Self Sufficiency vs Reality
James 4:13-17 · Bob Eckel · Aug 27, 2023
James, No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261932262062

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so we're going to begin reading at James 4 11 today, and we'll go ahead and read down to the end of the chapter. And the title of today's lesson is Self-Sufficiency Versus Reality, and it is really that. So we're going to be, by the way, put on your armor here, because James hits you hard with this one.

Okay, so beginning at verse 11, Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother And judges, his brother, speaks evil law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Verse 13, today's lesson. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, a short time, and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Well, James, you know, doesn't, you know, beat around the bush, does he?

All right, so let's review last week very briefly. I think, you know, we read the verses just to kind of review those. We're commanded not to speak evil of our brother. That's an imperative. Don't do it. And there's a reason for that. Judging our brother is not our responsibility. And the third point, take-home point, is there's only one law given by a judge. And let's leave judgment entirely up to him. And it's sometimes not so easy, is it?

I mean, we talked last week a little bit about is it just a brethren within the body or is it in fact people outside that? And ultimately I think this is going to extend to the world system too. But we're pretty easily, you know, turn to really criticizing or speaking evil of the world system the way it's manifested. So let's keep that in mind as we carry ourselves in the new nature that Christ is within us.

All right, today's lesson, James, 14, 4, 13, and 14 combined here. And these are kind of verses that are very, very connected one to the other. Come now you who say today or tomorrow, let us go to such and such a city and spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit.

What I've done here is even though I've neglected to erase verse 14, I want to combine them because I've really prepared the lesson. I've separated them. So forgive me for that hypo here and not getting rid of 14 after 13. So this is verse 13. Let me read it again.

Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, let us go to such and such a city and spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. You know, come now, as I looked into this over and over, this is kind of Greek jargon, attention, come now. I mean, we might even use that a little bit to get people's attention, right? So, to get someone's attention, James just said, come on guys, you know, come on now. You know, you who say today or tomorrow, and what follows after that. I think before we dissect this first, let's ponder and reflect on our interpretation a little bit. I've got three questions for the class, so let's pause here and discuss this.

Should we make no plans? Should we have no goals? And finally, is making a profit wrong? Conversation. Don't all answer at once there. I think we say yes to all of those. You're saying yes to all of this? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I think they're all good things, but I'm, I mean, later on he talks about, you know, that you should, but I think they're talking about boasting about stuff and this. You're talking about what?

Boasting stuff. Okay. All right. Maybe, maybe, maybe you do these things, you know, tentatively. Well, if, you know, this is what I'm shooting for, this is what I'm hoping for, but, you know, whatever God sends our way, it's up to you. I'm going to challenge you a little bit on that.

Are plans and goals the same thing? I think they can be distinguished. You can make a plan for something, but is that necessarily a goal? Does it have to be? You could tentatively let Yeah, I mean, think about the workplace, think about the interactions within your family or something. You have a goal to get somewhere, but yet, what's the plan to get there?

So, I'm kind of separating the two a little bit. They can be related for sure. I think it's about taking the Lord into account. Bobby, thank you for bringing this back. This is Sunday stories. Alright, so how should we interpret the fact that the following verbs in this verse spend, buy, sell, and make are all in the subjunctive mood?

Subjunctive is probability, you may or you may not. Okay, so this is not a first condition. This is, it may happen, it may not. So, but in order to modeloscope to such and such, to spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit, that doesn't mean it's going to happen. But this is a theoretical, but I think it has really practical value, doesn't it?

Because in the world system, everybody's wrapped up in that, to some extent, all these three issues, making plans, setting goals and making a profit. Yeah, Jim. I think it's a sign of maturity to make plans, have goals, and expect some things, but like Bonnie says, to do it in light of what you think, depending on God. You know, because I made plans to retire. When I was working I made plans and I was going to retire at such and such a date. God had different plans, and I thought, okay, well, that's fine.

