[0:00] Father, we come to you this morning and we just sing your praises, Lord, because we know that all the things that happen in our life, Lord, are for your glory and for our good.
[0:13] We praise you because of that. You are on the throne. You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Every knee will bow before Christ Jesus the King.
[0:26] And we choose to do that now, Lord. We're grateful for this opportunity to gather together and just exalt you together. We recognize that apart from you, we are nothing.
[0:40] We have nothing. We can do nothing. But in Christ Jesus, we are more than conquerors and we have a future and a hope because of him. So, Lord, I pray that you just bless us as we continue in this time of worship today and as we lift up your name together.
[0:56] I pray you'll just just send your word deep into our hearts. God, just penetrate the hardness of our hearts. Speak to us today. Conform us into the likeness of your son.
[1:08] Draw us into your presence today. May we see clearly the things that don't belong in our hearts and in our life. May we turn from those things. May we surrender to Jesus.
[1:21] And may you be seen as King today. So, Lord, just be with us as we continue in this time. And we pray this all in Jesus' name.
[1:32] Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, guys, for leading us in this time. A great time of worship. As we sing praises, I want you to turn in your Bible to James chapter 4.
[1:46] James chapter 4. Don't go too long, he says. See, I told you. He's back to himself. Okay? He's back to normal. But we are so glad, too, because, man, we saw you the other day and I thought, oh, my word, we thought maybe you were having a stroke.
[2:02] We didn't know. And just knowing just all that your family has been through. All of us were just burdened for you guys. We are so grateful to God for the healing that he's brought there.
[2:15] We see Landon right next to you. And we just see God working in his life and bringing healing. We're just so grateful. And just thinking about that.
[2:27] I was thinking about that as I was looking at this passage this morning. And just thinking about, you know, just even back to January 1st when my mother had her stroke.
[2:41] And just what a dramatic change that was for her in that moment. Just you make plans for yourself. You think you've got an idea of what tomorrow holds.
[2:54] And then all of a sudden, in a moment, all of that changes dramatically sometimes. And in this case, you know, you go through a stroke and you lose some of your mobility.
[3:09] You lose your ability to speak. And then because of this cataclysmic thing that happens in your brain and with your heart, you're having to learn to speak all over again.
[3:24] And just the change and change of your plans, change of your life, all that's involved in that. And I thought about that because as I was looking at this passage, I'm just thinking of those that have living faith as James is describing this.
[3:39] People that have had just such a cataclysmic event in their heart and mind as they've come to Christ and been changed. And they're having to learn to talk all over again.
[3:52] It's really interesting as you think about it, how you're learning new things as you come to faith in Christ and it changes your mind, your perspective.
[4:05] And you're talking about your future plans and the things that are happening in your life. And as you come to this passage, you're seeing that even in those things, you're having to learn to talk about those things differently than you used to talk.
[4:22] You've got a living faith and you're trying to follow the wisdom of God in your life. And you're having to learn to talk all over again. It's the battle of the soul.
[4:37] And here, what's happening is, as James is talking about the practical application of this, if this battle of my soul is won and if my adulterous heart is now coming back into the arms of God, so to speak, then it's going to be heard on my lips.
[4:59] My words are going to change. I need to step into this and learn to speak about the new reality of my life. James has a lot to say about the tongue, doesn't he?
[5:10] I mean, from the beginning of this look at the epistle of James, over and over again, he keeps coming back to this issue of our words and how our words are an outward indication of the condition of our heart.
[5:23] The inward battles, the passions that are at work within us. And he's been talking about this in terms of a contrast now between the prideful and the humble.
[5:36] And how this is going to play out in the life of the prideful and how it's going to play out in the life of the humble. My life has been transformed. I am now walking in humility with the Lord.
[5:50] That's going to be the characteristic of my life. I'm responding to the wisdom of God and obedience. I'm no longer just a hearer of the word. I am a doer of the word.
[6:00] That's my life. And so as I look at this, I just, I see the contrast because this, this is showing us that a dead faith really doesn't submit itself to God, but a living faith does.
[6:15] A dead faith doesn't resist Satan, but a living faith does. A dead faith doesn't draw near to God. Does this sound familiar? Doesn't draw near to God, but a living faith does.
[6:27] You think of the humility of submitting yourself before the Lord. The prideful heart doesn't want to do this, but the humble heart does.
[6:40] There's a problem that's preventing me from living in this state of humility and allowing or trying to allow my humility and pride to coexist, and it won't.
