So open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of James. The name of the message is Ask of God.
Ask of God. We'll continue our journey through
the book of James. And last week we touched on verse
5 and then we looked at the word wisdom and saw the different
definitions of the word wisdom in the English dictionary and
then in the Webster's Dictionary from the 1800s, I believe it
was, and then looked through Scripture. Let's read verses
1 to 8 today to get the context of our verses. We'll be looking
at verses 5 to 7 today, Lord willing. We'll finish looking
at those verses today. James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect in an entire wanting nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to
all men liberally, and abrideth not, and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth
is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For
let not that man think that he should receive anything of the
Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So let's look at verses 5 and
6 again where the scripture proclaims, If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. So far in
our study we've seen that the life of the child of God is a
life of temptations and trials We're either going into a trial,
we're either in the midst of a trial, or we're either coming
out of a trial. And they become a part of our
life, don't they? They become things that occur,
and we know that these trials which come our way, they come
to us by the providence of God. And they're painful, but they're
not meant to be painful. Because God doesn't mean evil
to us in that sense. What I mean is God doesn't send
us these trials to make us go through a lot of pain. He sends
us through these trials to prove our faith. To prove that our
faith is genuine. And to grow in our patience and
hope. And who's our hope in? Our hope
is in Christ. Amen, sister. Our hope is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. So the struggles and the trials
that we go through are trials of faith and have to do with
the object of our faith, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the ultimate design, again, of these God-ordained trials, and
never forget that if you're going through a trial, it's ordained
by God that you go through that trial. And don't forget, He's
with you. So often we get looking at the
trial that we're going through, and we forget that our great
God is ever with us. He's right there. He's leading
us through it. He's guiding us through whatever
comes our way. And what do we learn through
these trials? Well, we learn to set everything at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? We learn that. We learn to
say, Lord, I can't take this. I can't pull myself through this. And you know what I was thinking
about last night and this morning when I woke up? I was thinking
that when we go through these trials and these tribulations,
it shows us the utter truth of our Lord's words when He said,
without Me you can do nothing. It shows us that, doesn't it?
Because there's nothing we can do. Think about this virus. It's
all over the world, right? And our loved ones are getting
the virus. But there's nothing we can do
about it except come beside them and say, we love you. We're here
for you. And plead to our God that if
it be His mercy and His will, He'd have them be healed of that.
But it shows us our powerlessness, doesn't it? It shows us that
our great God is absolutely sovereign. And you know what? Nothing is
too small to bring to our Lord. Don't ever think, well, the Lord
doesn't want to be bothered about that. I don't care how small
of an issue it is. The Scripture says, ask of God
for wisdom. for wisdom. Come to God. Flee
to Christ. Now, when I was in religion,
you know what I used to do? I used to look to myself when
I was going through a trial and wonder what I had done. What
did I do to deserve this? Well, now I know, being a sinner
saved by grace, that God doesn't work that way. And going through
this book of James so far, we've seen that God doesn't work that
way, does He? He sends these God-ordained trials
our way You said this once before, sister, to wean us from the world.
And I like that because there's a lot of truth to that. He sends
these things our way to wean us from this world because this
world's not our home. We're just passing through, beloved.
We seek a better country, don't we? We seek a better country.
We're looking to go home to be with the Lord. So have you ever
found yourself doing that when you're going through a trial?
tribulation? Have you ever found yourself,
Lord, what did I do? I'm not alone, am I? Good. Because when I was in religion,
I used to think that. And you know, the flesh still
gets at us, doesn't it, sometimes. But you know, God doesn't get
us because of stuff we do. If He punished us for all our
sins that we even do after we're saved, we'd be in a whole lot
of trouble, wouldn't we? But all our sins are forgiven.
And He puts us through these things to wean us. Weenus from
this world. Weenus from this world. It's
so true. So let us put away that talk that our trial is caused
by something we've done. No. What does it reveal when
we talk like that? Our unbelief. It reveals our
unbelief. And also, that kind of thinking
can lead into thinking that we can undo a trial by doing something
in the flesh. Remember what we saw in the text?
