Turn again this morning to the
epistle of James. James in chapter 1. We read these
few verses at the beginning of the chapter. James, a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes
which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad, greet him. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. We considered in the past who
James was, the brother of the Lord Jesus, who grew up in the
same household, who knew Jesus in the flesh but only came to
know him in the spirit by faith when the risen Lord met with
him. He who he doubted, who he disbelieved, who he set to one
side He came to see for who he was, God manifest in the flesh,
the Son of God, his Redeemer, his Saviour. And James went forth
to preach the gospel of God's grace. He was saved by grace,
a wretched, unbelieving sinner like you and I. One who doubted,
one who despised, one who rejected, one who could see nothing but
what he could see with his natural eyes and natural senses, was
brought to nothing, brought to see his sin and brought to see
the salvation of God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He was cleansed in that blood. He saw his sins washed away. He saw righteousness laid to
his account. He saw the power of God in salvation
through Jesus Christ. And this message of salvation,
he preaches. And he takes up his pen in this
epistle to encourage the saints, to encourage their faith. to
point them to Christ and Christ alone. As they journey through
this world, encountering trial, encountering persecution, encountering
temptation, He points them to Christ and His grace and His
mercy. He writes to the twelve tribes
which are scattered abroad, greeting to the 12 tribes. He writes to
the entire church, the entire Ecclesia of Christ, those called
out by grace throughout the entire earth, the 12 tribes scattered
abroad. In using such terminology, he
hearkens back to the 12 tribes of Israel of old. But he speaks
unto the 12 tribes spiritually, not just the physical 12 tribes
of Israel, many of whom didn't believe, some of whom did. But he speaks to that spiritual
Israel, those 12 tribes chosen out of both Jews and Gentiles
throughout the entire age. everyone for whom Christ died,
everyone for whom his blood was shed, a people scattered abroad,
a people throughout the entire earth, one here, one there, one
over here, sinners alike, but sinners saved by grace. Sinners like James who naturally
speaking would hear and reject. Sinners like some of his countrymen
who saw Christ as he walked upon the earth, who saw Jesus and
heard him, who saw the miracles he wrought, who saw the blind
brought to see, the deaf brought to hear, the lame brought to
leap, who saw lepers cleansed of every blemish, who saw the
dead resurrected unto life. He writes unto those who saw
Jesus in the flesh, and yet rejected, naturally speaking. But who in
time heard the word of God in the gospel by grace, through
the Spirit in power, and were quickened unto life. He writes
unto those like the three thousand at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost,
who heard Peter preach. Those who were pricked in their
hearts as they heard of how they had crucified Christ, the Prince
of Glory, of how their sins had put him to death. but how his
blood was shed to wash those sins away. James writes to a
people scattered abroad, the 12 tribes who were chosen of
God from eternity past, elected, chosen unto salvation. each of
whose names were written upon the breastplate of the Son of
God when he went to the cross. As they led Christ up, outside
of Jerusalem, to that place of execution, Christ carried the
names of everyone whom the Father gave him, the names of the twelve
tribes, upon his heart, upon his breastplate. and he carried
their sins to be taken away in the darkness upon the tree. When God poured out his wrath
upon his own son, he judged him, not for his own iniquity, not
for his own transgression, but for those whom he stood in the
place of. as a substitute, as a lamb, as
a sacrifice, slain in the place of his people. He stood in their
place and bore their sins and took their sins away. These are the 12 tribes to whom
James writes. The twelve tribes, like those
of Israel of old, who on the Passover night had blood, daubed
upon the lintel, daubed upon the doorpost of the house, daubed
around the door of their house. They had blood sprinkled from
the lamb which was slain. And when the angel of death came
upon them, when the judgment of God came upon them, looking
for sin, it found none. because where it saw the blood,
he passed over. These are the 12 tribes who hid
under the blood of the Lamb, whose blood cleansed them, whose
blood covered them, whose blood washed them of every transgression. They watched through the darkness
of the night and the angel of death came by and passed them
over. and salvation awaited in the
morning. They were led forth, led out
of Egypt, led unto glory, led to freedom. These are the 12 tribes which
waited in the darkness as Christ hung upon the tree, the Lamb
of God, as the angel of death came down upon him in judgment,
who waited for the morning. who waited for redemption. These
are the 12 tribes who saved by grace, quickened unto life by
God, looked unto Christ by faith, washed in His blood, they looked
unto Him by faith, they waited by faith, they waited for the
morning, they waited for the coming of salvation. Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. They waited for Christ. They
waited for his coming. They waited by faith for Christ
to come into the world. They waited for his work of redemption. They waited in the darkness upon
the cross. They waited for the hope of glory,
spiritually speaking. And those who were born after,
waited by faith for God to bring his salvation. To the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting. Are you one of them? Has God
come unto you in the gospel? and pointed you to a Lamb which
He's provided, a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
a Lamb whose blood cleanseth from every sin. Has He pointed
you unto His Son and said, in Him your sins are forgiven? Has He chosen you unto salvation?
