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Whatever comes our way, we're to bless the Lord. That's what Scripture says.
And even when we don't feel like it, I will bless the Lord. Bless the
Lord. Oh my soul, Psalm 103, and all that is within me, bless
His holy name. Isn't that great? And it talks about the benefits, all the benefits of the
Lord. We got reason to praise God and bless the Lord for all those wonderful benefits.
Well, I'd like to pick up part two from last week and try to finish this sermon.
There's going to be other parts, by the way. And I appreciate
Brother Keith, he texted me, he said, you're going to continue in James, and he probably figured I was going to preach a Thanksgiving message, but you know, there's
Thanksgiving here, and everything give thanks. And it doesn't say necessarily,
Russell Kelper brought this out as well, he says, God doesn't say for everything, there's a difference.
Like my wife right now is going through cancer, she'd get on to me if she knew I was bringing her out, but she's not here, so I'm safe.
So that's right, if she hears this, but not seldom, very seldom she hears my message.
She even critiqued me there, but I praise God for that critiquing. It's always honest and truthful, and I can take it to heart, whether I'm too long -winded or whatever it may be, but most of the time that's what it is.
But to say what I'm saying here, Kelper said this, you don't give
God thanks for the things that hit us, right?
Such she is going through, Teresa's going through cancer, we're not going to give thanks, God thank you for this cancer.
We know that that's part of the fall, right? But it does say in everything.
So while we're going through the trial, and in the midst of it, like y 'all prayed this morning, thank you for your prayers for her.
She, and all of us, especially her, can give thanks to God in it.
Why? Because Jesus is right there by her side. He says,
I will never leave you, nor forsake you. That's what matters, is knowing that God is in the fire furnace.
He's in the storm, and he has the power to do what he wishes. He can calm it, or he can give us grace to make it through it.
One of the two. I remember Teresa's dear sister, sister, listen to me,
I prefer sister too, but her mother, her mother, when she had cancer, I remember before she died and went home with the
Lord, she had cancer in the bone marrow, and it was pretty serious, and her blood, and I never will forget her looking at me, and she said, you know
David, whether God heals, chooses to heal me, and you've got to understand, she wasn't real familiar with the doctrines of grace, she didn't have a lot of deep, she was
Pentecostal, but let me say this, she knew the Lord, and that's what matters. But this is what she said, she said, whether God chooses to deliver me, heal me, or he lets me to go on to heaven, she said either way is okay with me.
Now there's a woman that's surrendered to the sovereignty of God. She knows, she knows, and that's where we are, you know, so thank you for your prayers.
But we're looking at turning trials into triumphs, really. The testing of our faith, this is a series of testing of our faith, and if you see this in James chapter 1, you can open your
Bible there, I'm not going to read it quite yet, I've got a little bit to say before we get there, but in this wonderful chapter,
James is addressing trials, but really he's talking about how we can profit from our trials, and it's by the testing of our faith, that's what he's talking about.
And the testing of endurance, or perseverance, same thing, but it says patience, but really the patience is endurance, we're going to look at that, patiently enduring, and in the trial and the sufferings,
God has a goal in mind, God always has a goal in mind, alright? We have to have God's perspective on it, and we have to have the right attitude, even though that can be very difficult at times, but the
Holy Spirit can help us in these matters, and it's never going to be easy, of course, he never says it's going to be easy.
God has a divine purpose for his children, for all of us, and there are varied trials that we go through, different colored trials, you can count on that,
I assure you, it's coming, and there's no way to stop it, I can assure you of that one, it's a place, and it's a loving purpose that God has, and it's a good purpose, right,
Romans 8, 28, it's to those who love God, and that's who the promise is for, it's for God's children.
It may seem senseless sometimes to think about these things, and by the way, it can cross your mind that it can appear to be cruel, but God's not cruel, and you know what
I'm saying, because a lot of times when you're going through something that's very hard, and no matter how deep the valley may be, or how hard the trial may be, it does cross your mind,
Lord, why? Why is this happening? But God knows exactly why, because he's a good
God, and he's all wise God, and that's why scripture says later on, we'll look at it, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and we are to ask for heavenly wisdom in these matters, for the wisdom of God to help us, and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, so there must be a great element of the fear of God.
But let's look at this, we have to look at the divine perspective from God's view, that's what you've got to see, and you're not going to know that unless you stay in the
Word. If you don't stay in the Word, you're going to start really being confused,
Lord, what's going on here? And it doesn't mean that we know all things, because scripture says there are certain things that do belong to the
Lord and only to the Lord, right? That's what it says in Deuteronomy, those secret things, those belong to God, but God has revealed so much to us in his
Word, and there's much we can know, and a lot we don't know is because of our lack of understanding biblically, thinking biblically, and knowing the truth, and the more we know the truth, the more the lights will turn on, because the light's right here.
