Good morning, everybody. If you
would turn to James chapter one, the book of James chapter one. If I had the title and I, and
I have to for, for David's sake, patience, perfect work. That's
what I want to talk to you about this morning. Patience, perfect
work. James chapter one, verse two
through four. You sit down and you read your
notes before trying to deliver a message, Gene, and you think,
those are perfect. And then you get in front of
everybody and sit down and read the first paragraph and there
ain't nothing there you thought was there. Y'all pray for me. James chapter one, verse two. My brethren counted it all joy
Count it. Reckon it. Balance it. Pretend. Realize. Count. Count it all joy when
you fall into divers temptations. I would like for you to replace
that word with trials, temptations. I think it has helped me more
than anything else to understand this book, to do that. And divers
means a diversity, when you fall into a diversity of temptations. Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith works patience, worketh continually. But let
patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire. Perfect meaning whole, whole,
complete. that you may be whole and complete
and entire wanting nothing." These three verses set the theme
for the entire book of what you're about to read, about to study.
James, this letter addresses numerous trials, a diversity
of trials. But even more, it addresses the
believer's response to those trials. Keep that in mind. We are all sinful human beings
and our first response, our first inclination to discomfort or
trial or tribulation or pain or anguish or any trial that
might come to us is to strike out against it. This entire letter to the church
is meant to comfort us in trials. It's also a warning for us to
guard against that natural response that we are so quick to exercise
in the times that they come. Every believer knows in his heart. that the Lord God is in absolute
control of all things until we fall into a trial. Then we don't
believe it so much. God's given him the gift of faith,
the believer, and every child of Christ heartily embraces that
truth. And this is an admonition for
you to live that truth. If we truly belong to Christ,
The confidence that we have in the person and work of Christ
is unshakable, but the events that come our way and cause us
distress often result in us crying out or even striking out, as
I said, against what we know, we know is God's providence. Every hostile, detestable response
that we have against what we call a bad circumstance is evidence
of our unbelief. And in fact, it's nothing less
than a carnal challenge to Christ and his Lordship. All of us, me and you, are plagued
with that unbelief. And though we are unbendable,
listen to me now, we're unbendable in the matter of doctrine and
would defend our doctrine to the death in some cases. God's
providence often calls into question our faith because of our reaction
to the trials that he's ordained for us. And when studying this
lesson, in my effort to find some way
to express the overall theme of the book of James, there's
three individuals came to my mind. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came to my mind while trying
to express that overall tone and theme. And let me point out
something to you. It struck me like lightning.
No sooner had Nebuchadnezzar cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
into that furnace, it was burning seven times hotter than usual.
No sooner had our Lord permitted them to be cast into that furnace
than he was standing right next to them. Nebuchadnezzar said, I see one
like the Son of God in there. There's four of them guys in
there. Their trial, the Lord was standing
right next to them. And when they came out of that
furnace, three of them came out, fourth one didn't. When they
came out, do you think they ever had any problem after that in
trusting Christ by faith for their next trial? They knew he
was there. We should too. I'm convinced
that when they saw the very Son of God standing next to them,
they were perfectly content. Any future trial or adversity
or any other thing that proved their faith was minor. And let's think about Job for
a minute. We all are familiar with his trials. He lost all
of his kids. He was covered in boils. He lost
all of his cattle and he had to listen to his friends slander
him. And he had a wife that told him, why don't you
just curse God and die? That ain't being no help. Those are what you would call
diverse temptations, a diversity of temptations, diversity of
trials. And they come to Job one right
after the other, and all of them was painful, physically and emotionally,
both. But no word does James say that
these trials are going to be pleasant. He just said, they're
going to come. They are going to come. He only
says that the trying of our faith has as its objective, a perfect
work. Look at verse four. Let patience
have her perfect work. I don't know why they put that
her there. I have no idea. But let patience have its perfect
work. I don't know why they added that.
Now there are two things we need to keep in mind when we look
at this letter from James. Inspired by God's spirit. We need to always remember that
the letter is written to believers. No one else, no one else. This is every believer situation,
and it's not isolated to just a few of us. He's not going to
pick on one and not pick on the other. They don't come from God. It says that we fall, fall into
divers, temptation divers trials. It's the brethren that he's speaking
to, partakers of the heavenly calling. And carnal men can never,
ever rejoice in the trials that they encounter in this life.
They will not do it. But there's great cause for joy.
