I'd like for you to open your
Bibles to James chapter 4. This morning I'm going to be
dealing again with verses 13 through 17. Now, I began this
message last week, but I assure you the message today is a message
in and of itself. But if you didn't hear last week's
message, I urge you to get a copy of it. The title is this, If
the Lord Will. Took that title from verse 15
where he says, for what that you ought to say if the Lord
will. So this is the second part of
that. The last week, as you know, I dealt with issues of God's
sovereign, absolute sovereignty and man's total responsibility
in all things. That's what this these verses
really deal with. It's not, as I said last week,
just trying to. get into your heads and get into
some kind of a deep theology that we can't explain. But it's
simply showing how believers are to live our lives, the difficult
things that we go through, the times of trial and testing, how
we get so weary sometimes. And then even in our prime, you
know, as we make our plans and and plan for the future, all
of these things, these verses are very practical. They show
us how we should, what our attitude should be. There are difficult
things in the scriptures that we cannot always figure out.
The Bible doesn't tell us to figure out all things, but it
says to believe all things that are consistent with the glory
of God and with what he has revealed. And so we don't want to be like
false religionists who deny the things that we cannot understand.
We know that God is a God who is absolutely sovereign, who
works all things after the counsel of his own will. And as I read
last week in Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29, there are things God
hasn't let us in on. The secret things belong to God,
but the revealed things belong to us. And that's what James
is stating right here. Look at verse 13. Go to now,
that means listen very carefully. That's what he's talking about.
Listen up to what he's about to say. And he says, go to now,
ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and
continue their year and buy and sell and get gain, making plans
to make money. He says in verse 14, whereas
you know not what shall be on the morrow. You don't know what
tomorrow is going to bring. For what is your life? Life is
short. It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. And here's what you ought
to say, verse 15, for that you ought to say, if the Lord will,
we shall live and do this or that. But now you rejoice in
your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. I want you to Think about this
now, verse 17, therefore, here's the conclusion, to him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Now, as we've
seen, James has been talking about faith, genuine faith, true
faith, as opposed to just a profession of faith. You know, people can
say a lot of things. They can make a lot of professions
and not really believe it in the heart, not really be part
of them, not really be sold out to the truth of it. But James
says here that one of the things that will accompany, always accompany,
true faith in Christ, true belief, true repentance, is a humble
submission to God's sovereign will in all things, while at
the same time seeking to follow God's revealed will by way of
commandment, whatever God says. I told our Sunday school class
this morning, somebody might ask the question about this,
you know, well, if God is sovereign in all things and decreed all
things and he's working all things after the counsel of his own
will, why does he tell us to do anything? Well, there's several
reasons for that. Number one, it is not, listen,
God's sovereignty is not just in what he decrees and what he
does, but it's also in what he commands. And so the bottom line
answer to anything like that is, why do anything that God
tells us to do? I'll tell you exactly why. Because
God said to do it. And I always use the analogy
of you and your children. Why should they obey mama and
daddy? Have you ever said to them, because I said so? Why would you do that? Because
you're the parent. You're wiser. You're more mature. You've seen things that can be
down the road for them. You've seen obstacles that they
have to get over. You've seen hindrances. You've
seen things that they need to do in order to get a goal. And so you use your wisdom, however
limited it is, and your authority, however limited that is, to say,
and listen, that's what's behind that little term you use, because
I said so. Because I said so. And that's
why God says to his little children, he who is unlimited in his knowledge
and wisdom, he who has the ability to provide every means for our
eternal good and remove every obstacle that would hinder us.
He'll say sometimes to you and to me, because I said so. You say, well, it doesn't make
sense to me. It doesn't have to. It doesn't have to, because
God knows more than you know, and I know all of us put together.
And that's the way we're to look at this thing. This is how we're
to live our lives. James writes here that true genuine
faith and evidences of real faith as opposed to mere profession
and faith without a real understanding and submission to God's sovereign
will and all things is dead faith. I'm telling you. Faith without
a real understanding and submission to God's revealed will is dead
faith. And there are several things
he brings out here. First of all, he deals with the
sin of presumption. Look back at verse 13. This is
the sin of presumption. Go to now, you that say, today
or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there
a year, and buy and sell, get gain, whereas you know not what
shall be on the morrow. Someone once said there are two
ways of living, trusting God or trying to be God. And that's
it. What he's talking about is this.
