All right, James chapter 4, I
titled the lesson this morning, The Lord Willing. The Lord Willing. Let's begin in James 4 verse
13, read down through verse 15. 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 morrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appeared for a little time and then vanisheth
away. For that ye ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. Now, in
these verses, Paul is not condemning conducting business for profit. Companies ought to conduct themselves
to make a profit. They'll go out of business if
they don't. Cost people their jobs if they're not making a
profit. So he's not condemning that.
And Paul isn't condemning traveling for business. Many of you have
to travel for business and for your jobs, and he's not condemning
that at all. But here's what Paul is condemning.
It's making plans to do anything without consulting two things,
without consulting the will of God in the matter, and without
considering the frailty of human life. In everything we plan to
do, we ought to say, the Lord willing. The Lord willing, I'm
going to do this or that, because I know this. I'm not going to
do it if it's not the Lord's will. I know that. God's will
is going to happen in all things, no matter what I plan to do.
So we should say, the Lord willing, I'll do this, that, or the other.
Every week, I email Mike. are the text and title I plan
on preaching the next service. I always tell him, the Lord willing,
this is going to be our text and title. Because Mike, sometimes
I've texted and the Lord wasn't willing, was he? I did that recently
and then had to text him back and tell him, I've got laryngitis. I can't preach. Eric's going
to be preaching for that. The Lord willing, that's what
we'll do. So first I want us to consider, we say the Lord
willing, we'll do this, that or the other because of the frailty
of human life. And I want to close with looking
at God's will. Now in everything we plan to
do, we ought to say the Lord willing, I'll do this, that or
the other because of the frailty of human life and the brevity
of human life. We don't know whether we'll be
here in the next few minutes, much less tomorrow. Because our
life is so frail, it's so easily snuffed out. Our life depends
on something we can't even see. A breath. You can't even see it.
You can't even feel it. Our life depends on something
so frail you can't even see it. If our breath is gone, something
we can't even see is gone, our life will be too. So I want us
to look at some scriptures and see the way scripture describes
human life. Number one, human life is very
uncertain. James says, we don't know what
will happen tomorrow. Solomon said the same thing in
Proverbs 27.1. He said, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for
thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We may be here tomorrow,
we may not. We may be physically able to
do something tomorrow, we may not. Now, God knows, but we don't. You know, we can't count on tomorrow. And I'll give you a little bit
of advice on that. We can't count on tomorrow. So do what needs
to be done today. Whatever it is that needs to
be done, do it right now. You need to seek the Lord, seek Him
today, right now. You need forgiveness of your
sins, ask God for it right now. You may not have tomorrow. And
we've all got loved ones. If you want to tell them you
love them, tell them today. Tell them today, you got something
you want to give them. You got something you want them
to have. Give it to them today. You may not have tomorrow. See,
we don't know what tomorrow holds, do we? But we know who holds
tomorrow. That's our comfort. So look to
him, say the Lord willing, I'll do this, that or the other tomorrow.
Cause he's the one who holds tomorrow. Number two, James calls
our life of vapor. It's just a vapor. There's no
substance to a vapor. You just sweep your hand through
a vapor. You can't even tell that vapor's
there unless there's a change in air temperature in it, you
know. And all it takes for that vapor to disappear is just the
slightest change of temperature, and that vapor disappears. We've
been down at Jan's mother's. She lives down there in the heart
of the Smoky Mountains. And you get up in the morning,
you can't see Any, I mean, you can't see in her yard at all. And you turn around just a few
minutes later, the sun comes out and that fog is all gone. It just takes the slightest change
of temperature. That's our life. Some small little
thing one day is going to take our life. Just the smallest change
is going to take our life and very soon it'll be like we were
never here at all. All right, look at Job chapter
7. Job has some things to tell us about the brevity and frailty
of human life. Human life passes by very, very
swiftly. Job 7, verse 6. My days are swifter than a weaver's
shuttle and are spent without hope. A weaver's shuttle. Now, I remember being a little
fella. We lived in Danville, and we would go visit Shaker
Town every so often. And most all that time, I was
completely bored out of my skull. But sorry, I just was. This wasn't all that interesting
to you. It was interesting to me. But people were there, you
know, weaving and doing stuff like they used to do, you know,
in the old days. And I was a little fella, and I thought, well, if
this was the best way to live in life, we'd be still living
it today, you know. Anyway. That's just what I thought.
But they, weavers were using those shuttles there and buddy,
they knew what they were doing. They make that shuttle just go
back and forth in that wind so fast. It was just a blur. You
could hardly see it. Word of God says that's our lives.
