James, the first chapter. Now,
I know that these opening verses of James' epistle are written
to people in trouble, people going through trial. But who
is in greater trouble than the man who does not have Christ,
the man who does not know the Savior? who is in greater trouble
than the man who does not have a Redeemer, who does not have
a mediator. And then I know that these opening
verses of James chapter 1 are written to persons who lack wisdom. But who is the wisdom of God?
Did not Paul say that of him are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom? Christ is the wisdom of God.
It's certainly applicable, these verses are applicable to the
man who will willingly cry, Father, give me wisdom that I may be
reconciled to Thee through the death of Thy Son. O Father, reveal
unto me the great mysteries of Christ. I find no wisdom in religion
as such. I find no wisdom in the many
voices of religion. I want the wisdom that is in
Christ. And he says here, if any of you
lack this wisdom, verse 5 of James 1, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given unto him. Now I've divided this scripture
into four parts. First of all, if any of you like
wisdom. Now I'm not talking about natural
wisdom. I'm not talking about being clever.
I'm not talking about being talented in the things of the flesh. I'm
not talking about being talented in material things. I think a
man can be very wise in the things of the flesh and material things
and be totally ignorant of the wisdom of God. If you'll turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 1, Paul tells us this was the whole problem. In verse 20 of 1 Corinthians
1, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. But we preach,
for the Jews require sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified under the Jewish stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks. Christ is the power of God, and
Christ is the wisdom of God. When Nicodemus came to our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Master said, You must be born again. Nicodemus
said, How can these things be? And Christ said, Art thou a master
of Israel, and knoweth not these things? A man can be a master
of natural things and be totally ignorant of the true wisdom of
God. Why don't we know these things?
I'm going to give you three reasons why we lack this spiritual wisdom. First of all, pride. Pride makes
men fools. Pride rebels against the charge
of guilt. When our Savior charged the people
of his day with being sinners, they were offended. Pride rebels
against the simplicity of faith. Pride rebels against the doctrine
of substitution. Pride rebels against trusting
the mercy of God alone apart from works." When Naaman came
to the prophet of God, and the prophet told him to go dip in
the muddy Jordan River, he said, what? Go dip in Jordan? Why, the rivers of Damascus are
better than the rivers of Jordan. If I wanted to dip in a river,
I'd go to the rivers of Damascus. And one of his servants said,
if the prophet had told you some great thing to do, would you
not have done it? He replied, I certainly would
have. But pride kept him from doing
the simple thing that he was commanded to do. And pride asked,
am I to do nothing but trust a crucified Savior? Am I to do
nothing but receive a righteousness? Have I no righteousness to present? Am I to do nothing but rest in
a mediator? You mean, in my hands no price
I bring? Simply to the cross of Jesus
Christ I cling, and the answer comes back, let not conscience
make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requireth is to feel your need of him. A man may be a master of Israel,
and know not the simple things of God's kingdom. A man may be
a master of Israel and know not the mysteries of the gospel.
A man may be a master of Israel and know not how God saves the
lost, because his pride makes him a fool. The second reason
why men do not know the mysteries of the gospel is ignorance of
gospel doctrine. The fall of man. What do you
know about the fall of man? Roland Hill once said, every
sermon ought to contain the three R's. We say children go to school
to learn the three R's, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The
people of God need to learn the three R's, ruin by the fall,
redemption by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, or in common
language, what happened in the garden. What happened on the
cross? What happens in the heart of
a sinner when God saves him? What do you know about what happened
in the garden? Ignorance of gospel doctrine
keeps men from knowing the mysteries of the gospel. If there had been
no fall, would there be a song of redemption? If there had been
no fall, if Adam had not fallen, every one of us right now would
be in danger of falling. just like the angels of God who
fell individually. If Adam had not fallen, if Adam
had not sinned, if Adam had not violated God's commandment, every
one of us would be in danger right now of falling away from
God, and that danger would be over our heads throughout eternity. I'm glad Adam fell. The doctrine
of election. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians. First Thessalonians, Chapter
2, I believe it is. In the book of First Thessalonians,
Chapter 1, I don't know why it is that men despise the doctrine
of election. Somebody said one time, if Brother
Mahan would just leave election alone, he'd be a good preacher.
