James chapter 3. The text for the sermon tonight is going to be verses 13-18. I'm not going to re-read them, so let's take no special way of those verses when we get to the end of the chapter. This is the Word of God in James 3 to us this evening. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame, but it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." Now the text. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if any have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." For where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." So far we read the holy and inspired Word of God. As I said, the text for the sermon tonight is verses 13-18. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the text for the sermon tonight, which comes from the end of James chapter 3, is related to two main themes that come through the book of James. The first main theme that we find in the book of James that is related to our text concerns the subject of wisdom. You'll notice at the very beginning of the book of James, he addresses that subject in verse 5 of chapter 1. If any of you lack wisdom, let a mask of God that giveth to all men liberally. James comes back now at the end of chapter 3 to that main subject of wisdom. And what he does here at the end of chapter 3 is contrast The true wisdom which is from above with the false wisdom that is from below. The second main theme that our text is related to that is found in the book of James has to do with being a doer of God's Word. And the idea that when one has a true and living faith in Jesus Christ, the inevitable fruit of that true faith in Christ will be a life of good works. That's the main theme that is addressed at the end of chapter 2. The demonstration of a true and a living faith to others is that a man walks in good works. The inevitable fruit of a man who truly believes and trusts in God and in Jesus Christ will be a life of good works. And that flows from the end of chapter 1, which talks about not only being a hearer of God's Word, but also a doer of that Word. In our text at the end of chapter 3, that main idea is expressed now in the context of wisdom. And that's evident from the opening verse of the section that we are looking at, verse 13. Who is wise? A wise man and endued with knowledge among you. Who's a wise man in the church? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. Who's the wise man in the body of Jesus Christ? It's the one who shows by a life of good works, a good conversation that flows out of a meekness and humility of wisdom. And that's our concern tonight, and we need to keep that in the front of our minds throughout the sermon tonight. That as we hear about wisdom, the wisdom that's from God, contrasted with the wisdom of the world, that if we possess this wisdom, and the one who possesses this wisdom is the one who believes and looks to Christ, and the fruit of that is God's work in and through Him, that that one will show clearly, the characteristics of wisdom as it's described in the text. So let's think about that tonight. This isn't just a matter of our minds and hearts. That's where it starts. That we must go forth in this week showing with the meekness of wisdom that we are wise by the life that we actually live. I preach this tonight at the occasion of Confession of Faith for a couple of reasons. Number one, certainly this is a word that the Lord willing will use to edify you, Austin and Dana. This is what you need going forth. This is what you need to do in your life. moving forward. Discern the false wisdom of the world which is all around us. Seek the wisdom that is from God and demonstrate that wisdom all your life long as you live here in the earth and in the church. So certainly for your ratification and for our ratification as individual believers, we hear a word concerning false wisdom and true wisdom. But the second reason that I preach this tonight is that it's for the good of the church. Not just for the good of individuals in the church, but for the good of the church as a body. Because one of the main ideas of this text is that when the church is filled with individual believers, who seek true wisdom from God, the fruit of that is going to be peace. The fruit of that is going to be a body that is zealous in living to the glory of God's name. And we contrast that with what is the fruit of living according to the wisdom of this world. As the text says, it's confusion. and every evil work." So yes, for the good of individual believers, we need to hear about true wisdom and false wisdom. But yes, for the good of us as the body of Jesus Christ as a whole, and for the sake of preserving peace, and to the end of glorifying God as a body as a whole. We hear this Word tonight, we believe this Word tonight, and we live this Word tonight concerning true and false wisdom. That's the theme of the sermon. Let's consider their characteristics, let's consider their source, and let's consider their fruit. True and false wisdom. Their characteristics, their source, and their fruit. As I stated a moment ago in the introduction, the main point of this passage is to contrast true wisdom from false wisdom. And just to demonstrate that so that we have that clear before our minds at the beginning of this sermon, take note of v. 15 and then v. 17. V. 15 says, this wisdom descendeth not from above. It's describing a wisdom. It's not from above. And then v. 17, But, the wisdom that is from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle, and what follows? What the Apostle is doing here in this text is describing and thereby contrasting the wisdom that is not from above from the wisdom that does come down from above. And so for each of the points of the sermon, what we're going to do is have two parts to them. We're going