The Test of Wisdom: Part 2

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Conflict with God: Part 3

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To look at two kinds of wisdom, two kinds of wisdom, and Scripture is very clear.
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James, I should say, is very crystal clear through the Holy Spirit that the two kinds of wisdom are...
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There's only two. One is earthly, and one is heavenly wisdom.
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One is true wisdom, and the other is false wisdom.
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And I'd like to really speak to you today about false wisdom. So reading from James chapter 3, chapter 3.
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Let's look at verse starting, beginning with verse 13, reading to verse 18.
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We will not cover all these verses, but we'd just like to see what the
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Word of God has to say about this important subject. Hear the Word of the
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Lord. The Apostle James, through the Holy Spirit, says in verse 13,
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Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation, that means manner of life, his works with meekness and wisdom.
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But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
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This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
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For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
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But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
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Verse 18, And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
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May God richly bless the reading of His Word to our hearts this morning. Let's pray.
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My Father, our Father, Abba Father, we call on Your name now.
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Through Jesus, Your Son's name, we pray that You speak for Your servant here.
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And we ask, Lord, that You drive these truths home to our heart. And may they be demonstrated in our lives by the power of Your grace.
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We would ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and Amen. The New American Standard translation says of this verse, verse 14,
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But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant, and so lie against the truth.
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And then he says this, This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
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And for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder.
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That means confusion and every, every evil thing. It's interesting that we looked at true wisdom last week, and today we'll be looking at false wisdom.
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And true wisdom from God comes from Him and from His hand.
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It's a gift. We know that from Scripture. Wisdom. Because in James 1 .17,
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every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. This is where James speaks about from above.
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Comes down from the Father of lights, and with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
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So that ties in with verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle.
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Notice those qualities, those characteristics. It's of the Holy Spirit, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism, and without hypocrisy.
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Don't you love the Word of God? Sinclair Ferguson in his study in James says this, and I thought it was such a good quote,
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I got it for you. Wisdom depends on knowledge, but is more than knowledge.
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It involves knowing what to do with the knowledge we have, and understanding the best way to accomplish the goals
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God has given us. It is not merely a what -is kind of knowledge, but also a how -to knowledge.
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This is why the meekness of wisdom is revealed in good conduct, end quote, in verse 13.
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I thought that's well said, Sinclair Ferguson. Actually, wisdom is putting our knowledge, and then
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I speak the knowledge of the truth, into practice, and that's what wisdom is.
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It's in good conduct. It's the way we behave, it's the way we walk, it's what manner of conversation, manner of life that we have.
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So, Scripture is very clear. There's true wisdom, there's false wisdom. And it differentiates between two different kinds of wisdom here.
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True wisdom is the wisdom that comes from above, which is from God, which is heavenly wisdom.
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And then you have false wisdom, which is from below, it's earthly, and it's man -centered.
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And it's actually, as James says, it's demonic, it's devilish. Let's look at false wisdom a little bit.
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False wisdom comes from below, and that's what Scripture says, it's earthly and it's devilish. In other words, there is a heavenly wisdom that comes from God, that's the difference.
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And there is a man -made wisdom, I like to put it. And that's the wisdom we see so often demonstrated in this sin -cursed world we live in.
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And as you all know, that's the very reason why it's devilish, because it's connected with the sin that's cursed the human race.
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And it's brought about the depravity. So, professing to be wives, they're fools.
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See, this kind of wisdom does not come from God, but whatever does not come from God is destined to fail.
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And no matter how successful it may be in the eyes of men, it may seem at the time it's going to fail.
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And it's only the Scriptures that speak of the wisdom from above that's going to be successful in God's eyes.
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Now, not in man's eyes, but we know better, don't we, because of the truth.
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The Bible contains many examples of folly, of man's wisdom. I'd just like to briefly touch a few of these, there's many, there's so many in Scripture.
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But the building, think of it, all the way in Genesis chapter 11, verses 1 through 9, the building of the
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Tower of Babel seemed to be like a very wise enterprise, didn't it? But it ended in failure and confusion.
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Confusion. It seemed wise in Genesis chapter 12, verses 10 through 20, if you read the story, wise for Abraham to go to Egypt when a famine was coming to Canaan, but the results proved otherwise, right?
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You remember in Scripture, in 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 38,
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King Saul thought it was wise to put his own armor on young David for the lad's battle with Goliath, but God's plan was otherwise.