When we open up this book, this divine book, it's just not another book. This book is
God's breath, it's divine, it's full of revelation. Brother Keith sent me a text this morning, he said, deep calls unto the deep.
There's deep waters, Stephen Lawson said this, he said, those waters are so deep a theologian can drown in it, but yet, it could be shallow enough for a new believer to wade in.
Wherever you go, there's the wading, and then it goes into deep, deep waters.
Way too deep for us, beloved. So we need the Holy Spirit to help us. But God's plan's always good, as we sung, he does all things well, doesn't he?
We may not understand everything. And the Apostle James is speaking here about the attitude of our heart toward our outward circumstances and trouble, when these trials come.
We looked at that, right? The joy, we are to take it with all joy, count it, consider it, that's a counting word, consider this with all joy.
So really the question, what do Christians know? That's what we're going to look at today that makes it beneficial for us to go through trials, to make it profitable.
Question, there's another question, like I said before, what do Christians know that makes it easier to face trials and benefit from these trials?
How can we benefit from trials? How can we as born -again believers, followers of Christ, profit from these trials when they do come our way, right?
Like I said, they come in all various colors. There's different paths that God gives to each and every one of us.
But the Lord is good to help us through these trials. Some are deeper, some are more harder, but whatever the case,
God allows them in his sovereignty to help us, to lead us, to guide us.
He allows it. And, but let me say this, beloved, that the trials will come, whether we like it or not.
Like I said, they come in different colors, shapes, sizes, all from a loving hand of God.
We cannot forget this. We're apt to think that God is out to get us, that he's, you know, that's lies.
God's not out to get us. And by the way, let me rephrase that. He does, he is out to get you.
But he wants all of you. He's a jealous God. But what I mean by get, he don't mean, I don't mean cruelty.
He's not a cruel God. God is a good God. The lies of the enemy would make you think that God is cruel.
Pain, a lot of people say, well then explain to me pain. Well pain is simply from the fall.
That's not God's fault. And by the way, Jesus, God proved through Jesus Christ, by sending
Christ, look at the pain he took upon himself. Willingly, more pain than you and I will ever know in this life,
Jesus took it. He not only took it physically, he took it spiritually.
He took it mentally. He took it in all ways, in every direction. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with the grief.
So the Lord knows. The Lord knows. These trials come in various colors, all from the loving hand of God.
The hymn writer Francis Havagal said it this way from this wonderful hymn, it's called
Like a River Glorious. We didn't sing it today, we have sung it before, but the third stanza says this, and I love this third stanza, every joy or trial falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the son of love.
We may trust him fully, all for us to do. They who trust him wholly, find him wholly true.
And then the chorus goes, stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding as he's promised perfect peace and rest.
That's some good theology behind that hymn. And that's what's in it. Faith is always tested.
This is what James is talking about. Faith is always tested. Always the test will prove to show whether it's false or real, false or authentic, whether it's fake or real, real or living, dead or living.
So God, think of it, when God called Abraham to live by faith, and that's what he did, he called him out from Ur of the
Chaldeans. He called him to follow him. God was leading him. And if you notice, it's very encouraging,
Abraham did not become a giant in the faith immediately. There were stages that he had, testings that he went through, and he did somewhat fail the test in Egypt.
He lied about his wife, and God proved him for it, and God sent a curse, a plague dare
I should say, upon the Egyptians in Egypt, and Pharaoh said, get out of here.
We don't want you. Abraham failed that test, but later on he passed the big test by offering up his son
Isaac, his only son. He tested him. See, God then tested him, and why did God do that?
To increase his faith, that his faith would be only in God, and did you know when he passed that test,
God says, now I know, now I know that you fear me. He says, you fear me, and by the way, before even
Abraham went to Mount Moriah to offer up his only son, you know what he said to his servant?
He says, I'm the lad that's going there to worship. We will return. See, that's faith.
He knew, he knew his God. He knew that his God would provide the sacrifice, and he had it resolved in his mind already, even if he stabbed and killed his son, that God was able to raise him up.
That's faith. So he tested him in order to increase his faith. God always tests us to bring out the best.
What does Satan do? Satan always tempts us to bring out the worst, and that's the truth.
The testing of our faith always, and I say always, proves whether our faith is genuine or false.
I like what Spurgeon said. I got this from his devotion. Miss Sherry posted this online the other day, and I didn't know this, but after I preached the first message from James about the trial of our faith, the following day,
Spurgeon had this devotion, the trials of our faith, and I said, well, isn't that timing perfect?
I didn't plan that, Miss Sherry, I really didn't, but Spurgeon, I got this from this devotion that you posted here, and I'm just going to read a portion of it.
This is what Spurgeon says about faith. He said, faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials.
Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her, tempest are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators.
When a calm rains on the sea, spread the sails as you will.
I love Spurgeon, the way he uses his English here. The ship moves not into its harbor, for the slumbering oceans to kill sleeps too.
