Turn back to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. A couple nights ago, just reading
through the scriptures, and I thought about the book of James just
for reading. I sat down, just before bedtime, And I thought,
well, it's a short epistle. I think I can read this before
I go to bed. So I started reading it, and the more I read it, the
more just blessed I was. And then the last two chapters
I read to Vicki out loud, because it was just a blessing. So I
decided I would just go through the book of James. If it blesses
me, I sure hope it blesses you. The title of the message is of
your faith produces patience. Patience. Don't you like being
around someone who's patient? Oh, I do. The older I get, I
do. I like being around people that are patient. You know, patience
is a good measure of maturity, isn't it? At least patient people are children
because they haven't experienced much. They haven't been around
long. They don't know a whole lot.
They want what they want and they want it right now. But as we grow
older, we learn something about patience. And this is what trials
produce. James calls it one of these temptations. He said, my brother, count it
all joy when you fall into divers temptations. So let's look at
this. James was the pastor of the church
in Jerusalem. You find that over in Acts 15. And he writes to the twelve tribes,
he's writing to the believers, not the unbelievers of the twelve
tribes of Israel, but to the twelve tribes he writes this
epistle as to the believers in the twelve tribes of Israel,
those who have been brought to faith by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm sure it includes the
believing Gentiles also. We benefit from this. And he
calls himself here a servant. A servant. That word just jumped
out at me when I very first started reading. A servant of God and
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not many think of themselves
as the Lord's servants. As servants, we belong to Him.
We belong to Him. We do His bidding willingly as
His servants. We are His servants. The Scripture
said we've been bought with a price. We are not our own. We belong
to Him. It makes a difference. Todd and
I were talking about this a little bit today on the phone. He was
telling me about his message tonight and he brought up this
And I said, well, this is also in the message I'm bringing tonight. But it makes a difference if
we see ourselves as his servants and just seeing ourselves as
being saved from going to hell. We are his servants. And our
attitude is this. I must be about my Father's business. Our attitude is the same attitude
our Lord has. I must be about my father's business,
not his servant. Lord, what would you have me
to do? A servant is one who serves. Our Lord says this in John 12,
26, If any man serve me, if he serves me, I look that up in
the dictionary today. It means to carry out duties.
It means to meet or serve a purpose or a person. If any man serve
Me, let him follow Me. And where I am, there shall also
My servant be. If any man serve Me, him will
My Father honor." You want to be honored by the Father? Serve
the Son. Serve the Son of God. All men and women serve someone.
Many, many serve themselves, but in reality what they're serving
is Satan. To serve oneself is to serve
Satan. Now he says he's a servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ of the twelve tribes which are
scattered abroad. Greetings. And he says, my brethren,
my brethren, Believers. That's what he's calling them.
My brethren. Believers. You know, the Bible's written
to believers. It's not written to a bunch of rebels. It's written
to those who serve God. That's who the Bible's written
to. And 15 times in this epistle, James calls them brethren. Brethren. All who believe the gospel are
brethren. We have the same Father. We have
this same Father. We are partakers of the same
divine nature. We are redeemed by the same blood.
And no matter what race we are of, if we are in Christ, we are
brethren. We are brethren. The believing
black man, the believing red man, the yellow man, is my brother
in Christ. He is my real brother. We are real brothers and sisters
in Christ. If I were to say to someone,
a stranger walking into this room, and I would say, Frank
is my brother. Now, naturally, they would probably
think he was my fleshly brother. But he's my brother in Christ,
and that's real. I'd be telling the truth. I would
be telling the truth to say this is my brother. It's a real relationship. It's
real. And that relationship will outlast
all my fleshly relationships. I have some relatives that I
don't think I'll see again when life's over. But I have some
here and other places that I think we'll see each other again. The Lord said to these disciples,
I'll see you again. We'll see each other again. Our
relationship in Christ will never end. It will never be severed. It will only get better. Only
better. You know, we enjoy this fellowship,
but my soul, the fellowship that awaits us, that we are going
to have in His presence is beyond description. Beyond description. We feed on the same manna from
heaven, don't we? We feed on the same manna. We
drink the same living water. We are heirs of the same promise.
Promises. Promise and promises. We are
brethren. Well, James, brethren. And as
brethren, we show love and concern for one another. Just as you
have over this whole situation that's going on with me in the
business. You know, I thought about this. You show concern
and love. That's evidence. That's evidence. That's evidence. We enjoy one
another's company. I truly can say I enjoy no one
else's company more than I enjoy yours. We enjoy one another's company.