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Do you see this? There's another example in the New Testament. The disciples thought it was wise to dismiss the great crowd and let them find their own food, but Jesus took a few loaves and just a handful of fishes and fed the multitude.
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We could go on. You have the Romans, the so -called experts, in Acts chapter 27, thought it was wise to leave port and set sail for Rome, even when the apostle
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Paul disagreed with them, and the storm that followed proved that Paul's wisdom was better than the experts'.
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By the way, they lived to regret it, but they did live. What a grace that was.
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You could go on and on. The wisdom that is of the world is no doubt based upon man's own understanding.
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It's based upon his own standards. It's based upon his objectives, and it is false, and I want to say it is ungodly.
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And we're going to see this. So in false wisdom, man is supreme. This is in the world in which we live, the fallen humanity.
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They think that that's what's best. False wisdom does not recognize God's sovereignty, that God is the one that's really in control.
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It does not recognize God's will. It does not recognize God's truth. But that's what we recognize.
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Now, in these three verses, I'd like to briefly just discuss three points here, from verse 14, the motivation, verse 15, the characteristics, and verse 16, the results of false wisdom, which is the verse 16, the results speaks of the consequence.
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So let's look at the first one, the motivation of false wisdom. The motivation of false wisdom.
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Scripture says this, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, now that's a key right there, in your heart.
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Glory not. What does it mean, glory not? Basically, to define that, it means do not be arrogant, do not be prideful, and lie not against the truth.
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Motivation is always determined in the heart. Motivation, motivation. That's a big key word today, isn't it, among speakers.
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You have motivational speakers. You've got all kinds out there. They think they're speaking the truth, but they're really not speaking the real truth.
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They may take truth, and Satan can do this. He could take a scripture and he'd twist it.
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But Jesus says it is written again. You've got to take it to the context.
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That's why it's important to know the truth, to study the truth. It's all about truth. And you're not going to know what false wisdom is unless we know and we're discerning what the truth is.
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So this is where unbelief and sin and unrighteousness originate.
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Jesus said to the disciples, to the Rhodimeus in Luke 24 -25, notice what he says.
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Oh, foolish men. Notice he said, oh, foolish. He didn't call them wise.
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He said, you're foolish. Slow of heart. Heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.
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Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch, if you believe with all your heart, you see, it's the heart, you may be saved.
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And in Acts 8 -37, Paul declares, I'm sorry, that's Romans 10 -9, if you confess with your mouth, confessions with the mouth,
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Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
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Him from the dead, you will be saved. It's with the heart. It's just not with the head.
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Mouth is part of the confession. What comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, but Jesus, the
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Word of God, basically to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must believe with our heart.
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That's important in Scripture. The Lord also made clear that out of the heart come evil thoughts.
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Notice the list he says. Evil thoughts. It begins with evil thoughts. These murders that's going on today.
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It's because of an evil heart. Evil thoughts. Murders. Adulteries.
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Fornications. Thefts. False witness. That's all lying. Slanders. Jesus said it comes from the heart.
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It is for that reason that Solomon warned us in Proverbs 4 .23. Watch. That means guard over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life itself.
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So of several simple motives behind human wisdom, right here
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James mentions only two, but the first is bitter jealousy. Let's look at this. I'm trying to break this down because the
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Scripture has a lot to say about bitter jealousy and we need to really be on guard against such.
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The Greek word for bitter jealousy is that of the basic meaning of pointed, sharp, prickly, or pungent.
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Something pointed. Something sharp. Something prickly. And James has just used it in this literal sense in relation to bitter water.
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Coming out of a fountain in verse 11 of chapter 3 in the way we speak with our tongue.
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So here he uses it metaphorically to describe the worst sort of jealousy. And that which is very harsh.
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Something that is sharp. Something that's cutting. Something that is destructive. Bitter jealousy.
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Bitter. Having no concern for the feelings of welfare of those who are its objects.
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John MacArthur from his commentary said this about it. Quote, those whose lives are based on and motivated by human ungodly wisdom are inevitably self -centered.
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Living in a world in which their own personal ideas, desires, and standards are the measure of everything.
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Whatever and whoever serves those ends is considered good and friendly.
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Whatever and whoever threatens those ends is considered bad and an enemy.
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And then he goes on to say this. Those who are engulfed in self -serving worldly wisdom resent anyone or anything that comes between them and their own objectives.
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End quote. And how true this is. So you have bitter jealousy.
