All right, James chapter one,
a title of the lesson this morning, the difference between trial
and temptation. And the difference we'll look
at is the difference between trials of our faith and being
tempted to sin. There's a temptation of trial.
He's James speaks up here in a temptation to sin. Speaking
of trials, God's ways are not our ways. If it were up to us,
you and I would choose to always have blessings from God. We'd
always choose to have blessing just heaped upon blessing, one
upon another. Because we would think that all
those blessings from our God would draw us ever closer to
God, that His continued just heaping blessing upon blessing
would make us more and more and more thankful all the time. We
would think all those blessings would be a constant reminder
to us How gracious and merciful God is and how dependent we are
upon him and all that would that would keep us looking to him.
But we also know this that now that's what we choose, but we
know this. That's not the way it works. It's not the way it
works because of our dead sinful flesh. So God uses trials as
a way to bless us. Trials are a blessing from God
to teach his people. James 1 verse 12. James said,
blessed is the man, blessed, not punished, not cursed, blessed
is the man that endure a temptation. For when he is tried, he shall
receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him. James in here in verse 12 begins
with the beatitude. Blessed is the man who endures
trials. Now the word temptation he uses
here means a trial, a trial of our faith sent from God. Now
this is the opposite of human logic, but the child of God who
endures trials is blessed by God. Look at Matthew chapter
5. This is a beatitude. It's as
much of a beatitude as the beatitudes our Lord gave on his sermon on
the mount. Matthew 5 verse 5. Blessed are the meek for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. And blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad
for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. See, this is a beatitude, just
the same as blessed are the meek and blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed is the man who endures
trials of his faith sent from God. Now, why are trials of faith
such a blessing to us? We looked at this a couple of
weeks ago. Let me just give you a few points here as a way of
reminder. Why are trials of our faith such
a blessing? Well, number one, because they
come from our heavenly father. They don't come from an accident
that happens. They don't come from something that's out of
the control of our father. They come directly from our heavenly
father. So it must be good because it
comes from him who is good. It must be a blessing. You think
of the trials of Job, how Satan just, what he did to him, But
you know, those trials weren't of Satan, were they? God called
all those, I forget how it's worded, those sons, those, called
them all to him, and Satan had to come before God, because God's
the one that called him. And when he got there, God's
the one that brought up Job. Satan didn't bring him up. God
did, if you consider my servant Job. That trial was from God,
wasn't it? God's the one that controlled
the extent of the trial, he controlled the heat of the trial, and he's
the one that brought it to an end. Anything that comes from
my heavenly Father has got to be a blessing for me. It's got
to be. It's got to be good for me. Because look at verse 17.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable and
is neither shadow of turning. Anything that comes from that
God to me must be for my good. Now, we don't rejoice in the
trial itself and the suffering and the pain of it, but it's
the results of the trial. that are a blessing to us. Here's
the second thing. Trials reveal that we're true
children of God. God only tries his children.
He leaves the bastards alone. So these trials reveal to me
I am a child of God. That's a blessing to know that.
Trials reveal that God truly loves us. God only chastens those
that he loves. He doesn't send these trials
because he hates us. He sends these trials because he loves
us. And those are evidences of God's
love. I know that's not the way we would think naturally. God's
ways are not our ways. And anyone who endures trials
and still believes God, still trusts God, still loves God,
you know what he finds out? He finds out his love for the
Savior is genuine, too. And that's a blessing to know
that. Now, I can honestly say I love God. I know it's because
he first loved me. Absolutely. But I do love him.
And that's why a trial, even in the midst of a trial, doesn't
make me quit loving Him, because it's a genuine love. Fourthly,
trials are a blessing because trials reveal true faith. That's the only way we can find
out that faith is true, when it's proved, when it's tried.