[6:52] So I'm in this state of conflict. It's pride. And you hear it in your speech sometimes. James is presenting the prideful person as they are presumptuously talking about the future.
[7:08] And he calls them to repent. Because remember, these are brothers in Christ that are talking like this. And he's giving them an alternative. And the alternative is to speak with humility that doesn't lead out with presumption, but that leans on the providence of God.
[7:26] And this is James chapter 4, verse 13. So if you found yourself here, let's go ahead and stand. We're going to read this passage together. We're going to allow God to change our heart so that our mouth will learn to give glory to God, even in how we talk about our plans.
[7:46] James chapter 4, beginning in verse 13. Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit.
[8:07] Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
[8:19] Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance.
[8:33] All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
[8:47] Father, may you bless the reading of your word today. May you just fill us up. May you just remind us of our desperate need for Christ in our life. And as your Holy Spirit who indwells us takes your word and plants it, Lord, I pray that you just bring conviction, you convince us of righteousness, and that you would draw us to be more like Christ.
[9:09] We pray this in his precious name. Amen. Amen. Be seated. Pride is a deep problem for us, isn't it? And if you can't admit that right here, right now, then you must realize that in some part that's because pride is our greatest problem.
[9:29] It is a subtle problem. It is a deep problem. One person said it this way. He said, Pride is the dandelion of the soul. Its roots go deep, only a little left behind, and it sprouts again.
[9:45] Its seeds lodge in the tiniest encouraging cracks, and it flourishes in good soil. The danger of pride is that it feeds on goodness.
[9:58] How true that is. Pride is a problem, and it's got to die. It cannot coexist in us. And so as we're looking at this this morning in the passage, I really see this broken down into three ways.
[10:10] You can see the structure of the text as you look at it closely. You can see first that we're talking about the profile of the prideful man as he unpacks just a great picture of what this prideful man looks like.
[10:26] And then he describes the problem of the prideful, and then he gives us the prescription for the prideful. And in the end, I think our hearts get to see in contrast what humility should look like, and it draws us to the question, is he talking about me?
[10:46] Right? I mean, this is where we should come when we look at the text, right? Every time we open our Bible, we've got to remember that the author is always present in this book. And the Holy Spirit is always drawing us to a comparison of Christ and drawing us to our need for Christ.
[11:04] And so in this, I'm looking at this description of the prideful man and his problems, and I'm going, is James talking about me? Is he unpacking some of the things that are going on in my heart or my mind or my behavior?
[11:19] The words that I say and how I describe future planning and the things ahead of me in my life, am I talking like this? Because if I am, I've got to realize that this is just betraying externally what he was just talking about a few minutes ago, something that needs to be cleansed in the hands and in the heart.
[11:42] There's something on the outside and something internally that's going wrong here. And so I've got to make comparison with this and ask God, God, is this me?
[11:53] Am I suffering from something that you want out of my life? Am I needing to be changed in some way that's going to conform me more to Christ so that even in my words, I'm going to bring glory to God when I talk about my future and my plans and the things that I want to do with my life, the things that are happening tomorrow and the next day and the next day?
[12:15] Is this going to be for your glory or not? I've got to ask myself that. Am I living for the glory of Christ? He's the one that saved me.
[12:26] He gave me new life. Am I now in his hands and am I living for his glory? And in this, I think what he does is unpack for us the demands of providence in our planning, when we're thinking about our life, when we're thinking about days ahead, when we talk about what's coming.
[12:47] Am I speaking in terms of providence? And remember, we defined that a few or several weeks ago now. I think it was in James, but that's been like a year, right?
[12:59] But talking about providence, we're not talking about just God's predetermined open theism where he sets things in motion and walks away.
[13:10] That's not providence. Providence is God, the living God of the universe, actively involved in every moment and everything in my life.
[13:22] Completely. He's active and he's involved right now in me. All the things of my life. Every decision that I'm making, all that I'm doing, the way that I'm talking, the way that I'm thinking, the way that I'm living.
[13:37] Providence. So what are the demands of providence? Number one, we begin in verse 13. Because this is where we see the plans of the prideful, the profile of the prideful man.
[13:53] And really the demand is that proper planning for our life demands that we concede to the authority of God. You've heard the old saying, proper planning prevents poor performance, right?
[14:07] Maybe in your workplace that's somewhere up on the wall or maybe in your class, your classroom, your teacher has used this saying, proper planning prevents poor performance.
