“If the LORD Will: An Attitude Condemned”

Introduction: A New Year's Digression to James 4

0:02 The first Lord's Day of the calendar year 1971. I've been constrained in my own mind and spirit, and I trust that has been under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit to digress from our expositions in Ephesians to focus our attention today upon a passage which I trust will be owned of God to speak to us with particular New Year overtones that will carry us, I trust, for many days ahead into a more scriptural path of thinking and therefore of acting and of living.

0:42 Will you turn, please, to the fourth chapter of the Epistle of James, James chapter 4, and I shall read verses 13 through 17. James 4, verses 13 through 17. Come now. Ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city and spend a year there and trade and get gain,

1:14 whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life?

1:30 Ought to say, The Lord will do this or that. Now ye glory in your bondings. All such glorying is evil. To him, therefore, that knoweth to do good and to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

1:58 Let us once again bow before God in prayer, asking his blessing upon our consideration of this portion of his truth, and also let us remember to pray for Mr. Bob Morey, one of our number who is ministering the word of God in a church in Long Island today that is without a pastor, and let us pray that he may be conscious of the grace and assistance of the Holy Spirit as well. Let us pray. Our Father, we take upon ourselves once more this awesome responsibility of exposing our minds to your holy and infallible word.

2:38 And when we read in that word that to whom much is given of him shall much be required, we cry to you that our hearing may not be to our condemnation, but to our edification. To this end we ask the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, as the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the spirit of illumination and understanding, not only for ourselves, but we would also remember Mr. Morey as he would seek to open up your word to that little group of people there in Inwood, Long Island. Pour out of your spirit upon them, and particularly upon him,

3:21 even as we pray that your spirit may be poured out upon us and upon your servant as he seeks to declare, to declare your truth. Bind every power of the evil one that would distract our minds, that would make our spirits dull, and enable us to be caught up in a sense of the ministry of the spirit through the word, even in this hour together, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. I trust that it was very obvious that in the reading of this portion of scripture we are confronting in this passage some very important things,

Context: James's Address to Defective Thinking About God

4:05 very appropriate matters for the first Sunday of the new year. For the passage has to do with the theme of life, particularly the duration of life and the events of life, and what our attitude should be as we face both of those matters. Some of the most able commentators adopt the view that from chapter 4 and verse 1 in the book of James through to chapter 5 and verse 6, you have James writing primarily to unconverted people, something very unique in the epistles of the New Testament,

4:43 secondary reference to the people of God, but primarily to people who cannot be understood as being the true people of God, but who evidence certain characteristics that are common to the unconverted. Now, whether one adopts that view or not, it is certainly obvious in this section of the book of James, beginning with chapter 4 and verse 1 and going through chapter 5, chapter 5 and verse 6, that we are encountering a people whose minds show some glaring and basic defects with regard to their thinking about God. In verses 1 to 10, we have the matter of the right of God to our undivided affection

5:27 and a people who apparently are not regarding that right. And so James calls them a people guilty of spiritual adultery, who are more concerned, more concerned with the smile of the world than they are with the favor and approval of God. And in verses 11 and 12, he indicates that their understanding of the rights of God as lawgiver were very defected. They were, as it were, taking the law into their own hands and passing sentence upon that law rather than submitting to that law.

6:00 And so James says, in reminding of this, verse 12, there is only one lawgiver and judge who is able to, destroy and to save. Who are you that judges your neighbor? And then in the passage before us, we find the rights of God with reference to the plans of His creatures brought into focus. And so the whole mood of this section, chapter 4, verse 1, through chapter 5 and verse 6, is one in which James strikes at the root of the problems in the living of these people by showing them there is something defective in their lives.

Sermon Outline: Attention, Condemned Attitude, Commended Attitude, Conclusion

6:37 In their thinking about and in their relationship to the living God. Indicating that the problems of life are basically theological and spiritual. And he strikes then at these roots. Now in the particular part of that larger section upon which we wish to focus today, both this morning and this evening, we shall think our way through by considering first of all this call to fixed attention and sober reflection with which the passage begins.

7:10 Come now! And we'll consider what those words mean. Then secondly, we'll look at the attitude which is condemned by James. Ye that say, and then he repeats those words which reflect the attitude.