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Bitter jealousy. But also he speaks something else. A second and closely related motive behind human wisdom is also selfish ambition.
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Not only bitter jealousy but selfish ambition. Which is typically the motive of which bitter jealousy is based upon.
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It's selfish ambition. No wonder Jesus says if you were to be my disciple you are to deny yourself.
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Self -denial. Take up your cross and follow me, Jesus said.
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Not self -fulfillment. Not self -love. But self -denial.
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And I promise you if you preach that today you will not be liked. Because everybody loves themselves.
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I can guarantee it. You know it's interesting to hear the word selfish ambition translate in the single
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Greek word which connotes strife, contentious, extreme selfishness.
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It's just not selfish, it's extremely selfish. Man is eating up with this.
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We all had a bad case of it before we came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus said this is where yourself ends.
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If you find life you've got to lose your life. You've got to deny yourself.
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Right here is where it ends. Then we follow Jesus. Man then when regeneration and then conversion takes place you come to find out hey this is not about me, this is about God.
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That's what the gospel is about. So the term originally referred to spinning thread. Isn't this interesting?
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The term of selfish ambition means to spinning thread for hire. Then more broadly to sewing for hire.
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Sewing. Then more broadly still any sort of work undertaking that was done for personal gain.
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So the idea here of ambition is implied here by the context.
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Understandably the word became closely associated with those who sought high political office or other positions of influence and power.
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Isn't that interesting? High political. Now you're talking about politics. We can camp out there for a long time.
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But I'm telling you, you know the corruption there. And the selfish ambition there. You see it was used for personal gratification.
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It was used for self -fulfillment of any cost whatsoever. And which are ultimate goals of all fleshly endeavors.
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Again MacArthur says in his commentary on selfish ambition. He says it has no room for others.
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Much less genuine humility. It is the ultimate self -evaluation rampant in the world today which is the antithesis of what the humble, selfless, giving, loving and obedient child of God is called to be.
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End quote. So a person whose motives are based on the world's wisdom is inevitably arrogant.
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It's prideful. And that's the root of it. And I guarantee you can drive every kind of sin that takes place to pride.
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Pride is the ultimate sin. It is what turned an archangel into a devil.
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It wasn't adultery. It wasn't fornication. It wasn't these other sins that are listed.
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It was pride. Pride. When here the
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Greek word is translated. It means to be strengthened. An intensified form of a verb that means to boast.
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Now we're talking about arrogance here. We're talking about pride. Pride of knowledge. Pride of knowledge.
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This really gets down to 1 Corinthians 8 -1. Paul said this, Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge.
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And then he describes it very cleverly here in God's wisdom. Knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies.
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In other words, charity builds up. You know that is so clear, isn't it?
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Of the difference of the right kind of wisdom we are to have.
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And this is the false wisdom that James is speaking of. It's full of pride. It's full of boasting.
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You see, in most of the pagan world in the New Testament time, the word had a positive connotation.
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Isn't that interesting? As today, boasting, you see this today.
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Some things never change under the sun, right? As today, boasting and self -glorying were accepted and inspected marks of the military and sports heroes.
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You see this today. Of anyone else who is highly successful in some field or endeavor, they are praised.
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You notice that the world praises people that are arrogant like this?
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They are praised. But to be humble, you are put down.
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It's weak. To be meek, the world looks at it as weak, but we know better. Because we know that meekness, again, is strength under control.
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You see, but not in the world's eye. Everything is different in the way the world looks at it.
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The faithful Christian is not to have such arrogance. As a matter of fact, we're to crucify it.
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We're to mortify it. We're to put it to death. The characteristics, the absence of divine wisdom, arrogance is the normal and unabashed attitude of a person, and it demonstrates the absence of a saving relationship to God.
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If I see arrogance, and don't get me wrong, I believe in our sanctification, we always have to work on this.
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Even the spiritual man can become prideful. That sounds almost like an oxymoron, but you see it.
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There is spiritual pride. There is such a thing. We have to be careful. If we're to be like our
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Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, He taught us how to walk humbly, because He's the one that actually says, you come to me,
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I'm humble of heart. You learn of me. So that's where we find real humility.
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It's in Jesus. He demonstrated it. You know, the professed
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Christian who's proud, now notice what I said there. The professed Christian. He professes something, but he doesn't possess it.
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But the professed Christian is proud, boasting, and self -centered, loveless, arrogant.
