your Bibles to the book of James
chapter 4. The name of the message today is the sin of presumption.
The sin of presumption. Now each day that we have as
believers upon this earth, we desire to spend time with our
church family, with our loved ones, with our friends, and each
of those are a blessing to us. they're a blessing to us. Because
you know why? We're not promised tomorrow. We're not promised tomorrow.
As each day dawns for the believer, have you ever thought of this
too? Each day that dawns, when you
wake up in the morning, each day that dawns, you're a day
closer to being with the Lord. You're 24 hours closer in our time because God doesn't
exist in time. He's outside of time and space.
But for us, we're 24 hours closer to our appointment to be with
the Lord. To seeing the Lord face to face. To see him in his
glory. To see him as he is. And he has
appointed a day that we will see him face to face. He's appointed
that day. He's appointed that time. And
each passing 24 hours draws us closer to that time. Draws us
closer to that appointed time. The great appointment, which
saved or lost, we'll never miss. I told you I don't like going
to the doctors, and sometimes I miss appointments for the doctors.
This is an appointment that no one will miss. whether you're
saved or lost. God has appointed a time for
each of us to breathe our last breath. So with that in mind,
let's read verses 13 to 17 in James chapter 4. We'll be looking at verses 13
and 14 today. It says, Go to now ye that say
today or tomorrow We will go into such a city and
continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas
you know not what shall be on the moral, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears
for a little time and then vanishes away. For 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. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So we see here
that James, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is bringing
forth before us the sin of presumption. The sin of presumption in verse
13. And we see it's a great sin. All sin is sin, isn't it? In
God's eyes, all sin is sin. It all is. And the greatest thing we face
in this world is the uncertainty of tomorrow. The uncertainty
of tomorrow. As our day to leave this earth
is already written in God's book. This is why we say as preachers,
today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to flee to Christ.
You don't know if you have tomorrow. Flee to him today. You might
breathe your last breath tonight. You just never know. None of
us know. But we promise ourselves a long
time in this world and the accomplishments of our carnal projects without
any sense or thought of our own frailty or the sudden strokes
of God. See the words there, go to now?
It's like saying, come on now, in our language. Come on now,
in today's language. In other words, think about what
you're saying. Think about what he's saying
to this person. Think about what you're saying.
Today or tomorrow or we'll go to such a city and continue there
a year and buy and sell and get gains. So James is saying, think
about what you're saying. Come on now, think about what
you're saying. It's presumption. It's presumption. I ask you, would we say these
things in God's presence? Oh no, we'd say, Lord, if you
will, I'm going to do that and I'm going to do this. And note in the words in verse
13, you say, well, what do we say? Well, we say we're going
to spend today or tomorrow. We're going to go to such a city
and do this or do that. And carnal men and women are
always thinking about how to spend their days and their months as the fool
who thinks to enlarge his barns in Luke chapter 12. Turn to Luke
chapter 12. Here we see an example of someone
being presumptuous. Presumptuous is taking liberties
you don't have. See, we don't have liberty to
the day we die. That's in God's hands. That's
not in our hands. That's in God's hands. Look at this man here in Luke
chapter 12. We'll be reading verses 16 to 21. Charlie, this
is like that guy you told me. Thirty million dollars and he's
still not happy, right? He wants more. Look at this. This is amazing here. And he
spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich
man bought forth plentiful. And he thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do? Notice he's thinking within himself.
What shall I do? Because I have no more room where
to bestow my fruits. I got so much. I got so much. I don't have places to store
it. My barns are overflowing. And he said, this will I do.