I think I pronounced that right. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under pressure of the full and swelling sail.
He goes on to say, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven.
You see, it's when the faith is tested through the winds, through the tempest, through the hardships, through the trials, and then you come out on the other side and let's see what it is.
You see, it's got to be tested. See, this is what James chapter 1 is all about.
The whole chapter is talking about this, and we will look into this. It's how God's children can first profit from our trials, that's what we're looking at.
And then he talks about, if you could look it up through the verses, loving God under the trials, and then the qualities needed in the trials.
That's exactly what James is leading us to and talking about in the whole chapter 1.
So chapter 1 teaches us, it teaches us these great lessons, and I don't know about you,
I need to be taught. Now, I've been following Christ for quite some time, I'm 53 now, and I started at the age of 17 when the
Lord converted me, and I feel like, Lord, I've still got a long, long way to go. And the more I read this scripture, the more
I realize I don't know. And the more I'm humbled to the dirt, and the more I realize,
Lord, take me, break me, mold me, shape me, do whatever it takes. And you've got to be serious about that, but I say to myself,
Lord, I've come so short. I find myself coming so short at that mark.
Lord, I need your grace. So let us look at this wonderful lesson from the great book of James, this practical book.
Isn't it a practical Christian book? As you study this through me, you will find it is so practical in the
Christian living and everything that we go through. So James chapter 1, we're looking at verses 2 through 8.
This is the testing of our faith. The Word of God says this, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, and I believe a lot of times we will, he says,
Let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But let him ask in faith. Why? Because only in faith can we please
God. Then he says, With no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double -minded man, unstable in all his ways.
That's the Word of God. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for this wonderful Word before us.
We pray, Lord, speak to us. Your servant hears. May we be obedient. May we be doers of your
Word and just not hearers. By your help and grace and for the glory of you and your
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray in his name, Amen. Wonderful, wonderful Word before us.
Well, J .C. Ryle said this, and he's so simple, but he's so right. Trials are intended, number one, to make us think.
Number two, to wean us from the world. Number three, to send us to the
Bible. Number four, to drive us to our knees. Remember those four points.
I promise you, that's exactly what trials will intend to do for us as believers.
To make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.
This is so very, very true. Verse two, he says, my brethren. He's addressing his audience,
Christian Jews, scattered abroad, dispersed, suffering.
James wants to encourage them. He says, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
The Greek tense here is used to suggest that the joy is the result of the trials.
Jesus himself endeared the cross for the joy that was before him. And let's always set that before us, beloved, because we are to do the same.
And that's what it says in Hebrews 1, chapter 12, I'm sorry, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. And that is exactly
God's goal for us. We also see that another method in our loving
God uses in life of the believer is chastening.
The chastening rod of God, and a lot of times this is not so pleasant, isn't it? But God loves us so much he would go to any extent to make us holy.
Have you found that out yet? That's what God wants to do. He wants to make us holy.
He wants us to be more like his son, Jesus Christ, because he's pleased with his son. So when
God looks about his children, we really don't please them in any measure, only in faith in Christ, right?
Faith alone in Christ, and that's living faith. And what I say to that is, we can try to work up everything we can, but those things is not going to please
God necessarily. It must be in faith. And really chastening, which literally means, the chastening means child training.
Child training. Why? That we may be mature believers, right? These trials are meaningless, suffering is senseless, and testing is irrational unless there is a good purpose for them, and there is.
Sometimes they make no sense to us, like I said, but when we ask God in faith, faith that is pleasing to God, Hebrews 11, 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him.
For he that comes to God must believe that, here's the key, that he is, that he is
I am, that he is God, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Faith is trusting in the Lord with all your heart, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding, but acknowledge him in all your ways.
That's what faith is to do. And God rewards those who diligently seek him.
We must diligently seek him, just not half -heartedly seek him. God says there is a divine purpose, and the end to all he does is a good end.
The believer who expects his Christian life to be easy is in for a shock, is in for a treat.
Have you not already found that out? It's going to be in quite for a big surprise, because Jesus our
Lord warned his disciples in John 16, 33, in this world you will have tribulation.
It's coming. In other words, you might as well expect it. Tribulation will come.
But then he says, but be of good cheer, why, I have overcome the world.
The apostle Paul told his converts in Acts 14, 22, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Because we are God's scattered people, not God's sheltered people.
We too must experience trials. Trials are coming. We cannot always expect everything to go our way, in which sometimes we say, well, we think it will be better this way.
No. God knows all things and he knows a better way because he's an all -wise God and he's got another path lined out for us and he knows what's best for us.
Some trials come simply because we are human. Let me say this. People get sick.
What's that result of? The result of the fall. Once again, understanding the fall and human depravity helps answer a lot of questions why things happen, right?
Look at violence. Look at death. This morning we read, Brother Ben read to us, what about Cain killing
Abel? Murder. That was the first murder committed on this earth because of sin, because of man's depravity.
