To endless ages ever to be nearer,
my Savior, still nearer to Thee. if you're still nearer to them. Thank you, Robin. Now go with me to the book of
James, chapter 3. The book of James, chapter 3. I've been looking forward to
this. This is a wonderful passage here. Let's read verses 13 through
18. James 3, verses 13 through 18. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
or life conduct his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye
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 envy and strife is,
there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that
is from above is first pure and peaceable, gentle, 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. The fruit of righteousness. That's the title of this message,
or it could be, Who is Wise? Wisdom from above, the fruit
of righteousness is sown in peace. It's a lovely and wonderful thought. Peace. Do you not love fruit? Fruit is perhaps the sweetest
and most delectable of all food known to man, isn't it? Perhaps the most beautiful and
certainly the most colorful and diverse. There are literally
thousands and thousands of variety of fruit. Fruit is such a beautiful
and glorious and clear show. of God's creative power and eternal
Godhead. Only God could make such a thing
as this. His eternal handiwork. Fruit. It's wholesome. It's nutritious.
It's pleasant and pleasurable. It's luscious to the taste and
the smell. It's gorgeous to behold. And
I'm talking about Christ. fruit of His righteousness. I started studying this, that
fruit, and it made me start wanting a piece of fruit. So I went to
my refrigerator down there and found one of those Texas ruby
red grapefruits. It is beautiful and wonderful. But this passage is talking about
Christ who is wisdom and the fruit of his righteousness. This
passage is also talking about Christ and his people, and it's
an exhortation to sow this peace that brings this fruit of righteousness.
Now, don't you love fruit? And if you love the Lord Jesus
Christ, you love His salvation. The Lord God does. It says He
is well pleased for His righteousness. And we have peace with God because
of Christ. Peace which He sowed. Peace which
He made. Scripture says the righteous
Lord loveth righteousness. He loveth righteousness. Over
500 times the word righteousness is in Scripture. The kingdom
of God is in righteousness and peace and joy of the Holy Ghost. He said in Isaiah 65, I create
new heavens and a new earth. He said rejoice in what I create.
Peter said it's going to be a place where he indwelleth righteousness. And that is the opposite, people,
of everything wrong. Righteousness simply means everything
that's right. All that's good. All that's sweet
as opposed to everything bitter. Righteousness. Love as opposed
to hate. Holiness as opposed to sin and
iniquity. Don't you love the sound of it?
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. His name is called
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness. Some of you know
what that means. And surely shall one say, more
than one, there is one, in the Lord have I righteousness. He
is made unto us wisdom, righteousness. Christ is the wisdom of God and
the power of God. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness
imputed to us. Christ in His people is their
beauty. The beauty of holiness, the righteousness
imparted to them. All right, look at verse 13.
Who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you? Let him
show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
Now, that's Christ, isn't it? He was truly that wise man who
showed a good conversation and meekness of wisdom. Now this
is a good statement, folks, this meekness of wisdom. Our Lord
said, You take My yoke upon You and learn of Me, for I am meek. Meek and lowly in heart. Meekness
means submission and subjection to God's will and God's Word. And this is wisdom. Because it's
foolish to live for yourself. And it's foolish to say there's
no God. And it's foolish to fight God.
And foolish to try to go about our own way and not seek His
way. It's foolish. Christ said, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. I am meek. And lowly, meek doesn't
mean weak. It just means in submission.
Meekness of wisdom. Who among you, James is writing
to us, who among you is a wise man? Who among you is a wise
man? Read verses 14 through 16 with
me again. If you have bitter envy and strife
in your hearts, glory not. and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, not from God, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Where envy
and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. Here is what
my pastor said about this. Everyone likes to think they
are wise and knowledgeable. No one considers themselves a
fool. But if you would prove yourself to be truly wise, Let
it be in conduct, in conversation. And that's not just a single
act or two, but it's a course of living that's in keeping with
the Word of God, a spirit of humility, peace and love. It's
a daily godliness, words seasoned with grace, an attitude of humility
and love. These are evidence of spiritual
wisdom. But he says if you have bitter envy and jealousy and
strife and contention in your hearts and it comes out of our
mouths, Don't glory in knowledge or don't glory in the wisdom
we say we have. That's just head knowledge. It's
a lie. It's a lie. It's contrary to the truth. And this kind of wisdom, verse
15 says, It's not from God, this so-called wisdom. God didn't
give that to you. It's earthly. It's carnal. It's
unspiritual. It's of the devil. That's what
it is. And he says, you can be sure
when our attitude and words create strife and confusion and division
among the brethren, when we speak envy and bitterness and selfishness,
it's not the wisdom of God. Where wise men are, there's love,
mercy, and peace. Where envy and strife is, there's
just confusion and every evil work. That's a good definition
of it. That's a good definition. But
now, the wisdom that's from above, the wisdom that's from above,
that says is pure. First, it's pure, peaceable,
gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, good fruits, without
partiality, without hypocrisy, wisdom from above. That's Christ.