I'm going to do this. I'll pull down my barns, and
I'm going to build a greater barn. I'm going to build a barn
like no one's ever seen. This barn is going to be so big,
it's going to hold all the stuff that all my barns have in one
barn. I'm going to do this. And build a greater. And there
will I bestow all my fruits and all my goods. So he can build
this gigantic barn, and he's going to put everything he has
in it. And you know what he's going to say, too. Look at my
barn. It's full of my stuff. Right? Because that's what worldly
men do, right? Well, look at this. And I say to my soul, thou
hast much good laid out. I got lots of time. You ever
heard people say that? I got lots of time. I'll think about what you're
saying about God and Christ another time. I got lots of time. I got
lots of time. I'll just live my life, and when
I get older, maybe I'll think about it. I've heard people say
that. I've heard people say that. That's
what this guy's basically saying. And I say to my soul, soul, thou
hast much goods laid up for many years. I'm good. I'm good for I'm good
for 20 years Now my return. It's all taken care of Got more than enough, right oh
That was much good laid out for many years take thine ease. I'll
just take it easy just rest and enjoy the stuff that you have
oh eat, drink, and be merry. But
God said unto him, look at this. This is why we preach today is
the day. Today is the day to flee to Christ.
Don't wait till tomorrow. You might not have tomorrow. God said unto him, thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. and who shall those things be
which thou has provided so he is he that layeth up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God you see we believers we are
rich in Christ we have all spiritual blessings you're richer than
that man you were telling me about Charlie in Christ you have
all spiritual blessings in Christ Each believer has that. We're
richer. You think Bill Gates, right? Everybody says, Bill Gates
got a lot of money. We are richer spiritually than Bill Gates. The poorest saint is richer than
Bill Gates in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? And think of this. God said,
tonight I'm gonna require your soul. Think of what shall profit
a man as he gained the whole world, lose his own soul. He didn't get to spend any of
it, did he? And if he's not saved, which it doesn't appear like
he was, he'd go right to hell, into eternal torment, and somebody
else is now enjoying all the fruits of his hands. All that
stuff that he said, oh, I got years, I'm gonna deal with that
later. Well, Tamal never came, did it? Tamal never came. Thou fool,
this night thy souls will be required of thee. That's God. That's the sovereign God of the
universe. So this man's thoughts were not
taken up by eternal things, but by the things of this world.
He had no concern for his soul. like so many in this world. No
concern for their soul. People drive by here every Sunday.
Here we are rejoicing. And think of this. Be overjoyed that God has given
you an interest to be here. Rejoice! He's given you a desire. He saved your soul. He's given
you a desire to be here and to hear the wonderful things about
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's given you an understanding
of those things by revelation of the Holy Spirit of God, born
again by His Spirit, when so many just drive by and have no
care for their soul. Who made you to differ? Who made
me to differ? Only God. Praise His mighty name. Praise His mighty name. Turn,
if you would, to 2 Peter 2. And we will see that such men
as we saw in Luke, they are described in this text as brute beasts. 2 Peter 2, verses 12 to 17. And their practices are covetous. 2 Peter 2, verses 12 to 17. But these, as natural brute beasts
made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that
they understand not, and they shall utterly perish in their
own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness
as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are, and blemishes
sporting themselves with their own deceivings, while they feast
with you. having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease
from sin, beguiling unstable souls, in heart they have exercised
with coveted practices, cursed children, which have forsaken
the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam,
the son of Boshar, and love the wages of unrighteousness. Excuse
me. but was rebuked for his iniquity,
the dumbass speaking with man's voice. Forbid the madness of
the prophet. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with the tempest, to whom the mist
of darkness is reserved forever. So think a natural man in contrast
to the born-again, blood-washed saint of God. One has been regenerated by the
power of God. And one is left in their sins. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
116. Now we're going to see the contrast between God's distinguishing
grace. So we saw there quite the description,
right, of natural man. And remember, we were there.
We were there. Now look at this contrast. Look
at this. Look at this contrast. Look,
look. Holy Spirit does in his regenerating
power and look at the difference between this man and the ones
we just looked at described as brute beasts and all of us we
know we're sinners we're still sinners we struggle every single
day don't we we struggle so much with our own sin every day but
we know we're saved we know we're saved by grace we know we're
saved by Christ in him alone And what does that cause us to
do? That causes us to rejoice when we never used to rejoice.
