Now folks might stop there,
stop here with just the first part of verse five, but our Lord
goes on. to quantify what it is to ask
for wisdom. First, notice the gracious statement
that God gives to seeking saints. It's a promise and it's full
of mercy and grace. God declares that he'll give
this wisdom liberally. Look at it. Verse five, John
Gill, said that that word liberally in verse five means readily,
at once, and cheerfully, largely, and abundantly, liberally, with an open hand
and in a very extensive manner, not grudgingly, sparingly. The believer can count on that.
In the time of designated temptation or trial, if he asks for this
wisdom, God will give it freely and immediately. And second of
all, God will never hold them asking for this wisdom against
them. In verse six, it says, he upbraideth
not. That means that even though our
asking suggests weakness and ignorance, our gracious and all
wise God will never charge you or reproach you for asking. This is a true comfort to us
who believe that God's absolutely sovereign because we often think
that asking God during times of trouble is the same as questioning
or murmuring against him in his providence. And verse six puts
that idea to rest. He upbraideth not. The rest of
the passage is a distinction concerning what this wisdom is
and the way it's to be asked for. There must be a right way to
ask because verse six begins with the conjunction but in verse
six. And that suggests that seeking
for wisdom can be done in the wrong way. I guess that means
there's a right way and a wrong way. The one who asked must ask
for this wisdom in faith. Verse six, let him ask in faith. Desiring Christ and the things
of Christ, when he asks, he must ask believing, trusting in Christ,
and nothing wavering. That stipulation gives us a true
understanding of that wisdom that's sought. The word wavering
suggests doubt or judgment. and to not waver is to be centered
in our understanding concerning the source of the trial. The Lord further restricts with
the word nothing. That means that whatever wisdom is sought,
allows for no other wisdom that can be, and there can be no additions
to it. The wisdom sought here is the
wisdom of God. Let him ask God. The Lord restricts that word using nothing. And that means
that whatever wisdom is sought, allows for no other wisdom and
the wisdom sought is the only answer to bring you to understanding
your trial. A believer that wavers is like
the waves of the sea. Verse six, tossed about and driven
by the wind. That word wind is important because
in scripture, it's most often representative of God's spirit.
There's a verse over in Isaiah 40, it says this, the voice said,
cry, that's a preacher. And he, the preacher said, what
shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
withereth and the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord
blows upon it, the wind. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord
shall stand forever, showing that the wind is a metaphor for
God's Spirit. Notice the things that are connected
with the Spirit here. The preacher's told to preach.
What I just read, the preacher is told to preach and what he
preaches is the word of the Lord. And Isaiah is teaching us that
the spirit blows upon men with the word spoken through the preacher. Now, clearly the language of
our text suggests that the wind tosses and drives men to ask
for wisdom. You see that? while wavering in faith is not
the word of the Lord, but it's another word. Paul admonished
that in Ephesians. He said, we henceforth be no
more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. And again, we're shown the exclusiveness of that wisdom
that's to be asked for. If a person, in verse seven,
if a person also, or asks, if a person asks wavering, the Lord
guarantees that he'll receive nothing from the Lord. This verse is still centered
in the context now. It's not a general statement
that might include temporal things such as riches or honor among
men, status and such, but it concerns the wisdom that's being
sought here. Wisdom from God concerning your
trial or temptation. If you don't seek the only wisdom
that God gives, you'll receive nothing. That's to paraphrase
it. And clearly you won't receive
this wisdom liberally and without reproach. Later on, James says, you ask,
but you ask amiss. The final restriction is the
true nature of asking wisdom, wavering, while wavering. It's
to be double-minded, verse eight. A double-minded man is unstable
in all his way. They speak vanity every one with
his neighbor, listen to this, with flattering lips and with
a double heart do they speak. The light of the body is the
eye and therefore thine eye be single. If thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be
evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that's in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? The
only way to be double-minded, not to be double-minded, is to
be single-minded. Is that profound or what? But we are naturally double-minded. Think about it. Because Adam,
as our federal head, opted to add, he had single knowledge. He was a righteous man. He was
upright and perfect. And he opted to give up his single knowledge
of good to add that second knowledge, which is of evil. Good and evil. Since then, all of us have been
afflicted with the death he suffered, knowing good and evil. Does that
make sense? We're double-minded. We will
depend on the flesh until God draws us, gives us life, gives
us faith, and the mind to trust Him spiritually. A spiritual
rebirth, a new man, Christ in you, the hope of glory. But you
still got that flesh that you got from Adam, that depraved
nature, and you'll fight it all of your believing life. All of us have been afflicted
with that malady. Paul described it. He said, I
find in a law that when I would do good, evil's present with
me. That's the conflict, new man, old man. But I see another
law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. That simply means that the wisdom
that's asked for can't come from inside of us. It's not our logic, not our answer,
not what we think is right. It's what God says. The wisdom
required can't involve our participation. It doesn't come from us. This
wisdom is Singular, this wisdom is the wisdom of God. Follow
me here. It must be sought in faith and
this wisdom comes from outside of us. It gives us understanding
of our trials and it allows us to count it all joy when we fall
into divers temptations. This wisdom is the object of
our faith. This wisdom is Christ. The wisdom spoken of here means
Christ. Let him ask of God if any man
lack wisdom. James 3.17 says, but the wisdom
that's from above is pure. That's where that wisdom has
to come from. Then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. First Corinthians, Paul said,
but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, the stumbling
block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom. and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Christ is made of God to all
of his people, wisdom as well as righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Let him ask Christ. Let him ask of God. Christ is
God's gift and God is bound by his covenant promises. bound
by His covenant promises and Christ by His oneness with the
Father and with His people to be the strength of His people.
That's where our strength is. And in our weakness, we are strongest
in faith. The triune God has promised to
be their portion forever. Think on that for a minute. God's
faithfulness in his covenant promises is engaged to all of
this. Again, we're commanded to count
it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations and trials.
That's plain and positive assurance that the end of all trials must
be a blessed ending. If it's true, and it is, that
a child of God is to rejoice in the trial, it must be from
the love of God that is brought into it, that he's brought into
it, because God loved us. Think of the love of your child
in chastening them, guiding them, giving them direction. God manifests
his love in bringing us, his children, to the trial. Those whom the Lord loves, he
chastens. God manifests his love in carrying
them through it. Christ, the wisdom of God, is
sure to be with them in every part of it. And God's glory and
His child's happiness is the final result that He'll bring
out of it. You say, how's that so? It's
because He's promised. Everything's gonna be all right.
In the end, listen now, in the end, God is
glorified when this wisdom is given. Christ is honored. Satan is subdued and the child
of God is brought into conformity to Christ's image and he's made
more than conqueror through him and our strength is perfected
in weakness. In weakness we find the wisdom
that brings a consciousness of our daily need of Christ, just
like we have to have our daily bread. And let's seek the grace
to seek Christ in these situations. Finding that wisdom, we shall
then be able with the Apostle James, upon every occasion of
trial, to sing the same song. Thanks be unto God who always
causes us to triumph in Christ. in the midst of trial, ask for this wisdom and faith.
That's what James is saying. Don't waver. The understanding
that you'll receive is that this happened for the gospel's sake
and your good, our good. We ought to be the happiest people
on the face of this earth. We ought to be the happiest people
on the face of this earth. The end of all our trials will
be our presence with Christ, perfectly conformed to His image,
to serving, to worship Him forever in a new heaven and a new earth.
Who else has that to look forward to besides His children? Last of all, remember this. The
Lord said, and I love this, for a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little
wrath, I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on you. saith the Lord, my Redeemer. It's the Lord. Let him do what
seems good in his sight.