Profiting from Our Trials: Part 2

Blessing the Lord in the Midst of Trials

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 and 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 fiery 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 to be with the Lord, she had cancer in the bone marrow, and it was pretty serious in 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, to 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. 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 lacks 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.

There's another question I'd like to set before you. 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.

But let me say this, beloved.

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, 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 fault. 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, and 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, 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 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. 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 and the lad is 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 keel 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 can 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 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 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 Him 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 are 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.

It's in for a treat. Have you not already found that out? It's going to be quite 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 get expected. 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 in 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? The choice is ours. Trials come to us in various colors, in all sorts of colors.

Like I said, it's not alike, 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 to 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 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 in 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? You're loved of 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, and 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, 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 horrific, and I kept thinking, and he preached on this passage from 1 Peter, he called it the fiery trial, with his own daughter, and he said, God did something in the mist, 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 I remember Teresa and I were 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 you need to come to hear our minister.

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 child 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.

Have you heard that before?

No, no.

I 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.

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.

Yes, yes.

The girl is a woman.

Yes.

She's a woman, probably an artist now.

Yeah.

And the whole family, they are fundamentalists.

Yes, that's right. It was an independent Baptist church.

Independent Baptist church.

I remember going to it, and it's a small world, isn't it? Praise God.

You 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. 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 He 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 its 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. Well, let's look at chapter 5.

Look at verses 10 through 12. 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's 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.