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Can I tell you this? He's a fraud. I'm telling you,
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I'm going to get right to it. He's a phony. And notice what I said. If the professed
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Christian is a proud, boasting, self -centered, egotistical, loveless, cold, arrogant person, he is a phony.
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He is a fraud. And we can back it up with Scripture, right?
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I can hear the world today, judge not. Oh, really? You notice how the people of the world just sees only those two words, but they don't read the rest of the chapter?
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Amen, come on. See, Jesus just spoke about righteous judgment.
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And actually, Paul says you judge all things as a child of God. You know, to claim otherwise of what
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I just spoke of is to lie against the truth, and that's what James is saying here. To utterly contradict the gospel of Jesus Christ and the clear teaching of the
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New Testament. And by the way, near the beginning of this letter in James, James speaks of salvation as God bringing us forth by the word of truth.
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And that's the context. And at the end of the chapter, he says, my brethren, if any among you strays from the truth.
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So it's important to know the truth. And this is the thing the world does not know.
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Clearly identifies the truth as a symbol, the gospel where truth, true wisdom starts and begins is fear of the
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Lord. It's the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge. That's the beginning of it, is fear in God.
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So there's nothing more characteristic of fallen unredeemed men than being dominated by self.
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And the apostle James is therefore saying that if a person claims to belong to God and to have the wisdom of God, but his life is motivated and characterized by selfish ambition and bitter jealousy, he is simply lying against the truth.
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The pastor didn't say that. That's the word of God. And wherever he might claim, or whatever he might claim, he cannot be saved because he's living a lie.
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You know, and you and I know this, it's one thing to talk the talk, but it's another thing to walk the walk. Give me a person that demonstrates it.
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I want to see a person that demonstrates it, that shows it. Well, the second point would be the characteristic of false wisdom.
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The characteristic of false wisdom. So we just looked at the first motivation of false wisdom.
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Let's look at the characteristic of false wisdom, the characteristic. Verse 15,
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James says, this wisdom descends not from above. In other words, he's straight to the point, it doesn't come from God, period.
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Don't you love how black and white the Scriptures are? And then he says this, but it's earthly.
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And he doesn't stop there. He just doesn't say it's earthly, he says it's sensual and it's devilish.
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In other words, it's demonic. Now that's strong language, but that's exactly what this earthly wisdom is.
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Earthly wisdom? Yes. Here James briefly presents the three most distinct basic characteristics of false, ungodly wisdom, which is not that which comes down from God, but by revelation in the
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Spirit. It doesn't come from God. And this is interesting. The three great enemies of the believer are what?
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The world, the flesh, and the devil. Isn't it interesting here which corresponds to the three characteristics of false wisdom that James mentions here?
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It is earthly, it's of the world, it is natural, it is of the flesh, and it's demonic, and it's of the devil.
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Isn't that interesting? It's right there in the text. So first of all, let's break it down.
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First, such wisdom is earthly. Let's look at this. It's earthly. What does that mean? It's limited to the present.
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It's limited to the material. It is limited to the world of time and space.
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So by definition, it is restricted to things that man can theorize, discover, and accomplish by himself.
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Humanism. There it is. It has no place for spiritual truth or divine revelation or may
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I say illumination. It is a closed system. It is like I say, in a box as it were.
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A man's own making. An idol. Choosing under satanic prompting.
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And that's why Jesus said, even to the scribes and the Pharisees, your father is of the devil.
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You see? And people who do not follow Christ and serving God is not in the family of God.
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So what family are they in? The devil. Jesus drew a line.
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There's nothing neutral here. He drew a line of demarcation. He said you're in the family of God or you're in the family of Satan.
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Wow. Now, people in the world don't see it that way. But we know what the scriptures say.
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James has just noted that this wisdom, this false wisdom is motivated by pride and selfish ambition and arrogance, self -centeredness, self -interest, self -antagonizement.
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It spawns a society with watchwords such as do your own thing.
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Have it your own way like Burger King does. Yeah. I nailed it, didn't
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I, Brother Michael? You've heard this one. Look out for old number one. No one else is going to take care of you so you've got to look out for yourself.
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We live in a world that's so self -centered. And if it wasn't for the grace of God, we'd be right there, wouldn't we?
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This kind of earthly wisdom pervades in philosophy. Can I say this?
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It pervades in education. It pervades in politics. It pervades in economics.
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It pervades in all of society, sociology. It pervades in psychology.