[14:18] But here what James is saying is, providential planning prevents poor performance. Yes, you should plan. But you should understand that there is a sovereign God over your life at the same time.
[14:32] And we were just talking about that before the service. Man, what, been a crazy week for different reasons in my life. My mom's blood pressure spiked and then cratered. And we're trying to decide if we've got to take her to the ER.
[14:43] We've got other affairs in our life that are just all of a sudden distracting. And so my plans for the week, out the window. And you just think, well, did I not plan?
[14:55] No, I planned. But I've got to realize that there is a God who is sovereign over the affairs of my life. And there is not one single thing that happened this week that was a surprise to him.
[15:10] Right? None of this was surprising to God. When my mom had her stroke, it didn't surprise God. He didn't say, oh, man, how'd that happen? Whoa, whoa, where'd that come from?
[15:23] When J.C. had his issue. God didn't go, oh, man, I wonder, I never saw that coming. No, God is sovereign. This is the theological point here.
[15:36] God is sovereign over the affairs of my life. And you see this in the planning of the prideful man. So notice in verse 13 the way that it says this.
[15:50] In chapter 4, verse 13. Come now, you who say. So somebody's saying this. And it's in quotations there in your text. Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit.
[16:10] And in this, you've got to kind of take the mind of the law enforcement entity that's going to do the psychological profile on the criminal, right?
[16:21] And you want to look at him and you're going to try to draw a profile on him so you can figure out who this guy really is. It's a profile here really in the decisions that he's making and the things that he's doing so that you can look at this and say, huh, is that me?
[16:38] Or is that how I'm dealing with life? Is that how I'm dealing with my future and my plans? This man was a landowner. Say, how do you know that?
[16:49] Because chapter 5 said so. Chapter 5 starts describing some of these rich. Remember, he's been talking about the rich back and forth all through this epistle. There's clues about these guys that he's addressing directly here.
[17:04] In his introduction, he says, come now. And this is a word, as I'm looking this up in the commentaries, it says that this is described as an abrupt, emphatic exclamation expressing emotion.
[17:18] I mean, this is, I just read through it the first time. He said, come now. No, this is like emphatic. It should be like major bold print, right, for us to really get the picture of what he's saying.
[17:33] Come now. An exclamation. There's emotion to this. It's calling the reader to give continual attention to what he's about to say, what's going to follow.
[17:43] It's, as one commentator said, it's an arousing interjection of disapproval. Come now. And so there's some kind of tone that's going with this.
[17:55] As one commentator said, it is a tone of sarcasm slightly. Are you kidding me? Come on. You who are saying this.
[18:07] And it's revealing this, this, this, this abrupt, emotional charge from James where he's saying, this battle that's going on in your soul, that's coming out of your mouth, the way you're talking about your life.
[18:19] You really need to listen to what I'm about to say about this because this may be you. And it's continuation from this past discussion, but now he calls it out by saying, you who say.
[18:34] Now, this is indicating for us that this is really pointed now. Before, if you will notice, as you go back through the epistle of James, he has been saying phrases, even about the rich, whoever says, or if someone says, or if one says.
[18:54] It's a generalization all up until this point. And now he says, but now you who say. So he's got a general problem, but he is addressing a very specific group in the church.
[19:08] A specific group or maybe even a specific person. So there's somebody in mind here that he's singling out. And when people hear this, they're probably going to say, well, man, somebody finally called him out.
[19:23] That guy is so arrogant. That guy is so full of himself. That guy's always talking about his stuff, his plans, blah, blah, blah. Me, me, me, me, me. I'm glad somebody called it out.
[19:34] But remember, a lot of times somebody's being called out and then I've got to look at that situation and say, yeah, but is he also talking about me?
[19:49] Am I acting prideful? Am I submitting my plans to God? I mean, this guy, it's really clear. It's a clear, crystal clear case. There is presumption in different ways in him.
[20:03] I just listed a few out, just the presumption about his timing. He said, today or tomorrow. The Greek verb, lego, is used by James to describe reason and intelligence.
[20:17] It's saying today or tomorrow here in terms of his planning. He's reasoning through it. He's a really bright guy. He really knows how to plan.
[20:30] When he says today or tomorrow, he's indicating something very clear that's been reasoned out and planned out. He's initiated it. He's the captain of his soul.
[20:41] He's decided and made decisions about what he's going to do about this or that. Now, is that wrong? Well, no. We want to be decisive, man. We want to be confident. I want to do things and not be somebody that vacillates all the time about what I'm going to do.
