Profiting from Our Trials: Part 3

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Profiting from Our Trials: Part 4

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Well, we continue to study in the Epistle of James, a small little book here that's encouraging, very practical.
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And we're looking at the testing of our faith, how we can profit from trials.
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So turn with me to James, this wonderful book, this wonderful epistle. This will be part three, part three of the testing of our faith, how we can profit from our trials.
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So as you turn there, chapter 1, we're looking at verses 2 through 8.
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Notice we're going to have a lot of parts in this. That's okay, right? We have to break this up, and I like to take it slowly and squeeze out all the truth we possibly can as we go through this study together.
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And I'll tell you, it's very timely. Just not for what God has providentially allowed in our lives, but I believe for every one of us here in this little room.
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We all face trials, don't we? We do. And we need to be encouraged.
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And really, the Apostle James, what he says here, by the Holy Spirit breathing upon him, encourages us.
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Encourages us in several ways. And to test our faith, and even though our faith is tested, there are, and through trials, we can honestly say, when you come through it, purged and purified, purer than gold.
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You know, there's no stopping the child of God when one is truly a child of God.
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Now, if he isn't a child of God, this is what I would hope and pray.
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He would fall on his face and say, Lord, I'm calling on you. Make me a child of God.
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So, you know, God has a great, great design and purpose for trials, doesn't he? So James has a lot to say to us about this.
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Really, the whole book is about testing. And it's about trials.
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And it's about faith. I think those three things is paramount through this wonderful book.
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And I'm learning so much through this, just not theologically and mental.
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I'm learning something living here. It's, Lord, I'm saying, you're speaking to me.
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How, as Sister Lillian prayed, through the circumstances, we're not to have our eyes upon the circumstances, but upon our
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God. And I think each and every one of us desires that this morning, don't we?
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Whatever we're going through, whatever you're facing in life, whatever it may be, God has a divine, glorious purpose for it.
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So hear the word of the Lord this morning. I'll start with verse 2. Verse 2 to verse 8.
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God's word, profiting from our trials. James says, My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
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That word patience means endurance, perseverance. Notice every time in the transition here, but let, notice this, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect, that means mature, and complete, lacking nothing.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
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Verse 6, another transition here, but let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
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Again, he says, for let, know how many times he says let there, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the
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Lord. And then he says this, he is a double -minded man, unstable in all his ways.
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Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit once again to help us within this time as we study
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His word together. Our Father in heaven, we pray now and humbly ask that your blessed
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Holy Spirit once again would come and fill us and anoint us for the grand and glorious purpose to only see your
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Son Jesus, to have our eyes upon Him. Oh, that we would see Jesus, to hear only
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Jesus, to understand only Jesus, so that we would be only like Jesus.
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Father, we pray that you would so change us, so challenge us, and Lord, so transform us.
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Sanctify us wholly through your word. Purge us, purify us.
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Lord, you promised to do this. You will purify the sons of Levi. Purge us.
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We need that dross to come up and we need to be cleansed.
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Father, the only way that this could happen is through your word. Your word is truth and it sanctifies us, it cleanses us.
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It encourages us. It does all of its work. It's a mighty work. So Father, we need your
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Holy Spirit to help us in these matters. So transform us, Lord, that we would be more in the likeness of your dear
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Son. May we be doers and obedient to your word, just not hearers of the word. Father, give us the faith.
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Strengthen your children this morning. Strengthen all of us through your word today, so our lives would so glorify you, and that we would be careful, and we will be very careful to give you all the praise and all the glory because you are deserving of it.
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You are worthy of it. We ask this in the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus Christ our
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Lord, your dear Son. I pray this in His name. Amen and amen.
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Well, this is a wonderful series we're going through about trials.
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You know, when Jane says believers should rejoice in trials because they were tested, our faith is tested,
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I should say, and the testing is to develop maturity, and that's the purpose of it, is that we may be mature in Jesus Christ.
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He addresses more than just the hour, per se, of crisis at the moment or the sorrows and the hardships and the afflictions that are coming.
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They will come. He says that. It's not that they might come. He says, when, when you fall, that word fall means encounter, when you encounter the various trials, the multicolored trials that come your way.
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And you think of this, all these tests of your faith is in the crucible of life, right?
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We face them, and we will be faced. It's the way we respond to it that really counts.
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And James wants the church to live out its faith in the crucible, right? That's what he's talking about.
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He wants you to live it out. It's a very practical book. It's Practical Christian Living 101, I like to say.
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This includes tests that's born in hardships, such as accidents, as Michael Campbell has gone through.
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It could be sickness, what my dear wife is facing right now. You could be facing sicknesses.
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All of us have faced sicknesses, however the severity of that sickness is.
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It comes in different ways, doesn't it? It comes in various colors, multicolored, as to say.
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It can come through poverty, financial struggles.
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That could be a hardship. It can come through anxiety. But also it can include, let me say this, trials that spring from prosperity.
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Did you ever think of that? That could be a trial, such as wealth, knowledge, skill, high position.
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How do you handle those things? It's just not the bad things, it's the good things. That's one way to look at it.
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So both hardships and prosperity test our faith. Either one can prove a profession of faith to be genuine or not genuine.