to describe the characteristics, the source, and the fruit of the wisdom that is of the world. And then for each point, we will describe the characteristics, the source, and the fruit of the wisdom which is from above. So we begin by describing the characteristics of the wisdom that is of this world. In v. 15, we read, "...this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish." This wisdom. The this wisdom that v. 15 is referring to, I believe, goes back to what is said in v. 14, and what is said after in v. 16. We're going to come later in the sermon to the idea of it being earthly and sensual and devilish. I believe that that's describing its source, the second point of the sermon, and I'll explain that later. The characteristic of this wisdom, referred to in v. 15, is found in v. 14, when it says at the beginning of the text in v. 14, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, Repeated in v. 16, for where envying and strife is. This wisdom. The wisdom of this world that is characterized by bitter envying and strife in your hearts. Before I explain that specifically, take note of the fact that the Word of God here identifies something of this world as wisdom. You could put the word wisdom in quotation marks to indicate the fact that it's called wisdom. It's not true wisdom. Something else is true wisdom. But nevertheless, the fact is the Word of God uses the word wisdom. And it does so for a good reason. Because there is a so-called wisdom that is found in this world. The world calls it that. Just the other day in the library, looking at some books, not explicitly Christian books, looking at the back of it, the endorsement with a famous person. This book is filled with so much wisdom. The Word is used by the world. And here the point is to say that it's a false wisdom. It's a masquerading wisdom. It's an attempt to show itself as the true wisdom, but it's nothing but a sham. But we have to understand tonight that there is a worldview, there is a way of thinking, there is a purpose, a motive, a view of our life here below that is characterized by a wisdom that is not from God, but is of this world. The characteristics of that wisdom are expressed, as I said at the beginning of verse 14, if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts. The characteristic of the wisdom of this world, as it's taught in this text, is the sinful, selfish, and zealous ambition to be exalted. Now why do I describe the characteristics of this wisdom in that way? It has everything to do with that description. Bitter envying and strife in your hearts. There's two parts to that. A bitter envying. Now that word envying in the text literally refers to zealousness, zeal. Zeal is to put all of your mind, body, and soul, the whole of your being, into the object of that zeal. Zeal can be both positive and negative. Here, it's obviously used in a negative sense. But that's the main idea. This zealousness characterized by bitterness. A bitter zeal. And there we see that this zeal is directed against those in the church. It sees other people doesn't like what they have, desires something for themselves. And that's why it refers to a bitter envying. But the main idea there is that of a bitter zealousness. Followed by strife. Bitter envying and strife. And here's where it especially becomes clear. That word strife in the text literally has the idea of electioneering. Or partisanship. Or vying for a certain position. When you put that together, you have a picture painted for you. And the picture is that of an individual in the church who has a selfish ambition to be exalted. who has a zeal that's directed towards others and it doesn't matter what is left in the wake of that person, but in that zeal is willing to put anyone else down, but in a party spirit is willing to wrap their arms around anybody else so that he or she might be exalted in the eyes of others and elevated to a position of significance. That's the wisdom of this world. And here we see what is in fundamental essence of worldly wisdom. Which stands absolutely antithetical to the wisdom of God. Whereas the wisdom of God aims towards what? God's glory. Put me down. Let God be glorified. That's God's wisdom. We'll come to that. The wisdom of the world says, put me up. Put others down that I might be glorified. This idea, this wisdom of the world, whereas when I say it just now off the pulpit, you can see how abominable it is, very craftily expressed in this world in which we live, such that we can at times even see it, latch onto it, believe it, and live according to it. We see this and hear this all around us today. Certainly, it's in the world. This selfish ambition to be exalted for the glory of man. We see it in the world of finance. What's life about? It's about you making as much money as you possibly can make in order to live the life that you want to live. So that when you sit with a college counselor, one of the primary things you talk about is, what life do you want? How are you going to achieve what you want? How are you going to reach the highest you can on the financial ladder? Selfish, self-ambition to be on the top. In a career, the singular purpose of the job that you have is in order to advance in that job and to keep stepping up on that ladder of the company in which you work. It doesn't matter what that may do to a fellow co-worker in his family. That's not the point. It's about me. And elevating as high as I can possibly get in this company. In the world of sports, you exert yourself with zeal and passion in order to be the best that you can be so that when you're out there on the court or on the field, you receive the glory and the recognition for what you have done. And the examples are endless. Life becomes a matter of what's in it for me. The seriousness here is that it's in the church. That idea and that wisdom of the world can be incorporated into the church. Certainly it was in the churches to which James was writing. