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It's glorious to know that the Lord is in charge. Well, I'd like to continue our study through the book of James. We're getting ready to embark on some wonderful verses, starting next Lord's Day. This is a whole new series.
We're looking at loving God under trials, and we're going to really see those tests, how we can love God when we are being tempted. And we're going to start that little series on the portion of verses on temptation next.
Week.
Lord willing, we'll have the Lord's Supper. Lord willing, we'll be back at the Clyde Deeds home. So I'm really looking forward to this, and this is going to be a wonderful story, a story I share to study.
It is story in a sense. It's God's story, right? As Brother Keith said, I really like what you said, Brother Keith, about prayer. Prayer, as Paul says in Philippians, is this, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer.
It's supplication. That's strong crying. But notice what he says, with Thanksgiving. All of our prayers should be with Thanksgiving. And as I was listening to everybody pray this morning, there was connection there.
There was thanksgiving and giving thanks to God for everything, in everything. And we are always to do this for our God and to our God. But turn with me to the book of James. Don't you love this study?
This is a wonderful study, Loving God Under Trials. If you did not hear last week's message, I would encourage you, not because of my preaching by no means, okay? It's not because of that. But because of the context of this verse and where it's placed.
And I've covered that last week, and I'm not going to cover that today. I would consider last week, part one, an introduction to today. So that sets the precedent of everything I'm going to say today.
So we're going to get more of the meat and the content of what James is talking about in the text today. This will be a part two of verse twelve. But verse twelve is a very critical verse. Why is it a critical verse?
Well, I would like to notice where it's placed in this chapter. It's pretty much right in the middle of everything that he is saying. Now if you look at verses two all the way to verse eight, what's he talking about?
He's talking about how God's people, he's talking to the tribes that are scattered abroad, that are persecuted actually. They're undergoing persecution. And I like to encourage you to do this, if you study this wonderful book of James, parallel it with the book of the epistle of first Peter.
First Peter parallels everything that James is saying. And everything that Peter and James is based their teaching on is on our Lord's teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. You see parallels all the way through that.
Talks about trials and persecutions and how to be joyful in these things. So in verses two all the way to verse eight, what's he speaking of? How we can profit from our trials. Then notice verse nine through eleven, he inserts the perspective of the rich and poor.
Then notice this, in verse twelve through eighteen, what does he talk about? How God's people can love God under those trials.
You see that?
Then we'll be looking at, after we get through this series, in verse nineteen through twenty, just a few verses there, he speaks how we can have the qualities needed in trials. It's all about how we handle trials.
We have trials. When trials come, we're going to have them. There's no way to escape them. They are coming. When, not if.
So get ready.
You may be in a trial now. Or if you're not, I would suggest to you, by all means, prepare yourself. And prepare yourself in the Word and in prayer.
And ask God for wisdom.
Because you don't want to waste this opportunity, how God can be glorified through these trials as you go profit from these trials, how you can love God under the trials. That's a big test there. That's what we're going to be looking at.
And then, if you notice, he pretty much sums it all up in verses twenty-one through twenty-seven, how to be doers and not hearers. That's the application of everything that he's saying in chapter one.
But verse twelve is right dab in the middle.
Why?
It is an encouraging verse. It is a prominent verse that gives encouragement to each and every one of God's people. And I believe he's doing that on purpose. It's the Holy Spirit that gives us encouragement of how we can make it through these trials.
How we can make it across the finish line as a victor and not a victim.
You see?
That's what God's telling you. And this is a promise. This is a promise that we're looking at. So I said, I have to have two parts on this in order to get in everything I can. So if you haven't heard last week's, you've got an introduction of everything that's pretty much going to be said today.
So let's look at this verse. Hear the word of the living God. Verse twelve of chapter one of the book of James. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Wonderful verse. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you so much for this wonderful, wonderful verse of scripture that you have given unto your people. You are the great creator that's worthy of honor, glory, and praise, and we thank you for your Son, Jesus, that has given salvation to the ones you have chosen.
Those will believe. Those will come. They will come. Thank you, Father, for those, Lord, that have come, and it's your grace. I think of what your Son said, the invitation is to all. He that comes to me, I will no wise cast out, and all that the Father gives will come to.
Me.
Lord, we just praise you for that. And our prayer today is simple, that we may see Jesus, hear Jesus. Most of all, love Jesus and obey Jesus, your Son, your beloved Son, that your will please.
Him.
So when we love your Son, Jesus, we hear Jesus, and we love Jesus, we hear you, God. Because you're the Father and the Son is one. So when we honor Him and love Him and hear Him and obey Him, we hear and love and obey.
You.
And Father, help us to do this by your grace until life's journey ends, faithfully. Give us the grace, Lord, whether it be living grace or dying grace, to endure whatever you have ordained for us, your children, and whom you love.
And so, Father, we will forever give you the glory and the praise in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, again, last Lord's Day, we looked together at this wonderful verse, verse 12, and it seems that in the flow of divine-inspired writing, James puts this wonderful promise right in the middle, doesn't he?
And I mentioned also that we're going at a snail's pace, but you know what I like about the snail? He perseveres. He makes it. He may be slow, and he may be taking his time, but he makes it. It makes me think of the children's story of the tortoise and the hare.
Don't you love that little story? It's so simple. But the old hare, he took off, he had a good start, didn't he? Yes, he did. He took off and he got the lead. You know the story. He kind of hem-hauled around, and he played his little games along the way, and he got tripped up, and he took it for granted that he was going to make it across that finish line and win, but that wasn't the way it ended.
Later on, here comes that little tortoise, slowly but surely. He's constant, never giving up. He makes it across the finish line. He won the race. The tortoise. You know, I always liked the underdog, don't you?