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Fake, false. Hardships bring obvious trials, but success sifts us too.
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And that is so true. There is a way that success can test us.
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I don't know if you thought of that, but sometimes we only think of the negative, don't we? But the positive, how we're going to handle that, it can so inflate our pride.
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That can cause a downfall. So we all have to be careful in all these things.
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The whole life that we live is a life of trials, in a sense.
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So James has more in mind than just the truism. We grow stronger through adversity, which is true.
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But he wants us to see the world in a certain way. You ever think of this?
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That when God speaks to us through His words, He wants us to think biblically. He wants us to live biblically.
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That's the key thing. And the goal of life is not just to find a maxim.
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And the reason I say these things, in pleasure. Now I want you to think of that, because even though all pleasure isn't bad,
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God has pleasure that's holy pleasure. It's as desire, it's what you desire.
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What is it that you desire? What kind of pleasure? But really we don't live for the pleasures of this world.
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That's the unbeliever for you. That's the goal of the unbeliever of the world. Our goal as a believer in Christ is to be like Christ.
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Not to allow these things of the world to keep us from being like Jesus, but that we would be more heavenly minded and more earthly good, right?
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To be mature in Jesus and to endure to the very end, our destination.
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Then we go before our God for all eternity. And we live out our eternal days and eternal bliss with Him.
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James sees it. God fashions maturity and endurance by means of various multicolored trials as I mentioned and that befall us.
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They will come our way. But the question comes to us is this, do we take responsibility?
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Do we take responsibility, this is a good question, and endure or doubt and blame
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God? How will we respond? Our response to trials reveals our condition, our heart condition, doesn't it?
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You don't know your faith and your faith in God until those trials come, how we meet them, how we respond to them.
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This is the first concern really of James to the letter that he is writing to the
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Christian Jews under his care. So his word about trials therefore speaks to more than just hospital rooms or flooded farmlands or unemployment, whatever it may be.
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He says this, when he speaks of all of life, he says, when you encounter whatever trial you go through, count it, consider it, pure joy, all joy, all joy of whatever you face, of many trials, of many colors.
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And then God brings us to maturity by them. This is James' first teaching here.
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And this is how he starts his letter and it holds for all of life. The trials of life will prove us whether we live by our professed doctrines or not.
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James says of life, the trials will try us, they will test us, that's pretty much the same thing, try us, test us, proving our faith to be genuine or false.
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And life's test, abstract theology, would not do.
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It would not suffice. Genuine Christians fail some test, of course, but James does not think, and let me explain what
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I'm saying about that, James does not think that everyone who succumbs to a foolish idea once in a while or a sinful desire to an unbeliever, and that does come to us, doesn't it?
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But what he's speaking of here is the faithfulness during the trials.
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It proves something, it tests, something comes out of it. And through the affliction, which afflictions can be good, so naturally we think of afflictions being bad, don't we?
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But God uses those afflictions to our good. And then we start looking at it, it was good for me to be afflicted.
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We so often think pain and hardships and things that we go through, this is something bad that God's bringing on me, but no, it's
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God's loving hand upon us, wanting us to be more like Christ and taking us down and knocking the pride out of us and purifying us and saying, now
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I have you exactly where you need to be. Depend on me. That's what
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God is saying. I like what Matthew Henry says. Matthew Henry says, as I was looking at this, considering the trials, he said, quote,
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Could we attend to these things and grow in them as we should? How good would it be for us to be afflicted?
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How true. We have looked at the past Lord's Day, counted all joy or considered it pure joy.
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We looked at that in a couple of parts and I think that's a big one. Joy is a grace from God. We saw that.
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It's not natural, it's supernatural. Something comes from God. When you go through the hardships, no matter what the severity of the trial is, who in their right mind is going to rejoice in something so hard?
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But we've got a reason to rejoice. And it gives us reason here in this text.
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See, the believer must make a conscience commitment, willingly, to face his trials with joy.
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That's so true, isn't it? As hard as it may be, but that's living by faith. And Paul in Philippians 3 says,
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Rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord. And here he is. Look at his circumstances. He's in a dungeon.
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He's chained up. He's been beaten. He's been tortured for Christ. And yet he still has cause to rejoice.
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I think about Paul and Silas before he was in the dungeon in Philippi. He was with Silas, chained up, being persecuted for Christ.
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They had every reason naturally to complain, but all of a sudden they wanted to sing to the
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Lord and have a prayer meeting, and they started calling on God, and they started singing praises to God, and God broke through with an earthquake and delivered them out.
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God can choose to do that. Sometimes He doesn't do it, but sometimes He does. You know why He did it? Because He had a purpose for Paul.
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He needed Paul over here to continue to preach His Word. James is encouraging the suffering here, the suffering
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Jewish Christians, what they should do in the time of trial. And also if you're going through some hardships and trials, this is what he says, count it all joy.
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The word count, as we looked at. And I'm going to kind of recap a little bit here, and then we're going to look at some personal, practical application.
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The word count means to add up the facts. Add up the facts and then come to a conclusion.
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It's a financial term. The word when is an important word because it is in a subjective mood and it carries the idea not just possibility, but inevitability.