[20:56] It's not wrong to be decisive. The question that is being raised in that is am I really involving God in the process of those decisions?
[21:10] Am I involving God in the initiation of the things I'm going to do in my life? The decisions I'm making about today or tomorrow?
[21:20] Am I really involving God in the process of the things that I'm doing all the way up to the point of decision and then I just leave God out altogether? There's presumption about timing.
[21:32] There's presumption about his destinations. His business intuition is really strong. This is a guy that knows how to sell goods. We'll go to such and such a town.
[21:44] And so this guy has particular places in mind. Such and such a town. He's saying it kind of in a generic, but the guy himself that he's quoting is actually talking about specific places.
[21:56] I'm going to go to this town. I'm going to go to that town. I've got plans. I'm making plans. I'm initiating it. I'm going to go to this place and I'm going to do this thing. Maybe some kind of, as one commentator said, an itinerant businessman calls to mind the traveling salesman.
[22:15] I'm going to go here and do business. And all the logistics that are involved with traveling and all of that, as one commentator said, this is the custom of those in ancient days.
[22:26] They traded from city to city, carrying their goods on the backs of camels. The Jews would trade in the cities of Tyre and Sidon and Caesarea and Crete and Ephesus and Philippi and Thessalonica and Corinth and Rome.
[22:42] All these cities where churches were. And this is the kind of itinerant plan that this guy has. It's presumption of duration.
[22:55] I'm going to spend a year there. I know my plans. I'm going to spend a year there and I'm going to do business there. It's a considerable expense to stay somewhere for a year, which takes an enormous amount of planning.
[23:11] He's going to go and do business for a year to sell. And what is he selling? It says he's doing trade and this is also kind of the presumption of what he's going to do, the presumption of his abilities.
[23:23] I'm going to go there and I'm going to do this. I know what my plans are for me. James chapter 5 tells us a little bit about the details of what this person does.
[23:40] in James chapter 5 verse 4 it says, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields. And so now we've got a narrower scope about what he does.
[23:50] It's not just that he's trading olives and dates. No, this is a specific crop. It's either barley or wheat. The fields are mowed. And these laborers that he manages, he's got abilities.
[24:04] Man, this guy is on top of things. He owns the field. It said it was your fields. And he manages the workers. I mean, he's got management skills.
[24:16] He is traveling long places to go there for a year. The logistics to this must be incredible because to travel that far with so much wheat or barley means that he took a train of camels to go and deliver these goods.
[24:31] So this is not a lightweight. This is not some knave in business. This is a wealthy man who owns fields, who manages people. He's over people.
[24:42] But there's all this presumption. He's presumptuous about his duration of being there, of his ability, of his ability to carry on business. This Greek word is a word where we get the English word emporium.
[24:56] It means to be a merchant or a trader. So now he is responsible for the production side of things and he's handling sales. So he is the trader himself.
[25:08] He's making it. He's selling it. He's doing it all. This guy is amazing. Right? So he's not merely a salesman.
[25:20] He was the guy that is the one-man machine. He owns the land. He produces the crop. He oversees the harvesting.
[25:30] He manages the employees. He strategizes. He travels. He oversees logistics of delivery. He does the selling. He gets the profit. He is the man.
[25:43] That's the picture. He doesn't need you. In fact, he's abusing his employees. He feels like he doesn't need them. But what is the worst part of this is that in all of his logistics, in all of his planning, in all that he's doing, what is absent?
[26:02] God. Everything that he's doing is so intricately planned. He's assuming that he's going to make a profit. He's assuming that he's going to do business. He's assuming that he's going to travel.
[26:14] He's going to go to this place or that place. Not recognizing that there is a sovereign God over his life. All of his plans, all of his plans have to come under the authority of the sovereignty of God.
[26:31] And this is where his presumption is. He's leading with presumption. He's not leaning on the providence of God. He's ignoring God at every step.
[26:45] In his planning, he's disregarding God's will. In his assumptions about the future, he overlooks the uncertainty of his life. In his business success, he attributes everything to himself.
[26:59] It's me, me, me. I think of this in our culture because I think there's such an attitude toward the wealthy in our culture that sometimes political parties are driven that way.
[27:15] Democratic Party seems driven that way to draw a distinction in class warfare. Like, we're going to tax the rich and they deserve it. They're going to pay for everything.
[27:26] And then, we're going to give it all to the poor. And so, this transfer of wealth, when that's really not what the Bible teaches about property or wealth. God actually recognizes property ownership.