So I'm not going to push on this, but I mean, Peter had a goal to be promoted in his job, and he recently has, congrats to you. But yet, he didn't plan how to do this, that was up to somebody else, right? So I mean, you know, the goals can be varied broadly, but the question is not as far as who's in that plan, and who's setting those goals. All right, any other comments here in terms of the subjective mood?

I think Luther hits it on the head. It may or may not occur. Macaulay says this, this verse is a prime example of worldliness. Worldliness is not revealed by what the person spoken of in this verse does, but rather in what he does not do. He plans and arranges his life without regard to God. Worldliness is living life as though God doesn't exist. So that is worldliness, is it not?

It kind of depends on the priorities that the believer sets in his life. Okay. But we live in a real world, don't we? I mean, we have an occupation, we have a role in the family, and God puts a different perspective on that than the world system does, right? Other comments about that?

Okay, so, in a sense, I think this verse could reflect the Jewish merchant of old. Or even, keep in mind, James is directing his epistle to the Jew predominantly, the Jewish believer. And, you know, just an example of that, Matthew 13, 45, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. I mean, that's words of the Lord in a parable, but nevertheless, it gives you an idea that You know, if you think of the Jewish nation in general, these are very, very, you know, what's the term I'm looking for?

Oh, they're very... They're purposeful. They have a goal to set. And they're prosperous, too. They are prosperous. They're very prosperous. All right, good. And so what's the major shortcoming here? Right? I think Bonnie's already answered the question. Matthew 16, verse 6.

What profit is from a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his own soul? I mean, that's very reductionist and very simplistic, but yet the Lord himself said the world's system is not our goal. But isn't it interesting how many people we know that you say, boy, I wish they would change their focuses so worldly that they can't see, you know, that God has a plan. He has a plan and a purpose for their life, but they, without knowing Him and coming to know Christ, they're off, you know, going a different direction.

But sometimes I ask myself this very kind of question to myself. We all have an intellect, don't we? I mean, we make judgments and decisions. The question is, what's the foundation of those decisions? And ultimately, I think, this, the end, verse 14 then is, it finishes this two verse theme. Whereas you don't know what will happen tomorrow, the idea, gee, plans can be changed, goals can be not met, and ultimately there may be no profit, right? So tomorrow, we're not certain of, are we?

But what is your life that is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Wow. James, would you quit being so frank about that? So, any thoughts about that? Because we're going to go down a little bit more in a second here. Well, life is short. It seems, you know, when you're young, it seems long. When you're older, it seems short. You have to be shorter to be shorter. So, it's interesting here to look at this section of this verse, whereas you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, basically.

So, no here is epistemi. And, you know, if I think of know, I think of factual, Iago, or I think of epigadoska, or epigadoska. This is a different first word. And it's simply used, you know, in Scripture a few times. But it's become acquainted with. So, it's not fact. And I'm going to show you an example of that here in this verse of Jude 10. But these speak evil of whatever they do not know. Fact.

Iago is fact. And whatever they know naturally, or have become acquainted with naturally, like brute beasts, in these things, they corrupt themselves. So, back to this first one, you do not know what will happen tomorrow. It's, you know, what you're going to be acquainted with tomorrow. This isn't necessarily fact. It's not Gnoska for sure. It's experiential knowledge. There's Epignosa. experiential knowledge, but it's in fact something you're generally just going to be experiencing, but the fact that that is really not known.

All right, so for what is your life? Maybe that's something we ought to address personally. So what is our life? What is our life? What makes a world of difference if you come to know Christ? Your life totally changes. See, James is writing to believers. What's our life, everybody?

It's Christ. Christ is our life. You know, in a sense we make choices, but when we have a foundation of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, our life is Christ. And yes, the sin nature never changes, and we can kind of justify that. James has talked a lot about that already, hasn't he? But yet, our life is Christ. And I think that we could really read the whole New Testament in the epistles to you. But anyway, in Greek, life is defined as the state of one who is processed of vitality and animate, as believers. We are placed in Christ, and that's a vital and intimate relationship that we have.

And the verses that I shared here are really, I think, as good as any. Philippians 1, 20 and 21. According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, that that with all boldness As always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death, for to me to live as Christ and die as Cain.