Verse two, notice that. Count it all joy. When the faithful
child of God is called, which every trial serves, is to call
the fellowship, call us to the fellowship of God in Christ. They're thrown into the furnace
to discover that Christ is right next to them. That's where they
go. That's who they see. And secondly,
always remember this, salvation's by grace. and this book can be abused,
the book of James. Salvation is by grace and the
carnal man of this world will see works in it. Those trials are not trials of
salvation, they're trials of faith. The faith that's been
given to us of God and every trial of our faith is designed
to bring us to utter dependence on Christ. God's providence designs
everything, everything, all things, the sum total of things, the
minutest things, to bring us to an expected end. Those trials are painful, and
pain's not their intent. They're just the tools in the
hand of our God, our sovereign God, to bring us to the very
best place, at the feet of Christ. Christ said to us, I know your
thoughts. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you. Now listen to this. Saith the
Lord, thoughts of peace that I have toward you, and not of
evil, to give you an expected end. Let me read that again. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, my child, saith the Lord, they're thoughts of peace,
not of evil, to give you an expected end. Now, knowing all that, we
can better understand, I think, the words of James in these verses.
James begins these words by identifying them, those people that he's
writing to, and again he calls them my brethren. That salutation
is important because it distinguishes or singles out all those upon
whom these trials come. These trials are not a general
occurrence as those that are common to all men. They're special. These trials are special. These
trials are exclusive to the brethren, to believers, to those whom God
has given faith. Natural, carnal men can't rejoice
in these trials. The sorrow of the world, these
things to the carnal man are the sorrows of the world, which
worketh death. And since these trials are called
trials of faith, these terms are important. I try to emphasize particular
words, but sometimes I slip up. Since these trials are called
trials of faith, not trials of works, trials of faith, they
can't be separated from the object of our faith, who is the Lord
Jesus and his gospel. These trials
come to the believer because he or she believes the gospel. In truth, these trials are a
testimony of God's faithfulness to us. Scripture say, God's faithful
by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son, Jesus
Christ. This whole book, this whole book
is absolutely stuffed with the principle of rejoicing. How much
of that do we do? It's stuffed with the principle
of rejoicing when you fall into these trials. Listen to just
a couple examples. Paul said in Romans, therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand, and we rejoice in hope of glory
of God. And not only so, we glory in
tribulations also, knowing that the tribulation worketh patience. That's the same thing James said
there. Same thing James said. And patience
works experience, and experience works hope. And hope makes not
ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called brethren, according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that we might be the firstborn among many brethren. Those whom he called, he justified. and whom he justified, then he
also glorified." Everything that comes to pass. That's what Romans
8, 28 just said right there. Everything that comes to pass
in time or in the life of the believer is brought to pass according
to God's purpose. There's not one atom out of place.
A-T-O-M, not A-D-A-M. Well, that's true too. everything, everything is according
to the eternal unalterable purpose of God who works all things at
the counsel of his own will. God's word assures us that behind
all of our trials and the apparent confusion of this world, and
it got confused this weekend as you've seen in the news, God
assures us that behind all of that confusion and mess lies the purpose of God. He doesn't view it as a mess.
He views it in his purpose, and he's accomplishing every bit
of it. And to that end, he's arranged
every minute affair in this world. He's sovereignly going to bring
them to pass. Paul even refers to Paul even refers in Romans,
I've forgotten now, Paul even refers to trials being a gift. If you recall, do you remember
this thorn that he was given him in the flesh? Here's what
he said, and lest I should be exalted above measure, though
through the abundance of the revelations that he knew and
was privileged to, There was given a gift, there was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above all measure. For this thing,
I besought the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And he said, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. And he gave Paul that weakness
to give him, make him strong, okay? Most gladly, therefore,
Paul said, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, and in necessities and persecutions and distresses
for Christ's sake, for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Notice
the wording of verse two here. These trials are given. This doesn't say when you fall
by temptations. Look at that. When you fall. When you, when you fall. It doesn't say when you fall
by temptations or when you fall because of temptations, but we're
to rejoice when we fall into temptations. You remember that
Levite over in, I believe it's in Matthew, who went to Jericho
and fell among thieves? That word fell and fall are the
same thing. It's like falling off a cliff.
You ain't got nothing to do with it. It just happens. It's not
some thought process that you go to get yourself into these
trials with this mess. It's our response to those trials
that the Lord permits to be put in front of us. They beat him half to death.
Well, they left him for dead, stripped him of his clothes.
And then there was King David, surrounded by his enemies with
no escaping them. And I thought, when I was studying
this, I thought about his response. I wish I could, I wish I could
be like David. He said, the sorrows of death
encompassed me, compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold
of me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of
the Lord. Oh Lord, I beseech you, deliver
my soul. And then a little later he says,
thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,
my feet from falling, I will walk before the Lord in the land
of the living. He was delivered. He was delivered. It becomes pretty obvious that
the trials of believers and unbelievers are all held in the providence
of God. As I've said, this fall, that he's speaking of here is
a plunging, a plunging. And the trial of the believer
works life. Listen to me now. The trial of
the believer works life and the trial of the unbeliever works
death. That's what the scripture says.
