God's grace and mercy, as we
experience it day by day, ought to teach us to trust Him confidently
in every detail of life. Oh, how we ought to trust our
God, but how little we trust Him. How little we trust Him. We read of the children of Israel.
The lens you just read back in the office, God bringing them
across the Red Sea in Exodus 14. God provided for them and
preserved them for 400 years in Egypt. He sent Moses to deliver
them. When they came out of Egypt,
they came out with a high hand, taking with them everything that
was of any value in the whole land of Egypt. Isn't that amazing? They came out carrying all the
gold and silver that Egypt could give them. Carrying everything
of any value in Egypt. They lost nothing while they
were there. And they come up to the Red Sea and they start
to murmur and complain. They saw a sea before them and
Pharaoh's armies behind them and mountains around them and
it crossed their wheels and they began to blaspheme God. God brought
them across the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian armies, and drowned
Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea. And they no sooner got
across the Red Sea than they began to murmur and complain
because God's providence crossed their wheels. They blasphemed
God, they murmured against Him, murmured against Moses, murmured
against Aaron, constantly murmuring. And God provided them manna in
the wilderness, water in the desert. And they were refreshed
and strengthened. And they went on their way and
they murmured against God. God crossed their wheels and
they murmured again. In fact, as you read the history
of Israel in the wilderness, every time God's providence crossed
their wheel, you find them blaspheming God unbelief. Now before you
get too upset with Israel, how like Israel we are. You and I who have been saved
by God's free grace, loved of God from everlasting, redeemed
with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, called and preserved
by God's grace, given life and faith in Christ, forgiven of
all sin, for whom God has continually all the days of our lives manifestly
worked all things together for our good. I think I know that from experience
as well as any man here. God has continually all the days
of my life arranged all the affairs of the world, all the affairs
of my life for my good. And yet, as soon as his providence
crosses my will, I begin to murmur and complain and blaspheme God. That's what unbelief is, isn't
it? Let's quit making pretty words to excuse our ungodliness. The horrible atheism of our nature,
the terrible depravity of our hearts, continually quarrels
with the Most High when the Lord God in his providence crosses
our will. Then the evil of our nature becomes
evident. When we're greatly distressed
with any circumstance, we're far too apt to think and speak
ill of God and would do so quickly. How I wish it weren't so, but
it is. Our hard thoughts and suspicions
of God betray a terrible lack of faith in and submission to
him who is our ever gracious God. Looking back over my life,
how I wish I could blot out the murmuring every complaining word. Those things are all unwarranted
and ungodly. Every ill thought of God, every
murmuring word is unwarranted and ungodly. I have repented
this day all day long of the evil privately and I do so now
publicly. When I take a survey of my life
I see that the kindness of God has run through my life like
a golden thread incessantly. Goodness and mercy have followed
me all the days of my life, constantly pursuing me, constantly chasing
me into the omnipotent hands of God's infinite mercy. Even
when I have wickedly rebelled against him, his goodness and
mercy pursue me still. Are you not compelled, my brother,
my sister, to confess the same thing? Even our apparent woes
have been real blessings and not woes at all. I don't know
for which we should bless God most. Those things that we experience
that break our hearts are those things that we experience that
rejoice our hearts. The best piece of furniture I've
ever found in my house is the cross of affliction given me
by my God. The best farmland there is in
this world is that land of adversity. And the most beneficial thing
we've ever known is to go forth weeping, bearing the precious
seed of God in our hearts And we always return, invariably
return, rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. Every saved
sinner has reason to say, truly God is good to Israel. Truly the Lord has strengthened
us upon our bed of languishing. He makes our bed in all our sickness. psalmist said, oh taste and see
that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. The Lord is good. His mercy is
everlasting. Now, turn with me if you will
to James chapter five and I want you to see something else about
our God. The Lord is very pitiful and
of tender mercy. The Lord is pitiful and of tender
mercy. Our text is James 5 verse 11.
This is my subject. The Lord is very pitiful. I have been looking at that statement
for quite some time trying to trying to study in the book of
God and mull over in my own heart and mind what God the Holy Spirit
is here telling us about God, our Savior, the triune Jehovah. The Lord is very pitiful. Behold, we count them happy,
blessed, honored, privileged, highly esteemed. That's what
the word happy means. Happy, blessed, honored, privileged,
highly esteemed, joyful. We count them happy, which endure. Endure, endure. Ye have heard
of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that
the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. Let every heaven-born
soul say, He healeth all our diseases. Let every tried believer
say, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
delivereth him out of them all. Let every age saint bring the
spoils of a life of constant grace to the feet of God and
lay them at his feet before the throne of grace. My desire in
preaching this message is to turn our hearts away from ourselves
to God our Savior. To turn our hearts away from
our perception of things. to God's revelation of himself
in his goodness and grace in Christ. The Apostle James in
this text of scripture aims at setting us right in our judgment
of God. He aims at setting us right in
our judgment of God, in our assessment of God, his word, his works,
and his ways. Now let's look at this text in
the four phrases given here one by one. First, James calls our
attention to faith's counting. Faith's counting. Behold, we
count them happy which endure. Faith never calculates the way
reason does. Faith never counts the way the
world does. We count those men and women
happy who endure trials at the hand of God, knowing that the
trying of your faith worketh patience, happy, blessed, honored,
joyful, highly esteemed are those who endure affliction and trouble
with courage, constancy, and patience unto the end. He that
endureth unto the end shall be saved, our Lord said. They are
blessed, happy. They're highly esteemed. They
are beautiful in God's eyes. And they are so now, and they
shall be so forever. God, by His Spirit, rests upon
them and dwells in them. His grace is bestowed upon those
who endure the trial, the adversity, the afflictions of this life,
believing God. An honor is done to them by God
in that they are counted worthy to suffer for Christ and with
Christ. And those who suffer for Him
and with Him their honor that God gives them that grace. It
is an honor done to us and we counted an honor. They who endure
to the end shall in the end be glorified together with Christ.
