Let's open our Bibles to the
book of James, chapter one. James, chapter one. Two weeks
ago, I introduced this epistle of James, whom I believe to be
the half brother of the Lord Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary,
born of natural man, just like us. And this was a man who good
part of his life, maybe well into adulthood, he did not know
and believe the gospel, but God brought him to faith in Christ
after the resurrection. I believe that's recorded in
1 Corinthians chapter 15. And so he calls himself in verse
1, James, a servant or a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He refers to himself, not as
the half-brother of Jesus. He doesn't look at that as a
credential or something to recommend him unto men or to get people
to hear him. He's not using, as some people
would say in religion today, good PR there. But he just simply
refers to himself as a bond-slave of Christ, a willing, loving
bond-slave. And I believe that sets the tone
of this whole book. As I said a couple of weeks ago,
a bond-slave, you always have to remember. that a true believer,
a sinner saved by grace, is a servant, a slave, literally a slave of
Christ who serves his master, not legally, not because of law
or some kind of a motive of earned reward. It's not trying to pay
a debt to his creditor. But he serves his master because
he loves him, because he's grateful. Thank you, Lord. Because he's
been freely given all things in Christ. And that's the issue
of the gospel. The gospel is a message of free,
sovereign mercy and grace. It's not what you or I deserve
or have earned or will earn. It's not what we get because
we meet some condition or some stipulation or some qualification. It's totally given to sinners
who have no claim upon God. God is never, never, never indebted
to us. Always remember that. And I'll
tell you what, religion today sees just the opposite. Much
that comes in the name of Christianity. You do this and you'll get that
in the way of earning. I know there are blessings connected
with obedience, but that's not because God's indebted to us.
And that's not because God is some kind of a sovereign master
investment counselor who can tell you how to make more money
or anything like that. That's not scriptural. That's
men today. walking after the flesh, just
simply feeding their greed. But this is a message of the
glory of God in Christ. And it takes a sinner, an unwilling,
a depraved sinner, and by the grace of God in Christ makes
that sinner a willing, loving, bond-servant of Christ. And that's
what James says. James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason he says of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ is because he wants to emphasize
the fact that Jesus Christ is God. You see, you have to understand,
this is not the way they thought back then. You would never mention
any other name alongside of God, Jehovah, which means God our
salvation. The name Jesus means Jehovah
saves. For his name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. You would
not mention in this culture now, in this Jewish culture, James,
you know, some say he was the pastor of the church at Jerusalem.
He was certainly one of the elders. So he may have been the pastor.
I don't know. But you wouldn't have mentioned any other name
alongside of God. unless that name was equal with
God. He just wouldn't do that. And
that's what he's saying here. He doesn't refer to my half-brother
or my older brother. We say his half-brother because
Jesus Christ was not born of man. He was the seed of woman.
He was born miraculously, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary
by the Holy Spirit. He wasn't born of Joseph, even
though Joseph legally was his father. But he wasn't naturally
or seminally born of Joseph. He was born innocent. He's not
like us. We're born in sin. We come forth
from the womb, David said, speaking lies. That's our nature. That's
the sinful, fallen human nature. Well, Jesus Christ didn't have
that. But James recognizes that here. A servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God in human flesh without sin. The Word made flesh and dwelling
among us. And then he says this is written
to the twelve tribes, which are scattered abroad, and he says,
greeting. Now, I did some study on this
issue of the twelve tribes, because you realize that when he says
the twelve tribes, you naturally think of the twelve tribes of
Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob. And at this point in time, you
know, in the history of Israel, there was a division after Solomon
and the northern kingdom mainly made up of ten tribes, the ten
northern tribes. That kingdom was totally obliterated,
totally gone. It was conquered and scattered
by the Assyrian Empire. And so somebody, you know, people
are always talking about in legend the ten lost tribes. You know,
where are they? Well, keep looking and you're
not going to find them. But, you know, that's just that
stuff for literature. It makes for good movies, but
it's just not true. I mean, it's not reality. They're
gone. And that was God's purpose. But then the southern kingdom
of Judah mainly made up, obviously, of the tribe of Judah. And Judah
was kept preserved by God throughout all their problems, throughout
