through the end of the chapter. Go to now, James chapter 4 verse
13, go to now you 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 appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. For
that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and
do this or that. 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 is sin. In these verses, the Apostle
James warns about presumptuous planning. Presumptuous planning
concerning the future. And he calls it boasting. All
such boasting is evil. And I would think that this is
one of the evils that is so easy for all of us to be guilty of. To make our plans for tomorrow,
for this week, for next week, and not take God into consideration. It's an evil. And it's easy for
us to be guilty of this evil. I could not help but think about
this yesterday afternoon as I was going over my notes and at the
same time making plans for this week, this coming week, what
I have to do, what I want to do. And I thought, well, you're
doing exactly what James warns against. Presumptuous planning. It is
failure to take into consideration these three things. First of
all, the brevity of man's life in this world. The brevity of
your life, of my life. The brevity of man's life in
this world. James says your life is even
a vapor. that appeareth for a little time. Years ago, in the 1950s, there
was a television program. I think most of you are too young
to, you weren't even born in the 1950s. It was called This
Is Your Life. There was only two channels in
Houston at that time, so you had to watch one or the other.
This Is Your Life. And they would bring a person
who was a relatively unknown person, and probably in the age
range of 60 or 70s, bring them to a studio. Supposedly, they
didn't know this was going to take place. It was going to be
a surprise. And they would come and, and
they would bring people from their past, maybe someone they'd
gone to school with grade school, maybe a teacher. they had in
the past, maybe a brother that they hadn't seen in some time,
and pictures of where they had lived when they were children,
things like that. This is your life. And in a sense,
what would be considered as a long life back then, they never did
that to a person who was in their teens or their 20s or 30s or
40s, it was always someone in their later years, and they would
have lived a long life. But yet it was amazing how they
could reduce that life of 60 or 70 years into 30 minutes,
into a 30-minute program. But that illustrates exactly
what the Apostle James tells us here. Inspired as he was by
the word of, by God, the Holy Spirit, Our life is but a vapor,
man's life in this world, the brevity of man's life in this
world. James is not the only writer
of the scriptures that calls our attention to this truth.
The psalmist David, he speaks of it often in the Psalms. In
one Psalm, he describes a man's life like this, a wind that passes
by and comes not again. That's your life. That's my life. Maybe you're working outside
and there's a breeze that blows and you're so thankful for it
to cool you off. And it passes by. It doesn't
come back again. That's our life in this world.
The brevity of man's life in this world. And then in another
place, the psalmist said, our days on the earth are as a shadow. You're walking in a certain direction
and the sun is behind you and your shadow is cast, but then
you walk on and before long your shadow's gone. It's gone. And in Psalm 103, verses 15 and
16, the psalmist said this. Let's turn to that in Psalm 103.
Verses 15 and 16. As for man, his days are as grass,
as the 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. That's your life. That's my life
in this world. The brevity of man's life in
this world, it's like the grass that comes up in the spring.
It's all green. Beautiful, but then it's scorched
in the summertime and it dies away. And the flower of the grass,
our lives are compared to that. It appears for a little while,
but the grass passes away. And while you're here, look back
to Job chapter 14. I'm sorry, Job chapter nine. Job chapter nine in verse 25. He said, now my days are swifter
than a post. What does he mean by that? I
always think of pony express riders. That's what he's talking
about. He's talking about a runner.
A runner who would have news and he would run, take that news
to the king. We think of that, especially
in the case of David, when Absalom was engaged in war against his
father. You remember those two runners
who ran to give word to David. And David was interested in one
thing. And one man ran faster than the
other. But he didn't have a message.
But the point is, our days in this world, in this world, man's
days in this world are swifter than a post. Just as fast as
a horse can carry a man or a man can run and deliver the message,
that's how fast our life is in this world. It's here today and
gone tomorrow. The brevity of man's life in
this world. Notice I'm saying in this world.
