James chapter 1 is where we are tonight. I want us to read beginning at verse 2. We're going to read down to verse 12. James chapter 1 verse 2. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that ye may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect, that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position, and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him." Tonight we're going to focus on verse 5, but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach and it will be given to Him. Let's bow together for prayer. Lord, we thank You for this time You give us to gather together tonight. Lord, it's a joy to be with Your saints. It's a joy, Lord, to be able to talk about what You're doing in our lives. I thank You, Lord, for the way that You're at work in and through Your people to bring glory to Your great name and, Lord, to reflect Your glory throughout this world. Lord, we ask that You'd speak to our hearts tonight May You, Lord, help us to put away anything that would distract us in our minds and in our thoughts. Help us, Lord, not to be occupied or preoccupied with anything that would distract us from what You have to speak to our hearts tonight through Your Word. Help us, Lord, to handle Your Word accurately, to be a skillful workman in the way that we handle Your Word so that we won't need to be ashamed, to rightly divide it, And Lord, through that, would you build your people up, would you call the loss to yourself, that even if there's anyone in this place tonight who's not a Christian, that tonight they would see their need for Christ. We ask this tonight, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. What do you do when you don't know what to do? What do you do when you don't know what to do? So far in these verses, beginning at verse 2, we've been learning what we're to do in the midst of our trials. When the Lord allows something to come into our life that tests our faith, we're given clear instructions. I'm so glad that the Lord hasn't left us in the dark. I'm so glad that we don't have to wonder, Lord, now what is my response to be for these tests? No, He's told us what we're to do. In verse 2, He's told us what our attitude is to be in the midst of a test. He says, we are to consider it all joy when we encounter various, many-colored trials. The word encounter, to fall into, like you would meet with a robber or a thief along a roadway, something you know from God's Word that you're going to meet with trials, but you don't always know when or where or what form they're going to take. And He says, whenever you encounter them, Understand that it's a reason for rejoicing. God has something good in it. God means something good out of it for your life. So your attitude is to be one of joy. And you hear when he says, consider, it's in the Aorist tense, it speaks of a settled decision that has lasting results. I am to learn something from the Word of God so that I make a settled decision that in my future, whenever I meet with trials, it's a reason for rejoicing. That's the attitude. And in order to have that attitude, in verses 3 and 4, the Lord tells us about the advantage that's in trials. He tells us about the fact that trials test our faith in order to produce endurance. And we talked about last Wednesday night all of the wonderful things that come out of the endurance that God teaches us as He tests our faith. And if you wanted to sum it all up, verse 4 tells us, the result of that endurance is perfect. That is, that we may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. The Lord matures us. He grows us. He makes us well-rounded, completely outfitted believers through the testing of our faith, through the endurance that is produced by the testing. So, we have the attitude when we meet with trials and we have the advantage that is contained in the trials. But the fact of the matter is, sooner or later, in the midst of a test, we're going to find ourselves confused. Sooner or later, we're going to find ourselves asking some questions in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the test. What am I to do? How exactly am I to handle this? Do I address the situation or do I leave it alone? Do I leave this job that seems to try me every day, or do I stay? How do I minister to my child who's trying me? God, what is the approach that you would have me to take to reach their heart? Lord, how do I best minister to the people who are affected by my trial? You know, we don't go through trials alone. So, not only do I need wisdom for my own life, but I need wisdom when it comes to ministering to those who are going through the trial with me. These are just a few examples of the many things that we begin to ask questions about, things that begin to occupy our minds and our hearts in the midst of a trial. And many times, if we'll be honest, we just don't know what to do. We're not sure. So, what do you do when you don't know what to do? And in verses 5 through 12, we find four answers. Four things we should do when we're not sure what to do. And I'm going to give you