as he washed you clean. Has he given you faith to look
unto the Son of God who through faith went into the darkness
on your behalf? Who through faith hung suspended
between heaven and earth as the fires of God's wrath and judgment
were poured down upon him? Has he given you faith to see
yourself hanging with Christ, being crucified with the Saviour? To see your sins laid upon Him? To see the judgment against your
sins and your old man poured out upon Christ? Has he given
you faith to say with Paul, I am crucified with Christ? Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Do you look unto him by faith
and see his faith as he hung in your place, forsaken of the
Father, cast out as a sinner, judged of God, under the vengeance
of His law and almighty justice, and yet forever believing, He
forever trusted, He forever waited upon His God, even though He
was cast out as the greatest sinner of all time, bearing the
sins of all His people, guilty, Even though the fires of God's
wrath consumed him, yet he trusted, yet he waited, yet he believed. Has God given you faith to look
upon him who died by faith? My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. Do you know what it is to be
tried? Do you know what it is to have your faith tried? Do
you know what it is to be brought through trials? Well, none faced the trial of
faith that the Savior did. No sorrow that you're brought
to suffer is like under His sorrows. No torment that you might be
put through is like under the torment that He endured upon
the cross. No darkness that you might be
plunged into is like under the darkness that He felt all around
and in His soul upon the cross. No abandonment, no isolation,
no loneliness, no being cast out by men, is likened to that
loneliness and rejection and isolation that Christ felt upon
the cross. All men rejected Him. They all
cried out, crucify Him. Their sins pierced Him and slew
Him. And His Father lay in the sins
of the elect upon His own Son, cast Him out. For the justice
of God, the righteousness of God could not look upon sin.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Son of God cries. No loneliness that you can ever
endure is like unto that which He endured. No suffering, no
pain, no disease, No injury is like unto that which
he endured. My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. It will bring you to look unto
Christ. When our faith is tried, when
temptations come our way, they'll bring us to look by faith under
He who endured so much for His own. So much for those whom He
loved. He loved those who hated Him. When you hated Him, sinner, when
you despised Him, when you rejected Him, He hung in your place if
you're his. He suffered for your sin. He
suffered for your unbelief. He suffered for your hatred.
He endured for you. To the twelve tribes which are
scattered abroad, greet him. My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into diverse temptations. What does James mean here when
he says, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations? What sort of temptations does
he refer to? The child of God is tempted in
every way. There are many temptations which
come our way. to turn us to the left hand and
to the right hand. There are many trials which we're
brought to endure, many difficulties in the way our faith is tried. But of what temptations does
James refer to? And why does he exhort to count
it all joy when you fall into temptations? Are these a pleasant
thing to endure? Are they a good thing to endure? Where's the joy that comes in
enduring temptations? What temptations are these? Well,
they're religious. Most men in religion, when they
read of temptations, view them purely as those temptations of
the flesh. They see here the temptations
of liquor, of lucre, and of lust. Those fleshly temptations which
come upon us to lead us astray in the flesh. drunkenness, covetousness,
money, lust all those things which could cause us to fall
and to stumble that's all they see in this that's the primary
temptations they see to be withstood to be resisted and so many would
see these as their temptations these things which would cause
them to stumble in the flesh and turn from that life of righteousness
which they desire to live before God so they seek to resist through
their own strong will their own strength in the flesh their own
steadfastness oh yes they will speak of not really having that
strength they'll speak of God's help to help them stand but ultimately
there's a stoicness a determination not to turn to this temptation
and turn to that temptation I won't turn to liquor I won't turn to
