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James 1:5-8 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Go ahead and turn with me to the book of James.
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So James chapter one, we're going to be looking at just four verses this morning.
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Last week we started our study of this book and we have made it now to verses five through eight.
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I was somewhat joking with some people earlier today that I feel like I'm stealing part of Zach's sermon from last week and probably part of Clay's from next week.
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And but it thematically all flows together. Right. We should remember that this was intended to be read all together.
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And so you'll see some theme carry over for sure from last week and I'm sure into next week as well.
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So to remember some of this context where we have been and where we will be going, we're really just looking at specifically verses five through eight this morning.
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But I would like to read beginning in verse one all the way down to verse 12.
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So verse one down to verse 12. So let's start there.
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James, the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes and the dispersion.
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Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
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For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him.
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But let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
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For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.
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He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.
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Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away.
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For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes.
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So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
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Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.
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For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
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Amen.
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So let's remind ourselves a little bit of what Zach preached to us last week.
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So thinking a little bit about verses two through four specifically, Zach reminded us that trials are always ultimately for our good.
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The Lord puts trials in our lives to test us and that that testing produces steadfastness.
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And that steadfastness, when it's at its full effect, right, we just read, will make you perfect.
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It's leading to our sanctification.
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TJ last week in the Lord's Supper read for us Romans 8 in its entirety.
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And I'd like to remind us of verses 28 through 30 there where it said,
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And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
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For those who are called according to his purpose.
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For those who be foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those who be predestined, he also called.
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And those who be called, he also justified.
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And those who be justified, he also glorified.
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Right?
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We see so clearly there and in our passage that we spent some time in last week, right, that all things are working together for our good.
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And that good is being conformed to the image of Christ, right?
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Becoming more and more and more like our good, like our God, right?
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That is the good that we're talking about this morning.
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To ultimately become perfect at the day of our Lord.
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And so how do we get there?
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What is the way to sanctification?
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How does the Lord work things in our lives to move us to being more and more like him?
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It's through testing, right?
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It's through these trials.
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It's through being, our faith being just proven and tried.
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And through that, we become more and more steadfast.
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Zach did a wonderful job last week of just describing how difficult it can be to just persevere joyfully through a really tough trial, through a really tough circumstance.
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But he also highlighted that it's clear that our Lord is working something in us throughout those.
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That steadfastness, that sanctification, right?
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Note that transition in between verse 2 and verse 3.
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We are to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds for or because of, right?
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We know that the testing will work the steadfastness, right?
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That's why we can take joy, right?
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During these trials, we're commanded to have joy because we have some perspective.
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We understand that the Lord is working something through our trials.
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We know what our Lord is ultimately doing for us through those.
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It's that through those trials, through those hard circumstances, right?
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They're for our good.
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And that good is becoming more and more like our Lord, right?
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That's our very ultimate, very best good that the Lord is working.
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So no matter how difficult our trials are, no matter how hard our circumstances are,
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we're called to have joy because we know that the Lord is ultimately working all of those into us becoming more and more like him.
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So for any of y'all that may not know me super well, I'm a high school math teacher in Forsyth.
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In education, we often hear this push, I think, so often that it gets boring and old sometimes,
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that testing should always be for learning.
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It should not be of learning.
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So the idea of like assessment for learning, not assessment of learning.
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And what they're trying to get at is that testing should ultimately have a purpose, right?
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It shouldn't be just something that we just give and then that's the end.
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They're pushing back the idea of, all right, here's the test, and then we never think about that again.
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They're trying to get to the point of, okay, if we see that there are issues on a test,
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then we know exactly what the students need more help with, right?
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That's how tests should work.
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And I'm not sure the school system knows it, but they're copying what our Lord does.
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Our Lord does this perfectly.
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His testing of our faith is so much more important than any academic test we could ever have.
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And his test is perfectly designed to bring about things in us that we still need to work on, right?
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Maybe a particular tough coworker is making you realize how you've tried to not be angry,
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but you still have so much anger in your heart that you need to battle out by the Lord's grace.
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Maybe an injury or sickness is making you realize how you've tried to be way too self-sufficient,
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and the Lord is taking your pride away to give it more full reliance on him.
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Maybe you fail a certain class four times in a row.
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That may or may not be me.
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In order for the Lord to show you that you've got to slow down, right?
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That you're not a superhuman and you are desperately in need of his grace.
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Maybe you're going through a season where all of your friends seem to be in different spots,
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and the Lord's teaching you that friendships are great and all,
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but ultimately he is our only full source of strength.
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Whatever it may be, whatever trial, whatever circumstance it is,
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the Lord is ultimately working any and every trial in our life for our good and for his glory.
