The General Epistle of James

The General Epistle of James

The General Epistle of James
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2024

Chapter three:

Verse one: “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”

Who is the ultimate MASTER of the Universe?  There is only ONE!  The MASTER of the wind, and of the storms of earth was here living among men for a little while when HE was awakened by the men [those fishermen] in their time of trouble.  We can see HIM now, for ourselves through faith here in the Gospel according to Luke:

Luke 8:24: “And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.”

Now, the master is the ONE who is in charge over his servants.  HE is the SAME as the ONE that is over the wind and the storms of life.  We will see further, that the MASTER has all these attributes as follows:

1.      A master is one that rules.

2.      A master is one that governs.

3.      A master is one who is chief.

4.      A master is lord.

5.      A master is possessor.

6.      A master is a commander.

7.      A master is a teacher or an instructor.

8.      A master is one uncontrolled.

9.      A master is a doctor.

10.   A master of business.

11.   He is a master of arts.

12.   He is a master of science.

13.   A master is a creator.

14.   A master is the director.

15.   A master is the owner.

16.   A master is a president.

Now, we must make a qualifying requirement for the men who are to be the masters over the servants of men.  This requirement is found in the Gospel according to Matthew:

Matthew 23:10-11: “Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.”

A master needs a servant’s heart!

Now, when a man is a master over other men, he has a very great responsibility before the MASTER of the Universe to be like HIM, a man who is just and equal in all his dealings over all his servants.  

Now we will see in the word of God an instruction of the MASTER given to the masters of men through Paul the Apostle in the Epistle to the Colossians:

Colossians 4:1: “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.”

Masters are further addressed as we will see in the Epistle to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 6:9: “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.”

Verse two: “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.”

It is a figurative minefield for one to cross over, that has the responsibility to lead others, without himself becoming guilty of committing offenses.  

Earlier, in chapter one, verse nineteen, we saw the need to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.  This is so true!

The ruler, the boss, the husband, or the father will all need to conduct themselves with great wisdom, and with great gravity in order to minimize the creation of unnecessary offensives. 

Jesus Christ, when HE was here the first time on this earth, warned us of the consequences of committing offences in the Gospel according to Matthew:

Matthew 18:7: “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!”

A Spirit-filled man will exhibit the fruit of humility, meekness, and temperance in the managing of others.

Galatians 5:23: “Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

A Spirit-filled man will be temperate in all things!  

In the second epistle of Peter, we will see this attribute as being one of the things that will need to be added to a believer’s faith:

2 Peter 1:6: “And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;”

The end-result of the seven things added to one’s faith will enable one’s bridling of the whole body.

Verse three: “Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body".

”

A small bit in the mouth of a horse can control the walk of this large animal.

Thus, the inward presence of God, which is God in you, can steer you, in your day to day walk as a Christian.  The bit in the believer’s mouth is the Holy Spirit.  According to the epistle to the Galatians, we are to walk in the Spirit:

Galatians 5:16: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

Furthermore, we are to live in the Spirit, day to day:

Galatians 5:25: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Verse four: “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.”

Though we [as Christians], be tossed all about in the troubles of life, our governor is in control, if we are filled with the Spirit:

 Ephesians 5:18: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”

The Captain at the helm can direct the adopted sons of God by the still small voice [See concerning Elijah in 1 Kings 19:12].

Be filled with the Spirit!

Next, in verse five, we will come to the matter of the tongue.

The tongue is a little member that lights a fire.

Verse five: “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”

Another small thing, that is the like the helm of a ship [of verse four], is the tongue. 

Here is the mother’s instruction to her child: Watch your tongue! 

And here is God’s command to all men to obey, which instruction is found in the book of Psalms:

Psalm 34:13: “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.”

There is a good reason for one to stand watch over the tongue!  For the tongue is connected to the heart, and the heart has been found to have a problem.   And what is this problem?   The problem is this, the heart is desperately evil. 

Oh, come on, now, you may say.  My heart is not evil.  And by the way, who says this horrible thing about the heart?  

Well, my friend, it is the LORD [the God of the heaven and of the earth] that says this thing about your heart, and my heart, through the prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

The tongue is connected to the heart, which is a deep well containing all manner of evil things.

Verse six: “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 it is set on fire of hell.”

Friend, did you know our tongue is the most dangerous member of the human body.  That now this tongue can make dirty with SIN the rest of our body.  Notice this:

Our tongue starts fires!

The tongue is a fire!

It is like, what the Spirit says it is, through the Psalmist in the book of Psalms, Psalm fifty-two:

Psalm 52:2: “Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp rasor, working deceitfully.”

Verse seven: “For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:”

Every creature, that God has created under the clouds of the sky can be tamed, except one.   This one exception is man.  