I'm trying to emphasize that. The brevity of man's life in
this world. But our life isn't ended. Our existence isn't over when
our life ends in this world. Because we know that man has
a soul. And that soul is going to exist
throughout eternity. And there are only two places.
There are only two places where men are going to exist throughout
eternity. One of those places is, of course,
called hell in the word of God. It's a place of torment. It's
a place where God puts the wicked. Those who have not bowed to Him,
not submitted to His authority, to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the other place
is a place called heaven. But this presumptuous planning
is a failure to take into consideration, first of all, the brevity of
man's life in this world, and second, the uncertainty of man's
life in this world. Notice in our text, James says,
you say we will go into a city and we will continue there a
year, verse 13. Today or tomorrow, we will go
into such a city and continue there a year. The uncertainty
of man's life in this world. One of the Proverbs says, boast
not thyself of tomorrow, for thou, thou knowest not what a
day may bring forth. Thou knowest not. We know that
there's no uncertainty with God. When I speak of the uncertainty
of man's life in this world, I'm certainly not saying there's
uncertainty with God, because God has our days numbered. Our
days are numbered. That's the verse I wanted us
to look at in Job, Job chapter 14. Sometimes you will hear people
say, well, God has promised us 70 years. He hasn't promised
anyone 70 years. Now, it is accepted. That's the lifespan of a person
in this world. And when you read in the scripture,
as you will in a few places, that man doesn't live out half
his days, that doesn't mean that he has died before his time or
anything like that. That just simply means if you
take 70 years as a norm and a person dies younger, and many people
do, many people do. I told someone the other day,
you just walk in the cemetery sometime and look down at the
markers on the graves and you see that many people die. before 70 years of age. When a man, when the scripture
says a man doesn't live out half his age, it's not saying that
a man can die before his time. Not God's time. Time as men think,
that 70 years is the lifespan. But here in Job chapter 14, beginning
with verse one, Man that is born of a woman is
a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. And thus thou open that eyes
upon such in one and bringest me into judgment with thee. Job
is speaking to God, isn't he? You open your eyes upon such
a one as me, bring me into judgment, seeing my time here is so short. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean, not one? Seeing his days are determined,
the number of his months are with thee. Thou hast appointed
his bounds that he cannot pass over. Cannot. Just like the sea. God has bounded
the sea by the sand. And the sea, God in the word
says, hitherto shalt thou come and no farther. Now these people
that are all excited about climate change and all of that, talking
about the seas rising, let me tell you something. God has set
the bounds of the seas. just like he set the bounds of
a man's life in this world. One of the problems, we live
in a world that is atheistic. I don't know if you've noticed
that or not, but you should. We live in a world that is atheistic. We want to blame everything other
than recognizing this is God's world, that God is in charge,
and God is working all things after the counsel of His own
will. People talk about this world
as if we owned it. No, no, God created it and all
things therein. And man's days are just like
the sea. There's a bound. God set the
bound. His days are determined. The
number of the months are with thee. When I talk about, and
James speaks about the uncertainty of life in this world, we certainly
do not mean there's any uncertainty with God. Uncertain, yes, for
you, for me. We're not promised tomorrow.
None of us are. Thou hast appointed his bounds
that he cannot pass. And look down to verse 14. This
is one of the most important questions. You know, Job, most
of the Bible scholars believe that the book of Job was the
first book that was written. It's not that it precedes what
the events of the first five books that Moses wrote. No, because
Moses wrote about creation. But most people believe that
Job lived before Moses. And so this is one of the oldest
books in our Bible. And I think of two questions
that are posed in this book of Job that are all so important. How can a man be just with God? That's the most important question
you could ever ask. That's the most important question
you could ever deal with. How can man who committed iniquity
like drinking water be just with God, be declared righteous before
God? How is that possible? Is it possible? And if it is, how is it possible? And a second question here in
verse 14. If a man die, shall he live again? You know, both of those questions
are answered by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy, when he speaks
about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the answer, right, to both
of those questions. How can a man be just with God?
