We turn in scripture to James chapter 4. James chapter 4, as we work through this letter in our series on James, we come to the last section of chapter 4, verses 13 through 17. That will be the text for the preaching this evening. And because it's at the end of the chapter, we will not reread it. But it will be profitable to keep our Bibles open to this portion of God's Word through the preaching tonight. James chapter 4. This is the Word of the Lord. From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not. Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain. Ye fight, and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask and receive not. because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be, wants to be, a friend of the world, is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain? The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, Proverbs 3 verse 34, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is One lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another? And now the words of the text for this evening. Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings, or you boast in your arrogances. All such rejoicing, all such boasting, is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." So far we read God's Holy Word. The text is verses 13 through 17. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we've seen over the last few sermons in this book how James has been writing against a lack of humility that characterizes many in the churches to which he is writing. A lack of humility they have not only towards each other, but also towards God. For example, that's what we considered last time. In verses 11 and 12, Jesus reproves the saints for their evil speaking and their judgmental attitudes towards one another. But as James reproves them for their evil speaking and judgmentalism, he points out that they're not just sinning against one another, they're actually sinning against the law. They're speaking evil of the law and judging the law. And ultimately, They're speaking evil of God and judging God because, of course, God is the one who makes the law. By all their arrogant and condescending and wicked talk towards each other, what they're really saying is this. We looked at this last time, two weeks ago. They said, God, your law is not good enough for us. Our laws are better. We won't go by your standard of what is right and wrong, but we will go by our own standard of what is right and wrong. And we will treat our neighbor how we think they should be treated and not according to your standard. And what James is saying is this, that is very wicked. Your way of thinking is worldly wisdom. It's earthly, it's sensual, it's devilish, it's not wisdom that comes from above, it's wisdom that comes from below. And it's not what characterizes true faith. It's something actually that characterizes dead faith. It's a wisdom that is motivated by carnal lusting. And so James writes in verse 10, Humble yourselves. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Repent. Turn again to the Lord. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. Well, the passage that we look at tonight does the same thing. James continues to do the same thing. He continues to call them out for their sin, and now this time, he calls them out for their ungodly attitude as it applies to their businesses and their talk about their future plans. And he calls them out for their pride and their arrogance in their relationship with God as it pertains to their business plans. It's a pretty straightforward text. We'll look at it in more depth in a moment, but the question that comes to us even before we begin is this. What's our attitude towards these kinds of things? My business plans, my future. What's our attitude towards all the plans that we make? Some of us plan to get married. Some of us are planning to buy a house, maybe. Some of us are planning to go to college. What are our attitudes towards all these plans? Plans need to be made. There's nothing wrong with making plans. I'll repeat that again in the body of the sermon. There's nothing wrong with making plans regarding our businesses. The Bible encourages us to make plans. Go to the aunt who makes plans for the winter. In fact, to not make plans is probably a sign of a lack of stewardship. And we all do make plans. Maybe we have plans for summer vacation. Maybe for those who are older, we have plans for retirement. Whatever the case may be, the question that comes is this, what is my attitude? Is it an attitude of pride and haughtiness? Or is it an attitude of humble submission to the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I including God? Am I putting myself under God in all these plans that I'm making, or is God not even part of the picture. These are the things that we want to consider in the preaching tonight. We take as our theme a warning against the sin of presumption. First, we look at the sin condemned, and then second, we look at the proper attitude commended. The sin condemned, verses 13, 14, and 16, and 17, and then the proper attitude commended, especially verse 15. In the theme, I use the word presumption, a warning against the sin of presumption. What is presumption? When someone is being presumptuous, what it means is that someone is being very arrogant and bold and they're being immodest in the assumptions that they are making. To be presumptuous is to presume. It's to do things, it's to think things or to say things without having any firm basis for