And look at Cain. He still pouted about himself, didn't he? He said, Lord, your punishment's too great.
Well, God could have killed him, but God spared his life. But there was a punishment upon him, a curse upon him.
He marked him. The result of the fall was thorns and thistles. That represents the pain that we see, the frustration, thorns, thistles, pain and suffering.
Jesus says the rain falls on the good and the bad alike. That's what it says. Sometimes trials come through accidents, right?
Accidents take place. We can't control. It's the things we can't control and sometimes you wish you could control, but there's nothing you could do about it, but fall on your face and say,
Lord, you're in control of this. You know exactly what's happening. That's what trusting God is about.
There's disappointments and even seemingly tragedies that take place. Seen them all, you know, we've seen them all at times.
The older you live, the more you see these tragedies, death, hardships, disappointments, you name it, it comes.
How are we going to react to these things? How are we going to react? Are we going to react in joy, all joy, pure joy, or are we going to complain and murmur?
Choice is ours. Trials come to us in various colors, in all sorts of colors.
All of it, like I said, is not a lie, but they do prove our faith, right? Well, to do that, we come out purged and holy.
I pray that we come out better on the other end, not bitter. That's the attitude and more
Christ -like, understanding that all joy and having all this joy, it's not always pleasant to go through these trials, but we can count it all joy because the great joy is on the other end in which
God has for us. He is our joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. That's God's goal.
God's goal is desirably have us to be more like His Son, Jesus.
James says it. Consider it. Count it. All joy or pure joy. It depends on your translation.
When you face trials of many kinds, many facets, facets and colors.
Now the parallel verse to this is 1 Peter 1 .4. I love this. You can mark this down because it seems it's interesting that Peter and James is both ministering to suffering
Christians. You notice that? Peter and James are writing these letters to suffering
Christians. And listen to what 1 Peter 1 .4 says and it's so closely related to what
James is saying. It's a parallel verse. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, it's only a season, right?
For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials.
You notice what he says there? And then if you look in chapter 4 of 1
Peter, verse 1 and 2, he says this, beloved,
I love that word, don't you? Beloved. You know what beloved means? Your love to the Lord. That's what beloved, that's all it means.
But it means a lot. You're loved of God, beloved. Think it not strange, don't be surprised, don't marvel, concerning the fiery trial.
Now he says fiery trial here, which is to try you, to test you as though some strange thing is happening to you.
In other words, don't think that this is a big surprise that this trial has come upon you. When you face these fiery trials, there is a good purpose behind them.
Let me tell you a real quick story here that comes to my mind. That God handcrafted a trial, a fiery trial, and he designs it differently, but like I said, like the song, it's different trials, but it's all through the blood.
Some goes through deeper waters, some goes through deeper trials. But this one particular minister, this was an independent
Baptist church we visited years ago, and the first time I heard this message, and he had it on a track, and it was a story about his daughter.
And every time I, you can hear this, and I would mention this to Teresa, which is absolutely just, it was so horrifying of what happened in this family, that it's almost scary to a sense, because you never know what
God has for you, but it doesn't mean for us to be fearful, right? But God picked a trial out for this family.
Had a little daughter, about three years old, two or three years old, and what happened is she was in the kitchen, and all of a sudden, they didn't smell, the mother did not smell, but gasoline had turned over, and the stove was heating it up in the kitchen, and what happened, it set fire, and the daughter was right in the middle of the gas.
It lit her up. She survived it, but she had third degree burns from head to toe.
She was totally deformed the rest of her life. I never will forget that this minister preached this in his congregation, and I remember he was retelling this story, and at that time, his daughter was maybe in her 20s, and he told this story in detail, it was just unbelievable.
I'm not going to go into detail, but she had to go through surgery after surgery after surgery. We saw them in a restaurant one day, and she was in a wheelchair, and she lost all her beauty.
She was a beautiful little girl, just a beautiful little girl, and I can't imagine what that family went through, seeing their little daughter go through such pain, and he testified it
I mean, and he even says in the hospital, she was in the hospital for a year, and she went through one surgery.
She had to have skin grafted on her, and she lost her teeth, there was so much pain she grinded them off.
It was just, it was horrific, and I kept thinking, and he preached on this passage from 1
Peter about the, he called it the fiery trial, with his own daughter, and he said, God did something in the midst, and he said, and he said the greatest thing of all was that God used this trial in her life, her little life, to bring her to salvation later on when she understood that she was a sinner, and this preacher was actually crying at this time, he said,
God, it's amazing what God can use to bring someone to Jesus Christ. He said what really mattered was her soul, and the perspective was, and when
I remember Teresa and I was sitting there, I think Elizabeth was just born, and we visited this church, and one of the church members had us over for a meal, his name was
Ben, a great guy, I met him actually when I was working on security guard in Lockheed, a third shift when
I was going to college, and his name was Ben, and he invited us over, and then he gave us this track, and he said he's coming to hear our ministry, he's going to be retelling this story, and as I sit there and I thought, wow, in the world, did they endure that, how did they make it through that, but God chose that trial for them.
