We'll take your Bibles and turn
with me to James. James chapter 1. We'll look at verses 1 through
6 this morning. James chapter 1 verses 1 through
6. The title of the message is God's
wisdom in our trials. God's wisdom in our trials. James says that he is a servant
of God, a slave of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he
is writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad with a greeting. And he said, my brethren, believers
in Christ, Count it all joy when you fall into different or diverse
temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. Joy of trials. This is completely opposite of
human nature. Our human nature is automatically
opposed to difficulty. We are automatically opposed
to anything that opposes us or our desires. So when these trials,
believers, when these trials and difficulties do come, The scripture says, reckon it,
count it up as all joy. All joy. Why is it that believers are
to count their trials and difficulties as joy? Well, first of all, because
they are sent of our Father. These trials and difficulties
are not accidents. These trials and difficulties
may be the result of our sin. They may be the result of what
we have done if we have fallen away like Lot had fallen away. Surely, he had great difficulty. But we know this, that the sovereignty
of God overrules all things for good. For good. We know that all things
are good for those who love God. Is that what it says? It says
all things work together for our good. So all things work
together for our good. They don't necessarily They don't necessarily seem good
at the time they are happening. But they do work together for
our good. And this requires us to believe
and trust God in our trials. And know this, that God is not
trying us because He is a mean tyrant or that He is like us. Because that's what we would
do. We would have men tried because of our own pride. Or we would
have men into difficulties to teach them a lesson. How many
times have we tried to teach people lessons? Well, I'm just
going to show them. Well, God doesn't do that. Our
trials are on purpose and they're for a good reason. James says,
when you fall into different trials, you should rejoice because
knowing this, that the trying of your faith works something,
it does something, it gives us something. What does the trial
of our faith give us? It gives us patience. Patience. Tribulation, in Romans chapter
5, it tells us plainly, tribulation worketh what? Patience. What good is patience? Why do
I need patience? Tribulation worketh patience
and patience. Let's go over there. I don't
want to misquote it. Go to Romans chapter 5. Let's read it together.
I don't want to misquote it. Romans chapter 5, verse 3, And not only so, But
we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience. You who have been believers for
a long time, is this not so? Has tribulation worked patience
with you? And with patience comes what?
Experience. We've experienced time and time
again the Word of God. The Word of God. We've experienced
His Word to be what? True and faithful. And experience hope. Hope does not mean a wish. It's
not, gee, I hope so. No. Hope means a rock solid confidence. Does anybody desire to have confidence? Assurance? I do. I long to have assurance. Well,
guess how it comes. It comes by tribulation. It comes
through patience while in the tribulation. And when God delivers
us out, we have what? We have an experience of deliverance. And with that experience comes
confidence, rock solid assurance, not in ourselves, not in our
strength, but in our God. One thing about it I know concerning
myself is I don't believe God like I should. I don't trust
God like I should. He is worthy of trust. If anybody
is worthy of trust, God is. And yet, who gets the short end
of the stick when it comes to trust? Our Lord. So when you fall into different
troubles, know this, it is the trying of your faith. The trying of your faith. And
hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts. Back over in our text, James
says, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. What does he tell us to do in the middle of this trial
as this patience is working? He said, let patience have her
perfect work. Oh, do you kick against your trials? Are we always struggling to get
out so quickly by human thought and reason? Well, if I can maneuver this,
then I will get out of this trouble. And sure enough, when you do
that, there's only more trouble to be found. Let it alone. You're in trouble. Look to God alone. Trust in the Lord to get us out
of our trouble. And friends, as we do this, as
we let patience have our perfect work, that you be perfect and
entire. What does that mean? That you
become sinless? Absolutely not. What that means is you grow up.
Grow up. Who is so spiritually mature
that they don't need spiritual growth? Who? None of us. None of us have obtained unto
the perfection that awaits us in glory. None of us have obtained
unto such holiness or righteousness. None of us have obtained the
spiritual maturity as of an infant that dies in infancy. Once he
is ushered into heaven, he has more spiritual maturity than
a person who has been here a hundred years believing. We all have
room for spiritual growth. I didn't say adding doctrine.