doing it or thinking it or saying it other than my own proud attitude. That's the sin James condemns in the text, especially verses 13 14 and 16. In verse 13, we read, go to now. And we today would maybe put it this way. Come on now. Come on now. You who say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you don't even know what will happen tomorrow. In order to understand the situation, let's be reminded of a few things here as we've been going through the book of James and maybe learn a few things as well. First, remember that James is writing this letter to those who are Jewish Christians. This letter of James is perhaps the earliest of the New Testament books. And so James is writing here to Christians who have come out of Judaism and have come to confess that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He is the Savior that God promised to his people in the Old Testament. Remember also that these were Christians, Jewish Christians, who had fled Jerusalem because of persecution, and now they're strangers scattered abroad. Second, we learn from other passages in the book that among these saints, there were poor saints and there were also rich saints. And from the text itself, it appears that some of the rich saints in the church were merchantmen or traders. And what I found interesting, as I read a few other resources last week, is that many Jews were merchants and traders. And that when the Romans wanted to settle or establish a new city somewhere in the empire, the Romans would actually encourage the Jews to come and live in that place for a while in order to establish good business. and a good commercial environment. The Romans would even provide these people with subsidies and with benefits or bonuses if they helped out the Roman Empire in this way. And it could have been men like that, although now they were Christians. It could have been men like that, whom James is addressing here in the text. And what James does is give us a very vivid picture of the kind of presumption, the kind of pride and arrogance that was characterizing some of these men. So picture the scene for a moment. You have a wealthy Christian merchant man He's in maybe the living room with his family and he explains to his family his plans. He's got a huge map spread out over the table and his gold rings are sparkling in the light as he stabs his fingers in all different places over the map. And he declares to his family, family, my fellow businessmen and I are going on a trip. Today or tomorrow, whenever the boat is ready to go, today or tomorrow, we will go on a trip and we're going here and we're going here and we're going to go to such and such a city and set up our business. And we will stay there a year and we will buy and we will sell and we will make a profit. And you can imagine maybe that merchant's eyes starting to sparkle and his face lighting up with excitement as he says, and we will do our business in such a way that we will increase our profits by 100%. We will make a killing. We will do gloriously. And then after one year, only one year, we will be back within one year. We will safely come back with all our riches and life will be even better for us than when we first set out on our way. We will get gain, I tell you. We will be able to advance to the next level of prosperity and we will be able to consume all these profits upon our own loss. And life will be good. And you go down to verse 16 and you notice that these merchant men are not just making plans, but they're boasting. Verse 16 says, but now you rejoice in your boastings. And the idea is this, you boast in your braggings, you boast in your arrogances, you boast in your self-conceit. And what James is pointing out is that these men aren't embarrassed at all about the way that they are talking or how they think, but these merchant men are proud about just how confident and assured they were that their business plans can't fail. In fact, as I was picturing this scene in my head this past week, I couldn't help but picture maybe a group of pirates boasting about the great treasure that they were sure they were soon going to find. But now remember, bring it back to the context, James is writing here about Christians. He's writing here about those in the church who have this kind of talk and this kind of attitude, and that's very sobering. And that's where we have to apply this to ourselves and consider that this is also God's word for His church in the 21st century. And the question we need to ask is, is this sometimes how we're inclined to think? Maybe it's not the case that we have the kind of money that these merchant men had, so that we talk exactly this way, but maybe it is the case that I have good health, or maybe it is the case that I have a sharp mind. or I have other opportunities at my disposal, and now with that good health, or with that sharp mind, or with the money God has given me, we now start to take on this posture of arrogance about the future. I think of a high schooler, for example, who is very intellectually gifted. And so that high schooler maybe says to himself, I'm going to graduate at the top of my class. I'm going to get all these scholarships. I'm going to go to this university that I want to go to. I'm going to be at the top of my class there. And maybe, you know, if I really want to, if I don't want to, then I won't do it. But if I want to, then maybe I'll be a professor. Maybe I'll write a book. But either way, I'm going to be a success. I'm going to have this dream job. And