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In other words, it will happen. When it happens. So in other words, the various trials that are certain to come should be expected as part of living the life of this present earth.
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I remember Elizabeth Elliot said this, and she said it quite often. She said, child of God, just remember and get used to suffering because it's normal in the
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Christian life. And that is so true. You know, the word fall means to encounter.
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So in other words, when you fall into it, encounter it, it has the literal meaning of falling into usually unexpectedly.
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A lot of times it comes unexpectedly, doesn't it? It surprises us, but it doesn't surprise
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God because it's ordained of God. Even though Satan may have a part to do with it,
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Satan has to get permission from God. God allows him, right?
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And God uses him. For example, in the story of the
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Good Samaritan, this word fall is used of the man who fell among robbers.
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That's what the Scripture says. He fell among robbers in Luke 10 .30. And also in Acts 27 .41,
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Paul's ship says it's falling into a place where two seas met.
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That word falling is the same word used here. When you fall.
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The word trials is a big word. It has the basic meaning of trying, testing. It also means not only proving, but it means assaying.
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When it assays you. The Greek word basically connotes trouble.
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Boy, that's a big word, isn't it? When trouble comes. Reminds me of what Paul said to the
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Thessalonians. Rest with us to you that are troubled. How can you rest in the midst of trouble?
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Well, look at Jesus. He could rest in the part of the boat when they were undergoing the worst of the storm.
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It was like a typhoon. And the disciples feared for their lives. Master, don't you care that we perish?
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That's what they called on the Lord. And He was sleeping. He didn't worry about it. And He came up and rebuked the storm and said,
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Peace, be still. And immediately there was a calm. Amazing.
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But that shows you what manner of man this Christ is. And all
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He has to do is speak to our storms. And it ceases. Aren't you glad He's on board?
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That's the difference. That's the difference. All of us face trials. Believers and unbelievers.
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The rain falls on the good and the bad. But what's the difference? The Lord's with us. The Lord's with His children.
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The Lord has a glorious purpose. And we see it from the biblical perspective that it's a loving God, not a mean
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God. Our concept of God has changed because we know the God of the Bible.
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He's just not facts and letter, but He's living. He's the living
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God. He's not the God of the dead. But see, trouble means it means something that breaks the pattern of peace.
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It breaks that, doesn't it? It breaks comfort. It tears up our comfort zone.
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It could be not only the pattern of peace that's broken or comfort. It can tear into the happiness in someone's life.
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We think everything, we have it under control, don't we? But God breaks through. He comes to tell us.
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It's Him that orchestrates everything, not us. The verb from this word means to put someone or something to the test.
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To put someone or something to the test with the purpose of discovering that person's nature or that thing's quality.
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That's the purpose of what He's talking about here. So God in His sovereignty brings such tests to prove us, to assay us, to test us.
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Or would you say to increase our faith? I believe that would be a great way to look at it.
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The quality of your faith. The quality of one's faith. What's the strength of your faith?
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We don't know that until it's tested, right? We don't know the strength of our test until we go through that trial.
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However severe it may be and however multicolored it is, God wants to test our faith.
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He wants to increase our faith, whatever the nature and severity of these various multicolored trials are meant to test a believer's faith.
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It's all about the testing of your faith. Let me speak something here about faith. Hebrews, I love this
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Scripture. And Brother Keith quotes it quite often. It was one of the verses I memorized when
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I first became a Christian. And I got it right here and I got it right here. Just not here, but I got it hidden in my heart.
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And I praise God for that. Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please
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Him. He that comes to God must believe that He is. And that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
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Him. Some of the translations take out that word diligently. I like the old King James there because the word means something.
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It means I'm going to diligently seek Him. But we must have faith.
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Faith pleases God. And by the way, it's not something we can pull up ourselves. It's a grace. God gives us that gift by measure.
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Paul talks about it by measure. But faith without works, James says, cannot be called faith.
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And then he also speaks of faith without works as dead. So there's dead faith and living faith.
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According to James 2, 26. And a dead faith is worse than no faith at all. Think about it.
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Faith must work and it must produce something. And faith that is living does produce something.
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It must be visible. And that's what James is talking about. Your faith will be visible, not invisible.
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It's a living faith. It's an active faith. But it must work and it must produce something. It's a faith that is not only visible but active.
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Verbal faith is not enough. Mental faith isn't enough. By the way, mental faith is insufficient.
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Faith must be alive and faith must be active. It's never dead.
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People can have faith but it can be dead faith. But the faith that God gives is an active faith.
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It is living. It's tangible. It's there. It's from God because God is a living
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God. He's not a dead God. So that faith comes to us as a grace.
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It must inspire to action. And throughout this epistle to the Jewish believers, James integrates that true faith in everyday practical experience by stressing that true faith, living faith, active faith must manifest itself in works.
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It's the faith that works. So true living faith is working faith.
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What did Paul say? The just shall live by faith.
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That's a great word. And by the way, he didn't come up with that. You see it in Habakkuk, the prophet, and then the writer of Hebrews quotes it.
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And Paul quotes it. You see it all the way through the Word of God. The just shall live by faith.
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And faith endures trials, right? Faith takes those trials head on.
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Now let me say something about trials. Trials come and trials go. Don't you think of this.
