This morning we'd like to draw your attention
to the third chapter of James beginning with
verse 13 where James declares, who is a
wise man in do with knowledge among you
let him show out of a good manner
of life 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 for this wisdom doesn't descend
from above it is earthly it is sensual
it is 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 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 so James here is going to
be contrasting between earthly wisdom and divine wisdom
the wisdom that is of the world and
the wisdom that is of God the characteristics
of worldly wisdom is first of all that
it is earthly it thinks only in the
terms of the temporal advantage and it ignores
eternal consequences it only is asking what will
this do for me right now it doesn't
look down the road and view the permanent
damage that can come to my life if
i continue in this particular practice it doesn't
consider the long-term effects the dependency that
it is creating and the permanent damage that
it is doing it never asks if i
continue on this road where is it leading
me what will the end be it does
not take the eternal omniscient god into consideration
as the prophet isaiah wrote in 29 14
therefore god said behold i will proceed to
do a marvelous work among the people and
a wonder for the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish woe to them that seek
to hide their counsel from the lord and
do their works in the dark and they
think who can see us and who knows
us they are like the potter's clay for
they deny that god made them for they
say he has no understanding david wrote reason
it out you fools when will you think
it through and be wise he that created
your ear do you think that god can't
hear he that created your eye do you
think that god can't see paul tells us
in romans that because they knew god they
did not glorify him as god but neither
were they thankful they became vain in their
imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened and
professing themselves to be wise they actually became
fools because they worshiped and served the creature
rather than the creator who is blessed forevermore
and they changed the glory of an incorruptible
god and made it like unto an image
made like corruptible man to birds four-footed
beast and creeping things it's interesting to me
today that so many men do not seek
to relate themselves to god but they seek
to relate themselves to the animal kingdom they
don't realize that man has fallen from the
image of god the bible tells us that
when god created man he created man in
his own image and he knows in his
own likeness but rather than seeking to relate
to god and to be restored to the
image of god man seeks to relate himself
to the animal kingdom and so he looks
at the chimpanzee and he says looks a
little bit like me and acts a lot
like me maybe i have evolved from the
chimp maybe i am in higher order of
evolution but related to the animal kingdom and
on down the line within the animal kingdom
that i am the product of blind chance
over billions of years and we seek to
believe that we have become the product of
fortuitous occurrences of accidental circumstances through billions of
years that i am related more to the
primates and professing themselves to be wise paul
said they become fools do you know how
they postulate your ability to see billions of
years ago as the worm was emerging out
of the primordial ooze and it was exposed
to the light rays of the sun a
freckle formed on the upper part of this
little worm and through billions of years this
freckle developed nerves and formed into an eye
and of course at the same time there
evolved a brain so that the brain could
understand what the eye was seeing and as
the little worm was wiggling on the rocks
to try and propel itself it scratched itself
it became a callus ultimately grew into legs
over billions of years of time with little
feet and that little worm became a salamander
and you were on your way through the
goo on through the zoo until it finally
became you that you are the product of
blind chance random chance through billions of years
and then they try to pass it off
as science evolution is a religion not a
science believed only by fools who do not
want to acknowledge the existence of god as
david said the fool has said in his
heart there is no god it takes more
faith to believe it than to believe that
in the beginning god created the heavens and
the earth and god created man and place
him on this planet earth so james says
of the earthly wisdom that it is sensual
it appeals to our senses have you ever
heard enjoy yourself it's later than you think
or eat drink and be married because tomorrow
you'll die the prophet isaiah wrote you have
trusted in your wickedness you have said no
one sees me and your wisdom and your
knowledge you have perverted as you say in
your heart i am self-existent and there
is no one else beside me therefore he
said evil shall come upon you you will
not know from whence it has come mischief
will befall you and you'll not be able