The trials and tribulations of the ungodly provokes madness. And multiple trials provoke more
and more madness and rebellion. And the actions of Pharaoh, remember
that? Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh
hardened his heart. It's a vivid demonstration. That's a vivid demonstration
of what we're talking about here. The unbelievers response to these
things. The temptations are there. They're
there waiting for us. They are for you. They are for
you. And our reaction to them ought
to be to rejoice because they are designed specifically to
work patience in you and in me. Now, if this is the design of
the trials, it certainly points to the fact of a need in us,
we need it. If all of that is the design
of these trials, it obviously means that we have a need and
a necessity for these things. If a survey could be taken of
the things that most afflict a believer, at the top would
probably be a failure to wait on God with patience. Rex and I have talked about that
a little bit in the last few days. How many times have we
seen in our studies brought to us by our pastor an admonition
of all those battles and kings and situations of the Israelites
and Israel and the old prophets to wait on the Lord. Wait, it's repeated throughout.
And you'll notice in verse four that there's no given specific
time. There's no specific time for
a trial as to its duration. We've talked about a good friend
last night. He's been taking care of his wife for about six
years now, and she's been in a coma for the last year. It takes him an hour and a half
to feed her breakfast. He's endured that for a long
time. If a timeline was given to us,
we'd try to invent ways to shorten it. The wording of verse four seems
to suggest that the believer is simply to expect these trials.
and realize that when one has done its job and brought its
expected end, another's gonna follow pretty soon. Until we
shed this prison of flesh in which we live and enter into
glory, we're gonna have these trials. One commentator I read
said this, he said, until tilestones, floor tile, until tile stones
are, he says, tile stones are of no use until they're baked,
well-hardened, and well-burned. I think that's a pretty good
analogy. And the beginning of verse four with the conjunction
but, but, suggest that the temptations in which we have fallen have
not yet worked in us the patience that is designed for us. I'm
gonna leave you with an unknown when all this is over with. This
teaches, I think, that our experiences of life is governed and it is
to bring us to this place of understanding. Living in this
world as a believer is a guarantee that our faith is gonna be tried. Among a lot of things, the admonition,
verse four, to let patience have her perfect work, teaches that
the end of patience, the end of the trial of faith, is not
known to us. It's not known. What is the end
of that trial? What is, when is patience finished? Become a perfect work. The end
is known only to God and will not necessarily be discernible
by us. Can any of us point to a time?
When a trial has brought us to full maturity, that's what perfection
means. I'm mature. I'm not gonna have
no more trials. No. That is the meaning of the
word perfect. Patience has a perfect word. The trial seems to run together
one right after the other, like a chain or something. And we'll
not know when the work of that particular trial or any trial
is finished, because as long as we have the gift of faith,
and until our eyes become seeing eyes, and we can see clearly,
as Paul says, all of this is determined of God to be a necessity
for us. Our God is going to bring, our
Lord's going to bring all things to their appointed end. This
is why the passage, I think, is purposely vague. Patience
is going to have its perfect work, and we're going to be made
perfect, mature in faith, entire in patience, and want for nothing. I can't grasp that possibility
while I live in this body of flesh. I'm not even going to
pretend to. But it takes place unseen and
unrecognized. That's the way we grow in the
flesh. Unseen and unrecognized. People that see us every day
don't see changes in us. Well, that's Rex. That's Jenny. But if you go 15 years, and you
walk in the back door, and you duck your head and go, is that
you, Jenny? It's unseen, and it's unrecognized. And we should count reckon it
to be so. In verse 2, count with what James
calls a perfect work, an increase in maturity. That's perfect work
now. It's an increase in maturity and patience. Until that day
comes, it seems that the believer is going to go through this life
falling into one ditch after another. into one temptation or trial
after another. Their faith's going to be tried
in order to increase their patience. I'm just repeating what's already
been said. Until all things are made new, we'll look at this
world and its events just like King Solomon when he said, I
returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift
nor the battle to the strong. neither yet bread to the wise,
nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill,
but time and chance happeneth to them all." When a child of
God falls into these diverse trials, there's cause for joy. It becomes an honor to be conformed
to Christ's image. It's a mark of sonship. and it's intended for the believer's
good and the Lord's glory. Paul called a messenger of Satan
a gift, as we've seen. That was given to me, a thorn
in the flesh, and the result of that thorn, listen to me,
and the result of that thorn being given to Paul, the outcome The end and the conclusion
of that thorn, whatever it had to do with it, the gospel went
into the whole world. And Paul is not even remembered.
God, our Lord Jesus Christ got all the glory. Not because Paul was a smart
man or anything like that. I think it would be safe to say
that patience has a perfect work. We should look forward to it,
knowing that Christ is standing right next to us. And he's the
one who genuinely passed through this world in grief and suffering
and trial and pain without end until he finished it all. Lord bless y'all.