Can you say it any better than that? And I did a preposition study, it must have been 30 years ago, but maybe a little less dated than that. I looked at prepositions in Christ or in him versus for Christ or for him. It's like 150 to 3 or something. So the in him or in Christ is really recapitulated time and time again, mostly in Paul, but also in other places.

It's kind of a fallacy. We're doing something. I'm doing something for God. That's a deadly trap. You can't. You can't. You have to have, you know, It gets the message of a lot of denominations. I know, I know. I'm doing something for God. I'm giving back. It just drives me up the wall every time I hear that cringe. I owe Him. That produces no rest. Right? The rest we have is a good place to start, I think. And when we have the peace of God, which is at rest, then ultimately the power of the Holy Spirit in our life ultimately enamorates or animates the life we have in Christ Jesus. All right.

Kind of hard to swallow, isn't it? It's even a vapor that appears for a long time and then vanishes away. So, I think with that, how do we versus the unsaved world interpret this and why? Is this beautiful for us? No. But we should be mindful of it though. Life is short. Is the world system not aware of that also? It is. But they don't have a future. They don't see a future.

But how many funerals have you been to where, oh Sally, she's in a better place? I know, I know, but it's up to the Catholics, they say that all the time. Well, purgatory is up to the Catholics. Purgatory is a better place? Hell sure is a better place. It's not a holding place, right? No. No, but I think, you know, the fact that life is available, we realize in terms of eternity, that eternity is not definable in terms of its existence from start to finish. So, you know, remember we're founded before the foundations of the world in Christ Jesus.

I think Christians mostly realize that there is nothing in this material world that can really appeal to our spirit that will last. You know, nothing in this world. You know, this material world's universe is going to be all burned up at one time. You know, so there's nothing here that really the last, and it just doesn't appeal to it.

But there's kind of a flip side to that. The things of this world, we are drawn away many times to the things of this world. The cars, the bright lights, whatever it is. We're drawn away to that. You're hopping to the last verse of this. But the world system has a lot of appeal.

Just think about the things we do that have a security blanket to them. I mean, how many don't have car insurance or home insurance? So why do we have insurance? Well, some people don't have it because they think God's going to take care of everything.

Well, that's the intellect playing into who we are in Christ Jesus. You know, we want to be smart. So we don't necessarily need to separate a life in Christ from being smart and making good decisions, right? So, you know, you can boil this down in a number of different ways, but the unsaved world sees their life as limited also, don't they? But they think from dust to dust to a large extent.

Or there's an alternative, like my brother. I loved him to death, but he believed he was doing enough good things. He had a life that was representative of a good man doing good deeds, and he didn't need Christianity. But I got reminded of his service, his final surprised me because Ed was married to a woman who had a Catholic background, but I'm not quite sure how that was being manifested in their marriage. But the pastor came up to me, he said, you don't know that your brother didn't come to the Lord right before he died, do you?

So, you know, being judgmental, and it also ultimately refers to what we were talking about last week, that's judgmental in kind of a different way. We don't know for sure before someone believes that they haven't heard the gospel and applied it to their life.

Hey, Bob. Yeah, Mark. It's just a question, but the verse actually says, from James' words, that our life is a vapor and appears a little time and vanishes away. It's almost like he's looking at our life as being just what's here now. That's it. I think he does refer, don't you think, to the earthly life. I mean, James clearly knows that absent from the body, present with the Lord, and from the believer, right? Don't you think? You know, I think maybe he's looking at it appears.

Yeah, right. We exist for a period of time. The temple exists. That's right. That's good. That's a good word. Good end. But we know it's not. Well, he's not crazy. I guess we're eternal and our life is with Christ. Good point. He's probably just separating the two. He's just probably separating the two and concentrating on this life here on earth right now.

Alright, so let's look at some versions that support this. So he said, I will do then this. I will pull down my bar. Yeah, pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be married. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have purchased or provided? So anyway. Life can be short, can't it? And that's the way the world looks at it. You know, eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we're going to die, you know? And you can't take it with you, can you? Right. Another verse that relates to this, Genesis 7, 6. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope. I know, boy. 1 Peter 4, 7.