filthy liquor I won't turn to these lusts I'll stand I'll serve
God and though they pay lip service to the help of God in this ultimately
It's their standing by the strength and steadfastness of their own
will in the flesh. And when they resist this temptation
and that temptation, what comes in its place? Nothing but the
pride of man. I didn't do this. I didn't go
there. I didn't fall in this way. I
didn't do what that sinner over there did. I stood firm. I walked piously. I sought after
holiness. And how the pride of man comes
to the fore. This is the very religion of
the Jews, of the Pharisees in Jesus' day. Oh, they wouldn't
be spotted with this sin. They wouldn't stand with sinners. They'd cleanse themselves. They'd
wash themselves. They'd perform all the rituals
of the law. They were zealous for the law
of God. Zealous to avoid the temptations
of the flesh. Zealous to do that which they
saw was right in God's eyes. But all was in the flesh. And
when Christ the Son of God, of whom that very law pointed and
witnessed, came amongst them, they were filled with enmity
and rage and hatred. For His presence, the righteousness
of God in their midst, exposed the pride in their religion,
exposed the natural zeal, exposed that all their religion, had
nothing to do with God, nothing to do with His revelation, nothing
to do with His life, nothing to do with the Spirit of God,
but had to do with man in his own strength and his own will
and his own power, seeking to climb up to heaven by his own
way. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith work if patience now there are many temptations
that come our way and there are many sins into which we can fall
but the temptations of which James speaks goes far deeper
than these surface level things and there's no standing against
them through our own strength we cannot resist them they overcome
us they'd wash us away by our own strength we can't resist
only God can keep us the temptations of which James
speaks are indicated by the fact that these trials, these temptations
are trials of faith which work patience These are temptations
to turn to the left hand or the right hand from walking solely
entirely by faith in Christ alone. They are trying our faith. They are an attempt to turn from
faith alone unto the works and the will of man. They are a temptation
to turn from Christ alone. unto self, unto our wisdom, unto
our understanding, unto our strength, and our will. My brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing
this, that the trial, the temptation of your faith, worketh patience. The temptation here, is to turn
away from the gospel whilst the temptations that religious
men may see lust, covetousness, worldly desires may indeed come
upon us and may indeed lead us away from the gospel they aren't
the main focus they aren't the worst trial The temptation here
is to turn from faith in Christ alone, to turn from the Gospel,
to turn from salvation by grace alone, to any other way. To turn from Christ to self. To be tempted to turn to the
left hand or the right hand, from grace to law, from faith
to works. From Christ being our all in
all to something somewhere in us that adds to what he has done. It is the temptations which came
into the church at Galatia. We read from Galatians 1 earlier
and how Paul writes to the Galatians concerned that they've so soon
been turned from the gospel and the grace of the gospel to another
way, to another gospel, to another persuasion, to that which seemed
like the gospel, but it was not another gospel. It was a lie,
to that which they'd been persuaded of when there were those that
came unto them and said, yes, believe in Christ, believe in
his death, but you must also be circumcised. You must also
walk according to the law of God. You must also live a holy
life by your own strength. They come and they subtly deflect
from looking unto Christ, looking unto his death, looking unto
his blood alone, to something of man. Just one small deviation,
oh just do this, we should also do this, we should be zealous
about this, we should be zealous for the law of God. It's our
rule, it's that which guides us. They come with a subtle temptation,
not to turn completely away from Christ, but to add something
in our own strength to what he has done. And how persuasive
this is. How persuasive it was at Galatia. Oh foolish Galatians who have
bewitched you. They were bewitched. It was a
persuasion. It was so persuasive. It seemed
so sensible. It seemed so right. The people
that came persuading them seemed to be preaching a zeal for God. Well you ought to live according
to the law. You ought to live a holy life.