Wisdom. Christ said, I am from above.
You are beneath. And He is pure, isn't He? Pure
means unmixed, perfect in His undiluted holiness and righteousness. Scripture says he's holy, harmless,
separate from sinners, undefiled, pure. In him is no sin. Pure. Peaceable. The next thing
says it, wisdom is peaceable. That's Christ. The word peaceable
means, and you'll like this, the word pacific. Pacify, pacific. I don't know why somebody gave
the Pacific Ocean that name. It can be anything but peaceful. But Pacific or a pacifier, able
to make peace. We give our little children these
pacifiers. Still a troubled child, Christ
is peaceable, able to give peace to the most troubled soul and
troubled heart. Able to make peace by the blood
of His cross. Gentle, verse 7, gentle. Oh my, a true gentle man, gentle,
tender, kind, soothing, courteous, pitiful and courteous. Because
of his peaceable, gentle nature, he's able to subdue anger and
hatred. Gentle. Gentle. Gentle Lord. Gentleness is a fruit of the
Spirit in Galatians 5. Look at the next thing. Easy
to be entreated. I like this. Easy to be entreated. That means easy to approach to. Our Lord said, Come unto me,
all that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Remember
back in chapter 1 where he said, if you lack wisdom, ask. Come
to God and ask. He gives liberally and upbraideth
not. He won't turn you away. Easy
to be entreated. Easy to plead with. Have you
ever approached somebody you needed a favor from and they
acted like they were reluctant to do it? Like you were imposing
upon them? That's not easy to be entreated.
Have you ever tried to make peace with someone who didn't want
peace? Our Lord is the opposite of that. He's ready to pardon. Easy to be entreated. Easy to
be entreated. Easy to plead with. Easy to ask
favors of. He delights to show mercy. Easy
to ask favors of. He's ready to help. Ready to
pardon. Willing and a cheerful giver.
And He gives grace, and He gives more grace. And He won't let
it break. Easy to be intrigued. I like that. Full of mercy and
good fruits. Full. Full. Not with measure. We have a measure
of mercy. He's full. Mercy full. Full of mercy. without measure,
a spirit full of good fruits, love, joy, peace, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, longsuffering, full, full. You need any of that? He says,
come and I'll give it to you. Full, peaceable, and gentle,
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit without
partiality. Without partiality, our Lord
said, whosoever believeth on Me shall have everlasting life,
hath everlasting life. If any man thirsts, it doesn't
matter who it is, rich, poor, young, old, black, white, it
doesn't matter, male, female, in Christ there is no such thing.
Come unto Me, all ye that labor. Without partiality, come unto
Me. Oh, without hypocrisy. With how
hypocrisy. Anyone ever told you they love
you and want peace and want to be your friend and all that stuff,
and you know they don't mean a word of it? Not him. What he says, he means. He's
honest. He's just. He's true. He's sincere. Greater love hath no man than
this. Come unto me, he said, without
hypocrisy. And verse 18 says, And the fruit
of righteousness, his, is sown in peace. of them, or rather
Him, that maketh peace. The fruit of righteousness is
sown in peace by the Lord Jesus Christ, who made peace for us
by the blood of His cross. His sinless life was well-pleasing
to God, and He imputed that to His people. And now we are accepted in the
Beloved. The Lord is well-pleased for
His righteousness. And he charged that to our account. And the sacrifice of his life,
his substitutionary death, gives us peace with God. By his death,
our sins were punished. By His blood, by His sinless
blood, by Him walking the winepress of God's wrath, we have peace
with God, for He is our peace. Listen to this in Isaiah 32,
verse 17. And if you're not hearing this
message, get the tape and go back. Because the effect of this is
peace. If you just trust Him, if you
believe Him, it says in Isaiah 32, 17, ìThe work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever.î Christ said, ìI made peace by the blood of
my cross.î Trust Me, and youíll have peace. He said, ìMy peace
I give unto you.î My peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto
you." And of His fruits, of His fruits, we have peace and righteousness. You know, perhaps the most glorious
of all fruit is the grape. Go with me to John 15. By chance, it's by design, the
grape, the vine, the grapes. I've learned something about
grapes over the years. Do you know how many varieties
of grapes there are? And we're talking about Christ
here, His infinite attributes and characteristics and beauty.