all four tonight. We're just going to have time tonight, though, to look at the first one. But here are four things we should do when we're not sure what to do. Number one, when I don't know what to do, I must ask God. When I don't know what to do, I must ask God. Second, when I don't know what to do, I must trust God. When I don't know what to do, I must trust God. Third, when I don't know what to do, I must glory in God. When I don't know what to do, I must glory in God. And then fourth, when I don't know what to do, I must love God. I must ask God, I must trust God, I must glory in God, I must love God. Tonight we're going to look at verse 5, and that is, when I don't know what to do, I must ask God. But if any of you lacks wisdom, and this is, you need to see, this is connected with verses 2 through 4. This is in the context of you going through your trial. So if you're in the midst of a trial, and you lack wisdom, He says, "...let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Now, there are a few things I want us to take notice of here. First of all, notice the reality that's being addressed. The reality being addressed. He says, "...if any of you lacks wisdom..." The type of Greek conditional sentence that is here, assumes that the condition is true. In other words, you could read it this way, if any of you lacks wisdom, and you will, then let him ask of God. The Lord is telling us here, He knows that we're going to lack wisdom in the midst of our testing. In fact, it's a banking figure. It's being used in verse 5, the word Lacks means shortage. If there's a shortage of wisdom. The idea is not that you're totally without wisdom in the situation, but here's where you are. You have certain truths, you have certain principles to guide you in the midst of the situation that you find yourself in, but you find that you still have a shortage. You know some general things, but when it comes down to the specifics, when it comes down to the details perhaps, you're just not sure what to do. And God is saying in verse 5 that the reality of the situation is there's not a single one of us, not one of us, who is without the need to ask for wisdom when we face a trial. We're all going to need wisdom for our trials. We're all going to find that we have a shortage. We all go through tests the same way. needing God, having to depend upon God. We all face tests the same way. So, I don't know about you, but it comforts my heart when our Almighty, all-loving God acknowledges to me in His Word, Richard, you're going to need my wisdom. I know you're going to need it. I know you're going to have a shortage. That's the reality of the situation. So, in light of that reality, we find the request, let him ask of God. I'll give you another encouraging thought, that is actually an imperative, it's a command. James is not just giving us personal advice for our trials, he's giving us a divine mandate. God, our God, is saying to us in verse 5, If you lack wisdom, and you will, you're going to have a shortage, I command you to ask Me for it. I command you to ask Me. If you ever doubt God's love for you, if you ever doubt God's benevolent attitude toward you, just realize that He commands you to seek Him for what you desperately need. It also reminds me that all of God's commands are given not only with His glory in mind, but our good in mind. I mean, whenever God commands us to do something, it's for our good. And here He's commanding us, ask Me. Ask Me. Do you ever stop when you're in the midst of your trial? Do you ever stop and realize that your God has commanded you to ask Him for the answers you need? Now, in that request, we learn some things about God. We learn, number one, that God is the source of wisdom. He says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Let him ask from God. Now, what is wisdom? Wisdom is not just intellectual knowledge. Wisdom has to do with how we live. It has to do with the skillful application of knowledge. You could have two people who know the same truths. You could ask them to write it down on paper. They could give you the same answers. But this guy over here has learned to live it. He is skillfully applying it. This guy over here, it's as if he didn't even know it. He's constantly making a mess of things because even though he has the information, he's not living it out. What's the difference between guy A and guy B? The difference is not knowledge. The difference is one has wisdom and the other is simple. They both have the same information, but they're not both skillfully applying it. I think it's a great lesson when it comes to the issue of spiritual maturity. Equal knowledge, intellectually, about a subject does not equate to equal maturity in that subject. One person has learned about it, the other person has learned the skillful application of it. So, the Lord is saying to us, now, look, here you are, I know you have your Bible open before you in the midst of your test, And you have certain principles you've learned, certain truths that you've been taught, and there you are, you're in the middle