I've always pulled for the underdog, and the tortoise was the underdog. Well, there's a great morale of that story. It's about enduring to the end. It's about not giving up. And that's what we're going to be looking at today is perseverance.
Last Lord's Day, we looked at the blessing. I'm going to cover a little bit about that. And, again, it's no mistake whatsoever that James has placed this wonderful verse right in the middle, right here.
This is a promise that's given to us. And I said, number one, there's no reason to think there's a mistake in divine-inspired Scripture because it's all ordained, and God, the Holy Spirit, has placed it exactly where.
It is.
Jesus has said that even every word of God, including the crossing of the T and the dotting of the I, is inspired. See, it's every word of God that's pure, as Proverbs says. We are to live by every word, Jesus says, and he's quoting from Deuteronomy, that proceeds.
What?
From the mouth of God. We are to desire it more than our necessary food. That's a wonderful verse. We should be craving for it. We have been born again because of the word of God, because of the word of life that is.
Given.
Because Jesus said, my words are spirit and they are life. Our words, it's nothing. But the words of Jesus, we better pay attention to. There's great power, for the word of God is powerful, and it's quick, it's sharper than any two-edged sword.
It brings life, it brings grace, and that's what we've been born of, and that brings us into the kingdom. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It's just not hearing it here, it's taking, it's our inner ear.
It's the spirit, and only the Holy Spirit can do this. Only the Holy Spirit can take the word of God. I could take it from my mouth to your ears, but only the Holy Spirit can take it from your ears to your heart.
You see, the Holy Spirit has to make you see and hear. It's supernatural. Let's just not take these things for granted. Have you ever brought God's word to people that do not know God? The natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God.
Because they are foolishness unto him. But see, unto us that believes it is what? The power of God unto salvation that God has given. It's life-giving power. It's not something we just heard as a case of rah, rah, rah, no, it's everything.
God's word is everything. We live by it, we place our faith in it, we trust in it. Heaven and earth will pass away, Jesus said. My words will not pass away. Isn't that a great verse? And that's what we trust in today, is the word of the living God.
So here you have it. And I thank God, that's what we worship. It's God's word that comes to life. Everything in this book, the more I read it, the more I realize I don't know, but the more I read it, the more I love it.
You see what I'm saying? I want to get closer and closer, and I've come to simplify my life to just one thing, and that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And He's everything, a cross in His life, in His death, in His passion, in His resurrection.
And more and more I read this wonderful book, the more I see Jesus, the more I see Christ. Because Jesus said it's all about Him. On the road of Emmaus, He comes up behind the disciples. Cleophas is one of them, I don't know who, it doesn't tell the other one, but it comes as Jesus is a stranger.
They don't know this stranger from Galilee, and they're talking about everything that happens, and Jesus, they don't know Him at the time, but here's the resurrected Christ coming right behind Him, and what does He do?
He starts to expound on the Scriptures. He asks them questions, and He brings them right into the conversation here, and here they don't even know who He is. And then He exposits the Scriptures from the prophets and the Psalms and all the way, and later on He reveals Himself through the breaking of the bread, and they realize it's the Lord.
Isn't that beautiful? And then Scripture says He is the one that opens their ears and their eyes, that they see it's Jesus. And then they start talking about, oh, did not our hearts burn within us? Isn't that what you desire?
I want my heart to burn, I want passion, I want fire, I don't want anything artificial. I like what Sproul says, if I don't have the Bible of the Bible, I don't want nothing else.
At all.
You give me the Christ of the Bible, and that's what I desire. I want the Christ of the Scriptures. I want the Christ of God. And this is what this promise is about. It's about loving God, and we're going to see this.
Now this is a verse that's full of hope. It's full of living hope, and it's a verse that's full of great promise to us, to God's children. By the way, it's to God's children. It's not to the world. This is to God's people.
That's who He's writing to. To those who are persecuted, to those who are under trials, to those who endure trials and temptations and afflictions and persecutions, that's very real, isn't it? I mean, those things, it hurts inwardly, just not only physically, but it's a pain that's inward hurt and pain.
You know what I'm talking about. And it's to the very end that God desires His people to make it across the finish line. And that's what He, Jesus said it, those that endure to what? The end shall be saved.
We're not going to say we're totally saved until we cross that finish line into glory,.
Beloved.
But in a sense, we are saved by faith, right? By faith in what we placed in the past of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and His burial, His death and burial and resurrection. But we placed our faith in that, but not until we arrive in glory and see our beloved Lord and Savior face to face and He says, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord through all eternity.
And then we will say, hallelujah, it was worth it all. See, and then we'll look back and we'll see that life was but a shadow and a vapor and just a small puff, a small smidgen of what eternity is. You see, that's why the Apostle Paul and all these martyrs of the past and all the apostles who died a most horrible death in our eyes and we think, how did they endure it?
But here, this verse tells us, they had a hope and they laid hold of it and that hope was Jesus, that He was the promise, but they knew that there was a crown of life given to them, to those who make it to the very end because they loved Him.
That's your key right there. It's to those who love God, nothing else. And we're going to look at that. Now, this week, I didn't have an outline last week. I gave you Spurgeon's outline, but today, Pastor David's got an outline.
And you know something? I was looking at this verse and I was contemplating and I said, I know Keith struggles here. When he prepared for that Christmas message from Luke, it's tough to get an outline sometimes and you've got to have an outline.
And I kind of struggled and I said, it helps us get direction and where we're going. And last week, like I said, I didn't have one so I just preached a whole introduction, which was wonderful. But today, here's my outline.
It consists of three important points. If you've taken notes, this is what I got to say and it's based upon exactly these three points on this one verse of Scripture. Number one, first is, here's a promise.
