Wisdom, Purity and Peace (Part C)

Full of mercy. That means, well let me ask this question, and without being crass, what are you full of? I would hope mercy and truth and grace, at least the dominating characteristics of the believer's life.

Mercy does not wear out. Wisdom, it needs wisdom from heaven to know how to apply it. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of James.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio. Specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today Pastor Rick continues his teaching called Wisdom, Purity, and Peace in James chapter 3. Lennon and Stalin, Mao, those folks, Marx, what did they give to humanity? They tried to take from humanity and have largely succeeded. Take away this knowledge of God and holy and righteousness and they sought to redefine what is acceptable behavior and what is not. We're living right now, much of the society is doing just that.

They want to change the identity of a male and a female, of sexual behavior. There's no limit to their madness, it is demonically driven. Don't you think for one moment that somebody just came up with this idea on their own. Human beings don't think this way unless somebody's been tinkering with them. And the somebody is Satan and all of his minion.

Take it seriously because they have, we talked about this Wednesday night, over 80 million people died in the Second World War, most of them not troops, civilians, very serious. None of God's word is fooling around. He says this is earthly, that is wisdom apart from a relationship with God.

We would say natural. It's denounced throughout scripture. Listen to what Jeremiah has to say about those who think they have wisdom apart from scripture. He says, the wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, so what wisdom do they have?

And then he adds in the Hebrew, diddly. That's the wisdom they've got. 1 Corinthians 3.9, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written he catches the wise in their craftiness.

You're not going to outsmart God. Yet, those out of the spirit, they love their brand of wisdom. They applaud their Aristotle and Plato and the others, the Romans and the Greeks, the Romans who followed the Greeks.

And what did they give us that we could, that we just couldn't have or do without? He says it does not come from above, does not descend from above. God-given wisdom never parts company with truth.

Never. It always goes with truth. Jesus said, I am the truth. You want to depart from the truth, you depart from Christ, you depart from God. Self-exaltation lies against the truth.

When I puff myself up, tell myself I'm more important than what I am. And God will have nothing to do with that. And so James is saying to the believers, don't behave this way. Many a well-meaning Christian has attempted to lay good things on top of a bad foundation, to try to put truthful things on that which is false, which is a lie. Jesus talked about this. You can't build your house on sand and expect it to survive the storms.

How great will its fall be? And there are many that appoint themselves to anointed positions and they have not been appointed by God because they want to be in the limelight. They want the attention of whatever else that there have been many throughout the ages and may we be careful of these things. Then he says, sensual. That is, and I should pause there. Where it says does not descend from heaven, I could spend a whole morning talking about things that the world does, that Christians accept, that does not come from Christ, but is touted to be so special but gives us nothing.

But I don't feel led to do it and I don't want to get in trouble with the Lord because one teeny mistake in the pulpit like that sticks with you for months. Well, not you maybe, but it does me. I can't believe I said that.

And well, let's get moving. Sensual. Now we would take that word and think that it has to do with the feelings.

It does. It's not limited to that. It is natural. We're told by those who translate that it's a difficult Greek word to put into English or to take it outside of the Greek.

But it's not impossible. It is natural. Appealing to the lower self, the lower elements of mankind.

Just again, the sensations. Not making, not contributing to right decisions. Jude will bring this up. He will talk about those who are void of the Spirit being sensual.

They're into this life. They're into the, this is what fasting is all about. Fasting in the Christian life is to say, I've got to put a check on my flesh. Because if I, I'll be better off by keeping my carnal urges in check. And so I'll deny myself. Discipline myself. And I don't think we, as a society that is so well taken care of when it comes to things, I don't think we excel in this area.

I read about it in the Gospels where the Pharisees boasted, you know, I fast once a week and I'm pretty impressed. It's difficult. Maybe, maybe you like, I don't know, Kiwi Raisin ice cream.

Who would like that? Maybe you like it too much and you need to just discipline yourself and abstain to keep the flesh down. Well, this sensual means essentially without the Holy Spirit. Paul, Paul asked the Galatians, he said, this persuasion does not come from him who calls you.

We don't have to get into the details of what Paul is talking about in the Galatians, or I want to. What we have to understand is that there is a persuasion. There are things that try to persuade us to do that, you know, things that God does not want us to do. And ultimately it is demonic and so he says it is earthly.

It is from the planet earth, not from heaven. It is sensual. It appeals to the urges, the carnal urges. And Satan is pulling the strings. It is demonic.

Satan is the creator of every false religious system ever known to man, beginning with Cain, which was the first false religion. That I can earn my way into heaven. That it is my effort that gets me approval with God. Do you know the first time the word wise shows up in scripture? It is in connection with Satan seducing mankind into sin. Genesis 3 verse 6. So when the woman saw that the, that is not where I want to start.