We don't add new doctrines. We don't add new things to the
work of Christ. We just grow in what is already
there. What God has already created,
it grows. It grows. And it grows through
this matter of troubles. And what is the result then of
a person who lets patience have her perfect work, growing in
the grace and knowledge of God? What do we become? Wanting nothing. I want to be content with such
things as I have. Let patience have her perfect
work. In the midst of our troubles,
let us trust God in all things. And in believing God, we shall
want for nothing. Have you lacked anything that
is good? You are believers. Is there anything
that you can say, well God, you know that, you kept that from
me. No. Usually we've taken what
doesn't belong to us, what God has told us not to take, and
which caused us nothing but trouble ever since. So we can only blame
ourselves for those things. But friends, God is good and
what God has given us. And think of the good things
that even out of our evil, God is still bestowing good things. How gracious is that? Because
I'll tell you, none of us would do that. Only God would do such things. And then He says in verse 5,
if any of you lack wisdom. Who needs wisdom? Who needs wisdom? Is anyone lacking
in wisdom? You in the midst of your suffering,
are you lacking in wisdom? We who are believers in Christ,
Listen to this, you never lack grace. That's good. I am never going
to lack in the grace of God. Now, I may feel like I am, but
that's not so. I have the full, unmerited favor
of Almighty God, and I've had it from eternity, I have it now,
and I shall forevermore have the grace of God. I'll never
lack it one bit. Believers in Christ, though we never lack the grace
of God, yet in our experience we often lack wisdom, discernment. We lack in wisdom of the grace
of God. I never lack the grace of God,
but sometimes I don't fully see. I don't fully apply the grace
of God in true wisdom. We lack understanding. Now, we
know Christ is all our salvation. We know we've experienced the
grace of God and we understand that Christ, the Son of God,
is all our righteousness. His blood is all our atonement.
He is all our salvation. We know that He is risen again
from the dead. We know that He is seated on
the right hand of God. We know that He will call all
of His elect to Himself by faith. We know that He shall keep us.
until we die and go to be with Him, or He comes and receives
us first, whichever it is. We know these things. You know
these things. We all know them. But do we fully
know them? Have you reached a level to where
you do not need more understanding or wisdom of these things? We do not fully understand what
we believe to be true. Isn't that correct? God says
many things about himself that I don't understand. Do you understand
the Trinity? No. I believe. in the triune
God? I don't fully understand it.
Do you understand the transaction that Jesus took on the cross
when He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God Him? Do you fully understand
that transaction? No. I believe it. I don't understand
it. So there's a lot of things we
don't understand that we believe. But I want to know more of these
things. I want to understand them more
fully. Though we've been given the righteousness
of God, though we've been given the wisdom
of God by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, how do you believe? How is it that you know these
things? Is it not because God has opened
this wisdom to you? Has it because not God gave you
this wisdom? If you believe on Christ, the
wisdom of God is given to you. It is given to you. Yet, because
we still dwell in this earthly frame, we are easily perplexed. We are easily cast down. We are easily discouraged when
these trials of our faith arise. And what is the question? What
do we do? We have wisdom. But we're so
easily... Wisdom is easily set aside by
our circumstances or by things. We understand God's sovereign,
and yet we complain when everything doesn't go our way. Is that wisdom? To complain against
God? No. We need wisdom. We need to be
given wisdom to make right judgments and discernments. We need the
wisdom of God. We need to look to the wisdom
of God instead of looking at our circumstance. Instead of
trusting in our own flesh, instead of trusting man, we should be
trusting the Word of God. as opposed to trusting earthly
wisdom? How often do we put ourselves
in great peril trusting our feelings? I feel, therefore I do. And where does that get us? Great
trouble. Great trouble. So, if any of
you lack wisdom, am I talking to you? Because I'm talking to
me. When I prepare these things,
I think me first. Believe me. I'm talking to me
before I'm talking to you. Does any of us lack wisdom? You
bet. Right here. I'm number one. Get
in line. Okay? I'm number one. I lack wisdom. If any of them
lack wisdom, where do we go? Where do we go for guidance?