And if we don't quit, we don't quit trusting Christ, we don't
turn from Him, then it's revealed to us we have true faith. And
that's a blessing of God. Because faith is what? The gift
of God. Then trials are a blessing because
trials strengthen faith and they teach us how weak we are and
how strong Christ is. Trials reveal to us how easily
our flesh, this dust of our flesh, is just crumbled. They teach
us how unreliable we are, how unfaithful we are, and trials
teach us how faithful Christ our Savior is. And it's a blessing
to learn to trust less and less and less on the flesh. and to
trust more and more and more upon Christ. Anything that makes
us lean harder upon Christ is a blessing. That's contrary to
the flesh doesn't want the pain that causes that, but it's so
nevertheless. And the blessing of a trial is this, that it makes
Christ even more precious to us. We learn that all the other
things of this life that we are so infatuated with are just,
it's just stuff. But what's really precious? Christ
the Savior. His presence, His righteousness,
His comfort, His strength. The only way we're going to learn
that, have that blessing, is through trial. Then trials are
a blessing. Look at Isaiah 43. Trials are
a blessing. Because it's in that time of
trial We have the presence of Christ our Savior. We have his
presence to strengthen and to comfort us. Isaiah 43, verse
one. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, those deep troubled waters, I will be with thee. or then
the waters be all right, won't they? We have, I will be with
you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.
When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned,
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, for I am the Lord
thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. And he promises,
I'll be with you. I'll be with you. That's a blessing,
to have Christ, to have a sense of his presence, his strength
and comfort with me. And then here's the seventh thing.
Trials reveal who has eternal life. Now, if we endure a trial
through the midst of the trial, at the end of the trial, we still
believe God. There's one reason for that. It's because God's
given us eternal life. Anyone who endures a trial still
trusts Christ, endures to the end, and they die in the faith.
James says, receives the crown of life. And that's a blessing. Now the crown he's referring
to here is the illustration of the Olympic wreath that the winners
received at that time in the Olympic Games. They didn't receive
gold medals like they do now. It was a wreath made out of ivy
or something. I want to tell you what, those
athletes competed hard for that wreath. Just as hard as they
do today for a gold medal. I mean they competed hard for
that wreath. And it was just made up of leaves
and twigs. I mean it just dried up and fell
apart for too long. But this wreath that James is
talking about here is the crown of life. We who believe receive
that winner's wreath, that crown of life, because Christ our Savior
is the winner. We just got done going through
the whole book of Revelation telling us this, and really it's
the theme of Revelation, but really it's the theme of the
whole Bible, isn't it? Christ wins. He won the wreath. And we who believe receive the
crown. receive it. We receive this covering
of life by God's grace. It's a gift of His grace because
of what Christ did. I did well because Christ did
well. And that covering of life, this
one James is talking about here, it's never going to get brown.
It's never going to get all crumbly and fall apart because this crown
is eternal life. That's a blessing and we find
out we have that. by enduring these times of trial.
Just like trials were promised to us by our Savior, this life
was promised to His elect too. The Father purposed it. He promised
it. The Son died to purchase it,
and the Holy Spirit comes and applies it. And no trial, no
change of earthly circumstances will ever take that life away
from God's people. God promised it to them. He'll
never break His promise. Now James says, blessed is the
man who endures these trials, endures them. I don't want to
be like the stony ground hero who gets all excited when he
first hears the gospel. It's just, it's so exciting to
him. He just, oh, he's just bouncing all over the place. He's so excited.
But then he dries up and he leaves because the heat comes, the heat
of trial, the heat of, of the hatred of this world, whatever
it is, the heat of trial scorches the earth. and he drives up and
goes away because he doesn't have any root in Christ. I don't
want to be like that. I want to be the good ground
here who endures the heat of trial because he's got roots
down deep in Christ. But the only way I'm going to
find out, do I have those roots? Did God give those to me? Did
he plant me in Christ? Is that my roots down deep in
him? The only way I'm going to find
that out is by enduring the heat of the trial and still being
there Trusting Christ. Standing on Him when it's over.