That we're to let those trials have their work, their end. Remember
what I said a few weeks back? That if we could figure out a
way how to shorten a trial, we'd do it. But we're to let them
have their end because they work patience in us. And we know patience
works hope in us. Paul wrote that in Ephesians.
And who's our hope in? the Lord Jesus Christ. So these
God-ordained trials come our way and they cause us to hope
even more on Christ. Look at this. The language employed
in verse 4 brings forth that there's no end of these trials
until we leave the flesh and are in the grave. But these trials
are not only for our good, But therefore God's glory look at
verse 4 but let patience have her perfect work that she may
be perfect and entire wanting nothing. So they don't give a
timeline for these trials to end because they don't end till
we leave breathe our last breath beloved. My oh my. So we're constantly
being conformed to the image of Christ and seeing our need
for Christ and by the Holy Spirit's teaching being drawn closer to
Christ. And then look at verse 5. If
any of you lack wisdom let them ask God. Look at that. If any
of you lack wisdom, let them ask of God. When do we not lack
wisdom? Well, there's always a need for
us to learn and grow, isn't there? We've not arrived. So no matter
what we go through in a trial or tribulation, we're to ask
for wisdom. And who has wisdom in the scriptures? is Christ.
So we ask of Christ. We ask of our King. Do we not
plead to our King to give us wisdom when we go through trials? And we see here too, though,
in the context of this verse, that wisdom is lacked. So we
often find ourselves in need of wisdom, in need of guidance,
don't we? In need of guidance. These situations
spring up into our lives. We don't know they're going to
occur. But never forget, they don't ever catch God by surprise
because He sends them our way. And He wants us to ask Him for
wisdom. Isn't that incredible? Oh, it's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
this is not just wisdom for trials, but we really lack wisdom in
most given situations, don't we? So we're to ask for wisdom
all the time, aren't we, from our great God. You ever hear
preachers say sometimes we should talk to God before we talk to
anybody else? There's a lot of truth in that.
Not that we can't find solace with our fellow believers, but
we're to take our matters to our King first. Now, there's
wisdom in a multitude of counselors, right? You guys know that I have
several men, preacher men that I talk to, and to get wisdom
from them too, because I think that's important. But true wisdom
comes from our great King, doesn't it? It comes from Him. And you
all know that if you ever want to talk about things to me, I'm
always willing to talk or listen, because that's how it should.
You know, sometimes you're going through a trial that I've already
went through, Or you all don't even know, you'd be telling me
something. I'm getting strengthened by hearing your testimony of
what you went through. It's amazing. It's absolutely
incredible. So we see here that we who are
the people of God are to ask for wisdom. And if you lack wisdom,
let them ask of God. And when we do fall into various
trials, the wisdom spoken of here from God will bring us to
a point of rejoicing. So it brings us to a point where
we rejoice in the midst of our trials. That's unheard of, isn't
it? In the world, people are miserable
when they go through things. But God's people, we can rejoice.
Now, I'm not saying it's not hard, because these trials that
come our way are hard. But we have a peace down below
that passes all understanding, knowing that our King's in control,
knowing that He's in control. And take note here that God will
give this wisdom liberally. We see in our text that God declares
that He will give us wisdom liberally. Remember, who the author of the
Holy Scriptures is, is God the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 5,
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that give it
to all men liberally, and a bride is not, and it shall be given
him. What a promise here. That's a promise from God, right
there. That's a promise from our great
God, that the seeking saints of God will be given wisdom liberally. This is a promise full of mercy,
beloved. Don't ever shy away from going
to our King. Again, with anything. I don't
care how small it is. I don't care how big it is. We
usually take our big things, right? Lord, here's a mountain,
right? But I'm going to handle this
little one over here. This little hill here, I'm going to handle.
And we find out, we can't handle that hill. Just as much as we
couldn't handle the mountain, we can't handle the hill. Without
me, you can do nothing. That's a good lesson for us to
learn, isn't it? But I know I'm a slow learner. It takes a lot
of time, right? And so the Lord just, isn't He
so patient with us? Isn't He so long-suffering with
us? Oh my, He's absolutely wonderful.