But the end of all things is his hand. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. So that's indicative of some short time period. 1 John 2, 17, the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. So that's just kind of a soft color for a tired head in terms of how this whole appears to be short, but Roy, good point that it is long lasting. All right, let's start at verse 15.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. Now, I found this verse kind of challenging, so let's see what we can make of it. Instead, you say, present active infinitive. So, present tense, active, you ought to say now. It's something you should be doing. Opposes you say in verse 13. So we go back to verse 13 which says, come thou you who say. So this is saying instead you ought to say. So this is kind of balancing out what you're saying that this is maybe what you ought to say.

So that puts it in context. If the Lord wills we shall live and do this or that. Wills and shall, live and do are aorist, active, subjunctive. So that means the Lord might will or might not will. Let's tear that one apart a little bit and see what we have. How should we interpret if here? Is this a first class conditional where in fact that means more likely since or is this more a subjunctive mood as it usually is interpreted as it might occur or it might not. Roy, what are your thoughts? One of the things is this is a potential and we don't know God's will often.

It's in that environment that we live. And I think when the Holy Spirit controls us, we think God's thoughts when we're in harmony with Him. And if He doesn't, we think the world's thoughts are our own. I mean, it's just, it's that kind of simplicity.

Jose, I spent a little bit of time trying to drill down on this. It's tough to find a text that defines every if and every verse of the Bible. You really have to do a lot of work here, but this really is a true third class, meaning it may occur, it may not, and so boy... Exactly. Yeah.

All right, so let's go ahead. But I thought he would have us all live to be conformed and transformed according to his will. Isn't that his will? His ultimate will? Yes. All right. And what does it mean for the if the Lord wills? How should we interpret that?

Well, since we don't know, we just have to trust God. All right, back to how long he's talking about the the shortness of life, how long our life is, we don't know how long it is, so it's His will. We will live in accordance, our life will be as long as He desires our life to be. Well one thing we can do is we can balance in the fact that God has prepared for us works that we should walk in.

So what I'm trying to do is turn here a little bit to what the ultimate will of God is and I'm going to try to summarize this in two verses from Romans 8 29 we know well for whom he foreknew he also predestinated them to be conformed with the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren so one process for all of that is be conformed in the second one earlier in the chapter 12 of Romans and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the rooting in your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God So in context, if God wills, we have to be in a position to perceive that.

I mean, and ultimately, that's the power of the Holy Spirit. But I think, you know, Constable says this, a study of the use of this conditional clause, if the Lord wills, in the New Testament, makes it clear that we are not to repeat it mechanically, in connection with every statement of future plans. You put it as a contingency statement. Actually, I've heard people do that. I've been in churches that do that. And here are a couple of examples. 1 Corinthians 4, but I will come to you surely if the Lord wills. And I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, excuse me, but the power. So, I'm not sure if the Lord wills that or not.

Acts 18.21, but took leave of them, saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, for I will return again to you, God willing. And he sailed from Ephesus.

All right, and a third example, Hebrews 6, very simple, and this we will do if God permits. I mean, so I think I think the ultimate goal for the believer, his will is to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and transform us and our thinking and all of our life to make this new creation we have in Christ Jesus mature and expand and be glorifying to him. But God's specific will, I always kind of make a view, buy a black Chevy or a white Ford. I mean, I guess God could will that, but again, I think we live in a real world, make decisions, and it doesn't necessarily mean that God's will is for us to buy a black Chevy or a white Ford.

Yeah, Jim? Well, Frank, you said in the beginning of this message, you know, that we should make plans, but we need to be flexible with God's will. Well, the whole world system operates on some planning, doesn't it? Yes. I mean, think about that. I mean, in every aspect of life, we plan. I mean, when I got up this morning, I needed to drive to church. I mean, that's a plan.

It wasn't necessarily a goal, but it was also a goal that fit together. But they don't always fit together. I think our goals could be more distant in nature in terms of what we'd like to achieve. But then, why do we want to achieve more? financial means or reputation or whatever, wealth to God's glory, right?