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Now, I say all this, I spend that amount of time on that,
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because I believe the context is very, very, very important
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for us to have a proper understanding of what verses five through eight are talking about.
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If you take five through eight without reading the context before and after,
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it might not immediately at face value seem to have a whole lot to do with trials
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or persevering joyfully through trials.
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But right before these verses, it's all about having joy throughout trials.
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And that idea is continued and in some ways wrapped up in verse 12 when James writes,
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blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,
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for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life,
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which God has promised to those who love him.
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So in light of all that context,
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it seems that we should see this wisdom that is talked about in these verses
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as primarily relating back to persevering joyfully through trials, right?
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That's the wisdom that we're talking about.
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So with that in mind, let's read five through eight again,
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and I'll jump into a little bit of the structure that we're going to go for this morning.
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So five through eight.
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If any of you lacks wisdom,
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let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach,
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and it will be given him.
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But let him ask in faith with no doubting,
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for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
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For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.
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He's a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
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All right, so here's how I'm going to structure our study of that text this morning.
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Four points.
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Number one is the wisdom needed.
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That's the wisdom needed.
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Number two will be the wisdom given.
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The wisdom given.
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Number three will be the proper way to ask.
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The proper way to ask.
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And number four will be the character of those who ask improperly.
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The character of those who ask improperly.
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So let's go ahead and get right into it with the wisdom needed.
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We all need wisdom.
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Every single one of us.
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From the youngest of us to the very oldest,
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all of us need wisdom.
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A couple chapters later in the book of James,
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I think we can get some insight in understanding into what this wisdom talked about here really is.
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James 3 verse 13 says,
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Who is wise and understanding among you?
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By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
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Jumping down to verse 17 of chapter 3, it reads,
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What I want us to note from those is how practical this wisdom really is, right?
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Verse 13,
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This wisdom is not some weird, magical, conceptual ideal.
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It's super practical.
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John MacArthur sums up this type of wisdom as the understanding and practical skill
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that are necessary to live life to God's glory.
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It's the understanding and practical skill that are necessary to live life to God's glory.
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This seems to be the type of wisdom we're talking about here in verse 5.
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So I'll go back to my earlier statement.
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We all need wisdom, right?
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None of us are fully sanctified.
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None of us are brought to completion just yet, right?
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And we must remember even anything good that we're doing after we're saved,
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when we have the Spirit dwelling in us, is being done by the Spirit, right?
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So it's all the Lord's work.
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And so we all daily need the Lord's intervention.
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We all need wisdom.
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We all need that understanding as well as that practical skill, right,
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that are necessary to live life to our Lord's glory.
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We don't live life to the glory of our Lord on our own.
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That is not our nature apart from the Lord.
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We must have His grace.
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And in this context, how are we honoring Him?
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How are we living in wisdom, right?
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By going through trials well, by pressing through whatever we may be going through with joy, right?
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Knowing that the Lord is ultimately working it for our sanctification.
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And then James writes,
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If any of you lack wisdom,
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so lack this ability and know-how to live life to God's glory through trials,
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just ask the Lord for help.
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As I said earlier, we all need it.
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We all need more ability and know-how to press through trials.
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I would encourage us all right now to think back through our last week.
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Think about the hardest part of it.
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And think about whether your mindset turned to anger,
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or to grumbling or complaining,
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to disputing,
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to jealousy,
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to lust,
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to anxiety.
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Whatever it may be,
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when you are hit with a trial,
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when you're hit with something in a moment that's a tough thing,
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it can be so tempting to act out in a way that is the total opposite of having joy in our Lord.
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The different ways that we particularly respond in our heart can be different,
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but we all need the Lord's grace to respond properly.
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We all need wisdom to truly count it joy and keep our mind focused on the eternal perspective.
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We must all remember the idea of 2 Corinthians 4, verses 16 through 18,
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where it says,
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So we do not lose heart,
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though our outer self is wasting away,
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our inner self is being renewed day by day.
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For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
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as we look not to the things that are seen,
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but to the things that are unseen.
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For the things that are seen are transient,
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but the things that are unseen are eternal.
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We all need this wisdom,
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this understanding,
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this ability,
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this know-how
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to remain joyfully steadfast under trial.
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We must have an eternal perspective,
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right,
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that is helping give us that joy,
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give us that know-how to press through,
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to persevere through those trials,
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because we know what the Lord is doing.
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Right?
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We have some perspective to see that He's working it for our good.
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Let's get back into the later part of verse 5,
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which will get us to our second point.
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That's the wisdom given.
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The wisdom given.