it's actually going to be very easy for me because, you know, I'm like the smartest person there is. Or maybe think about a person who's about to retire. And he says, yes, now I have it all worked out. I'll make this much money over this many years. I'll be able to retire nice and early. I'll be able to get that house that I've always wanted. And I'm going to be able to play golf all day long every day and watch the sun set at the end of every day. To my own shame, I remember that when I was in high school, I remember joking the same way. I remember asking, It was in jest, but I think it still showed an underlying attitude. I remember joking, what's the job that pays the most where you have to work the least? Because that's the job I'll take. And the underlying attitude was this, I'm in control, right? I'm the master here of my domain. I'm the captain of my own ship. I can make whatever choice I want to make. It's my life. I can find all my sufficiency and reliance on myself. And then we begin to boast in ourselves, don't we? And we boast not just that we have these plans, but how confident we can be in these plans. I know what I'm doing. I've got it all figured out. What could go wrong? It's the perfect plan. That was the attitude among some in the churches to which James is writing. And now, what does James write about all of it? What does James say? James says in verse 16, all of this boasting is evil. It's evil. The child of God should have nothing to do with that kind of an attitude. It's evil. And why is it evil? Well, I have especially three things for us to consider. First, this kind of talk is evil because the reality is, who are you? You're just a creature of the dust. You're just a man. That's what James points out in verse 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. And the point James is making is this, you're just a man. By your very nature, you don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow morning when you wake up. And yet you've got the whole next year planned out as if it's already in your hands simply for you to carry out. That's presumptuous. That's arrogance. That's thinking that you've got the kind of attributes that God has. As if you're the one in control, as if all you have to do is will it and it will take place. And James writes, what is your life? Your life is nothing but a vapor. I saw it this past week, a kettle on the stove was boiling and the vapor was coming out of the kettle and it wasn't even going up halfway to the ceiling and you couldn't see it anymore. That's how quick it vanished. Your life is like the smoke that comes out of a chimney on a cold winter's morning. Or like the fog that covers the ground on a cool summer morning. You look at it, maybe you go for a jog, you look back at it again, and it's gone. This is something that the Bible emphasizes again and again. We sang about it already tonight. This is something that Job confessed as he experienced a great and sudden shock to his earthly circumstances. Job writes, my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Think of a person at the loom. He's making a piece of fabric, and as you make the fabric, you gotta throw that fabric across, right? And then it gets pushed up, and then you throw it across, and it gets pushed up. And that's the weaver's shuttle. You throw it from one side to the other side. That's how short my life is. like a weaver's shuttle. Psalm 102 verse 11 puts it this way. My days are like an evening shadow. The same psalm puts it this way. My days are consumed like smoke. Children, maybe over the past fourth of July, you had sparklers that you were able to light, maybe at the campfire at night. and you get your parent to light the sparkler, and there it is, sparkling, and maybe you run through the lawn with it, and how long does that last? Five, 10, 15, 20 seconds, so much fun, and then all of a sudden it's done. And the light is out, it's gone. That's what our life is like. Like a flash of light, and then it's gone. And yet, this is how we're actually going to talk about our plans? We can't control anything. I can't control the number of my days. We know that, don't we? That's very acute to this congregation, I think, even in this past week. We can't control the market. We can't control even the ship or the train or the airplane that's gonna take us to that city where we plan to do business. And yet, the temptation, because we're proud, is to treat the future as if it's a dead certainty. That's presumption. That's foolish pride. That's also why James says at the beginning of verse 13, go to now. Come on now, brothers. Let's reason about this. What possesses you to actually talk this way? Are you really this foolish? Don't you yourself know? You do know that your life is but a vapor. So why are you talking this way? That's the idea. Well, second of all, First, not only is there the fact that we are but mere men, but second of all, even more offensive perhaps, I think so, is this, what about God? Where is God? in all my thoughts. Where is God in all my planning? This talk is evil, not just because I'm proud in myself, but because I'm really putting myself again above God, just as verses 11 and 12. You're judging God. You're judging His law. You're judging God. And now, verses 13 through 17, you've really pushed God off to the side, and you're the one. in control. That's what James emphasizes when in verse 15 he puts it this way, for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. Have I even prayed about it? Have