7:24 And then tonight, God willing, an attitude commended for that she ought to say. And then a concluding consideration to him therefore that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. So we have then this call to fixed attention an attitude condemned an attitude commended and a concluding consideration. First of all then, the passage begins with a call to fixed attention and sober reflection.

Call to Fixed Attention and Sober Reflection: "Come Now!"

7:52 Come now! Or as the King James has it, go to now! And the meaning of these words is basically this. It is an exclamation aimed at exciting and securing the attention of the readers or the listeners.

8:08 Suppose as I sat here during the offering and then observed very carefully during the singing of the hymn prior to the opening up of the scriptures that a lot of you had a very dull and glassy eyed and sort of a general blah-y look upon your faces which indicated that I didn't have your attention and suppose as I stood to speak I saw half of you gazing out the window and some of you thumbing through your Bibles and I wanted to secure your attention I might just stand here and be perfectly silent for a little bit until after a while you'd kind of look away and wonder what was happening or I might just stand and just clap my hands and pound on the pulpit and suddenly I have your attention.

8:53 Now James is writing to a people whom he apparently assumes have been so affected by their spiritual condition that they will not listen to the very words they need to hear unless he secures that attention to the very words they need to hear by this peculiar phrase go to now webs out of your head get the sleepy seed out of your eyes distractions from your mind listen I've got something to say to you that's the force of these words go to now

9:33 attention and sober reflection upon the words which follow now why did James start the passage that way well for the simple reason and this is the principle involved that those who most needed this admonition and exhortation are the very ones most likely to miss it due to the spiritual sloth and general insensitivity to holy things which always accompanies a person who has this attitude and frankly that's the biggest problem I face here this morning those of you sitting here this morning who most clearly reflect

10:17 the attitude condemned by James have the right to say that they are not the ones who are most likely to miss it and that they are not the ones who are most likely to miss it and that they are not the ones who are most likely to miss it and that they have been rendered so spiritually insensitive by that attitude that you're the last ones that will probably really hear the thing you most desperately need to hear and so may I begin where James begins by saying to you come now listen every influence within your own mind and from without that would keep you from absolute riveted attention upon that which God would say to you through this portion of his holy word for James knows as I well know that there is no magical power

11:01 in the words of scripture being read unless those words fasten themselves upon the mind they will not grip the heart and if they don't grip the heart they will never mold the life so my job as a pastor as a teaching elder this morning is clear I must seek to gain and hold your attention and to be able to by the honest and sanctified efforts clarity complicity creation illustration animation and above all I trust by the unction of the Holy Spirit that's my task and by God's grace I am seeking to give myself to it I have sought to give myself to it in the preparation

11:45 it's meant the scrapping of the whole first approach to the message because I didn't feel it was clear enough logical enough orderly enough simple enough but often and listen there's some of you the angel Gabriel himself could stand here and preach and you'd sit there glassy-eyed for it's not enough that the preacher come prepared and labor at clarity simplicity variation illustration animation and press after and seek for that unction of heaven but you likewise must labor to give yourself to an attentive discerning serious consideration of the word and that's hard work

12:29 true listening to the sermon is hard work if you don't believe it you've never rightly listened to a sermon there are times when you ought to leave this place utterly exhausted as well as exhilarated and if you don't leave exhausted I don't trust your exhilaration for if the exhilaration is come by a giving of yourself to the word then it's to be trusted but if it's come just through some eerie feeling I just feel great then it isn't worth much and it won't take you very far in fact you'll probably be lost before you get through the second set of doors out the back and so the passage begins and this is where I would begin with this call

13:13 to fixed attention and to sober reflection not only this morning but if you're up to making New Year's resolutions for which you seek the grace and power of God to keep this would be one oh God teach me something new this year and by your grace I determine to learn something something new of what it is to come to the ministry of the word with fixed attention prepared for sober reflection and that battle generally is won or lost Saturday night Christian who is careless about the plannings of his Saturday evenings will sit dull and lifeless in the assembly Sunday mornings

13:56 and if right hearing of the word does not mean enough to you to discipline your Saturday night and its activities what comes over the TV and what doesn't and everything else my friend listen I say it as lovingly but bluntly as I know I'll forget any blessings Sunday morning once in a while God may sovereignly just come with a zephyr of blessing across your dull mind and soul that it won't be the pattern and if I could do a master's degree in some area I'd like to do it in this along with about six or seven others the psychology of good sermon listening and its reference to Saturday night activity I think it'd be one of the most revealing studies ever done in human history in human behavior