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Let's reread verse 5 again.
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It says,
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If any of you lacks wisdom,
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let him ask God,
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who gives generously to all without reproach,
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and it will be given him.
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So any of us,
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any of these believers that James is writing to here,
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and any of us,
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if we just ask God for wisdom,
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the Lord will give it to us,
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right?
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And it will be given to us without reproach,
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it says.
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Last week,
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Zach alluded to the idea that James,
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in many ways,
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may be a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.
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It's really interesting if you start researching that.
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And I'd encourage you to,
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if that's something that interests you.
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But I mention that now,
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because I bet a lot of our minds are going to a similar place
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when we read verse 5.
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And it's a spot in the Sermon on the Mount.
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If y'all will,
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turn with me to Matthew 7.
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Matthew 7.
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So if you thought of another text,
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as we began reading our text this morning,
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this is probably it.
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Matthew 7,
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picking up in verse 7.
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It says,
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Ask and it will be given to you.
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Seek and you will find.
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Knock and it will be opened to you.
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For everyone who asks,
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receives.
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And the one who seeks,
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finds.
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And to the one who knocks,
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it will be opened.
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Or which one of you,
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if his son asked him for bread,
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will give him a stone?
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Or if he asked for a fish,
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will give him a serpent?
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it. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
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your father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? So our text in James in verse
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five and here in Matthew, we see some super clear teaching, right? If something is good for us, the
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Lord will give it. And if we're given something from the Lord, it's a good thing, right? At this
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point, I think it's important again, first remember what good really is, right? Good
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is the will of the Lord for us, our sanctification becoming more and more like him. So wisdom
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here in James one five is going to be good for us. So the Lord will give it to us, right?
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He's working for our sanctification. Just a reminder from last week in the theme that's
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carrying through these verses, right? The trials are always for our good. So many times
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it may not seem like it at the time, right? But the Lord is working in our hearts to
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purify, to sanctify. Our father is a perfect father who gives good gifts at exactly the
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time that we need them. Having a kiddo of my own now, my emotions so often feel like I would
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do absolutely anything that would be good for him. And in some ways, I don't think those emotions
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are that far from the truth, but I know exactly where I fall here in Matthew seven. I am
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not the perfect father in heaven. I'm the father who's considered evil in light of our Lord
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and parents in the room. I think we can all relate. We want to do the very best for our
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children and whatever we're doing, but our heavenly father is so much greater than us.
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There's no comparison between us at all. And he will always give us what is the very best
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for us. In our context and James here this morning, the Lord will give us wisdom, the know-how
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and the ability to persevere joyfully through trials. We just need to come to him and ask.
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And notice that it says the Lord gives it without reproach. He knows that we can do nothing on our
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own. He knows that we need his grace all the time, but he doesn't hold that against us,
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right? He wants us to come to him. So it says he gives generously. He wants us to come. He's not
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disappointed that we need his help. He knows we need his help and therefore is glad to give generously
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when we come to him. So we should go to him. All right, let's get down into verse six through eight.
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That will get us to point number three, which is the proper way to ask the proper way to ask.
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Let's reread verse six to begin with.
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But let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is
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driven and tossed by the wind. So let him ask in faith with no doubting. Then we have a four
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statement. This is for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the
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wind. In other words, the one who doubts is all over the place, tossed around by the sea, going to
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and fro. Think about a wave, right? Not really getting anywhere, but just going back and forth,
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back and forth, tossed by the tide, right? Tossed by the wind. We'll get into that more for a minute,
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but for now, note that we've been commanded to ask in faith. And this faith is to have no doubting.
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I want to think about what we're really doing when we ask the Lord for something, but do not have
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confidence that the Lord will fulfill what he said he would do. To think about the times when we go to
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the Lord asking for wisdom, but are wavering in our belief that either he can give it to us or that
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he will give it to us. It's a pretty rough spot. Turn with me to Galatians three. This is a slightly
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different context, but I think it will help demonstrate part of what James is getting at
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here. So Galatians three. So the context here in Galatians, right? Paul is arguing for their souls,
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that they need to come back to the heart of the gospel. It seems that they had people coming in
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preaching different gospels that were encouraging some works of the law to aid in sanctification
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or to be part of salvation in the first place. And Paul was calling them back to the heart of the
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gospel and that being Christ crucified. So let's look at Galatians three. I'd like to read the first
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five verses here. It says, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that
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Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit
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by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit? Are you
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now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain,
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does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law
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or by hearing with faith? So I just want to think about the position Paul was in.