all their history, because it was from the tribe of Judah that
the Messiah was to come. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah till Shiloh come. The royal covenant God made with
David, you see, ensured that the line of the kings, you see,
and it would come through and the Messiah would be born of
the seed of David according to the flesh. And it was up until
that time. And then the tribe of Benjamin
was in there too. So you might be concerned with
this and say, well, why did James mention twelve tribes? Well,
that was a common way of believers referring to the Jews who knew
Christ. It was. But there were people
back then who believed there were also remnants of every tribe
that still existed. Now, they couldn't prove that,
but they thought it was so. But who's James talking about
when he says the 12 tribes? Well, look what he says. He says
the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad. Now, that word scattered
that you remember, I told you if you were here, that's talking
about like sowing seed. You might have read in history
about the diaspora, spore, diaspora, and that means the seed scattered
forth. Christ, in one of his parables,
of the seed and the sower, the sower went forth and sowed seed,
and the seed there is the gospel. And James refers to these people
as the seed being sown forth. And we read about that in the
book of Acts, chapter 8, and I believe chapter 9, where when
there was great persecution in Jerusalem of believers, they
were scattered abroad and they went everywhere preaching the
gospel. And that's what James is referring
to here. These Jews who believed the gospel, these Jews who had
been saved by the grace of God, these Jews who at one time said
crucify. Now they were believers. And
he says in verse two, my brethren, my spiritual brethren, that's
what he's talking about here. Spiritual brethren. You're going
forth. You've been scattered abroad.
And when you when you're scattered abroad, my brethren, we have
the same father, the God who saves sinners by grace. The God
who saved me by the blood of Christ. The God who justified
me by the righteousness of Christ, He's my Father, adopted into
His family, called into His family by the Spirit. And He says, my
brethren, now you're scattered, you're in foreign lands, and
it's not easy. And so He says in verse 2, count
it all joy when you fall into diverse, that means various,
different, varied temptations. You're going to have trouble.
You're going to have trials. Life's one big trial after another.
Here we see the theme of the book of James. It's the nature
and reality of true God-given saving faith, because saving
faith will always be under the trial. True faith. Face the gift of God. You know
that. For by grace are you saved. True
faith. That not of yourself. It's not natural to man. You
didn't believe because of your own free will. You didn't believe
because you were better than somebody else. Who wouldn't believe? You believe because God gave
you faith. It's the gift of God. It was
purchased for us by Christ. And He gives it to His people.
He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. They're going to come by faith. So, for by
grace, or you say, through faith, that not of yourself, it's the
gift of God, not of works, as any man should boast. Somebody
says, well, I believe, I have faith, I trust Christ, I love
Him. Well, do you? Do I? How can we
know? How can we know if we really
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? How can we know if we have what
the scripture calls the faith of God's elect? How can we know
if we have the love of Christ in our hearts? How can we know
if we have the hope of the gospel? Truly. And the only way, the
Scripture tells us, it might not be a way that we choose,
but the only way is through the trials and the temptations, the
testings that God sends His people, sends forth to His people, and
sends His people into. You say, well, I don't really
want to have my faith tested. Well, if you have saving faith,
it will be tested. That's why Paul wrote to the
Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves, whether
you be in the faith, prove your own selves. He's telling them
actually to look for these trials. That doesn't mean we go out looking
for persecution, but we want our faith tested. We want it
tested. He says, no, you're not your
own selves. How do I really know myself? How that Jesus Christ
is in you? How do I know that Christ is
in me? People talk about Christ being in me. We sing a hymn,
Christ liveth in you, in me. Well, how can I know that? Except,
he says, you be reprobates. That means castaways. And is
my profession of faith just sham religion? Is it just an outward
profession? Is it just a false notion, a
false refuge? Well, how can I know? It's got
to be tested. And that's why he says, count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. It can only
be joyous in the outcome, in that it proves faith to be genuine. There's no fun and no good feelings
going through trials and temptations, especially the sore trials of
persecution. accusation, and even the physical
trials of this life. And we have them. And you all
know that. And as you get older, you know,
it doesn't get easier. Seems like it's worse, doesn't it?