The days go by so fast. The human eye almost can't detect
it. We have a finite exact number
of days on this, on this earth God's given us. and they're passing
by very, very quickly. Don't make too many plans, long-term
plans, because the days are passing by quickly. And what plans you
do make, you ought to make plans, but what plans you do make, make
them understanding the Lord willing. I do this, that or the other,
because the days are passing by quickly. He says in verse
7, Oh, remember that my life is wind. Mine eyes shall no more
see good. My life is like the wind that
blows So swiftly, you can't see it and you can't stop it. That's
that's how quickly the end of our lives are coming. Verse eight,
he says, the eye of him that has seen me to see me no more. Thine eyes are upon me and I
am not. I tell you what he's talking
about. There is a day of our funeral visitation very, very
soon. You're going to come to my funeral
visitation and you'll see this this shell and you'll look on. I will be That's it. It's coming
soon. It's coming soon. Look at chapter
nine, verse 25. Now my days are swifter than
a post. They flee away. They see no good. Our lives fly
by faster than fence posts along the highway. Jan and I were coming
home yesterday. I said, look, those fence posts,
can you count them? That's how fast our days are
passing by. But what Job is really talking about here, the post,
he's talking about a little post along a mail route. And the rider
would ride that horse as fast as it would go. And the next
post would be stationed right about the time that horse would
be getting tired. And if he'd get to that post, the rider,
he'd jump off that old tired horse. He'd jump on a new one.
Boom, off he'd go. And that old, slowed down, tired
horse was forgotten. That's how quickly our life is
going to change from this one to the next. so quickly. Verse
26, he said, they're passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle
that hasteth to the prey. The days of our lives passed
by just as quickly as a ship blown by those strong winds.
You can't stop the ship because you can't stop the wind. It's
blowing just so quickly it's gone. Our days pass as an eagle,
the eagle flying way up there. That eagle eyes spots some prey
down there. Comes down so quickly, hits that prey, never knew what
hit it. That's the days of our lives, just boom. They're going
to be gone, and we never knew what hit us. They pass by so
quickly. We were talking about this while
we were eating yesterday at the wedding. The older you get, the
faster they go by, don't they? Or at least it seems like it.
The faster they go by, they're so fast, and they're gone. Fourthly. Our lives are described in days,
not in years and decades. God's word describes our life
in the terms of days and days that are full of evil. Job 14
verse one. Man that is born of woman is
a few days and those days are full of trouble. Verse five,
he says, seeing his days are determined. The number of his
months are with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds
that he cannot pass. God's given us, he describes
our life as days and we can't even add one more day to the
number of days that the Lord has given us on this earth. And
whatever days we have are days that are going to be full of
trouble. You can just bank on it, full of trouble. Now hold
your place there and look back at Genesis chapter 47. Jacob
said the very same thing. Genesis 47, verse seven. And Joseph brought in Jacob,
his father, and set him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. That always gets me. There is since the most powerful
man in the world. And here's this old sheepherder
sitting there. The lesser is always blessed
of the greater. That sheep herder is the son
of God and one of God's children. He blessed the greater, blessed
the lesser. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob,
how old art thou? They tell me that Pharaoh had
never seen anybody that looked as old as Jacob. He's just amazed.
How old are you? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh,
he didn't describe his years, his life in years. He says the
days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years. Few and evil have
been the days of the years, have the days of the years of my life
been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the
life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. And Jacob
blessed Pharaoh and went out from before him. A hundred and
thirty years. That's a long time. I mean, wow. And Jacob got to the end of those
and he looked back over his life and said, they passed so quickly.