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He was encouraging the Galatians to come back to the gospel. He writes in verse two,
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did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Obvious rhetorical question
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here, right? They accepted the gospel by faith. They were going to answer that question in that way
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by accepting the salvation. Our Lord had offered by trusting in his death for our sins and his
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resurrection for our life. He knows that they're going to answer the question that way by faith alone.
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Right? So then he asked a follow-up in verse three, having begun by the spirit, are you now being
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perfected by the flesh? He's trying to show them a little bit of ridiculousness in the way they were
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believing, right? The ridiculousness of the false gospels that they're believing or are tempted to
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believe at least. If you're saved, given the great grace of our Lord simply by exactly that grace and
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undeserved kindness. But now after that, you're going about trying to perfect yourselves by works of the
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law without looking to that same grace that we were saved by, working out our salvation totally of
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our own accord. That seems absurd, right? Going about trying to earn righteousness through works of the
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law when the initial grace was a sweet gift from our Lord. He's certainly not saying that we don't
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work in battle for our sanctification, but he is saying that how we do that is through the spirit's
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work in our hearts, not the law. I think we get all of that, but how does that relate to our text this
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morning? Well, Zach pointed out last week when James makes his intro that he says he was writing to the
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12 tribes in the dispersion, which seems to in many ways be referring to God's people, God's true
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people, the church, right? So James is writing to God's people just scattered around and ultimately
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now also to us. This morning I'm working with the assumption, and I think it's a fair assumption,
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that my primary audience this morning is the church, those who have professed faith in our Lord.
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So let's talk about what that means and how that affects our text this morning. If we're a believer
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here this morning, we're claiming a number of things. All believers have claimed the gospel.
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We believe that there's an eternal, holy, just God that out of his goodness and overwhelming love
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and kindness, he wanted to show his glory and he created us, created us as image bearers to be
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little mirrors reflecting his glory over all the earth, right? But we rebelled. Adam and Eve fell by
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disobeying God. We have inherited their sinful nature and we have sinned ourselves. And because our God is
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holy, just, and righteous, we all deserve God's wrath because of our sin. And we all believe that.
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But because of God's graciousness, his love, his kindness towards us, he sent Christ, our Lord
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himself, the Son of God, who condescended, came to the earth to become a man, came here to fulfill the
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law, live the perfect life that we could never live. But then he died the death that we deserve,
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the sinner's death for all of our sins because of our sin, right? And his blood shed, him being the
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perfect sinless son of God, deserving no death because he was perfect, right? He took our sin on
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himself and our sin is punished in him. Three days later, he rose from the dead, proving all of his
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claims, triumphing over death for us. And he has defeated both sin and death in that. All we must do is
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turn from our sin and put faith in our Lord. We all believe that, right? We're claiming that this
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morning. Now, James is writing to people who also believe that. Think about verse six now, but let him
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ask in faith with no doubting. This is a very similar type of idea in a slightly different way that Paul was
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arguing from Galatians. How can those who James is writing to, as well as us today, trust the Lord
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for salvation, believe that he's a worked a miracle in our hearts through calling us when we were dead
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in our sins, had no life of our own to become new creatures. He went through all the trials for himself
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that we deserve for our sin, right? Came to the earth. He did all that work. How can we believe
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that that God would save us? But he's not going to give us the wisdom that we need to persevere during
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trials. Think about that. That seems ridiculous. It's so ridiculous that James and his audience here
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and us today would trust our Lord for the salvation of our souls, but not for the wisdom needed for
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sanctification. But don't we do that? Don't we do that all the time? We continue to grumble about a
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tough situation at work or complain about a co-worker instead of calling on the Lord for wisdom and grace
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and how to press through the situation with the mindset that honors him. We continue to try to
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battle particular sins on our own rather than seeking the Lord and going to him about them.
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We continue to become angry when we don't get to spend the time the way we want to spend time when
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work feels heavy and family life seems burdensome. Rather than going to the Lord for the
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understanding and know-how and the ability to consider others' interests above our own and to seek to serve
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rather than to be served. When we choose to not run to the Lord for help, for wisdom during trials,
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we're flat out denying the wisdom that he's offered to us. Or when we're not sure that the Lord will
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actually give us the strength to press through. Or when we ask with doubting, right, we're just denying
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the wisdom. We claim that we trust in the Lord for our salvation, but so often we don't trust him that
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he would actually give us the wisdom that we need to press joyfully through trials.
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And that brings us to our fourth point. The character of those who ask improperly.