The promise is to the blessed man who perseveres under trial. That is the first promise. And second, or should I say the first point, second is, the promise is to the blessed man who has been approved.
And we're going to look at what approved means. Okay, first to the blessed man who perseveres, then who has been approved. And third, we will look at the promise is to the blessed man who endures to the end, will receive a crown of life because he loves God.
Because he loves God. Well, we'll look at some practical applications to that and we'll take home the meaning with this to our day-to-day living, amen? That's what we need because I like what John MacArthur said, and I mentioned this to Brother Keith earlier.
You know, when we hear preaching, topical preaching has its place. MacArthur says you can ask forgiveness sometimes and preach topical. So I understand, but there's nothing like expository preaching. And because there's the meat there.
You get it verse by verse, precept by precept. You can break it down and you can start feeding on these words and what these words mean and you can run it all through Scripture, it's beautiful. And this is what he said.
You always got to remember when you're going through the verse, whatever verse, the context of Scripture you're looking at, there's three things you got to remember. Number one, what does the context, what does the Scripture mean?
What does it mean? Then second is very closely related to the meaning of it is what is it saying? What is it saying? And then third, how does it apply to me? The third is probably the context, the content, I should say, is most important.
But what good is no one theology unless I apply it? You see what I'm saying? It must be applied to our lives. And the third is probably the most important because if you don't have application, everything else is in vain.
So this is what we like to look at this morning is from this wonderful verse. So first, let's look at the first, is the promise is to the blessed man who perseveres under trial, under trial. Notice the text.
The text says, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. Now, the original as we looked at last week, the is is a verb. The is could be taken out. So you can literally say, bless the man, bless the man who perseveres or endures under trial.
Now, some of the translations you have says temptations, but the more accurate meaning, the more applicable in this context is trial, trial, to understand what James is talking.
About.
So we looked at this last Lord's Day, and we saw the word blessed in the Greek is makarios, makarios. It's the same word which our Lord used in the Beatitudes, Matthew's Gospel in chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount.
James is making this verse itself a beatitude. So you can look at this verse here, it's a beatitude, blessed, blessed. Scriptures, what does it make you think of? What about Psalm 1? The psalmist talks about bless the man who he loves God, he bears fruit, and he prospers while the wicked perish.
You see, there's a blessing. That's what Psalm 1 begins, and actually Psalm 1 is the whole introduction, that's the key verse to the whole entire book of Psalms. You can see the word blessed constantly pop up, and we'll be seeing this in a few minutes.
So again in Matthew 5, the word blessed, Jesus applies it to his disciples in their poverty.
Of spirit.
Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. He says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
That's the blessed person. The kingdom is theirs, and to the peacemakers, and so on. It's all there, it's a constant, he's doing the role of the prophet, as I said before. He is giving blessing, blessing.
A prophet had a duty and a vocation to do one of the two. He would give blessing or cursing, there was nothing in between. You see, there was bad news to God's people if they were sinning, disobedient, if they were idolizing other idols and so forth, disobeying God's word, breaking His commandments, rebelling, and most of the time that was the case.
There was curses. That's where you see in the prophets, read all the prophets, whether it be major or minor, you read this and you will see a blessing or a curse given from the prophet. There'd be bad news or there'd be good news.
It was what R .C. Sproul called a will, and it was a sense that he would speak for God, where the priest would come before God and speak to God for the people. But the prophet would speak to the people for God, and he would give a blessing or a.
Curse.
Well, here in the Beatitudes, Jesus is giving a blessing as a role of a prophet. He came to give good news. He's teaching His disciples. This is the way of the kingdom. The king has come, and guess who was preaching and teaching it?
The king himself, in the flesh, for his kingdom. And he said, this is the way you're to live. And he gave the blessing. He started out with the Beatitudes. Don't you love it? And someone once said, and we talked about this before, brothers and sisters, it's almost like building a pyramid.
Jesus starts at the very bottom, and He takes it to the very top. And that very top is the pinnacle. And His teaching, everything there in those three, you can study the Sermon on the Mount and get so much meat out of it.
It's so beautiful. And everything you can pull together on the Christian life is summed up in those three chapters right there. The Sermon on the Mount. Well, that's what James is referring to.
James was there.
Peter was there.
That's why MacArthur is so right. When you read these epistles, think of it like this. You are reading commentary on the works and teachings of Jesus. Everything that the apostles was teaching, especially Peter and James, because they walked with the Lord, they and John, those three, Peter, James, and John, they were the one three in the inner circle.
And they got the most out of it. The others did too, but mainly them, because they were closest to Jesus. So what they're doing, they're giving commentary on what the Lord teaches. Everything that they did.
You know, I've read that before. You could take it back to what Jesus said in John 14 and 15 and 16, and in His teachings.
About loving one another.
We're going to see that. About John. You could tie in 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, to everything that Jesus said in the Gospel of John, of what Jesus taught about love. You see what I'm saying? So, especially on the Sermon on the Mount, James is basically echoing what Jesus has preached on the Sermon on the Mount.
Blessed. So there you have it. The blessed means much more than just mere happiness, carefree life, that has little conflict or trouble.
No.
So, as MacArthur says, he is, in his commentary, this is what he says. It carries the idea of a profound inner joy, satisfaction, a joy that only the Lord Himself is able to bestow on those for His sake and His power, faithfully and patiently endure to conquer trials, end quote.
I like that definition. And that's what he's talking about. So, and then Peter says it, in this you greatly rejoice. See they're echoing what Jesus is. Jesus said when you're persecuted for righteousness' sake, rejoice, be exceedingly glad.