Well, the liberal would say, if a man would just leave The
atonement alone, he'd be a good preacher. The antinomian would
say, if a man leave the law alone, he'd be a good preacher. The
fatalist would say, if a man would leave responsibility alone,
he'd be a good preacher. The universalist would say, if
a man would leave hell alone, he'd be a good preacher. A man is not a good preacher
who shuns to declare the whole counsel of God. A man cannot
be called a good preacher who will leave out any of the word
of God. And our ignorance of the doctrines of the gospel keep
us in darkness and keep us from this wisdom that we need. The
doctrine of election rightly understood is full of comfort.
The doctrine of election rightly understood is full of hope. Without
it, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah. There wouldn't be anybody saved.
Election doesn't shut out anyone. It's sin that shuts us out of
God's kingdom, not election. It's our own darkness that shuts
us out. Election shuts us in. Election opens the door. Election
provides the way. election effectually caused.
It is sin that separates us from God, not election. Well, Brethren, who are the elect?
I don't know. I don't know. But I'll tell you how you can
find out. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 4, look at it, "...knowing,
brethren beloved, your election of God." Now, that's a good statement,
isn't it? He said, I know you're elect,
and you know you're elect. How do you know I'm elect, Paul,
and how do I know it? Look at the next verse. For our
gospel, our gospel, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of
life, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God, The gospel of
substitution, our gospel, came not unto you in word only, not
just a system of doctrine. It's not just a system of theology. It's not just a denominational
creed. It didn't come to you in word
only, but our gospel came to you in power. It convicted you. It humbled you. It broke you.
It stripped you. It slew you. Our gospel came
to you in power. It gave you life. It planted
Christ in your heart. It made you a new creature. It
put joy in your soul. It put praise on your lips. It
changed your direction. It changed your life. Our gospel
didn't come to you in words. That's the problem with churches
now, is they've just heard the gospel in word only. You don't
want to go to hell, do you? You want to go to heaven? Yeah.
Well, Jesus is the way to heaven. Will you believe on him? Yeah,
I'll believe on him. Well, take my hand. Good. We go home. Nothing happens. Well, how do
you know you're saved? Well, that preacher said, If
I believed, I'd be saved. Words, words, words, words. Did
the gospel come to you in power? Did it come to you in the Holy
Ghost? Or was it just you and the preacher
doing business? Did you and God do business?
Did it come to you in much assurance? That's how I know your election,
Paul said. Our gospel didn't come to you
in word only, but it came in power. If any man lack wisdom, oh, we're
smart, we're clever, we're talented. Some of you men here have successful
businesses. You're nobody's fool. Some of
you are schoolteachers. Some of you are brilliant, but
you can be brilliant and clever and talented in material things
and be totally ignorant in the wisdom of God. And what shuts
the door and what keeps us outside and what keeps us from learning
the mysteries of the gospel and the wisdom of God is our pride. Pride. Oh, how hateful it is. Pride rebels. How wicked it is! A man will defend his pride and
go to hell. How wicked it is! And then ignorance
of gospel doctrine. Folks don't know what happened
in the garden. They don't have the faintest idea of what happened
when Adam fell. The darkness that came, and the
disease, and the death, and the spiritual darkness that fell
on the human race. If they did, they'd thank God
for election. Because Christ said, you won't
come to me. If I don't come to you, nobody's going to get together
here. This is it. He loved us. We didn't love him. He said, I chose you. You didn't
choose me. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me going. This is condemnation. Lights
come into this world. Lights come. It's been here.
It's here now. But men do what? They love darkness. The atonement. What do people
know about the atonement? The Son of God didn't come here
to condemn this world, but to save sinners. That's why he came.
His sacrifice enables God to be just and justify the ungodly. His sacrifice enables God Almighty
to be a righteous God and a merciful God. His sacrifice enables Almighty
God to punish the guilty and receive him as a justified man. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. He didn't attempt to save anybody. He saved all whom he came to
save. He said, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save the
lost, not to try to save them, not to make an effort to save
them, not to fix it so that they could save themselves, but Christ
came to save them. He came into the world to save
sinners. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sin. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all he hath given me I lose nothing, but
raise it up at the last day. I heard a preacher say one time,
I believe the atonement is this way. I believe Jesus Christ came down
here and died on the cross and made it possible for anybody
who wants it to come by and pick it up. For example, he said,
if there are 200 men down here in the jail, And I go down there,
and I pay all their fines, every one of them. I pay all their
fines. Every one of them has a fine. The law has a claim on
every one of them. They've broken the law, and they
can't pay their fines, and they're in jail, and I go down there
and pay everybody's fines. And I stand outside the door
and look at them and say, Now, I paid all you fellows' fines.