Look at this in Psalm, Psalm chapter 116. And here's the contrast between
God's distinguishing grace. Nothing in ourselves can bring
this to pass. Nothing in ourselves can bring
this to pass. Nothing in ourselves can bring
this great contrast to pass. from the brute beast that we
saw there in 2 Peter to what we're going to see now. Nothing
in us can bring that to pass. Absolutely nothing. It's a work
of our great God in him alone. A gracious heart desires the
things of God. We desire to be more thankful
to our great God for saving our eternal souls. Look at this,
Psalm 116, verses 12 to 19. This is wonderful. What shall
I render unto the Lord, unto Jehovah, for all his benefits
towards me? Oh, think of all the benefits
of God towards us. Salvation in Christ alone, justification
in and through Christ alone, peace with God, right? A knowledge of eternal life when
we breathe our last breath to be in the presence of our great
King. I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name
of Jehovah. So the lips that one time were
brute beasts are now calling upon Jehovah, praising his name. I will pay my vows unto Jehovah,
now in the presence of his people. We desire to be with God's people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
And that precious there means valuable. God's people are valuable
in his sight. Valuable in his sight. like a
great diamond that means in the text Oh Lord truly I am thy servant
I am thy servant in the son of thine handmaid thou has loosed
my bonds we're free we're free in Christ we're free I will offer
to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving now we desire to praise God don't
we we desire to give them the sacrifice of thanksgiving and
will call upon the name of Jehovah the Lord I will pay my vows unto
Jehovah now in the presence of his people. I'll gather together
with his people now. I'll desire to hear the gospel
preached, and I'll give him all the glory in the presence of
his people. I'm a sinner. I'm a safe sinner,
saved by the grace of God. Oh, I once was lost, but God's
made me to differ, and now I'm saved, and now I'm going to rejoice.
Now I'm going to praise his name in the midst of his people. in
the courts of Jehovah's house in the midst of the old Jerusalem.
Praise ye the Lord. Praise Jehovah. That means hallelujah
to Jehovah. Hallelujah to Jehovah. Nothing
wrong with us saying hallelujah. He's so great. He's so wondrous. Oh my. Let's go back to James
chapter 4 now that we've seen the contrast there. The contrast
between the believer and the unbeliever. Look at this. James
chapter 4 verse 13. We'll go back there. Go to now ye that say, today
or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain. We see here in the words, today
or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue a year and
buy and sell and get gain. Now note the words there, continue
a year. Beloved, we do not know if we will live out this day
or be here tomorrow. There's a story, I remember hearing
that Ralph Bernard went home after he had preached. Last time
he preached, he went home after he preached and he passed away.
It was either that evening or that afternoon in his house.
But he didn't know it was gonna be the last time he was gonna
preach. He probably was already thinking about the next message. That's what we preachers do on
Sunday. We go home after and in between we start thinking
about what we're gonna preach next. But he didn't know it was his
day of departure. He didn't know it was his hour of departure.
And so we see here then a heart that's secure in itself and is
utterly insensible to God's providence. This is so true of natural man.
And it's a warning for us, too, not to get caught up in that. Not to get caught up in that.
Because we don't know when our departure is. Men and women by
nature are covetous. We're covetous by nature. Scripture
declares this. Yea, they are greedy dogs which
can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way,
every one for his gain from his quarter. So natural man looks
for his own gain, his own quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch
wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow
shall be as this day, and much more abundant." They just brag
about tomorrow. But what they have, little do
they know the Lord may require their soul that night. Covetousness causes men to neglect
their soul. Causes men to neglect their soul
and feel at ease in their prosperity. But they will not escape death.
And they will not escape the second death if they're unsaved.
Oh my. They're held by their own greed.
