When I stand here to preach to
you, I try always to preach only that which I know by experience. I don't come to this pulpit to
lecture about religion or morality. I don't come to speculate about
the meaning of obscure passages of Holy Scripture. or to tell
you what I think some text of scripture means. I come here
to tell you what I know, what I know by experience, what
God has taught me by His grace, the wondrous things God's done
for me. But tonight, I'm going to talk
to you about something of which I know very, very little. A subject, I'm compelled to confess,
that's far deeper than my experience. All I know about it, honestly,
is what I read in this book. But it's a subject I pray God
the Holy Spirit will teach me by experience. And I pray He
will teach you by experience. My subject is wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom. Hear just a little of what this
book says about wisdom. Just listen. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget it
not. Forsake her not, and she shall
preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep
thee. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. Exalt
her and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to honor
when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head
an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to
thee. Let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life. Get wisdom. Forsake her not. For wisdom is
better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are
not to be compared to it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Who doesn't desire wisdom? Who doesn't desire to be wise? But there is a wisdom that's
heavenly, and there is a wisdom that's hellish. There is a wisdom
that comes down from heaven and will carry you to heaven. And
there is a wisdom that springs from hell and will carry you
to hell. Let's open our Bibles tonight
to James chapter 3, verses 13 through 18. And I will show you
what God has shown me in this passage of scripture. James chapter
3 verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the
truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 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. And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. I just told you Bible's
open here and let me show you three things that I know about
wisdom. I don't know much about wisdom
but these three things I know. Number one, all who are born
of God are truly wise. All who are born of God, they
are taught of God. And all who are born of God and
taught of God are truly wise in the highest possible sense
of that word wise. The text begins with a question. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? But when James asked that question,
he's not talking about natural wisdom, civil wisdom, or even
moral wisdom. When James asked who is wise
among you, he's asking who has been made wise unto salvation. He who is wise knows his ignorance
and folly. He who is wise knows his ignorance
and folly. He knows his ignorance with regard
to all things spiritual and the folly of his natural thinking
with regard to all things spiritual, righteous, and godly. John Gill,
I think, expressed it very well. He said, the first lesson in
the school of spiritual wisdom is for a man to know that he
is a fool. Sooner or later, God's going
to teach you that everything you thought you knew about God,
about grace, about righteousness, about salvation, about heaven,
about hell, about eternity, everything you thought you knew was just
foolishness. He will teach you to know that
you are void of understanding. He will cause you to understand
that you have no knowledge in yourself of anything spiritual. The wise are those who live not
for time but for eternity. I want you to hold your hands
here in James and turn back to that passage Brother Merle just
read to us. He had no way of knowing except
perhaps that God the Spirit gave him direction that I was going
to be looking at this with you. The wise The wise, the wise,
are you wise? Has God given you wisdom? Are
you born of God, taught of God to have wisdom? The wise are
those who live not for time, but for eternity. Wise, truly
wise people live in the prospect of eternity. Oh God, give me grace. day by
day and hour by hour to live in the immediate prospect of
eternity. Let's back up one verse more
than what Merle read, verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 4. Our light affliction, all the
pain and heartache and trouble and confusion and sorrow and
weeping that we experience in this world, What a word he uses
for us, Sammy, our light affliction. But Brother Don, how can you
call this light? Well, let's look at it in the light of eternity.
Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look
not at things, the things which are seen. We don't set our minds
and our hearts and our attention upon the things that we see with
these eyes. We look not at the things which
are seen, but rather we look at the things which are not seen.
And that's very reasonable. That's just smart. That's just
wise. For the things which are seen
are temporal. The things which are seen are
temporal. The things which are seen, this
is what they amount to. That's all. That's all. I don't think they'll mind me
telling you this. Mitch and Steffi came to me. after services Sunday
evening and ask if I'd marry them. It'll be a while, October
a year, but of course I was delighted to do so. And I said to them,
and Ruth just got through telling me she gave me exactly the opposite
counsel, but she agrees with my counsel. I said, it's all
right. I said to them, I don't encourage long engagements. And I know we live in this age
when Everybody thinks you've got to have all your ducks in
a row and have your house and have a future plan, have money
in the bank and all that stuff. That's just, that's all. Just temporal. Just temporal. Just temporal.