The daughter lived, I don't know where they are today, but this was back in the late 80s, but it was an incredible story, how
God, have you heard that before? I've read the book, her aunt was in Bible study fellowship, and we were in leadership together, and she showed me the picture of her as a baby, and I read it.
So you met her? Yeah, and actually it was the mother's, the mother was to blame for what happened.
About the gas? About the gas. Yes. She actually was responsible for it, but that woman is a wonderful Christian, and the girl, there's a woman, and the whole family, they are fundamentalists.
Yes, that's right, it was an independent Baptist church. I remember going to it, and it's a small world, isn't it?
Praise God! I still have the book. Yes, the fiery trial, the fiery trial, I never have forgotten that, and it just hit me so hard, and here
I was studying for the ministry, but you know, you can know these things in knowledge, but these people knew it through experience, and that's what we're going to talk about here, but isn't it amazing what
God chose for them to go through? Praise God, thank you for sharing that,
Ms. Lillian, it's a small world, I didn't know that, but we know it now. But God handcrafted that trial, and you know,
God grew their church in leaps and bounds right after that, it's amazing what the Lord did, and grew it healthy too, just not in numbers.
But see, I personally believe that James and Peter are teaching this great truth. Why I bring this out, is these parallel verses, why, and I mentioned this earlier, that the
Lord's teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus our Lord preached, taught this great truth from Matthew's Gospel, so go with me very quickly, let's look at this reference, because it ties in to Matthew, and what
Jesus is teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. And you probably know where I'm going to, that great chapter, chapter 5,
I'm telling you, if you study this sermon, the greatest sermon ever preached, the greatest sermon that will ever be preached, nothing can match it.
And notice it's brevity, it's short,
He packed so much in, but if you study chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7 in detail, you will pretty much get what
Jesus is saying, the core of the Christian life. This is what He's talking about.
Let's look at chapter 5, look at verses 10 through 12. Jesus said this, and this is where Peter and James is coming from, right here.
What does He say? Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.
It has to be for Jesus' sake, right? That's something we bring on ourselves. And then
He says this, rejoice, rejoice, there is that rejoicing right there, and be just not glad,
He says be exceedingly glad. There's a reason for that. Here it is, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Now, think of this. In other words, Jesus is saying, happy, be extremely happy, extremely joyful when you are harassed for His name's sake.
Pastor John MacArthur says this, and I wrote this down from his commentary. He says, of all the Beatitudes, this last one seems the most contrary to human thinking and experience.
The world does not associate happiness with humility, mourning over sin, gentleness, righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, or peacemaking, holiness.
Even less does it associate happiness with persecution. Some years ago, a popular national magazine took a survey to determine the things that make people happy.
He says this, according to the responses they received, happy people enjoy other people, but are not self -sacrificing.
They refuse to participate in any negative feelings or emotions. Listen to that. And they have a sense of accomplishment based on their own self -sufficiency.
Wow. The person, he says, described by those principles is completely contrary to the kind of person the
Lord says will be authentically happy. Jesus says a blessed person is one who is self -sacrificing, but one who recognizes his own emptiness and need who comes to God as a beggar.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Knowing he has no resources in himself, he goes on to say this, he is not confident in his own ability, but is very much aware of his own inability.
Isn't that true? And he goes on to say this, such a person, Jesus says, is not all positive about himself, but mourns over his own sinfulness in isolation from a holy
God. To be genuinely content, a person must not be self -serving, but self -sacrificing.
He must be gentle, merciful, pure in heart, yearn for righteousness, and to seek to make peace on God's term, even if those attitudes cause him to suffer.
So true. The Puritan Thomas Watson, as we well know, is a great
Puritan, said this of Christians. Though they be never so meek, merciful, pure in heart, their piety will not shield them from sufferings.
They must hang their harp on the willows and take their cross. The way to heaven is by the way of thorns and blood.
Amen. And then he says this, set it down as a maxim. Set it down as a maxim.
If you will follow Christ, you must cease the swords and the staves.
That is so true, beloved. It's going to come. The fiery trial is going to come.
Persecution for righteousness is going to come when we follow Jesus. As a matter of fact, the false teacher that's out there telling people you come to Jesus and everything's going to be greater than it was before is dead wrong.
As a matter of fact, you enter into the kingdom of God with many more tribulations because everything in this world's going to be against you.
The world, the flesh, and the devil. But what we have to see is, if God be for us, who can then be against us?
The triune God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is far greater than the world, the flesh, and the devil.
See, for such is the way that God has for those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and taking up His cross and following Him.