I mean, that's what he calls us to. As I said before, you know, a mature person will make plans to meet those goals, but, you know, a godly man will do the same but with God's will in mind, looking to God for guidance. But I just want to remind us all that God's ultimate will is to conform us and transform us. That's his ultimate will on all of us as believers. But in terms of specific decisions, Exemplifies it here.

God willing or if the Lord wills and God permits. I mean, that's Hebrews. It's not written by Paul, I know, frankly. Whatever. I mean, this uncertainty about how God wills in our day-to-day lives is always there for us. And, you know, we're not zapped by a lightning bolt or some angel doesn't come down to us to make earthly decisions. But we want to make decisions that are to his glory and ultimately those that are morally acceptable, right? All right. Force exchange.

But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Isn't that the world system? I mean, they may do it passively, but yet perceptible by others, but they may be much more proactive in this atmosphere. Boast or rejoice or glory is all the same term. Present, accurate, indicative. It's fact that this is the world system, the way they operate.

And that's why James is being critical of his fellow believers here, that they're in fact still acting as if they are saved in terms of their motives. And your arrogance of saying that boasting is what your arrogance is, it's boasting. So the New King James calls it arrogance, but many other versions use boasting. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

The pride of life is this arrogance, by the way. It is not of the Father, but of the world. There's very few other uses of this term in the New Testament. So, the big three, right? Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life is really an attitude of arrogance. Alright, Constable, again, they derived joy from feeling that they controlled their own destiny.

Here is the picture of the self-made man or woman, if you will, taking credit for what God has given them. Boasting of this kind is unrealistic. It betrays an attitude that puts man in God's place. For this reason, it is evil. Thoughts about what Constable has to say here?

Alright, a couple of examples. Psalm 52, 7. Here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his weaknesses. 1 Corinthians 4, 6, and 7. I love this. It should remind all of us about how we can interpret this kind of self-centered approach to life in general. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.

For who makes you differ from another, and what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if you did not receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? If you did receive it, why do you boast that you have not received it? So, I mean, it's kind of like God has a blueprint for our life that we need to live the life and not ultimately see him playing a role in that to conform us to the image of his son, then I think it's mistaken. But yet the world system honors this type of attitude about those things or accomplishments. And, you know, I've been privileged to have a wonderful career.

I can't dwell on that. I mean, give it to the Lord. I mean, it was there for whatever reason. It's just, that's history. And I think we all have to give the glory to Him, even though on a day-to-day basis we may not be recognizing that. Maybe a little bit more conversation there?

I think, you know, the world, like you said, the world system encourages you to be proud, you know, be proud of your accomplishments. It rewards you for your accomplishments. It gives you these little medals that are worthless, you know, something like that. But I think that maybe in some ways it complements those things that were planned or those goals that we've set for ourselves. It may not be profit generating, but they may or may not be.

If we put God in that, and just take ourself out of that, saying, gee, Lord, you know, I'm working in a place where I feel that I can offer something here. You're putting me here. Let you, by your own timing and grace, show me what's ahead. And give God the glory. I mean, again, we have to make intellectual decisions in our day-to-day lives. But we don't want to take credit for ourselves for our own glory. That's the self-made man. That's where the trials come into play.

And we need to be thankful for them that way, to realize that those trials are there to humble us, but also grow us in grace. I mean, he's given us all a certain ability. It may be physical, it may be intellectual, it may be, you know, ultimately the gifts of the spirit in our lives. I mean, that's something we are given as gifts.

But we don't need to take credit for ourselves. Again, he's talking to believers here. We're not talking about people in the world. And those gifts can be taken away if you take them wrong. You know, all the things that God has given me, I'm thankful for, but I don't take any credit for them. Well, that's what Paul's saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. What credit should you take if you were not, you know, if you didn't get them from me? I mean, why are you taking credit? Hey, Bob? Yes, Bob, please. I've been wrestling with a passage that is parallel to this that you're talking about. In Numbers chapter 14 verses 12 and 13, God says in verse 12, I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them. I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.