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It pervades in all these areas, every other dimension and aspect of the contemporary human life itself.
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Well, second, it's not only earthly, it is natural.
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What does that mean? It means it's sensual. What does that mean? That means it's fleshly.
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Remember what I said of the world? That's the enemy. Now the flesh. Now this really hits home.
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Listen to this. It relates only not to the fallen, unredeemed man who is wholly corrupted by the fall and separated from God, but it originates in the natural man who does not accept the things of the
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Spirit of God. For why? They are foolishness unto him. And he cannot understand them.
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What's he talking about? He does not understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned.
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In other words, they are spiritually appraised. The only way we can see what we need to see by truth in the
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Word of God is by the Holy Spirit. If any of us here understand what is in the
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Word of God, it's only because the Holy Spirit has revealed that to us, opened our eyes to it. We didn't open our own eyes.
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That's grace. That's God's grace. And by the way, you can check it out.
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I just quoted 1 Corinthians 2 .14. But those who rely on this kind of wisdom, according to Jude, listen to this.
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This is a very strong language. Verse 19, Jude says, worldly minded, devoid of the
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Spirit. Wow. Devoid of the Spirit of God.
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So in all of their feelings and desires and appetites, the standards, the impulses, here are grounded in the humanistic view of the world.
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And that's what it is. It's humanism. It's a man who understandably becomes the measure of all things.
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Man is centered. And you know something? I get away from any church that's man -centered.
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If the man's lifted up. I'm here to tell you. I will not stay in any church, and I don't care what name is on the board.
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They might as well call it the first church of so and so, but I'm telling you what. I'm going to hit the door if the man is elevated.
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But if Jesus is elevated, I'm staying. Because that's where the
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Spirit of God is. Man must be hidden behind the cross. He's just a voice.
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He's just a voice. That's all. And that's what John the Baptist, he was one of the greatest men that ever lived.
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Jesus said it. Of all men that's been born of women, he was the greatest.
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And yet, all John says, I'm just but a voice in the wilderness. That's the kind of humility we've got to have.
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And men who represent God should hide behind the cross because it's all about the
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Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you've got to remember, this kind of wisdom that the world elevates is not the wisdom of God, but it's devilish.
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It's sensual. The wisdom not only feeds the flesh, but it's also foolish. It feeds the flesh, yes, but it's foolish.
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How do we know this? 1 Corinthians 1 .20, that's how we know it. Because Paul says, where's the wise? That's a good question.
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Where's the wise? Then he says, where's the scribe? And then he says this, where is the disputer of the world?
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Don't you love his question? That's the wisdom of God is to ask the questions like that.
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And then he asks the last question, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
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Well, let's look at the third. It's not only of the world and the flesh, it's of the devil.
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Third, false wisdom is demonic. It is demonic. Although it is human, although it may be earthbound and fleshly, can
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I say this? Its very root system is in Satan himself. That's right. Working through his demonic fallen angels who rebelled with him against God in ages past.
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Now this is true, because the Scripture says it. These fallen angels, or demons now, that's really what they are, they're fallen angels.
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They're falling angelic beings. Some is reserved in chains of judgment.
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You know what that proves to us? God could have put them all in chains of judgment. That's right, sure could have.
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You know what I love about that? Is this, even the devils that are fallen angels that are loose on this world now,
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God's using them for an ultimate purpose. Don't you love that?
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I do. Now Satan's not bound. People may try to bind him and pray him bound, but you can't do that.
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He's loose. But I love what Luther said, the devil's even
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God's devil. Come on. Come on somebody. Even the worst of things that's going on,
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God knows what he's doing. Yes sir. He's using that. He's using, one preacher said, old slew foot.
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I don't know where they got that at, but I tell you what, he's using it. I never got it. There's a movie called
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The Yearling. Okay. That's the bear that's always killing all their animals. Okay.
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I was wondering about that. I can tell you. That's interesting. But you know, all this is demonic.
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And Satan has always promised, he's always given a promise, he never lives up to his promise by the way.
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Wisdom to those he tempts. And asserting that God's word should be doubted.
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So he promises something that really he does not. You think Satan's going to keep his word?
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Forget it. No. That's right. He's not going to. He's going to promise something he can't deliver. And that's what he did to Adam and Eve in the garden.
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He promised them some kind of wisdom. Oh you shall be as God's. You see what he said?
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You see that? Yeah. So what he was doing, he was using that tactic to doubt them of God's word.