Anybody wants to come out, can. And he says, Ten, Eleven, come
out, and the rest of them stay in. Well, there's just one thing
wrong with that. That sounds pretty. But did you
know if you go down to the jail and pay the fine of every criminal,
the law has got to set them free? They've got to open the jailhouse
doors and send them out. Justice and the law cannot keep
a man whose fine has been paid. No way. They don't run hotels
down here at the jail. If you're going to stay in a
hotel, you've got to go to the Holiday Inn. You can't stay at
the jail. When the law is through with you, you're discharged.
When justice has been satisfied, you're discharged. And when Jesus
Christ came down here, if he paid for all the sins of all
men, all men are saved, because the law has no charge, and the
law has no claim, and there's therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. And God can't send a man to hell
for whom Christ died." Now, you put that in your pipe and smoke
it all the way home, that's That's just all there is to it.
Payment, God's justice, cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding,
surety hand, and then again at mine. That's ridiculous. If a man robs a filling station,
they put him in jail, and he goes down here and serves three
years, they let him out, they can't arrest him on that charge
again. No siree, he's free, he's paid
his debt. They cannot arrest him on that
charge again. Christ suffered for sinners,
all sinners who believe, all sinners who receive, all sinners
who trust him. Did Christ die for Peter? You
say yes. Did Christ die for Judas? Well,
you say yes, he died for all men. Why is Judas in hell? He paid for his sins, thought
Christ paid for them. Why is Peter in heaven? Because
he believed. Well, it's not Christ's death
that saves it all, it's whether or not I believe, so it's my
faith that saves. It's not Christ who saves, and
that's what the world is preaching. Christ made a way possible for
you to save yourself. But that's not what the Bible
teaches, and that's what keeps us out here in the darkness.
We don't understand the atonement, and we don't understand Holy
Spirit conviction. Turn with me to Ephesians 2.
Let's look over here just a minute. In Ephesians 2, it says here
in you, Ephesians 2, verse 1, "...you hath bequickened, who
were what? Dead, and trespasses in sin." Wherein in times past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the fire there, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But we made a decision, no? But
God. But we decided that we'd do right.
No, but God. But we had a change of conscience,
we had a change of mind. No, but God, who is rich in His
mercy, for His great love, wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead. He quickened us. Salvation is
of the Lord. Some preachers said one time,
well, you take the first step and God will meet you. If I can
take the first step, I don't need God. That's my problem,
I can't take the first step. The old religious traditionalists
had a tradition that St. Michael or one of them, they
cut off his head, one of the old martyrs, they cut his head
off. And he reached down and picked up his head and put his
arms and walked a hundred miles. And one fellow listened to that
and he said, well, I don't have any trouble with that. He might
have walked two hundred miles or three hundred miles or five
hundred miles. What I'd like to know is how
he took that first step. If he can take the first step,
he can go the rest of the way. And this is our whole problem,
you who are dead, lifeless, without hope, without help, without strength,
without God, without even a desire to know God. You know anybody
out there that's just clamoring to get into heaven, huh? You
know anybody out there that's just dying to be saved and can't
be? The only people I know are those who are godless and Christless
and lawless and hopeless. But God! quick and sensitive. If any man likes wisdom, spiritual
wisdom, to know something about the whole picture, the whole
purpose, the whole plan of God, he's going to have to be broken
by the Holy Spirit of his pride. He's going to have to be smitten
down as a little child and say, God, I don't know anything. I
just want you to teach me. I'm willing to look into your
Word, and I'm willing as a little child to be taught. And Lord,
you say it, and I'll believe it. I'm not going to ask you
why. A fellow came up to me last week, and he said, I want to
know this. Why did God, if God knew that Adam would fall? Now,
that's silly. If God knew Adam would fall.
What kind of God do you got? If God knew Adam would fall. God is omniscient. He knows all
things. Well, he says, if God knew Adam
would fall, why did he create man? Well, I said, I don't know. I'm not God. Now, you can come
up to me and ask me why I got this glass of water up here,
and I can tell you why. It's a dream. You can ask me
why I'm doing this and why I'm doing that, and I can tell you.