Great is your reward in heaven. That's what the apostles are echoing. And Peter says it, even though now, for a little while, underscore that, on this earth, it's just for a little while, in comparison to eternity.
You see? Paul says this affliction, and he went through some serious affliction, he said it's light affliction. Why did he say it's light?
You know why?
Because his eyes was on eternity, in eternal heaven, because there's such a greater glory.
There.
It's nothing in comparison to the greatness and the glory through all eternity. And see, our life is so short in span. It's like a shadow. It's a puff of wind. I'm telling you, it's so little compared to eternity.
So he's saying for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials so that the proof of your faith, James is talking about the same thing. Faith under fire. Faith being tested.
Is it going to be found genuine? Or is it going to be fake? You see what I'm saying? It's one of the two. Do you have real today, you have a dead faith or a living faith? There's no in between. The living faith is what comes from God.
It's a gift from God. That's the faith that saves us.
But it's the faith that keeps you too.
It's the faith that makes you persevere to the end. And that's what we're going to be looking at. And he says, it's more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to the result and the praise and the glory and the honor.
It's not about you. It's about the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. It's all about his glory. That's why in the Ephesians, Paul talks about this wonderful election that God has given.
But you know what's glorious about it? It's all to the praise of the glory of his grace. It's not about us.
Who are we?
It humbles you. I don't know about you. There's something about the doctrine of election that humbles me to the dirt.
Because you and I had nothing to do with it. You know, it wasn't our choice that brought us into the kingdom, even though we do make Jesus our choice. But he's the one that takes the initiative. And what did Jesus tell the disciples?
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you that you may bear forth fruit. It is Jesus that chooses us. It is Jesus that comes after us. It is the shepherd that seeks the sheep.
Sheep are dumb.
They go out astray. They fall into trouble. They fall into water and they sink like rocks to the bottom. The shepherd goes out with a crook and he pulls them out. Don't you need a wonderful shepherd to do that?
He's the great shepherd of the sheep. So here the blessed man is the one who perseveres. What does he persevere under? Under trial. Under, like I said, it's a temptation, but trial is a better translation.
Trials here in the text. The word perseveres, and this is beautiful. Let's look at perseverance here. In the Greek, it's hoopomeno. I probably abused that, but I'll give the best. It's the Greek hoopomeno, which means the word hoopo.
Let's look at, just chop it in half. Under as under means under the rule of someone. Hoopo means under the rule of someone, and meno meaning to abide or remain. Now, didn't we hear that word abide before?
Jesus said it. Yes, sir, if you abide in me and I in you. That's it. John 15, if you abide in me and I in you. You see, that's what it's all about. You take a branch away from, the branches away from the vine.
There's nothing life given in it. You see, that's what it's talking about. So that's how we are to persevere, is to abide. So basically, literally, to remain under, not simply with resonation, but with a vibrant.
Hope.
You see that? With a vibrant hope. Now, this Greek word, hoopomeno, is the present tense, which calls for this perseverance to be one's lifestyle. One's lifestyle. That means bearing up, you're going to love this, bearing up under the trying ordeal is to be a habitual practice.
That's right. It is a habitual practice. The idea of persevering is not just to grin and bear it, okay, but to remain faithful under that trial in such a way that we glorify God as we learn. The lessons of the trials that our Father has given us are meant to teach us, his children, instead of seeking ways to get out of it and seeking ways to get out under for the trial to escape it, which so many shallow Christians want to do, but to bear up under it and be relieved of.
The pressures of it.
You see what I'm saying? God can do this. You look through the scriptures. God has done this and he's still doing it. That you will bear up underneath the pressures of that trial. I tell you, the child of God, and I say this with confidence, not of what is in myself but of who is in me, because Paul says, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day, and you can take this home, brothers and sisters, that God has the keeping power to keep you under no matter what kind of pressure that God allows you to go under, because he ordains it.
He has ordained it that you will make it through, not because you can come through strutting, but because when you come through and everybody will be seeing it and the people that's lost from God will say, how in the world could you do that?
And you say, God.
How about forgiveness? When Jesus was dying on the cross, the ones that nailed him to the cross, he says, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing.
That's grace.
That's power. That's holding up underneath the pressures. And Jesus was the master at doing it. Of course, we knew he could not sin anyway, but he prayed for those who nailed him to the cross.
Oh, beloved.
What about Stephen when he was being stoned? He basically implements the Lord, he exemplifies what the Lord Jesus said on the cross. Those who were killing him unto his last breath, and we're talking about not little stones they were throwing, stoning meant they took boulders, okay, and literally crushed this man after he preached a tremendous expository sermon.
And they were pricked to the heart. You know the story. And they ran toward him. These were religious scholars of that day, supposedly. But they were hardened of heart. But they were pricked. They didn't want to hear the truth.
They were exposed. Their sin. And they murdered Stephen. And he became a martyr.
And under that, he prays, forgive them.
Do not hold this sin to their charge. And then for the first time in Scripture, we see, he sees Jesus standing, standing at the Father's right hand. He got a standing ovation from the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a glorious thing. You see what I'm saying? It's a beautiful thing to know that you can persevere up underneath all this faithfully. Robert Louis Stevenson said this, saints are sinners who keep on going.
I tell you, I'm a simple-minded person. I like that. He said it very, very simple. Saints are sinners who keep on going.
Period.
Amen.
That's right.
If he falls down seven times, he keeps on, he gets up and he keeps on going. He may be knocked down, but he's not knocked out.
Perseverance. Endurance. Well, let's go to the second one. Next is in our text, we see that the promise, which would be to the crown of life. That's the promise. It's the crown of life. It's to those who have been approved.
Approved.