And James is writing this epistle to instruct and comfort his brethren
who are undergoing strong trials. His Jewish brethren, mainly,
who he's talking to, because you have to realize here, the
Jews were hated. And the ones he's writing to
are scattered abroad, he said, and the Jew was hated pretty
much by all nations. They all hated the Jews. Well,
when God saved one of those Jews, his own house hated him. A Jew
was caught between a real rock and a hard place, so to speak,
because he was not only hated by the pagans, Now he's hated
by his own brethren. And so he's writing this to comfort
them. To give comfort to his brethren. He feels a real kinship
to them. You know, Paul there over in
Romans said, My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. You know, he felt something for his
brethren according to the flesh, but this is one he's talking
about. that are believers and are caught in this heavy trial
that they're going through. Now he's not writing just as
an instructor, but as a brother would write to another brother.
As one who has tasted of the goodness of the Lord, they suffer
persecution there in Jerusalem. And so now he knows what he's
talking about. He knows something about trials,
and he knows something about patience. He knows something
about waiting on God, and he's encouraging his brethren to do
the same, to do the same thing. And he wants them to eat of that
same manner that he's eating now. Now, he says, count it all
joy. Strange language, isn't it? Well,
it is to those who don't know God. But to those who know God,
we know what he's talking about. Count it all joy. Count it all
gain. Gain. When you fall into diverse
temptations, plural, not just one, there'll be many of them
along the way, many of them. And I know this seems like strange
language to the unseasoned believer, and especially to the unbeliever
it's strange language. But we know, we know that This is for our
good. We know that these trials are
for our good and therefore count it all joy. Count it all joy. Now why would James write this
and say count it all joy? Well, first of all, because God
the Holy Spirit moved him to write it. He didn't just on a
whim write this. He was moved of God to write
this. And secondly, that we would know that trials, the trial of
our faith, is to be expected. We shouldn't be surprised. We
should not be surprised when things happen. Even things suddenly,
unexpectedly, we should expect the unexpected, you could say. We should expect it. And then he writes to him that
there shall be many trials to prove your faith. Peter calls
him over there in 1 Peter 1.6, manifold, manifold, Faith is a gift of God. It gives
God all the glory in salvation. Therefore, God's going to try
it. If the trying of faith gives
God all the glory and the chief end of man and men is to glorify
God, God's going to try it. He's going to try. And it's the
thing which Satan hates most is true faith. I read you chapter
11 of Hebrews, verse after verse, faith by faith, by faith, by
faith. And Satan hates that because
it gives God the glory. All of Satan's powers are opposed
to faith. When Satan tempted our Lord, they're in the wilderness. We
looked at this just a couple weeks ago. He tempted his faith. If thou be the Son of God. If thou be the... Make these
stones of bread. If you're the Son of God. Tempted
his faith. The Scripture says the just shall
live by faith. Therefore, it is Satan's aim,
it's his goal to destroy your faith. But in doing so, in doing
so, He only proves the power and source of it, Christ. In trying to destroy it, he proves
the power and source of it, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the
trial is over, guess who gets the glory? The Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing this, he says, knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patiently. What is it that is tried? What
is it that James is talking about here that is tried? He says,
your faith. Not your flesh. Your faith. Try it. Your faith. That precious
faith that Peter speaks of. Scripture says without faith
it's impossible to please God. And it's that faith that pleases
God that he tries. It's your faith that is tried,
and there shall be many and various manifold, and it's translated
right, temptations. You know, when we face trials
and hardships, our tendency is to murmur. It is. It's to murmur. Tendency to sin. That's the tendency
of it. And the Lord shows us through
these trials and temptations that he brings our way, our weakness
and his sufficiency. You'll never see God's sufficiency
until you see your weakness. And it takes the trial of your
faith, your faith, for you to see that. James is telling his Jewish brethren,
don't despair. Don't despair, but rejoice. Count
it a joy. Count it a great gain. A gain. Because God is the one proving,
God is the one proving the genuineness of your faith. He's the one proving
the genuineness, the divinity of your faith. It is God the
Father who tries our faith. He's the one. Look over at Philippians chapter
1. Philippians 1. Let me just read
a few different verses in different places here. Philippians 1 verse
29. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, to have faith
in Him, but also to suffer for his sake. Oh, what a blessing
that is. To suffer for his sake. Look over in 1 Peter chapter
4. 1 Peter chapter 4. In verse 19. Wherefore? Let them that suffer according
to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him
in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. 12. Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, trials, temptations. He said you'll suffer them in
this world. They're of God. God brings them our way to try
our faith, to try the genuineness of our faith. And most of the
time these temptations come upon us when we least expect it. He says here, when you fall. You didn't expect to fall when
you came in here today, did you? You don't expect to fall. Fall
is something you do that happens unexpectedly. And these trials come upon us
unexpectedly. Look over in Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1. It says in verse 6, Now there
was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said
unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking
up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job? God knew his heart. That there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that fears God and eschews
evil? Then Satan After the Lord said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about
him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every
side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance
is increased in the land. Put forth thine hand now, and
touch all that he hath, and he'll curse you to your face. And the Lord said the same. Go
ahead, touch him. If you can't touch his life,
go ahead. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters
were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother's house.