But don't ask me why God did anything. I don't know. Did he
create the world? Well, yes. Did he know Adam would
fall? Well, yes. Did he designate Christ
as the Savior? Yes. Why? I don't know. I just
believe he did. I take God at his word. Brethren,
we're going to have to come as little children to the Word of
God and see, are these things so? And not ask God, why, why,
why? Who art thou that replyest against
God?" If I knew why God did things, I'd have to be God. I tell you
the third reason why men stay in darkness, their pride keeps
them there, number one. We're proud creatures. We're
going to have our little part in our salvation, or we're going
to die trying. We're not going to let God have
all the glory. We're going to have a little
glory, but he says, My glory I will not give to another. God
hath chosen the foolish things to confound the wise, and the
things that are not to bring to naught the things that are,
that no flesh should glory in his presence. And ignorance of
gospel doctrine. We're ignorant of gospel doctrine. And the third reason is this.
lack of an unusual experience. Somebody says, I just never had
a vision, I've just never had a dream, I've just never seen
any lights flashing, I have never had a hair-raising experience,
I've just never had what many people claim to have. I never
had what Paul had on the road to Damascus, I just never had
that. I've never experienced what the Philippian jailer experienced.
I've never experienced what the demon-possessed girl experienced.
I've never experienced what these people who stand up and give
their testimonies, I've never experienced those things. No,
and you probably never will. And expecting to will leave you
in darkness. The religious deceivers who preach
experience and demand experience want to keep people in darkness
because it keeps them in business. Let me ask you some questions.
Do you feel the burden of sin? Have you ever been made sin conscious? Conscious of your own transgression? I'm not talking about the world's
sins and everybody else's sins. I'm talking about your sin. Have
you ever been made sin conscious? Conscious of the sins of imagination,
of thought, and of omission and commission? The sins that so
easily beset us, have you? Let me ask you this, do you feel
your inability to satisfy a holy God, do you feel that? Do you
feel your inability to please God, your inability to meet the
righteous demands of God, your inability to reconcile yourself
to God? Do you feel that inability, that
helplessness? Can you say with your mouth,
can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change
his spot? Neither can I do good that are
accustomed to doing evil. Do you see God's wisdom in Christ? Do you see Christ as the substitute,
God's substitute, God in Christ reconciling the world to himself? Do you see Jesus Christ as God's
appointed, anointed, sent Savior? Can you see how that God can
send his Son down here in the flesh as your representative,
as a man? and meet the law for his people,
and go to the cross and bleed and suffer under the judgments
of God in your place instead. Can you see that? He that seeth
the Son and believeth on him shall be saved. Do you see that?
Do you want Christ to be your Lord? Do you want Christ to be
your Master? Do you want Christ to be your
Mediator? Do you want Christ to be the
beat of your heart? Do you want Him to be the very
essence of your affections? Do you want Christ to be your
ruler? Do you want Christ to be your
representative? Do you? Then trust Him. Then trust Him. Believe on Him. Receive Him. Don't look for experience,
look for Christ. Seek ye the Lord while ye may
be found." It doesn't say seek experience and seek assurance
and seek confirmation and seek these things. Seek Him. He is
assurance. When you get to Him, you've got
all these things. That's the reason Paul said,
I'm determined to know nothing but Christ. We find everything
in Christ. We don't believe on Christ and
then start trying to make our lives religious. We don't believe
on Christ and then start trying to please God. They said, what
do we do that we might work the works of God? He said, this is
the works of God, that you believe on Him whom God has sent. And
Christ is my wisdom, and the more I know of Him, the wiser
I am. Christ is my righteousness, and
the more I have of Him, the more righteous I am. That's imparted,
imputed righteousness is perfection, it can't grow. I'm as holy as
Christ legally, but day by day I'm commanded to be holy as he
is holy. But that holiness will grow as
I grow in him, in him. Oh, how blind, how dark, how
we stay cooked up. How we keep from understanding
the wisdom of God by our pride and by our lack of knowledge.
We're not willing to listen. I had an experience the other night.
A young man listened to me preach. And he didn't like what I said.
