Titus, or I'm sorry, James. Did I say Titus earlier? James,
okay. James chapter one. I titled the
lesson this morning, If Any Lack Wisdom. Now that ought to get
the attention of all of us, because we all need wisdom. None of us
would say, I got no wisdom. If we would, that would show
just how little wisdom we have, wouldn't it? So how much we do
indeed need wisdom. In verse 5 of James 1, James
says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth
to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Now, wisdom is the right use
of knowledge. It's the right use of knowledge.
Just because you have knowledge doesn't mean you're wise. Wisdom
is the right use of knowledge. And in every area of our lives,
we need wisdom, don't we? We need wisdom in the home, as
husbands and wives. Now, we know that the husband
is to rule the home in love, and we know that the wife is
to lovingly, willingly submit to the rule of her husband. Now,
that's right knowledge, isn't it? But I need God to give me
wisdom to do that right, so I won't be a tyrant, so I won't make
Janice's life miserable. When she and I were first married,
it was quickly obvious to me I needed wisdom. And it forced
me to pray that God would give me wisdom. And I still do. I still do that to this day and
I still don't have enough. Out of our need, we pray for
wisdom. We know parents are to raise
their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Parents
are to teach their children. They're to discipline their children
so that the children are not the ones ruling the roost. Now
that's right knowledge, isn't it? Everybody knows that. They
ought to if they don't. But I need God to give me wisdom
so that I do that right. I remember when Holly was first
born. I've been so looking forward to this baby being born. And
the closer and closer and closer it got to time, I started getting
scared. And when she was born and I saw
that child, I was scared out of my wits. I thought of that
woman in Gone with the Wind and said, I don't know nothing about
birth of no babies. That's what I thought. I don't know nothing
about raising no baby. And I earnestly prayed for wisdom. See, it's out of our need we
pray for wisdom. We need wisdom to do a good job
at work. You know, you know how to do
your job, but we need wisdom in dealing with people and dealing
with circumstances that come up. Wisdom. We need wisdom to
be a good church member. You all know the instructions
and the scripture to how to be a good church member, but we
know that, but we need God to give us wisdom that we would
be one. We need wisdom to be a good friend, wisdom to be a
good neighbor. And it's that need that drives
us to pray for wisdom. Now here's an encouragement to
pray for wisdom. We pray out of need, but here's
an encouragement. James said, God gives liberally.
He said, God gives liberally and upbraideth not. And specifically
here, he's talking about wisdom to do what he says in verse two,
to count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. My flesh does not want to hurt.
I don't want to be in need. I don't want to suffer times
of trial. That's the strong desire of my flesh. So how can I separate
myself? from the desires of my flesh
and to count trials all joy." What James says, ask God to give
it to you. Ask him to give you that wisdom. I hope that this
morning we'll receive some instruction and some encouragement in this
matter of seeking and finding wisdom in all things, but especially
in times of trial. And here's the first thing, the
Lord has made the door wide open to wisdom. James says, if any
of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of the Lord. And the Lord promises. He doesn't say you ask for wisdom
and maybe I'll give it to you, doesn't he? He says you ask,
it shall be given him. The Lord promises to give wisdom
to anyone who asks. The word ask James uses here
means to beg for and to crave. Look over at first Corinthians
chapter one. I'll show you why we should beg
for this wisdom. why we should crave it. To ask, if we're going to ask,
it's to be humble, isn't it? You're going to, if we're going
to ask somebody for something, it's to be humble and it's to
admit that I'm unwise. Here is how unwise we are. First
Corinthians one verse 21. For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, the world by its wisdom, by fleshly
natural wisdom, knew not God. That's why it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Because
with our so-called wisdom, the wisdom of this flesh, we can
never know God. We need to beg God for wisdom. We should crave this wisdom because
what we think is our wisdom really is foolishness. So to ask the
Lord to give me wisdom is to acknowledge that the Lord is
above me. that I am dependent upon Him
because I am so weak and foolish, I need God. I ask God to give
me wisdom because I need Him to give me something I cannot
get any other way. The only way I can get this wisdom
is if God gives it to me. And the encouragement James gives
us here is, seek the Lord. Ask Him. No true seeker ever
leaves the Lord empty. Go throughout Scripture. I defy
you to find one time somebody truly seeking mercy or help or
salvation from the Lord ever went away empty. No true seeker
ever has. He will give wisdom to those
who are in need. And if you're unlike me and you
haven't turned away from 1 Corinthians 1, look here at verse 30 of 1
Corinthians 1. Now, what is the wisdom that
we're really talking about here? It's Christ. Verse 30, 1 Corinthians
1, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now, it's obvious Christ is our
righteousness. If I have any righteousness before
God, it's Christ. He's our sanctification. He is
our redemption. And Christ is also our wisdom.