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But faith will continue. Your faith will grow strong as you face them head on.
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And what does it produce? Endurance. Perseverance.
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That's what we want. To persevere. To continue. To abide.
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In verse 3, James says, knowing, there's a key word. We looked at that word, didn't we?
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There's an understanding. Based on what we know, the testing of faith produces patience or endurance.
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The word knowing here speaks of convictions from biblical teaching.
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We cannot throw out doctrine. It's what we have been taught. It's what is taught to us.
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So we must know. So the testing is a path of development in the
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Christian character. Look with me real quickly to Romans chapter 5. Let's go to Romans 5.
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Hold your place in James 1, of course. We're going to return there. But this is just some references I was just thinking of.
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And I said, you know, we talk about and we kind of chuckle a little bit. Hey, never pray for patience, right?
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So what happens when you pray for patience? Well, God's going to send some tribulation your way, so you might as well get ready.
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He will answer it that way. But it's a good thing, right? If you pray for a lot of patience,
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I would say, look out. Because a lot of tribulation is going to come your way. But faith triumphs in trouble.
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Trouble, doesn't it? And this is what the word says in Romans 5, verses 1 through 5.
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Notice what it says. Now, the therefore, as you well know, is from verse 25.
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It speaks of Jesus who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.
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Then he said, therefore. The therefore is for a reason. Then, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. That's a great verse, isn't it? Our peace with God. There's a peace of God, but this is peace with God.
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The of and the with. But the with is justification by faith through Jesus Christ, through his blood.
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That's the gospel. Verse 2. Through whom also we have access by faith.
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Get this. By faith, we've been justified, right? But we also have access to him by faith into this grace in which we stand.
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You stand by it. And notice what he says. And rejoice. There's that word. In hope of the glory of God.
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He's going somewhere with this. Notice where he goes. And not only that, but we also glory in what?
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Tribulations. We glory in tribulations. And then he tells you why. There's that word knowing.
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Knowing. That's a key word, folks. That the tribulation, it produces something.
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James is saying the same thing. It produces perseverance. Perseverance.
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You know, Calvin didn't come up with the doctrine of perseverance of the faith of the saints. Here it is, right here in Scripture.
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It produces perseverance. That means endurance. And notice what he says. Don't you love this? Verse 4.
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And perseverance, character. And character, hope.
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And then he says this. Now hope does not disappoint. There's nothing disappointing about this hope.
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It's a living hope. Because, and then he gives us the reason. The love of God.
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Aren't you glad for the love of God? The love of God has been poured out into our hearts.
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That's regeneration. Into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
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So there you have it. That's the purpose of faith. It triumphs in trouble.
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And notice all the glorious purposes that it pulls out.
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Now, go with me very quickly to 1 Peter. Peter says the same thing. 1
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Peter chapter 1. Pretty much the same thing.
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What Paul is saying, don't you love, do you see how the apostles and how they connect everything?
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You know what it is? It's the Holy Spirit. And they didn't just come up with this on a fancy.
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They learned this from the Lord Jesus Christ and His teachings. And all the epistles is a commentary on the life of Jesus and the teaching of Jesus.
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So here they are teaching us. Paul is teaching us. And he's teaching the Romans and Peter is teaching the
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Christians here that are dispersed. And James is saying the same things to the
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Jewish believers. And listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 6.
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In this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while you need be, if need be, you have been grieved.
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That word grieve means distressed. When you've been distressed by various trials.
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He knows this. Trials are hard. But that's why he's going to give us a good word here. He's going to give us some encouragement.
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Verse 7. That the genuineness of your faith. There it is. James is saying the same thing.
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The genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it be tested by fire.
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There's the word tested. May be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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And he says in verse 8. Whom having not seen you love. There's faith. We don't see Him, but we love
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Him. We know He's there. And then he says this. Though now you do not see
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Him, yet believing. That's faith. And then he says this.
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The same thing James says. You rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory receiving the end of your faith and the salvation of your souls.
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Isn't that a great word? So, we are to be exceedingly glad.
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Peter got that. Rejoice greatly. Greatly rejoice. That joy that is not based on changing temporal circumstances, but is used of joy that comes from the unchanging eternal relationship that we have with God.
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That's the rock right there. That's the source. That the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold.
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Think of that. The world goes after gold. This is far more valuable than gold. Far more valuable.
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God's purpose in allowing trouble is to test the reality of our faith in Him. And that's what
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He wants to do. He wants to purify us. Strengthen our faith. But the benefit of such testing or the fire is immediately for the
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Christian. It's not
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God, but it's for the Christian. But when a believer comes through a trial still trusting the Lord, he's assured that his faith is real.
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It's genuine. And that's what we're looking at. Well, this is true when we meet our trials in faith, right?
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And again, we must have an understanding mind. We must have a joyful attitude. And we looked at that.
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No one carries the full idea of understanding to something that is beyond merely factual or often comes from personal experience.
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How do we know this? Well, Hebrews 11 is a long series of testimonies to men and women of God whose faith enabled them to endure afflictions, not only deliverance for the
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Lord's sake, and they were thereby increased and strengthened. Go with me real quickly to Hebrews 11.