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, the implication is that there were those in the church who had this. And this is why it's so important that we listen to this and we have young people and young adults listen to this so that we discern that wisdom of the world and especially see to it that it's not found in the church because it can be found in the church. When it's a minister who's in it simply to be the man in the church and in the denomination and to receive that recognition from others. Push aside anybody who puts Walls up to that. Wrap your arms around anybody who can help you get to that position. The woman in the church who, all she does is talk about what she does. And how much she does for others. disparaging what others do so that in the minds of people she's elevated to a certain position. A young person who sits here right now and says, I want to be in this position in the church, that's why I'm going to go to the church functions, talk the way that I do, do what I do in the church, because I want to gain a certain prominence. The man who says, I want to go down in history as having done something, It doesn't matter what it is, but I want to be remembered as a man of influence in the church. That was in the churches to which James was writing. And that can be in the church today. Because we all have that sinful flesh that loves self. And it can come through in all sorts of different ways. But we have to recognize it for what it is. Nothing other than the wisdom of this world. Standing in contrast to that wisdom of this world is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is described thoroughly in this text. And take note of that fact that it's described thoroughly. You can define wisdom, succinctly, But such a fundamental truth of Scripture is wisdom that it's better described in order to see its many aspects and elements. To succinctly define it, we can say that true wisdom is the gift of God's grace according to which a person knows the truth, and lives in light of and in harmony with that truth to the glory of God's name. And that end always gets at the heart of what wisdom is in contrast to the wisdom of the world. I mentioned it earlier, but I mention it again for emphasis. Anything that is the wisdom of this world always says the glory is for self. The wisdom of God always says the glory is for God. Wisdom is intensely practical. And that's expressed even in the question in v. 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? It's knowledge. But that word knowledge in verse 13 is about practical knowledge, experience. A wise person says, I know the truth. I know how this truth applies to my life. I live in light of this truth day by day, and I aim my life singularly to the glory of God's name. That succinctly is the wisdom of God. That wisdom is characterized in seven different ways in verse 17. The wisdom that is from above is first pure. Let's go through these and see what the main idea of each one is. It's first pure. First pure. First not chronologically, but first in terms of importance. Wisdom is principally, chiefly, fundamentally pure. And if it's not pure, none of the other characteristics that come after it are even in consideration. If it doesn't meet That criteria of purity, you can stop right there and say, it belongs to the other camp of the wisdom of this world. Pure. Pure is to be free from sin and defilement. God is pure. God is holy. The pure, the holy God is revealed in the sacred Scriptures. So that that which is pure and holy is that which is in harmony with the Word of God as we have it in the 66 books of the Bible. This is the fundamental question, beloved. Young people, as you think about what it means for you to live wisely in this world, whether it's an idea, a truth that you hear, whether it's a thought, a will, a motive that you have, whether it's a word that you speak, think James 3 at the beginning, the power of the tongue, whether it's an action that you perform. Is it wise? Is the idea, purpose, word, action wise? Ask the question, is it pure? Because in any respect, if it isn't pure, It's not the wisdom of God. Is it in harmony with the truth of God's Word? Then and then alone is it characterized by wisdom. Everything that we believe, that we think, and that we say, and that we do has to fall under the category of purity. Then, peaceable. Wisdom is peaceable. When we live wisely in the church of Jesus Christ, it is going to work towards and have the fruit of peace. This is a main idea in this passage. It's emphasized in v. 18. Again, sown in peace of them that make peace. A huge connection between wisdom and peace. The wise man has peace and works towards peace. Peace is to be united. Peace is the opposite of fighting and division and conflict. The peace is first and foremost with God in Jesus Christ. That's the greatest fruit of having the wisdom of God. That we are at peace with God and we know that through the blood of Jesus Christ. The barrier of sin is removed and we're one with God. That's what a confession of Jesus Christ is. I'm at peace with God. And when we walk wisely in the church, the fruit of that is going to be peace with each other. Peace in Christ, peace in our common walk, peace in our love for God and our love for one another. Wisdom always is characterized by that which has the fruit of peace. Remembering that peace is in the truth and in our godly walk together. Number three, true wisdom is gentle. Gentle. Another place in which we find this word gentle is Titus 3 verse 2. I'll read it. To speak evil of no man and to be no brawlers but gentle. There