When we ask for wisdom, we're asking for Christ. He is the
wisdom of God that shows how God can still be God, can still
be holy and save somebody like me. Christ is the wisdom of God
that shows how God can at the same time forgive sin and punish
sin through the death of a substitute. Christ is the wisdom we must
have. I look over at Proverbs chapter
eight. All throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon talks about
wisdom. And you read through the book
of Proverbs, and every time he talks about wisdom, you just
insert the word Christ. When he's talking about wisdom,
he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs 8 is where we're
going to read, but in Proverbs 4, verse 7, Solomon said, wisdom
is the principal thing. It's the most important thing.
Therefore, get wisdom. Now you just put Christ in place
of that word wisdom. Christ is the principal thing. So get Christ. Seek him, ask
God to give him to you. In Proverbs 8 verse 1, doth not
wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice? Now you
know that's Christ our wisdom speaking. It's him speaking all
throughout this chapter. It's Christ speaking all throughout
the whole word, but especially clearly in this chapter, this
is Christ speaking, Christ our wisdom. He says in verse 23,
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning wherever the
earth was, This is our eternal Savior, the eternal wisdom of
God. Verse 30, before anything was
created, He said, then I was buying. As one brought up with
Him, I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.
And verse 35, this is Christ, for whoso findeth Me, findeth
life and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth
against Me, wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate Me,
love death. And that's why it's so important
for us to ask God, give us wisdom. Give me Christ, because if I
have him, I've got life. That's why it's so important
to ask. Now, every believer knows Christ. Everyone who is saved
knows Christ, because our Savior said eternal life is knowing
the Lord Jesus Christ, who God had sent. So we know him. But
remember, wisdom is the right use of knowledge. Wisdom is the
right use of knowing Christ. So the right use of the knowledge
of Christ is to be kind, is to be forgiving, is to be loving,
as our Savior is. And especially in our text, the
right use of the knowledge of Christ is to trust Him. That's wisdom. The right use
of knowing who He is is to trust Him, especially in times of trial. See, if I know that if I know
Christ, I have the right use of knowledge, then this is what
I know. I know he sent this trial for my good and wisdom submits
to it because I know him. The right use of knowledge rejoices
in trials because I know trials means God loves me as a son and
not as a bastard. So I submit to him as a son.
The right use of knowledge rejoices in trials So it doesn't seek
a quick way out of the trial, but seeks the right use of the
trial. Seeks so that in this trial, I might learn more of
Christ. That I might learn to trust Him
more. That I might learn to love Him more. That I might learn
to rejoice more in His presence in my heart, rather than all
these fleshly things that my flesh wants. See, that's the
wisdom we're asking for in times of trial. It's the right use
of knowing Christ. To trust Him. To just trust Him. and wait on Him. And James tells
us everybody that asks for Christ, everyone who craves Christ, everyone
who desires Him in great need will find Him. Because here's
the second point. We ask for wisdom because of
the Lord's liberality. John says, the Lord giveth to
all men liberally and upbraideth not. Now ask. Any man who desires
wisdom, ask. And it will be given him in abundance.
The Lord gives liberally. He can afford to, can't he? He
owns everything. He's rich in all things. He can
afford to give liberally. You need mercy? Ask God for mercy. He gives it liberally. He's rich
in mercy. God forgives sins according to the riches of his grace. God's
slow to anger. He's plenteous in mercy. That's
why he can give it liberally. David said, with the Lord, there's
mercy and with him is plenteous redemption. Do you need to be
redeemed? Ask. The Lord gives it liberally because
he's plenteous in redemption. And the same thing's true of
this matter of wisdom. I'll show you an example of that, 1 Kings
chapter 3. The Lord gives wisdom liberally to all, or he gives
liberally is what I should say, to all who ask. 1 Kings chapter 3. You can imagine Solomon growing
up. At some point in his life, he
had some understanding that he was to follow his father, David,
on the throne of Israel. And much like when Janet was
pregnant with Holly, the closer the time got, the more scared
I became, came. I bet, I bet that's how it was
with Solomon. And when David died, Solomon had to sit on the
throne. He's scared out of his wits. First Kings three verse
five. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared
to Solomon a dream by night and God said, ask what I should give
thee. And Solomon said, thou has showed
him to thy servant, David, my father, great mercy, according
as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and an uprightness
of heart with thee. And thou has kept for him this
great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his
throne as it is this day. And now, oh Lord, my God, thou
has made thy servant king instead of David, my father. And I am
but a little child. I know not how to go out or come
in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people. This is
thy people, the people that you chose, the people that you love,
which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered
nor counted for multitude. And I'm supposed to be their
king? Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge
thy people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who
is able to judge this so great a people? Solomon asked for wisdom
because he saw he asked out of his knee, didn't he? And look
at verse 10. This is how the Lord gives liberally.
The speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing,
and God said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing, hast
not asked for thyself long life, neither have you asked riches
for yourself, neither has asked for the life of the life of thine
enemies, but ask for thyself understanding to discern judgment.
Behold, I've done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee
a wise and an understanding heart so that there was none like thee
before none like thee before thee, neither after thee. So
any arise like unto thee. I have also given thee that which
they have not asked for, both riches and honor. So there should
not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. The Lord gave unto him liberally
more than he asked for. Look over at chapter four, verse
29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even
as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled
the wisdom of all the children of these country and all the
wisdom of Egypt. God gave Solomon wisdom. He gave
everything to him liberally. He asked for wisdom. Now here's
something for us to remember. We don't just ask for wisdom.
for ourselves. Does everybody brag on us and
say, oh, look how wise he is? That's not why we ask for wisdom.
I remember being young and I thought Brother Henry was probably the
wisest man I knew. And he made a statement that
stuck with me. He said, I ask for wisdom every
day. And I thought, huh, I bet there's
a correlation between that. They know what James is saying.
Ask for wisdom. The Lord gives it liberally.
Ask for wisdom that you might be of surface to God's church,
to God's people. Solomon asked for wisdom that
he might lead God's people right. And he received that wisdom and
became a blessing to God's people. Look at verse 32. God gave him
all this wisdom. It was greater than anyone else.
And he spake 3000 proverbs and his songs were 1005. God gave
him that wisdom to be a blessing to his people and all his proverbs
and his songs of worship. And that's why we ask for wisdom.
That we might be a blessing and help to God's people. And the
Lord gives it liberally. And he doesn't upbraid when we
ask for wisdom. He doesn't tell us Now, why are
you so foolish? Haven't I showed you this before?
Haven't I given you enough wisdom? Look how foolish you are. Look
at you. Why do you have to ask for wisdom
so often? He never does that. He never upbraids. He gives liberally. And that encourages me to ask
for wisdom. But here's the third thing. Here's
how we are to ask. We're to ask in faith. Look at
verse six, the beginning of verse six. But let him ask in faith.
Now, asking in faith is simply this. It's asking, believing
that Christ will keep His promise. It's asking, believing that He's
able. He's got both the power and the
faithfulness to do what He promised. I ask Him in faith because I'm
confident He can provide what I need. He is everything that
I need. Asking in faith is asking God to save me because He promised
to save a sinner. And I'm a sinner. Asking God
And faith is asking God to save me, because He said He'd save
everybody, He'd get all the glory and save. He glorifies Himself
and show Him mercy. That's His greatest glory. And
Lord, get great glory to Yourself and show Him mercy to me. That's
asking in faith. And asking in faith is asking
God to give me wisdom to rejoice in trials, to willingly rejoice
and submit to Him because He said He'd give it. He said he'd
give it liberally and upbraid not. Now this matter of asking,
look at John chapter 14, asking and receiving what we asked for.
Our Lord dealt with this. John 14. Verse 13. And whatsoever you shall ask
in my name, that will I do, that the father may be glorified in
the son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now, that's not a blank check
to go out and ask the Lord, you know, let you win the lottery
or heal your sickness. That's not asking in faith, is
it? Asking in Christ's name is not just ending your prayer in
Jesus name. Asking in Christ's name means asking for the glory
of Christ, not just for something that I want, but asking for the
glory of Christ. And the Lord will do. anything
that gives Him all the glory. So to ask in Christ's name is
to ask the Lord to get glory in saving me. Lord, get glory
in giving me wisdom to rejoice in trials, to willingly, lovingly
submit to you. That's asking in Christ's name
for His glory. Look over a page of John 16,
verse 23. Verse 24, well, 23. And in that
day, you shall ask me nothing. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever
you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Now, hitherto have you asked
nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may
be full. See, this is asking in Christ's
name. Lord, get glory in giving me wisdom that my joy might be
full, even in this time of trial. That's asking in the Lord's name.