of your test, you feel the pressure, you're hurting, and you've got your Bible open before you, and you're seeing truth on the page, but what you're asking is, how does this plug in to my situation? How do I apply this, Lord, to my given situation? Now, God commands you, when you are in that situation, He says, ask me. Ask me. I'm the source of wisdom. He's the source. Well, how is God going to communicate that wisdom to me? Well, one of two ways. Sometimes the Lord communicates it to us directly. I don't mean an audible voice or a vision or a dream. If you hear a voice, if you have a vision or a dream, reject it. That's not God. You say, well, then how would He communicate with me directly? Well, through His Word. And sometimes in the midst of your situation, you're going to find out you didn't know as much as you thought you knew, and as you search the Scriptures, you're going to find truths and commands that deal directly with your situation. You just didn't know they were there. Or sometimes the Lord is going to take a passage that you've known very well, and yet right in the middle of your situation, it's as if He opens it up to you, it's just as if you'd never seen it before. And the truth for your situation from that passage just stands out. And it's like it comes clear. The Holy Spirit enables you to see how that truth applies to your situation. Sometimes the Lord will give His wisdom to you directly like that. He just deals with your life as you study His Word and pray. But sometimes He communicates, He chooses to communicate His wisdom to us indirectly. And by that I mean it still is always going to relate to His Word, but He may choose to use the counsel of somebody else to help you. He may choose to use the counsel of a fellow brother or sister or pastor or Sunday school teacher to help you in the midst of your situation. Proverbs 24, verse 6 says, For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory. Proverbs 13, 20 says, He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. Let me give you just a bit of practical advice right here. Whenever you're in the midst of trouble testing, make sure you talk to the right people. Make sure you go to wise people for your counsel. Don't run to the fools. And one of the ways you can test who you're running to is, are you just going to have someone tell you what you already think you should do? I mean, do you just want somebody to confirm you and affirm you and say you're right? If so, then don't bother going. You've already made your decision. No, what you have to do in the midst of any test is really arrive at a place, and you can ask the Lord to help you to do this, arrive at a place of neutrality so that you say, Lord, all I want to know is what you want me to do. And I'll be rejoicing in whatever you want me to do. If it's to the right or to the left, I just want to please you. And Lord, I'm going to study Your Word and I'm going to pray, but I'm also going to seek the counsel of wise people who will love me enough that they would even tell me if I'm wrong. And I'm not talking about worldly wisdom. I'm not talking about just some old sage. If you want wise counselors, find someone who knows the Word of God. Someone who will teach you the Scripture in the midst of your situation. So, sometimes God will do it that way. Sometimes the Lord will communicate His wisdom to us through His providential dealings with us. As we're praying, we're asking the Lord to direct our paths. Trust in Proverbs 3, 5. Trust the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge Him and He will establish your steps, your path. So, here I am praying, Lord, direct my steps And sometimes God will show us what He wants us to do by opening doors and closing doors. You're struggling. Should I do this? Should I do this? And all of a sudden it's like that door just slams right in your face and you don't have to worry about it anymore. And sometimes you're wondering about whether you should do something or not and all of a sudden it's like God opens the door and shoves you through. You have somebody on your heart Perhaps since there's a little problem between the two of you and you're praying, Lord, should I talk to them? Should I talk to them? And all of a sudden, the door opens and they walk in. Hello. Well, maybe I should. So sometimes the Lord will guide us in those ways. But here's what I want you to see. I want you to remember that in the midst of that test, whether He does it directly or indirectly, Who should you be relying on for that wisdom? Him. And so often, if we'll be honest, what we do is when we find ourselves in the midst of a test, we start looking to everybody under the sun to be our counselor, to be our guide, to be our helper, when God commands you to ask Him. Ask Him. Remember something else, if the Lord wanted to, He could simply pour wisdom into our heads without any request at all. But God has ordained that wisdom should come to us after we seek it, after we seek Him. In Proverbs 2, verse 2, it says, "...make your ear attentive to wisdom, That is, be ready to