Christ, His fruit, the fruit of His righteousness, His fruits.
Do you know how many varieties there are? over 10,000. That's
just one fruit. Evolution? I don't think so. And why are there so many? Because
it's such a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are 75 to
100 grapes in one cluster. I grow grapes. And it's the most
marvelous thing. It's just bursting with flavor
and moisture. 600 to 800 grapes and one bottle
of wine and one vine generally produces Twelve bottles of wine. One vine usually produces twelve
bottles of wine. That's by design. Oh my, what
the Lord produced through His twelve apostles. Wine, grapes,
luscious, glorious, crushed, the blood of those grapes produces
what? Wine. Wine that maketh glad the heart.
All of this is a picture of Christ. His righteousness. He said in
verse 1 of John 15, I am the true vine. My Father is the husbandman
who planted me in this earth. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, that is every professor, that's what James is talking
about, that doesn't bear fruit, that's full of envy and strife
and all of this, He taketh away. Every branch though that beareth
fruit, He purgeth it, pruneth it. Trieth it, purgeth it, that
it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you,
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. But without me, you
can do nothing. If a man abides not in me, not
in Christ, just in religion or in a profession or just knowledge
in our head and not Christ in our heart, he's cast forth as
a branch and is withered. Men gather them, cast them into
the fire. That's the angels gathering the
nautilus and they're burned. If you abide in me, And my words
abide in you. Ye shall ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit." All right, now let's talk about us,
because that's who James is writing to. All right? Christ must have
the preeminent, and I gave it to him, didn't I? He is this
wisdom from above. But now James is also talking
to his people. Christ in you, the hope of glory. You in him, like a bottle in
smoke. James is writing of Christ and
his people. Or as John said, as he is, so
are we. Now, in this world, I know it
doth not yet appear what we shall be. But behold, brethren, now are
we the sons of God. Now, right now. And he says this
fruit of righteousness and this wisdom and all comes from Christ
in you. Okay? Our Lord said you don't
bear it of yourself. You can't produce this of yourself.
You cannot. Alright? Who is wise? Who is
wise? He said. Who's endued with knowledge
from on high? Hadn't James been saying this?
Show me. Show me. But if you have all of this bitter
envy and strife, no, Christ doesn't dwell in you. That's carnal. That's devilish. And that's just,
it's not of God, he said. But now, verse 17, the wisdom
that's from above is first pure, pure. Wisdom from above, out
of the heart, the mouth speaks. The heart made pure. Now are
you pure through obeying the truth? That heart entertains
thoughts of God, pure thoughts of sovereign grace, sovereign
mercy, the truth, not mixed, pure, good thoughts. Out of the
mouth, out of the heart, the mouth speaketh accordingly, peaceable. Peaceable? That's the opposite
of strife. Men who desire peace speak peacefully. Didn't our Lord say in the Sermon
on the Mount, blessed are the peacemakers. Fruit of peace is
a righteousness sown in peace by them that make peace. Blessed
are the peacemakers. They're called the children of
God. Peaceable. Gentle? Mild, courteous,
kind, patient. Even, he says, if we contend
for the truth, we're still not to be cruel and hard, but gentle. Gentleness is the fruit of the
Spirit. It's an attribute of Christ and also His servant.
Easy to be entreated. Willing to listen. Willing to
listen to reason. It doesn't, 1 Corinthians 13
say, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
It's kind, kind, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy.