[27:40] Communism is not biblical. Socialism, that takes from one group and gives to the other that way, is not biblical. That's not a biblical form of government.
[27:53] God actually recognizes boundaries and wealth and responsibility and those kinds of things. Ownership. Boundaries. I mean, we look at the Scripture and there's all kinds of rich people in the Scripture.
[28:08] King David was wealthy. Moses was wealthy. Abraham was wealthy. Job was wealthy. Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy. Lydia was wealthy. Wealthy.
[28:19] Old Testament and New, there are wealthy people that follow Jesus. It's not sinful to be wealthy. It's not sinful to be successful. It's not sinful to plan and produce and manage and oversee and even make a profit.
[28:35] Those things are all great. In fact, the Scripture talks about just our responsibility to do those kinds of things. That in itself is not sinful. But it becomes sinful when we don't acknowledge the sovereignty of God over those things.
[28:52] Because if we don't acknowledge the sovereignty of God in those things, it will affect the way you treat your wealth. It will affect the way you treat your employees. It will affect the way you talk about your plans.
[29:07] It's what James started with in James chapter 1. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him.
[29:23] Seek the Lord with his wisdom. Make your plans. Hudson Taylor had a conviction. Hudson Taylor was the missionary from America to Burma.
[29:37] And as he talked about finding and doing God's will, he had real conviction about it. He said, we can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength.
[29:49] Or, we can make careful plans and we can ask God to bless them. Yet another way of working is to begin with God to ask his plans and then to offer ourselves to him to carry out his purposes.
[30:06] Do my plans begin with the authority of God in my life? That's a, that's a different way. If I'm talking about my plans in terms that don't include God as the sovereign over my plans, I got a problem.
[30:26] And you hear it all through the Proverbs, the Psalms. The book of wisdom, right? Remember, this epistle of James is the Proverbs of the New Testament.
[30:39] Psalm 37, 5. David said, commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. Commit your ways to the Lord. Proverbs 19, 21.
[30:51] Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Your plans, as detailed as they are, they must be under the authority of God in your life.
[31:05] Proverbs 16, 3. Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16, 9. The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps.
[31:20] It's that great verse of Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll do what?
[31:32] He'll direct your paths. He's going to bring the success that you need in your life because success is doing the will of God. So application, you think about this and you think, man, if I'm going to think of God and his authority over my life, is he talking about me?
[32:00] Am I prideful in my planning to the point where I don't include God or I disregard God's plans for my life altogether and just do it myself? And this could go both ways.
[32:13] As we were talking at home about this, I was talking about this verse a little bit and I was talking about success and I just, you know, I'm a smart aleck sometimes and so I said, well, thank the Lord he hadn't allowed me to be successful so I don't have to worry about it, right?
[32:30] And Brandy and Warren both said, that's not right though. You shouldn't say it that way. And I realized when they said that that although he's talking about the prideful who's disregarding God in his success, I can be just as prideful in disregarding God for the potential of success in my life.
[32:54] I can look at my life and my future negatively and say, you know what, God's never going to do anything with me. God's never going to use me. God's never going to give me victory in this.
[33:07] I'm never going to find, I'm never going to have a great family. I'm never going to do this. I'm never going to do that. And in that, all we are doing is displaying our pride on the negative.
[33:19] It's not just the prideful who sees himself very clearly and says, I'm doing all this without God. It's also me coming to the places where I say, God can't do this in me.
[33:31] I'm prideful thinking that I am more powerful than God even in my failure. Do you see how subtle pride is? It's subtle. I have to ask God at every step of my plans and every step where I'm assuming failure in my life and say, God, where are you at in this?
[33:52] Where are you? Are you initiating this or is this me just going for my glory or is this me just living in my shame? Is God for this destination in my life?
[34:02] God, do you want me to go here? Do you want me to do this? Am I going to be gone for a year? Do you want me to stay doing this job for this period of time? Not just, is it expedient?
[34:14] Do I need to change to make more money? Do I need to do this? You need to be thinking about God in this. God may want you to be poor so that you'll be rich in Him.
[34:26] God may want you to be unsuccessful in some things so that you'll be successful at other things. Some of you are going to trade success in your life for your family, for your marriage.
[34:39] look at all these great successful people financially and then look at their family. Am I asking God to help me make a profit so I can make a living for His glory?
[34:59] Or am I wanting to make a profit for my own glory? Is it even for His glory? Or is it just for me? Young people, what college are you going to?