Now, let's look at this word approved. This is an important word. Don't bypass it. It literally means, and you're going to love this, those who have passed the test. That basically is what it means in the Greek.
He has passed the test. I don't know about you. I want to pass the test. I want to pass the test by passing the test with faith intact. It's pure. The faith is genuine. Do we have examples? Oh my goodness.
We can stay here for hours and look at examples, but one would be, I think, of Job. You read the story of Job. God ordained everything. What happened to Job was ordained of God. It was only for a season, and you see that, but he passed the test.
It's usually, when we talked about this, that he passed the test when he prayed for those who lay in charge to him that he sinned against God. He prayed for them. You see that at the end of the book, but at the first of the book, Job didn't know this.
We've got the revelation. We see heaven. We see Satan going before heaven and before God. I don't know how he got in there, but God allowed him to come in there, and he's already been cast out, but he goes before God, doesn't he?
Well, he's allowed. God has, yeah, you even have to ask permission. God does ask them, where have you been? God knew where he was being. God's always asking questions, and I've been running to and fro the earth.
That's what the devil does. He can't be everywhere at one time like God. God's everywhere. Where have you been? I've been running to and fro the earth. Have you considered my servant Job? Have you considered my servant Job?
God eyed him out. He says, this is my prized servant here, and isn't it wonderful to know that God brags.
On you?
He bragged on Job. He said, why? Because he fears me. He hates sin, but he fears me. He shuns evil, and he loves righteousness. You see, it's summed up in that. That's the spirit of God, hating sin and loving righteousness.
That's it. And you know the story. He said, yeah, I've noticed them, but you've got to hedge about them. I can't get to them. And then, of course, God knows Job's heart. He knows what he's going to do.
He knew he was going to pass the test from the beginning. You see, he knew his faith was genuine in the first, but you know the test. The test came to Job, but God had to give permission to Satan, and Satan had to ask for permission to get to him, let down that hedge so I can get to him.
And then, of course, Satan was accusing him. He's the accuser of the brethren. Oh, take away all of his possessions. He'll curse you. Well, you know the story. He lost all of his possessions. He lost his children.
He had ten children. He lost them all. Amazing. He still didn't curse God.
He blessed God.
He worshipped God.
See?
And, you know, the story goes on. Then he lost his health. He lost his health, which was tough. And what does he do? It's like, wow, he lost everything he had. He lost his children. He lost his possessions.
He lost his riches. His heart wasn't there. He loved them. He loved his children. He prayed for them every morning.
Read it.
He was like the priest of the home. He lost it all. And then he lost his health. And then what does he do? He shaves his head. I love this part. He falls on his face.
And he worships.
Yeah.
He blesses God. He said, blessed be the name of the Lord. He gives, and he takes away.
All things come from God.
He knew his faith was founded in God alone. You've got to love your children. But his faith just was founded in his children.
It was God, because he recognized that even the children came from God. And then at the end, when he passed the test, God gave him more children. And see, God is the giver. He's the taker. But we're the love of God.
It was a test. Where is our heart, see? And it showed that he feared God, but that fear of God coincides with his love to God. Now there's another one that comes to mind. Let's turn to this one. I like this because it's one that's more familiar to us.
Of course, Job's a great one. But we're reading about Abram and Abraham. What about Genesis 22? Oh, my goodness, what a chapter. Now, we just started an adventure in our scripture reading this morning when Abram was just chosen of God.
God calls him out. You notice he failed right from the get-go. Brother Keith brought this out, because what does he do?
He lies.
Why does he lie in Egypt? Because he's fearful. What's the opposite of fear?
Faith.
Here, in chapter 22, see, we started in chapter 12. Is that right? Chapter 12? You get to 22, his faith is strengthened. You see, and he passes the test. Now, I want you to notice some certain things here in chapter 22.
God tells him, Abraham, he says, here am I. He's ready. He's ready to obey. He said, take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love. Oh, he knew he loved him because he came from God. And this son was not just another son.
This was a supernatural son given to parents up in age, beloved. This is something that don't go on often. You see, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there on a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you, all these mountaintops, you can do a whole study about these mountains.
I'm telling you, go to Mount Sinai, you can go to Mount Moriah, you can go to Mount Calvary, Mount of Olives. That's something about these mountains. I love these mountaintops. But the valleys is wonderful too, but the mountaintops, here's a mountaintop.
His faith is being tested. So what does he say? So Abraham rose up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men, his young men with him, servants, Isaac, his son. He split the wood, here he is, for the burnt offering, arose and went to the place which God had told him.
Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, you can just see it, look, he lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. He saw Mount Moriah far off. He said, that's my destination right there.
Listen to this, Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. Now here's faith, right here. The lad and I will go yonder, and notice what he says, and worship, and we will come back.
To you.
Isn't that wonderful? Hey, that's faith. He knew we're coming back. You read later on, that even if he had settled it, he did not stagger at the promises of.
God.
When God said it, he said he even knew that if he killed Isaac, his son, that God would raise him up from the dead. God could do all things. Isn't that great? His faith was founded on God. So Abraham took the wood, don't you love this story?
He passed the test, beloved, here we go. The burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. I loved it, and it took some faith on Isaac too. He took the fire in his hand and a knife, and two of them went together.
But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father. Could you imagine being his son? Being laid on the back of the father, and he says, my father, listen to this, my father. He said, here am I. Such tenderness and compassion.
Here I am, my son. He loved him, beloved, but I want to tell you this, this old great saint loved God more than his son. Even though this was a promised son, you've got to realize this was a promised son.
This is his Isaac. And then he said, look, the fire, the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? Oh, I'm telling you, that's a preacher right there. Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.
And two of them went together, and then they came to the place of which God had told them. He fully obeyed God. That's what faith does, beloved. It obeys God. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in an order.