Nothing else. Just temporal. And all the things
for which men and women labor all their lives are just all your property, all your retirement,
all your money, all your name, all your fame, all your reputation,
all your riches, all the stuff you grabbed for. Give me more! Give me more! Give me more! It's
just... That's what you worried about
all your life. That's what you worked for all your life. Just
temporal. Everything you see. Look at it. It's just temporal. It's just
temporal. Now, Don didn't say that. God did. The things which
are seen are temporal, but the things which are seen, which
are not seen, they're eternal. They're eternal. Now, Merle,
only a fool would live for the temporal in the light of the
eternal. Only a fool would live for the
temporal in the light of the eternal. For we know, we know,
we who are wise, we who have been taught of God, we who have
this wisdom that comes down from above, we know that our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved. We have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we grow. All these simple things, all
these simple things, It's hard to imagine the things for which
you labor all your life. You know what they give you?
Nothing but pain. In this we grow. What do you
have that didn't cause you difficulty? What do you possess that doesn't
cause you some grief, some pain, some anxiety? In this we grow. In this temporal state we grow. That's all we do. In this we
grow. earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house, which is from heaven. Yes, we have a right, responsible sense of self-preservation, and
we're responsible to exercise that. I recognize that. It's
wrong to take a life you own of somebody else's. wrong to
give it up. This is by God's appointment.
But we earnestly desire to be clothed upon with real life,
with real life, with no pain, no pain of heart, no sin, no
corruption, real life in Christ, our house which is from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle do grow being burdened. Not for
that we would be unclothed. It's not that we're sick of life.
No, no, no, no. We're anxious for life. But clothed
upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he
that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God. I think
this needs stressing. I stress it every time I read
this text to you. God said that just the way he said it on purpose.
The text does not say, He that hath wrought for us the selfsame
thing is God. The text says, He that hath wrought
us for the selfsame thing is God. God worked in us to produce
in us this great anticipation and desire for things eternal
with Christ in heaven. Read on. Who hath also given
us the earnest of the Spirit, the pledge of the Spirit. Therefore,
therefore, while we live here, we're always confident, knowing
that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight. We're confident, I say,
and willing, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone
may receive the things done in his body according to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad. Well, how on earth could
anybody be anxious for that? If he's made wise, he can. For
Christ is our righteousness, and we have obeyed God perfectly
in Him. Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord awaiting the wicked, we persuade men. The wise, the wise. Are they
who are built upon the rock, Christ Jesus, the only sure foundation
stone laid in Zion by God himself? And God says, he that believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. The wise man is compared to one
who dug deep and built his house on a foundation of stone. And
that foundation stands, and the house built upon it stands. When
the waves rush over it, when the storms come, the winds blow,
and the house built on the sand falls, this house stands. They that believe on the Son
of God shall not make haste, shall not be ashamed, shall not
be confused, shall not be put to shame. They stand firmly built
upon Jesus Christ the Lord. People talk about their strong
faith. Would God have learned something
about a strong foundation? Our security, our peace, our
joy is not in the strength of our faith, but rather it is in
the strength of Him who is the object of our faith. Yes, there
are believers who are strong in faith and believers who are
weak in faith, but our security is in Him who is the object of
our faith. Those who are wise are built
upon this foundation stone. I was over at the doctor's. I
forgot which day it was this week. I had to go over there
and get some tests run. I'm doing an ultrasound checking
up, making sure everything's all right in the heart and arteries
and so forth. And I was laying on a cot, and I hoped maybe I
could inspire a little bit of question in her. It didn't work,
but I was hoping maybe God would open her door. And I just couldn't
get comfortable on that cot. It was just a stretcher. And
I said, you know, there's a place in scripture that talks about
your bed here. She said, what? I said, the scripture speaks
about a bed that's too short for a man to stretch himself
on it, with covers too narrow for a man to wrap himself in
it. She said, most people are comfortable there. She didn't
get ahead. But the fact is, most people
have a refuge of lies that gives them no comfort, for they're
built upon a foundation of sand. The believer is wise. He's built
upon Christ. Those who are wise, made wise
into salvation by the grace of God, are endued with knowledge. Being taught of God, They know
all things. Turn back to 1 John chapter 2.
Let me show you one more time what that means. They know all things? All things? Is there anybody here who knows
everything? Everybody taught of God does. Everything you need
to know. And know what no one else knows
except those who are taught of God. They know all that God requires
and they know where it is in Christ Jesus. Let's see if that's
not what John says. First John chapter 2 verse 20.
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, an anointing, and you
know all things. What? Read the next verse. I've
not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it. and that know lies of the truth.