Now someone's probably wondering why I've asked for a lot of things
the Lord hadn't given me. All right, back to James. James chapter four. So here's
the difference between just the way we typically ask and asking
in faith. James four verse three. You ask
and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it
upon your lust. See, that's why the Lord doesn't
give me what I pray for, everything that I pray for, because I haven't
asked in faith. I mean, let's be honest. We ask
for those things that we would consume in the lust of our flesh.
Lord doesn't give us everything we ask for because we're not
asking for the glory of Christ. We're asking for the glory and
comfort of our flesh. But he will give liberally to
everyone who ask in faith for the glory of Christ. Alright,
now go back to verse 6. Let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Oh, don't
you wish he hadn't said that? Let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. That leaves me out, doesn't it?
That's what it feels like. Does that leave me out? My faith. is weak. My faith is wavering. I might think my faith is strong
one minute, but I promise you it's going to be weaker the next.
It might seem non-existent the next. My faith is definitely
like the waves of the ocean. My faith's got a lot of low tides.
Is yours? Don't be discouraged. That doesn't
leave us out. James is not telling us here
that our faith has got to be perfect and never waver for the
Lord to give us what we ask for, to help us, to comfort us, to
save us. He's not saying that at all.
That contradicts the rest of Scripture. Remember the story
of the father whose son was possessed of the evil spirit? And he brought
the son to the Lord, asked the Lord to heal him, and the Lord
told him, if you can believe, all things are possible to those
who believe. What did that poor father say?
Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. He didn't
have perfect faith and he believed, but he admitted there's a lot
of unbelief in this thing. There's a lot of wavering in his faith. And
what did the Lord do? The Lord healed that man's son.
He cast out that devil. So it doesn't have to be perfect
faith. The father came to the Lord in
the faith that he had. He believed Christ was able. That's why he asked. It wasn't
perfect, but he believed the Lord was able and the Lord healed
his son. If you look at second Timothy
chapter one, this might be one of the best definitions of faith
and all the word of God. At least it's very clear. It
makes it very clear to me. Second Corinthians one verse
12 for the witch cause. I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed.
Now there's the right knowledge. I know Christ. I know whom I
have believed. Here's wisdom. Here's the right use of that
knowledge. I'm persuaded. I'm confident. He is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. Now that's God-given
faith. It's wisdom. I know him and I
am persuaded. I'm confident he's able to keep
my whole everything, my soul I've committed unto him against
that day. Now that's God-given faith. That's the gift of God. We can't conjure that up. God
gives that to his people. And God accepts his people in
Christ. He accepts them in Christ, not
because our faith never wavers. God sees the faith of the new
man. He doesn't see the weakness of the flesh. He sees his people
in Christ, not in actions of our flesh. Let me give you an
example. I believe it will be helpful.
Remember Abraham. God called Abraham out one night
and said, Abraham, look up at the stars. So shall your seat
be. You're not going to be able to
count them. Abraham just told the Lord, you
promised me a son 10, 11, 12 years ago. Still no son. Sarah
and I are old. Her womb's dead. I'm dead. This
Eleazar, some servant at my house, says, I don't have a son. And
you promised me a son. God said, I'm going to keep my
promise. Look at the stars. Well, a little while went on.
Abraham believed God and it was counted on him for righteousness.
That's what the word says. But a little while later, sounds
to me like Abraham's faith wavered, doesn't he? He and Sarah thought,
we got to help God out in this matter. God must want us to help
him out. And we're going to send in Hagar.
Sarah said, I got a servant young in the strength of her youth.
And you have a son by her. Sure enough, they did, didn't
they? Hagar had a son, but that wasn't a son of promise, was
it? Well, it sounds to me like Abraham's faith wavered, doesn't
it? But in Romans 4, in the New Testament, after the death of
Christ, how did the Apostle Paul talk about Abraham? Under inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, he said Abraham staggered not at the promise
of God, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being
fully persuaded that what God had promised he was also able
to perform. Now it sounds to me like his
faith staggered, but God said it didn't. Because God saw Abraham
in Christ, not in Abraham. See, that's our contrast. Sarah,
same way. Sarah heard that angel, which
I believe is our Lord Jesus, a pre-incarnate appearance of
Christ. She heard him sit in that tent, talking with Abraham.
He said, Abraham, your wife Sarah's going to have a son. Sarah's
listening through the outside of that tent. She laughed. Sounded
to me like Sarah's faith wavered, didn't it? But in Hebrews chapter
11, there's no mention of that. See, this is how God sees his
people. All it says is, through faith, Sarah received strength
to conceive. I saw Sarah in Christ, not in
herself. So not wavering in faith means
being in Christ alone. It's trusting Christ alone. It's
trusting Him to save. It's trusting Him to help. It's
trusting Him to deliver. It's trusting Him to comfort.