Oh, those that have obtained mercy. Show mercy. Yes, sir. If not,
it's a lie. Show mercy. Full of mercy. And
good fruits. Love. Our Lord said back there
in John 15, He said, this is the fruit, number one. What's
the first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, verse 22? The
first fruit? Love. And that's what our Lord said
first in John 15. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved
you. Continue in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you'll abide in my love. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you, and your joy might be
full. And this is my commandment for your joy and for your peace
and for peace all around you, that you love one another as
I love you. And the fruit of righteousness
will be sown. Love, fruits, good fruits, without
partiality, without bias, without prejudice of self and family
and, you know, partiality. We just read about partiality
to those that can do you favors. Oh, no. No, no, no. This is without
partiality. No respecter of persons. It reaches
out to all. Verse 17, without hypocrisy. True spiritual wisdom is sincere. Didn't Paul say, the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth? Unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth. Alright, how do we get these
things? How do we get these things? Our Lord already told us, didn't
He? You can't bear this of yourself. You cannot bear this of yourself.
How can we bear fruit? If we do bear fruit, most everyone
in here believes it's very little. And if you love this righteousness
of Christ, puted, imparted, if you love peace, you want more
of it. You want to make it. You want
to have it in you and all around you, don't you? Peace, righteousness. You want to dwell in it. You
hate sin. You hate strife. You hate envy. You hate bitterness. You hate
all these things. and you want this fruit, you want to bear
it and you want to taste it, don't you? You want to be a partaker
of it. Well, how do we bear fruit? Well,
our Lord said, except you abide in Me, you'll bear no fruit.
You've got to be in Christ. You've got to be found in Christ. You've
got to be in Him. And I can't explain that except
our Lord said you must be born again. Must be found in Him. Not have
in your own righteousness. Filthy rags. You don't have any
by nature. No, no, no. What comes out of
our old nature is sensual, carnal, devilish, isn't it? Our old nature,
that old man. And it comes out sometimes because
he's still there. Oh, but this new man created
in Christ Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren. By His death,
by His life, we are made righteous, found in the vine, except you
abide in Me and I in you. And this fruit is sown. You sow it. You sow it. If we want peace
in our home, if we want a peaceful marriage, he says, sow it. Pursue it, Scripture says. Pursue it. Go after it. Make
it. Make it. I'd say this to someone
who's unmarried, if you want a good husband, or a good wife
who is loving, peaceful, good, gentle, full of good fruits and
all that, they're going to have to know Christ. They're not going
to be like that. They have to know Christ. Christ
must be in them. And I say this to all husbands
and wives now, if you want to be a good husband, be a good
wife, you've got to sow it. Sow peace. Make peace. Pursue
it. Colossians 3 said, let the peace
of God rule in your heart to which you've been called. To
which you've been called. To have this fruit is to abide
in Him, which our Lord said, you remember, He said, draw nigh
unto Me and I'll draw nigh unto you. Remember that message? being afar off from Him, in other
words, being with Him, walking and talking with Him, communion
with Him, beholding His face, we are changed into the same
image from grace to grace. If you are afar off, you will
start looking like the world and acting like the old man.