Especially the physical trials. But it does. How can you join
that? Not in the trial itself. Paul
wrote in Hebrews chapter 12, he said, no testing, no chastisement. That's what he calls them in
Hebrews 12, the chastisements of the Lord. In other words,
they're not payment for sin. Somebody says, well, he's paying
for his sin. He's suffering. He's paying for his sin. You
can't pay for your sins. Did you know that? That's an
impossibility. That's why hell's eternal. There's
no payment. The debt's never satisfied. You
see that? That's why Christ died on the
cross for His people. He's the only one, an infinite
Savior, who saves us from sin against an infinite God, and
He's the only one who ever paid the debt in full. Jesus paid
it all. You can't pay your debt to God.
If you could, you wouldn't need a Savior. You wouldn't need a
Redeemer. If I could pay my debt for my
sins by my suffering, I wouldn't need Christ. That's why damnation
is eternal, because the debt's never paid. So this chastisement
is not God seeking a payment from you, from his people. Chastisement is the loving exercise
of correction and instruction of a father to his children.
That's what it is. And Paul says no chastisement
is easy or joyous at the time. It's only afterward that it yields
what he calls the peaceable fruit of righteousness. The peaceable
fruit of righteousness. Now what is the peaceable fruit
of righteousness? Well, I read about it in Lamentations
chapter 3. Let me read it to you again.
Now here's the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Paul mentions
in Hebrews chapter 12. It's in Lamentations 3 in verse
40. Here's what he says. He says,
let us search and try or test our ways. You see that? Now during the search, during
the testing, you may just literally blow it. Isn't that right? You may go through a trial, and
you may not be a prime, shining example of a believer. In fact, somebody may catch you
at a given moment in time going through that trial, and they
may come out and walk away saying, boy, I sure don't know how a
believer can act like that. In fact, isn't that the way it
goes most of the time? And that's just self-righteousness,
isn't it? I'm getting to the point in my
life where I'm beginning to think, how can a believer not act like
that? I'm serious. I mean, it's by
the grace of God, isn't it? So you're searching and you're
testing your ways. And we know these tests are from
God, but it's a concerted effort on our part, too. You're coming
to church. And I hate to use that term almost,
coming to church. You who know the gospel, you
are the church. The church came here. That's another way to put
it. But you know, when you go into these scriptures and you
study the scriptures, you know what you're doing. Actually,
if you're listening now, if you're doing what you're supposed to
do, I mean, you may be off in la-la land this morning. I don't
know. Maybe someone's going to look in your eyes. But if you're doing what I may be
in la-la land somewhere. But if you're doing what you're
supposed to be doing, what you're doing is searching and testing
your ways by studying the Scriptures. Isn't that what we do? I mean,
we're here to worship. Don't get me wrong. He mentions
that in verse 41. We're worshiping God. We're fellowshipping
with God's people. Or rather, it'd be better to
say it this way. We're enjoying the fellowship
of God's people as we're here today. Hearts knit together.
in worship, in love, lifting up Christ, exalting Him, talking
about how God saved us again. I never get tired of that. How
about you? How God saved me. A sinner, sending Him to the
cross to obey unto death. He died and was buried and rose
again the third day. The gospel message. We never
get tired of that. And we're studying the scriptures.
James is talking about the test of faith, the trying of your
faith, count it all joy. And see, people walk away sometimes
from things like that and they say, well, I can't do that. I
mean, I'm going through a trial and it's hurting. I mean, I went
into the doctor the other day and he gave me some news that
was bad and I didn't come out joyous. Well, that's not what
it's talking about. If you did that, you'd be crazy. But it's talking about this.
Look at it in verse 40. Let us search and try our ways,
and then look at the last line there, and turn again to the
Lord. Now, there it is. You say, well,
how often do I have to turn to the Lord? Again and again and
again and again and again and again and again. Just keep turning
to the Lord. Don't ever stop. Now, that's
what James is going to talk about here in the next few verses.
Just keep turning to the Lord. You know, I told you about it,
how somebody asked me about when this trial was going to be over,
and I always say, well, when the next one begins. But you just
keep turning again and again and again and again to the Lord.
Walk in Christ. Walk in the Spirit. Look in unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He begun it. He's
going to finish it. I'm just the recipient of it.
How about you? Just keep turning to the Lord.