My faith is not as strong as it should be, but I know I've
got to go to Him. I've got to go to Him. You and
I are as unstable as water. Christ is the rock of ages. He
won't be moved. That's our hope. Because He won't
be moved, we won't be moved. That's the faith that God gives.
God is always pleased with the faith He gives. Now look at verse
7. I think this is what's talking
about wavering here. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is
unstable in all of his ways. Now a double-minded man is two-faced.
He says he trusts the Lord, but at the same time, he's trusting
the arm of the flesh. He's riding the fence and kind
of doing what the investors do and, you know, kind of dividing
your risk here. You put some stuff here, some
stuff here. That's the double-minded man.
He says he trusts Christ, but you just can't trust Christ alone.
He's got to do some things to help out. And the Lord's not
going to bless that man. But that man's still trusting
in the flesh, not trusting in the Lord. And God's blessings
are in Christ. And they never have anything
to do with the flesh. So that's asking nothing wavering. It's
putting it all on Christ. All right, now here's the fourth
thing, the last thing. Here's a good reason for us to
ask God for wisdom. Here's an example of why a believer
who's got some wisdom will rejoice in trial. Let the brother of low degree
rejoice that he is exalted, but the rich, and that he is made
low, because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away.
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers
the grass and the flower thereof fallen and the grace of the fashion
of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade,
fade away in his ways. Now here's two brothers. They're
both brothers. They both know the Lord. One's
a rich man, one's a poor man. He's a brother of low degree,
means that he's poor in the things of this life. Now, the believer
has faith in Christ, but we're also in this flesh. And because
we're in this flesh, this is what we're prone to think. We're
prone to think that our reason for rejoicing are fleshly reasons,
temporal reasons. And God sends trials to teach
us differently. God sends us trials to teach
us to see things in the proper perspective. This brother of
low degree who's so poor, life's hard on him. It's hard for him
to make a living. It's hard for him just to go
from paycheck to paycheck. He gets paid on Friday, but by
Wednesday or Thursday, he's suffering. He's in need. He doesn't have
enough to make it. He's suffering. He's in low degree. But that
man can rejoice. He can rejoice because of his
poverty. He can rejoice in his poverty.
Because that poverty that the Lord sent him, God used that
to teach him something. He's used that trial, that need,
to teach him to depend upon the Lord, not on his bank account.
He can rejoice that he's learned that. The brother who's poor
in this life, he's learned this, to rejoice in true riches. The
riches he has in Christ. He has the richness of the forgiveness
of sin. He might go hungry on Thursday
because he doesn't have enough to buy anything to eat until
tomorrow, you know, when payday comes, but he's rich in God's
mercy. He has eternal life. His life on this earth may be
poor, but he's rich in life. He has eternal life. He rejoices
that he's exalted in Christ, even though he's abased in this
life. He's able to rejoice in spirit, even while the flesh
suffers. And he couldn't have learned
it any other way. And he rejoices in that. And the brother on the
other end of the spectrum who's rich, he's got plenty of this
world's goods, he rejoices in trials too. Because you know
what trials teach him? They teach him the same thing
the brother of low degree learned. Not to trust in this flesh. Everything
he has in this flesh is just like a flower. It might look
strong and beautiful for a little while, but you just watch. Pretty soon you're not going
to be able to tell the difference between that beautiful flower and a weed. They're both brown and dead,
good for nothing but to burn. Trials teach that rich brother
not to trust in the deceitfulness of riches. How quickly it flies
away. I heard yesterday they're talking
about the stock market. People are just doing so great
in the stock market. And they said this market had
a lot of similarities between now and when it crashed a number
of years ago. All that riches will fly away
in a moment. You just didn't even see it happen.
It's gone. Giles taught that rich man to be humble. Trust
in Christ, not in his riches. So believers can rejoice. Not
can rejoice, but we do rejoice when God brings us low. Because
when we're brought low, then we learn. We learn something
we can't learn any other way. I cannot learn how weak I am
until God puts me down in the dust and humbles me. We can't
learn how much we truly depend upon the Lord that He removes
every other pillar underneath us so we trust in the Lord. And when we're brought low, we
learn something about ourselves and we learn something about
the Savior too. We learn He really is faithful. He really is. When
He brings us low, we learn His grace really is sufficient for
me, not just for Paul. His thorn in the flesh, not just
for y'all. I learned when Lord brings me law, I learned this
about the Savior. His grace really is sufficient
for me. And learning that enables us
to to have the wisdom to rejoice in the pain and the tears because
of those precious things that we learn of our Savior. All right. Lord bless you.