it's set forth in contrast to speaking evil and being a brawler, but gentle. A wise person is gentle. He's controlled. She doesn't get caught up in emotions such that she acts in a way that's unrestrained. Wisdom always manifests itself in being self-controlled. A gentle spirit that stands in contrast to the wisdom of the world. Talked about that zealousness, that bitter zealousness and envying and strife. Something that's implied in all of that is this uncontrolled doing what you need to do to get what you desire. Wisdom is inherently gentle. Number four, wisdom is easily to be entreated. And the idea of easily be entreated is that one is easily approachable and quick to listen. A wise person is easy to approach, and always willing to listen. How important is that for young people and young adults? We're all called to be wise. This isn't a matter of preaching to only those who are older in the church. You are called to be wise as a young adult or a young person. And a characteristic of wisdom is to say, I'm willing to listen. I'm quick to listen. And why? Because a wise person knows who they are as a sinner. I may not have it right. This doesn't mean that one is wishy-washy and lacks conviction. It means that we know who we are as sinners and weak of mind, with a strong sinful flesh, so that I am going to listen in a calm way, with an eye on peace, to others in the church. And especially, may that be the case for young people and young adults, as often times we need to be guided by others in the church. Next, the characteristic of wisdom is that it's full of mercy and good fruits. Here we see wisdom as it shows itself in relationship to others in the church. Wisdom is full of mercy. Here we see the contrast again. The wisdom of this world is concerned about me, myself, and I. Always, that's the essence of it. The wisdom of God puts self down and says, I'm concerned about others. I have mercy upon others. I have pity upon others. I have a desire to have others lifted up in their lives and full of mercy and good fruits. And those two go together. Not just a desire to do good to others. but a desire that shows itself in good fruits or good works that actually seeks to help others in the church of Jesus Christ. It's the sermon this morning that we heard about helping those who are in need. A wise person in the church who's aimed at the glory of God shows that by being concerned about the welfare of others. Next, wisdom is without partiality. What that means is that a wise person is no respecter of persons. He doesn't or she doesn't act one way around one group and another way around another group in order to set a distinction between people. As though some are more important than others. How important is that for you who are in school right now, junior high or high school? It's not about being in this group or that group. I understand we have friends that are closer to each other, but what drives that is not, I don't want to be with them because they're a certain way. No, as a Christian young man, a Christian young woman, it's without partiality. You're a friend to all. You show your friendship to all. May that be true at our schools among our young people because that's the way of wisdom. And then last, it's without hypocrisy. It's genuine. It's sincere. A wise person is who he is, is who she is. What you see here at Trinity on a Sunday, in how one conducts himself, how one speaks, is the same thing that you would see if you were able to see them in their homes with their family and with their children. It's never a show to get people to think a certain way about me. It's honest. It's sincere. Alright, many different ways in which wisdom is described. The wisdom that is from God. That leads us to the second point of the sermon. And the second point of the sermon describes their source. With respect to both the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, the passage describes where they come from. Again, let's start with the wisdom of this world. That's verse 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." I believe this whole verse describes where it comes from for two reasons. The first part says it doesn't descend from above. This is not its source. Not above. But... And that word, but, is the strongest word in the New Testament for an adversative. There's two words for but in the New Testament. One is weaker, one is stronger. This is the stronger one. Not from above, but, and the implication is, this is where it's from. It's from this earth. It's earthly. It's sensual. It's devilish. The wisdom of this world is from this earth. The broadest term here. In contrast to heaven where God is, the wisdom of the earth comes from this fallen world. It's sensual. It arises out of our sinful flesh that we have from Adam and from Eve. And let's take note especially of that last one. It's devilish. If that doesn't stop us and cause us to think about what we believe, what our motives are, how we're talking and how we're acting, this should. It's devilish. It comes from the devil himself and the source determines its characteristics so that we can say that all of these things that we talked about really are the very characteristics of the way that the devil himself thinks and acts in this world. That's the source of this wisdom that is characterized by a sinful, selfish ambition to be exalted. And that shouldn't surprise us that it's devilish. Think about the devil. Think about the devil from the point of view of his fall into sin. It's exactly this. What was the primary sin of the devil? Which is the essence of worldly wisdom. It's pride. He wanted to be exalted. He wanted the preeminence. By implication, a party spirit in which a third of the angels, we believe, fell with Him because He attacked the position that God had