So this is a promise full of mercy. We don't deserve wisdom. We don't deserve to be given
wisdom during a trial. We certainly don't deserve to
be given wisdom from our God in our natural state. But here
we see that He gives it to His seeking saints readily, readily
and at once. freely and cheerfully, my, not
grudgingly, not sparingly, not with a strict hand, but with
an open one, an open one, in a very extensive manner. That's
what this word liberally means in the text, in the Greek. So
a believer can count on this. In a time of designated temptations
and trials, if we ask for wisdom, God will give it to us freely.
That's what this is, this promise. And immediately, He'll give it
to us. But you know what keeps us from asking? Our pride. Our
pride. Until we reach the point where
we go, oh my Lord, why can't I learn these lessons? Help my
unbelief. Help my unbelief. We were just
talking about that, brother and sister, weren't we, before service?
Help my unbelief. Why do I ever doubt? Why do I
ever doubt? Oh, the flesh, the flesh, the
flesh. And we see here, secondly, that
God will never hold this asking for wisdom against you. He abrideth
not, the scripture says. Let's read that again. If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God to give it to all men
liberally and abrideth not, and it shall be given him. You know
what abrideth not means there? It means that he doesn't promise
something and then point to our past and say, well, Wayne, you're
such a sinner. Even now and in the past there,
I'm not going to give you nothing. You ever had people that hold
things against you from your past? That's awful. It's your
past. You can't change it, can you?
You can't change it. But God doesn't look back and
say, well, You're constantly failing. You're such a sinner,
I'm not going to give you grace and mercy. God doesn't work that
way. He doesn't say, look at the mess you've made. He doesn't
say that at all. He doesn't say, look at how you
failed. Now, people say that sometimes, don't they? People
say that kind of stuff. People say you don't deserve
what you ask for because you don't appreciate what you had.
God never does that. Never. Beloved of God, let us
never forget this wonderful truth that we have here before us,
that we may never weary our Lord by asking for too much or too
often. We can never weary our Lord.
Here, never come to the point where he'll say, you know, I've
had enough of you. You can go over there. Go out
and play with your friends. He'll never do that. He'll never
do that, ever. Ever. Remember when we were kids
and we'd be running around the house and sometimes our parents
would say, go on out with your friends and have some fun. Our
Heavenly Father never does that. He never grows weary of His children
coming to Him. He upbrideth not, beloved. And
remember that He's plenteous in mercy, isn't He? He's plenteous
in mercy. When we ask for wisdom during
trials, it brings forth what? Our weakness. We are admitting
our weakness when we come to God and ask for wisdom. We've
usually been bought to an end of ourselves. And that's a good
place to be. That's a really good place to
be. And we should thank God for the mercy that He's shown us
to bring us to that point. Oh my. We realize that without
the Lord we can do nothing. And we realize that our gracious
God, the all-wise God, will abrideth not. He won't turn us away. He'll
never turn us away, beloved. Never, never. It's so amazing. He'll never turn us away. We
who are the born-again, blood-washed children of God, He'll never,
ever turn us away. He abrideth not. It's absolutely
wonderful. This is true comfort, isn't it?
This is true comfort to we who believe That our God, who is
absolutely sovereign, never looks at us and says, I don't want
to hear you. Never. He never grows weary of hearing
from us. He never grows weary of us asking
for wisdom. And He's the sovereign God of
the universe. He's in control of everything. And yet He never
grows weary of His children coming to Him. Remember. He chose them
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Remember, He sent
His only begotten Son to this world to die in the room and
place. He's manifested His everlasting love to us, hasn't He? He sent
the Holy Spirit to fetch us and to regenerate us. So here, doing
all that, would He ever turn us away when we go to Him in
prayer? My, oh my. No, He wouldn't, would
He? Now sometimes we don't always get what we ask for, right? Because
sometimes we ask amiss. Scripture tells us that. But
He always gives us what we need. Now here though is a promise
that if we seek wisdom during trials, He'll give it to us.