Only through the person and the work of Jesus Christ our Lord. And if a man dies, shall he live
again? Absolutely. Why? Because Christ
is the firstfruits, the firstfruits of the resurrection from the
dead. But there's many more that are
going to follow. He's the first forerunner, brother. So the uncertainty of man's life
in this world, David confessed, my times are in thy hands. My
times. There's no uncertainty about
our lives with God. The time of our birth, the time
of our death, all are part of God's purpose and God's plan. You know, our Lord told a parable
about a man who did not think about this, the uncertainty of
life in this world. Let me read us this parable.
It's probably one of the better known of our Lord's parables
in Luke chapter 12. Here's a man that our Lord describes
as, he didn't consider the uncertainty of life. Verse 16 of chapter 12 of Luke. And he spake a parable unto them
saying, the ground of a certain man, a 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. I had a bumper crop that year.
God had caused it to rain. God had caused the sun to shine.
God had blessed the, the, the planning and The reaping, he
had harvested a great deal. What shall I do? This will I
do, verse 18. I will 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. You're talking about a retirement
plan. You've got it, buddy. It's all out there in your barn.
You've got enough to live for years and years. Don't have to
worry about the stock market, your 401k or anything like that. It's all laid up for you. My
soul, eat, take that ease. May not even form next year.
That's a lot of work. May not even plant next year. I've got so much laid up. Take
that ease, eat, drink, and by all means be merry. Be merry. Enjoy life. You only live once. You only go around once. Enjoy
it. Make the most of it. But God said, who has the final
word? God said unto him, thou fool. Thou fool. And by nature, all
men are fools. We're fools. Because we know
these things, I'm not telling anyone here this morning anything
that all of us do not already know. And yet, we do not apply
our hearts to the knowledge that we have. And we act the fool's
part, just like this man. Thou fool, this night, not tomorrow,
not a week from now, this night, you're going to be in eternity.
This night your life in this world is going to end, thou fool. This night thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then who shall these things be
which thou hast provided? So he that layeth up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God. He didn't know what a day, what
a night might bring forth. He imagined that he had many
years to enjoy the fruit of his labors, but he didn't. When our Lord taught the disciples
to pray, they came to him, remember, and asked him to teach them to
pray. Have you ever considered this
request? Give us this day our daily bread. It's not Give us our bread for
next year. It's not give us our bread for
10 years from now. It's not even give us our bread
for tomorrow. We're not promised tomorrow.
Give us this day our daily bread. The third thing that James warns
about. First of all, the brevity of
man's life in this world, the uncertainty of man's life in
this world. The third thing, the dependence
of man in this world upon God. Notice they say, we will buy
and sell and get gain. Yeah, that's what we're going
to do. All right. We've got it all planned out. We're going
to go into a city and we're going to buy a supply and then we're
going to sell that and then we're going to buy some more and sell
that and we're just going to keep accumulating year after
year, day after day. We're going to get gain. We're
going to end up this life well off. We're going to get gain.
I want you to turn back with me to Deuteronomy chapter eight. Deuteronomy chapter eight. Verse one. All the commandments
which I command thee this day shall you observe to do, that
you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which
the Lord swear unto your fathers. Now, before we read any further,
Let's remember, Moses is not telling these people, the Israelites,
how they could earn merit eternal life. They're on the brink of
going into the land of Canaan, and he's telling them now how
they may go into the land and prosper in the land, the land that God had promised
them. First of all, thou shalt remember
all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years
in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was
in thine heart. Now God knew what was in their
heart, but God proved them so that they might know what was
in their heart. And what was in their heart?
Unbelief. rebellion, murmuring, complaining,
time after time after time. You read, they were guilty of
these things as they traveled those 40 years in the wilderness. He humbled thee and suffered
thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know. that he might make thee know
that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon
thee, neither did thy foot swell these 40 years. You're talking about getting
wear out of your clothes. They did. It lasted them 40 years. Their clothes didn't wear out.