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were
plowing, and the asses feeding beside them. And the Sabeans
fell upon them, and took them away. Yea, they have slain the
servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped,
alone to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking,
there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen
from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants,
and consumed them. They all were killed. And I only
am escaped along to tell thee, while he was yet speaking." That
goes on the rest of that chapter. I bet it was a sunny day. Job
was doing fine. I bet everything was going along
just normal. And then BAM! One after another,
after another, after another. Unexpected. Unexpected. But you know what it proved?
Satan says, remove the hedge and I bet he'll cuss you. I bet
he'll curse you. And when that was over, in all
this, Job said not, with his mouth, nor charged God with folly. Oh, I'm telling you, his faith
was proved and God was glorified. Would you know if you have faith
True faith. Do you really want to know that?
Honestly. Do you really want to know in
this life whether you truly believe God or not? Well, then trials and temptations
are going to have to come. That's how it's going to be proved.
That's how the genuineness of it is going to be proved. I can
assure you this, that if your faith is of God, And He brings
trials and trouble your way, and He will. It will come out
of the furnace stronger than it went in. Don't you think Job
was much stronger at the end of this? They said his trials
lasted around nine months. Well, I tell you what, Job was
a strong man before that, my soul. By the hearing of the ear
I have heard of thee, but now mine eye seeth thee. And I what? I abhor myself. Job got put in
his right place. His faith was proved, and it
was proved to be of God, and it gave God the glory. Would
you like to be found in that hall of fame of faith that I
just read in Hebrews 11? Do you really want to be in there? I
read the last part of that. Saul and Asunder, they lived
in caves and dens and deserts. Sheepskins? Goatskins? But think where they're at now.
Robed in white linen. I want to be found in that. That number. With that number.
Untried faith is no faith at all. And what are the blessings? What are the blessings that come
out of tried faith? What are the blessings that come
out of Each time faith is tried, the believer gains greater confidence
in God, greater confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
want to find out if a ship is seaworthy, if it's
a good ship, if it can stand the test, Put it on the ocean and let the
waves beat against it. See if it's worthy. See if it's
worthy. And tried faith finds God to
be just as He is. Faithful. True. And the more
God tries faith, the more confidence that person comes out with confidence
in God. Faith in God. One writer said this. We need
the rod of chastening as much as we need
the manna. There were two things laid side
by side in the ark of the covenant. You know what those two things
were? The rod and the manna laid side by side. We must have them
both. One for correction and the other
for nourishment. We've got to have them both.
Can't do it without it. Can't do it without it. Sanctified
troubles is absolutely necessary. Absolutely necessary to prove
faith and to grow faith. It's kind of like fertilizer.
I planted a little garden the other day and I put fertilizer
on it. Dad said after you put too much on it, you'll burn it.
God knows just how much trial temptation we need for the time
we need it, and at the time we need it, for the situation that
we need it. He knows. He knows. Then here's another blessing.
It makes us fit for the Master's use. It makes us fit for the Master's
use. You ever try to cut down a tree
with a dull axe? You'll have so many blisters
on your hands. And that tree will still be standing. But you
sharpen that axe. You take the grinder to it. You
take the stone to it. And you sharpen that axe. And
then you see how quickly you can cut the tree down. Fit for
the Master's use. If God didn't try us and prove
us and test us, we wouldn't be fit for anything, would we? Not for anything. That's why
the Scripture says it's good for a young man to bear the yoke
in his youth. The yoke of discipline. It's
good for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth. It makes
him fit for the Master's use. You wouldn't want an untried
pastor, would you? He wouldn't be sympathetic with you at all.