You say, will he ever, you know, if I go through this trial and
I lose sight of that, now we do. We've been talking about
David in 2 Samuel 11, how he committed that great sin with
Bathsheba and connived and lied and had Uriah the Hittite, her
husband, murdered. And David admits in Psalm 51
that he lost the joy of his salvation. And boy, we can sure do that,
can't we? We can lose the joy of it. We can't lose salvation,
thank God, by His grace. I'm telling you, if the blood
of Christ isn't able to bring you into glory, it's not able
to save you. But it is, isn't it? If His righteousness
imputed to us is not an everlasting righteousness of infinite value,
then we have no righteousness at all. So this is grace, grace,
grace, all the way, all the way through, all the way to the end.
You say, well, if I if I lose sight of that, when's God going
to get tired of that and give up on me? And the answer is never.
Because he's faithful, who promised. Never. He never fails on a promise. He never he never had the gifts
and we studied this morning, the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. He'll never give up. Because
His glory is involved. The honor of His Son is involved.
If Christ died for you, you will be saved. His honor, His preeminence,
His glory is involved. So turn again to the Lord. And
then verse 41, it says, Let us lift up our heart with our hands
unto God in the heavens. That's worship. Worship God. Worship God no matter what. Turn
again to the Lord no matter what. Look over at Jeremiah chapter
17 with me. You see, these are the issues
of the trials of faith. It's not everybody looking back
and saying, now, oh, so-and-so back there, he's going through
a trial, let's watch him. And let's see how he does. You
know, people do that to me. I say, get away from me. Just
get away from me. Every man's going to bury his
own burden in that sense, Galatians chapter 6. You deal with your
own trials and your own tests in that way. Now, we bear one
another's burdens in the sense that we empathize with one another.
When I see a brother or sister going through a trial, you know,
I mean, it hurts because it hurts us all. But it's not a situation
where, you know, they're going through a trial, let's watch
them. No, no, no, no. That's pharisaism. And you can
watch me and I'll fail. But by the grace of God, I'll
turn again unto the Lord. I'll see my hope in him. But
look here now. Now, how can I know whether I
have real faith, true faith, genuine? Am I really looking
to Christ? Well, let me tell you something here. Now, listen
to what I'm saying and let me finish it out here in Jeremiah
17. You cannot trust your own heart here. You can't your own leanings.
Your own feelings. Your own sight. You look around. You see this one. This one disappoints
you. This one doesn't. You disappoint yourself. You
can't trust your own heart here. Look at verse 9. Jeremiah 17. The heart is deceitful above
all things. Desperately wicked, who can know
it? Your heart will change. Now,
that's right. Sometimes you'll be on fire.
I mean, you'll just be so zealous. Sometimes you'll be like, man,
let's just quit. Let's give up. Sometimes I get
a message and the Lord lays a message on my mind and I just can't wait
to get up and preach. Sometimes after I'm finished,
I want to drop down behind the pulpit and just wait for y'all
to leave. That's human nature. That's us. You say, well, when
you're born again, doesn't all that change? No. And those who tell you it does
are just lying to you. And lying to themselves. The
heart's deceitful. Desperately wicked. Who can know
it? So how can we know? How can we
know anything? How can I know? How can I have
the comfort and the peace which passes all understanding? Look
at verse 10. I, the Lord, search the heart. You see? I want God to search
my heart. He said, I test the reins. You
know what the reins are? You know, like when they rode
horses, you know, and they had the reins on, that would tell
them which direction to go. You tug on the right, they go
right. Tug on the left, they go. Which way should I go? Well,
I, the Lord, try the reins. Are you going the right way or
the wrong way? Well, I feel like I'm going the right way. The
heart's deceitful. Well, my old pastor told me I
was going the right way. Don't listen to him. Don't trust
in princes. Unless, now listen to it, unless
he leads you right here. This is where the Lord tests
the reins, right in his word. Am I going the right way? Well,
what does his word say? Somebody comes to you one day
and they said, I heard a rumor. Now, which way are you going
to go? You going to listen to it? Is that the right way? What does God's Word say? Don't
listen to it. Test it by the Word of God. You see what I'm saying? Don't
listen to it. Somebody comes to you with an
accusation. You're going to listen to it? What does the Word of
God say? Somebody says, well, we're going to stop going here
and go over there. We're going to do this. How are you going
to know what's right? You're going to trust your own
heart? Well, I like that guy. He's been my friend for 20 years. Heart's
deceitful. desperately wicked. Who can know?