An Attitude Condemned: Revealed by Words, Not Just Thoughts

14:39 alright so much then for where James begins he begins with this call to fixed attention and sober reflection come now listen pay attention then he proceeds in the second place to condemn a certain attitude we have been an attitude condemned oh you say wait a minute pastor I don't see anything about an attitude I see him condemning a form of speech now ye that see not ye that see nor ye that think but ye that see but ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into this city and spend a year there and trade and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on tomorrow

15:22 why do I say this is an attitude condemned well for the simple reason that James is not attacking mere words divorced from the kind of thinking which produces those words you remember the words of our Lord Jesus he said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned setting aside those words that are what scripture calls feigned words those words that are just the natural outflow of the state of your mind and heart it's accurate to say that your words are the audible echo

16:06 of the silent voice of the heart words are the audible echo of the silence the silent voice of the heart and James in essence is saying this look you people you are guilty of entertaining a wicked attitude of heart with regard to your view of the coming year with regard to life and its relationship to God you are entertaining a disposition that is positive wickedness that's what he calls it down in verse 16 all such glorying or boasting is evil it's evil it's positive wickedness

16:51 but he says if I were to accuse you of wicked attitudes you'd say who are you to judge me so he said I'll just put the goods out where you can't deny it I'll take the very words you utter and by those words I will prove to you that you entertain this wicked disposition of heart in other words James does what our Lord does what the apostles do what the apostles do what the prophets do and what all true preaching does they take the principle and they clothe it in the flesh and blood of the concrete Jesus could have said you as my people must entertain the spirit of non-retaliation to personal wrong that leaves me kind of cold

17:35 but when he says he that smites you on one cheek turn the other now he's put it in the concrete he's taking the principle of non-retaliation for personal ills and he's clothed it in the flesh in blood of a specific situation so likewise James is saying to these people you are entertaining a wicked attitude but so that you will know what that attitude is in its specific manifestations he says it's the attitude that gives birth to these words we will go today or tomorrow into such and such a city we'll continue there a year we will buy and sell and get gains so much then

Element 1: Arrogant Disregard of God

18:20 for why I've chosen the phrase an attitude condemned for this is precisely what James is doing second question then what was the attitude which he does condemn and may I suggest it's an attitude that is comprised of three elements as these people came to the new year and as they made a projection of their plans for the coming year James says the attitude was wicked for three reasons it requires first of all an arrogant disregard of God as they face the future notice their words he that say today or tomorrow

19:03 into this city and spend a year there and trade and get gains here's an indication that in the consideration of the future there were two basic factors over which God has absolutely controlled but as they faced them they didn't think of God at all here they are the duration of life notice today or tomorrow we will spend a year those are words today tomorrow a year which have to do with the duration of life secondly with reference to the events of life we will buy

19:48 we will sell we will get gain and the implication implicit in the text is we will return to our present place of dwelling and employment those are words which have to do with the events of life now in these two basic issues with regard to the future the duration of life and the events of life these people thought in a context which can only be expressed as arrogant disregard of God arrogant disregard of God they were assuming much over which God has absolutely absolute control as though God wasn't involved in it at all take this matter

20:33 of the duration of life how involved is God in the duration of your life in the life of all men the scripture tells us in Acts 17 he giveth to all life that's the inception of life and breath how dependent for the duration of life are you upon breath how dependent how about you kids how important is breath to the duration of your life hmm how important is how important is it you've been sitting there this morning breathing in breathing out how important is breath to the duration of your life anybody here think that's one of the commodities you could do without say for the next 10 minutes anyone like to volunteer to give up his breath for the next 10 minutes

21:18 we'll have the first funeral of this in this church in 1971 my friend how dependent are you upon breath for the duration of life you're not dependent for those clothes on your back you could be stripped naked and left penniless but if you have breath you could still live your house could be burned down you could lose all your loved ones as long as you've got breath you'll live but my friend if breath goes I don't care what else you've got you've had it and the scripture says those cubic feet of air that you breathe