Now listen to me. It is not sinful or presumption
of us to plan and prepare for the future. It's not sinful or
presumptuous of us to try to better ourselves, to try to make
more money. That's not sinful or presumption
in itself. Here's when it becomes sinful
and presumptuous. Now listen to me. There's two
ways it becomes sinful and presumptuous to plan and prepare and try to
do better. First of all, when you do that
without knowing and understanding and being submissive to the fact
that it's only if God wills. If the Lord wills. That God,
it's all subject to His sovereign will. That's number one. If the Lord will, I'll do this.
If the Lord will, I'll do that. If the Lord blesses this, it'll
be successful. And you know something, for a
child of God, if it's unsuccessful, and you may not see it now, but
it's according to God's sovereign wills, the best thing that could
have happened to you. That's right. That's hard for
us to understand, just like it's hard for our children to know
why you won't let them do this or do that. But that's the first
way, it's sinful and presumptuous. If you make your plans, try to
do better, without understanding and knowing and being submissive
that God is in control, that it's all according to His will,
it's all for His glory and our good, that's presumption. That's
not trusting God, that's trying to be God. And here's the second
thing. It's sinful and presumptuous
when you do those things or plan those things or try those things
in opposition to God's revealed will by way of commandment. They're
things God's told us. There are things in this book
that God has said to do, and there are things in this book
that God has said not to do. For example, if you plan to make
more money tomorrow by stealing, that's sinful and presumptuous.
Because God has said, you shall not steal. That's right. Whatever you do, make sure that's
according to God's revealed will by way of commandment in his
word. Seek his word. Seek his guidance. But now look
at the next thing. Look at verse 14 again. He says,
verse 14, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow.
Now, that's a second thing. That's the recognition of our
limited knowledge. We don't know everything. If
you think about it, we really don't know anything about providence.
God is the one who declares the end from the beginning, not us.
We can declare the beginning from the end. I know how it all
started. I know how today started. I just don't know how it's going
to end up. That's what he's saying. I don't know what tomorrow's
going to hold. Psalm 27 and verse 1 makes this statement. It says,
Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. And you know that's true, don't
you? You do not know what today is going to bring for it, do
you? You don't know what Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday is
going to bring, do you? So don't live life as if you're sure of
those things, like you know what's going to happen. Listen, trust
God. Don't try to be God. That's what
Adam did in the garden when he fell and ruined the whole human
race. He tried to be God. He wanted to be his God. I can
set my own standards. I'm the captain of my own fate.
I'm the master of my own destiny. Don't plan and prepare and try
to do better at that kind of attitude. You don't know what
tomorrow is going to hold. Alright, here's the next one,
verse 14. For what is your life? There's a recognition of the
brevity, the shortness of life. What is your life? Psalm 90,
Ron read, verse 12. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Don't go through
this life acting as if you're going to live forever in this
earth. 1 John 2 and verse 15. Look at
that with me. 1 John 2 and verse 15. Listen to what it says here.
Here's God's revealed will by way of commandment. Now, think
about this. Because, you know, when somebody
dies, even, you know, most people, even false religionists will
make this statement, inevitably. Well, it was his or her time
to go. Well, sure it was. They didn't
go. At a different time than it was
time to go, that's obvious. Who sets the time for you or
me to go? Well, I believe God does, and
I believe I've got scripture to back that up. Somebody says,
well, I believe we can lengthen our days. The Bible speaks of
lengthening our days. Listen, that's from our point
of view. And we're to be responsible. I mean, I know the time of my
death is set, but God's given me a brain, and I'm not going
to go out there and stand in the middle of 13th Street, waving
my arms, just hoping, you know, to see if a truck will hit me.
I'm not stupid. And you're not either. God's
given us the ability to reason in those areas, you say. But
I know the time of my death and the way of my death, the manner
of my death is set. God knows it. I don't. And so
I pray for longer days. I do things, hopefully, to a
point anyway, to try to lengthen my days, to live a better quality
of life. All right? But here's the thing
about it. Now listen to 1 John 2 and verse
15. Listen to this. He says, Love not the world.
That's the world. Now listen, that's the world.