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Notice this. Now, here's a great testimony in Hebrews 11.
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Notice verse 30. These are men and women of God that endured trials.
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They endured it. Hebrews 11 verse 30. They came through.
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This was the faith of how they overcame. And we can learn a lot here, beloved.
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Now, let me say something off the offset before I read these scriptures. Years and years ago when
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I first came to the Lord, I didn't get into it with everything, but I was kind of around people, particularly my uncle and my aunt, got into the prosperity gospel.
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They would always talk about faith. Faith, faith, faith. And actually, they had a wrong teaching concept of faith.
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They would always say it's faith and faith. And I said, what is that? Our faith is in God, not faith in faith.
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That's spurious. That's false teaching. But, yeah, mysticism. Thank you,
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Keith. But also, they would always talk about this great faith, but never ever, they would always give the definition of faith from Hebrews 11.
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It talks about now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
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But never ever would they ever go to the last part of this chapter. And you're going to see why.
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There's suffering. There's affliction. And that's, you notice this, when you see the sovereignty of God, you study the
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Bible, you see this all through Scripture. There is suffering. But they overcame.
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They would always go to those great stories of deliverance. But what does God say? Well, listen to this.
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Yes, God sometimes does deliver. In verse 30, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
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God did a miracle there. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace.
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And listen to what the writer says. I love this. Verse 32, And what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Japheth, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.
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And notice what he says. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, that's
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Daniel, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, because valiant in battle turned the flight of the armies of the aliens.
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Women received their dead raised to life again. That would be the story of Elisha.
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Others were tortured. Now, this is what you don't hear a lot. Others were tortured.
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Not accepting deliverance. Some did not get deliverance, because God chose not to, right?
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God's sovereign. But listen to this. That they might obtain a better resurrection. That's powerful.
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And verse 36, still others had trial of mockings and scourging. Yes, of chains and of imprisonment.
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They were stoned. They were sawn in two. Were tempted.
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Were slain with the sword. You're talking about afflictions, brother. They wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.
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And then verse 38, of whom the world was not worthy. Wow. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth.
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Makes me think of John the Baptist. In all these, the writer says, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.
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God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
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And then he says this, Therefore. Don't you love this? That's it right there.
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Therefore is for the reason, the crucial transition word offering an emphatic conclusion to the section in which he began in Hebrews 10, 19.
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Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
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And then he says this, The captain of our salvation, beloved. That's who he's talking about. Looking unto
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Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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You ever think why he goes right to Jesus? You see that? MacArthur says this,
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The deceased people of chapter 11 give witness to the value and blessing of living by faith.
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Motivation for running the race is not the possibility of receiving praise from observing heavenly saints.
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Rather, the runner is inspired by the godly examples of those saints set during their lives.
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And the great crowd are not comprised of spectators, but rather are the ones whose past life of faith encourages others to live that way.
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And then the ultimate example is Jesus. See, those
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Old Testament saints are looking for that promise, that better promise.
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Some did not live to see it, but they believed it by faith. You see, now we look back.
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They were looking ahead. We look back. But all was looking to Jesus. He's the author and the finisher of our faith.
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You see, these godly men and women manifested the true saving faith by what is commonly called the perseverance of the saints.
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There you have it. They endured to the very end. James shows that when faith is but empty, profession, out of just mere sentiment, not based on firm, intelligent convictions of divine faith, the fiery trials of trouble will burn it up completely.
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So, there you have it. True faith, affliction naturally leads to deeper conviction, a deeper condition of knowing
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Jesus Christ. True condition that under the circumstances thereby frees the heart from deception and self -righteousness.
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Clean it up. That fire has a way to burn it, but you come through it, because God is there with us.
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So the very source of weakness leads to earnest wrestling with God in prayer, right? God has a purpose for all of it.
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And the experience of sustaining grace obtains, strengthens, exhilarates hope, as we read.
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Spurgeon put it this way, when you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you can lay your head.
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Isn't that great? Lean hard on the sovereignty of God, beloved, when trials come.
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You may not understand it. You know what I'm talking about, saints. Sometimes you don't know what to do.
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You're out of strength. You've been there. You just fall on your face and say, Oh God, you have this.
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I don't understand it. I may not know the meaning and the purpose, but I do know there's something that's for my good in this.
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And God, you have this. I may not understand it, but you understand. You are a loving
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God, and everything that you do is good. And He knows what He's doing. So you can lean hard on God's sovereignty.
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Well, in the closing of this message, I would like to give some practical application on how we as believers can profit from our trials.
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I've been so encouraged by writing these things down, not only from personal experience, but something biblical here, based upon Scripture first and foremost, but also in my own experience down through the years.
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But the Lord has ways of allowing trials to come into your life and my life.
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And my prayer is as I go through each one of these purposes, there are eight of them, there are eight, at the end of your journey, that by His grace, you will be an overcomer by faith, and this would encourage you to that end, and for the glory of God.
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And that's what it's about. It's about God's glory. This isn't about us. God has a purpose. He wants His glory to be seen.
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And by the way, when these things happen, God be glorified, right? We be brought down, but God be lifted up, because we're just vessels.
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We're nothing. But God is the purpose for the whole test.