He bound Isaac, and his son laid him on the altar upon the wood. This is a wonderful story. And Abraham stretched out his hand just at that moment, took the knife to slay his son. And he held it back.
And then all of a sudden, verse 11, the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, twice called his name. And he said, here I am. And he said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God.
Get that.
Now I know you fear God. He loved him. Since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behind him was a ram. Was it a lamb? There's a reason for that.
Because God provided the lamb on Mount Calvary. The lamb of God. You see, the ram was caught in a thicket by its horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. God does provide, and he keeps his word. That's why.
He passed the test. Now that's why I brought out Abraham, because he passed the test. That was a trial. Now it was unheard of.
It was unheard of.
We're sitting here listening to that wonderful story. It was unheard of that God, the creator of the ends of the earth, would ask of you to take a son, especially a promised son, and offer him as a sacrifice.
That's something the pagans did.
But Abraham knew God so intimately and had faith in his character that God would keep his word.
And he would keep his promise. Well, I wish I could camp right there and preach, but we've got to move on. These are two godly men that passed the test when they were tested. That's what we're talking about.
They were not tempted, they were tested by God. God doesn't tempt no one, and we're going to see that later on in our study. And most important, our Lord Jesus, who endured the cross for the joy that was set before.
You see, that's who we are to look to. Now, we are to look to these examples of faith, but as Hebrews chapter 11 speaks of, you see, it's important that we keep our eyes directed on Jesus. He's the one that endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.
We consider him, you see, and he's the one who we ultimately look to to endure to the.
End.
Now, we're to look, you know, yes, at these examples, but we see that it was God behind that was doing the work. So Jesus is our greatest example. So the promise is to the blessed man who passed the test under trials.
The principle is simple, clear and marvelous, gracious. Perseverance brings God's approval. It brings God's approval. It's borrowed from the athletes in scripture rather than royalty. Don't you love that?
Athletes, athletics, not royalty. It was the wreath placed on the victor's head and athletic events symbolizing persevering.
Triumph.
They persevered and a wreath was given to them. And that's what Paul talks about. We don't receive a perishable wreath, but we receive an imperishable wreath and one that never fades away. That's what he's talking about.
I love the way Paul could bring something eternal to our mind because that's when he writes these wonderful epistles and he's saying, okay, here you have something that's so earthly and something that's going to pass away.
That's momentary. He says, what I'm striving toward is something eternal and heavenly and that will never pass.
Away.
Oh, beloved, may we look to that. Consequently, there is a little translation that could be said. It's a crown which is life. Just not the crown of life, but the crown which is life. That is eternal life itself and that's what James is talking about.
Consequently, it's more accurate statement of the principle is this. Perseverance attests to God's approval.
You get that?
Perseverance attests to God's approval for it gives evidence of eternal life in your heart and soul.
Not the other way around. In other words, perseverance does not result in salvation and eternal life. Rather, it is itself the result and evidence of salvation and eternal life. That's the way the scripture brings it out.
In the future, see, we have something to press toward to. Paul assures us with divine authority, beloved, and he says this in 1 Timothy 4, verse 8, There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, that great day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.
It's to all those who love his appearing. So he just wasn't referring to himself. And it speaks about that in Revelation 2 .10 too, those who are faithful unto death will receive the crown of life. In his previous letter, the apostle admonishes his beloved son, I love Timothy, in the faith, what does he say to him?
You fight the good fight of faith to which you were called.
You were called to this. This is why you exist. This is your vocation. You fight the good fight of faith to the end. And basically, that's what we're to do. We're to lay hold of eternal life to the end.
And I'm here to tell you, you lay hold of it tenaciously, with everything you have, and all the grace. And that's why we need to be doing everything we can to soak up all the word, to pray with one another, to encourage one another, that we'll make it across the finish line.
We can't do it as a lone ranger, can we? We need each other. Michael said this earlier. He said, I need you. I need you. I need your prayers. I need your encouragement. You need my prayers. You need my encouragement.
We need one another, because when we go through trials, we can hold each other up. God's given us one another. That's the purpose of the body. You see, to uphold one another. And it says that in Hebrews.
You see this in Moses, when there was a battle that was going on with Amalekites. What happened? They had to hold up Moses' hands, because his hands got so weak and come down, and one got on one side, and the other one got on the other side, and it was holding them up.
And every time they held them up, the victory was being won.
That's when the victory's won. Hold up each other's hands. Encourage one another. We are to tenaciously lay hold of eternal life. Another great apostle, by the name of Peter, gives believers the same assurance in 1 Peter.
5.
When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. It's to those who love Him. That's who it's for. If you don't love God, it's not for you. And if you don't love God, it's bad news.
But you know something? We just don't pull up this love of God. It doesn't make us better than everybody else. It's something that the Holy Spirit sheds upon your heart. It's amazing how it happens, isn't it?
Jesus talks about the new birth, the regeneration. It's like the wind blows. It's mysterious. You don't see it, but you know it's evident. And God does a miraculous work. You see, it's mysterious, but we know it's true.
He brings us into the kingdom, and He sweeps us out of the dirt and the miry clay, and He places us on a rock to stay and puts a new song in our heart. Even praise unto our God, many shall see it and fear the Lord.
That's what the psalmist says. You see, this crown is referred to, I don't have time to go into a study on this, but the crown of life, the crown of righteousness, or the crown of glory, is the same crown which will be received by every believer who is faithful to the end.
This is to the believer, beloved. Now it's not the one in various rewards, that's another one. We don't have time to go into that, but it's believers who are received based on the faithfulness that's mentioned, and their rewards of their duties to the Lord in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about this in chapter 3, verses 12 -15.