They're just days, just days, and they're gone. And they were
all full of evil. Then our lives, back in Job 14
again, are described as grass. Job 14, verse 2. He cometh forth
like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. This was the exact same cries,
the cry of the evangelist Isaiah, all flesh is grass. All goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the
flower fadeth, because the Spirit bloweth upon it. Surely the people
is grass. That's all we are, is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. But the word of our God
standeth forever. Don't put any stock in his flesh,
it's just grass. But the word of God, now put
your trust there, that stands forever. Our lives are nothing
but grass. It's just like flowers that bloom
so beautiful, but that beauty lasts such a short time, and
then they quickly die. And they're good for nothing
but being thrown away. That wedding yesterday, that place was full
of beautiful flowers. Did they even make it through
the stone way yesterday? If not, they're going to be thrown
away quickly. Somebody's going to want them out of there quick
because they were beautiful yesterday. By the end of the week, they're
going to be brown and dead. All they're good for, be thrown away. Our lives have no, just like
grass, have absolutely no value at all without Christ, without
Christ. So don't make any long-term plans
without Him. Look at Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them to fear him. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we're dust. As for man, his days
are as grass. As a flower of the field, so
he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it
and it's gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's
children. You can't put any trust in this
flesh, any hope, any confidence in this flesh, but you can have
a good hope in God's mercy. Endureth forever. See, that's why it's wrong for
us to say, well, tomorrow I'm going to do this or that without
considering I may not be here tomorrow because of how frail
and how brief human life is. One more scripture on this, Luke
chapter 12. It's wrong for us. It's not just not a good idea,
it's wrong. to make plans, not considering
how dependent we are on God to preserve our lives. It's in Him
we live and move and have our being. And here our Lord gives
us a very good example of this in Luke chapter 12 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'll 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, soul, thou hast much goods laid up
for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who should
those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself and is not rich. toward God. It's just a fool who says, I'm
going to do this, that or that tomorrow without saying and meaning,
if the Lord will, I'll do that because of how frail and how
brief this life is. Right now, second, I want us
to consider the will of God. If the Lord will, I'm going to
do this, that or the other. Now we ought to say that, mean
it, because we know we can't do anything that's not God's
will. The only thing that happens in all of creation are the events
that God willed to happen from all of eternity. That's the only
thing that's going to happen. So we ought to say, if the Lord
will, I'll do this or that or the other. And we make a lot
of plans, and we ought to make a lot of plans. But you know,
we don't know whether or not we've got the power to carry
them out or not. I mean, a thousand things could stop our plans.
We don't know. But nothing can stop God's will
from happening. So if the Lord will, we'll do
this, that, we'll carry out our plans. To make plans without
consulting, without considering God's will in this matter, is
to express a lack of dependence upon the Lord. It's like we're
not depending on him, like we don't need him. And we need to
remember our life and all of our activities are in the Lord's
hand, in his will, not in ours. And James tells us, we sin. If we know this, yet we still
don't seek God's will and acknowledge his will in everything we do.
That's what he says in verse 16 back in our text, James four,
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's
sin. It's sin not to make all these
plans and say, not say the Lord willing, I'm going to carry these
plans out. But now let me caution us here.
Let's not let the Lord willing become some religious catchphrase,
you know, that we use. It's like, you know, we were
taking out some good luck charm out of our pocket and rubbing
it, you know, we say the Lord willing. Let's say it and mean
it, mean it. I pray God will give us the faith
and the understanding to truly live in dependence upon God,
in dependence upon his will. seeking His will in everything
we do. Look back just a few pages. Here's
a real good example. It's Hebrews chapter 6. Even
as the writer to the Hebrews was writing, he said this. He said, I don't know if I'm
going to get to the next page or not, but this is what I'm planning
on writing. Hebrews 6 verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and
a faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of the laying
on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this we will do, if God permit. I'm planning on going on and
teaching you these things, if God permit. If He will. I don't
know if I'm going to get to the next sentence or not. If the
Lord will. Look back at 1 Corinthians chapter
4. We talk about making plans to travel, to go to this place
or the other. Well, an apostle Paul made plans to travel. He
said, I'll do this if the Lord will. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 19. He says,
but I'll come to you shortly if the Lord will. And we'll know
not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power. Paul
had told them, now I'm coming to straighten these things out
if the Lord will, if he wills. Now look at John chapter 4. I
want to give you an example here, and it'll be a very rich blessing
to the hearts of God's people, and it'll show us how important
it is for us to seek the Lord's will in everything we do. Our Savior did that very thing. Look here at John 4, verse 34. He depended upon the Father's
will. Jesus saith unto them, my meat
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish His work. I'm here to do His will. John 5 verse 30. I can of my own self do nothing.
As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
has sent me. John 6 verse 38. For I came down from heaven.
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that of all
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the
last day." See, our Savior not only sought God's will, but He
delighted in doing God's will. Now look at Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26 verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples,
Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and
very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death. Tear ye here and watch with me.
And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed,
saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. And he cometh
unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter,
What, couldst thou not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray
that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup may not
pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. Aren't you thankful for such
submission to the father's will? Father, thy will be done because
his submission to the father's will to go to Calvary to be the
substitute, the sacrifice for his people. Brought about the
salvation of his people. Brought about the putting away
of their sin and the bringing in of eternal righteousness.
Oh, how thankful I am for his submission, a Savior's submission
to the Father's will. He sought the Father's will.