He'd be the most unsympathetic person there was. That's why
God, and I think He does try His shepherds, His under-shepherds,
more than any. I can look over the years and
see men that pastor church and how God has tried them. They're able to identify with
the flock. Makes them fit for the Master's
use. Here's another blessing. It proves the truthfulness of
our faith in Christ. And you have been hit hard. You've
been hit hard. And you come out of it still
believing. Still believing. Still looking
unto Jesus. Doesn't it give you comfort that
the faith that you have is of God? Or you would have cracked.
You know you would have cracked. And it gives you comfort and
joy to know That the faith that brought you through that, looking
to the Lord all the way, is of Him. It's genuine. It's real. Here's another blessing. When your faith is tried, you
receive more grace. You want more grace? That's how
you get it. You receive more grace and you
gain greater understanding of grace. And you know it by experience
and not just by letter. You know what it is to sing amazing
grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me." You know what that means. There are many who
stand every Sunday and sing that song who have no clue, by experience,
what they're singing. But there are some that do. There
are some that do. You know that by experience,
His grace is what? Sufficient. His grace is sufficient. You've read it time and time
again. You've heard it preached. And
one day, one day, you fall into temptation. You fall into trials. And then you find out His grace
is sufficient. And that's when you start to
grow up and mature in Christ. To know the sweetness of the
mercy and grace of God, faith must be tried. And then tried
faith proves that you serve God. Now listen, get a hold of this.
When faith is tried of God, and it proves to be genuine,
it proves this, that you serve God for who He is and not for
what you can get out of Him. Job said this, though He slay
me, Yet will I trust Him. Now that's mature faith. This trial of Job was not his
first trial. It's evident to me, the way he
went through that trial, this man knew what trials were about.
God had brought him through other trials, no doubt, to this point
where he was hit with this huge trial. Huge trial. As David said, the waters have
gone over my head. And he came out of it believing
God. And he's the one who said, through all of this, down in
the dust, scraping the boils of his skin with his friends
standing around deriding him. He said, though he slay me, yet
I'll trust him. That's faith. That's pride faith. That's proven faith. That's God-given
faith. That's God-given faith. What would you give? What would
you give for that faith that does not doubt? That walks and rests calmly in
Christ while the storm passes by? What would you give for that?
He said, oh, I'd love to have that. Well, in time you might. And God tries you, approves you,
and molds you. In time you'll have it. If you're
His, you will. Faith is a growing grace. It
is through the, and I thought about this as a storm passed
by today and all those showers. It looked scary, didn't it, for
a while? You tell me about those clouds. It looked scary, didn't
it? You know, a trial is something
that hurts or wouldn't be a trial. You don't call it a trial if
it's just a little bump in the road. Faith is a growing grace and
it's through the showers of temptations, it's through the showers of trials
that makes it grow. That's what makes faith grow.
No one counts trials as showers of blessings. I've never counted
them that way. But I tell you this, they produce
blessings. That little garden I planted,
that scary storm that rolled over our heads is going to make
a blessing out of that garden. I'm going to eat one day the
fruit of it, if the groundhog doesn't get it. I'm waiting for
him. I probably should have told you
that. But that's what makes a blessing. That's what makes a blessing.
They produce blessings. And I tell you this, they make
us a blessing. You'll never be a blessing to anybody until God
has proven your faith and He's brought you through trials. Then
you can turn around and bless someone else and it'll be all
right. Come on. It'll be all right. Count it all joy, gain. When the trying of your faith
proves your love to the Lord Jesus Christ. Count it a gain. Like an accountant would doing
business. Racking up the numbers. Count it. Put it in the gain
column. Don't put it in the loss. It's
all gain. If it proves your love to Christ.
Count it as a gain if it proves to be real. Even if you lose
everything. Even if you lose everything.
You haven't lost anything until you've lost your life. Count
it real. Job said this. Job kept coming
to my mind as I was going through this. After the end of this,
and this first chapter there, when all this stuff started happening,
he said, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Blessings. Joe, count that a
joy to be able to say that. Oh, Joe, count that a joy. Count
that a gain to be able to endure such trials that come out. Believe in God. And listen, in the spiritual
realm, things are counted differently than in the fleshly, natural
realm, aren't they? Over in Matthew, what we want
to read, I'll just jump over here and read this. The world
would never, would never, say this, the world would just be
dumbfounded by this, but in chapter 5, blessed are the poor in spirit,
theirs is the kingdom of God, blessed are they that mourn,
blessed are the meek, blessed are they which hunger and thirst
after righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are
the pure in heart, blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness. Count it joy when you fall into
different or diverse temptations. Now they're called trials, as
I said, because they hurt. They hurt. Breaking a fingernail
is not a trial. That's not a trial. But I tell
you this, a broken heart is. A broken spirit. Or a great loss. That's a trial. We've seen it
over the years. We've seen it. That's a trial.