They're held by their own covetousness. And prosperity destroys a fool
and endangers a wise man. Well, how do we know that? Well,
listen to the Scriptures in Proverbs chapter 30. It says, Remove far
from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Just let me be content, Lord,
with what I have. Feed me with food convenient
for me. Just give me what I need. My
daily bread. Lest I be full and deny thee.
Lest I have more than I need and I deny you. And say, who is Jehovah? Or lest
I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. Proverbs
chapter 30 verses 8 and 9. The Apostle James here is not
condemning buying and selling. He's not doing that. He's not
doing that. Not at all. Of merchandise. Or the lawful practice of going
about one's business. He's not condemning that at all. He's rebuking those who resolve
upon these things without consulting the will of God. Say, I'm going
to do this and I'm going to do that. He's saying, if you're
a believer, you should say, well, Lord willing, I'm gonna do that.
Lord willing, I'm gonna do this. See, we're presumptuous by nature,
aren't we? We really are. We say we're gonna go here or
there, and we're gonna do this or that, if these things are
in our power, and he's speaking here of people who have no dependence
on the providence and blessings of God. Now let's read verse
14 of this chapter. Whereas you know not that what
shall be on the mall, for what is your life? It is even a vapor
that appears for a little time and vanishes away. James chapter
4, verse 14. Again, I'll read it. Whereas
you know not what shall be on the mall. We don't have any idea
what's going to happen to mall. Only God knows. Only God knows. We read about what's happened
today or yesterday, well, not in the newspaper anymore, but
on the internet site, on the news site. We read about what occurred. We have no promise of tomorrow,
beloved, and we ought not to boast of tomorrow. We ought not
to boast of a long time. One of Joshua's friends, a few
years ago, he was 18 years old and just died. Died of a heart
attack. Just like that. Gone. In the prime of his life. Just gone. You hear about car
accidents and this person died at a young age. Gone. Did they think they were going
to die? Probably not. They probably think they're going
to have a long life. Gone. We don't know if we have tomorrow. We ought to live just in today.
Like that article I put in Bolton last week, we ought to fence
off. We ought to fence off today to tomorrow. Just live today. Now does that
mean, some people will say, well, is it sinful then to provide
for Tamal? No, that's not what he's talking about. That's not
what he's talking about. Proverbs says this, go to the
aunt thou sluggard and consider her ways and be wise. What does
the aunt do? Which having no guide or overseer
or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her
food in the harvest. He's not saying, he's not saying,
well, you know, don't have some food in your house. That's not
what he's saying. Not at all. Vicki and I love to keep a pantry.
Probably two, three months worth of stuff in there. That's just
us. We love to do that. You know
why? Because it cuts down on our grocery
bill when we go to the grocery store. But if we don't have tomorrow,
somebody else will get it. We're fine with that. We're fine
with that. Also, it says in Proverbs 30,
verse 20, the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare
their meat in the summer. They gather all summer long,
and then they hibernate. My, oh my. So it's not talking
about that. It's wise foresight to lay up
what we will need, but we have to be cautious that we must not
be doing it because of mistrust, mistrust for the Lord's providence. We still have to trust in the
Lord's providence. It must not hinder us from daily
trusting in the Lord, from daily resting in the Lord. See, that's
what's being brought forth here. Don't be presumptuous about tomorrow,
having tomorrow, or a year from now, and daily Trust the Lord. Daily live in reliance upon our
King. Daily. Which is what we as believers
do, isn't it? We trust in his provision. We trust in his taking care of
us. We trust in his providence. Turn,
if you would, to Matthew 6, verse 25 and 26. We'll see here the
master's words, our master's words. Who's our master? The
Lord Jesus Christ. So here's our master speaking,
and look at these wonderful words. I love these words. I just love
this. Look at this, Matthew 6, verses
25 and 26. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall
drink. nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not
the life more than meat, and the body more than ramet? Behold
the fowls of the earth. Look at the birds. Look at the
birds. How many birds in this world, eh? I love sitting on
my porch watching birds. They're just fascinating. Beautiful
saying they sing and they praise the Lord in their songs look
at if you hold the fowls there They they so not neither do they
they don't they don't have a job They don't sow or reap They don't
gather into barns and yet your Heavenly Father feed at them.