But you abide in Him, you draw nigh unto Him, and this fruit
will come out of you. Yes, it will. Trials. Trials. Go back to the book of Hebrews,
just a few pages. Hebrews chapter 12. Trials. Remember our Lord said in John
15, every branch in me that beareth fruit, he urgent. He prunes it. Here's another reason the grapevine
represents our Lord so well and the grape. Isaiah 53 says He'll
come forth as a root out of dry ground. Anybody know anything
about growing grapes? You put the root stock. You find
a root from a good stock. And you plant it in the ground. When you first plant it, it looks
like a dead root, like a stump. You think there's no life in
it. Oh no, the root of the matter is in that root. And before long
it will start growing, but it has very small origins until
finally it grows. And boy, does it bring forth
fruit. One vine. Thousands of grapes. Luscious
fruit. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ
and the vine and the branch. And he said, here's another thing
I was going to say. When you, grapes, every year
you cut them back hard. You've got to prune them. If
you go to a vineyard, you'll see that they cut those back
just to leave main branches. They cut all the little unnecessary
branches away. And it looks like you've killed
that thing. That's a good picture, isn't
it? Every branch that bringeth fruit. Well, it was doing so
well last year. Why cut it back? Why be so hard
on it? Because it's going to bring forth
more fruit this way. It'll double its fruit the next
year if you do it right according to the wisdom of the vintner,
the winemaker, the husbandman. He knows what he's doing. And
our Lord sends trials after trials upon His people for His glory
and honor that we might bear fruit. Look at Hebrews 12, verse
7. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? If ye be without chastisement,
wherefore all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not
sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us and gave them reverence. The Lord say in Proverbs, if
you spare the rod, you'll spoil the child. He said, he that spares
a rod, hateth his child. That's what it says. It says, don't let your soul
spare for their crime. The rod will keep them from foolishness. It will bring forth fruit of
righteousness. That's what it says. Read on. It says, we gave
our fathers reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits and live for His glory? They verily for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure, but He for our profit, that we
might be partakers of His holiness. Now, no chastening for the present
seems joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, It yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are pruned." We'd be spoiled, rotten, carnal,
devilish worldlings if the Lord didn't prune us and send trials
to wean us from this world. and remove that old Adamic nature
from us and start molding us and making us in the image of
Christ. And he does it by trial. Listen
to this. John Newton wrote this. Oh, what fruit this man bore
in preaching and hymn writing. I love this. He said, I ask the
Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace might
more of His salvation know and seek more earnestly His face. It was He who taught me thus
to pray, and He, I trust, has answered prayer. But it has been
in such a way it almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in
some favored hour at once He'd answer my request." He's talking
about grace. Faith and love. He said, I thought
at once he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining
power, subdue my sin and give me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart, let the angry powers of hell
assault my soul in every part, Amor, with his own hand, it seemed,
intent to aggravate my woe, he crossed or ruined all my fair
plans. I schemed and blasted my gourd
and laid me low." I remember over a Jonah I met. "'Lord, why
is this?' I trembled and cried. Will you pursue this worm to
death?' "'Tis in this way,' the Lord replied. I answer prayer
for grace and faith." These inward trials I employ from self and
pride to set you free and break your plans of earthly joy that
you might seek your all in me." Every branch, he prunes it, purges
them, so trials, and the results are the peaceable fruit of righteousness,
sown in peace. Oh, I was going to have you turn
to the Song of Solomon. You know how much it talks about
fruit all through the Song of Solomon? Because it talks about
Christ who is the Beloved being full of fruit, and His Bride,
He says She is too. And they both desire each other's
fruit. I'll just quote this to you,
okay? He says, is a garden enclosed. Plants
like pomegranates and fruits, camphor and spikenard and saffron
and calamus and cinnamon and trees of frankincense, myrrh
and aloes and chief spices, a fountain of gardens, a well of living
water, a stream from Lebanon, a wake old north wind and come
thou south and blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow
out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant. Fruits. As we do His, and believe
it or not, He enjoys His own people, the fruit. So, it says,
Who is a wise man among you? Who heard this? Who heard this? Who is a wise person? He is wise
that heareth, and not just heareth, but kneweth. Because the fruit
of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace. That's
Christ and that's His people. Alright, stand with me. Our Father in Heaven, thank You
for Your blessed Word. Thank You for Christ, who is
the Word personified, who came down here. You sent Him. You
planted Him. The vine, the choicest vine,
You planted Him. It grew into a great vine and
brought forth much fruit, the fruit of righteousness, the healing
in His wings, the tree of life, the leaves of the healing of
the nation, all manner of fruits in that tree of life, that vine,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank You, Lord, for causing
Him to bear the wrath of God for us, walking the winepress
of God's wrath alone. Oh, Lord, thank You for crushing
Him, making His soul an offering for sin, the blood of His His
body made peace. His righteous life made peace,
established righteousness for us. Oh Lord, let us learn what
this means. Because the effect of this righteousness is peace,
quietness. Forever. Oh Lord, let us look
to Him. And Lord, we want to look like
Him. We want to know the peace that He has made for us. And
Lord, we want this peace in us. We want this righteousness imparted
to us. In us. We want to be like Christ. Pure, peaceable, gentle, easy
to be entreated. All of these things. Oh Lord,
do what is necessary. We truly, from the heart, not
with a double mind, but in faith, we ask that you would do what
it takes to make us like Christ and make peace, make peace in
our midst. In Christ's name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.