That's the way it is, and that's the cost of discipleship. I will not get up here and lie to anybody to say it's going to be an easy way because he that says those things is a liar.
You see, such is the means of perseverance as well, and that's what we're going to see. We as believers are to count these trials all joy.
On a financial term, it means to evaluate it. This is an imperative because joy is not the natural human response to trouble and trials, as we saw before.
Again, we need to see Christians are not somewhat to be joyful in their trials, but looking upon them with all joy.
And we must always remember it's for the joy that's set before us. Now, when we fall into various trials, we as believers count it all joy, whatever the nature and severity of these trials are, meant to test a believer's faith.
So now we come to this part. So James does not distinguish between internal and external trials.
Doubtless because they typically are indistinguishable, you see. What begins as a purely external problem is an inevitably developed internal problem in testing.
And of course, it is the eternal fact of trials, the way in which we respond to them.
As we looked at, it's our response to it that will determine the genuineness of our faith.
Whether the trial begins as a financial problem, a physical illness or a disappointment in life, fear or persecution, it is our attitude about it and our response to that that will reflect our spiritual condition.
Now, verse 3, let's look at it. We will look at this one point today. Last week we looked at considering it all joy.
Today, that was the attitude. And I'll briefly recap that.
Let's look at knowing. Knowing, the word knowing. Knowing, that's the word.
And it is the understanding mind. The understanding mind.
Knowing, that the testing of your faith produces patience.
It's a loaded verse. I'm going to try to pack as much as I can here. Now, why do
I say this word, understanding mind? The key word is knowing.
These are big words and we need to not forget it. Knowing, that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Here you have the doctrine of perseverance. Right here. Here is a second means to triumph over trials through enduring it.
Persevering it. Now, that's the key. Patiently enduring it.
And trials is an understanding mind. It must be a biblical mind and a biblical way of thinking.
The Greek word knowing carries the idea of full understanding of something that is beyond the merely factual and often comes with personal experience.
Now, beloved, I'm telling you. I could tell you years ago, and I'm giving you a personal story here.
I studied for the ministry many years and studied the scriptures many years. But God taught me more through trials and personal experience about faith than He ever did in the classroom.
In the backside of a desert. Where God tested my faith.
And you know what I'm talking about. That's where it becomes real. It's beyond just theology.
You've got to have good theology. But you've got to have the personal experience to know what this book is talking about.
Now, we don't base everything upon our feelings and personal experience. I'm not saying that. But I am saying sound doctrine, yes, that's important.
You've got to know sound doctrine. But you don't know that sound doctrine right until that personal experience, until your faith is tested.
You know what I'm saying. So, knowing carries the idea that full understanding of that. Often it comes with personal experience.
Jesus used the same word, by the way, in the parable of the fig tree in Mark 13, 28.
Mark chapter 13, verse 28. Listen to what he says. Jesus said, when its branch has already become tender, puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
Paul uses a form of the word twice in Romans 1 is known in verse 19.
Or new in verse 21 in Romans 1. When declaring that even the ungodly pagans have a certain observable knowledge of God that He has revealed through creation.
So, just having a factual knowledge in and of itself is not enough. You notice what scripture says, ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth.
There's people that can have so much book knowledge, they can even know the facts, they can know the theology right.
But I'm here to tell you, if they don't know God, they know nothing. And that is the truth.
So, as Christians, we know from personal experience, as well as from God's word, that the testing of our faith produces endurance.
We have learned that His promise is indeed true. For after we have endured suffering, afflictions, testings, we have discovered that our trust in the
Lord is stronger. It's not only intact, but it is greater and it is increased from faith to faith, from glory to glory.
He strengthens us and He makes us strong in the Lord. Not in and of ourselves, right?
Paul said it, he says, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. And what was he referring to?
He was talking about the many afflictions that came about him. Actually, he was talking, we saw that last week, the thorn in the flesh.
That's what he's referring to. He says, I'm weak, but in that weakness, that's when
God has made me strong. That's when God is doing something. Tozer put it in the wonderful paradox, when
I'm down, I'm up. When I'm weak, I'm strong. It's the paradox of faith.
That's the way God works. And that's the way He always works. It's always contrary to our thinking, right?
God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. So when we think, Lord, we need to go this way.
God says, no, you go the other way. A lot of times that's the way it is, right? That's why we need wisdom.
And James talks about that later on. You need to know wisdom from above. What God is doing in your life through this trial.
And that's where he takes the reader to this. The testing is completely different from the terms from trial, by the way, the word.
It's used in a different term from trials. It's used in the previous verse, but one that carries much of the same meaning.
So both have the basic idea of testing something in order to prove or disprove its genuineness, its authenticity.
The next important and critical word is patience. That's what we're going to look at in our closing here.
Patience, endurance, perseverance, which is frequently translated from the Greek. It connotes more the product or the consequence of patience, which is endurance, by the way.