And so he didn't come back. Now that's the way we are. We just close our ears. If we
don't like something, we just won't listen anymore. Well, you'll
never grow that way. You'll never grow by refusing
to listen. Look at the next line here in
James chapter 1. It says, If any man lack wisdom,
if any man lack wisdom, spiritual wisdom, let him ask of God. If any man wants salvation, let
him ask God. If any man wants sins forgiven,
let him ask God. If any man wants eternal life
in Christ, let him ask God. Now you listen to me a minute,
this is important. It does not say if any man lack
wisdom, let him go to the preacher. Now God uses his preachers to
teach us and to exhort us, but we're not saviors. We're not
priests in the sense of the word that Christ is our priest. I'm
not the giver of life and I'm not the giver of wisdom. You
want wisdom? ask the Lord. And it doesn't say go to the
books of men. There are many good books. I
recommend that Christians read books. But always remember when
you're reading a book, they are human books. And if we follow
any man completely or any book completely, it will keep us in
bondage trying to be like somebody else or trying to have somebody
else's experience. It does not say, let him go to
a wiser Christian, if he likes wisdom. It says, let him ask
of God. Now, I challenge you, all human
guides are weak and futile. I challenge you, and I challenge
those listening on the radio, I challenge you to bow on your
knees beside your chair, your bed, and take the word of God
and look up into heaven. And say, God, give me wisdom. I'm an ignorant, simple child. I don't know anything. But I
do want to know. I want to know the mysteries
of your will. I want to know the glories of
your kingdom. I want to know your Son. I want
you to declare unto me. Brethren, I present to you six
stubborn statements. Now you listen to me. I present
six stubborn statements, and I challenge you to handle these
statements before the throne of God. Don't come to me with
it. I'm not God. But God's either sovereign or
He's not. Now, you put that down. You can't be both. You can't
say God is almighty and turn around and say God wants to do
something and can't. Now, you can't say that. God's
either on the throne or somebody else is. You can't say, God doeth
according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and turn right around and say, well,
God wills this, and man won't let him do it. Now, he's either
sovereign or he's not. Now, you confront him with that.
You get on your knees and say, God, I don't believe you're sovereign. Or get on your knees and say,
God, teach me your power. Second thing, man's either completely
dead or he's not. Now, a doctor stands over a man
that's been run over by a car, and somebody says, Is he dead?
Well, now, answer me, is he dead or isn't he dead? He either is
or isn't. And man's either dead in sin
or he's not dead in sin. And if he isn't dead, he needs
life, and life comes from God. If he's not dead, he's got life,
and he don't need God. God either elected a people or
he didn't. Just that simple. If he did, he did. If he didn't,
he didn't. Christ either died for his people
and redeemed them, reconciled them to God, put away all their
sins, justified them, and takes them to glory on the basis of
what he did alone, or he didn't say anything about it. That's
one or the other. The Holy Spirit either invincibly
and effectually calls me into God or he doesn't. We're either
totally dependent on him or we're not dependent on him at all.
It's either of the Spirit or it's not. If I can get to God
without the Holy Ghost, then you don't need him either, and
nobody else needs him. And God's people are either eternally
saved or they're not. And if one sheep of Christ can
fall away, that's to keep them all from falling away. And if
God can't keep me on earth, I know he can keep me in heaven. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I'm supposed to be in his
hand there, and I'm supposed to be in his hand here. If I can slide out
here, I just might slide out there, too. If any man wants
some wisdom, And I do, under God I do. I'm not interested
in defending a position and perishing, are you? I'm not interested. I'm just not interested in just
being religious. I'm not interested in winning
the world of Jesus. You say, that's an awful statement.
Well, my Lord didn't pray for the world. He said, I pray not
for the world. I pray for them which thou hast
given me. I'm interested, as Christ was, in all kinds of men.
I'm interested in Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, black and white,
red and yellow, all kinds of men. But I know the world's not
going to be saved. And it says if we lack wisdom,
what are we to do? Ask of God. And that little word,
A-S-K, oh, that simple little word, ask. You know what it implies? First of all, it implies ignorance.
Now, I went over to visit Brother Huddle the other day. He fixed
his automobile. And I tell you, I don't know
one thing about it. I know you put oil in one end,
gas in one end, and start it in the middle, and that's it.
And we stood there, and I asked him question after question after
question. You know, when I ask him, I'm ignorant. I don't mind
admitting that. I don't know anything about it. Why should we mind admitting
that we don't know anything about the sublime, magnificent kingdom
of God? I don't mind asking God. I know
He's God. And asking implies faith. I stood there and talked to Jack,
and what he told me, I believed. I believed. I asked him in faith,
and I believed what he told me. I got confidence in what he told
me. And I ask God, and that implies pay. And asking implies grace. I'm not buying, I'm asking. I'm not making a deal, God, I'm
asking. I don't have anything to pay.
The information is going to have to be free. I'm asking. And also it implies dependence. I don't have anybody else to
go to. Our Lord turned to the disciples and said, Will you
go away? And they said, To whom? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life. I don't have any other place
to go, God. I'm asking. If any man lack wisdom,
I challenge you, friend, quit taking your religion secondhand.