He'll give it to us. Oh, how many times have I not
sought the Lord while going through a trial? But I'm learning. Are
you? I'm learning. I'm learning to
seek Him more and more. He's teaching me. And trials
prove our faith, don't they? Trials prove our faith. They
prove it to be genuine. God-given faith. And God sends
these trials providentially our way. And they work patience in
us by the power of God the Holy Spirit. So remember always, when
you're going through something, ask God for wisdom. Ask the Lord
for wisdom. How am I going to deal with this
situation, Lord? Help me, please. Give me wisdom. Give me wisdom.
So let us look to Christ during all the situations of our lives
that God may give us grace and wisdom and instruction. And we
see that this is what we're to do by these wonderful words which
the Holy Spirit of God inspired James to write. Now let's look
at verses 6 and 7. So the rest of the passage here
is bringing forth what this wisdom is and the manner in which it's to be
asked for. We see in verse 6 the word but. So this is a conjunction
word which suggests that seeking for wisdom might be done in the
wrong way. Might be done in the wrong way.
We're told in verse 6 to ask in faith and to not waver. So
we're not to ask and then go, well, I'm going to try to fix
this situation over here. Because our faith is wavering
a little bit. Lord, it's taking a little too long. No. Wait on the Lord. Wait on Him. Wait on Him. Just wait on them. So we see then again that we're
to ask for wisdom in faith, and we must ask, believe it. Believe
it, not wavering. This constraint gives us true
understanding of that wisdom that is sought. The word wavering
there in the Greek suggests to be in strife with oneself. So
the ask would still be an inner struggle within yourself, which
is why when we ask, We're to just leave it with the Lord,
right? We just leave it with Him. We just leave it with Him.
And it means to doubt, also in the Greek, to hesitate, to waver.
So when we ask for wisdom, we're not to doubt God. We're not to
be in an inner strife, right? We're not to doubt Him. We're
not to hesitate. We're not to waver. We take the situation. I remember old preachers saying
this, and I love this. We're to take the situation, we are
to put it at the foot of the cross, and we're to leave it
there. We're not to pick it up again and carry it back up here
with us and go, okay, I give it to you, Lord. Leave it there.
Leave it there. Leave it with the Lord. Leave
it with Him. That's hard for us to do. I admit
it. That's hard for us to do, isn't it? I'm not going to say
it isn't, because it is hard. But that's what we're to do.
That's what we're to do. To not waver is to know and understand
the source of the trial. So by not wavering in the midst
of the trial and asking for wisdom and believing God, we're saying,
well, we know this trial came from you, Lord. You see? You
see the wonderful teaching here for us in the book of James?
It's wonderful, isn't it? He's telling us to just keep
looking to Christ. Keep looking to Him. And whatever
the wisdom that is sought for is absolutely singular and allows
for no other wisdom and no additions to it. And take note, the Holy
Spirit of God restricts this word wavering by having James
pen the word nothing before wavering. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. Nothing. And the wisdom sought
is the only answer to bring you and I to an understanding that
our trials that we go through are ordained of God and we're
not to be tossed to and fro. Because trials can do that to
us, can't they? Oh my, they can toss us here
and toss us there. Can't they? Lord, help my unbelief
all the time we're being tossed. My, I'm not going to step in
the pulpit and say, well, when I get tossed to and fro, I don't
ever doubt. Oh my, come on. That's a lying
preacher saying that. Because we're tossed to and fro
in this life. The one thing that's constant
is what? The Lord keeps us. He didn't keep us. When the wave
went that way, we'd be gone. But He keeps us. We have an anchor.
An anchor for our soul. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has the anchor for our soul. So the wisdom sought here is
the only answer to bring us to an understanding that our trial
comes from our great God. Look at this. For he that wavereth
is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. I was
out in the oceans a couple of times when the wind came up.
One time with Vicky's dad. My, those waves. You're just going up and down,
up and down. Oh my. And you're at the mercy
of them waves. You realize how powerless you
are. when those waves start going high. Turn if you would to Isaiah
chapter 40. The wind is important in Scripture.
It says here in James, For he that wavereth is like a wave
of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Now look at this
in Isaiah chapter 40. Wind is important in Scripture.
