James chapter 3, and we'll begin at verse number 13. James chapter 3, and we will begin tonight at verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his with weakness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, for where envy and strife is, there's infusion in every evil word. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, than 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." Before we pray, let me ask something. If it's just me, does it sound like the mic is too loud? Is it okay? Does it sound bad? All right, maybe it's just me. All right, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, help me as I preach tonight. Give us a good meeting. Perhaps there's still some on their way. Get them here safely. Do pray for Carl, too, as you preach the story to other people. Get him a good meeting back there. Keep your hand on our church tonight. May the Spirit of God speak to us and bring conviction, if necessary, and comfort and joy. That's always necessary as well. We just pray this. Give us a great meeting tonight. May the Spirit of God lead me and help me and guide me and fill me as I endeavor to preach. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, we're going to talk about wisdom tonight, a biblical view of wisdom. James refers to both wisdom and knowledge in verse thirteen. If you look at verse thirteen, the clue is a wise man is wisdom, and it's due with knowledge among you. So, wisdom and knowledge go together, but there is a distinction between wisdom and and knowledge. Some folks use the terms interchangeably and so on, but there is a difference between the two, though they are closely connected. Webster's Dictionary says that knowledge refers to the possession of facts, whereas wisdom refers to the ability to judge soundly and deal seriously with... I'm sorry, let me say it again. Wisdom refers to the ability to judge soundly and deal sagaciously with facts, especially as they relate to life and conduct. In other words, wisdom is accumulating facts, gaining facts, learning facts, whereas wisdom is the ability to deal sagaciously with these facts, especially as they relate to life and conduct. Webster's 1913 dictionary has this quote from William Cooper. Now, of course, William Cooper was a Christian. He wrote many hymns. He wrote that hymn, there was a fountain filled with blood. Many hymns that we sing. But, essentially, the old Webster's dictionaries had a lot of scripture in them. Hymns, things like that. That's all been kind of taken out in the modern dictionaries. But his 1913 dictionary, Webster says this. William Cooper said, knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, have oftentimes no connection. Knowledge dwells in heads replete with thoughts of other men, wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude, unprobable mass, the mere materials with which wisdom builds, till smooth and square and fitted to its place, does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much. Wisdom is humble that he knows so more. So that's a poetic way to differentiate between knowledge and wisdom. Now, many people are knowledgeable. Many people have gone to college and graduate school. They may be highly educated. They may be well-read. They might hold several degrees, advanced degrees. But oftentimes, they lack wisdom. I've met a lot of folks like that. I'm sure some of you have as well. For example, think of this fellow who's in the news all the time now, Newt Gingrich. Consider him. He's very knowledgeable. I don't think anybody would question that. He received a BA in history from Emory University, an MA, and a PhD in modern European history from Tulane University. So he's an educated man. But he's certainly not a wise man. In fact, he's rather foolish. So he's educated, but he's foolish. He's very proud. He's a liar, an adulterer. He's been married three times. His third wife, whom he was cheating with while he was married to his second wife, persuaded him to convert to Catholicism. He was a Baptist. Not our type of Baptist. He was like a Baptist, like a 40-blown Baptist, but he was a Baptist. And then he converted to Catholicism. Does that sound like a wise man to you? No, so they were fooled. Educated though, so there's a distinction between knowledge and wisdom. Romans chapter 1 verse 22 says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Tonight I want to speak on the subject of wisdom from God's point of view. Of course, that's the only point of view that's important. According to the Bible, it is not the possession of knowledge, but the proper application of it. That's important. That's where wisdom comes in. It's not the possession of knowledge that's learning a lot of facts. It's the proper application of that information that's important. Wisdom is not learning a lot of facts. By the way, I'm not at all learning a lot of facts. You know, I went to school, I had to learn a lot of facts. History class, you learn a lot of dates and famous people. Geography, you learn different countries. Mathematics, you learn a lot of facts. science, there's nothing wrong with—you learn the Bible, you'll learn a lot of facts. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not trying to minimize the importance of learning facts, but wisdom is more than that, as we'll see tonight. I knew a man who spent many hours reading the Encyclopedia, like a hobby. He would just—now, by the way, in the old days, reading the Encyclopedia Britannica was considered a pretty good thing to do, but now, with the internet, you can go online and get all the facts you want. turn your computer on, boom, boom, it's all the facts right there. But in the old days, the Encyclopedia Britannica was a good place to get information. But he spent hours reading the Encyclopedia, but he was a drunkard. Now, you can gain knowledge from reading the Encyclopedia, but not necessarily wisdom. You get wisdom from reading the Bible. You see? So you get facts and information and knowledge from the Encyclopedia, but you get wisdom from God's Word. God's Word says wine is a mantra. Strong Greek is raging. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20, verse 1. Drunkards, no matter how well-read or how educated and so on, are not wise. Because wine is a mockery. Strong Greek is raging. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. The fool. Now, we've noted before the close connection between the Epistle of James and the Book of Proverbs. And I've been going through Proverbs on Sunday morning in my Bible class, and going through James on Wednesday nights, and I'm amazed at the similarities between James and Proverbs. Now, if you look at Proverbs chapter 1, for example, talking about wisdom tonight, talking about the biblical definition of wisdom, the biblical teaching regarding wisdom, God's perspective on wisdom. Proverbs chapter 1, verse 1, Proverbs is Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom, there you go, right away, that's the theme. To know wisdom and instruction, to receive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, injunction, and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain the wise counsel. To understand the proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. Now watch this, verse seven is very important. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Elsewhere, it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So a person cannot really be wise, you know, biblically, apart from knowing God. The fear of God is so important. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 3, verse 13 says, Happy is the man that findeth wisdom. and the man that geteth understanding." Proverbs 4, verse 7 says, "'Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding.'" Proverbs 8, 11 says, "'For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that need be desired must be compared to it.'" Proverbs 9, verse 10 says, "'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.'" So I think you'll agree with me that In God's estimation, getting wisdom is very, very important. The Lord Jesus Christ is the personification of wisdom. Referring to Christ, Colossians 2 and verse 3 says, "...in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Therefore, the first step of true wisdom is receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. That's the first step. Now, true wisdom comes from God. Earlier James said we should show our faith by our works, and we spent quite a bit of time with that in chapter 2. James said that's how you show your faith, by your works. It's evidence of your faith. Now he says we show our wisdom and our knowledge by a good conversation. Look at James chapter 3, verse 13. James chapter 3. Let's go back to James 3. I'm going to try to stay there for the most part. James chapter 3 and verse number 13. Who is the wise man? And if you have knowledge among you, let him show out of a good conversation. A conversation in the King James Bible usually means behavior, conduct. That's not so much how you talk, it's how you walk. So, he says here, We show our wisdom and knowledge by our conduct, by our good behavior, our lifestyle, if you will. Now, he says, who is a wise man, and do with knowledge among you, let it show out of a good conversation or good behavior. His works with meekness of wisdom. Think about that phrase, meekness of wisdom. That's a nice phrase, nice term. he said the phrase, meekness of wisdom, is an interesting one. Meekness is the right use of power, and wisdom is the right use of knowledge. They go together. I never would have thought of that, but that's quite interesting. Meekness is the right use of power, and wisdom is the right use of knowledge, and they go together. So, James says, meekness of wisdom. Meekness, by the way, is not weakness. Now, the world thinks meekness is weakness. That's the worldly way of looking at meekness. But, you know, Matthew 11, 29, the Lord Jesus said He was meek and lowly. So the Lord wasn't weak. No. And He was meek and lowly. Moses was meek, but Moses wasn't weak. Numbers 12, 3 says, Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. So of all the men in that day, Moses was the meekest of them all. But he was a great leader, a strong leader. He wasn't. You try to lead a million Israelites through the wilderness, all of them griping and murmuring and backbiting, and you had to lead them all like that? He wasn't weak. He was very strong. But he was the meekest man in the world. Now, we're talking about true wisdom, which comes from God. In contrast, there's true wisdom, which comes from God. You see, in contrast, there's worldly wisdom, we're told in verse 15, is earthly, sensual, and devilish. Wow, that sounds pretty bad. So, there's another kind of wisdom. There's the good wisdom, the true wisdom, that comes from God. And then there's a bad kind of wisdom, the worldly wisdom. Look at verse 14. But again, if you have bitter envy and strife in your heart, worry not, and lie not against the truth. descended not from above. In other words, it doesn't come down from heaven. This is not from God. But it's earthly, or you could say worldly, sensual, or you could say natural, devilish, or you could say satanic. You see the contrast here. 