These are things we ought to do, surely. And they turned the
gaze from Christ and Christ alone unto something, however small,
however subtle, however right seeming, that was of man in addition
to the work of God. And you just drop one little
thing in, and the whole chain, one little weak link in the chain
and the whole chain breaks. Grace plus law is no longer grace. Faith plus works is no longer
works. That's the temptation. And those
are the temptations which James addresses here. Your faith is
tried because faith is constantly being persuaded to turn to the
left hand and the right hand. Faith which works patience, faith
which waits and endures, waits upon God, waits years and years
for the promise of God to come about. Faith which waits patiently
for decades He's under attack to say, oh no, don't wait. Surely the Lord would have you
do this. This hasn't come about yet because
he'd have you do this. He'd have you go there. Surely
he's waiting for you. You're waiting on the Lord, but
no, he's waiting for you and you're being disobedient. You're
not putting your hand to it. You should do this, you should
do that. How persuasive these things are
and how they try our faith and patience. Yes, be in turn, so
the left hand, or the right hand, from grace to law, from faith
to works, from Christ being our all to something, something of
us, is the trial of our faith. How often we are tempted, how
often the tempter, the devil, Satan the serpent, comes along
as he did to Eve and whispers in our ear, surely, Surely this
is the way. Hath God said? How often he comes
and sows doubt in our minds and our understanding. Hath God said? Are you Christ's? Do you have
faith? Has he said his love upon you?
Are you sure you're walking in the right way? Are you sure you
shouldn't be doing this or doing that? Are you sure he said not
this tree? Are you sure he meant for you
not to take of this tree? Look at the fruit on this tree.
Surely this is one of the trees, he said, of the trees of the
garden you may freely eat. Surely this is one that you may
eat from. oh surely you're mistaken that
this is one he said not to surely the fruit look at the fruit on
this tree look how desirous it is to be eaten for Oh no, if
you eat of this fruit you'll be as God, you'll know right
from wrong. You'll learn how to walk in holiness. You'll learn how to serve God.
You'll learn right from wrong. You'll learn how to walk righteously. This is a tree that's for good,
to serve God, not to turn from Him. So he comes and he whispers
in Aria. And he's very persuasive. How
often we are tempted by his whisperings. Tempted not to believe in Christ
and Christ alone. Not to believe in the salvation
of God's grace. Not to believe in the gospel
which declares the sovereign work of God, the free and sovereign
work of God in grace alone. Not to believe in electing grace
and the sovereignty of God in all things. How often we're tempted
not to believe. Not to believe that God has set
his love upon us. Not to believe that He's chosen
us. Not to believe that He can save
sinners as wicked as we are. How often we're tempted not to
believe. How often we're tempted not to
trust. Being not unto our own understanding.
How often we turn from trusting in God and His grace alone. to something that we must do. How often we're tempted not to
love. Our love grows cold. We become
resentful. We grumble at some circumstance
that God's brought our way. Oh yes, we love Christ. He saved us, but look at what
I'm brought to suffer now. Look at the pathway now. And
our love grows cold. How often we're tempted not to
wait because we feel like waiting is just passing time. We're growing
old, we're heading to the grave, nothing's coming about. Are we
really in God's way? Is this really the pathway? Why
has he promised this and nothing comes about? Why does everything
seem to come to nothing? Surely he would have me do something. How often we're tempted not to
wait. How often we're tempted not to rest. God created the world in six
days and on the seventh day he rested. When he delivered his
people from their sins by the blood of Christ. He said, come
unto me, all ye that are weary and are heavy laden, and ye shall
find rest. He calls his people unto Christ
to rest in him, to find their Sabbath day, their everlasting
Sabbath day, their everlasting Sabbath rest in Christ. Cease
from your works and rest in me. But how often the temptation
whispers in our ear, You must do something. There's something
to be done. Diverse temptations. Tempted
not to believe the gospel. Tempted to turn from grace to
love, from faith to work. Tempted not to believe. Tempted not to trust, not to
love, not to wait, not to rest. Diverse temptations. tempted
not to rest in grace alone. Indeed, Satan, the serpent, will
try every which way he can to make us turn from resting in
Christ alone. He's a subtle foe. He'll whisper
in our ear every day. He'll use every circumstance,
every event, every trouble, and say, well, if you'd done this,
this wouldn't have come about. This isn't of the Lord. You've
caused this. You need to sort it out again.