It's often represented for the Holy Spirit of God. Isaiah chapter
40 verses 6 to 8. And I'll read in the New Testament.
this year in John chapter 3. Marvel not that I say unto you,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof. But canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Now look at here in Isaiah, verse
6 of chapter 40. The voice said, Cry, and he said,
What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodness thereof is of 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 God shall stand forever. So we see there,
the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it like a wind. The preacher
is told to preach the Gospel. We stand up and proclaim the
report that's being given to us. We preach the Word of the
Lord, the Bible. And the Holy Spirit takes those
words and He makes it effectual for you. He makes it effectual
for me when I'm up in my study putting these words together.
Sometimes He makes it effectual right when I'm preaching it too
for me. My oh my. But He takes these words too.
He takes the preaching of His Word and sometimes He grants
life to the sinner. It's like the wind blows wherever
it wills. He gives life to wherever He wills and to whomever He wills.
We see a warning, too, in our text here. We are warned not
to be tossed to and fro. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter 4. Look at this. I'll read James chapter 1, verses
6 and 7 again. But let him ask in faith, not
in wavering, that's for wisdom. For he that wavereth is like
the wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Verse 7,
for let not that man think that he receive anything of the Lord.
Now, take note of these words in Ephesians, chapter four, verses
14 and 15, where we are exhorted to not be as children tossed
to and fro by the words of false teachers or men seeking to deceive
the people of God by cunning craftiness. And this happens. This happens that people try
this. God's elect see right through it. by the power of the Holy
Spirit of God. But look at this in Ephesians
4, verses 14 and 15, that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. Look at that. Some say salvation
is in baptism. We won't be swayed by that. That's
a deception. Some say you've got to go to
church on Saturdays to be saved. We won't have anything to do
with that. That's just deception. Some of the cults out there say
that Christ isn't God. We won't have nothing to do with
that because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And
John says, He beheld Him. My, oh, my. But we're taught
of God, right? And God keeps us. We know the
truth when it's being preached. We know it is God's people. So
be not, be not, look at this, tossed to and fro, carried about
with every wind of doctrine, look at this, by the slight of
man in cunning craftiness. Look at that. Trying to cause
division and just slowly trying to get a foothold in there and
craftily drawing away people. Whereby, look at that, they lie
in wait to what? Deceive. They're deceitful at
the core of it. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up in him, that's Christ, in all things, which is the head,
even Christ. So let's go back to our text
and look what it says here in verse seven, that a person, if
they ask wavering, the Lord guarantees that they will receive nothing
from the Lord. Look at this. Verse seven, James, chapter one,
for let not that man think he shall receive anything of the
Lord. Speaking of the man that comes before the Lord and asks
for wisdom, but is tossed to and fro. Now, this wisdom is
singular, eh? Note that too. This wisdom is
singular. And it must be sought in faith.
This wisdom is the wisdom of God. He gives it to us. This
wisdom comes from outside ourselves. That goes against the grain of
natural man. Natural man think they're something. But they're
not. Amen. They're not. This comes from
outside ourselves. This wisdom gives us understanding
during our trials and gives us the ability to count it all joy
when we fall into diverse temptations. Well, this wisdom is the object
of our faith. This wisdom is the Lord Jesus Christ. We see
that brought forth in James. Turn, if you would, to James
chapter 3. We're closed with this. James chapter 3. And we
know in the midst of our trials, in the midst of our trials, We
are to ask for wisdom and faith, nothing wavering. And the understanding
you will receive is that this trial happened for the gospel's
sake and for your good. Happened for the gospel's sake
and for your good. My, oh, my. I've been taught
that through the years. Look at this in James chapter
3, verses 17 and 18. But the wisdom that is from above
is first pure, then peaceable. gentle, and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy, and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy." That all speaks to the Lord, doesn't it? He's pure,
He's peaceable, He's gentle to His people, easy to be entreated,
He's full of mercy, good fruits, in Him was no sin, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy. There was no hypocrisy in our
King. And it says, "...and the fruit of righteousness is sown
in peace of them that make peace." It is the Lord. Let Him do what
seemeth good in His sight in whatever we go through.