What does God's Word say? Now there's the issue of this
test of faith. You see, if I'm going to believe
God, I'm going to believe what God says. And He says here, I
try the reins even to give every man according to his ways. You
see that? And according to the fruit of
his doings. In other words, you're either going to follow your own
way or you're going to follow God's way. You follow your own way,
you're going to get the fruit of your doings. What is God's
way? Well, the way of salvation. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Any way but Christ is a wrong
way. That's right. Any way but Christ. How am I
going to get forgiven? People talk about it. I hear
this all the time. And then I get sick of it. Oh, you've got to
forgive yourself. You've got to forgive yourself. Go ahead. Forgive yourself. It
doesn't mean anything. It may make you feel better.
But here's the issue, has God forgiven me? Well, what's God's way of forgiveness?
It's the way of the cross. It's the way of the blood. He's
faithful and just to forgive us. Because the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. Somebody says, I want to be righteous
before God. Well, what's the way of righteousness?
It's not the way of your works. It's not the way of your efforts.
It's not the way of your intentions or your resolutions. It's not
the way of charity. Charity is a good thing. Be charitable,
be merciful, be forgiving, be obedient. But that's not the
way of righteousness. The way of righteousness is Christ
on the cross. The righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel, how God can be just and justify. And I'll tell
you that trickles right down into our whole lives as a church,
as brethren. We go through these trials. We
don't know which way to go. We don't know what to do. We
don't even know how to think. So what do we do? Go to the Word
of God. That's what you're doing here
this morning. How am I to think? The Bible says we have the mind
of Christ, but that's not just a zap. I mean, it's not like
a genie in the bottle, like you're born again and then zap, you
just think everything right now. No, we have to be renewed, Scripture
says, in the spirit of our minds. We have to be transformed. We
have to be continually growing. But now look at something else
here in Jeremiah 17. Look back up at verse 5. This precedes
what he said about the heart being deceitful and the Lord
trying and searching the heart and the reins. He says, Thus
saith the Lord, verse, this is Jeremiah 17, 5, Thus saith the
Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man. You say that's
a bad way. And maketh flesh his arm. In
other words, you act or go by the power of the flesh and whose
heart departed from the Lord, for he shall be like the heath
in the desert and shall not see when good cometh. But shall inhabit
the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabit
it. Look at verse 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Now there it is. For he shall be as a tree planted
by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and
shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaves shall be green,
and shall not be careful in the year, that is, anxious in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. You
see the difference? That's the joy of the trial of
faith, right there. Trusting in Christ for all salvation,
for all reward, for all glory. That's why the psalmist could
cry, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my
thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead
me in the way everlasting. Now, I'll tell you something.
There are wicked ways in us. There are. There are wicked ways
in us. That's why we have to struggle.
That's why we have to war against the flesh, the warfare of the
flesh and the spirit. What's the remedy? Trust in the
Lord. Lean not to your own understanding.
Don't act in the power of the flesh. Don't let other people
advise you apart from the Word of God. Back in James chapter
1, he's going to show us how these trials have so many purposes,
and they're all good. God sends trials to humble us.
Do we need to be humbled? That's the right way, isn't it?
Yes, we do. All that time. He sends these
trials to wean us from the world. Because if He doesn't, we'll
be so attached to this world, we won't even be able to look
up. Isn't that right? We get so caught up in that.
Have you ever done that? You get so caught up in the things
of this world, you forget God, you forget worship, you forget
the word. I mean, and I'm not trying to embarrass anybody here
this morning. Don't raise your hand. How many of you take a time?
How many of you discipline yourselves to take a time out in your busy
week to read and study the word of God and pray? Now, you answer for yourself.
And usually, the answer is, not much, if any. That's why we have
these church services. That's one of the reasons. Now,
there's no substitute. You ought to be students of the
Word. I ought to be. We all ought to be. We ought
to discipline ourselves. That's what the disciple is.
That's where we get the word discipline from, disciple. Have
you ever equated those two things? So what are we doing here? That's
what we're doing here. This is a discipline. Now, I know it's
not just a duty. I'm not saying that. I'm not
just, I'm saying, well, we're doing something we don't want.