Shoes didn't wear out. You say that's amazing. The God
of the Bible does amazing things. He really does. He saves sinners. Thou shalt also consider in thine
heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God
chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the
commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to
fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth
thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains
and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. a land of
wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and palm granites,
a land of oil and olive and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat
bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it,
a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest
dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art
full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land
which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the
Lord thy God and not keeping his commandments and his judgments
and his statutes which I command thee this day. Lest, and this
is a real danger here, a real danger for all of God's children,
lest when thou hast eaten and are full and has built goodly
houses and dwelt therein, And when thy herds and thy flocks
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all
that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up,
and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth
out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who led
thee through this great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery
serpents and scarpions and drought where there was no water, who
brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint, who fed
thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that
he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee to do thee
good at the latter end. And thou say in thine heart,
my power, my power, my ingenuity, my strength, my intelligence,
My ability hath gotten me this wealth. What did they say in
James? We're going to go into the city,
we're going to buy, and we're going to get wealth, get gain. But thou shalt remember the Lord
thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. that
he may establish his covenant, which he swear unto thy fathers,
as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do it
all, forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and
serve them, and worship them. I testify against you this day
that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord
destroyeth before your face, so shall you perish, because
you would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.
And that's exactly what happened to the nation of Israel. That's
exactly what happened to that nation. Well, with these three
truths in mind, the brevity of man's life, the uncertainty of
man's life, and the dependence of man upon God, what should
our response be this morning? Well, first of all, if you are
here today unsaved, If you're here today without Christ, you
don't know him, you've never bowed to him, you've never acknowledged
him as he is presented to us in the word of God, what should
your response be? Number one, prepare to meet thy
God. Prepare to meet thy God. That's your response. You say, well, how do we do that?
There's only one way, and that is to bow, to lay down your arms
as they used to say. Stack your arms. Quit fighting
against God. Acknowledge Him as God Almighty
and His Son as the only mediator between you and God. And look to Him. Trust in Him,
call upon Him. You say, well, do I have a right
to do that? Absolutely. In fact, it is His
commandment. 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 commandment
is singular because those who believe on Christ also have a
faith that works by love. God's people love one another.
If they truly believe in Christ, we love each other. What's our response? Number two,
if we are saved, then we should pray the prayer of David, the
prayer that he prayed. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. That should be our
prayer. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. God help us apply
our hearts unto wisdom, not the wisdom that comes from this world,
but the wisdom of God. Give us wisdom to get our priorities
right. Get our priorities right. And
our priorities should be, number one, the word of God. God's written
word. That should be our highest priority,
to read the word, to hear the word, to study the word, to believe
the word, to hide the word in our hearts that we not sin against
God. Get our priorities right, the
word of God. Prayer, spend time alone with
God. Public worship, public worship. We come together to worship God. And that should be a high priority
in every child of God's life. To witness, to tell others about
Christ. And the last thing, what should
be our response? If we're saved, we should not
fear leaving this world. Look with me in 2 Corinthians
chapter five. We should have no fear of leaving
this world. I think I'm picturing in my mind
a person living in a little house and roofs leaking, a few window panes maybe missing, some holes in the floor, and
there's a big mansion next door. Beautiful, well-built, structurally
sound, Here I am living in this little shack of a house, this
tabernacle. We should not fear leaving this
house, this house, this tabernacle, and taking possession to that
beautiful mansion that God has prepared for them that love Him.
2 Corinthians 5 and verse 1, for we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, and it will be, It
will be. It'll turn back to the dust from
which God made man's body. We have a building of God, and
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In my
example of the little house that needs repair and falling down
in the big mansion, we think about this, this tabernacle,
if we can think of it like that. Who would fear leaving this house
and moving into that house? We should not fear death. Why should we not fear death?
Because Christ has died. Yea, he has risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, making intercession for
us. He's prepared a place for us.
And to close our eyes in death in this world is to open them
in eternity, isn't it? Open them in eternity. I'm talking
about for God's children. We've got a wonderful hope before
us, a blessed hope, expectation. We shouldn't fear death. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this word to all of us here today.