to escape it and you shall be destroyed
suddenly the wisdom of the earth earthy sensual
and it is also devilish paul wrote but
i fear less by any means as the
serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety so your
minds will be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in christ again writing to the corinthians
11 13 he said false apostles have come
to you but they are deceitful workers as
they transform themselves to the apostles of christ
and no marvel for satan transforms himself into
an angel of light therefore it's no wonder
if his ministers seek to transform themselves as
ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according
to their works the wisdom of the world
will come to nothing as paul wrote to
the corinthians albeit we speak wisdom among them
that are perfect yet not the wisdom of
this world nor of the princes of this
world that comes to nothing the wisdom of
this world is foolishness with god according to
paul for it is written he takes the
wise in their own craftiness not just foolishness
to god but the wisdom of the world
is just plain foolish if you look at
it carefully and as paul said professing themselves
to be wise they became fools now in
contrast we have the wisdom that comes from
god james here in verse 17 chapter 3
but the wisdom that is from above is
first of all pure then peaceable gentle easy
to be entreated full of mercy and good
fruits and without partiality and without hypocrisy the
wisdom that is from above solomon wrote in
proverbs 2 6 for the lord gives wisdom
and out of his mouth comes knowledge and
understanding and this wisdom that comes from the
lord is first of all pure as david
said in psalm 12 6 the words of
the lord are pure words like silver that's
been refined in the furnace in psalm 19
david said the commandment of the lord is
pure enlightening the eyes i've noticed a trend
lately here in america that some of the
young ministers across the country have started use
vulgarity and filthy words in their sermons and
i for the life of me cannot understand
how a person professing to be a minister
of god who is pure would use impure
language from the pulpit i suppose they are
looking for some kind of a shock value
i dare say if i use some profanity
you would all be shocked and you'd you
know and it would have a shock value
but i question as a servant of god
as a representative of god who is absolutely
pure i question the use of profanity not
only from the pulpit just in my everyday
life the wisdom that comes from god is
pure secondly it is peaceable one of the
names of jesus is he is the prince
of peace as he was ready to leave
his disciples he said peace i give unto
you not as the world gives goodbye unto
you let not your heart be troubled neither
let it be afraid paul speaks of the
peace of christ that passes human understanding the
wisdom that comes from god it has a
peaceful effect upon you it causes you to
realize that god is in control and that
all of your excitement or all of your
energy that you might expend in trying to
work out a situation is really not necessary
god is going to take care of things
and the peace of god which passes understanding
just keeps your heart and your mind in
the lord in hebrews 12 14 we're told
follow peace with all men and holiness without
which no man will see the lord and
then the wisdom that comes from god is
also gentle it's not harsh it's not abrasive
in describing the fruit of the spirit paul
is saying that it is love and joy
and peace and and gentleness in galatians he
describes that kind of peace that we have
from god and then the peace that comes
from god is easy to be in treated
that means you're not obstinate stubborn and when
you have taken a position you don't hold
to it even though it may be proven
to be wrong but you cannot be persuaded
to change your position you're not ready to
yield to the truth when it is presented
to you you're prone to say please don't
confuse me with the facts my mind is
made up and and the truth or doesn't
really mean that much to you because you
cannot be easily entreated but then this peace
that comes from god brings mercy and good
fruit now mercy is pity for the man
who is suffering even if his suffering is
his own fault so many times when a
person is going through a problem he said
well he deserves it that nut did such
crazy things you know he deserves what it's
what's coming to him and and that isn't
mercy mercy has sympathy it has pity for
that man who is suffering even though his
suffering may be caused by what he has
done we're prone to say well he brought
it on himself but jesus said blessed are
the merciful for they shall obtain mercy it
is said that when napoleon bonaparte was in
a victory parade on his horse riding through
the streets of paris that from the crowd
that was watching a young girl bolted out
of the crowd and came running up to
his horse crying to napoleon mercy sire mercy
mercy for my father and napoleon said and
who is your father and as she named
her father napoleon answered your father is a
traitor to france he deserves to die she
responded sir i didn't say justice i said