Where do we go to make these discernments? Scripture is clear,
if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. James tells us, ask
of God. Only God can give us true enduring
wisdom and only God can cause us to grow in this wisdom. Only
God can give us this wisdom. The wisdom of God, friends, is
immutable. It's unchangeable. It doesn't
change with time. So if you're in trouble, and
you see a new way out, don't take it! God's wisdom is old
wisdom. It's the same wisdom as given
to Abel. It was the same wisdom that was
given to Abraham. It was the same wisdom that Solomon
had. It's the same wisdom that you
and I are given by the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of God is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It is faith in Christ alone. How can we weather any storm? Grab hold of Christ and don't
let go. Hang on by faith to Christ. Look
to Christ. He is God's wisdom. He is the wisdom of God. Believer, God has given us His
wisdom. But how is it that we knew that
Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God? The Word of God. The Word of
God. This is how we know wisdom, is
by the Word of God. And what does the Word of God
tell us about wisdom? Where do we begin? If we desire
wisdom, where do you begin? Where do you start? Let him ask
of God. How does it start? Asking for
wisdom and receiving wisdom. Well, you know this. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Start there. The fear of the Lord. Ask of God for wisdom. How? In godly fear. In godly fear. In other words, come with humility. If any man is to ask of wisdom
of God, he must come in great humility. Because that's the beginning. If you don't start here, you
don't get wisdom. You must come to God as you are,
a sinner in need of grace. A sinner in need of mercy from
the everlasting Almighty, All-Holy God. You and I need mercy from
God. And if we're to have wisdom,
it must be in reverential fear. We come before God and ask for
mercy to give us such wisdom. If we lack wisdom, let us ask
of God in humility. And notice this. Let him ask of God that giveth
to all. God giveth wisdom to all who
ask. To all who ask for wisdom. If we lack wisdom, ask of God
and He will give it to us. How? By His Holy Spirit that
dwells in us. The Lord said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. And so when we ask for wisdom,
we are never to trust our flesh. We are never to trust the arm
of flesh, it'll fail us. We should never seek the wisdom
of God by feelings or emotions to guide us, unless it is in
direct correlation with the Word of God. How many times have somebody
said, well, I'm just trusting God for this. Do you have a promise? Is it in accordance with the
Word of God? Because that's not wisdom. To just throw your hands in the
air, trust your emotions and run with it, that is not wisdom. That is not waiting on the Lord
to give you wisdom. That's pride. It's assumption and it's foolishness.
Some people say, well, I feel that God would have me lie so
this thing will get out and get out of this trouble. We know
that's foolishness. Some people say, well, I'm saved
by grace. I'm just going to use this liberty just for an occasion
to get me out of my troubles. That's not wisdom. Paul said, Shall I sin that grace
may abound? God forbid. God forbid. No matter our excuse, sin is
not an acceptable way out of difficulty. John said, my little
children, sin not. But immediately after, I'm so
thankful he said, when you sin. Not if. That word if is better
translated when. He said, when you sin. We have
an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous. Wisdom
begins with reverence to God. With humility. Humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God and He will, when? In due time,
exalt you. When is that? I don't know. In
His time. In His time. In Proverbs 3, it tells us, trust
in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to thine own understanding,
but in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy
paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. You see that those
are two opposing things? Being wise in your own eyes and
fearing the Lord? You can't have both. We must humble ourselves before
God and ask for wisdom. Ask for His mercy. And depart from all evil. And it shall be held to thy navel
and marrow to thy bones. How then are we to ask for such
wisdom? Well, in prayer. In prayer, considering
the generosity of God. Believer, how generous has God
been? How generous has He been to you? Will He cease to be generous?