21:59 no it isn't it's the truth the proof of it is when he deigns to cease giving breath let all the specialists work over that heart let them seek to use the artificial lung and all the rest but when he has said enough and yet with regard to the duration of life we will go we will spend a year arrogant disregard as the giver of breath by which alone life can be sustained and then with regard

22:43 to the events of life look at the things they were assuming we will go into such a city assuming the city would still be there that it was not going to be destroyed by some natural calamity such as destroyed whole cities in South America this very year they were assuming when they said we will buy and sell that they were still going to have capital to buy with that there would be a stable economy that there would be a relative stabilization of the situation in international relationships no war that they would be free to travel that they would have their health that their families would still have sufficient health that they wouldn't bleed off all their assets that there would still be natural products produced so there would be commodities to sell

23:27 as well as to buy look at all they would in the great involved interaction of all the facets of life in terms of the production of the soil in terms of the climate in terms of the relationship of one nation to another they were assuming that all of this would go on in a relative state of stability do you have any right to assume that? that that just all goes on? scripture teaches us there's a God who sits upon the throne of the heavens and it says he sendeth his rain it's his rain and it's sent at his pleasure and withheld at his pleasure scripture tells us he hath his way in the whirlwind

24:12 and the storm think of that terrible tragedy in Pakistan don't you see the arrogant disregard of God when anyone can even think of life as to its duration life as to its events without thinking constantly of the God who controls both of these things but not these people so James condemns this attitude because first of all it showed an arrogant disregard of God as they face the future secondly it showed a willful disregard

Element 2: Willful Disregard of the Obvious Facts of Life

24:56 of the obvious facts of life notice what James says ye that say we will go into such a city buy and sell and get gain whereas know not what shall be on the morrow he says you people who talk this way and think this way you're guilty of a willful disregard of the obvious facts of human experience both as to the uncertainty of the events of life and the fragility of the duration of life notice the uncertainty of its events he says you people that talk this way we're going to do this we're going to do that he said you don't know what will be on the morrow

25:41 you may plan you may guess you may hope you may dream but you know and you're forced to confess you have no certainty of one event of the morrow you don't know you don't even know if you'll be around here tomorrow as the scripture says boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth now you see James writes to a people who would have to admit this he says you know not he assumes that they'll admit it under pressure and they were a people who if you ask them do you know of any certainty what's going to happen tomorrow as I might ask these kids they'd say well of course not he says well why in the world are you talking that way where is where are we going to do that he says that is willful disregard of the obvious facts of life you don't even need a bible

26:26 to know that fact all you need to do is open your eyes and be honest he says you people you're living irrationally act of life stay in the face you know not what's on the morrow and yet you're talking not only about tomorrow but 365 tomorrows willful disregard of the obvious facts of human experience as well as arrogant disregard of God himself who controls the world so he underscores then the uncertainty of its events an obvious fact and then he goes on to say something that's obvious to everyone for what is your life you are a vapor that appeareth for a little time

27:11 and then vanish away he says another fact is very obvious to anyone that life is very fragile as to its essence as to its duration he says your life here on earth is like the puff of smoke that is here and then gone it's like the exhaust that comes out of your car in the morning when you first started up in the cold morning ever try to catch the exhaust that comes out of your daddy's car you kids try to do it you try it tomorrow morning you look out of your room as daddy cranks his car up and you see that sort of hanging there you go out and try to catch it by the time you get down the stairs he says that's your life it seems to have form

27:55 and substance and just when you think you have it it's calm now that's the fact that human experience that's not some bugaboo that Christians introduce to scare people into religion that's a fact of human experience if you don't believe it drive by a cemetery on the way home and there lie the bodies of people that were just bursting with ideas activity energy plastic they're gone puff of smoke there's a body some little kid hugged when it was a daddy there's a body which someone looked upon the dynamo of energy and activity and it's gone

28:40 it had substance it seemed to it's gone every graveyard is witness to this your life is vapor every funeral every hearse every tear that falls off the cheek of a loved one who's left behind it's the facts and he says to these people look you're talking the way you talk because of a willful disregard of these obvious facts of human experience you don't know what will be on the morrow why are you boasting about its events and as to its duration so you can't talk about it it's like a puff of smoke it's here and it's and scripture is filled with analogies about the brevity of life