I even prayed about it? The next year, buying and selling and getting gain. What these merchant men are guilty of is what we could refer to today as practical atheism. Practical atheism. Maybe you've heard the term practical atheism is where a person acknowledges that there is a God. He knows that God is there, so he's not an atheist. He's not that fool who says in his heart, there's no God. He knows there's a God, but he's a practical atheist. Because although he confesses there's a God, he doesn't actually live his life according to that. For all practical purposes, he doesn't live any different than the atheist. He's a practical atheist. And that's how it is with these Jewish merchant men. That's how it is with these church members. Listen to how they talk. We will go, and we will buy and sell, and we will get gain. They're not giving any thought to the Lord, what the Lord maybe has in store for them. There's no bringing the matter before the Lord in prayer, praying over the matter as a group of merchant men in their conference rooms, at their headquarters, whatever their business is. There's no concern with asking the question, is this actually what the Lord wills? Is this pleasing to the Lord? There's only thoughts here of self. What these merchant men are characterized by is what we refer to as ungodliness. This is ungodliness in the strictest sense of the word. Because ungodliness is simply this. You leave God out of the picture. You live your life without God. You are without God. You are ungodly. And that's where the passage fits into the context, because here in verses 13 through 17, we can still hear that ringing admonition that came to us in verse 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. What you've done is you've made God so small that God isn't in any of your thoughts anymore. You need to submit yourself, therefore, to God. And not only God, but how about Jesus? The one whom you confess to be the Messiah. The one who died and rose again. And who sits at God's right hand. Who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And you call yourself His disciple. Are you following Him? Even in your business plans. Living a life of deliberate service and thankfulness. Knowing how He laid down His life for you. This is where there's a good word for us as well. because we have these same struggles. Maybe we still include references to God in our conversations, but maybe sometimes the way we can act is like this. We only ask God to bless our labors. And we don't step back and maybe ask, what are the labors, God, that you would want me to do? Right? I know, I will determine the labors. I only look to you, God, to bless those labors. No, what are the labors themselves you would have me to do? So we're still often too self-reliant. We look to God only after the work is done and not before the work has started. That can be a danger. There can be a danger for us of practical atheism, right? I say I'm a Christian, but does God actually factor in on how I'm living day by day? I'm about to go to a job interview tomorrow morning. Have I brought the matter to God in prayer? We're about to go on vacation. We're going across the country again. Have we brought it to the Lord in prayer? I'm about to ask this girl out on a date. Have I even talked to God about it? About these decisions, these significant things that I want to take up in my life? Or does God have no bearing? on these parts of my life. And I would even say, it's not even so much about the praying, although the praying, it's the praying that demonstrates, right, the underlying reality. It's about the fact that I'm aware of God. I'm living with God, and I'm doing everything under God. And certainly, if I'm living close to God, and I'm humbling myself under God, then these are certainly the things that I would be bringing to God in prayer. I think we could all use a bit more of what Moses experienced in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. Remember when the Israelites were guilty of making that golden calf and worshiping the golden calf? And God told Moses that he wasn't going to travel with these people to the land of Canaan anymore. And Moses responded to God by basically saying, God, we can't take one step forward and I won't take one step forward except you go with us. For this is all our hope and this is all our confidence. We don't have any hope or any confidence apart from this, that you are with us and you go with us. It's like Joseph, remember, wrestling with the angel of the Lord at Panaio, at the river's edge, the night before he was about to meet Esau. I will not let thee go except thou bless me. I need to know your blessing is on these things. And it's a reminder for us to bring God into our thoughts. Third of all, the way these merchant men were talking is evil, not only because of their self-reliance, not only because of their practical atheism, but now third this, their materialistic mindset. These men are not just arrogant, that's one thing, but they have the attitude as if the earthly riches are themselves the goal. We understand the enterprising spirit is not sinful in itself. Being an entrepreneur is not sinful. We are to be diligent with the things and the opportunities God has given us. But the problem is that when God isn't in all my thoughts, then that ambition and that work ethic suddenly exposes another side to the whole situation. And that's this, that all my industry and all my planning suddenly becomes the pursuit of earthly riches for themselves, and not a pursuit of being a steward of the gifts and opportunities God has given me. Now, James doesn't really address that aspect in the text itself, but if you go to chapter 5, and even just the first three verses, you see that this is where James is going, and this is on James' mind. Chapter 5. Go to now, ye rich men. Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Those are very strong words. We'll have to look at those in more detail next time. But what James is saying, at least in part, is this. You are completely absorbed with earthly riches. You've become idolatrous, worshiping the earthly possessions rather than the God who already owns everything. And James writes, it's evil. This is not pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father. This is not the fruit of a living faith. This is not trusting in Jesus as the Lord and Savior that you confess Him to be. And so that's really how this passage fits into the theme of the letter of the whole. Faith, living faith, will show itself by even my attitude towards all these things. Well, if we jump down to verse 17, James has some strong words to say in verse 17. He writes, therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And a legitimate way to interpret that is to understand it this way. It's almost as if James is saying, look, you know better. You know better, especially after reading what I just wrote, verses 13 through 16. Now you know better for sure. To talk this way, to act this way, to think this way is offensive and foolish. You know you're giving yourselves over to a practical atheism and a materialistic attitude. You know you're leaving God out of the picture. It's sin, and you need to repent. You need to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. And that's a reminder for us. Beloved, if we know better, if we know better, and yet we're still puffing ourselves up in pride, we need to repent. Well, when we turn to verse 15, we see the kind of attitude that the Christian should have. In verse 15, James sets forth the proper attitude. He commends the proper attitude to us. Verse 15 reads, for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. What does that mean? Well, first, it means this. It means that we should make plans. Notice that, again, James is not condemning buying or selling or getting gain. James is not condemning that we try to be stewards of our time and make the most of our gifts and abilities and opportunities. James is not condemning these merchant men for the opportunities they are trying to seize. What he's condemning is the attitude of pride and self-sufficiency and that heart condition of being boastful or having that air of superiority. So, first, it's good to make plans. But second, what James means is that you need to make your plans a certain way. Recognizing God as the one who is above you, as the one whom you are under, as the one alone who is the sovereign God of heaven and earth. And we need to make our plans understanding our own frailty, our own ignorance, and our complete dependence upon God, even for every breath that is given. And we need to make our plans really by dedicating our plans to God, and with the desire that our plans conform to God's will. It's interesting, because in verse 15, when James writes, if the Lord will, the reality is there's always two different things to consider when you talk about the will of the Lord. First, there's the obvious meaning, if the Lord wills, that is, if this is according to His eternal decree. If this is according to His sovereign good pleasure and His providential dealings, right? Maybe a young couple wants to get married on a Friday night, if the Lord wills. Because things could change. A tornado might pass through and the wedding might have to be canceled. So that's the obvious meaning, right? If the Lord will, that's how we use it in the bulletin, oftentimes. But then second, really, the idea that's also included is this, do my plans actually line up with the expressed will of God given me in his commandments? Is this what God would actually have me do with my life? I need to examine my plans and my decision-making and ask myself, are the plans that I've made in harmony with who I am as a steward of what God has given me? If the Lord will. And that's the value of godliness. We talked about ungodliness, but this is godliness, bringing God into everything. So that when I actually bring my plans to God, and I ask his blessing on them, this is the value of godliness. As I do that, if I'm honest with myself, I am immediately faced with the question, is this something that could have God's blessing on it? Right? If I'm going to ask for God's blessing on it, is the plan itself good, or is it sinful right from the beginning? Maybe, if I have to examine myself, that might be part of the reason why I'm not bringing God into the equation in this part of my life, or bringing this matter to the Lord, because I know, or we know, that the plans that I've made actually go against God's commandments. And I can't honestly say if the Lord will, without actually taking His name in vain. Because I know that this isn't according to God's will. It's something to think about. Is that my explanation for why I'm struggling with bringing God into the equation? What also is the case is this, if we make our plans without God in them, and then we find that our plans are suddenly carried out just as we planned, well then, Then we have the occasion to pat ourselves on the back, don't we? We become proud