Well, alright, how do I endure that? How do I endure these trials? I'm not talking about a stubbed
toe here. I'm talking about trials that
shake our faith. Trials that just press us till
we feel like we're going to be crushed. Not just having a bad
day. This is a trial from God. How
do I endure that? Do I just have to grit my teeth
and just hang on until it's over? I mean, just, I try to picture
these folks that ride out these big old hurricanes in Florida
in a trailer or something, you know, they're just holding on
for dear life, gritting their teeth to the wind, quits blowing.
Is that how I endure these trials? No, no. Remember, this is written
for the comfort and the encouragement of God's people who are in times
of heavy trials. It wouldn't be very comforting.
It wouldn't be very encouraging at all to say, when God sends
these trials, you just hang on and grit your teeth until it's
over. I would find no encouragement in that whatsoever, because I've
got no strength to hang on. I've got no strength to grit
my teeth and wait. I can't do that. So that wouldn't be encouraging
to me. Here's what it means to endure trials. Keep trusting
Christ. Just keep trusting Him. I don't
have to understand what the end of the trial is. I don't have
to understand what God's purpose for it is. All I've got to do
is keep trusting Christ. And don't quit. Just keep trusting
Him. The word endure, I thought this
was interesting, actually means to stay under. To stay under. Here's how we endure trials.
By staying under Christ. By staying under Him. By continuing
to trust Him. Just like that mother hen, when
she sees the hawk flying above, she gathers her chicks under
her. I'll tell you how those chicks are going to endure that
hawk. By staying under their mother.
By not running out looking for their own shelter. By not running
out thinking, well, I should run over to the chicken coop
because I know better than mama does what to do. No. I'll tell
you how that chick's going to stay safe. By staying under her
mama's wings. Same thing applies to you and
me. How do we endure trial? By staying under Christ. By staying
under His wing. By staying in His presence. You
know, the wings of the cherubims that went up above the mercy
seat formed a shadow over the mercy seat. And in that shadow
is where the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled. If we would endure
trial, that's where we're going to stand. Trusting Christ. Trusting His blood. Trusting
His righteousness. Trusting His goodness. trusting
his strength. That's how we endure trials by
staying under him. Now that's some of what the Bible
teaches about trials, the trials of our faith. But next, James
talks about temptation again, but this is a different temptation.
This is temptation to sin, which is not the same thing as a trial
at all. Verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil. Neither
tempteth he any man. Now the translators translated
these two words in verses 12 and 13, tempted, but the word
in verse 13 tempted is a totally different Greek word than the
word used translated temptation in verse 12 is a different Greek
word. This word means to entice or to endeavor. So James is talking
about here being tempted, being enticed to sin, endeavoring to
sin, looking for a way to sin. That's what he's talking about
here, being tempted to sin. Trials of our faith, they come
from God for our good, don't they? So don't let any of us
say that when we're tempted to sin, well, no, God's the one
enticing. No, that's not true. God can't
tempt anybody to sin. That's so blasphemous to his
character to say, God is tempting me to sin. God's holy. God cannot be the author of sin. To say God is tempting or enticing
me to sin is to deny the very character, the holy character
of God. God hates sin. He's not going to entice somebody
to do something He hates. Everything God gives is perfect and good.
So He's not going to tempt somebody to do evil. Here's a good illustration. of how wicked our nature is and
what will happen if our nature gets a whole little bit of doctrine
without Christ. Our nature is so depraved, so
wicked that it is in the nature of man to blame our sin on God. That's right. You've met people
like this. They claim to believe God's sovereignty.
They know something. They've heard somebody somewhere
say, God's sovereign. God's in control of everything.
Everything that happens is according to God's eternal purpose and
will. So they say, well, God's sovereign, but I committed this
sin. Now, God must have wanted me
to do it. Because God's sovereign. He can
stop me from doing it if he wanted to. I mean, I did commit this
sin, but it must have been in God's eternal will somehow. God
wanted me to sin to somehow accomplish his purpose. You know what? Yeah,
I sinned and I just, I can't help with this particular sin.