No, we're doing something we need to do, doing something we
want to do. And so when we have our church
there, that's what they are there. It's not just, well, I have to
go to church. No, it's I'm going to study the word. I'm going
to discipline myself to set aside this time to worship God and
to study his word and grow in grace and knowledge. That's why
I prepare these messages like I do. I mean, I don't want to
get up here and just give you all moral pep talk so you can feel
good about yourself going out this morning. I want you to study
the Word of God. So that's what they are. They
wean us away from this world. They cause us to focus on eternal
things. They drive us to Christ. That's
what these trials do. They drive us to Christ. It's
like I said last time, it's not how you go through them. I mean,
I want to go through them well. I want to be an example of grace
when I go through them. But even when I don't, it's how
I come out on the other end. Do I come out trusting in Christ
even more? Looking to Him? Resting in Him?
Thanking God for Him? Praising Him? It reveals the
objects of our love. What do we really love? I was
writing an article. I don't have it in the bulletin
yet, but you know, when you think about this thing, do I have to
go to church? You know, you young people, you're
probably into that by now. Do I have to do this? Well, if
you find some fella who's starving to death and you present him
with a full, nutritional, great-tasting meal, he's not going to look
up at you and say, do I have to eat that? Well, if you find
a man who's thirsty, dying of thirst, and you pick up that
cool glass of water, he's not going to say, do I have to drink
that? No, he's going to say, give me, give me, give me. That's
what he's going to do. And that's what the Lord does
in faith. He puts within us a hunger for Christ, a hunger for the
Word of God, a hunger to feed upon. He gives these trials to
teach us the value of God's blessing, God blessing us, to enable us
to help others in their trials. It may be that you've gone through
a trial and God's brought you through and that you can help
someone else who's going through that trial. He gives it to develop in us
greater strength for greater usefulness, to chasten us for
our sin, push us in growth and grace and knowledge, but it's
to test the genuineness of our faith. These trials are sent
to us by our Heavenly Father to identify His children. In the book of Hebrews, whom
I believe Paul wrote, he said in Hebrews chapter 12, he said
the chastisements of the Lord, all the children, all the sons
and daughters of God are partakers of that chastisement. And if
you're not a partaker of that chastisement, he said this, using
the strong language that the scripture does. He says, you're
bastards and not sons. That's illegitimate children. You know, if the Christian life,
the true Christian life, were a bed of roses, that would make
you a bastard and not a son. Romans chapter 8, we suffer with
Christ over the Gospels we identify with Him and preach His Gospel.
These trials prove and strengthen our faith in Christ. There is
counterfeit faith, understand that. There is a faith that only
goes so far. But true saving faith will always
rest in and follow Christ. And believe his word. And then
look at verse three of James one. He says, knowing this, that
the trying of your faith, the testing of your faith, work of
patience, verse four, but let patience have her perfect work
that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. The trials of faith result in
patience. Now, when you think of patience,
don't think of patience in the scripture the way you think of
patience in your life. We think of patience in our life
as being content to sit and wait. And that's not what it is. Or
just be patient. Patience in the scripture is
endurance. Now mark that in your mind. It's
endurance. It's what the Bible calls sometimes
perseverance. Continuing. And this continuing,
this perseverance, see, is perseverance under trial, it's perseverance
in the faith, and it's the fruit of faith in temptations, knowing
this. Notice he says in verse 3 there,
knowing this. This is not mysticism now, this
is something we know. And we know it because God has
taught us and we experience these things. It's not by feeling,
it's not by sight, it's by understanding God's purpose in our trials,
by his word. We go to his word. How do I know
these things I'm telling you? Because I've got His Word to
back me up, you see. It's not just something... I
can't tell you I've been through every trial that you've been
through. Some of you have been through much worse than what
I've been through. And you can't tell me you've
been through every trial I've been through. So there's no way I
can know those things by experience, but I know what the Word of God
says. And it's not a feeling. It's
not... These trials, they're grievous.
But I know there's a joy there because God said it. I don't
feel it. Hey, I'm telling you, when you're
in pain, let's say a physical pain, that's not joy, but you
know there's a joy there. Why? Because God said it. It's
not because you experience it at the moment. You say, this
is not, we're not Hindus. It's not all by experience. You
know, some people say, well, it's not real until I experience.