desiring to be exalted to the top. Whenever we think that way, act that way, are motivated by those desires, we are acting in the same way as the devil himself, which are sinful. The flesh loves which is found so much in the world in which we live. And that explains the two commands that are given in response to the presence of that in the church. Glory not, the end of verse 14 says. Glory not. Why? Because when you live according to the wisdom of this world, when you say, it's all about me when I'm on a court playing basketball. All about me when I'm on the computer looking at financials and wanting it to be as high as possible. All about me when you say, I don't care about the other employees. I want to advance. When you live that way, You're glorying in yourself. And God says, glory not. Be humbled as you stand before God as a sinner. And lie not against the truth. Ultimately, the devil is the father of lies. And this wisdom of the world can so often masquerade as true wisdom. People can be in the church and they can present themselves in a certain way. Really all they're doing is aiming for the preeminence. Say all the right words, in a certain sense act all the right way, but what they're doing is they're lying against what is the truth of God's Word. In contrast, to the wisdom of the world is the wisdom of God. This is the source of God's wisdom. It is from above, verse 17 says. The wisdom that is from above. That is to say, it is the wisdom that comes from God. James 1.5, if any of you lack wisdom, let them ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. And then verse 17 of chapter 1, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights. The wisdom that we need comes from the God who is the God of all wisdom. He knows all. He knows all in such a way that He does all in harmony with that knowledge to the highest end of the glory of His name. And that is why Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. In the inscrutable wisdom of God in eternity, He determined that this was the way chiefly that He would be exalted. This was the way that He would chiefly be manifested as the God who is the God of all attributes. It was in and through Jesus. And through the work of Jesus to die for and to save His church. When we see the cross, We see the glory of who God is. And in that cross in which God's glory shines, everything works to the exaltation of the God of all glory. So that we say, Jesus, His person, His work is the wisdom of God. When we talk about the source of wisdom, That leads to the very practical question of where are you going to look? for wisdom. We all need wisdom. Where are you going to look for that wisdom? What are you going to read to be filled with the wisdom that you need? Who are you going to listen to to be strengthened with the wisdom that is required for our lives on this earth? Negatively, we know what the answer is not. It's not the world. And the problem is we hear it from the world so much If as a college student you sit in the office of a professor who is your counselor talking about the future, you're going to hear the wisdom of the world likely. If you listen to certain podcasts of respected people in this world, you're going to hear the wisdom of this world. If you read certain literature, if you search certain social media websites, you're going to be inundated with the wisdom of this world that all fundamentally is the exaltation of self. That's why we always need to try the spirits. Not that everything they say is explicitly wrong. Much of it is, but we need to try the spirits to determine what is in harmony with the Word of God. Where do we look for wisdom, beloved? We look to God. James 1 verse 5 says, And the idea there is not that when all of us together read James 1 v. 5, some of us are going, oh, that's not for me. I don't lack it. But that person over there in the church, he lacks it. He better ask to God for wisdom. And someone over here says, yeah, this is me. I lack it. But that person over there, he doesn't lack it and doesn't need to ask that. Of course not. We read James 1 v. 5 and every single one of us says that's me. I lack it. You lack it. We need it. Which means this, when we understand the source of wisdom, we are filled with humility as we stand before God in our need for Christ. Why do we lack wisdom? It's because we're sinners. And every time I think about the wisdom that I need, I know that I don't have it as I need it. I know I don't have it as I need it because I'm a sinner with a depraved mind. Depraved understanding. And so every time I seek wisdom from God, I'm on my knees confessing my sins, trusting in Jesus Christ, looking to the cross, thanking God for the deliverance, and praying, O God, grant me wisdom so that in thankfulness and obedience I might live to the glory of God's name. We don't ask for wisdom. without understanding intimately who we are as sinners. And that's why this confession of faith that we heard tonight is chiefly a confession of Christ. Which when they confessed their belief in the doctrine taught in the Word of God and in this Christian church, it was a confession of Jesus Christ. And in their confession of Jesus Christ, it's a confession of, I'm a sinner. In their confession of, I'm a sinner, it's a confession of, I need wisdom. And when you say, I need wisdom, you go to God in humility and you ask Him for that wisdom. And in that humility that's looking to Jesus Christ, the fruit is that God will fill us with the wisdom that we need. We seek that wisdom through prayer. We seek that wisdom in His Word. This is what we read, for the wisdom that we need in all things. How do I know if who I'm dating is a wise decision? How do I know if my motive for the job I'm doing is characterized by wisdom? How do I know? If I'm