Will He cease to be gracious? No. Go before your Father in
humility and ask for wisdom. Ask for wisdom. Ask concerning the gracious,
considering the graciousness of God. Proverbs chapter 8 says, Wisdom
standeth at the top of high places by the way of the places of the
paths. She crieth at the gates at the entry of the city, at
the coming in of the doors. Wisdom cries even this morning
to your hearts. Wisdom cries because wisdom is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the wisdom of God. So when we ask for wisdom, what
are we asking for? To know our Savior. To trust our Lord. To believe on Him. To rest. Isn't that strange how
it says in Hebrews, labor to enter into His rest? You know
why? Because it's hard. We're constantly having to throw
off the works of this flesh. Constantly having to put off
the old man to rest in his work. To rest. Jesus Christ is the
wisdom of God as to how God can be just and justify you. There's
no wisdom in your doing. There's wisdom in His work that
has been done. Meditate on it. think of the
wisdom of God it took to save us. None of us could have ever
figured this out. None of us could have ever planned
such a salvation. None of us could have ever had
a salvation that was so wrapped up and sure as the salvation
that God has purposed from eternity, that He accomplished in time,
that He gave to us by faith in Christ, and that He keeps in
us right now. Why are you here? Why are you
still believing on Christ? It is because God keeps you. Christ is the wisdom of God. If you are a sinner without Christ,
let me tell you, I don't care how smart you are, you ain't
got any wisdom. You don't have any wisdom. Now, you may be a moral person,
you may have good earthly judgments, you may have a great marriage,
you may have a great successful life, you've earned your money,
you've diligently worked, and you've got a good reputation
of intelligence, even in the church. But friends, without
Christ, you're blind, ignorant, and stupid. Without Christ, you are nothing,
and you have nothing. And all your wisdom And all your
goodness will get you hell. And that's it. If any sinner desires to know
the wisdom of God and salvation, come humbly before God and ask. Ask. Ask of God. to give you faith to believe. Don't ask me. I can't give you
faith. Only God can give you faith.
Ask of Him to give you wisdom to see that Jesus Christ is all
your salvation. And you who believe, is it because
you were smarter than others? That you figured this out because
you were greater? No! I wasn't looking for it. I wasn't even asking for it.
God gave it to me. And now all I can do, all I want
to do is ask. That's all I want to do is ask.
And keep on asking. Lord, give me faith. I believe. Help thou mine. Lord, be Thou merciful to me,
the sinner." Constantly this is my prayer. This is not something
that I once did way back when. It's something I do every day.
I need His mercy and wisdom every day. What happens when you ask? When someone comes in humility,
someone comes as a sinner without wisdom, someone who comes seeking
faith from God, who seeks to know Christ, what happens to
such a person? We'll look at your text. If any
man lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men. How? Liberally. Liberally. Abundantly. So much that it overflows. I go to Thorntons, I like those
44 ounce big cups. Anybody that doesn't serve 44
ounces is a communist. I like those big old things.
But you know what I do when I get in there? I push that thing and
it comes in and I just wait until it just flows over. And then
I take a sip and I put it back on there and I push it again
just to make sure I've got enough. That's liberally! God gives wisdom
liberally, fully, abundant wisdom, saving wisdom, saving faith. Only God never stops pushing
the button. God never stops overflowing with
love and grace and forgiveness and mercy and kindness, generosity. All of the graces of God overflow
daily. And the only way we miss them
is if we keep our eyes and take our eyes off of Jesus Christ. How many times have we taken
our eyes off of Him to set them on some puny affectionate thing
in this world, all the while behind us the graces
are still And all the while, we've missed.
We've missed seeing them because we missed asking. He gives liberally. Believer, do you know that God
has given you all spiritual blessings in heavenly places? You haven't missed one of them.
There's not one blessing God's going to give that you miss out
on. As a matter of fact, He gave
them before the world began. Where? In Christ. In Christ. We who believe on
Jesus Christ have been given great wisdom. We've been able
to understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God. For God made
Christ to be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Can you measure the fullness
of Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God? Can you measure Him?
Can you measure His righteousness, His blood, how precious it was? Can you ever learn enough of
Christ? If God ever gives us enough to
fill this puny mind and heart so that it would explode, there
would be plenty more. Take a thimble of water out of
the ocean and you've got what does the ocean lack? Nothing.