He says, you know all things, you know the truth. You know
the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is
the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son. Denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
Well, I don't know many folks who do that. Oh, I know tons
of folks who do. You do too. They don't say with
words that Jesus is not the Christ. But they say with all their doctrine
that he's not. For they deny that Jesus of Nazareth
actually accomplished what God in the prophets said the Christ
would accomplish. Our granddaughter had her first
paper this year. And the new English teacher required
him to write a paper about someone they thought of as successful. So Audre Grace wrote about the
Lord Jesus. He's successful. And the teacher
handed it back to him and said, you have to write about somebody
else. He wasn't successful. Now that shocks folks. Why? Because most everybody thinks
he wasn't successful. Most everybody presumes he failed.
Most everybody presumes he came here to do something the Jews
wouldn't allow him to do. He came here to save folks he couldn't
save. He died to redeem folks he couldn't redeem. Oh no, He
is the Christ. He is the successful Savior.
Read on. Whosoever denieth, verse 23,
the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth
the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you.
What? The truth which you have heard
from the beginning. If that which you have heard
from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue
in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that
he has promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written
unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing,
the unction, which you have received of him abideth in you, and you
need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is the truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him. Every wise person,
every wise person, every saved sinner, are you listening to
me? Every wise person, that's a saved sinner, every saved sinner,
everyone born of God knows the depravity and corruption and
plague of his own heart. He knows the demands of God's
justice, righteousness, holiness, and truth. He knows his own utter
inability to do anything righteous or good before God. And he knows
that Christ is just the Savior he needs. He knows the merit
of his blood, the preciousness of his blood, the power of his
blood, the perfection of his intercession. Look at verse 13,
the last line of it. If God has been so gracious to
you, if he's been so good to me, has to make us wise in a
world of fools who think they're wise. God the Holy Ghost says
to the wise, let him, the one who's wise, show out of a good
conversation, out of a good life, out of a good life, a good way
of life, his works with meekness of wisdom. Here we're called
upon not to act good before men, or do things to be seen of men.
That has nothing to do with it. But we're rather called upon
to live in this world for the glory of God by our behavior to show the wisdom
God's given us. By our behavior to display the
wisdom God's given us. We're called upon to live here
for the glory of God as men and women who live for heaven and
not for the world. As people who live for eternity,
not for time. The believer's life is a good
conversation. Any child of God can say what
I'm about to say to you, but I want to speak personally to
you. I wouldn't trade places with any human being in the world
at any time. Oh, I have such a good life.
Such a good life. Life with God in Christ. That's my life. The believer's
life is a good life. It's a good life. People talk
about what they sacrificed to serve the Lord. My soul. I've not lost anything, Mark.
I've gained everything. I've gained everything. It's
a good life. That good life is a life from
which good works flow. Selfless works of faith, love,
kindness, generosity. Good work, good work is always
selfless work. Good work is always selfless
work. It doesn't bring anything back
to me and it's not done to bring anything back to me. It is always
selfless work. Those works flow from this good
life, and yet those selfless good works flowing from the heaven-born
soul are works that our flesh ever seeks to deny. And our flesh ever seeks to live
in utter selfishness. How selfish we are. That's our
nature. That's our nature. That's Adam
in us. That's what we are by nature.
Folks, you see advertisements on television and they want you
to send a dollar a day to take care of starving children or
to take care of starving dogs or send a dollar a day to help
folks kill babies in the womb. It'll make you feel good. You'll
get something good out of it. If you'll make a little sacrifice,
you'll just feel good. Selfish. Everything's centered
around self. That's the way men live by nature.
Therefore, we have to work at good works. And the Spirit of
God says to us, let him show out of a good conversation his
works. And we must do so with the meekness
of wisdom. What's that talking about? The
meekness of wisdom. Walk before God in this world,
my brother. Walk before God in this world,
my sister, for the glory of God. Seek in all things to give yourself
wholeheartedly to Christ the Lord all the time. Seek in all
things to consecrate your life to him all the time. Recognizing all the while that
there's nothing you do that will contribute one thing toward your
righteousness, your holiness, or your everlasting salvation.