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And that's what Satan's still doing today. His strategy never changes. You know why? He's been successful in that strategy.
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So why should he change it? But we're not ignorant of his devices.
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Aren't you glad? You know why we're not ignorant of his devices? Because we have the word of God. That's right. And that's why we need to study this word and know this word.
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And also, the devil's own inception, which was the essence of his temptation of Eve in the garden of Eden, he was contradicting what the
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Lord had told Adam. And Satan said to her, Well, God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
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Notice what he said there. He's lying. Lying. He's the father of all lies. You will be like God, and your eyes will be opened.
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In other words, he's trying to promise them something that doesn't exist. He's a liar. In other words, the archdemon said that if she did what
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God had forbidden, she not only would not die, but actually become like God. But thus was born the lie that man can be his own
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God. And it started right there in the garden of Eden. In a garden. But aren't you glad that you see on the other end, there's another garden.
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And Jesus was being tempted to bypass the cross. He was.
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That's what Satan was doing. He was trying to tempt him to bypass the cross. And there was a struggle that was going on there.
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But Jesus said it wasn't. And he was in that struggle, saying not my will, but thy will be done.
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Jesus laid down his own life. He wasn't there self -serving. He came to serve the
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Father, and he went all the way to the cross, beloved. And he made it all the way. And today, we are saved because of that.
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That's something to rejoice about. But to the world's philosophers, to the world's religion and generals, biblical
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Christianity specifically are relics of superstition. You know, let us be careful not to believe the lie.
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And be damned. That's what Scripture says. My time is running out very closely, so let me kind of head to a conclusion here.
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The apostle warned in 1 Timothy, speaking of Paul the apostle here, that the
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Spirit expressively says that in the latter times, some will depart or fall away from the faith.
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And what did he say? They will pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
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Is that what James is speaking of? That's 1
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Timothy 4. The wisdom from below is nothing more than the foolishness of demons, really.
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Foolishness. Appealing to men's natural fallenness and sinful inclination, to arrogant self -interest, the wisdom deceives them into believing
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Satan's lies rather than believing God's truth. And that's real spiritual warfare, folks.
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It's not seeing an angel behind a bush or a devil behind a bush or people who go boasting about these powerful spirits.
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No, it's about the truth. That's where the war is. What is the truth?
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You notice today in the churches, it's all a fight of war against the truth. And now Christians get their swords out and they start beating each other and cutting each other up with the word of God rather than coming in together in one mind and one accord and banding together with the truth to fight the hosts of the demons of hell.
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We're fighting each other. There's no unity.
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And did not Jesus in John 17 pray that you would all be one as my Father is one?
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See, we've got to be one in truth. And that's why it's important that we are one mind and one accord.
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So what here is important is we must not believe in this false wisdom.
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And this false wisdom is from the devil. We've got to make sure we've got that right. Only the power of the
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Holy Spirit and the presence of the righteous protect the world from absolutely satanic deception.
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Well, in closing here, let me mention this. In his second epistle,
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Peter assures believers, and I love this, it's one of my favorite scriptures, in 2 Peter 2 .9,
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the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation. And to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.
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This is going to be a day of vindication. And God will be glorified in it all. He will put
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His enemies under His feet. And also using many terms used by James in the present passage, he describes in some detail the unrighteous.
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And in 2 Peter, you can read it in your devotional time, chapter 2, verses 10 -19, those who propagate and live by the worldly wisdom.
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He speaks of it there. Well, in conclusion, I'd like to give this third point, and I think it's important, the consequence of false wisdom.
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And it's in verse 16. Notice verse 16. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
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That verse is loaded. Where there's envy and strife, there is confusion and every evil work.
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Now, I want you to think of this. Furthermore, when jealousy and organized self -interest prevail, there will be disorder.
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In other words, confusion. And every vile practice. Remember what
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Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And by the way, if you read the book of Corinthians, he's speaking to a very carnal, fleshly church here that was caught up in magnifying and exalting the gifts over the giver.
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And Paul brought it to the truth, and he said, here's the greatest gift. And then he says, it's the love of God.
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It's charity. And he says, these gifts have purposes, but it's always grounded in love and truth.
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And you see that in 1 Corinthians 13, don't you? And you see it, as Paul goes into this, there was disorder.
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There was confusion. And I love what he says in chapter 14, verse 33. For God is not the author of confusion.