There's two things about the world there. Number one, it's
the world in opposition to Christ. The world in opposition to God's
way of salvation by His grace in Christ. Anything that opposes
that in the world, it's philosophy, it's religion, it's economics,
it's manner of living that opposes God's revealed will by way of
commandment in the salvation of sinners by Christ alone, don't
love it. But there's a second thing here.
Don't love this world too much as if it's going to last forever.
Don't hold on too much to these things. They're going to be gone,
or you're going to be gone first. And so he says, Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, that's the desires
of this sinful flesh, the lust of the eyes, that's what you
see, judging by outward appearance, the pride of life. Now, that's
what James is talking about here. He says, wherein you know not
what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? Don't
boast. That's the pride of life. And
I tell you what, in false religion it's the pride that causes a
sinner to judge himself saved or accepted with God by his works. That's the pride of life. If
you think God has saved you or is keeping you or blessing you
or rewarding you based on your works and efforts, that's the
pride of life. You see, our salvation is in
Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary. And so he says, the
pride of life is not of the Father, but it is of the world. And listen,
the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth
the will of God abideth forever. Now, what is it to do the will
of God? It's to look to Christ. It's to rest in Him. It's to
plead His blood and His righteousness. It's to follow Him. That's eternal
life, because in Him there is life. No life in this world. You can have the biggest bank
account, the biggest business, the most successful family, but
there's no life there. It's going to pass away. Look
over at Luke chapter 12. Our Lord taught this parable,
and we've studied it before. You remember this one where a
man was arguing with his brother about his inheritance, wanted
to divide the inheritance. And the Lord taught him there.
He said, don't put your trust and your desires in the things
of this world. Because he says they're going
to fade away. But look at Luke chapter 12.
He says, verse 15, he said unto them, take heed, Luke 12, 15,
take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. You are
not what you own or think you own. You know, I think about
that a lot. Your name may be on the deed,
but you really don't own it. God does. He created this world. He gave you what you got. You
may have worked hard, but that's all right. But it's still God
that gave the increase, just like the farmer. You may work
his land hard and do diligence to it, but it's God who causes
that crop to grow. And He can bring the tornado. He can bring the famine. He can
bring the dry spell and just kill it all. You know that. And
all your hard work, where's it gone? Solomon's talking about
that in Ecclesiastes, that worst study. You work hard, you work
hard, you work hard. And if it's successful, you die
and leave it to somebody else, probably a fool, and they waste
it away. And then if it's not successful,
it's all vanity anyway, so what of it? You know, that's life
in this cycle. But, he says, so don't, listen,
don't think that your life consists in the things that you possess.
If you do, you're just fooling yourself. That's the pride of
life. That's all of it. And so he says
in verse 16, he spake a parable unto them saying the ground of
a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within
himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul,
so thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease, eat, drink and be merry. Now, that's exactly The exact
thing that James is saying, don't do. Yeah, I've got much goods
for many years. Now, here's what this fella didn't
know. Did he have many years left? Well, look at it. Verse 20. But God said unto him,
Thou fool, this night," he didn't have another day, it was tonight,
"'this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that
layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.'"
Now, do you want to be rich toward God? How are you rich toward
God? Well, where is the treasure of
God? It's in Christ. Live for the glory of God in
Christ. Go back to James 14 now. So he
says there's a recognition there of the brevity of life. This
life is short. It's short. But now look at verse 15. And he says it's even a vapor,
verse 14. That's like a steam vapor. That
appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Look at verse
15. He says, For that you ought to say, If the Lord will, we
shall live, and do this or that. Now here's the submission to
the sovereign will of God. Recognizing we're subject to
His sovereign will and seeking to obey His revealed will. Now
listen to me now. He's not telling us not to plan
and not to prepare for the future. He's not telling us not to try
to better ourselves. But here's what He's telling
us. Look back at Proverbs 16. I want you to see this verse.