That's not Christianity. That's Hinduism. I tell you,
when Christ died on the cross and saved me from my sins, long
before I ever experienced it, that was just as real as when
I experienced it. When God justified me in Christ
by His righteousness, that wasn't a legal fiction. That wasn't
God calling something that was not as if it were. That was real.
One day I did experience it when God the Holy Spirit brought me
to faith in Christ. But that didn't make what happened
in eternity and on the cross any more real than what it already
was. You see what I'm saying? How
do I know that? God said it. God said it. And anybody that tells you that
God justifying a sinner based upon a righteousness imputed
is a legal fiction does not know substitution or imputation. They
don't know it. It's only real when I get it.
Come on now. Come on. That's a transaction
between the Father and the Son and the Spirit that was real
before the world began. Being assured that in Christ
we cannot be condemned, we may be going through these trials
and we may feel condemned, but don't go by feeling. Go by what
God's Word says. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. I'm washed in His blood. I'm
clothed in His righteousness. I cannot be condemned. You say,
how do you know? Because I've got no other hope
but Him. Who are you looking to for salvation? Who are you
looking to for righteousness? Where would you go? To whom would
you go? Peter said, when he asked Him,
he said, will you go away also? He said, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of life. We've got no place else to go.
We've got no one else to go to but Christ. Now, if you've got
another hope, another refuge, another way, another peace, I
can tell you right now, I know your faith is not genuine because
this book will not support it. You say, well, I know I'm saved
because I was baptized when I was 12. Let's test that. Let's test your faith there.
You tell me from Genesis to Revelation where it tells anybody they're
saved because they were baptized. I know what the Church of Christ
does with certain scriptures, but they take them out of context.
You say, what is salvation? It's looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. You say, well, I had a dream,
and that experience was so real. Well, let me tell you something.
The reality of it is not what I'm questioning. The scripturality
of it is what we're questioning. I don't care about my experiences
or your experience. Here's one of them. Are we resting
in Christ for all wisdom, for all righteousness, for all sanctification,
for all redemption? That's the issue. That's the
issue now. That's going to be the issue
of judgment. That's going to be the issue in eternity. And
what is this about patience, this endurance? You keep on looking
to Christ. That's simply it. Endure. Now,
many say, well, this endurance is a condition you must meet
in order to be glorified. No, it is not. This endurance
is an evidence of faith. It's not a condition you meet
in order to earn final glory in heaven. It's an evidence that
you're looking to Christ who earned that final glory for you.
It's not a conditional endurance. The ifs of scripture, if you
continue, those who endure until the end shall be saved. Those
aren't conditions that you meet or I meet in order to be saved.
Those are evidences that we are saved. It's like saying you're
alive if you breathe. The breathing did not make you
alive. God didn't come down here and
say, now if you'll breathe, I'll give you life. No. He gave you
life and the physical life and breathing is the evidence that
you're alive. And so that's what this patience
is. Now he says in verse 4, let patience, endurance have her
perfect work. Now that word perfect there doesn't mean sinless perfection
within. It means complete. The complete
work of endurance is final glory. Not because you've met the condition,
but because Christ is your Savior. Christ is your Redeemer. And
that is the perfect work. It has to do with growth in grace
and knowledge wherein we are perfectly conformed to the image
of Christ and we come to see Him in glory. And he says that
you may be perfect. That means complete and entire.
That means lacking nothing. And here's what he's saying,
and it's just this, in Christ, in Christ, which my faith evidences,
I'm complete in Him. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
9, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are what? Complete in Him. Complete in
Him. In Him I'm complete. Now, not
in myself. But in Him, I am. In Christ, I have all the forgiveness
I need. In Christ, listen, I'll put it
to you this way. In Christ, everything that God requires of me for salvation,
I find complete in Christ. I didn't fulfill any of those
conditions. He fulfilled them all. You see, it was upon His
shoulder, His responsibility. He did it all. For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Now, are you trusting in him? Whatever trial you're going through,
and I know you're going through a trial now. Every believer here
is going through some kind of a trial, maybe a light one. Paul
talked about our light afflictions one time. Maybe a heavy one. Maybe one that you just don't
think you're going to survive. But here's the key. And let me
say this. You may not survive in this life. The Lord may use it to take you
home. But here's the key. Are you looking to Christ? Endure
patiently, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. All right.