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, Verse 20 says, has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? So God says what the world considers wise, God considers foolish. You know, sometimes the world is always puffed up about certain things and certain people and lifts them up, and God says they're foolish. I just mentioned one fellow, that Newt Gingrich, but there's hundreds of them like that in the news. You know, Donald Trump, right? I mean, the way he carries on, you'd think he's the smartest guy in the world, but he's according to the Scriptures, he's a fool. Man's wisdom comes from reason, but God's wisdom comes from revelation. That's an important principle. I think every Christian ought to understand that, that God's wisdom, the right kind of wisdom, true wisdom, comes from revelation. Say, what's revelation? Something that's been revealed from God, the Bible. And then man's wisdom comes from, you know, logical reason. He tries to reason everything out. Some things may seem illogical to certain people, but the Bible's divine revelation. I could give many examples. You know, some people say, oh, you say Jesus was born of a virgin. That's illogical, right? That doesn't stand for reason. That's unreasonable. Well, no, the Bible teaches it. It's very reasonable. You see, I was saying Sunday when I was preaching about the virgin birth, some people say, how in the world could you? Jesus be born without a father. You can't have a man without a father. Well, Adam had no father or mother. So we don't go by that. Man's wisdom comes from human reasoning. God's wisdom comes from revelation. That's a big difference between genuine Christianity and liberalism and the cults and so on. The cults will say, well, Jesus Christ is a man, therefore he can't be God. See? They try to figure it out that way. But we just go, no, the Bible teaches Jesus Christ as God manifests in the flesh. We believe the Bible. So we're governed by revelation, not by reason. I say, by the way, they're trying to say Christianity's not a reasonable thing. But it's a supernatural thing. And the natural mind can't figure it out. Now, Isaiah 29, verse 14 says, For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. The Apostle Paul quotes that scripture in 1 Corinthians 119, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. So, in other words, the Bible says man's worldly wisdom is all going to come to nothing. God shall destroy the wisdom of the wise. God's wisdom, of course, will endure forever. Now, James, here in our text, lists seven fruits of heavenly wisdom. When I was putting together my notes, I realized there's no way I could spend much time on this. We'll be here real late. You can't do that. So I'm just going to hit on these seven points real quickly. First and foremost, you'll notice, is purity. Purity comes first. Look at verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above. Now, there's a contrast here. Verse 15 says, this wisdom descendeth not from above. So the world's wisdom doesn't come from above. But God's wisdom is from above, verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above, in other words, heavenly wisdom, God's wisdom, is first pure. So notice purity is first and foremost. True wisdom is pure. It's holy. It's free from defilement. And true wisdom will lead to purity and holiness and godliness. Guy Kane said, it is impossible to exaggerate the value of a sensitive conscience. And I say, admit to that. That comes from genuine wisdom. Milton called the conscience the umpire of the soul. But some people need to train their umpire better. And yet, how do you train the umpire? How do you fine-tune your conscience? By the Word of God. People who have a sensitive conscience are people who read the Bible all the time. That's why you'll see somebody who's a professed Christian, and maybe he really is a Christian, stand in here, and you'll see another Christian stand in here, and they see an ungodly person in the middle, using profanity. Well, one Christian doesn't mind at all. Might even laugh. And then the other one will be offended at that. and blush, or walk away. Why is that? Well, that person who's offended has a sensitive conscience, a tender conscience. Whereas the other one is not the Word of God, not reading the Word of God. Look, the Bible says the whispers from God is first, first, pure. So if you're pure, you don't want to hear dirty words. Anything in the examples. Some