29:24 speaks of our days passing swifter than the weaver's shuttle speaks of them as a shadow moses speaks of them as days that pass as a watch in the night now these are again i say these are just facts of human experience you don't even need the revelation of scripture and he says you people that talk that way you're guilty absolute disregard of these facts and then the third thing that involved the wickedness of this attitude arrogant disregard of god willful disregard of the facts of human experience thirdly a profane disregard for anything but the temple and the material

Element 3: Profane Disregard for Anything but the Temporal and Material

30:09 listen to their language we will go into this city and spend and trade and an attitude that can only be described as one of a profane disregard of human experience a profane disregard of anything but the temple and the material as they face the new year they look at that year down the funnel of a purely materialistic perspective that's all they see their philosophy is a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush you folks can have your pie in the sky by and by but i want what i want you see the language is that of the practical materialist and what makes this frightening is that it's obvious to me that the materialist

30:52 is the one who makes this frightening is that it's obvious to me that it's obvious to me it's obvious to me that it's obvious to me if i were to if i were to to you to you to have a talk but i wouldn't but i would be there and you in the sense of even me is that you you way and he is has he is there and i and he has and heaven and hell, they'd say, of course, we think we are a bunch of pagan Gentiles.

31:36 But James says, look, though you make this confession with regard to your formal creed, when it comes to the nitty-gritty where you live, you plan your lives, you project your schemes with a profane disregard of anything but the temporal and the material. Their philosophy of life was the reverse of 2 Corinthians 4.18. Paul says in that text, while we look, that is, the focus of our intent gaze, we look not on the things that are seen.

32:08 Oh, we must deal with seen things. When you've got rocks coming at you, you know they're very real things. When you get locked up in a Roman prison and see the bars, you know they're very real things. But Paul says we don't look at those things.

32:20 Oh, yes, we look at them. We see them. We live in the world that can be touched and felt and seen and all the rest. But he said that's not the focus of the gaze of our soul.

32:29 That isn't what shapes and molds life. We look not on the things that are seen for the things that are seen are temporal but the things that are not seen are eternal. They reversed it. They said we look not on the things that are unseen but on the things that are seen for the things that are seen are temporal.

32:45 And you know a man's got to be practical. I mean, he's got to be practical now. Got to feed the kids. Got to prepare and save money, get the kids in college and got to put clothes in the back.

32:55 We've got to be realist.

32:58 Yeah, I know all about that. So did James. And he said the problem is as you made your process, your plans and your schemes, they were guilty of a profane disregard of anything but the temporal and the material. God knows there are need of material things.

33:13 The whole of chapter 6 of Matthew. Your father knoweth that ye have need of such what? Things?

33:20 So does he say, all right, therefore you may seek them? He says no. He said there are the non-material values. You're to seek them and you're to set your heart upon them and in so doing these material things shall be added unto you as necessity dictates and as the wisdom of God provides.

33:39 You say, why do you use the word profane? Well, I guess because my mind goes to Esau who is called in Hebrews 12, 16 a profane person. And why was he profane? Because when he came in with a gnawing belly he looked at all of the privileges bound up in the birthright with its spiritual heritage and he says, what's up?

34:02 Oh, beloved, the scripture says beware lest there be amongst you a profane person. And how will that profanity show itself? Not by going out here and cursing God and saying I don't believe God. No, no.

34:23 Like these Jews or these people with this Jewish background. You may confess, yes, I believe in God. I believe in particular providence. I believe in sin, grace, heaven, hell and all the rest.

34:33 But here's the acid test as you project your plans and schemes and set your goals for 1971. Do you do this with a profane disregard of anything? But the temporal and the material? Let me say by way of summary that I'm convinced that these are the three essential strands of this attitude which James condemns.

Application to the Unconverted: Repent of This Attitude

34:59 As these people face the future they face it with an arrogant disregard of God himself, a willful disregard of the facts of life and a profane disregard of anything but the material. Now may I say by way of application, and my focus in the application this morning is to those of you who are outside of a vital relationship to Christ. God willing, the focus of our study and application tonight will be upon the latter part of the passage which is more peculiarly directed to believers. But as we've come into this new year, I come into it with a concern that God might be pleased

35:43 to crown the labors of this Lord's Day with bringing home the glory of God. With bringing home the glory of God. With bringing home the glory of God. With bringing home the glory of God.