Oh, this is your unbelief that's brought this about. Oh, this
is your lack of faith that brought this about. You need to do this,
you need to do that. Oh, how lacking in zeal you are. It's because you're not praying
enough. It's because you don't read the
scriptures enough. It's because you're not zealous
enough. It's because you don't do enough
for your neighbor. It's because you're not zealous
in this and zealous in that. Oh look at you, you call yourself
a Christian. Look how wicked and cold and
sinful you are. And there you are and you speak
of resting in Christ, you're just lazy. You just want an easy
walk, you won't do anything. You ought to. So he comes with
this persuasion. trying to make us feel guilty,
trying to stir us into some activity that seems reasonable, when in
reality it's to turn from Christ and add something of our own.
Often we turn when we are seeking to glorify God. This is the subtlety
of the persuasion. This is how faith is tried. We want to serve God. We want to walk in the right
pathway. We want to worship our Lord and
Saviour. We want to see the promises of
God brought about. And we seek to glorify Him. And Satan subtly uses that to
our deception. We see the Lord's promise. We
believe it. But we don't know how it will
come about. And we bring our own wisdom to
bear in the matter. Like Abraham and Sarah of old. The Lord promised Abraham seed. He promised that he would be
the father of a great multitude. He promised that Sarah would
bring forth a child, that Abraham would have a child. And Abraham
and Sarah were old. Sarah was way past the age of
childbearing. They couldn't understand how
could this be? This promise was miraculous,
it was impossible. So the years went by and they
waited, the years went by and they waited. And then they brought
their own reason to bear on it and said, well surely, surely
God must bring this about through some means. Maybe the child must
come through Hagar. So Abraham had a child through
his maidservant Hagar. He had Ishmael born. And God
was grieved with him. Because God would bring Isaac
through Sarah in his time. He used these events to teach
and humble Abraham and Sarah. Their faith was tried and they
fell and they stumbled. But in the end, their faith,
God-given faith, work patience and they saw the fulfillment
of God's promise when impossibly Sarah brought forth Isaac. God's timing is perfect we're
brought to wait but sometimes in seeking to bring about God's
promise in seeking to glorify God we feel that God would have
us go a certain way and we turn from waiting. Our faith is tempted
and we turn to our own will and our own understanding. We turn
aside. Sometimes we may feel like we
have already turned, already worked, already done something
wrong and we desire to correct what we have done. We desire
to put things right. We've done something wrong and
we're trying to put things right. But again, the Lord would have
us wait on Him. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. He will bring about the right
thing. Sometimes we wish to defend the
truth. We wish to defend the Lord or
ourselves. Like when the enemies of Christ
came upon him on the night in which he was betrayed and Peter,
full of love for the Saviour, full of love for Jesus, sought
to defend him. And he took out his sword and
he cut off the ear of that man that came upon Christ. But Christ
told him to put away the sword. Peter meant well, but he turned
to his own strength, his own will, rather than resting in
the sovereignty of God and Christ his Saviour. Oh, how easily we
are tempted, but the temptations are always to turn us away from
faith in Christ alone. And God sends them to keep God
puts us through these trials to keep us resting in Christ
alone and for us to see his grace magnified. James says my brethren
count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations count
it joy Why is it joy to be brought into these things? How is there
joy when we are brought to stumble? Or how is there joy when these
thoughts come in our minds to turn this way or that way? These
temptations come upon us like waves of a storm. They overwhelm
us. we find ourselves weak and feeble
in their pathway we can't stand when the storms of life come
upon us we can't stand when these storms of temptations come upon
us we're overwhelmed by them but the joy comes when we see
God showing us our weakness showing us once more that we are nothing
showing us once more that we have nothing but everything that
he has given us in Christ. When these temptations come and
he leads us back to the Savior, he magnifies his grace. We see
the reality of faith that rests in Christ alone and we feel the
life of Christ within us, delivering us. from every trial, every sin,
every temptation. These trials cause us to flee
to Christ alone. They keep us standing by faith
in Him alone. And we see His salvation every
day. We see His hand upon us every
day. The trying of our faith works
patience and let patience have a perfect work that He may be
perfect and entire wanting nothing. He keeps us. He keeps us every
day. He always brings us back to Christ
alone. He always puts us back upon the
rock. He always causes us to stand
firm in the end. He's always there to save us. He's always there to wrap His
hands around us. He's always there in loving grace
and mercy to forgive us. Every time we doubt, every time
we turn, He restores us, He leads us back. And He points us once
more to Christ upon the cross. He points us once more to His
blood. He points us once more to His
love and His salvation. Count it all joy, brethren, when
you fall into these temptations. And not just now and then. Not
just at one point or another. But these things are continual,
they're every day. Every day our faith is tried. Every day we find a storm comes
our way. Every day we find ourselves,
naturally speaking, overwhelmed. And every day the Lord picks
us up and saves us once more. We find ourselves like Peter,
seeing the Lord coming towards him upon the water, walking upon
the water. And Peter sees his Lord and wants
to walk out upon the water to him. So the Lord calls him to
come and walk upon the water. And there Peter goes, there's
his faith, looking to Christ. He sees his Lord and he walks
upon the water. Have you known that believer?