Are ye not much better than they? Oh, we are. Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his people, right? The saints valuable. We're way more valuable than
those birds that he feeds and takes care of every single day. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. He loves us so much that he sent
his son to die in our ruined place at Calvary's Cross to redeem
our eternal souls. And since we cannot foresee what
shall befall us tomorrow, it is therefore then presumptuous
in a form of actually a form of haughtiness for us to determine,
of course, in which we as believers will go without thinking of the
will of God. We should always think about
the will of God. In whom we live and we do, we live in him, we
move and we have our being, the scripture says. And you know
what presumption is defined as overstepping due bounds. or taking liberties where we
do not have. You ever hear somebody say, I
used to know a man, he used to always tell me, well, I took
the liberty to do this, or I took the liberty to do that. And every
time he told me that, I thought, oh man, here we go. All right,
here we go. We are not to take the liberty
about tomorrow. We might not have tomorrow. And
that's what presumption is, is taking the liberty of, oh well,
I'll be here for years. We don't know. We don't know. The Holy Spirit has James Penn's
these next words to show how vain it is for us to be presumptuous. Look at verse 14 again of James
chapter 4. It says, for what is your life? It is even a vapor. That's like
in the wintertime when we breathe out, that little vapor that comes
and then it's gone. To say this life is brief hasn't
said the half of it. As the scripture gives us many
comparisons, the flower, the field. Flowers grow up, right?
And then they're gone by fall. They grow up in the spring, and
then they're gone in the fall. Brother Neil Wagner has some
flowers on his property that we get to go see each year. They
only bloom for five to seven days a year, and then they're
gone. They're beautiful flowers, but
they only bloom for five to seven days each year. I often think
of that when I think of how quick our life is. My oh my, scripture says this,
the voice said cry, and he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is the flower of the
field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit
of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. He's the eternal one, he never
changes. Our life is also described like the wind, which can spring
up and then disappear, right? Especially here in Michigan.
I love the fact that we have those winds that come off the
lakes, because the air quality here is wonderful. And we can
get a wind come up, especially in the winter, we get those snow
squalls. Just wind blowing, you can't even see nothing. And then
they're gone. Right? They're gone. That's what our
life is like. Right? It's true. Oh my. Job 7, 7 says, Oh, remember that
my life is wind, mine eyes shall no more see good. And then Job
14, 1 and 2, it says, Man that is born of a woman is a few days
and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. We're here for a while, and then
we're gone. Think of our shadow. Our shadow
can appear on sunny days, right? And then a cloud will cover the
sun, and our shadow's gone. Right? Same thing with our lives.
Same thing with our lives. So we must live every day like
it's our last day. Just trust the Lord. Rest in
Him. Rest in Him. Praise Him. Thank
Him for the goodness that He's showing us. Thank Him for saving
our souls. Thank Him for saving us from
all our sins. We don't know if we have tomorrow,
but we know who holds tomorrow, don't we? We know who holds tomorrow. We know who's in control of tomorrow.
We might not have it, but we're going to trust the One who has
it all in His hands. Oh, yes, we will. We trust our
sovereign God. And we know the shortness of
our life and the frailty of who we are. And we just flee to Christ,
don't we? When we hear messages like this,
it just makes us flee to Christ even more, doesn't it? Studying
this, I just like, oh, Lord, I can't wait to preach this because
it just makes me want to flee to you even more. It makes me
want to just cling to you even more, Lord. Because I don't know
if I have tomorrow, but I know I have you by your grace and
mercy. Because you made me to differ. You saved my soul. Praise your mighty name. Praise
your mighty name.