That's a trial of your faith. Count it a joy. Count it a joy. God knows what trials and temptations
we need to prove our faith and make us grow up in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He knows exactly what we need
when we need it. He knows the areas where I'm
weak. He knows what areas to test, to work on, to try. He knows that. Now, what does this work? I'll
wind this down. What does this work? It works,
it says, patience. Patience. A patience that accepts
the trial as from our Father's hand and quietly and calmly resign
to it. That's what it works. You quietly
and calmly resign to the trial as being from your Father's hand.
This doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen overnight.
It takes time and it takes trials. In fact, it takes a lifetime.
It takes a lifetime. Paul said this, I've learned
in whatsoever state I am to be therewith to be content. I had
to learn this. And it takes time and trials to produce this type
of patience, to calmly, quietly wait on the Lord. It takes it.
And then it enables you to suffer wrongfully. You think the best will come
out of it. Even if you suffer wrongfully, you know the best
is going to come out. And you wait. You wait on the Lord to
bring the best out of it. That's what it does. And it weans
us from worldliness. It weans us from worldliness.
And then, listen, it conforms us to Christ. It conforms us
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He never worried. He did not
ever get excited. He did not cry in the street.
He set his face like a flint and went about his father's business,
calmly, quietly. And this conforms us to his...
Do you want to be conformed to the image of Christ? You might
want to think about that. He said, take up your cross and
follow me. It's not an easy road. It's not an easy road. And impatience
will make you long suffering toward others. After the Lord
has proved you and brought you through these different trials,
different ones, it will make you long-suffering
to others. And then it will establish you, and you will quit wavering
like the sea. You will be established, established,
steadfast in the Lord and in the power of His might. You will
trust Him. The Lord will provide you. He
will provide. And then it will ripen you for
heaven. I wrote down here, there's no
sour apples in heaven. Every one of them are golden
delicious. Every one of them. And then it'll make you a better
neighbor, a better husband, better wife, better son or daughter. It'll make you better. Trials
make a believer better. It'll run unbelievers off. It'll
reveal their absence of faith. It'll reveal it. And then it'll
make you grateful to God for all His mercies. Count your blessings one by one.
You'll count them. One day you'll grow old enough
to count them. When you quit counting your money,
you start counting your blessings. Then trials has had its perfect
work. Patience. But let patience, he says, have
her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing. Now, for medicine to have its intended effect, we
must let it work. You have to let it work. Let
the trial work to produce patience, and let the patience work that
it will produce its effect. The great physician, now listen
to this, the great physician has prescribed all our trials,
So let it work. He said, let it work. Too many
times I've quit taking medicine. When I've been sick, I have a
hard time taking all the medicine. Sometimes I get it back, say,
because I didn't let it work. Let it work. Here's what it's saying. Don't
pray for the trial to be over with soon, or just to stop, or
just to come to an end. But pray that it will have its
intended effect, and for the grace to go through it, that
God see you through it. It's perfect work, that it would mature you in Christ,
that you'll grow up in Him. Wanting nothing, I read this
from Henry's commentary, lacking nothing, essential. to a strong,
mature believer in Christ, being grounded and settled in the faith,
wanting nothing, complete. Nothing like being complete. Oh, to be well-rounded as a believer.
You know, you go off to college, and they make you take a lot
of classes. You wonder, why do I have to take these classes?
I mean, what's it got to do with what I'm wanting to be? Well, I'll tell you why. It's
to make you well-rounded. To make you a well-rounded, educated
person. That's why. And these trials
make us well-rounded believers. That's what it does. The work of God is perfect. Therefore,
let us trust Him to bring us home fully right. Now if any man he says lacks
wisdom, I'll close with this, let him ask of God. When you
go through the trial, temptations, at different times, you don't
know which way to go. You don't know what to do, how
am I going to handle this. He says if he lacks wisdom, if
any lacks wisdom in this area, let him ask of God. Guide me,
teach me. That's why he's saying, Lord
give me wisdom to go through this the way I should go through
this. Give me wisdom to do it. Let
him ask of God. Ask him sincerely now, not wavering,
not insincerely, but sincerely. Willing to do the Lord's will.
Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Ready to do his
will. Well, I hope you got something
out of that. That's the trial of faith. that produces patience.