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Let's read verses six through eight in their entirety there. It says, but let him ask in faith
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with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
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For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man,
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unstable in all his ways. So James begins these verses, right, with explaining the proper way to
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ask what we were just into. But then he's turning and turning to discuss what one is like that asks
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in the wrong way, or in this case, asks with some doubting. And it's pretty harsh. He says that the
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one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. And then goes on saying
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that that person shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man
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that's truly unstable in all his ways. That to me does not sound like the description of a believer.
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That sounds like the description of an unbeliever. And it seems that it's either primarily describing
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an unbeliever or a believer who is acting like an unbeliever, like we just described a bit of.
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They're being tossed by the wind, seems to go back and forth, is unsure about whether they want to turn to
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the Lord or not. They're not hot or cold, right, as the church is described in Revelation. We know
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the Lord's reaction to that, right? The Lord will spit them out of his mouth. Flip over a couple pages
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to James 4. James 4. Let's read verses 1 through 10 here as I believe it'll help us to understand a
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couple things about our current text. Picking up in verse 1 says,
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What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war
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within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight
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and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask
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wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the
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world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy
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of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he earns jealously over the spirit
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that he has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud,
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but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
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from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify
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your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning,
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and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. So a couple things to note.
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Some reinforcement of what we said some earlier, right? The friendship with the world is enmity with God,
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leaning on our own understanding to get through a trial, or doubting God's willingness or ability to
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help us joyfully persevere through a trial. Show someone to be torn, to be stuck in between trusting
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in the Lord, or trusting in themselves, or looking to the world for worldly wisdom.
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And that means they're leaning towards the world, right? Let's look again at that second part of verse
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six, down through verse eight. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves,
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therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near
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to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. So these verses seem
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to be pretty clear that the double-minded word, those torn between the world, torn between God, seems to be
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referring to unbelievers. And James is calling them to repent, to put full trust in the Lord, that they
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currently don't have a heart that is set fully on God, but is twisted, is calling them to repentance,
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to put their hope in God. So let's think back through our text in chapter one.
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When we doubt as we are asking, we're proving ourselves to be double-minded. We have the faith
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that we want to go ask, but we're not sure that the Lord will actually provide. We may want to trust in
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the Lord when times are good, but then when times are bad, we lose that faith. We're not so sure that
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the Lord will or can really persevere us to be joyful through a trial. When we act like this,
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doubting the Lord's providence for us, we are acting like an unbeliever. It's hard. What does that say
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about our hearts? How crazy is it of us to trust in the Lord for salvation, but then not trust in him
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for the wisdom that we need to persevere through a trial? We're acting like unbelievers when we do
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that, when we show some disbelief still lurking in our hearts. We simply cannot be part of the way
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committed to our Lord. We can't say we trust the Lord for salvation, but then not trust him for
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sanctification. We can't say we trust the Lord for salvation, but then not trust him to help us
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persevere through a trial joyfully. We can't love the things of God and the things of the world. We
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can't toe that line. We must give ourselves wholly to the Lord. 1 John 2 verses 15 through 17 says,
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do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is
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not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and
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pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world. And the world is passing away along with
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its desires. But whoever does the will of the Lord, will of God abides forever. We know that if we try
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to continue in the things of the world, try and rely on our own self for strength or just not trusting
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that the Lord is willing or able to help us or simply trusting God when things are good and failing
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to when things get hard. We know we're being double-minded. As we just read, the world is
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passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God will abide forever. I think
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I've said this next thing about five times so far this sermon. I'm circling back to it again. What is
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the will of God for our lives? It is our sanctification. That is our ultimate good. And how is the Lord
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encouraging us toward that today in our text? By asking us to go to him for wisdom, by giving us
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wisdom generously, without thinking less of us. He knows we need him. But as a father gives good
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gifts to his children, our heavenly father gives so much greater gifts to us that make us more and more
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like him. So we all need wisdom to persevere joyfully through trials. And the Lord will give us that wisdom
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freely and generously. When we doubt God's willingness or ability to help us give us that wisdom, we're
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showing a little bit of unbelief still lurking in our hearts. That's so dangerous. Let's wrap it up with
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a little bit of application. Just two things. Number one, believe the Lord will do what he says he will do.
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Believe the Lord will do what he says he will do. The Lord truly will give us wisdom. We just need to ask.
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We should make every effort to not be double-minded and truly believe he will give the wisdom
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to persevere under trial, just like he said he would right here in our text.
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Number two, truly go to the Lord when you need wisdom. Go to the Lord when you need wisdom.
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The Lord has asked us to come to him. He will give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.
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Anything the Lord asks of us, he will give us the wisdom needed to go through it.
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Both the ability, both the understanding, both of those, right, to persevere joyfully through trial.
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With that in mind, let's pray.
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Amen.