because, well, I planned it and I executed it. And the reality is, we've been seeing this recently, except the Lord builds the house. Except the Lord builds the house. They labor in vain that building. It all depends on the Lord. And at the end of the day, the reality we must confess is this, except for the Lord's grace, and except for the Lord's provision, even physically to do the work, spiritually, mentally, in every other way, except the Lord gave me everything, everything was in vain. And when something goes awry, we need to immediately point to God and say, you Lord. You gave it, you blessed, you provide. That's very practical. I always think of the Heidelberg Catechism and the language that it uses when it says, neither our care nor our industry can profit us without God's blessing, right? Joseph at the river, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. I need God's blessing. Well, how do we do this? How do we develop or foster or maintain this kind of attitude of dependence on the Lord? Well, we do it out of Jesus Christ. First of all, we remember the cross. We remember the gospel. We remember Jesus. We remember our sins and the curse due to us for them. And we remember how God in his unspeakable grace provided us his only begotten son to be our substitute. And that immediately changes everything. That humbles me right away. Knowing who I am, knowing my life in Christ is all of grace, all of God, and none of self. That changes everything. And then how do we do it? Living out of the gospel, we continue to look at Jesus, and we even follow His example. Our Savior Himself not just died for us, but also gave us the example. Remember, Jesus' concern in life, if the Lord will, Jesus's meat, his food, every day was to do the will of his heavenly Father. He served God perfectly, and he submitted to God's will for his life, even submitting himself to the death of the cross, if the Lord wills. And Jesus's trust and hope was exactly in this. He knew that his Father's will for him was good. God has good in store for Jesus. Looking to the glory that was before Him and despising the shame, He endured the cross because He knew the joy that was set before Him. He knew that His Father was good, even though the pathway was very difficult and very dark. And as we live, we must live consciously out of Jesus Christ, knowing what He has done for us, knowing who we are as the children of God, and we must know that God's purpose for us is good. Right? Some of us heard the message this past week. His ways are higher than our ways. And His thoughts are greater and higher than our thoughts. But the reality is they are good. They are always good for me. I have my plans, right? I might have my vision, but I submit myself therefore under God, only if the Lord wills. It is better that His will be done than my will be done. I don't want my will to be done, ultimately. He knows what is good for me. He's infinitely wiser than me. His love for me is infinitely greater than what I can understand and appreciate. I can trust in Him. I should trust in Him. He's already saved me from hell by sending His only begotten Son. I know that His will for me is to bring me to heaven. I know that His will for me is that every day I remain in the hollow of His hand. And so I know He will provide me with all good things. He will make sure everything serves my salvation. So I have plans. But maybe those plans fall through. I have plans, but maybe those plans are suddenly overturned with a hospital visit, or maybe there's a business venture gone sour, or the loss of a job. I have plans, but this is what I do. I humble myself in the sight of the Lord." That's what James is talking about. And what the great blessing is in having that kind of posture, the great blessing is this. I don't have to worry. I know His will is being done. I know that whatever befalls me, my life is in God's hands, and I don't need to worry. I must not be arrogant. I must not rejoice in my boastings. That's not pleasing to the Lord. But I don't need to worry either. I can be confident in the Lord. because I want what the Lord wants, He will guide me, He will give His grace for the moment, and His will is safe. Beloved congregation, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Make your plans, be faithful with what God has given you, but let us also submit everything we plan to the Lord in prayer. Stay away from presumption. Acknowledge that the Lord, He is God. Confess His power, confess Jesus as the Lord under God, governing all, directing all, and trust His love, trust His care in all things, and then live for His glory, carrying out the plans you've made, serving Him, trusting Him to His glory. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, this chapter has strong language and wakes us up from our slumber and causes us to be alert. And yet, we know that it comes to us through Jesus Christ and in His love And these exhortations are good. We thank Thee for them, and we pray that even for us tonight, this word might be powerful and effectual, guiding us further in the paths of righteousness, bringing us into closer and deeper fellowship with Thee, trusting in Thee with a stronger faith, and confessing more meaningfully from the heart and in all our actions, if the Lord will. Thou art our hope, Thy will is good. We pray, give us the mind of Jesus Christ more and more. Bless this preaching then to our hearts and to our lives, to the glory of Thy holy and great name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.