35:47 With bringing home the glory of God. With bringing home the glory of God. And some of you into vital relationship with himself. So go to now.

35:52 Listen carefully to what I would say to you by way of application of the truth of this passage of Scripture.

36:00 As you face 1971 young person, adult, do you face it under the condemnation of God by entertaining this attitude which James condemns? Let me ask you first of all, will you go on in this arrogant disregard of God as you face it? Will you go on in this arrogant disregard of God as you face it? Will you go on in this arrogant disregard of God as you face it?

36:20 Will you go on in this arrogant disregard of God as you face it? Will you go on in this arrogant disregard of God as you face it? God's goodness to some of you has been great and you've not understood the purpose of that goodness. Why has God given you breath through another year?

36:33 Extended your life as to its duration. Why has he surrounded it with such favorable events? You sit here this morning, you have the sanity of your mind and the soundness of body that you're able to sit and look up into my face and listen. Why?

36:49 This past year will be the year when many a person, has filed away a death record of a loved one. Others have filed away the record of the permanent and final admittance of a loved one into an institution from which they'll never return in the soundness of their mind. And they're not all 80 and 90.

37:11 Teenagers, young people,

37:14 it's the year when some have been given up to the foul, corrupt designs of their own heart. They've abandoned themselves to a course of addiction, to alcohol, to dope, to sex, to perversion. And they'll be held, they'll be held in that until they breathe their last and then sink into hell. The last place they'll ever be is a place...

37:33 Why are you here this morning breathing God's breath, sanity of mind, soundness of body, you children, you moms and dads and adults and teenagers?

37:45 Is it because through this past year you've acknowledged that the duration of your life was in God's hand? Is it because you've approached each day, O God, from whom my life has come and who through Jesus Christ I love and desire to serve? If it please you, Lord, let me live another day to bring glory...

38:04 No, no. You've been taking all that capital of God's common grace that He's invested in you and you've squandered it upon your flesh. And yet He still continues to give you the capital. Now, why does He do it?

38:19 I'll tell you why in Romans 2 and verse 4. And knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Don't you feel ashamed in the presence of...

38:32 this God? You breathed with the sneer of your rebellious heart and said, I will not have...

38:47 Oh, and He showered upon you such abundance of mercies instead of falling prostrate at His feet and saying, Lord, why me? You've taken it as something you deserved and squandered it upon your flesh. Oh, my dear unconverted friend this morning, will you go on in this arrogant disregard of God? As you think of the duration of your life and the events of your life, listen, the duration of that life is in His hands.

39:20 It is appointed unto men, not by men, but unto men once to die.

39:28 And that God who's invested all this capital of His goodness only to have it squandered upon your impenitence may have in His own date book your name next to it someday in 1960, 71. You say, try and scare me, Pastor? No, just face you with the facts of life. No, you don't know I'm going to die this year.

39:50 No, I don't. But neither do you know you won't. That's telling it straight, isn't it? I don't know that you will, but neither I know that you won't.

40:12 He that being often reproved the Scripture, pardoneth his neck so suddenly,

40:20 and that without remedy.

40:24 Oh, I plead with you to don't go on in this arrogant disregard of God that causes you as a parent to make your plans, I'll do this this year and I'm going to make it next year, and I'm going to make so much and I'm going to do this with regard to my retirement and I'm going to do this with regard to my kids and I'm going to do that. Oh, I plead with you unconverted parents, cease all that arrogance that is an insult to God, that is a denial of the facts of life and that is a profane disregard of the only things that will last beyond the grave. I say to you young people, many of you making your plans, this is the year I'll graduate from school and I'll go to college and I'll be this and I'll be that. Who says you will?

41:05 You might be a raving maniac before the month is out.

41:11 Have you ever tried to witness to someone who's lost his mental faculties in something strong?

41:18 I may have that heartbreaking experience with some of you.

41:22 Do you have any assurance that God's going to continue to give you sanity? Ever try to witness to someone who lies upon a bed with some kind of terminal illness with every single nerve in the body a track upon which intense pain runs? You try to get their mind upon the truth of God? No, no, you can't.

41:40 The frustration of trying to witness to people who are in such intense physical pain they can't put one thought on top of another. I'm sure Mr. Bischoff who does a lot of visiting in the hospitals would say an amen to this. The helplessness and here you are with soundness of mind able to think upon God and heaven and truth and hell and repentance and faith.