I will get to there in a minute. Here it is, Genesis 3, 1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

So what we see now is this demonic influence, this persuasion, and then we read verse 6, we're coming to the first use of the word wisdom. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of his fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate.

What appealed to Eve was that she was going to be puffed up a little bit more. She was going to be better off disobeying God. And Adam, of course, the fool that he was, was sure, whatever you want to do. Even when God said don't.

And men are still doing such goofy things. Romans 16, Paul says, but I want you to be wise in what is good, simple concerning evil. We see in Solomon where this all goes, when you start moving away, when you enter into earthly things, when you then move on, progresses into sensual things, starts feeling good, the next thing you know the devil has got you. 1 Kings chapter 11 verse 4, for it was so when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not loyal to Yahweh his God, as was the heart of his father David. You see he started making these, first he married a pagan, made her his queen, and then he married a whole bunch more. I mean it was a hobby of his, getting married, until just, what are you going to do today?

So I don't know, I get married. And he thought he was being wise and earthly and you know, doing it with the wisdom of the world is what he was doing. And where, how did it end? Where did Solomon land? Putting a pinch of incense on pagan altars, that's where it landed. The scripture is very clear about that.

So the earth is its territory. The flesh is its appeal. Satan is the author and finisher of the flesh for those who resist God. And James is saying, these things that you are doing, don't you for one minute point your finger and say God is doing this in you. It's not God, it's the devil working in your church and causing you to be this way. Verse 16, he says, for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Every Christian should know this.

Put that on our coffee mugs and t-shirts. Where envy and self-seeking exist, the outcome is confusion and every evil thing. Self-exaltation, disinterested and disrespectful to God all the time in the life of the believer. Where there is no imparted spirit of God, there is trouble and it's double trouble in the body of Christ, in the fellowship, in the flock which Satan is targeting. Paul, he wept over this thing.

He says, I warned you with tears that after my departure ravenous wolves would come in from amongst you, not sparing the flock. What kind of passion is that? Those of you saints who cannot serve for whatever, maybe physically, maybe you're up in years now and just coming down and helping the men paint and work is just not an option or whatever. You say, well, where can I serve, pastor?

My truck is always in need of cleaning. That's one. I should offer that. I just feel led by the spirit to say that. I don't, but a little humor.

I hope he's laughing too. Anyway, where can I serve? Well, you can go online to the website and you can look at the church events that are coming up. And you can start laying down a wall of prayer, a bombardment of prayer on that event.

We have the bonfire coming up next Friday. Start praying about that. Church service coming up. Pray that unbelievers will come into the house of God. Pray that ignorant believers who don't sit under the word will come into a house of God where the word is preached. There's so much to do for us as Christians. That's just a suggestion.

If you like that suggestion, let me know. Share it with me. If you say I can see that, then I can use it in future sermons. Verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. This wisdom is God's donation to the soul of the believer. The wisdom that James has been talking about since verse 1 is the ability to recognize and to realize the will of God and how it works in my life. And we're dependent upon this every day.

It's not like we wake up. I don't have to, you know, be dependent on God. He gave it to me. I've got it.

I can. We're dependent all the time. It keeps us in close relationship to the Lord. Divine rule of life is called righteousness in the scripture. It is more than just knowledge of the Bible.

It is first pure, he says. That is holy, undefiled because of its origin. Well, that is the case with Christ.

Hebrews 7, verse 6, speaking of Christ, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, who has become higher than the heavens. Again, evidently a hard lesson for some who tend to appease because they want peace so much. They tend to appease those who are wrong, those who have lies with them because they think they're going to arrive at peace that way. And you're not. You're hoping for peace built on compromise. Your foundation is sand. Don't settle down to peace at any price.

It is characters. There are people who do this. They want the church to compromise for the sake of everybody holding hands in this false unity.

Truth establishes what we will reunite with, not appeasement. Well, you know, you just can't reach everybody with it, so we'll have a section. We don't do this. If you're sharing Christ with your child and he says to you or she says to you, well, can I also pray to so-and-so? And you say, well, you know, I don't want to crush the child. You better crush the child with thinking, not the child, but the thinking of the child. No, you cannot do that because it's a lie.

Give them the reason why. It's not true. It's false.

So it is first pure. John 17, 17, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Sanctify them. Set my people on this side by truth because those on the other side have lies.

That is the big difference. The world hates us for this. They don't want us to say this to them. They want us to say everything is okay regardless of how destructive it is. Zechariah 8, God said to Israel concerning her restoration, ultimately I will bring them back, he says, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.

They shall be my people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness. Many kingdoms have tried to appease and because they wanted peace so much and were gobbled up. He says it is then peaceable.

So let's check the order because it's paramount. First purity, then peace. If there is no purity, there will be no peace. Christ stayed pure and they crucified him. His entire public ministry is characterized by fierce opposition plotting his painful and shameful death. They did not want to just stone him to death. They wanted to slaughter him in front of everybody slowly. And they wanted the Gentiles to do it.