Friends, if we are full to the brim with the knowledge of Christ,
we've only begun. We've only begun to understand
His mercy, His salvation. That He has taken all, that He
has all our salvation, all our wisdom to answer our guilt. You
feel guilt? You need wisdom. You need Christ
to answer your guilt. Our circumstances, our enemies,
and how often do we stand in need of the same wisdom over
and over because we forget. Who has forgotten Last week's
sermon. Not going to call. Not going
to ask you any questions, so don't be afraid. Because I would
probably forget more myself. And I wrote it. I preached it.
But we are just leaking all the time. And so we stand in need
of constant reminders. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. If you say, I don't need any
more wisdom, I got enough. Boy, something's wrong with you.
Your salvation is empty, pointless, and vain. I've had people say
that to me. I've had people say, that's enough.
I don't need to hear about sin anymore. I understand that. He doesn't know the wisdom of
God. If we say such things like that,
we are like the Laodicean church that says, I am rich and have
need of nothing. And what did Christ say about them? He said,
No, you know not that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind
and naked. Believers, if this is our condition,
listen, the Lord says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
This is not to an unbeliever. This is to a believer in Christ.
One who has life. One who professes faith in Christ.
Behold, I, the Lord Jesus Christ, says I stand at the door and
knock. If any man open the door, I will
come in and sup with him and he with me. This morning I was
eating my breakfast and I was thinking about one day I'll be
eating with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But right now, we have
a spiritual food, a spiritual communion that we should be engaged
in. Behold the generosity of our
God to give Christ to us who lack wisdom, who come to Him
in fear and humility. Let us repent of our dead works
and serve Him. You remember those guys who were
sad coming back on the road to Emmaus? And the Lord Jesus Christ
fellowshiped with them. He sat and ate with them. And
when He disappeared out of their sight, they said, did not our
hearts burn within us? I desire to have such fellowship. that my heart would burn, not
with an earthly passion that's up and down, but a constant,
steady love and faith in Christ. And so all who ask, He gives
it liberally. He gives us Christ. Behold today,
if you lack wisdom, cast off your deeds and ask. Ask and He
will give you Christ. How will He give Christ? freely. Freely. And notice this, "...and
abradeth not, and it shall be given to him." God does not abrade
us who lack wisdom and ask for it. This is not like us because once
we give instruction and people don't follow our instruction, When they come back to us all
wounded, what do we say? Told you so. I told you! I told you! I told you! I told you! You see
all this stuff you did? I told you it would happen to
you! The Lord doesn't do that. When God gives wisdom, He gives
it without abrading us. Without a rebuking voice. God does rebuke His children.
God chastens His children. But when His children turn and
ask, He doesn't mention their sins and iniquities anymore. The moment we ask, He embraces
us with full and free grace. He gives us wisdom. He gives it freely, like the
first time He gave it to you. The same time, next time you
come, He gives it the same way, by free and sovereign grace. Now lastly, let's apply this. Are you in a great trial? Do you stand in need of wisdom?
Yes. Have you taken your eyes off
of Christ? Have we become complacent and
content with the earthly things? We do often. If we are, then we are lacking
wisdom. We are lacking to look by faith
to Jesus Christ who is the believer's joy and strength and salvation. Believer forsake all and follow
Christ. Did our Lord not make that clear
to us? If any man hate not his father
and mother and sister and brother and yea his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple. The Lord Jesus must come first,
above everything else. And to those who come seeking
Him in this way, God gives generously. And He doesn't say, I told you
so. He gently embraces us and gives
us what we ask for. And this is obtained only by
faith. James says, but let him ask in
faith nothing wavering. And James is not talking about
faith in your faith that wavers. He is talking about faith in
God who does not waver. Does God waver? Does God move? Has His Word changed? Has His
grace changed? Has His love changed? No. God is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He has received us, He is receiving
us, and He shall receive us. He's made Christ our wisdom,
He gives us wisdom, and He'll continue to give us wisdom in
the midst of our troubles and trials. Because His Word is yes
and amen. His Word is yes and amen. I pray that God give you comfort.
If you lack wisdom, ask. You're in trouble. Seek God.
But trust in His Word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I know this, God will give it to you, and He gives it freely.