Welcome once again to Good Hope Through Grace. I'm Pastor Jeff Arthur Sr. of the Elizabeth Baptist Church in Bancroft, West Virginia. Tonight's Bible study will come out of the book of James Chapter 3. James Chapter 3 will be focusing on verses 13 through verse 18. I'll go ahead and read the text. Who is a wise man endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom to sin is not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 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. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we're thankful once again to have this opportunity to come and to share your word with these folks. And Father, we pray that you would bless our services this evening. We pray that you would use this passage to touch people's hearts, to help us to be closer to you. In Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen. Now, here in James chapter 3, what we've noticed in verse 1 of James chapter 3, we focused on, be not many teachers. And then we focused on in verses 2 through 12, the tongue, teachers and the tongue. And now as we come down into verse 13 through 18, we're going to focus on true wisdom. And we'll give this a title tonight of Do You Have? Do You Have Wisdom? from above. Let me repeat the title. Do you have wisdom from above? Because that is the focus of our text here in the last part of chapter 3 verses 13 to 18. That is the focus is on wisdom from above. Now, when we're looking at this text, what it's going to do is it's going to give the characteristics of the true wisdom that comes from our Heavenly Father. Now, if we're going to look at the wisdom that comes from God, we've got to look at where that wisdom begins at. And the beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of the Lord. In the book of Proverbs chapter 9, I'm going to read that text to you, which basically says what I just mentioned to you. Proverbs chapter 9, and we'll notice verse 10. It says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the holy is understanding. So true wisdom begins in men when they begin to have a fear of the Lord, a reverence for God, a knowledge of God as Savior, a knowledge of Jesus as Savior and Lord, that's where true wisdom begins. You can't really regard true wisdom as just being basically knowledge that people have, knowledge of worldly things. Someone might have knowledge of how to make money or knowledge how to do a certain trade. But this wisdom that we're talking about tonight is a wisdom that comes forth from God in the salvation of one's soul. That's where true wisdom from above truly begins. So that's the reason why Proverbs 19 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's where it begins then. The truly wise person in this world is the one that knows Christ as their Savior. In the book of Proverbs chapter 1, it utters basically the same thing. Proverbs chapter 1 and the verse 7, it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So we're looking at this message and we're asking the question, do you have wisdom from above? And really, that's the most important wisdom to have. And where that true wisdom begins at from above is with a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, the fear of the Lord, a reverence of God, to where you see yourself as a sinner, and then you trust the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, as your Savior. That's where truism begins. Now, in the book of Luke chapter 12, we've looked at this many times in the past as a story or a parable of the rich fool. And this man was a rich man and he had on his agenda to and in his hopes to get a harvest one day to where he'd never have to work again, to where he could just kind of sit back and enjoy his life. And you know, the American dream, just sit back and not have to worry about working anymore. Enjoy all the labors and all the all the riches that his hands had earned over the years. Well, It came to pass that he achieved that great goal of his riches and he got that great harvest, but God's Word in the book of Luke chapter 12 said that he was a fool. It didn't say he was wise, it said he was a fool. Now the reason why it says that is because that very night that he achieved his great harvest, that very night that his ship came in, so to speak, he died, he lost his life. And God told him that. God said, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be that thou hast provided? So you can't consider someone wise that lives for the temporary and forgets the eternal. You can't consider someone wise that lives just for this 70 years, which is the average lifespan of man, and forget that time without end. My friend, you do have an eternal soul. And true wisdom begins with a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. True wisdom begins with the need, with a person seeing the need for the salvation of their soul, their preparation for death, their preparation for eternity. That's where the beginning of wisdom is at. So that's the reason why the book of Proverbs says that the beginning, the beginning of wisdom, is the fear of the Lord, the knowledge of the Lord, that is the beginning of wisdom. And that's the reason why the rich man in Luke 12 was called a fool because he forgot eternity. He forgot that one day he would die. He forgot about his soul. All of these are reasons why he was a fool instead of being wise. The wise man, the wise person, is the one that prepares for death. The wise person is the one that prepares for eternity. by trusting the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. Do you have wisdom from above? Now, if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, if you're ready to die because you know it's well with your soul, then you have that wisdom. That's the wisest thing anyone could do. But if you haven't trusted the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, then you might have plenty of