And I want to show you this in two ways. Proverbs 16, and look at verse
9. We'll just read this one verse,
Proverbs 16. Because it says a lot. Alright, he says in Proverbs
16, 9, A man's heart diviseth his way. Planning, preparing,
thinking, judging, all of these things. That can apply to a sinful
heart who's lifted up with pride. But it can also apply to a believer
who's making his plans. You make your plans. You're planning
what you're going to do this week. But listen to the second
part of the verse. But the Lord directeth his steps. And that word, Lord, there's
Jehovah. That's the God of salvation. So we plan and we prepare. And
that's not bad, but you have to understand it's the Lord that
directs your steps. And then go to the verse that
I read at the opening of the service today, Philippians chapter
2. Now here, this is talking about salvation. And this is interesting now. Here's one of these passages
of scripture where you see the sovereignty of God and the power
of God right alongside the responsibility of man. And he says it in verse
12. Here's the command of God. Here's
the revealed will of God by way of command. Here's a revealed
thing that belongs to us. Remember Deuteronomy 29, 29?
Secret things belong to God. Revealed things belong to us.
Here's a revealed thing. Verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling." Now, is that teaching salvation by our works?
And the answer is no. Because underlying as the foundation
of the whole thing is the sovereign grace of God to save us, bless
us, keep us, reward us, and bring us to glory through the finished
work of Christ. That's the grace of God. Salvation
is by grace from beginning to its final completion. It's never
conditioned on the sinner. All the conditions, all the qualifications,
all the stipulations of salvation were worked out and completed
by Christ on the cross so that everything that I have by way
of blessing from God is in and by Him, the forgiveness of sins
by His blood. Justification before God by His
righteousness imputed to me, accounted to me, charged to me.
I didn't have anything to do with it as far as working it
out, contributing to it. If I had, it would be corrupt. The Bible uses a metaphor for
imputed righteousness, and that's the cloak or the covering, the
bride's wedding garment. And it says, put on us. That's
metaphor. That's not literal. There's nothing actually put
on me. It's just that I stand before God according to His law
account as a justified, not guilty, righteous person by the merits
of Christ. That's what that means. And so
the Bible uses that language. But to carry on the metaphor
like this, this was a robe that was created and woven together
by Christ in his obedience unto death on the cross. And I didn't
contribute one thread. Had I contributed one thread
to that robe of righteousness, that's where it would fall apart.
That's where it would be incomplete, you see. So I stand before God
in the righteousness of another. Salvation is by grace. And yet
here he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
What is that fear? That's worship and respect unto
God. That's faith in God. And the trembling means this,
it's not running scared from God. It's not always going around
doubting your salvation, as if that's some kind of a humble
thing, because it's not, that's unbelief, if you're looking to
Christ now. Listen, if you're truly looking
to Christ for all your salvation, it's unbelief for you to doubt
your salvation. I know a lot of people don't
understand that because they think doubt is humility. But you see,
who are you looking to? Somebody told me one time, listen,
we've got it all written down, all the answers and the arguments.
Somebody told me one time, they said, well, I'm not doubting
Christ, I'm doubting myself. Well, when did the Gospel ever
command you to look to yourself? It never did. It says, look away
from self. Does it? Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
Run the race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the author and what? Finisher of our faith, Hebrews
12, 2. Keep on going, keep on going.
Look to the Lamb of God. Are you looking to the Lamb of
God? Well, if you're looking to Him, then you have no reason
to doubt, because He's able to save them to the uttermost that
come to the Father by Him. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Look unto Jesus. Now, if you're
looking to self, you ought to doubt. In fact, you really shouldn't
doubt. You ought to be dead sure that
you're lost. If you're looking to self. Am I right? Because
salvation is not by self. It's by Christ. So what is this
saying? This trembling here is not running
scared from God. It's trembling in this way. Now, let me tell you, you who
know Christ, you who stand in Him, Think about standing before
a holy God without Christ. Think about standing before a
holy God without having been washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness. Doesn't that make you tremble?
It would make. It does make. Oh, that I may
know Him. Oh, that I may be found in Him.
Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. even the righteousness
which is of God." Listen, I need Christ. That's the trembling. So what does he mean when he
says, work out your own salvation? I'll tell you exactly what he
means. He's talking about perseverance. He's talking about keep your
eyes on Christ. Follow Him, obey Him, not to
be saved. Use all the means that God has
given you for salvation, which is looking unto Christ, studying
His Word, worshiping Him with His people. But look at verse
13, here's the underlying power of it all. For it is God, not
you. It is God which worketh in you,
He works in you. But it's not even you working
in you, it's God working in you. Both to will, His will, not yours. If I have any will towards God,
it's the Spirit of Christ who dwelleth in me. Will and to do
of His good pleasure. It's God, not you. You see that? So it's submission to the will
of God. Look back at James 4, look at
verse 16. Now here's where the sinfulness
of it comes in. He says, but now you rejoice
in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. What's
he talking about? Making your plans, planning your
future, trying to do better. without knowing that God's in
control, without considering His revealed will by way of commandment
to glorify Him in all things. Whatsoever you do in word and
deed, whether you eat or don't eat, whatever you do, do it under
the glory of God. That's what he's saying. Anything
else is evil boasting. Evil boasting. And then look
at verse 17. Now, here's the responsibility
of man. Therefore, to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Now, there
are two areas here. First of all, in the area of
salvation. He says, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth
it not, to him it is sin. Do you know to do good in salvation
and for salvation? Well, I always like to go back
to the very beginning, go to Genesis chapter 4, and I want
to show you what that means in salvation and for salvation. This is the story of Cain and
Abel. Adam and Eve's first two sons. And remember what James said,
he said, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not
at sin. What is it to do good? What is
it to do right in the matter of salvation? Knowing that God
is sovereign now. We read it last week where Christ
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. That's the sovereignty
of God right there. That's God's power, grace, salvations
of God. And yet in Matthew 11, chapter
28, he says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Are you labored and heavy laden,
burdened down with sin and need rest? Well, you know, Abel, he
was the shepherd. Cain was the farmer, verse 2.
Eve again bare his brother Abel. She bore Cain, then bare Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a teller
of the ground. Look at verse 3 of Genesis 4. In the process
of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground. Now remember the ground was cursed over in Genesis
chapter 3. You remember that? It's the labor
of man. That's what it's talking about.
It's the works of man, the hardest works, the best efforts, the
best that man can do. And so he brought of the fruit
of the ground an offering unto the Lord. He brought the best
works and labor of man as an offering unto the Lord. Verse
4, and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof. How do you get the fat out of
the flock? You kill a lamb. That's what he's talking about. What did Abel do? He says, Abel
brought the blood of sacrifice. All right. And he says, And the
Lord had respect unto Abel in his offering, but unto Cain in
his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very angry, and
his countenance fell. You can see it in his face. And
it says, And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why
are you angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? Verse 7, If thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted? Literally, have the excellency,
you might have that in your concordance. If you do well, Cain, you'll
be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. In the Hebrew language there,
the picture is like a wild, hungry animal outside your door just
waiting to devour you. And what he's saying, Cain, you're
not destroyed yet, but you're on your way to it. Because sin
lieth at the door. The sin problem has not been
taken care of. In order to be accepted with
God, the sin issue has to be dealt with justly and righteously. Now God must be just when He
deals with sin. He can't look over it. He can't
deny it. He can't ignore it. No matter
what, it has to be dealt with. And He says, if you do well,
You'll be accepted, and if you do not well, sin lieth at the
door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule
over him." Literally what he's talking about is sin is going
to get the best of you, make an end of you, if you do well. Now, what is it to do well here?
Well, what's he talking about? He's talking about how a sinner,
Abel was a sinner. He was a sinner too. How do you
know that? Because he brought the blood
of the Lamb. If you're not a sinner, you don't need the blood of the
Lamb. You see, the Bible says in Hebrews
chapter 10, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission
of what? Sin. Sin demands death. And if you're not a sinner, you
don't need the blood, you don't need death, you're not going
to die. That's why these denominations
that talk about how they've risen above sin and now they're sinlessly
perfect, those fellas aren't going to get old, they're not
going to get sick, they're not going to die. Just watch them a few
months and years. I guarantee you their names will
appear in the obituaries. They're lying to themselves. Sin has to be dealt with. So,
what is it to do well here? He's talking about sinners coming
before God to be accepted. There's only one way you can
do well as a sinner seeking acceptance before God, and that's to plead
the blood of the Lamb of God. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and plea.