The shame they heaped upon him. He knew all this and yet he did not compromise purity, his principles. And so first purity, then peace. You get people in church, can't you compromise?

No, you can't. And what do you know, you're called stubborn, you're called bull-headed, you're called unloving. Well, I'd rather be all those things and be right with God. It may hurt initially but it's worth it before the Lord. Gentle, it says.

Now this is one that I have struggled with so I'm going to skip it. Who wants to be gentle with people who are wrong all the time? God. That's who.

And it better be us too. I have been guilty of supposing that because I am right, I have the right to be harsh. That's a lie.

This is never true. Being right includes being gentle for the believer. Christ was just gentle. Even when he was beating people out of the sanctuary, out of the temple, he was being gentle. He was gentle when he stood before Pilate at the snap of a finger, at the thought.

Twelve legions of angels can come down and wipe out everything. Willing to yield. This does not mean that you appease or you're a pushover. The Greek word doesn't mean that and the context does not say this at all. Otherwise you have no purity.

A little leaven leavens the lump. What did the Greek word, closer to being approachable. That means you're not so abrasive, so mean-spirited that no one can engage you. And so he says, willing to yield. Almost done here. Just as long as we don't abandon our convictions, we can be approachable as anyone wants us.

But wrong is to yield to truth, not the other way around, which the world by nature wants to do all the time. Full of mercy. Let me pause here. I remember a church. The county came to the church and said, we want to have this graduation event for these three high schools, but we have no venue large enough to accommodate them. Can we have it in your church? And the church said yes. And then the church covered up the cross that was behind the pulpit because it didn't want to offend anybody. The cross is an offense. It is supposed to offend sinners. It says you caused the death of the righteous son of God. That is appeasing. That is not the kind of yielding that James is here talking about. When a person is wrong, we don't say when we're trying to lead them to Christ, well I'll give you that one. No, we won't give you that one.

Wrong is wrong, but we have to learn how to say it nicely. I wish I could get a sort of like a stunt double in when I needed to be gentle. Okay, come on, quick.

Because I've just flunked this course. Full of mercy. That means, well let me ask this question. And without being crass, what are you full of? I would hope mercy and truth and grace, at least the dominating characteristics of the believer's life. Mercy does not wear out. Wisdom, it needs wisdom from heaven to know how to apply it. It does not back down.

It stands firm. That's why it is mercy. Hosea 6, for I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Hosea was saying I don't want, God's saying to the prophet Hosea, I'm not interested in your religious steps. I want you to treat people the right way according to the standards laid down to you by God. Jesus echoed this verse, being the author of it. Matthew 12, but if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

You see the guiltless. Good fruits, good fruits are the outcome of this purity. And I really don't need much of a comment except to say that if you put rotten fruits up against good fruits, you spoil them.

The little 11, 11's a lump idea. Without partiality and without hypocrisy. Those are harmful additives. Playing favorites, being unfair, the partiality, the hypocrisy. Don't we all love hypocrites? We are to love them.

It's not what they do as far as hypocrisy goes. And so purity is lost to those two. Verse 18, now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Peace has to be made in this life over and over again. I guess, you know, in the summer months I like to sit outside on the patio and read, but I can't.

Not for long. If I don't remember to look up and move around every few minutes, because the insect kingdom, they're perched and they're waiting for you to be still and then they buzz the tower. And I mean when you're in a zone and all the bzzz and hummingbirds too, those nasty little hummingbirds. My point is you just can't have peace. You just want, it's a nice beautiful day out. I'm just going to be outside.

No, you better get, you know, the mosquito net aside. Anyway, you get the point. Peace is something you've got to work for. There's always some force looking to take it. Sown in peace.

Now, this is important. A peacemaker is not a pacifist, not when it comes to scripture. And now I'm not talking of physical violence. We want peace, but we will do violence to the truth. We will engage lies. We will stand against that which is against God. And so it does not mean well to keep the peace. I just better not say anything when God has told me to say something. And as far as physical violence goes, well, there are times that even the righteous have to support. I mean, if you were telling me that there's 100 men with rifles coming here to slaughter the flock, I don't know about you, but I think we should arm ourselves against that. So there are proper ways to resist evil in the physical sense, and there then are improper ways too. We just have to have the wisdom from God to know the difference. I like that it's in the scripture. It's just a small part because it should be a small part of our lives. Lord, we have swords.

And he didn't say, well, get rid of them. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. That comes after blessed are the pure in heart, purity before peace. It is the standard of scripture. We are to pull this off with a gentleness and a merciful and approachable spirit.

At least you are because I've had my problems with it. Well, that's about all we have to say about these things, that the sowers of peace are more than just sowers. They are makers. They are active, actively involved. What James has to say needs to be said and needs to be heard. Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. When you visit the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James right here on Cross Reference Radio.