hear the Lord's wisdom. Then he says, "...incline your heart to understanding. For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God." Folks, listen, a part of God's training in the midst of a trial is found in your prayer closet. A part of His training in the midst of the trial is found through the seeking process. That's why we ought not to become discouraged if we feel like we don't have that wisdom we've asked for immediately. It may be that the Lord will actually be teaching you over some time. And a part of the actual benefit of the trial will be found in the seeking process. God is the source of wisdom. Something else you see in verse 5, God is not selective with wisdom. He's not selective with wisdom. Notice, "...but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to..." What does he say? all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Now, we understand the context. James is writing to a believer. A lost man is not going to benefit from this passage. This promise is not to the whole world. This promise is to Christians. So, first, you must be rightly related to God through faith in His Son. Your sins must have been washed away by the blood of Christ. You must have experienced a new birth. You must be a child of God. But now listen, if you're God's child, understand this promise is as much to you as anyone, any other believer on the face of the earth. God is willing to give wisdom to all of His children. One of the things we have to get rid of from our thoughts is the idea that God wouldn't want to teach me wisdom. God wouldn't want to answer me. The Holy Spirit uses several words to stress the fact that it's open to all of us. Verse 5, "...if any of you lacks wisdom." Verse 5, "...He gives to all men." This is for every believer. But now get this, this is not only a great invitation This is also great accountability. What that means is, if a person goes through a test in an unwise way, whose fault was it? You follow what I'm saying? If God promises that He'll give wisdom to any believer, and you're a believer, and you don't go through your test with wisdom, why didn't you? Because you didn't ask. because you didn't seek, because you didn't keep on knocking. For we'll see in a moment, God gives a promise, and if you had asked Him properly, sought Him properly, kept knocking properly, He promises He'll give you that wisdom you seek for. So, this isn't for some of us, this is for all of us. That's a great invitation, but that's also a great accountability. If one believer is living wisely in the midst of a test, and another believer is making foolish choices in the midst of a test, the reason why this believer is living foolishly is only because he has not taken God's command in verse 5 seriously. He's not obeyed it. There's a third thing you see here. God is the source of wisdom. God is not selective with wisdom. Third, God is not stingy with wisdom. He's not stingy with it. Look at verse 5, "...but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men..." And then what's the next word? "...generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Our God is a God who gives wisdom willingly. gladly, graciously, faithfully. The Bible says here, He gives generously. It's a great word. It's a word that means single-mindedly. It speaks of a single-hearted, simple liberality. Let me say it this way. God doesn't have mixed motives when He gives you this command. It's not like He says, now ask, There's a part of me that's willing to give it to you and a part of me that's not. I'm going to bargain with you." It's not like that. No, the Lord is telling us He is a very simple, single-minded, single-hearted giver when it comes to wisdom. It is this simple. If you really want His wisdom and you'll ask, He'll give it. He gives generously. He doesn't just apportion out a little bit and then leave you on your own for the rest. No, you keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, and He'll guide you step by step throughout the test. A part of God's non-stinginess is He not only gives generously, He gives graciously. It says in verse 5, "...and without reproach." That is, He doesn't rebuke you. When you come to the Lord for wisdom, you're not bothering God. You know, folks, we've got to get rid of our small thoughts about God. We've got to stop comparing Him to us. and setting up false images in our minds about who God is, and relating to God based upon those false images that come from a fleshly mind, instead of seeing God in all of His greatness, in all of His limitlessness, in all of His grandeur, in His glory, in His graciousness, we've got to see Him as He is in His Word, as He's revealed Himself to be. He gives wisdom generously and He gives wisdom graciously. It's not like some person that you come to for help, and they give you the help, but then they send you on your way with stinging word. Or here, I help you this time, but don't come to me again. I help you this time, but I don't want to see you in here again. You understand? That's not God. No, when you approach the throne of God's grace