[35:14] What are your plans? Right? Have you sought the Lord in this? Your career that you're deciding for your life. Are you seeking the Lord in this?
[35:27] Or is this your plans? Is this your glory? See, your life is not your own anymore. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you've been bought with a price. You are a slave of Jesus Christ.
[35:38] You are in a state of glorious slavery right now to Jesus. Loving, glorious slavery. And that means that your life is not yours.
[35:49] You have a sovereign God over the affairs of your life. Are you submitting the decisions of your life to the sovereign God who is over you? Or is your life still your own?
[36:00] Jesus said it in Matthew 6.33. He said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
[36:12] Or as Paul said in Colossians 3.17, or whatever you do in word, the way you say things, or deed, the things you do, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to the Father through him.
[36:28] I mean, as you look at your plans in your life and the things that you've carried out without him, let me ask you, how's that working out? Hadn't worked out so well.
[36:43] The demand of providence is that you submit to the authority of God. Number two, not just the profile of the prideful, but the problem of the prideful.
[36:56] He really describes the extent of it for us. Proper planning really does demand not only that we conform to God's authority, but that we condemn our pride.
[37:09] It's not just acknowledging it, it's condemning it for what it is. We look at this passage here, verse 14, notice how he says it in the text. In verse 14, yet, yet, you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
[37:26] You awesome planner, you do it all yourself, you planning it without God or thinking you're going to fail. You, you, yet, you do not know what tomorrow will hold.
[37:41] What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. And this is the arid climate of Jerusalem, right? This isn't London we're talking about like where there's fog all the time.
[37:54] There's no jacket called, you know, Jerusalem fog, right? It's London fog because the moisture and the air is so bad all the time there that there's fog all the time.
[38:06] In Israel, it's not that way. It's very arid, it's very dry. When you see mist, when you see fog, when you see steam, it doesn't last long.
[38:17] It dissipates really quickly. So when he says it here, he's saying, especially you who are listening to me in Jerusalem and around, this is where James is going to be leading the church in Jerusalem and he's telling them, yeah, your life is a vapor.
[38:33] And they're going, man, that's quick. Vapors don't last long here. It dries up fast. Why do we live in such ignorance?
[38:46] Proper planning demands that we condemn our pride. It's an ignorance that we're displaying. It's ignorance because we're not admitting that life is complicated.
[38:58] We think we've got it all figured out. Verse 13 is given the picture of complexity to our life. It's complex. There's time.
[39:08] There's today. There's tomorrow. When? When do I do it? When's the right time? I don't know. The activities. Do I buy? Do I sell? Do I go? Or do I stay? All these decisions being made all along the way.
[39:22] So many mistakes. One wrong move. And man, I'm a disaster. You're really going to rely on yourself for the complexity of your life? James is saying, oh, brother, don't do that.
[39:36] Sister, do not do that. Not only is life complicated, life's uncertain. You don't know what will happen tomorrow, he says.
[39:49] Verse 14. It's uncertain. You have no idea what's before you. Some of you are going to be in a car accident this week. I'm not predicting that. I'm not hoping that for you.
[40:00] Okay? You don't have any idea what's coming. You can't plan for some things. Aren't you glad God knows everything?
[40:13] It's uncertain. We live in our ignorance here. It's uncertain. Your life is frail. It's like a vapor. Psalm 39, David said it that way.
[40:24] He said, oh, Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths and my lifetime is nothing before you.
[40:38] Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath. Selah. Surely a man goes about as a shadow. Surely for nothing there in turmoil.
[40:48] Man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather it. David understood exactly what James was saying and James was reading it from the words of David.
[41:00] Your life is a vapor. It's frail. It's weak. It's short. It appears for a little time.
[41:15] It's the same thing that Job said in Job 9.25. He said, my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. They go by like the skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on prey.
[41:29] It's just like that. Job 14.1. Man who is born of woman is few of days and full of trouble. Job understood in his hardship.
[41:46] Because life is so short, it's really important that we live in a way that acknowledges something besides our ignorance about life. John said in 1 John 2.
[41:57] And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. The plans that stand belong to the Lord. We reveal our ignorance and as he says it, you reveal your arrogance.
[42:13] You don't know, you don't know, he says. It means to understand and in this case it's with an absolute negative which indicates that he's saying they don't have a clue about their life.
[42:30] You don't have a clue about tomorrow. You're boasting, you're crafting arrogant words. And all this reveals in your ignorance and your arrogance is sinfulness.