Shouldn't we do the same thing? How much more dependent are we
upon the Father's will? How much more should we seek
the Father's will? Oh, how we need him. And you
know, it could be, maybe, we'd be a blessing to more people
if we sought this same submissive attitude. It didn't have to be
my way all the time, but I truly sought the Lord's will. And I
truly had the faith to know whatever God's will is, is best and right. And so it will enable me to say
and mean it, thy will be done. Bet you we'd be a blessing to
more people if God gave us that attitude. Now, people often wonder,
well, what's God's will for me? What's God's will for my life?
Well, you know, I don't know. I don't know. That's a mighty
big subject. But I can tell you what is the most important piece
of God's will for you. I can tell you that. Look at
1 John chapter 3. I can tell you because God tells
us. This is God's will and it's so important to him. He commanded
us to do it. First John three, verse 23. And this is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ and
love one another as he gave us commandment. That's God's will.
You want to know what, what is God's will for you? I can tell
you exactly what his will is for you. You bow, you believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you show love one
to another. That's God's will for you. I
promise you that. And someone will say, all right,
but what about other earthly matters? We do have to make decisions
about other earthly matters. What college should I attend?
What major should I choose? Should I go look for a new job?
Should I keep this old job or should I go look for a new one?
Should I move from this city to the next city? Should I buy
this house or that one? Should I buy a new car now or
should I wait a year? I don't know. I can't tell you.
Only you know that. Only you can know that. And you
know what? More than likely, you already
know. More than likely, you already know. In all these kinds of matters,
I can't tell you what God's will is for you. But I will tell you
this. Have you prayed about it? Have
you asked God to show you His will in it and then waited on
Him to answer? In all these kinds of situations,
more than likely, you already know the answer. More than likely.
No, you should not take a job if it's going to take you from
the public worship. If it's going to keep you from being able to
come here or if you're going to move to a town, I have to
take a job, move to a town where the gospel is not preached there,
no. That's not God's will. No. God's Word plainly reveals
His will in that, and there ain't no need in you praying about
it. There's not. Because God's not going to give
you a special revelation. He's not going to give you a
revelation contrary to His Word. So there ain't no need praying
about it. That's not His will for you. If you don't believe
me, just consult Elimelech. Go over there to the Book of
Ruth and read about Elimelech. He took his family away from
Judah and went down to Moab. Now, I grant you, he intended
to come back. But in that move, he did not
consider the frailty, the brevity of human life. And he did not
consult God's will in that move. It's never God's will for his
people to move from one place where the gospel is preached
and move to another place where it's not. That is never God's
will. And if you do it, you're going
to suffer for it. Just like Lemelette did. You look at the damage that
that man caused his family through bad leadership by not considering
how short human life is and not consulting God's will in it.
And yet, and yet, God brought good from it. See, only God can
bring good from evil, can He? Through that move, a young girl
named Ruth came back to Israel, married Boaz, and David was born
through that line. Christ the Savior came from his
time. But now listen, only God can do that. Only God can do
that. See, no matter what, God's will,
God's purpose is going to be done, but that never excuses
us from acting contrary to his revealed will. Never. Now, yes,
God brought good from it, but boy, you think of the suffering,
the dilemma that caused his family. I wouldn't want to be the cause
of that to my family, would you? And in many instances, like I
tell you, you already know God's will. We do. We know God's will. The problem is not so much knowing,
especially in things that are so clearly revealed in his word.
The problem really is not in knowing it. Here's the problem. Submitting to it. Isn't that
the problem? That's it. It's submitting to
his will. It's waiting on the Lord. That's
our problem. It's to be completely dependent
upon the Lord. See, that's our problem. And
someone might say, well, what if I really, truly don't know
God's will in this matter? And this is why I tell you, seek
it. Seek God's will. Pray and ask
God and wait on him to reveal it to you and don't do anything
until he reveals it and you feel like he's giving you an answer.
Now look at Proverbs chapter three. He will give you an answer
eventually. He will. Proverbs chapter 3.
This is part of the scripture and inscription that I put in
the Bibles that we give our high school graduates and almost always
in cards, birthday cards or cards we send to the children. These verses are part of them
anyways, the inscription that I put almost every time because
this is my prayer for our children. This is my prayer for their lives.
Proverbs 3 verse 5, trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy
ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. You know, just wait, just pray
and wait. He will direct your path. It's
not maybe he'll direct, he will direct your path. He'll reveal
to you his will. And if the Lord would teach us to say this and
mean it, the Lord will, I'm going to do this, that or that, the
Lord willing, and let me submit to his will, cheerfully submit
to his will. I'll tell you this, we'd be more
content in this life and we'd be more useful in it too. We
really would. Well, hope the Lord bless that
to you and the Lord willing, next Sunday we'll pick up in
chapter five.