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So let's look at it. The first one is, the testing of our faith, the trials that come our way, is number one, to test our faith in God, and the testing of our faith in God is to strengthen our faith in God.
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Now that sounds simple, but let me explain. Think of it. In many ways, the
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Lord assists in taking spiritual inventory by allowing these trials to come into our lives to demonstrate to us the strength and weakness of our faith.
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You see, it allows us to stop and think. That's what J .C.
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Ryle says. What are trials intended to do? First of all, to make you think. That's the first thing.
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It does. It gives pause. David did that. You notice in the Psalms, many times he's speaking of all these trials he's going through, and he says,
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Selah. Pause. Meditate. He's thinking. Ponder it.
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Think. It is to evaluate a person who becomes resentful, bitter, self -pitying when trials or troubles come.
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That's the response a lot of times that happens. You sit there. You could choose to be self -pitying. You can choose to sit there and be bitter or resentful.
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That actually exposes a weak faith, doesn't it? On the other hand, a person who turns more and more to the
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Lord Jesus Christ and throws himself on the Lord and casts his care upon Christ, as troubles get worse and things heat up, is asking help of the
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Lord and carrying that burden just as plainly demonstrates a faith that is strong in God.
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See? That's why Paul said, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
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We can't be strong outside of the Lord, can we? It's in the Lord. In the Lord. David encouraged himself in the
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Lord, outside of the Lord, with nothing.
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Several examples I think of. Exodus 16 .4 God told
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Moses in Exodus 16 .4, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day.
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Notice what he says. And for that reason and purpose, God says, that I may test them whether or not they will walk in My instructions.
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Wow! God knows what He's doing, doesn't He? 2 Chronicles 32 .31 is the story of King Hezekiah.
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We're told of King Hezekiah that God left him alone only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart.
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Some people might say, Hold on a minute. Wait right there, Pastor David. Is it God omniscient? Does He already know?
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Yes, He already knows. But did you ever thank God in His all -knowing wisdom? It wasn't for God to know.
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It was for Hezekiah to discover that truth for himself. A lot of people say, Why was God calling out,
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Adam, where art thou? He knew where Adam was. God comes in question.
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He wanted Adam to know where He was. He wanted, say, God wanted Hezekiah. And God wants us to know where we are.
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Stop and pause and think and ponder it. Lord, where am I with you? Isn't that what trials do?
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It helps you to gather up inventory. Where am I with the Lord? God has purpose.
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Another example is the prophet Habakkuk pondering God's devastating warning that He was sending the
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Chaldeans to conquer all, but decimate His people, would say.
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Testify in Habakkuk 3, 17, 18. Listen to the Word of God. Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olives should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, all that.
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And then he says this. Yet I will exult in the Lord. I will exult
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God, in other words. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. That was his response.
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He knew God was sovereign. He knew that these people disobeyed God. They were falling into disobedience and disobeying
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God's commands. And then they fell into idolatry and they broke God's commandments, but God allowed those things to discipline them.
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But yet the prophet knew God was loving all along and just. And after questioning
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God's wisdom, we know, and justice, and allowing Him to experience such an unbelievable, terrible affliction, it was just incredible what
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Job went through. He confessed to the Lord at the end in Job 42, verses 5 and 6.
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He says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, and now my eyes see you.
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Therefore I retract and I repent in dust and ashes. You see his response.
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Even Job, the godly Job, fell on his face when God answered out of the whirlwind.
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God didn't have to answer him, by the way. God chose to answer him, to help
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Job. These are just a few examples of being tested to strengthen our faith.
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The second one would be this. This is one that really hits me hard, and I think this is a great truth, is trials are given to humble us.
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That's big, isn't it? Trials are given to humble us for the reason to remind us not to let our trust be in anything else but the
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Lord. That's the purpose of being humbled. We're going to trust only
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God. That's faith. It also tells us that we would not let that turn into presumption and spiritual self -satisfaction.
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Sometimes we have a tendency to think, well, the greater our blessings, the more
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Satan will tempt us to look on them as our own accomplishments rather than the
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Lord's, or as our wrath will do, is to become proud in heart rather than to be humble.
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That can easily happen, can't it? We can think we had a finger to do with it. Oh, I had something to do with it rather than God Himself.
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2 Corinthians, I read this last week, I believe in chapter 12, verse 7, Paul the apostle said this, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, and God gave him much.
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And then he says this, for this reason, for this reason, Paul says, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, the old
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King James says, to torment me. Wow. But there was a reason. And then he says this, to keep me from exalting myself.
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God hates pride. And God's going to knock the pride out of us and to keep us humble, even if He sends trials our way, to keep us down, that He may be exalted and we be brought low.
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Third, and God's sovereignty allows us to suffer through trials in order to wean us from our dependence on worldly things.
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Think of that. He does not want us to be dependent on worldly things. God wants us to wean us.
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The trials, J .C. Rowell said that too, is to make us think, to humble us, but it is also to wean us from the world.
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God's doing that. Because there's a greater world waiting for us, beloved. We're just a passing through.
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There are many things in the world that can accumulate to tempt us to rely on instead of relying on God, isn't there?
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I think there's a plenty. And we are so... We're like dumb sheep, folks, right?