earthly knowledge or earthly wisdom, but you don't have anything that's going to really last forever You don't have eternal life. You don't have those things that matter the most. And that's why the wisest thing and the beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of the Lord. Now, Matthew, in the book of Matthew, chapter 7, I might have to find this text. I was going to read to you. It says, Matthew, chapter 7, in verse 26, It says, And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and the great was the fall of it. It came to pass that when Jesus had entered these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine. So he describes a man that built his house upon the sand. Now let me read the other part of the text. Therefore whosoever shall hear these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock." So here you have another picture, one was a wise man, one was a foolish man. And the wise man built his house upon a good foundation. And when the floods came, the rains came, and the winds blew, the house that was built on the right foundation, it stood the test. Well, the man that built his house upon the sand, that didn't have the good rock foundation, when the wind blew and the floods came, his house collapsed. It's just a picture of your life, really. If the foundation for your life is Jesus Christ, and you've trusted Him as your Savior, and you're ready for heaven, and you're ready for death, and you have victory over the grave, and you have a home in the Father's house, then my friend, you're built on the right foundation. You have something that's going to last. But if you've not trusted Jesus and you're living for the world and you're living for the things of the world, then my friend, you've built your life on sinking sand. And one of these things, the loss of that is just going to be too much almost to describe. It's going to be a horrific loss. And the greatest loss will be one's soul. So the beginning of wisdom, that's why I said that someone that builds on sin, someone is like a foolish man. It's foolish. It's not wise to build just on the things that are present. It's not wise to build a life on things that's not going to last. It's not wise to forget about eternity. True wisdom begins, the beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of the Lord, the fear of the Lord and trusting him as your savior. Now, this wisdom of God concerning salvation, he gives you. There was a day in my life that I realized that I was a sinner and I realized that Jesus died on Calvary for my sin and I trusted Christ. That's the day I became wise. Now, I didn't make myself wise in and of myself. The Lord give me that wisdom. Back to the book of James. Remember, we're in James chapter three. And remember, the message tonight is entitled, Do you have wisdom from above? That was the question. So basically, I'm asking, are you saved? That's the beginning of wisdom, is trusting Christ as your Savior, preparing yourself for eternity. Now, the next thing we're showing you is that I explained to you that I have that wisdom. I trusted Christ as my Savior. But the reason why I've done that is because he gave me that understanding. The Holy Spirit illuminated my mind. I realized I was lost. And that wisdom of the need of salvation from my sin came from our Lord. And he gave us an understanding to know him that is true. And I'll read you that text here in just a minute. But here in the book of James, chapter one. I want you to notice what it says, James chapter 1, go back to James chapter 1, it says verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Well, God has the greatest gift that I have is the gift of salvation that the Lord gave me. And as I said, there was a day and a time in my life I realized I was a sinner. And I'm telling you that God gives me that understanding. He gives me the gift of wisdom that I would know Him as my Savior. That all came forth from Him. That wisdom came forth from Him. For James 1.5, if any of you like wisdom, let him ask of God to give it to all men liberally. Every good gift, the gift of wisdom, the gift of understanding of the Scriptures, that all comes forth from the Lord. Holy Spirit illuminates your mind and gives you an understanding. 1 John 5 and verse 20 is a verse that we often quote at church. It says, and we know that the Son of God has come. And He hath given us an understanding. I want you to listen to how that reads. He hath given us an understanding. So that wisdom you have, that knowledge you have, that you are a sinner and that Jesus is the Savior, He hath given us an understanding that we might know Him that is true. That understanding issued forth from your God. So if you're listening to me and you trusted Jesus and you understand who he was and why he died, then I'm telling you that's the beginning of wisdom. But on top of that, I'm telling you that you understand that the reason you have that wisdom is because God gave that to you and he deserves the glory. He deserves the glory for every bit of that. See, before you were saved, Before you came to a saving knowledge of Him, you were blinded. You were dead in your trespasses and in your sins. In the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 4 describes the blindness that we were in. It says, "...in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." See, that's the same shape that I was in. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. Then it goes on to say, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It says that God shined in our hearts. He gave us light. He opened our understanding to know Him as true. That's what 1 John 5.20 says. But it says He also shined in our hearts. He gave us light. And that's when we understood. And that's when our knowledge, our true wisdom, that's where true wisdom began. So the beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of the Lord. Do you have the wisdom from above? Well, not only does true wisdom show itself by saving faith in Jesus Christ, but there are certain characteristics that once you have trusted Jesus, that will be displayed in your life as a fruit of your salvation. And what the book of James does here in chapter 3 is it gives you some of the characteristics of true wisdom. Some of the characteristics of true wisdom, and this will probably take up the rest of our time in the broadcast this evening. Some of the true characteristics of true wisdom, and it begins to name them. Remember the title. Do you have wisdom from above? Now, if you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, if you have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, you trusted that he died on Calvary for your sins and rose again the third day, then that's the beginning of wisdom. You have the wisdom of the Lord in you. Now, along with that wisdom will come characteristics that show forth that wisdom, and they're listed in our text. Verse 13, Who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of good conduct, good conversation, his works with meekness, of wisdom. Now let's ask the question, who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you? And it says, let him show out of good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. So one characteristic, one characteristic of true wisdom is going to be good conversation. That's what it says, let him show out of good conversation his works. When someone has true wisdom, when someone's trusted Jesus as their Savior, they have the wisdom of God in their heart, then the fruit of that's going to be good conversation. Now, the word conversation is an old English word. We use the word conversation just to describe talking. But the old English word of conversation means your conduct. It's referring to your outward actions. It's referring to your outward works. After you've received the wisdom of God, in your heart and the salvation of God in your heart, it's going to show itself in your conduct. You're not only going to be wise in your speech, but you're going to be wise in the way that you act. You're going to show forth good conduct. If someone claims to have the wisdom from above, if someone claims to have the wisdom of God, then my friend, and they don't have good conduct, that's a contradiction. One of the fruits of having God's wisdom in your heart is that you will have good conduct. Now, we stress that over and over again here in the book of James. James chapter 2 stressed the fact that a faith that doesn't produce works is dead. The problem is many times when you make statements like that, and that's God's word. Many times folks misunderstand. You say, well, Jeff, I thought we were saved by grace. We are. The word grace means not by works. We're not saved by our works. We're saved by Christ's works. What Jesus did by dying on Calvary and rising again from the dead the third day is what saves our soul. That is the full gospel of Jesus Christ. But my friend, as a result of receiving the gospel and receiving the wisdom of God in our hearts, the fruit of that is going to be good conduct. We seek to live lives that are sober and righteous and godly. Now, I'm not seeking to live right to get saved. I'm seeking to live right because I am saved. And when you see someone that truly has the true wisdom of God in their heart, you will see good conduct out of them as a result of that. Now, if you don't see that, that's a sign they don't have the true wisdom. That's a sign they have the types that's described in verse 15 of change three. Wisdom that descends not from above is earthly, sensual and devilish. That's the wrong type of wisdom. If someone doesn't have good conduct, if someone doesn't have a wisdom that changed their life, then my friend, there's probably something wrong with it. So good conduct is a characteristic of someone that has true wisdom. Also meekness, good conversation and works, but also with meekness of wisdom, it says in verse 13. Meekness is also a fruit or a characteristic of someone that has true wisdom. Now, when you think of meekness, it carries the idea of gentleness. It carries the idea of being submissive to the will of God. But it's the quite opposite of arrogance. Many times when people have worldly wisdom, they can be so very arrogant. But when someone has the true wisdom of God that he puts in your heart in salvation, Not only will that true wisdom produce a change in someone's conduct, but it will also produce in them a humbleness and a meekness, a spirit. It won't produce arrogance in them. I don't have anything to be arrogant about. The only thing that I have to be proud of is my Savior. 1 Corinthians 4 says, Who made you to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received? And when you think of it that way, my friend, you can see it should make you meek. I'm wise, anyone that knows Christ as their Savior is wise, but that wisdom came forth from God. And now, as a result of that wisdom, what's the characteristics of having that in your heart? Good conduct and meekness, not bad conduct. and arrogance. So let's look on down through the text. It lists many other fruits of true wisdom. And we'll go ahead and mention some of them. The wisdom that is from above, verse 17, is pure. The word pure is holy. It's not something that is defiled by sin. It's pure. Here's another characteristic of true wisdom in the text. It's peaceable. People that have the true wisdom of God in their heart not only seek to live godly lives and meek lives and pure lives, but peaceable lives. They follow after things that make for peace. They don't like to stay at odds with people. They will seek to reconcile when there's offense, maybe, with another brother or sister in Christ. They seek to spread the gospel so that those that are at odds with God can have peace with God as they do, you see. So