This is all my righteousness. Nothing, nothing, nothing but
the blood of Jesus. Now, I just told you how a sinner
is saved before God. You know to do well. Here's the
revealed will of God by way of commandment. Come to Christ. Believe in Him. Plead His blood
like Abel. Don't be like Cain. Don't bring
your best efforts, your experiences, your dreams, your visions, your
plans, your purposes. Don't do that. Come like Abel. Plead the blood of the Lamb.
I know that everyone for whom Christ died shall come to Him.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to Him. That's God's
secret will. That belongs to Him. Here's what
belongs to me and you. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. That's what belongs
to us. You say, reckon who's going to
come today? I don't know. That's God's business. I know
I'm commanded to come to Christ today. And that belongs to me. I'm responsible for that. You
say, I wonder who Christ's sheep are, who the church is, who the
elect are. That's not your business. That's God's business. Here's
what belongs to you and to me. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now, you live in the realm you're
in and don't try to be God. Trust God. What does the Scripture
tell us to do? It says, trust the Lord and do
good. Trust the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Here's what
God says. Let me show you another passage
on that. Turn to Isaiah 46. I want to show you this one. Look at Isaiah 46. Verse 9. Isaiah 46 and verse 9. He says, Remember the former
things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God
and there is none like me. None to be compared with. Verse
10. Now listen. It's declaring the
end from the beginning. Now that declaration is based
on God's counsel and God's purposes. He didn't declare it because
he looked down through a telescope. I told the Sunday School class,
God is not a crystal ball gazer. He's not a Nostradamus. He's
God. And he declares the end from
the beginning. He decrees it. He knows it. He
does it. Listen to what he says, declaring
the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done, saying, now listen, here's his declaration,
my counsel. Now that counsel is, like if
we have a counsel meeting, it's a meeting of the minds to determine
things, you see. This is God's counsel, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ, and all that God has
purposed for his people. He says, My counsel shall stand,
I will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east,
the man that executes my counsel from a far country. He's talking
about a prophecy there of the deliverance of Judah out of Babylon. He says it's going to happen.
He's not waiting on them to turn to him to do it. He says, Yea,
I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I purposed it. I will also do it. God's in control. God's sovereign. But look at
verse 12. Now, hearken unto me, you stout-hearted that are far
from righteousness. That's a proud, religious man
trying to save himself by his works and get him farther and
farther away from God. I bring near my righteousness.
God has brought nearer righteousness. It shall not be far off. It's
not something that we can work for, plan for, or achieve in
the future by our works. And my salvation shall not tarry.
It's not something you have to wait for. I will place salvation
in Zion for Israel my glory." Who's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ. Right there. You want righteousness? Look
to Christ. Right now. You say, well, I'm working hard
to get it. Maybe someday I will. No, it shall not be far off if
you look to Christ. It's right here. It's right here
in the preaching of the gospel. Not something you have to achieve,
work hard for. No. He said He placed it in Zion,
the church, for Israel, His glory. That's what James is talking
about in our To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not,
to him it is sin." My friend, if you refuse to come to Christ
for salvation, you know better because you've heard the gospel.
And if you don't, it's sin. He's talking about, secondly,
life, obedience, compassion, worship and love, planning, whatever
we're going to do. Do it according to God's revealed
will by way of commandment, not to be saved, but because we already
are in Christ. For him that doeth it not, to
him it is sin. You know, sometimes we can make
some of the most stupid decisions that human beings on the planet
can make. And we know better. And we'll
say that. I'll say it. I'll say, man, I
knew I shouldn't have done that. Well, big dummy, why didn't you
not do it? You know? Well, if the Lord, listen, it's
of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Isn't that right?
That's why we say and sing, my hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Lord, keep us from the evil one. But remember this now, the secret
things belong to God, the revealed things belong to us. Well, let's
sing hiding in thee, because I thought about this, hymn number
282. As we go through this life and we face our trials and our
tribulations and make our plans, we need to be hiding in Christ.
do it all, don't we? That's our only safety in life. Alright.