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Let's look at it. We are. That's what Scripture says. I didn't say it. Sheep go astray. Sheep go after another pasture.
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Sheep... I think about it a lot of times. Sheep just dumb. They need a shepherd.
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They need somebody to guide them. I said, Lord, I'm that sheep. I'm dumb. I need a shepherd.
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I don't know what I'm doing, but I need somebody to lead me, to guide me, to care for me.
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Well, Jesus is that great shepherd. Well, what things can we rely on other than God?
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There's a lot there. I don't have time for this, but let me give you just a few. Material possessions is one of them, right?
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Why did Jesus preach so much outside of the kingdom of God about the issue of money? He knew that our hearts would cling to those things that we see and we gather pleasure in.
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It was materialism. Money. He said, you can't serve God and mammon.
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God and money. Passion. You would love the one or hate the other. You can't have a divided heart there.
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And that's what Jesus taught. How about worldly knowledge? Boy, people can get caught up in being so knowledgeable.
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Knowledge puffs up, right? Love builds up. Experience. What about us being my experience?
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Boy, I'm an experienced person. We can get caught up in that. Recognition. We want to be recognized as somebody, but all together we're really nobody.
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The list goes on, folks. I can preach a sermon on that. These things can include education.
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We need to be careful about being too educated. It has its proper place.
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How about working? How about my job? How about being successful? Important people we know.
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Honors we may have been given to us and many other types of benefits that just inflates our head and just pours fuel on our ego from the world's perspective.
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Often they're not... And let me say this. Some of these things I mentioned are not wrong in themselves, right?
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But can easily become the focus of our concern and the idolatry.
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We can idolize these things, I should say, on the basis of trust. Our trust is in the
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Lord rather than anyone else. We need to trust in God's righteousness and His kingdom.
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Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. On one occasion when a large crowd followed
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Jesus and the disciples to the mountain, Jesus asked Philip... You remember the story, right? What does he say?
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Jesus already knew the answer. He was testing him. Notice this. Philip, where do we buy bread so that these may eat?
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Jesus threw the question out there. That's the way God is. Like a parent, a wise parent.
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Ask Him the question. This is what He was saying to test Him, to prove Him. And He Himself knew that He was intending to do.
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Philip failed that test, didn't he? He said, well, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.
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Jesus said, make them sit down. And Jesus provided it.
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And that physical, beautiful example that He gave in that picnic that day, there was a spiritual lesson.
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And if you notice later on, then He says, I'm the bread of life. Labor not for the bread that perishes.
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You see, Jesus always had a point. So, Philip was looking only at the material resources.
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We can do that at times, can't we? Rather than the Lord, which obviously we're far short of being to meet the need.
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Fourth, I've got to move on here because my time is almost gone. The purpose of trials is to call us to eternal and heavenly hope.
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It's to be eternally minded. Heavenly hope. Well, our true hope is in the
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Lord and in His Word. I'm learning this. Still learning.
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It's not of this world. The harder our trials become, and the longer they last, the more we look forward to being forever with the
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Lord. I don't know about you, sometimes trials can beat you down so much and you just say, Lord, I felt this way.
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I said, I'm ready to die right now and just go be with the Lord. But I know,
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God, You've got a purpose for me. It's almost, I feel in a sense, almost like Paul, and I resonate what
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Paul says, to me, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. That's a far greater thing.
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But God, I know You have a purpose for what You have me to do here. Paul knew that his ministry was not finished and that it was all important for him to continue his work on earth and for Christ's sake and for the church.
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And that's what he said, to depart, to be with Christ, is far greater and far better.
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Romans 8, 18, For I consider that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us,
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Paul said. Because we see Him who is invisible. Let me just go to the fifth. The fifth is, another purpose of trials is to reveal what we really love.
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You think of that. It reveals what you really love. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son
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Isaac not only proved and tested his faith, but also his supreme love for the Lord. Nothing and no one else should be dearer to us and our heart than the
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Lord. First and foremost, right? Deuteronomy, The Lord told
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His people, Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you but to fear the
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Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to love Him and to serve the Lord your
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God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind? That's the first and great commandment
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Jesus gives. And as Brother Keith said that earlier, have we done this? We fail to do that, right?
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But we fall on our faces and we say, Lord, help us, help us. Jesus used a figurative expression to teach us that our love of God should exceed all other loves, including our love for our families.
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Jesus said it, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children, brothers and sisters,
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I don't think he left anyone out. Yes, even his own life. He cannot be my disciple.
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So that is, Jesus must be first and foremost. Sixth, very quickly, Trials are given to teach us to value
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God's eternal blessings. Just not the temporal blessings, but God's eternal blessings.
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Our reason tells us to make the value of the world and the things of the world and the senses to tell us to value pleasure and the ease.
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But what value would it all be if we gained the whole world, Jesus says, and lose your own soul?
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That's the eternal perspective. Through trials, afflictions, crosses and losses, faith tells us to value spiritual things of God rather than just the temporal things.
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What would be some of these abundant things that Jesus taught us? His word, his love, his care, his provision, his strength, who he is, he's the source of all of it.
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We give thanks this time of year, but we give thanks all the time, just not for the blessings, but for the blesser.