Now, why can not a man be tamed?  It is because of a man’s tongue.  This tongue of man renders him as an untamable creature.  For thousands of years, it has been an exercise of futility in every generation for a man’s tongue to be tamed.

Sin, Sin, Sin:

Verse eight: “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Observation: The tongue of all mankind is filled with all manner of poison.

Now, why is this so? 

Well, when sin came into the world, through Adam’s disobedience, we all were plunged into the darkness in the abyss of sin.  As rebels to God, we thus, became the wicked of the earth. 

Now, the wicked speak wickedly with their tongues.  The tongues of mankind are filled with deadly poison.  The proof of the matter is listed below in the following verses of the Scripture:

Psalm 58:4: “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;”

Psalm 140:3: “They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.”

Romans 3:13-14: “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:’

But wait!  The tongue can be tamed, because it needs to be tamed!  If discretion in a man is exercised, there will be help for the tongue:

Proverbs 19:11: “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”

This attribute called discretion keeps back anger.  When this discretion is exercised, it passes over the wrong that was done.

Verse nine: “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.”

There is something very hypocritical to be detected here in verse nine.  Please recall what was said earlier [when we commented on the book of James, chapter one, verse twenty-six]:

 What a religious man does may nullify his religion.  It can be all done in vain!

We end up being guilty of the sin of dissembling:

Now here is the definition for a dissembler.  Dissembling; concealing one's true character or true motives.  He is a deceitful person!  He is a vain person!

Psalm 26:4: “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.”

Advise: Do not hang around with such a person!

Verse ten: “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Something is very, very bad wrong with us, when we with our tongue honor God, and then, in our very next breath, we use our tongue to cuss out our fellow man.

Friend, these things ought not so be!  Rather we should with consistency make our tongue speak to the honor and the glory of our God.  Consider now carefully the word of God in the following verses:

Psalm 35:27-28: “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.  And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.”

Philippians 2:11: “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

1 Peter 3:10: “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:”

Psalm 39:1: “A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.”

In conclusion: There are three things our tongue should be:

1.      Our tongue should be as choice silver.  Proverbs 10:20: “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.”

2.      Our tongue should bring health to the hearer. Proverbs 12:18: “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.”

3.      Our tongue should bring life, rather than death, to the hearer. Proverbs 18:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

Verse eleven: “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”

Fact: A fountain cannot simultaneously produce both sweet and bitter water.

Now, bitter water is like the bitterness found inside of those who hate God.

This bitterness both destroys the body, and the soul of a man.

In contrast, sweet water is like the sweetness inside of those who love God.  The sweetness in life is what a man needs to thrive in life.

The Bitter Fountain

In the second book of Moses called Exodus, the people of Israel had come to the twelve fountains of Marah [Numbers 33:9], and they discovered it to be a bitter water.  It was not good water to drink.  It could not sustain life:

Exodus 15:23: “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.”

Observation: The source of the water to a fountain will determine its worth in its outflow.  When the fountains source is a river of living water, it will be sweet to both, the soul within, and in its effect on others.

Its effect should be to bring the word of life to others that are living downstream of its precious flow. 

  “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive:” [John 7:38-39a].

Ponder this now: The living water is of the Holy Spirit in the heart of all those that believe, that have received Jesus Christ.

John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

For those that are in Christ, their fountains will be seen to produce a sweet water, and not a brackish, bitter water.

Verse twelve: “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”

In the Gospel according to Luke, the Lord Jesus Christ shines a light, to what we see here, in the book of James.

Faith produces good fruit.

Now, here it is!  You can tell it is an olive tree, because it is producing olive berries.  And you can tell it is a fig tree, because it is producing figs.   The one is connected to the other.

Logic: The fear of God makes one to be filled with common sense!

Luke 6:43-45: “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

A good man brings forth good fruit.

An evil man brings forth evil fruit.

Thus, a person is known by his fruit.

Verse thirteen: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

This is a very good question!  What is a wise man? 

Answer: A wise man is a wise-hearted man by the operation of the Spirit.

Exodus 35:35a: “Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, …”

A wise man is a man that God has filled with the wisdom of heart:

Exodus 28:3: “And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.” 

Now, the wisdom of heart is in a man that is filled with the spirit of wisdom.

It gets better.  Wisdom is also, a person. 

Proverbs 1:20: “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:”

This person called Wisdom needs to be funneled to your ear, and applied to your heart:

Proverbs 2:2: “So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;”

A wise man is in fellowship with God’s knowledge and understanding through this person called Wisdom:

Proverbs 2:6: “For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

Observation: A man’s life that is filled with the wisdom of God is like a lighthouse shining in the dark-filled night.  It shines forth a beam in the meekness of wisdom to the souls that seek help from above.