conducting myself in the church in a wise fashion, I go to the Word of God and I seek His Word and what it says as the way of wisdom. It means, too, that we seek this wisdom from God by sitting under the preaching of the Gospel faithfully. That's why part of the submission to the elders in the church is such an important question in church discipline, or confession of faith. One of the main things elders do in the church is see to it that the members are here faithfully, because they understand this is where the Word of God is. This is where Christ is proclaimed. This is where the wisdom that we need for our life that we live is found. It's for the welfare of souls, therefore, that they see to it that we're found here in the church of Jesus Christ, where God's Christ, who is His wisdom, proclaims through the mouthpiece of an instrument the wisdom that is found in Him alone. Wisdom in this text is characterized in certain ways. Wisdom is described as to its source. And then we can end this evening by seeing its fruit. I point your attention to verse 18 of James 3, where we read this, of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." Or, the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. That's the analogy. It's that of farming, planting seeds. You plant a certain seed, and when you plant that particular seed, a particular harvest is going to come forth from that seed. That's the idea here. Looked at negatively and positively. If we are a congregation who plants seeds, they need to be the seeds that flow out of the wisdom of God. If we plant seeds that flow out of the wisdom of this world, there's going to be a harvest that comes from that. And this is the seriousness of heeding this Word of God. This is the seriousness of each one of us saying with the Word of God in James 1, verse 5, I lack it, I look to Christ, I seek it from God that I might live it in my life. Because if we believe, Live according to the wisdom of this world. What's going to happen to the church of Jesus Christ? What's going to happen to Trinity PRC? It's going to be destroyed. If every one of us is just planting seeds that flow from the wisdom of this world, which is all selfish ambition, in the glory of man, this is the end. According to verse 16, for where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. It's confusion, disorder, chaos. God is not the author of confusion, but the author of peace, the New Testament says. And every evil work. It doesn't take very long to figure out how that works. If we're filled with people in this church, who are not aiming at the glory of God, but aiming at the glory of self, with party spirit. The fruit of that is going to be division, chaos. And the fruit of that is going to be every evil work. It breeds sin. Because when there's that selfishness and that division, what happens? There's more slander. There's more talking. There's more suspicion. There's more party spirit. And the only thing that stops it is a confession on your knees saying, God forgive these sins and lead me now in humility in the way of wisdom. The end is the destruction of the church. But this is the end of the wisdom that is from God. Verse 18 admittedly is a very difficult verse, but just briefly to explain it. The harvest of righteousness, literally, in peace is sown of them that make peace. What seeds are we planting here at Trinity? What seeds are you planting in your life if you're a visitor tonight? The seeds that you plant in your life have to be the seeds that flow out of the wisdom of God. A huge part of it is peace. Sown in peace as those who love peace in the church of Jesus Christ. And that will happen when we are singularly motivated by the glory of God and the putting down of self and the exaltation of the truth and of Jesus Christ. Plant those seeds, beloved. Plant them by God's grace. And this will be the harvest. Righteousness. Be clear here, not the imputed righteousness, injustification, forensic and legal righteousness. That's not the idea here. Morally or ethical righteousness. It's talking about good works there. Doing that which is according to the law of God. That's the fruit. That's the harvest that is reaped. when we sow in peace the seeds that flow from the wisdom of God. And that makes sense too. Where there's a body with selfish ambition and party spirit, it's going to breed sin. Everyone's going to be led in the path of sin. But when we're a wise people who are all aiming together at the glory of God, God works in that in such a way that we're together encouraged all the more to love that God and to love our neighbor and to live in peace and fellowship with each other. At the beginning of the sermon, I said I preached this for two reasons. Number one, we need this wisdom. Young people, you need this wisdom. Discern the spirits. Deny and reject the wisdom of this world. Seek the wisdom of God in Jesus Christ. And number two, we love the peace of the church. And only when every single one of us says, this is my purpose in life out of thanks to God, to glorify Him in Jesus, we can be confident that God will give us a good harvest, a good fruit, and will preserve us by His grace in peace. And it doesn't start when you're 40, when you're 50, when you're 60, to think about these things. It's when you're 14, 15, 18, 20, 22. Wise at every age as we are able, by God's grace, to the glory of His name. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, we're thankful for Thy Word, we're thankful for Thy wisdom, and we seek it now in prayer, humbly knowing our need, which is in Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for our salvation in Him, and we pray, Father, that Thou will endow us with this wisdom so that we might be aimed in all things to the glory of Thy name. In Jesus' name do we pray. Amen.