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God is the source. David said this in Psalm 63, 3 -7, because your loving kindness is better than life.
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Isn't that great? God's loving kindness is better than life. Life is good because God's good, but he says
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God's loving kindness is better than my very existence. My lips will praise you.
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This is his response. I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands, talking about praise, in your name.
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My soul satisfied with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
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And when I remember you on my bed, I will meditate on you in the night watches, for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings,
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I will sing for joy. God was the source of all his thanksgiving.
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David valued God and his blessings over everything else that this world can offer, and that's the way we should do.
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Seventh. I'm almost finished. Hang in there, children. Bless your heart. The Lord uses trials to develop his people enduring strength for greater faithfulness.
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I have learned this so much, and I'm still learning it again. God wants me to be faithful, faithful, faithful in the mundane, the little things, no matter what happens, but just be faithful to Him.
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What does Jesus say to those that enter into His kingdom and to heaven? Well done, good and faithful servant.
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Enter into the joy of the Lord. See? It's being a faithful servant. Let's be faithful.
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The Puritan Thomas Manton said this perceptively. This is what he says.
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While all things are quiet and comfortable, we live by sense rather than faith.
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But the worth of a soldier is never known in times of peace. Isn't that the truth?
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Therefore, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 .10, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions.
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Listen, he's content with this. With difficulties, for Christ's sake, for when I'm weak, then
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I'm strong. And Tozer's classic devotion in that incredible Christian, he says the truth of the cross is revealed in its contradiction.
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Let me just wheel off a few things he says here. The witness of the church is most effective when she declares rather than explains.
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For the gospel is addressed not to reason, but to faith, and faith rests upon the character of God, not upon the demonstrations of laboratory or logic.
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And notice what he says. The Christian believes that in Christ he's died, yet he's more alive than he has been before and fully expects to live forever.
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He walks on earth while seated in heavenly places, and though born on earth, he finds that after his conversion he's not at home here.
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Christian soon learns that if he would be victorious as a son of heaven among men on earth, he must not follow the common pattern of mankind, but rather contrary.
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And listen to what he says. That he may be safe, he puts himself in jeopardy. He loses his life to save it.
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He is in danger of losing it if he attempts to preserve it. He goes down to get up. He refuses to go down.
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He's already down. But when he starts down, he's on his way up. He's strongest when he's weakest and weakest when he's strong.
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Though poor, he has the ability to enrich others, and others vanishes, and has most after he has given most away, and has least when he possesses most.
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Did you get it? He may be and often is highest when he feels lowest and most sinless when he is most conscious of sin.
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He's wisest when he knows that he knows not and knows least when he has acquired the greatest amount of knowledge.
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He sometimes does most by doing nothing and goes furthest when standing still, and in heaviness he manages to rejoice and keeps his heart glad even in sorrow.
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That's Tozer on Incredible Christian. My last point. Finally, the
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Lord uses trials, and I like this one, to help and enable us to better help others in their trials.
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May we be an extension of God's loving hand to others. What did Jesus say to Peter?
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He said this, Peter, I'm sorry, he says, Simon, Simon, behold, this is a great revelation
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Jesus gives him. Behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you as like wheat. First of all, we see that Satan has to ask permission from God.
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But, here's the master telling Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
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And what does he say? And when you, and then he says you, when once you have turned again, he knew he was going to come back.
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He knew it. Strengthen your brothers. That's the purpose. Everything is turned around.
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It's not about Peter. It's about reaching others and encouraging others for Jesus' sake.
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Peter's sufferings were given not only to strengthen him, yes, for greater usefulness, but also to prepare him to strengthen others.
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That's what it's about. And that is so true of every believer suffering for the
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Lord's sake, right? And testing Jesus and his humanity. Scripture says, for since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
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Jesus felt the full force of temptation. And though we often yield to temptation before we feel its full force, but Jesus resisted temptation even when the greatest enticement for yielding had become evident.
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That's powerful. Apostle Paul sums this up in the principle of 1
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Corinthians 1, 3 -6. But here you have it.
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The purpose of trials. And Lord willing, next week we will continue to look at this.
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We'll look at a submissive will, a believing heart as God so would give us another day.
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Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you as good as for your goodness.
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And I thank you, Father, that you do allow trials to come our way. Not only to encourage us and purify us.
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And it is hard to know that it does encourage us, but it can encourage us just because you encourage us.
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Even in the midst of it. Because you know our frailty. You know that we're but dust and you know our frame.
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So Father, I would like to pray, Lord, for each and every one that is going through a trial today.
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Help them to be encouraged. Knowing that your presence is right there.
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Your hand is there to guide them. Every joy in trial comes from above.
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And let us remember, Lord, that every good and perfect gift comes from above. From the
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Father Alliance. From our perspective, these phases of trials is for a purpose.
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Change and change is about us. But Lord, you do not change. Your faithfulness remains.
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And that's a rock we can be sure of. So Father, may we as your people rest in your character of who you are.
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That you are the unchanging, loving God. And in trials and sufferings and hardships and afflictions, whatever the valley may be, as well as the mountaintops, and times of hard times, bad times, as well as good times, you are still
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God. And you're always good. And your grace is sufficient for every trial to take us through it.