[42:44] This isn't just bad planning. It's sinful. And so he says it in verse 16 as he clearly defines it for us. In verse 16 he says, as it is, as the first case in the profile of the prideful, as it is, you boast in your arrogance.
[43:04] All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows to do the right thing and fails to do it for him it is sin. It's evil.
[43:17] Pride is me disregarding God for my future plans. Evil. Sinful. One commentary said it this way, when James denounces those who develop detailed schedules for their lives.
[43:37] He is not suggesting that planning is ungodly. What he is condemning is the arrogant attitude that presumes upon the future and leaves God out of the plans.
[43:48] Again, I think it is important that we define the terms for neither of these words, planning nor presumption, is found in the passage. But the concepts are there. I would offer these simple definitions.
[44:01] A plan is a flexible, detailed design for action based on careful consideration of all facts. Presumption, on the other hand, is a superficial design for action built on partial knowledge, inadequate objectives, and questionable motives.
[44:21] James denounces presumption in no uncertain terms. Here are some biblical distinctions, he said, between the two concepts. Planning recognizes the uncertainties in life, presumption ignores them.
[44:37] Planning recognizes the brevity of life, presumption ignores it. Planning considers the will of God, presumption ignores it. Planning is rational and humble, presumption is irrational and boastful.
[44:53] Proper planning produces good results. Charles Spurgeon said, notice that these people, while they thought everything was at their disposal, used everything for worldly objects.
[45:10] What did they say? Did they determine with each other, we will today or tomorrow do such and such a thing for the glory of God or for the extension of his kingdom? Oh no, there was not a word about it in them from beginning to end.
[45:26] This is where we must acknowledge there are two great certainties about things that shall come to pass. One is that God knows and the other is that I do not.
[45:40] Call it what it is. Sin. Sin. Like the guy that said, sometimes I wonder if I'm too arrogant and then he responds saying, man, there's no way I'm too good for that.
[45:59] Reality is, I think sometimes we don't realize how prideful we are. Is that me? Is that me? Isaiah 46, 9, for I am God and there is no other.
[46:18] I am God and there's none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning from the ancient of times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I shall accomplish all my purpose.
[46:33] And Daniel recognized this as Daniel is struggling and being accused from the government of interfering in government things.
[46:43] He's actually just worshiping God. God. And as he's in trouble and as he's seeking the Lord, he comes to this conclusion. It is God who reveals deep and hidden things.
[46:54] He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells in him. If I want to know plans that are going to last, if I'm going to do things that are going to please God and bring glory to God, I'm going to need to lean on his providence and stop leading out with my presumption.
[47:15] Do I just make excuses about my self-centered independence? Do I just keep calling it strength when God calls it sin?
[47:26] I'm not going to call it what it is. Number three, third demand that we see here is also proper planning demands we cooperate with God and so James says it in those terms.
[47:42] Instead, here's the way it should look. This is where the humble comes in. Well, we see the prideful.
[47:53] Here's the humble. Instead, you should say, as he says in verse that's 1 Peter.
[48:10] As he says in verse 14, that you do not know what tomorrow will hold. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Verse 15, instead, you ought to say if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
[48:30] This is training yourself to speak in a way that matches the reality that should be inward. I should be saying this kind of thing so that I remind myself outwardly where my heart is supposed to be in this because my pride is very subtle.
[48:47] I have to keep reminding myself and I need to remind others. It needs to be said. I'm saying it so that you'll hear my plans and you'll be reminded, oh, he's got plans for his life but he's acknowledging the authority of God and the sovereignty of God in his life.
[49:03] He's making plans but he's not just doing this for his own glory, it's for the glory of God. You're talking to a lost person and they don't know the Lord and you're talking about, well, if the Lord wills, I'll do this or that.
[49:16] All of a sudden it raises a question, what do they mean if the Lord wills? And all of a sudden the people that hear you making your plans are starting to wonder, should I be making plans without God?
[49:26] Should I be doing things and not considering God in my life? Should I be thinking about college and not considering what God wants to do? What is my life without God?
[49:37] You should say it this way, if the Lord wills, the Lord, the kurios, meaning master, the captain of my soul, the Lord who is authority over all, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.
[49:55] When he says he has a will, that means he has a decision to determine. He's got something determined for my life, the decisions that I'm making. God has his hands in.
[50:07] It's not that the devil is in the details. I'm telling you, God is in the details. God is over the details. God is speaking to the details. He has a plan for my life.