You hear what I'm saying there? It connotes more the product or the consequence of patience, which is endurance.
Patiently enduring trials while trusting the Lord in that develops endurance, which is a lasting quality.
Now patience is needed only as long as the affliction or trouble is present. That's when you need patience.
And by the way, if you pray for patience, you might as well get ready for it. That's what Scripture says, because tribulation works patience.
And when you're going through tribulation, that's when patience is needed. But you know what he's saying here?
You need patience to go through it, to endure it to the end.
For when it is over, when the trial's over, patience no longer has a purpose, does it?
But endurance is the key word. Perseverance. It's a permanent inner quality.
It's a permanent inner quality of strength, which increases each time a trial is patiently and trustingly endured.
So David testified of this in Psalm chapter 40. I've waited patiently for the
Lord. He heard my cry. And then he talks about how he set him on a rock. He brought him out of myriad clay, out of a horrible pit.
And he placed him on the rock and established his going and put a new song in his mouth, even praising to our
God, many shall see it, and trusting the Lord. That's what he said. Be patiently waited for God.
Paul assures us that no temptation, don't you love this verse? That no temptation that is overtaking you but such is common to man, that God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape, also that you will be able to, what?
Endure it. That's the purpose of that, to endure it. In other words,
God would not allow his own children to face anything that they cannot, in his power and provision, survive it.
Now we see this, there's a reference I have there. Go with me very quickly to 2 Thessalonians. 2
Thessalonians. And Brother Ben brought this out in his devotion that he has online. I appreciate it.
He's got a blog online. It's really good. And he brought this verse out. And he refers to this in 2
Thessalonians 1. Wonderful verse. Notice what
Paul is saying here. 2 Thessalonians. Notice what he says in chapter 1.
Verses, look at verses 3 and 4. We are bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows, he's talking about faith, grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.
See, he's talking about the endurance, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer.
You know, suffering was commonplace to the Christians in those times. And here, Paul is encouraging those people there.
Well, I want to bring some application to this very quickly. He says, I've got one more verse in Jude 20 and 21.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
A long series, you can read this in your devotional time, Hebrews 11, verses 37 -39.
A long series of testimonies to men and women of God who faith enabled them to endure the afflictions for the
Lord's sake, and thereby increased and they were strengthened in their faith.
Therefore, the word of God makes it crystal clear that no person comes out, I'm sorry, comes to God in saving faith that will ever be separated from the
Savior and His love. That's endurance. That's endurance. First of all, we are secure.
We are secure. This is our first application. Why? Because of the power of God in Christ Jesus that He makes us secure.
Go with me to John chapter 10. Let me get these real quick.
John chapter 10 talks about, you tell me, eternal security, eternal salvation. Do I believe it? You bet
I do. Because the Scripture says it. Because of the power of God.
John 10, let's just look at it very quickly. Verse 28 and 29.
I give them eternal life. He talks about those of His sheep. He gives eternal life to His sheep. They shall never perish.
Anyone snatch them out of My hand. Now, He's talking about the hand of Himself, Jesus.
Because He's equal with the Father, right? And then He says, My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all.
And then He says this, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. Did you get that? Out of Jesus' hand and out of the
Father's hand. That's pretty secure. He just didn't say
His Father's hand, He said His hand. So in other words, His hand and the Father's hand are equal.
The Father and the Son are one. That's what Jesus is saying. And Jesus is saying right there that He's God. And it's to those that believe.
And notice in verse 26, you do not believe. Why? Because you're not of My sheep.
As I said to you, My sheep hear My voice. And notice what He says, and I know them.
That not only do they know Him, Jesus said, they follow Me. They follow
Christ. They don't follow men, they follow Christ. They don't follow a preacher or a deacon, they follow
Christ. You see, so we're secure. Second, we're secure for another reason.
Because of the promise and the prayers of Jesus. Now turn with me very quickly to John chapter 17.
Now this chapter is the Holy of Holies here. But notice what He says, and I'll just read one verse.
Verse 12, He says this, He's praying to the Father, While I was with them in the world,
I kept them in Your name. Notice, He keeps them. Those whom You gave
Me, the Father gives them, Jesus keeps them. I have kept, again He says it there,
I've kept. And none of them is lost except the son of perdition.
And the only reason He was lost, Jesus says it, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. I'm telling you, there's a security in Jesus.
The security that we are kept secure. I've got to hurry this up.
He told Peter, Simon, Simon, what did He say? Isn't it interesting He didn't say Peter and Peter? He said,
Simon, Simon. That was His old name. Jesus is rebuking Him, actually, what
He's doing. But He says this, Behold, Satan has demanded permission.
Isn't this interesting? Permission to sift you like wheat. I love what He says here, don't you?
But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. There is perseverance.
There is endurance. Because Jesus intercedes for us, and that's the second application here, because Christ intercedes for us in heaven today, as believers we have an
Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous. Third, and this is encouraging, we are secure because of the presence of the
Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit. Go with me quickly to Ephesians. Look at chapter 1.