mercy mercy is not getting what you deserve
justice is getting what you deserve but this
is mercy with good works it is not
only just not getting what you deserve but
it is being blessed even though you're not
worthy or deserving of it good fruit mercy
and good fruit when someone has done a
wrong to me and they come and they
ask forgiveness and i say oh of course
i forgive you no problem that's mercy but
then if i say come let me take
you out to lunch i'd like to just
spend some time with you that's good fruit
and wisdom that is from god it isn't
just merciful but it also is manifesting good
fruit jesus told us in luke 6 36
be ye therefore merciful even as your father
is merciful and that is the kind of
mercy that god has for us not just
forgiving us but blessing us the wisdom that
comes from god is also without partiality back
in chapter 2 of james he said my
brethren do not have respect of persons for
if one comes into your church and he's
wearing a gold ring he's dressed in expensive
clothes and another one comes in wearing rags
and you respect the one with the jewelry
and the fancy clothes and you give him
the best seat in the house but you
say to the poor man stand over there
in the corner he said you're guilty of
showing partiality hasn't god chosen the poor of
the world rich in faith as the heirs
of the kingdom which he has promised to
those that love him the wisdom that comes
from god doesn't show partiality because often we
only show partiality to gain something for ourselves
we read that god is no respecter of
persons when we stand before god we all
stand on the same level the wisdom that
comes from god is without hypocrisy now the
word hypocrisy comes from the greek word hypocrite
the greek word hypocrites is the word for
actor it means you're just putting on an
act it isn't genuine you're pretending to be
something that you're not this is the wisdom
that is from above now i can live
and choose to live by the wisdom of
the world the wisdom that is earthly that
is sensual and that is devilish but as
james tells us the effect of this will
bring bitter envying and strife in your life
or i can choose to live by the
wisdom of god the wisdom that brings purity
peace gentleness the wisdom that is easily entreated
and full of mercy and good fruit without
partiality and without hypocrisy the wisdom by which
i choose to live will develop the character
of my life and that is why it
is so important that we choose to live
by that wisdom which comes from god and
i'd like you to just really think over
in your mind today am i living by
the worldly wisdom is that what is forming
my character is that which marks my life
or am i living by the wisdom of
god and that wonderful character is being formed
in me by the spirit of god because
i am living by the wisdom that comes
from god let's pray father we thank you
for the wisdom that you give to us
and we ask lord that we might live
by that wisdom we choose lord not to
follow the folly of this world the wisdom
that comes to nothing the wisdom that would
deny even your existence would exalt man above
you but lord we want to live by
that wisdom that will create the character and
nature of god in us that we might
be like you lord in all things in
jesus name we pray amen shall we stand
the pastors are down here at the front
to minister to you and to pray for
you as you take a honest evaluation of
your life as honest as you can we
deceive ourselves and but yet maybe ask the
lord like david uh search me oh god
know my heart try me know my thoughts
see if there be some wicked way in
me and then you lead me in your
ways and as you ask god to just
reveal the truth about you to yourself are
you living by earthly wisdom or by godly
wisdom are you conforming to the world and
the things of the world or are you
being conformed unto the things of god you're
walking down a path continuing on that path
where will it lead you what will be
the end result where will you end up
and it may be that you don't like
the thought of where this path is leading
you you'd like to change you can't make
that change yourself it's not within our power
to do so but he can make that
change for us if we will just but
consent to it if we will just but
ask i can be changed i can be
delivered i can be set free i can
become a new person i i can be
free from the bondage of corruption that yes
i took that path and it is destroying
me i am getting what i deserve but
i can also get if i so desire
the mercy of god a changed life and
a freedom from those things that are binding
me and destroying me and so i would
encourage you to take that honest evaluation or
even better ask the lord to search you
and to reveal your heart and then turn
your life over to him and say lord
i want to follow after godly wisdom make
me pure give me your peace cause me
to be gentle lord and loving and kind
and merciful make me like you lord make
me like you the lord bless you and
keep thee the lord make his face to
shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee
and be gracious unto thee the lord lift
up his countenance upon thee and give
thee peace