That's another set of rewards. He talks about loss and gain, and he goes into that, right? But this is talking about to the believer, the faithful believer, eternal life. But it's common reward of salvation that's bestowed on all believers.
That's bestowed on all those who love Him. Now James clearly associates faithful perseverance under trial with genuine love, for God, and then perseverance being one of the surest evidence of those who love Him.
This leads me to my third point, and then we're going to have some application. The promise, the crown of life, are to those who endure to the end, are to those who love.
I cannot say that enough. It seems so simple, but beloved, it's to those who love God. That is absolutely everything. The phrase, in fact, is a biblical definition of a genuine believer.
Right here.
A person who truly loves God are those who have been genuinely saved, and those who genuinely love God authentically obey God.
Obedience always follows God's, in that order, of love. When you love someone, there's obedience. John repeatedly collects love of God, and there's a whole study on this with genuine.
1 John 4, 8. Let me just give you a few. 1 John 4, 8. The one who does not love, does not love, does not know God, for God is love. In other words, if you don't love, you don't love God. He talks about that, verse 16 of chapter 4 of 1 John, God is love, and the one who abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 5, 3. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. You know what he's doing? He's echoing the words of Jesus. In John 15, in John 16. He's giving out exactly what Jesus commanded him.
John the Apostle is teaching from what Jesus commanded. In John 15 and 16, 1 Peter 1, 8. And though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Paul wrote that any person who does not love the Lord is cursed. Anathaba. That's what he said. Look it up yourself. 1 Corinthians 16, 22. Anathaba. That means you're cursed. You don't love the Lord. Genuine Christian is not someone who at some point of time has had a profession of faith in Christ, but is a person who demonstrates true faith, beloved, day by day, moment by moment, in the ordinary, in the mundane.
See, when no one's looking, you love God, ongoing, and it's shown by our evidence as it's played out, practiced out in flesh to one another. That's what Jesus says. Love for God cannot be damaged, much less destroyed by troubles and afflictions, no matter how severe or long-lasting.
Like obedience to God's will, and many scriptures talk about this, love of him is certain endurance of true faith. Well, let me give you some simple application to take with you. How can we do this?
How?
It's enormous, isn't it? If you're talking about loving God and persevering to the end, we're talking about something.
Huge.
Something, it's monumental, but it's so grave. It's so important. I'm going to love God more and more, don't you? And we can do this because God shed in regeneration, he's given us a new heart. He's given us that love, even though our love cools and heats and you see, but God's never.
He's always the same. Ours cools and heat and we're up and down and we fail sometimes. Let me just give you a few. I wrote this down. This comes from me. Number one, first and foremost, keep your eyes on the prize.
Keep your eyes on the prize. I got scripture, chapter and verse. Go with me to Philippians chapter three. Don't you love the word of God? Michael's chuckling because he knows. Chapter and verse, chapter and verse, chapter and verse.
You got to have chapter and verse, amen. Because what I say, it's not going to matter. But what God says, you pay attention. Because he's the one I'm going to have to answer to for what I'm teaching here, which.
Is going to be grave.
And also what you hear and what you receive, you receive it as not as the word of man like the Bereans, but as the word of God. And I can tell you're gladly receiving it. But listen to this. Keep your eyes on the prize in Philippians chapter three.
Don't you love this? Let me just read a few verses. Look at verse seven. He's warming up really to verse 12. But what things were gained to me, these I've counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
That's personal. For whom I've suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, dung. That's what it was to him that I may gain Christ. In other words, Christ is everything to him. Verse nine, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
There's the key. The righteousness which is from God by faith. That's what we're talking about, right?
Verse 10.
This should be our prayer, beloved, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. See, you can't have the power of his resurrection and disconnect the fellowship of his sufferings.
If you love him, you're going to get the fellowship of his sufferings too. Being conformed to his death, you see, if God's going to make us into his likeness and like Jesus, and if you pray, I want to be like Jesus, get ready.
Because you're going to take some sufferings. Now he says this, and if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. And then he goes right into it.
This is his goal.
Here it is.
Not that I've already attained. In other words, I haven't arrived. I'm far from it. Or I'm already perfected.
Let me stop right there. I had a guy the other day in the dollar store. He said, when I get to heaven, I'm going to know all things. I said, no, you won't. I said, you'll be perfected, but that doesn't mean you're going to know all things.
He said, oh, he sat there and he said, no, I will know all things. I said, I don't want to argue with this guy. I said, and then I turned around and asked a question, and he said, you're going to know everything as God knows it?
And he looked at me and he said, no. I said, that's what I'm talking about. God knows all things. I said, but you will know a lot more than what you know now. But you're not going to know everything. I thought, good night.
Where does this guy get this? He finally backed down. He said, well, and it's amazing. He backed in when we left and departed. He said, brother, you keep on correcting me when I'm wrong. He meant, I said, I will.
I said, but vice versa, if I'm wrong, you correct me. But it has a lot to do with these people, what they're getting in from, what kind of.
Food they're getting. You see?
He's probably getting a very, I don't know about you, when I sit down at a meal, and Sister Sherry knows what I'm talking about, I want to eat a steak and potatoes, and you beef it up. But don't give me just a small piece, you know, and just make me taste it.
That's right. Give me a meal. You see, and if I'm going to hear preaching, I say, I want a meal. I want a full course meal. Give me steak, potatoes, give me a salad. That's right. You give me dessert.
Like Michael said, a cake. You give me a full course meal. Okay, but anyway, it's just an example. You know what I'm talking about. Good doctrine comes by healthy living, and that is from good food.
He says, I have it attained, but I'm not already perfected. But I press on. Listen to this. I press on. This is perseverance, beloved. You press on. In other words, you say, I'm in a race. You and I are in a race, and it's not for the short sprint.