Now, this meekness of wisdom is related to the very PERSON of Jesus Christ, WHO is the Son of God: 

 Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Matthew 21:5: “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”

Thus, meekness itself, is one of the fruits of a Spirit-filled man.

Galatians 5:23: “Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Verse fourteen: “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.”

The evil eye comes into the scene.

We will now go back to the time, and to the place when Israel’s first human king was reigning over the land.  This king’s name was Saul.  There was at that time a near constant war with Israel’s enemy [the Philistines] and a young man by the name of David had already become the hero to all the people of Israel, as recorded in the first book of Samuel the prophet.   In the eighteenth chapter we will begin to read:

1 Samuel 18:6-12: “And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.

And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.”

What we have just read, shows how envy moved into Saul’s heart. 

Moreover, we see in Saul the development of an evil eye, and how this evil eye effected his downfall through envy.

Now, the word of God in the book of Proverbs instructs us to not eat, or fellowship, with any such person who has an evil eye:

Proverbs 23:6: “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:”

Now, we have here, a heart issue.  A person that is given to complaining, or is given to murmuring, has already fallen prey to having an evil eye. 

This evil eye is always so busy sending out its feelers in order to scan its surroundings for the sight of any perceived excellence, reputation, or happiness being enjoyed by another person. 

Next: They grieve in their heart over any real, or supposed superiority of the other, and they, then, begin to hate him on that account.  This is a sinful condition that rises from the heart, and it is called envy! 

Envy is an internal enemy.  It destroys from the inside.  Envy brings rottenness to the bones of such a person:

Proverbs 14:30: “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.” 

Antidote: A sound heart by nature expels envy.

Now, whenever envy is present, mark me, strife will be found following behind, very closely. 

Conclusion: What should we do with such a person?  Well, we should do this; we should separate ourselves from them who are overtaken by the sin of envy.  Have nothing to do with them.  Just avoid them:

Proverbs 22:10: “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.”

This is wisdom from above.

Bitter envying will lead you to selling your soul.     

Now we come to a certain scene ... an imaginary scene, which was visualized in the mind of a man called [Steven Vincent Benet] many years ago.  

“It is a story they tell in the border country, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire.”  

It is a good old story for an old New Englander ... like myself.  I remember when I was a high school student in Peacham, Vermont, that The Devil And Daniel Webster was required reading in my English Literature class in 1967. 

Now, this was a long time ago, long before I got saved by the blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  Yet, even then, I remember a strange feeling had come over me concerning a certain aspect of Benet's story. 

Even though Daniel Webster was an important man early in our history, as a nation, it was not him who I primarily remembered after all these years.  

And even though that unsavory character, the Devil himself, known as "the stranger" or "Scratch" in the story ... remained stuck in my memory, it was the eeriness over the plight of another person in the story, that dominated me down through the years.   It was over the story of Jabez Stone. 

Now, the story continues here:

“There was a man named Jabez Stone, who lived at Cross Corners, New Hampshire.”  

Now, there is nothing too peculiar about the story, thus so far. 

Again, the story continues:

“He wasn't a bad man to start with, but he was an unlucky man.”  

Now, if we believe Benet on this score, that is, concerning what a bad man is, we will begin to believe the silly modernistic liberal's mindset: That there is a little good in all men!  

My friend, you better throw this one out in the trash, and instead, BELIEVE THE BIBLE!  

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Destruction and misery are in their ways:

And the way of peace have they not known: 

There is no fear of God before their eyes." [Romans 3:10-18]

There it is ... the double-barrel shotgun has gone directly off into the face of all who would believe in any possible goodness is residing in man's heart.

Announcement: Being full of envy is very close kin to the sin of covetousness.

“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers” [Romans 1:29].

Let us just say here, that Jabez was not outwardly immoral.   And that is about where we all start in life.  We come into the world, dead in our sins, and without a spark of goodness being found inside of us. 

Now, I hear you say, “Oh, my goodness!   I am not all that bad.”   Really?

What goodness is that, my friend?   I am pleading with you to take God at His word.  

In our story, Jabez Stone, as a young man, begins to promote his lot in life.  He goes by all the rules and keeps his nose clean.  He does all the normal things!   He finds himself a wife, and they two, have children.  He works hard to get ahead, and yet he is always spinning his wheels.  

To sum it up: It is a series of misfortunes that "dogs" him. 

The transition: Over time, Jabez develops an evil eye in viewing all the excellence, all the reputation, and all the happiness enjoyed by his neighbors.   Envy surreptitiously was slowly slipping into the heart of Jabez.