42:05 Oh, dear young person, don't squander that. Don't go on in this profane disregard of God as he controls the duration of your life. As he controls the events of it. Don't go on in this disregard of the obvious facts of life.

42:22 You know not what shall be on the morrow. Your life is a vapor. Suppose you were to happen just to drop by sometime next week unexpected, unannounced and you came into the parsonage and as my wife or you came to the door and as my wife answered the door she said, well, the pastor's busy right now but you come in and wait he'll be done in a few minutes and you came in and sitting there in the living room you saw me and seven other people sitting around our little circular coffee table on the sectional and you saw us there with a revolver with a cylinder you saw us spinning the cylinder and holding up their head and you say, what's going on here? These people are playing Russian roulette.

43:08 What would you think if you actually came in and saw some grown adults your pastor and monks playing Russian roulette running the risk of slipping a bullet in the chamber and spinning the chamber and putting it to their head and hoping that it's not the one fixed under the firing pin. You say, any man's a fool that plays Russian roulette. Yeah, that's right, he is.

43:31 May I say, you play Russian roulette with your soul every day you wake and find yourself anywhere but in hell, dear unconverted person.

43:42 You're playing Russian roulette with your soul.

43:48 You, as it were, are spinning the chamber of God's patience and long-suffering knowing that sooner or later the odds are stacked against you for he says, my spirit shall not always strive with man.

44:09 Will you go on in the spirit of God? Will you go on in the spirit of God? Will you go on in the spirit of God? Will you go on in the spirit of God?

Application to the Unconverted: Profane Disregard of Spiritual Values

44:12 Will you go on in this profane disregard of anything but material values? What about some of you parents?

44:20 If you were to treat your soul the way you've treated your children, let me reverse it, I'm sorry, if you were to treat your children the way you've treated your soul, you'd have been dragged into court by the civil authorities long before now.

44:35 If you were to willfully deny your children the provision of their daily bread, clothes upon their backs, and were to treat them cruelly and inhumanely, the civil authorities would have been the civil authorities would be on you. But that's how you treat your soul.

44:50 That's how you treat your soul.

44:53 You don't feed it upon the bread of life, Christ Jesus. That soul is destitute of cleansing that can only come through his own precious blood.

45:04 What of your relationship to God? Does it reflect that your life is just bound up in the world of the material? And what I say to you parents, I say to you young people, your time is spent in fun, in work, in eating, clothes, in clothes, boyfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend. But what of the clothing of the righteousness of Christ?

45:25 What of the knowledge of that friend that sticketh closer than a brother? Do you have that? Or are you just a pure materialist, all of your life evidencing profane disregard of anything but the...

45:41 If so, may God be pleased to own the ministry of the Word this day. This may mark the day when you say, by the grace of God, from here on in my concern will not be the dress that men can see which must go to my grave with me, but whether or not I have that clothing which lasts and stands the test of that awful day, even the clothing of the righteousness of Christ. And I shall not rest till I know that I am rich with heavenly riches, until I know the grace of repentance and faith and cleansing in His precious blood. And I would close

Application to Believers: Guard Against Worldly Infection

46:26 with just this brief word of prayer. A word of exhortation to you who are the people of God. Thank God none of these things can be true in an absolute sense of a true believer. No true believer can face the future, whether it's tomorrow or thinking of a year or ten years, with this arrogant disregard of God.

46:47 No, no believer can do that. The fear of God has been put into his heart basically. So the true believer cannot be guilty of facing the future in an absolute sense with arrogant disregard of God. With a sense of a willful disregard of the facts of life or with this profane disregard of the spiritual values.

47:06 But, as the world can infect the Christian in any other area of attitude, so that the purity of his relationship to God is stained and marred by the world, so you and I as believers can breathe some of this crass, secularistic spirit of the age. For James is writing to the 20th century, isn't he? Isn't he? This is as relevant as the snow that's out there in the parking lot.

47:35 And we can absorb imperceptibly that attitude. So with our lips we say, well of course I believe in divine sovereignty and in particular providence that God is a plan for my life and a purpose and all the events and circumstances and duration of my life are marked out. Sure, it's easy to give lip service to that, but let me ask you, has that so filtered down into every fiber of your being that you cannot even think of tomorrow without thinking instinctively if the Lord will?