Only being constrained by the love of Christ. Oh, how this
wisdom. This wisdom that's given from
God will then be a crown on your head. How this wisdom will preserve
you in life. Without question, all who are
born of God are truly wise. That's verse 13. Now look at
verses 14, 15, and 16. All earthly wisdom. I've chosen
my words with great care after much thoughtful deliberation
and prayer. This is precisely what James tells us in these
three verses. All earthly wisdom, all of it,
all of it. I don't care whether it's wisdom
you got by the gene pool in your family or wisdom you learned
at Harvard or Yale or Princeton. All earthly wisdom, all of it,
all of it is carnal, sensual, and devilish. Now let's see if
I can be good on that. But if ye have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. Bitterness, envy, strife. Bitterness, envy, strife are
always evil. No exceptions. The lust of the
flesh is what they are. And these things are things,
when exercised, that men call wisdom. These are the things
by which men and women advance themselves and enrich themselves
in this world. Bitterness, envy, strife. You can't help but to be aware
of all the blustering of Mr. Trump and other candidates as
well, Democrat and Republican. He just happens to be one who's
sucking up all the air, as they say right now. And someone asked
him a week or two ago, maybe more than that, about having
filed bankruptcy so many times. And you know how he defended
it? Did any of you hear it? He said, well, they were just
stupid. I was smarter than them. I didn't lose any money. I did,
because they were just stupid. I was smart. I had wisdom. I
had wisdom. That's the wisdom that's sensual,
devilish, earthly. But let us remember, James is
writing to us, you and I who are believers. He says to you
and me, if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, and
how often we do, Glory not. Don't glory in the ungodliness
and don't glory in the things that come from such ungodliness. Don't glory in that wisdom that
inspires wickedness, that wisdom which teaches us to be ruthless,
cunning, calculating, ever seeking advantage for ourselves over
others. That's the wisdom of this world.
sensual earthly fleshly devilish all of it always looking out
for number one God teach me force me by your grace not to look
out for me and you won't do that and I won't
do that except God graciously force us not to look out for
ourselves we don't And lie not against the truth. Don't pretend
that evil is good. That wasn't so bad. I know maybe I shouldn't have
had this attitude or that might have said that or did that, but that's
all right. Don't pretend that evil is good.
And don't pretend that such evil is not in you. It is. It's the
lust of our flesh. It's in you and it's in me. Let us walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. What do you mean preacher? Turn
to Colossians chapter 3 and I'll show you. Colossians chapter
3. Paul told Timothy, he said, flee
these things. Follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, meekness. Look here in Colossians 3 verse
12. You can all quote verse 11, Christ
is all and in all. We love that. Read verse 12. Put on, therefore, since Christ
is all, and He's in us all. That's what it's talking about,
isn't it? Christ is all, and He's in us all. Christ is all
to me, and Christ is all to Larry, Christ is all to Lindsey, and
Christ is all to Mark and Bobby, Christ is all to you ladies,
all to you men who are His. Christ is all. Put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, Bowels of mercies. That's so much better than any
modern translation. Bowels of mercies. Kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Put all these bowels of mercy,
a churning in your stomach to be merciful, kind, meek, long-suffering,
forbearing one another. and forgiving one another. If
any men have quarrel against any, doesn't matter what it is,
even as Christ has forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things put on charity, charity, self-sacrificing benevolence,
charity, self-sacrificing devotion, charity, self-sacrificing love
for one another, which is the bond of perfectness. Here we are. Here we are. All
of us, one man in Christ Jesus, perfect in Christ Jesus, here's
the thing that holds us together in a strong bond, this charity. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which also you're called in one body,
and be you thankful. Now look back at our text, James
chapter 3. 15 to 16. This wisdom, this carnal,
earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom is not from above. This wisdom
descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. That which creates strife and
confusion and division among brethren, that which creates
strife Confusion and division among brethren, envy, bitterness,
yak, talk, whisperings, is not heavenly wisdom. It's hellish
wisdom. How should I approach this? How
should I? How should I? Oh, Celeste's been, she's been
looking kind of funny at me lately. How should I handle that? Let's
get together and discuss that. That's devilish. That's devilish. Oh, Brother Don, not always.
Always. Always. Devilish. Devilish. We don't
even think like that. Devilish. Sensual. Earthly. Well, Shelby, she sure has been
acting funny lately. What do you reckon wrong with
Shelby? That's devilish. You shouldn't even be discussing
it, let alone, shouldn't be thinking it, let alone discussing it.
It's devilish. Whew. Boy, that's kind of hard. It ain't near as hard stated
as it is in reality, I promise you. All that creates strife,
confusion, and division among brethren is hellish. If I speak or do anything from
envy, bitterness, selfishness, I do so not in wisdom, but in
utter folly. That's always the case. For where envying and strife
is, there is confusion and every evil work. Advent scripture couldn't
be any plainer than that, could it? That's good doctrine. That's sound doctrine. That's
strong doctrine. Election and predestination,
that's milk. This is meat for the strong. All right, here's the third thing.