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In other words, if there's confusion, it did not originate with God. But then he says this, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
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And peace. Now, we're talking about the peace of God here. This is important. Remember some of the last words after Jesus was risen from the dead?
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He appeared in the room where the disciples were, and he says, peace be unto you.
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Jesus is the prince of peace. He is that peace. And it's only through repentance from our sin that has brought us to peace, and He's reconciled us to Himself.
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Now, in all the churches of the saints, he speaks of... Now, notice how the
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Scripture intercepts... I'm sorry, interprets the
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Scripture, not intercepts it. That would be a terrible thing to say. Scripture interprets
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Scripture. James says the characteristics of heavenly wisdom in verse 17. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then what?
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Peaceable. It's gentle. It's easy to be entreated, full of mercy, good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy, and Lord willing, we're going to pick up on that next
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Lord's Day. But I want you to notice here, the adjective form for the noun -translated disorder or confusion has occurred twice earlier.
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Notice this. James 1 .8, it says, used to describe a double -minded man and that he's unstable in all of his ways.
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And then in James 3 .8, he's qualified the evil represented by the tongue as a restless evil.
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And here, the noun form was used as only four other instances in the
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New Testament, but it describes well the continuous state of upheaval, confusion, disorder that inevitably plagues a congregation or a religious body where jealousy, organized self -interest holds sway here.
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So when he speaks of every vile practice, it almost sounds like a hyperbole, in other words, an exaggeration, but it's not.
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So what can we do in our application? This is important. I want to drive this home to us. Let me conclude with this.
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How can we be wise with heavenly wisdom, with wisdom from above? Well, first of all, let me say this.
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There's no wisdom in sin. Any time that we sin, wisdom is absent.
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God's wisdom is absent. We can try to justify it as much as we can, and if you notice, that's what the world does.
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They try to justify their sinning. They try to make themselves feel good in sinning.
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That old God understands. I was just talking to somebody here recently, and I basically quoted the
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Scripture about all those who commit fornication, they practice fornication, adultery, thefts, drunkenness, homosexuality, and there's a list.
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Would not inherit the kingdom of God. And this particular person said, on the other end, said, well,
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God allowed this one man in Scripture to be married to hundreds of wives and concubines.
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Like God approves of this? God never approved of that.
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Now, He used it, and we know who we're talking about. King Solomon, right? The wisest man that ever lived.
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Some people say, that's not too wise to have that many wives and concubines. Yeah, that's the truth.
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But you notice at the end of his life, there was a lot of confusion, a lot of heartache, and a lot of hurt.
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And it bore its consequences. But you know something? That's just the way the mindset of an unbeliever is.
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To make them justify their sinning, that it's okay. You've got to read the
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Scriptures. You've got to read it in its context. There's consequences to sin.
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And by the way, again, there's no wisdom in sinning. So how can we have heavenly wisdom?
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Turn with me to Psalm 107. I'd like to close with this. Psalm 107 is beautiful.
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It gives application. Don't you love the Word of God? It knows how to give its application. It has application.
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The Scripture here speaks of how God rescued the children of Israel.
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I love this Psalm. When you're discouraged, this is a great one to go to. I'm just going to read it.
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I'm going to preach from it. Now, I may stop here and there and comment, but listen to what it says. Now, notice before I read it.
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Notice how it ends. Who is wise? Verse 43. Whoso is wise will observe.
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In other words, you will be obedient to these things. Even they shall understand the loving kindness of the
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Lord. So if you want wisdom and understanding, there it is. You would see the loving kindness of the
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Lord. What does God's loving kindness look like? Look at verse 1. Oh, give thanks unto the
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Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. This is the theme through this whole Psalm.
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You will hear Him repeat it time and over and over again. He's not being redundant. He's bringing to attention.
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In other words, He's saying, I don't want you to forget this. You give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,
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His mercy, His compassion endures forever. Now, then He says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom
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He hath redeemed from the hand of His enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south.
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And they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
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Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. And then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble.
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And He delivered them out of their distresses. This is real to the children of God. This is real.
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And He led them forth by the right way. That's the way God is. He doesn't take you the wrong way.
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He takes you the right way. Now, we may not understand everything about it, but He's going to lead you right.
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And then they said that they might go to a city of habitation. And notice what
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He says in verse 8. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men.
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And then He says this, For He satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with goodness.
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Our God's good. Such as sit in darkness and the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron.