[50:23] When I say providence, R.C. Sproul says, what is providence? Everything in creation is under the providing care of God. Not only does God supply all things, but he arranges them according to his plan for his glory, as we sang about this morning.
[50:42] For Christians, he said, this ought to produce peace and comfort even when it appears that all is against them. There is not one piece of cosmic dust that is outside the scope of God's sovereign providence.
[50:59] If we understand the providence of God and love the God of providence, we are able to worship him with sacrifices of praise. He inherently deserves this when things bring pain and when things bring sorrow and when affliction comes into our life.
[51:19] Because this understanding of providence is vital to all who would worship God. God, it is a worship that is rooted in trust.
[51:33] And that's why Paul said this over and over again. It's why he talked this way like in Acts 18.21 as he's leaving the church of Ephesus and he doesn't know what's going to happen except that God has told him that on this road you're going to suffer and you're going to die.
[51:47] That's all he knows. That's not good news for him. He's not thinking, man, God has a great plan for my life and it's always going to be good and I'm going to be healthy and everything's going to go my way. No.
[51:59] God is sovereign and sometimes that means there's pain. There's hurt. What did he say? But on taking leave of them he said, I will return to you if God wills.
[52:15] Oh, I'll come back. I'm going to die. At some point, I don't know when. I'll come back to you if the Lord wills. Even the Roman government can't stop me.
[52:28] In 1 Corinthians 16, 7, he said, he told the Corinthian church, for I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord wills.
[52:42] Paul talked this way. He recognized the sovereignty of God over his circumstances. He condemns pride every time it peaks its head up, either in the negative or the positive.
[52:56] And he conforms himself to the plans of God and providence. And that's what we're called to do. I mean, I've been watching The Godfather the last few days on Did Angel, okay?
[53:09] I always add that little caveat. On Did Angel, they filter out all of the bad stuff and some of the gruesome stuff. It didn't get all the gruesome stuff out, but it got all the sex scenes and cuss words.
[53:24] And we had to adjust it a little because every time they kissed his hand, it bleeped it out. And I was like, what happened? But it was interesting. And so we made it through the third movie.
[53:35] And it was, it comes to this point where, okay, granted, there's some life lessons in there, but you've got to filter it out through this terrible circumstance of Godfather and life of crime, et cetera.
[53:46] So put that on hold. Because they order, you know, somebody orders a hit on somebody and they're going to kill, they killed this guy. And Michael, the main character, comes out and he says, you shouldn't have done that.
[54:03] And they're like, it was the right thing to do. You were in the hospital. We had to make a decision and it was the right thing to do. We did it. And he said, but it was not my will.
[54:15] And when I heard him say that, I was like, man, that is so right on point with our message. The Godfather speaks into our sermon this morning. But I would say, God the Father speaks into our sermon this morning.
[54:28] The reality is, this is, it is not my will. I want you to do my will. You should do it because it's my plan. You should do it because it's my will. You want your will to conform to His will.
[54:41] And if your will conforms to His will, then you're successful. Then you make it through. Saying, if the Lord wills, assumes two things.
[54:53] One, it assumes that God has a will for my life, even in the mundane matters of my life. And, number two, it also indicates that God has the right to intervene in my life.
[55:08] And He can move things however He wills. Providence demands that we concede to God's authority.
[55:19] Providence demands that we condemn our pride in our plans. Providence demands that we cooperate with God in all the plans that He has.
[55:32] Because nobody knows the will for our life like God. Amen? Alright. So as we come to conclusion this morning, our invitation time, keeping these things in mind, we really have to ask ourselves, is that me?
[55:54] Is that me? Is that me? Has pride crept in in some ways in my life that I haven't acknowledged? Has pride crept in either in me being so boastful that I don't include God in the decisions that I'm making?
[56:10] Or am I assuming that God can't fix the things of my life? Am I prideful? Am I acknowledging God is sovereign over my life?
[56:26] Am I condemning it at every turn? Am I conforming to His will and His plan? Proverbs 27.1 says, Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
[56:38] Or as Proverbs or as Psalm 39.4 said, Lord, make me to know my end that I may know what the extent of my days is.
[56:50] Remind me how transient I am. Father, we come before you this morning in a time of invitation and I just leave it there. You've spoken.
[57:02] Your word is clear but our hearts are sinful. I don't should without prior surprising to hear cuando de Ils os atContact Oh how they assume some in the as