It's for the marathon. I press on that I may lay hold. Notice what he says. Now, he's talking about laying hold of eternal life. For that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. I love that. He's laid hold of me.
The reason I lay hold of him is because he laid hold of me.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus.
Keep your eyes on the finish line to the prize. The joy before you, the joy before us now is Jesus.
Jesus was the father, being glorified at the right hand, and Jesus made it through for the joy that was set before him. We must do the same thing. Well, I got to land this plane, and I have a hard time getting the landing gear out and putting it on the road.
But anyway, pray for me. The second one would be this. As you press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, think about what Paul says in Philippians 2, verse 12, work out your own salvation with fear and.
Trembling.
Notice what he says. So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, notice there's obedience, not as in my presence only, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Now that means a lot. This is sanctification, because it is God who is at work in you, now get this, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
We can't, but he can. That's why Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And by the way, that now is to the context of what he's talking about. I can live out this Christian life because Jesus is in me.
Jesus has given me his Holy Spirit. Jesus lives and abides in me. He always said he would never leave you nor forsake you. God works in you. So some people might say right there, well, what about letting go and let God?
Well, that may sound good, but that absolves the believer of personal responsibility. What about my responsibility in this? Because we do have a responsibility to persevere. It's this, and it's this that we still need to make a volitional choice day by day, listen to me closely, to bear up even under this motivation to please God, and it is God who initiates it by his indwelling spirit.
You see that? It is God working in you. It's the Holy Spirit in you. And then I make those choices. You see, God's not going to make us, right? But it's God that gives us his love.
It is God.
And when you make the choice, see the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. That's fruit. That's fruit of the Spirit, and it's played out in our choices. And beloved, if we love God, we love his word, we get our mind renewed.
God provides, in other words, God provides the power, this is what I'm saying, energizing us to be able to endure as more and more as conquerors in Jesus Christ. Don't misunderstand. Brother Keith said this earlier.
We will fall, but we will bear up time to time, but we'll get right back up because he knows we're human. We are human. We're dust, and God knows our frame that we're dust. But when we do, we can return, we can repent, and we press on to the test.
You see what I'm saying?
You don't give up.
You keep on. You know, if you thought about if Peter would have given up and did what Judas did, that means he was not of the faith. That's right.
Yes, sir.
But see, Judas, just the fact of what he did shows he was not of God. He was the son of perdition. But what did Peter do? He repented. He was restored. He made it back. Do you see the hope? Do you see that?
And he persevered, even through his failures. Yes, he was back on track. Jesus restored him, and in Acts chapter 2, he was a different Peter. He got up and preached, and 3 ,000 was saved. Isn't that glorious?
See, we keep on repenting.
You keep on repenting. When repentance stops, something's wrong. It's part of our sanctification. Although some theologians argue against this truth, beloved, I'm going to tell you right now, the biblical truth is perseverance is one of the signs of genuine faith.
And you can take that to the bank. Our perseverance does not save us, but demonstrates that we are saved. I've got one more thing, and we'll say a prayer. And I've got it marked. I don't preach from the confession, but I'm going to give you something from the confession, the 1689 confession, because I believe the Scriptures is first and foremost, and I brought that to light, and I pray it's been a blessing to you.
But listen to what the confession says, and I think it falls right in sync to everything that's been said this morning. Of perseverance of the saints, in chapter 17, 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 arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and that rock. Don't you love that? Which by faith they are fastened upon, notwithstanding 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, 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, and they being engraven upon the palm of His hands, I can shout right there, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity, He doesn't lose any, beloved.
Number two, paragraph two, this perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father upon efficacy of the merit intercession of Jesus Christ and the union with Him, the oath of God, the abiding of His Spirit, the seed of God within them, this is loaded, and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.
Paragraph three, and though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their perservation, fall into grievous sins, listen to this, and for a time continue in them, I'm not going to stay there, beloved, whereby they incur God's displeasure, in other words, God takes you to the woodshed, and grieve His Holy Spirit, 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, and listen to this last part, yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.
They will not fall away, they will make it. I'm telling you, yes, they will make it. So back to the tortoise and the hare. That's not how one starts, that's how well one finishes. Faithful to the very end.
Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for this Word this morning. Lord, I think about Your Son praying that great high priestly prayer. He prays for His disciples, He prays for Himself and gives glory to You.
And I love what He says right there, Father, from Your Holy Word. He starts off by saying, glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You. And You have given Him authority over all flesh, and He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
And then it's given, this is talking about the crown right here, and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom You have sent. And Father, we see later on in that prayer, Jesus Himself prays for His own.
He prays for each and every one, that Lord, not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. To keep them. Lord, keep us from falling. Keep us from the evil one. That's the prayer we see.
For they are not of the world, just as Jesus was not of the world. And then what do we have? That wonderful, wonderful prayer, sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. Today, Father, we've been sanctified because of Your Word.
Your Word sanctifies us. It cleanses us. It sets us apart, because we are set apart different. And Father, we thank You for these words. They are not my words. These are Your words. And Lord, we just want to be closer and closer to You as we undergo these trials.
Father, may we love You more and more as we go through these testings. Give us the grace. And Father, I pray a special prayer for each and every one today. Lord, give grace, give wisdom to each one that will undergo trials that You have ordained from Your hand.
Lord, that we would love You more. Lord, that's what we want. We desire our faith to be more pure as gold. So Lord, purify us. Give us wisdom. And give us the love that would never die even more and more.
May our love and faith be strengthened more and more. And until the very end, until we see You in glory and hear Your beloved Son say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.
And we ask this in Jesus' name and for His glory.