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Because they rebelled against the words of God and contempt of the counsel of the
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Most High. And therefore He brought down their heart with labor.
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They fell down as there was none to help. This is the way God works.
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Then they cried. That's what He wants you to do. He wants you to cry unto Him. He wants to humble you.
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And to the Lord in their trouble. And He saved them out of their distresses.
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And listen to what He says. He brought them out of the darkness, out of the shadow of death, and broke their bands and sundered. And then there's the praise right there again.
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Again, He repeats it. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men.
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That's key. Verse 16. For He hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron and sundered.
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Fools, because of their transgressions, because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
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Their soul abhors all manner of meat. And they draw near unto the gates of death.
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And then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. That's what He wants you to do. And He saved them out of all of their distresses.
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And He sent His Word. There's the key. God has a timetable, folks.
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He has a schedule. Sometimes we have to wait. But He's speaking of Joseph here in this.
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And He sent His Word and He healed them and delivered them from their destructions.
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Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.
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Notice how many times He says that. Worship, right there. Oh! And then
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He says in verse 22, And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare
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His works with rejoicing that they go down to the sea in ships and do business in the great waters.
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These see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. And notice how
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God is sovereign over all things. For He commanded. And it raised a stormy wind which lifted up the waves thereof.
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They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths.
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Their souls melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits' end.
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You ever been at your wits' end? We've been at our wits' end.
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One preacher said, When you're at your wits' end, remember there's a compassionate Christ on the other.
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Amen. And then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. You notice how many times that God is so good and then they cry to the
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Lord. Then they cry to the Lord. And He brings them out of their distresses. God can do that.
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He's a God of deliverance. And He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still.
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God can do that, right? Then are they glad because they be quiet.
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So He bringeth them unto their desired haven. And then He says it again. Oh, that men would praise the
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Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Now, I'm getting to a point here.
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This is application of how to have heavenly wisdom. Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people.
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We can do that, children of God. Amen. And to praise Him in the assembly of the elders. He turneth the rivers into wilderness and the water springs into dry ground.
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God does it for a reason. He's sovereign. A fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell in.
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It says it right there. Because of the wickedness. Notice what He does. He turns a fruitful land into barrenness.
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What's He doing? God is showing men, little men, that He is
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God. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water.
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He could do the reverse. He turns the dry ground into water springs.
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And there He maketh the hungry to dwell and that they may prepare a city for the habitation. And sow the fields and plant the vineyards which may yield fruits of increase.
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He blessed them also so that they are multiplied greatly and suffered not the cattle to decrease.
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Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
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Yet God, you see? And then He says, He poureth contempt upon princes and callseth them. Don't you love that word, callseth?
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And callseth them to wander in the wilderness where there's no way. There's a reason God does this.
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He's sovereign. Don't you love the scriptures? And then He says this. And this is the key right here.
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Yet setteth He the poor on high from affliction and maketh
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Him families like a flock. You know, we don't do it ourselves. God does this.
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He bears you up on eagle's wings. The righteous shall see it and rejoice and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
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In other words, God is going to have the last say. And then He says, well,
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I just quoted in the beginning. Whoso is wise and will observe these things.
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What things is He talking about? Everything we just read beforehand from verse one all the way to verse 43.
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Whoso is wise will observe these things. Even they shall understand the loving kindness of the
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Lord. There's right there the application of having heavenly wisdom.
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It's to fear God, but it's also to be meek, to be humble of heart and to observe the wonderful works of God.
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It's who He is and His great works. Praise God. Let's pray. Father, we do thank
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You for this word You've given unto us today. May we not forget Him, Lord, with such forgetful people.
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Lord, but You give us these words to remind us that,
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Father, that You are everything. You're the sovereign Lord. Lord, we do thank You that You have rescued us through Your Son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I just thank You for that wonderful verse that I shall call His name
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Jesus for He shall save His people from their sin.
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It's going to happen. He's going to save His people. He's going to have a seed that's going to follow.
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He's going to have the firstfruits unto Himself because of the covenant.
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And Lord, He kept that covenant all the way up to the end. He was perfectly obedient to You.
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And now, Father, we have the imputed righteousness of Christ upon us. And may we learn so much from this,
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Lord, of what heavenly wisdom is and what false wisdom is, what true wisdom is from You and what devilish wisdom, earthly wisdom is from below.
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May we differentiate and know this from Your Word. And Lord, we praise
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You forever for this. And we give You thanks. May it be so in our lives.