Has God given you that faith to see your Lord, to see your
Saviour and to cause your faith to cause you to walk upon the
water? But then so soon. The wind is
stirred and the waves are stirred and we see these things, we look
aside from Christ, we see the things around us, we see the
temptations. So soon our gaze is turned aside
and we begin to sink like Peter sank. We begin to sink, we're
overwhelmed and we cry out, Lord help me. And the Lord takes us
and lifts us up and strengthens our faith once more. This is
every day, time and again, time and again we prove His grace,
we prove His mercy, we prove His love. Every day He'd lead
us forth walking upon the water, and every day we sink when we
turn aside. And every day through the Gospel,
the power of the Gospel, God says, behold the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of
the world. Look unto me, knowing this, that the trying of your
faith worketh patience. Patience. Why are we brought
through these temptations every day? To teach us patience. To cause
us to wait. To cause us to rest. Abraham
and Sarah were taught patience. They waited years for the coming
of that promised child. Christ was promised hundreds,
thousands of years before his coming into this world that Messiah
would come. And the faithful in Israel waited. They waited. Many waited a lifetime
and went to the grave without seeing his coming. but they saw
it the other side of death. Many waited, as we read in Hebrews
11, of those who live by faith, many waited and waited and never
saw the fulfillment until they entered glory. But they waited
and they waited and at the coming of Christ, Simeon, saw the Lord,
the babe, brought into the temple. and glorified God now mine eyes
have seen my salvation here he is God has sent him at long last
I'm an old man I've waited decades and at last God has blessed me
he sent his Savior the Redeemer and I've held him I've beheld
him He held him in his physical hands but had faith. He knew
who that child was. The son of God, his savior. Anna too, that old woman, waited. She went up to the temple constantly. She preached to those around
her. She preached to her fellow countrymen
of the coming of the Redeemer. She spake of Him who should come
to those who waited in Israel for redemption. She said the
Lord will come. And at last she saw, she saw
Jesus. She saw her Redeemer. Christ
came in the fullness of time at the perfect time to those
who waited for him. The disciples were brought to
wait. James himself was brought to wait. But the disciples at
Gethsemane, they waited with the Lord, they waited. He prayed
and they waited at the cross. The disciples of the Lord, his
mother, the women, looked and waited as he hung. The light
of the sun was taken away and they waited through the darkness. Oh Lord, save us. They waited
and they waited, waiting for the light to return, waiting
for redemption, waiting for salvation, waiting for the manifestation
of righteousness, waiting for deliverance. The Lord was taken
down from the cross and laid in the tomb. And they waited. They waited at the tomb. They
waited for the Lord. They went. and they found that
the Son of God was risen. Faith is always answered. The
weight of faith, the patience of faith is always answered. When Israel were brought out
of Egypt, following that Passover night, following the slaying
of the lamb, and the daubing of his blood and the visitation
of the angel of death they're brought out and they're brought
out to the Red Sea and there's no way forward and there's no
way back but Moses says stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord wait on the Lord Oh that God might give us faith,
which endures the temptations, which waits for Christ, which
rests in Him. Faith which stands firm on the
onslaughts of Satan and his temptations to turn from grace to law, to
turn from faith to works, to turn from Christ alone unto the
wisdom of man. O God, keep us by faith in Christ,
waiting upon him. As Isaiah said, hast thou not
known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth,
faint if not, neither is weary, There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might,
he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and
be weary. And the young men shall utterly
fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk
and not faint. The Lord give us that faith to
wait on Him and to find our all in Christ
alone. Feminine.