for wisdom, you're going to find a ready, Willing, gracious, open. In fact, far from bothering God, you're doing the very thing that rejoices His heart. You are revealing that you understand how much you need Him. You are revealing that you're understanding your smallness and His greatness. Your lack of understanding and His total understanding. I'm so grateful. You know, when we're going through a trial, we have only about this much vision. Just whatever we can make sense of, what we can see. But whenever something has come into our lives, do you understand that this was planned from eternity past and in view, in terms of the blessing, is eternity future. All of eternity is involved in what has come into your life right now. And you have the strangest thoughts sometimes driving, can't you? Sitting today on Aldi in Westfield, looking at this guy in the car beside me, and I just had this thought. I thought, you know, how foolish we human beings are when people don't know the Lord and they live like they're God. I mean, you're so small, you can be contained in that little compact car I was looking at. But you're a big guy. Oh, let's stretch it out. You've got a limo. How much space is that, that you're occupying? Your little body, your little brain, your little strength, and you're going to live like you don't need Him? You're going to live like you're going to live forever? When you have 6,000 years of history to prove that you won't? Forgive the harsh language, but what idiots! But you know what, beloved? We're idiots without Christ because we're false. And we're blind, and we're sinful, and we're sinfully stupid. And the reason you see differently is not because you got smarter. but because you were graced. You're not bothering God. He's big enough. No, in fact, He's commanded you to come and to ask. So, He gives generously. He gives graciously. And the last thought tonight is, He gives guaranteed. It says in verse 5, "...and it will be given to him." I'm telling you, this is an astounding promise. May God help us to take His Word as He means for us to take it. I pray for us as a church and as a people. We would learn to take the Word of God raw, so to speak. We just take it for what it says. He will give it to you. Do we understand what is right before our eyes? Do we understand the blank check that's just been set down before us? Can we even begin to fathom what God has promised? If you ask God for wisdom in the midst of any test, He guarantees you that He will give you that wisdom you seek. Let me say it this way. There is nothing in God's person, there is nothing in God's nature, there is nothing in God's character that restrains Him from giving you what you need as His child. Nothing. So, does that mean that any time a believer forms the words in prayer that say, Lord, I need your wisdom. Would you give it to me?" Does that mean that every time a believer has formed those words and spoken them, that they got wisdom? What's the answer? No. Why not? Well, notice verses 6 through 8 talk about a person like that. But let him ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he'll receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man and stable in all his way." You see, there's nothing in God's character that keeps Him from giving us the wisdom we need, but many times there's something in our character that keeps us from receiving. And we're going to talk about that next Wednesday night. But tonight, here's what I want you to think about. God has commanded you. He's acknowledged a reality that ought to give you comfort. He says to me, He says to you, Richard, put your name right there, I know that in the midst of your tests, you're going to find that you have a shortage of wisdom. You're going to know some general things that I've taught you. But you're going to need guidance. You're going to be confused about what to do exactly. And every time you find yourself, Richard, in that situation, I don't want you to lean on your own understanding. I don't want you to put your trust in the arm of the flesh, somebody else's understanding. I may use somebody else, but I still don't want you to look to them. I want you to ask me. In fact, I don't just want you to, I command you to. And as you keep asking, because it is present tense there, as you keep asking, I want you to remember something about me, Richard. I want you to remember that I love you, and I want you to remember that I'm no respecter of persons. If I gave wisdom to Moses, if I gave wisdom to Solomon, if I gave wisdom to the Apostle Paul, if I gave wisdom to John, Richard, I'll give wisdom to you. See, I'm the kind of God who will give wisdom to any believer who will ask. And I'm not stingy with it either. And there's no mixed motive in me, Richard. I'm ready to give generously. And I'll never rebuke you. when you come to the throne of grace asking for help in your time of need. In fact, let me tell you how willing I am, I'm making you a promise, that if you'll ask, I'll give it. Now beloved, with such a promise, how can we do anything other than ask? Amen?