Oh, this is a wonderful chapter here. Ephesians 1.
Notice what He says. Look at verses 13 and 14.
In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise. In other words, that's the guarantee. That's the down payment. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.
Notice Paul praises His glory for this. It's nothing that anyone does but God Himself. He secures us.
And you know we can go on and on about eternal security when you go to Romans chapter 8. Who shall separate us from the love of God?
No one can actually. And he goes through a list. All these things. Persecution, suffering. None of these things.
And Paul says none of those things moved him because he knew who he was in Christ. That's what counts.
So we're secure because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is our helper.
Jesus says another comforter, the helper, the pericle. He will stand by you through all that you go through.
Christ sent Him to be with us just through life? No. He will be with you forever.
Through the new birth. It begins in the new birth all the way through eternity when we leave this world.
Isn't that encouraging? John 14, 16, Jesus spoke of that too.
You can turn that to later on. But after His ascension, the whole trinity. Think of this. The whole trinity secures believers so that no one who believes in the
Lord will ever be lost. Guaranteed. Now God preserves His people from apostasy, from defection, from the faith.
But however serious the sins that God's people can fall into, they will never send themselves out of the kingdom of God.
I believe that. Even the Old Testament saints had that great assurance.
The Lord preserves His saints forever. Eternal security enables the endurance and the perseverance of believers.
On the other hand, let me say this. If a person renounces faith in Jesus Christ, he renounces his faith, he simply proves he never had saving faith at all.
And that's exactly what 1 John 2, 19 says. They came in of us, they came and said they were of us, and then they walked out.
They were never of us in the first place. You see, that's what he's talking about. And Hebrews 3, 14 says,
If we hold fast, now I want you to think of this. If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance, firm unto the end.
I appreciate what Brother Keith said last week. Jesus said it. He that endures to the end shall be saved.
There's a flip side of the coin there, right? You are kept by the power of God.
Christ keeps you. You are eternally secure. But what about these people that defect from the faith?
Well, Scripture says they were never of faith in the first place. They professed to believe, but they were not true believers from the beginning.
That's why you see in Scripture, Paul says, If you continue in the faith, see, the flip side of it is,
I must continue to endure with perseverance. But it's by the grace of God, right?
It's not something I do. It's something God's done. In other words, we're saved, but yet being saved.
And then until at last that the salvation is complete. That's perseverance.
Now, let me close with this. And this is what I marked earlier. I said this would turn out great.
Right here. On the
Baptist Confession of 1689. To you that are not familiar with this, this is some good theology here.
Chapter 17 of the Perseverance of the Saints. And this is based upon Scripture, and they've got many
Scripture references. But let me read this that would encourage you in the last here.
It says this, Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect, unto can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance.
Whence He still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the
Spirit unto immortality. And though many storms and floods, there's the trials, many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock, which by faith they were fastened upon.
Notwithstanding, through unbelief, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and the love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them.
Been there, hadn't you? Yet He is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of His hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity.
Then paragraph 2 says this, This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will.
Don't you love this? It's not something we do, folks. But upon the immutability of the decree election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the
Father upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and the union with Him, the oath of God, the abiding of His Spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth also the certainty of infallibility thereof.
Paragraph 3, last one. And though they may, this is good, listen to this.
Though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, and the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their perservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, thereby they incur
God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit. Now here's the encouraging thing.
Come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.
Notice what he says. Yet shall they renew their repentance and be persevered through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.
He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.
There is endurance and there is a persevering. We must continue to persevere, but it's by the power of God, isn't it?
Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time. Lord, just a short time it seems, but how this hour has flown by as we looked at just a few verses in Your Word.
But Lord, we are encouraged that nothing can separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus.
Lord, thank You for this wonderful promise that we are eternally kept by Your power and persevere.
No matter how hard the tempest blows against us, we are founded upon the rock.
We have a haven of rest. The tempest may blow, but nothing is going to pull us away from the rock because we are anchored right there because of Jesus Christ.
And it's something He has done. It's all that He's done and nothing of us.
So Father, help us to persevere to the end by Your grace and by Your power. Father, we thank
You. We thank You for what Your Word says. And as it says in Your Word, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril of sword?
As it is written, Your sake we are killed all day long and we are counted as a sheep for the slaughtering. And yet Your Word says, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Father, we thank You for this great love in Jesus Christ. May we lay hold of it because You have laid hold of us.
May we constantly persevere, but we realize it's not within our own strength, but it's in the strength of the
Lord that we find this great joy in the midst of these trials that we go through to make us better, to make us closer, to bring us closer into the image of Jesus Christ, that we may be conformed, that we might be the firstborn among many brethren.
So Father, we thank You for these great and precious promises that's before us. May they be applied to our hearts and our everyday living.