these are all characteristics of people that have true wisdom. Remember, do you have the wisdom from above? That's the entitlement of the message. Do you have wisdom from above? Well, have you trusted Christ? And if you've trusted Christ, did it change your conduct? Do you have good conversation? Are you meek? Do you see the characteristic of being pure and peaceable? Let's read some others. Gentle. Gentle. God's people are a gentle people. They're not known for cruelty and harshness of character towards other people. They're a gentle people. When you think about the Lord Jesus Christ, you think about one that was gentle. Not weak, but gentle in the way that they deal with other people. Easy to be entreated. That carries the idea of easily persuaded. That means they don't always have to have their way. It doesn't mean they fall for every wind of false doctrine or anything of that nature. It's not referring to that at all. It just simply means that they're easy to get along with, full of mercy, full of mercy. Having obtained mercy, they show mercy to other people. They do acts of mercy towards other people. They're forgiving people. full of mercy and of good fruits without partiality. They try to treat everybody the same. They try to be kind to everybody and without hypocrisy. You see, all of these are characteristics of someone that has true wisdom. But if someone doesn't have true wisdom, then they're not going to be peaceable. They're not going to be gentle. They're not going to be easily entreated. They're not going to be full of mercy. You see, these are characteristics of folks that have this quality. of true wisdom. He compares the two between one another. Now let's get one more and then let's go ahead and look at the wisdom which is earthly. It says, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Of course, true wisdom is shown. We've talked about peace already, but God's people are peacemakers. Those that have the true wisdom of God in their heart are also peacemakers. And that's the book of Matthew, chapter five said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. How do we make peace? By spreading the gospel of peace, telling people about Jesus. And then when they receive Jesus as their Savior, then they have peace with God. Well, folks, that's a lot of characteristics, is it not? He's defining in James, chapter three, the wisdom from above. And he showed you, we showed you tonight, it begins at salvation and we showed you all the characteristics. When someone has true wisdom in their heart, they will show these qualities that are mentioned in this text. Pureness, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit. That's how you know people that have the true wisdom. But if someone claims to have the wisdom of the Lord, But they don't have these characteristics, there's something wrong. Now let's go ahead and look at the other part of this. It says, but if we have bitter envying, bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not. Glory that you have wisdom if your heart's filled with bitter envying and strife. It says, glory not and lie not against the truth. You might claim to have that wisdom, but if your life is filled with bitter envy, the idea of envy there is zeal. It's a bitter zeal. It's people that have zeal for the things of the Lord, but they do it in a bitter way like the Pharisees did. They had a zeal for the things of God, but they hated people and they had a bitterness about them and they had strife in their hearts. As a matter of fact, they are the ones that Jesus crucified. And they were Jesus' greatest persecutors whenever they were here. They claimed to be wise. They claimed to be wise men. But they had bitter envy and strife in their hearts. And he says, this wisdom descendeth not from above. Someone that has bitter envy and strife in their heart It says that wisdom is not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. That means the devil is behind it, and the devil is behind their life. You see, true wisdom brings good conversation, good conduct, and all the characteristics that we talked about. But if someone claims to have the wisdom of the Lord, but their life is characterized by bitter envy and strife. And my friend, he's telling you in this text that that's not descending forth from the Lord. Rather, that's an earthly wisdom and a sensual, fleshy wisdom. It says where envy and strife is, there is confusion. There is confusion and every evil work. Well, folks, I want to read a little something about that. Churches are filled with people that are filled with envy, bitter envy, and strife. They claim to be wise, they claim to know the Lord, but their lives are filled with these things. Sometimes they're called church wreckers. There have always been men and women who feel their ideas must be forced on others, determined to have their own way. They will either run things or ruin them. Sometimes we call them elders, deacons, preachers, teachers, or leaders. Sometimes they attempt to get various ones on their side visiting around, calling secret meetings, flattering those agreeing with them, condemning, even reviling those who dare to disagree. They can cause great torment in the church, leading to splits and causing some to vanish in thin air. They cause confusion. Well, folks, evidently this was a problem in James's day, as it's still a problem down to today. Now, when we began this message tonight, do you have wisdom from above? Do you know Christ as your Savior? And as you look at your life, do you see the characteristics, those blessed characteristics that are associated with a life of true wisdom? But do you claim to know the Lord, but yet your life is filled with envy and strife and confusion and troublemaking? If you do, you need to repent of that. You need to repent of that and come to a saving knowledge. of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.