It's something that I love. Well, God made me this way. So,
you know, it's all right. That's wicked. That's blaming
God for our sin. Where'd that come from? Where
did we get that wicked nature? From our father Adam. That's
where we got it. Remember, God came down after Adam. Make that
proof. Say, Adam, where are you? He's over there hiding in the
bushes. God said, why are you hiding in the bushes? Who told you you're
naked? Do you eat the fruit of the tree I told you not to eat
of? Adam said, what's the woman you gave me? She tempted me. She enticed me. And I ate. God,
it's your fault. I wouldn't eat that if you hadn't
given me that woman. This is your will that I sinned. That's
blaming God for our sin. And man's nature hadn't changed
one whit in 6,000 years. Not one. That's what we still
do. God does not entice us to sin.
God doesn't do that. Where does that enticement to
sin come from? It comes from us, not God. Verse 14. But every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. See, the desire to sin comes
from our own sinful nature. That's what the word lust means.
It means our nature. Tell you what that means. My
sin is my fault. That's exactly what it means.
It's certainly in God's fault. It's not Adam's fault. It's not
my parents' fault for not teaching me any better. It's not my surroundings
are bad. It's not I fell in with the wrong
bunch of friends. It's like Jack Shanks told that
mother one time came in. Jack had a school. She came in
and was afraid her son had fallen in with the wrong crowd. He said,
Madam, your son is the wrong crowd. That's me. It's not my
friend's fault. It's not the people I hang around
with. It's my fault. My sin is my fault. Look at Psalm
51. My sin is my fault and nobody,
no one will ever be saved until they quit making excuses for
their sin and take full responsibility for it. This is after Nathan
came to David. David had had this affair with
Bathsheba and killed Uriah. And Nathan came in and told him
about the, you know the story, talked about the man on all the
sheep and took the one from the, David said, you tell me where
he is, I'll kill him. I'll kill him right now. David said, You're the man. We
will never be saved until we say, You're right. I'm the man. I'm the man. It's my sin. It's
my fault. David says in verse 3, For I acknowledge my transgression,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, the only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
David said, This is my sin. Truly, it's my sin, it's my fault,
so God, you'd be just to condemn me. Verse 5, he says, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Now, Dave is not blaming his parents here. This is what
he's saying. I am sin. I have a sin nature. Sin is what I am. So God, you'd
be just to judge me, not just for what I've done, but for who
I am. The sins I've committed and the
sin that I am. You'd be just. Condemn me. It's all my fault. And the person
who honestly admits that, who honestly sees that in himself,
will be saved every time. Was it that, I think it was Rolf
Barnard Henry used to quote, Rolf said that God saves every
honest person. Anybody who honestly says it,
you're right. It's my fault. That person will
be saved. Do you know why? Because that
person has no other hope. The only recourse that's open
to them is to beg God for mercy. And that's what David does in
verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness,
according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Oh, I'm
such a great sinner. I need a multitude of God's tender
mercies. Don't you? Oh, according to the
multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Forgive me. My sin is my fault,
but I beg you to forgive me. Cleanse me. Give me a new nature. Forgive my sin and wash it away
under your blood. Give me a new nature. And God
will save a person who honestly pleads that way. That person
is a sinner. And who did Christ come to save? God make me a sinner. Sin, back
in our text, sin entices us. That word temptation there is
talking about enticing. It entices us just like Wayne
goes fishing and he don't throw a bear hook out there when he's
fishing. No, he uses a lure. He uses a worm or something. He's trying to entice that fish
to bite that hook. That's what sin does to it. It
entices us. It tries to make it look like
sin. Oh, give us so much pleasure. It gives everything we wanted.
It's enticing us. And you know why we fall for
it? We've got a nature to love sin. Same reason that fish bites
Wayne the worm he's got on that hook. It's the nature of that
fish to love the worm. So it bites the hook. Wayne fries
him up for dinner. Sin entices us and we swallow
it. Hook line and sinker. Because
we've got a nature that loves us. And sin will kill us for
it. Look here at verse 15 in our text, James 1. Then when
lust conceiveth, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. Sin brings forth death, eternal
death, every time. It'll always be my own fault.