Then “one day Jabez gets sick of the whole business.”

Now, envy just took him over! 

I mean, he was about to call it quits.  This story is about a man dealing with the troubles of life.  The DEVIL was coming for him!   Benet's narration gives it this way. 

“It was about the last straw for Jabez Stone.  'I vow,' he said, and looked around him kind of desperate---'I vow it is enough to make a man want to sell his soul to the devil!  And I would, too, for two cents!' 

Then he felt a kind of queerness come over him at having said what he had said; though, naturally, being a New Hampshire man, he would not take it back.”  

Now friend, I know you have seen some person in your life suddenly run up against something in their life, which results in some discernible change in the direction of their life. 

(This will be the wrong direction!) 

It can happen at any time ... to any one of us. 

Now, I am inditing in this matter of the heart of man which has been eaten up with envy.

Envy makes you willing to sell yourself to the Devil.

How many of the children of men have fallen into this pit of selling themselves to the Devil?  It is a common saying among men that every man has a price. 

In The Devil and Daniel Webster, Jabez Stone had in mind a price for which he was willing to pay in exchange for worldly power, fame, and financial gain.  To gain this world's rewards, he would even be willing to sell his own soul.  

Poor Jabez!   He went after temporal gain to the total neglect of that which is eternal.  

Like Esau, he was willing to "sell" his own birthright for a mess of pottage!  

Like Ahab, for another: See 1 Kings 21:20:

“And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.”

My friend, never...never make the mistake about your soul's worth before God!  Your soul is so precious to God.  Do not ever forget that. 

Now who, may I ask, has done, as Jabez has done?  If it is you, then please REPENT!

In the next verse [verse fifteen] we will see that there exists another wisdom, a wisdom that is from below.

Verse fifteen: “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”

This type of wisdom is called:

1.      Earthly

2.      Sensual

3.      Devilish

The word of God calls it the wisdom of this world for a good reason three times through Paul the apostle in the first epistle to the Corinthians:

·        1 Corinthians 1:20: “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

·        1 Corinthians 2:6: “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:”

·        1 Corinthians 3:19: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.”

This wisdom from below is also a fleshly wisdom:

2 Corinthians 1:12: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.”

Verse sixteen: “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”

As we have already seen [in verse fourteen], whenever envy shows up, strife soon follows.  Nothing good ever comes from strife, but only evil things. 

Note: The Devil is always the author of all the confusion that ensues from strife, not God:

1 Corinthians 14:33: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

Verse seventeen: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

The wisdom that is from above is totally different from that of the wisdom of this world.  The wisdom that is from above is a heavenly wisdom, pure and right, which is the wisdom that the unsaved of this world reject.

This heavenly wisdom is the kind of wisdom that is only nurtured in the fear of God.  It is this same wisdom, that is the wisdom that preserves the way of the saints of God:

Proverbs 2:8: “He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.”

This heavenly wisdom lives and breathes within the adopted sons of God [the true believers in Jesus Christ] by the indwelling presence of the Holy Ghost. 

2 Timothy 1:14: “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”

This is a wisdom [which is by the Holy Spirit] whose pure fruit is:

1.      A purity in spirit.

2.      A peaceful spirit.

3.      A gentleness in spirit.

4.      An easily intreated spirit.

5.      A merciful spirit.

6.      A spirit of an impartial demeanor.

7.      A spirit without hypocrisy.

It is this same heavenly wisdom, that is inside the true Christian, that enables him, or her, to bless those that curse them:

Luke 6:28: “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”

Before we move on: Please consider the prayer of the martyr Stephen spoken just before he went up to heaven:

Acts 7:59-60: “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.  And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Wisdom engenders charity, which charity covers a multitude of sins.  Therefore, this wisdom that is from above is like a deep well, it proffers abundant forgiveness to others!

Verse eighteen: “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

The wisdom from above produces the fruit of righteousness, and is the mark of a true Christian.  This wisdom from this person will shine very bright, and turn many to righteousness:

Daniel 12:3: “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”

Again, this fruit of righteousness is seen in those who are exercised [or chastened] by the Lord.

To this the Scripture, itself agrees, as found in the book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:11: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”


Next - James Chapter Four

Friend

If you know the Bible Is True,

And you never received

Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior...

And you want to come to Him for Salvation now ... Then:

1. Admit ...  To God that you are a Sinner...

Deserving Hell Fire...

2. Believe ... that Jesus Christ is the Son of God... 

Who died on the Cross for You! ...

3.  Repent! ... Ask Him to Forgive You of Your Sin...

4. Receive Him... By Asking Him to come into Your Heart...

And You Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life! 

Born of God!  You Are in The Narrow Way ... To HEAVEN!