It's the most important thing in the world to you. Quit taking
your doctrines second-hand. Quit believing what somebody
else believes or somebody else taught you, or accepting what's
been handed down from word to mouth. Go to God, if you like
wisdom, and ask God. And look what it says last of
all. It says, God giveth, God giveth to all men. Brethren,
it's not just the Jew, it's not just the Gentile, it's not just
the moral man, it's not just the Catholic, it's not just the
Baptist. God holds open house for all who are thirsty. All
who are thirsty. The water of life flows for all
who are thirsty. God holds open house for all
that are hungry. God holds open house for all
that are weary, all that are heavy laden. He rejected the
proud. He rejected the religious Pharisees. He turned them down. He told
his disciples to leave him alone. Leave him alone. They're blind
leaders of the blind. But he held open house for sinners.
Are you a sinner? Are you thirsty? Are you weary?
Are you heavy laden? Are you hungry? God gives to
all men, and he gives liberally. God doesn't deal in traffles.
God does not give the knowledge and wisdom and salvation in spoonfuls. He gives liberally. David said,
My cup runneth over. I have seen men in church for
years. I have seen them going to church,
teaching Sunday going about the same old six and seven every
week for years and years and years. And then suddenly, God
the Holy Spirit opens the windows of heaven and shows them his
grace and shows them his sovereignty and shows them his mercy, shows
them his purpose and shows them his wisdom. And brother, they
began to grow like a water maple. Just boom, they grow, they bloom,
they're filled with God's joy, they get hungry, they read, they
study, they pray. They can't get enough of preaching.
What happens? God liberally, liberally, liberally
gave to them. And then He upbraideth not. Look
at this, and He upbraideth not. Sometimes we go to a friend,
and we say, friend, I need some help. And the friend looks at
us and says, Well, I'll help you. But if you'd been a little
smarter, you wouldn't be in the mess you're in. That's called
upbraiding. We go to the friend for a little
help, and we say, Friend, I'm broke, and I owe some money,
and I wasted my money, and I don't have anything to pay, and they're
going to take away my house. Would you help me? I would, but
you'll just misuse it. That's what you always do. You're
a wasteful person, a wasteful character, and I'm going to help
you, but I wish you'd try to do better. That's upbraiding.
But God never scolds. He never upbraids. He never reminds
us of our failures. We go to him and ask him for
wisdom, and he doesn't say, Well, you've a long time coming. He
doesn't say, Well, where have you been? He doesn't say, You
ought to have made this move a long time ago. He doesn't say,
You're full of pride and arrogance, and I'm going to whip you a little
while because you stayed out so long. No, sir. He gives liberty,
and he upbraids not. He doesn't scold. And the thing
about our God, you can come to him with the same sin tomorrow,
and he'll receive you and forgive you. He giveth more grace when
the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when
the labors increase. To added affliction he adds his
mercy, to multiplied trials his multiplied peace. His love has
no limit, his grace has no measure, his power has no boundary known
to men. out of his infinite riches in
Christ Jesus, he giveth, and giveth, and giveth, and giveth,
and giveth more grace. And look at the last line, and
I close, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, scolds not, and it shall
be given him. Here is the promise on the word
of God. Any man lack spiritual wisdom,
do you? I do. I do. Let him ask of God. Let him ask of God. Brethren,
I want here in this church more than anything in the world, I
want a free pulpit. I want this pulpit to be free
to declare the whole counsel of God. I don't want to have
to slip up on the blind side of people. I don't want to have
to butter people up and get along with them to keep them coming
to church. I want to face men with a full-fledged gospel of
God's grace. And if they believe it and receive
it, our arms will be open to welcome and fellowship with them.
But if they can't take a God on the throne and a man in the
dust and a crucified, sufficient Savior that's able to save, not
partially save, able to save, and a powerful, convincing, convicting,
sanctifying Holy Spirit. And I just soon may go somewhere
else. That's the way I feel about it. I just soon may go somewhere
else. God's given us that freedom,
and let's defend it, let's be jealous of it, let's protect
Our Father in heaven, we thank thee for thy word. We thank thee
that thou hast not left us to ourselves, thou hast not left
us to darkness. We don't know why you loved us,
why you gave yourself on the cross to die for us, but we believe
thy word, we believe thy promise, we believe thy gospel. And our
Father, we lack wisdom, and we ask of thee and thou hast promised to give
when we ask. And so in Christ's name and for
Christ's glory, give us wisdom of thy glory and of thy gospel. For the glory of thy Son we pray,
and in his name. Amen. Brother Lewis, you come
lead us in a closing hymn. Everyone get a book and let's
sing together what number? 235. Bang, please.