48:09 That's what we come to tonight. James says, whereas you ought to say, that is, you ought to be so permeated with a biblical view of life as to who controls its duration, who controls its events that you cannot anymore think of the future without God? And you can think of the future without thinking of tomorrow or an advance in the calendar. He said this must become part and parcel of the entire of your being.

48:35 And I fear that the secularizing influence of the world has done its terrible work in many of our hearts so that we make our plans with an arrogant disregard of God. We make our plans for our children. You kids make your plans for your education, where you're going to go to school, what you're going to be. There hasn't been one honest hour on your face before God, some of you, crying out, Oh God, who has given me life, who has given me new life in Christ.

49:06 I believe that you've created me in Christ unto good works which you've before prepared that I should walk in them. And Lord, I'd rather die than miss your best and plead with Him for light and direction. No, no, you're just sort of hoping it'll all turn out all right. My friend, dear Christian friend, don't you let the influence of the world infect your heart with this arrogant disregard of God.

49:34 Don't you let the world and the flesh and the devil infect you with this willful disregard of the facts of life and live as though you're going to live forever. And don't let the world infect you with its profane disregard of anything but the material. We can be brainwashed into feeling, you know, if we don't give our kids this and give our kids that, we're cheating them baloney. I was brought up with patched clothes most of the time.

50:04 Bare floors. We met many bumped heads.

50:11 Proud of it. I'm not ashamed of it. And I'm not bitter about it. I thank God for parents whose vision for their children was geared to spiritual non-material violence.

50:25 What can we

50:51 time more in doing that which will provide food?

50:56 Spending time in that which will imbibe, will cause them to imbibe principles, standing of life and of truth and of the world that will stand them in good stead twenty years down the road. Oh, may God help us as we face the future. Think of our children to make it so obvious to them that our highest ambition is that they know God and walk with God and be in the will of God no matter what else happens. I thank God I never labored under any field.

51:33 If I didn't end up making money or having a place of importance I'd disappoint my parents. I grew up believing that if I ended up digging ditches to the glory of God making seventy-five bucks a week and paying my bills in thirty days I was living under.

51:49 Some of you kids can't say that. Some of you parents that your kids aren't fit to discover the will of God. You have subconsciously their minds have thought that if I don't succeed in the world's eyes I'll disappoint my mom and dad. God have mercy upon you as a parent if you've conditioned the conscience of your child that way.

52:16 Rather those children ought to grow up knowing if I don't become a man of God and a woman of God mom and dad will go to their grave weeping.

Conclusion: A Call to Continued Reflection and Transformation

52:25 Oh, if God would give me that privilege that my children when they're grown will know that the only thing that'll disappoint their dad is that they don't know God and love him and serve him. I've imbibed the secular thinking that James condemns and so we have before us in this very searching portion of scripture a call to fixed attention and sober reflection. And that call doesn't stop when we say the final amen this morning.

53:02 If you discuss the sermon over the table when you go home I know one or two of our families that make a practice of this ask the kids what did the preacher talk about? What did he say? How does it apply to us? The call to fixed attention to this comes to us individually comes to the heads of families corporately that we call this principle to the attention of our whole family then we've considered the attitude condemned this attitude that reflects arrogant disregard of God as we face the future willful disregard of the facts of life and profane disregard of any values but the material.

53:40 And if the Lord has discovered this in us basically as a principle upon which we live then he's showing us we're strangers to grace and he would call us to look to his dear son by whose grace and power alone we can be brought into a biblical perspective of life in the future and if he's spoken to you as his child and shown you where these attitudes of the world have done their subtle infectious work then you're on a path of true self-love and true self-love in the past and in the present and in the present and in the future and in the future and in the future and in the future and in the future and for cleansing and renewing and for a sharpening of your spiritual focus and vision so that we cannot think of the year to come without thinking reflexively if the Lord will and God willing tonight

54:25 I hope to open up that passage and show that it means a lot more than just simply saying the Lord willing to be able to say it as an expression of the attitude that James encourages is to mean a life so transformed that nothing but grace can affect it. May the Lord help us and give us understanding and grace to walk in the light. Let us pray.