Man is the author of his own destruction. It's my fault. My sin cost him. So here's the
difference between trials and temptation. Trials come from
God. This temptation to sin comes
from us, from our nature. Trials are a blessing from God.
The temptation to sin is evil that comes from our own evil
nature. And the end of trials, the purpose of trials is to reveal
faith and bring life, eternal life. The end of the temptation
to sin is always death. So James tells us, don't err
in this, my brethren. Don't make a mistake on this.
Verse 16. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Don't make a mistake
on this. My damnation will be my own fault. God's not merciful. God's not
gracious. My damnation will be my own fault. And if I'm saved,
it's all God's doing. And I had nothing to do with
it. That sucks. Don't err on that. Salvation
is all God's doing. It's all of God's grace, all
of God's purpose, all of God's wisdom, all of God's love. Salvation
is of the Lord. Damnation is of you and me. Is the conclusion obvious? What
should we do? Beg God for mercy. Salvation
can only be found in Him. Verse 17. Every good gift and
perfect gift is from above. cometh down from the Father of
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every
good gift is the opposite of the evil that's in us. God's
not the author of evil, we are. God is the author of everything
good. It's so good, it's perfect. God is the one who gave his only
begotten son. God is the one who gives the
gift of eternal life. It's good. Good gift. God is the one who is the giver
of faith. By grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. God gives
faith. Oh, good. Faith is that trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of God's grace. All
of his gifts of grace. They're perfect. Perfect. And there's no mixture of evil
in them. at all. Now that is just as true of salvation. All your hearts were thrilled
when I talked about how God gave his son, how God gave faith,
how God gave life. That's a good and perfect gift,
isn't it? That's true of salvation. And brethren, it's just as true
of the trials that God gives. They're good. There's no evil
mixed in them whatsoever. God, James says, is the father
of lights. A light in scripture speaks of
two things, the light of truth and the light of holiness. And
God is the giver of both truth and light. God sent his only
begotten son into this world to be the light of the world.
Christ came as the light to reveal who God really is and to show
us how God saves sinners. Christ came to shed light on
this subject. How can a man be just with God? How can he that's
born of a woman be clean? How's that possible? Well, you
know, the Jews thought it was the law. Gotta keep the law.
Gotta follow the ceremonies and then I'll be clean. Christ came
to shed light on this subject. Salvation's in you. He's the
one that kept the law. He's the one that cleanses us
from sin. Christ came as the light to reveal the truth of
who God is and how God saves sinners. And Christ came as a
light to reveal true holiness. Holiness is not in us living
a moral life. Holiness is in Christ. And God
is light. Perfect, pure light. So that
there's never a shadow. Never a shadow. There's nothing
blocking. What causes a shadow? Something
that gets between the sun and the ground causes a shadow, right?
Well, God is the father of lights. Nothing can block him to cause
a shadow. There's never a shadow of doubt. So we can trust him in times
of trouble. Never a shadow. Never a shadow
of turning. God never changes. He always
loves and keeps his people. He's the same yesterday, today
and forever. He never changes. Not even a
shadow of a change. So we can always depend upon
him. I thought about that shadow. Seems to me like in my life,
I got a lot of shadows, don't you? I wish it weren't so, but we
may as well be honest. It seems like there's things
and I let get between me and God, get between me and Christ
and causes a shadow, causes a problem every time. God sends trials. that are like clouds that seem
to blot out the sun. Now, there's still light in there,
but it seems to blot it out. Brethren, one day there's coming
a day when there'll be no more shadows. No more shadows. We'll be with Him face to face.
So keep trusting. He's gonna bring you from here
to there. Keep trusting. That's a good
hope, isn't it? If we're trusting Christ, that's
a good hope. Now, strive never to sin. You
know, I talk about this temptation to sin. You know, please understand,
I'm not excusing sin. Strive not to sin. Make it your
goal every day to not sin. Every minute, make it your goal
not to sin. But just remember this, brethren,
when we sin, we've got an advocate with the Father. Strive to never
sin, but keep trusting Christ. Keep trusting Him. All right.
Lord bless.