people are crooked, they sit down watch some kind of junk on TV with bad language, and women taking their clothes off, and going to bed together when they're not married, maybe even homosexuals, all sorts of filth. Doesn't bother him at all. I heard his stories from a friend of mine. He didn't tell it to me in the conversation. I heard him preach it from the pulpit. Not here in our church, no other church. But anyways, this friend of mine preached it many times. But he said he put a mission out of it. And some other country. I'm not sure what country, at this point, doesn't really matter, but he's with a missionary, and they were hanging around, I guess, on a Sunday night, and the missionary popped in a DVD that was nasty, dirty. And my friend said, we can't watch this garbage. This is nasty. This is bad. It's dirty. And the missionary said, ah, come on, light it up, man. Come on. You don't be so legalistic. And my friend wisely got up and left the room. That's my mind for that. Look, the wisdom that is involved is first pure. He exercised wisdom by rebuking that man walking out of the room. You know what he told me? Well, he didn't tell me. I heard him say it in a message. He said, two years later, my missionary was off the field for morality. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised at all. If you're putting your mind with that kind of slop and that kind of filth, who knows what's going to happen? The wisdom that's troubled God is first pure. And then he says after that, and peaceable. Peaceable. So purity comes first, then comes peace. I referred earlier to Mr. Gingrich. Well, he's impure. All the cheating and adulteration he was doing. Committed adultery, home-armoring. He's so obscenely impure, even many worldly people are repulsed by him. He's so impure. Purity cannot be compromised. And peace at any price has destroyed many churches and many Christian schools. So peace comes after purity. We ought to be peaceable. Now, what does that mean, being peaceable? Martin Luther, the great reformer, told the story of two goats that met on a very narrow bridge. It was so narrow there wasn't room for both of them. One had to get out of the way. They both couldn't pass each other. Neither one would back up. And they both knew that if they got into a fight, they'd probably both wind up in a river. Finally, one of the ghosts just lied down and let the other one walk over him. So Luther's point was, the wise man's a peacemaker, and he'll do all he can to make peace without sacrificing purity. Romans 12, 18 says, if it be possible As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." And it is possible. Sometimes it's not possible, unfortunately. But it is possible. As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Romans 12, 18. So first comes purity, then peace. He says, "...the wisdom of God is first pure, then peaceable." Then he says, "...gentle." Now, I think a wise man is a gentleman. Not a roughneck. Recently, you've probably heard about this. It was in all the news. Some arrogant movie star. Now, some would say, actually, he'd be redundant. Arrogant movie star, you know? But this arrogant movie star had to be removed from an airplane because of his rude and disruptive behavior. He was playing some silly game or something. They said, please turn it off. He wouldn't do it. He went to the bathroom, started screaming, and banged on the walls. They go, we don't care. Let's have a tantrum. And this man considers himself a know-it-all, but it's obvious he lacks true wisdom. His true wisdom is peaceful and gentle. True wisdom is easy to be entreated. You see that in verse 17? Easy to be entreated. That means willing to yield. Like the story of the goat. The goat just lied down and the other goat climbed over him. Easy to be entreated. Conciliatory. Agreeable. Open to reason. Ready to admit when he's wrong. Some people will never admit they're wrong. And then Cain says, full of mercy and good fruits. That means compassionate, kind, not vindictive. Jesus said in Luke 6, 36, Be ye therefore merciful, as your father also is merciful. So God is merciful. We're God's children. We ought to be merciful. And people that are merciful are fruitful, full, full of mercy and good fruits. And then he says, without partiality. That means no favoritism. You remember back in James Chapter 2, he talked about trained favorites. If it comes into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly a title, and then it comes in also a poor man in bottom ring, because you're really nice to the one who's dressed in nice clothes, but you're not very particularly friendly towards the one who comes in shabby clothes, that's partiality. and would have to be like that. He says that without partiality, and then without hypocrisy, meaning be sincere, be real, not phony, no pretense. I don't know about you, but I don't like people that are phony. I just don't like them. And sometimes I can smell a phony. I can just smell them. I can smell them. It smells like a phony. P-U, phony. I have that ability sometimes. Not all the time. It's cool sometimes. Some people are really clever phonies, you know. They can pull the wool over your eyes, but I just don't like phonies. Let's move on. The first thing we want to talk about tonight is that true wisdom comes from God. It comes from above, is the way James puts it. Then there's the wrong kind of wisdom, which comes from the devil. And we already touched upon that, but let me go after it again. Now, King says that worldly-minded people are characterized by bitter envying and strife. You'll notice in verse 14. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your heart, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom is set up not for wealth, but is earthly. In other words, worldly, sensual, and devilish. In other words, worldly-minded people are always bitter and envious and cause a strife, wholly concerned about their own interests, their own selfish ambitions, their career, their plans, their goals, their possessions, their family. Now some might say, well, Pastor, isn't it good to be concerned with your family? Here's what I say. Yes, but some people put their family above God. Then I would say that's wrong. You see? God has to come first. above all human relationships. But the worldly man is proud. He's proud of his success, and he's jealous of any competitors. James says in verse 14, glory not. Glory not means don't brag, don't boast. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 31 says, that according as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in the Lord. Don't boast, don't brag, don't... Some people are always patting themselves on the back and so on. And notice the step downward here. Bitter envying and strife leads to boasting, which leads to lying and deceit. You see that? Glory not, and lie not against the truth. Don't be dishonest. That's what happens when people are not wise. That's when they're worldly and proud and not wise. So you see this downward progression. Bitter envy and strife leads to boasting, which leads to lying and deceit. And this wrong kind of wisdom, James says, descended not from above, it's from the world, it's earthly, it's fleshly, sensual. Notice, what's our three big enemies? The world, the flesh, and the devil. There you have it. Earthly, that's the world. Sensual, that's the flesh. Devilish, there's the devil right there. You see, our three great enemies. Now, we don't hear much, we don't hear many sermons against worldliness. I think we should hear more. I think the reason some preachers don't preach against worldliness is because they're pretty worldly themselves. I know that's a fact. Another reason why many preachers don't preach against worldliness is because they know they've got some worldly members and they don't want to run them off. Some of those worldly members ought to be good business. So, you know, I don't want to preach against worldliness because Some of those worthy members put a lot of money over their brains, and that's what they're thinking. Unfortunately. You see? I heard about a little girl who was watching her mother. Her mother was in the garden, flower garden, working in the flower garden. One day, and the little girl said to her mommy, said, I know why the flowers grow, mommy. They're so pretty, they want to get out of the dirt. I like that. I don't know how pretty you are tonight, but if you're saved, you want to get out of the dirt, amen? The world is delighted there. The dirtier, the better. Turn on the TV, smutty, dirty, they just love it. But we're Christians, we don't want to be around that. We want to get out of the dirt. One thing's for sure, God wants us to get out of the dirt, amen? So many reject God's wisdom and try to replace it with their own worldly wisdom. And James, this wisdom is said of Nahum above, for this earthly, sensual, devilish, verse 15. Worldly wisdom has the wrong motives, bitter, envying, and strife. Worldly wisdom produces the wrong results, confusion, and every evil work. You don't need to read these verses real quick and not really grab how needy they are, and how important they are. He says, confusion. But where envy and strife is, is confusion. That envy, evil, work. Wouldn't you agree with me tonight, there's a lot of confusion in America tonight? A lot of confusion. I mean, gay marriage? Talk about confusion. Man, this country's very confused. Look at the economy the way it is. Confusion. You have this governor of New Jersey, Corzine. He just lost, what, how much? Billions of dollars he just lost? Where's the money? I don't know. How do you lose that much money? He's governor, big shot on Wall Street, a senator too, in fact. Nothing but a crook. Confusion and every evil word. Well, let's move on. Wrong thinking produces wrong living. To avoid wrong thinking, we need wisdom. And that's why we're studying the Bible tonight. Well, true wisdom brings God's blessings. Look at verse 18, "...and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace with them that make peace." If you look at this carefully, you'll notice verse 18, the verse I just read, it's a link linking us to chapter 4. For whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts, that war in their members? Your lusts that have not, your kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain, you fled, you fight in war, yet you have not, because you ask not, you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you 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 a friend to the world is the enemy of God." I can read on, but you get the idea. There's no chapter divisions in the original Bible. Those chapter divisions were added on later, and I'm glad they did. Makes it a whole lot easier for us to study the Bible and preach the Bible and so on. But if you look at this link, James 3, verse 17 says that wisdom is what? Peaceable. Peaceable, gentle, easy to be treated. Then chapter 4 starts off by mentioning wars. See that? For whence come wars and fightings? Now, there's an important principle here. You reap what you sow. Verse 18, he says, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. Peace. So verse 17 says, the true wisdom that's above is peaceable. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. The next verse, chapter 4, verse 1, how come there's wars and fightings? People aren't acting very wisely. People are acting selfishly. People aren't exercising genuine wisdom. They're acting foolishly. And they don't understand wisdom because they have no fear of God. And they don't understand these biblical principles because they don't read the Bible. It's a shameful thing, but the vast majority of people in America say they don't read the Bible. You hear people misquote the Bible and say ridiculous things about the Bible. Obviously, you become a country of devil's orators. You read somebody's old documents and speeches by some of the men of the past, like Abraham Lincoln, for example. Always quoting scripture. When was the last time you heard a politician quote scripture now? If he does, he gets it all mixed up. With those old timers, they knew the Bible. They had wisdom. You say what you want about President Lincoln, he was a wise man. And the wise man demonstrates the fruit of righteousness. You'll see that in chapter 3, verse 13. Who's a wise man? And do with knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation, or a good lifestyle, or a good conduct, his works with meekness, of wisdom. And then verse 17. He's pure, and peaceable, and gentle, and so on. So the wise man has that kind of fruit. He sows in peace, verse 18. The wise man obeys God's laws. obeys God's Word, and he sows righteousness, not sin. There's a popular type of Christianity today that is as fake as can be. And churches can manufacture conversions. People say they're saved, they're born again, but there's losses can be. They can stage fake miracles. They can have fake tongues. They can have their artificial ministers and their phony worship services, and they're fooling many people. And they get big crowds. But there's one thing they cannot fake, and that's fruit. That's fruit. You know, I know there's some fake fruit. I've seen it. But you wouldn't want to take a bite out of it, would you? No, it wouldn't taste as good. But here, he says, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. That's the real fruit. And only the Holy Spirit can produce that fruit. You cannot create the fruit of righteousness yourself. Only God can produce that. And so what we sow determines what we reap. If we live in God's wisdom, we're going to sow righteousness and peace, and we're going to reap God's blessings. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. It does not make peace. But, on the other hand, and James is showing us both sides here. God's wisdom above and worldly wisdom from below. He shows us both sides of it. If we look by man's worldly wisdom that's not from God, it doesn't... it's descended not from above, we're going to sow sin and wreak confusion in every evil work. Let me say this before we wrap this thing up. Let me ask a few simple questions regarding wisdom. He has served the Lord without caring who gets the credit or who's paying attention. Some of these churches, you know, people have to be in the spotlight and so on. They're proud. Do you harbor jealousy and envy in your heart? James talks about envy and strife and confusion. The book of James is the correction for these kind of problems. Here's something I read. It's not even from the Bible, but I thought it was pretty interesting. It's an old proverb. Some say it's from the Persians, some say it's from the Chinese, and some say it's from the Irish. I don't know where it came from, but I thought it was pretty good. Maybe you've heard it before. He that knows not, and knows that he knows not, he's a fool. Shun him. I'm sorry. I said that wrong. He that knows not, and knows not that he knows not. Almost messed it up there. He that knows not, and knows not that he knows not, he's a fool, shut him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, he is simple. Teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, he's asleep. Wake him. And he who knows, and knows that he knows, he's a wise man. Follow him. Now that's, try to say that real fast, a few times at a time. I'm going to try it again. He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, he's a fool. Shun him. Avoid him. He who knows not and knows that he knows not, well, he's a simpleton. You can teach him. He who knows and knows not that he knows, he's asleep. Wakes him. Finally, he who knows and knows that he knows, he's a wise man. Follow him.