Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain:
3 sermons cite this verse
and every sorrow that comes into your life. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Come on, James. Why are you so picky? I mean, we're just talking about going to Dallas. yet you don't know about tomorrow what it will bring, whether you can go to Dallas or not. Who do you think you are? Talking about going to Dallas. What's your life? You're remiss. It appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we go to Dallas. We will live. I'm 80. If the Lord wills, I'll finish this tonight. If not, I drop over. Don't worry about it. Right? This will be good for me and maybe good for you. We'll see. Seriously, that's what it says, right? If the Lord wills, John Piper will finish the message. That's what it says. Come on, he's sovereign over your life. …
We'll read verses 13 to 16 and focus on verse 15. James 4, verse 13, come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit, or we'll drive to Louisville and go to the cross conference. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, here's what you ought to say. If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So focus with me on verse 15. you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. So there's an if clause and a result clause with two parts. The if clause is, if the Lord wills. And the two results are, we will live, and we'll look at that in about 20 minutes, at the end. And the second one is, we will do this or that. What does that mean? …
… My wife calls them God-sidents or God-incidents. Now come you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. You don't know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while. Here's what you ought to say. You ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live. Okay, I'm 78 years old. I might not make it through this lesson, right? Make my day. I will live precisely as long as God wills me to live. So will you. You don't have any choice about that. None. You think you do if you commit suicide? You don't. Good grief. You think God doesn't know that's going to happen? God didn't plan that? You cannot escape the sovereignty of God. You have no choice but to submit. You can either do it gladly because he's a good, wise God and offers his son to save you, or you can live in rebellion and perish. …