Look at verses 17 and 18. The wisdom that God gives, the
wisdom that comes down from heaven, is pure and peaceable. But the wisdom that's from above
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy, and good fruits without partiality and without
hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. Now here are seven
things God tells us about this wisdom that comes down from heaven.
Here are seven things God teaches every child of God as he teaches
them wisdom. This heavenly God-given wisdom,
this wisdom God gives to all his saints is pure. Pure. Undefiled. Unsuspicious. Pure. Pure. It's pure wisdom. Holy. Righteous. Good. This is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Number two, it's peaceable. Peaceable. That wisdom which God has put
in us, that new man seeks peace. Anything else is of the devil,
comes from the flesh. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Listen to this,
a soft answer Turneth away wrath. I keep praying God to teach me
to give a soft answer. Every time somebody has something
bad to say, just a soft answer. I want to retaliate. You know
what my first response is always? Always, I want to jack your jaw. That's my first response. And
it's always wrong. It's always wrong. That's our
flesh. A soft answer. Turneth away wrath. But grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise useth
knowledge of rights, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. Well, I'd want to speak my mind.
I wish you wouldn't. I wish you wouldn't. Please don't
speak your mind. Mine's polluted enough. I don't
need any of yours. Please don't. Speak God's mind. Wouldn't that
be better? Next thing. Heavenly wisdom is
gentle. It's mild. courteous, kind, patient. Here's the fourth thing. Watch
this. Are you ready? It's easy to be
entreated. How about that? What does that mean? That means if I act like I ought to, If
I don't deal with you in my flesh, with that carnal wisdom of my
nature by Adam, but rather as I walk with God and walk in faith
and seek to honor Him, you don't have to beg me to be reconciled
to you. You don't have to figure out
some way to embarrass me and to say, that's all right. But
rather, it's easy to be entreated, gracious, heavenly, True wisdom
is anxious to forgive and easily won over. I don't know how else to illustrate
it. You get to misbehave and you
say something sharp to your wife. When you say it, she says, why
did I say that? Why did I do that? It's so dumb.
And you hurt her. And you're in great pain yourself,
but you're so blooming stubborn, you're just dying about to apologize. I wouldn't have done that if
she hadn't misbehaved. But after a while, you recognize
this is going to be taken care of, and you walk over and start
to say, honey, I'm sorry. And she grabs you around the
neck and hugs you because you're easily being treated. How come? How come? Because your hearts
are bound together in love. Oh God, so bind our hearts together
in our Redeemer. This God-given wisdom is full
of mercy and good fruits. Wisdom knows how to behave because
wisdom knows who makes us to differ from others. Wisdom knows
who it is that makes rich and makes poor. Wisdom knows who
it is that gives a sharp mind or a slow mind. Wisdom knows
from whence our help comes. And we bow to our God and seek
to serve his people full of mercy and good fruits. Six, this wisdom,
this God-given wisdom, not earthly wisdom, never earthly wisdom,
This God-given wisdom is without partiality. What does that mean? It doesn't judge, discriminate,
or choose friends based upon their position, their outward
appearance, the color of their skin, or their ability to reimburse
or reward. God-given wisdom is without partiality.
Not the wisdom of this world. And seventh, it's without hypocrisy. It doesn't seek to hide anything
with regard to self, any of the evil, any of the corruption. I know better than try to hide
it from you, it's going to pop out soon. And we're not about
to try to hide it from God. He knows. It's without hypocrisy. It seeks
to expose nothing about others. But did you hear what Mark Daniel
did? Not for me you didn't. No. Did you know? I don't want to know. I don't
want to know. Unless it's good, don't tell
me. I don't want to know. Did you hear that? I don't want
to hear it. Unless it's good, I don't want to hear it. I don't
want to hear it. God keep me from speaking it. It's without
hypocrisy. Ham, the reprobate, is always
anxious to uncover his father's nakedness. Shem and Japheth,
God's elect, Men and women, truly wise, anxiously cover up their
father's nakedness, because love covers a multitude of sin. The conclusion of the whole thing
is set forth in verse 18. And the fruit of righteousness,
this wisdom, this wisdom that's from above, This wisdom which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory, is sown in peace of them
that make peace. Amen.