That's God speaking to Moses. Next verse, But Moses said to the Lord, Then the Egyptians will hear of it. For you brought us, this people, in your might from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of the land that they heard that you could not bring us into the land. And God replies, I've heard your prayer. I will take heed to what you have prayed.

Man, here is a conversation between God and man. indicating that God put a test before him. I'll make you a substitute in your descendants. Go into the land. And Moses wasn't even thinking about himself, was he? He says, but wait a minute, your reputation is on the line here. And he pointed out to God something that he knew was true. And God heard him. How intimate that is. And how willing God is, not just to test us, but to listen to us when we pray. To do His will. Isn't that something? Yeah, that's special.

You know, it makes me think of something else that's really relevant to each one of us, is that ultimately, this concern that Moses had for the nation of Egypt in terms of their perception of God's will also makes me think that what's the perception of us as believers that we can make no mistakes, right? In other words, if we found an error or some issue comes up that we in fact do not represent the position of Scripture, ultimately I think what's our role then? I mean, I think One of the basic truths of what we study here at Holly Hills is that sin nature never changes, does it? So how do we respond as believers when we've erred, and particularly to the unsaved world around us?

Actually, I think confessing it is a good approach. I mean, many times, I can't think of a whole lot of cases, but where a believer will confess in publicly, and that actually turns out to be a testimony. of him being an honest person. Well, you're willing to admit your mistakes, not fabricate something. So I think it can be a testimony that God is working in you. When you say, hey, I was wrong about that. Exactly where I was wrong with that. Yeah, and I think asking someone to forgive you if you in fact have harmed them by words or deed or something else.

I mean, and then that's sometimes, as you pointed, an opportunity to share the Lord. We had a Jewish couple in our home this week from Tuesday through Thursday. And she's a Jewish changer. She says the Jewish faith does not like converts. They don't like that term. And she knows some Hebrew, and she went on in detail about her view of the world. And we share the Lord. We talk for an hour about this.

But anyway, I'd like to point out that Christianity is all about Christ, but yet we can make mistakes sometimes. We as believers are responsible to ask forgiveness and confess when we do this. Not only to the Lord, but to one another. And sometimes the Spirit leads them, but sometimes you don't even recognize what you've done. But that may come back to you later.

But I think what he opened up a door to is that we really need to be open to having the world see that we're not perfect in the flesh, but perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. And just a thought, when he prayed that prayer, it gave God an excuse to go on with his will the way he wanted it done. Isn't that something? Yes, tremendous example of how God's will wins.

The last verse here in James 4, therefore to him who knows to do good, does not do it, to him it is sin. So typical of James, the last verse of chapters is typically a summary of that chapter, and that's true here too. Therefore to him who knows to do good. Notice here is eido, so that's a fact of what's good and bad, and the tense is perfect.

It's natural to do so as extending circumstances from the point of offense. And does not do it to him, it's sin. So the question is, what's sin? We've got to miss the mark. James said something about that one time. If anyone's a hearer of the word and not a doer, He's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, okay?

So sin's part of the old man, it's falling short of God's glory. And even for the believer, and Romans 7 has a lot to say about it, has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not, but sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good. So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

So this is Paul under the flesh. And remember, chapter 7 of Romans is so critical in terms of understanding the old man and how he operates. There's Paul, ultimately fully educated in the tradition of Judaism. a Pharisee who knew everything about the Jewish faith, but yet he fell back into ways that he battled within.

We all do that, don't we? Day in and day out between the spirit-led life and the self-led life. So, anyway, isn't this the theme that James is all about? You know, James is not questioning our faith to believe. We're all saved, but yet the evidence needs to be apparent to not only you, but to the body around us.

So that really concludes this chapter. Any thoughts as we finish James 4 here? If not, Andrew, can you close us in part, please? Can you hear me? If my internet pulls up, God willing. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning and this study of James and all that your word gives to us to grow us in the grace and knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ. And just pray that we can apply these words about our lives and to look to you for guidance in our lives. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.