If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. Turn back,
hold your hands here in James and turn back to that text we
looked at Sunday morning in Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter
eight verse sixteen. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we're the children of God. And if children
than heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. We suffer with Him to this end,
that we may be glorified together. Together with God's saints? Yes,
together with Him. We suffer with Christ. to this
end that we may be glorified together with Christ so that
Paul makes by inspiration a direct correlation between our suffering
with Christ on this earth and our glory with Christ in the
world to come. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. Look at Philippians chapter
1 verse 29. unto you it is given in the behalf
of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for
his sake. What an astounding statement.
God has given you this great high privilege of grace to believe
on Christ And if God has given you the privilege of believing
on Christ, He has given you this great high honor as well to suffer
for His sake. Faith in Christ, the commencement
of faith in Christ, the commencement of a life of faith in Christ
is the commencement of a life full of pain, and sorrow and
adversity as long as you live in this world. This is faith's
way of counting those things though. Behold, we count them
happy which endure. The pity and tender mercy of
God are to be seen in the happiness of those who are called to suffer. We count them happy which endure. Who counts them happy? God does
and God's church does. We count them happy, which endure. That which you, my brother, my
sister, are called upon in God's providence to endure. That's
talking about something that's hard. That's talking about something
that's hard. You don't have to endure a good
meal. You don't have to endure fair
weather. You don't have to endure a good time. No, no. Endurance is talking about something
that's hard. Something that's contrary to you. Something that's
opposed to you. Something you would never choose.
Something you would never choose. We count them happy who endure. Who endure with faith and confidence
in God. Believe in God. This arithmetic is known only
to faith, and it is learned only by grace. We who are gods do
not think those people are happy, who chase happiness, wasting
their lives in revelry of death and unbelief. We don't think those people are
happy. who are fattened like calves
shut up in the stall waiting to be slaughtered. We're not
so foolish as to count those happy who spread themselves like
a green bay tree only to be the more quickly cut down with the
axe of judgment. We count those happy who endure
because our Savior has taught us so to reckon. He said, blessed
are ye when men shall revile you persecute you and say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding
glad for great is your reward in heaven. Did he not say blessed
are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. This is the
verdict of our Savior and this is the verdict of faith. We count
them happy which endure. So whatever it is that God is
pleased to bring upon you tomorrow Whatever it is that God is pleased
to bring upon you tomorrow, I wouldn't take it from you for the world. Though my heart may break with
yours, and I hope it does, I wouldn't take it from you for the world.
This is your Heavenly Father's good purpose of grace for you. Jonathan, you shake your head
like you believe that. And you know as well as I do, we don't
have to believe that. Oh, that we could so believe
God in the midst of the difficulty. Those who endure the will of
God when it crosses them are the happiest, most highly honored,
most blessed people in this world. Blessed is the man, David said,
whom thou chastenest, O Lord. This counting is not a delusion. It is the proper and true estimate
of things. There is a happiness in affliction
and adversity. Which none can know except those
who have tasted that the Lord was gracious or the Lord is gracious.
Turn back to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Look at some very
familiar text. Psalm 119. Look at verse 67. I'll give you a minute to get
there. Psalm 119. Verse 67. This I know. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray. But now have I kept thy word. God teaches us obedience. Obedience of faith by the things
we suffer. Look at verse 71. It is good
for me. It is good for me that I had
been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. The fact is none of us ever learn
anything except by experience. The things we learn by theory
are just theory. They're just notions in our head.
We talk about learning things, and you talk about learning different
things, and you think you've learned everything. You know,
you remember when you were 20 years old, you, oh, man. I've
got it now. You've got all the facts lined
up. You've done your studying. You've got it fixed up now. You
don't know anything until you experience it. Now that's just
fact. That's just fact. You can talk
about it. You can debate about it. You
can write about it. You don't know anything until you experience
it. I'll tell you what I've observed
watching or studying myself. I have back in my office a good
many books. Some of the most highly respected
books on theology, some of the most highly regarded commentaries
are those that were written by men when they were barely out
of their teens. John Calvin wrote his Institutes
of Theology and published them when he was 26 years old. And they are held today and had
been for 500 years as the standard of Protestant theological works.
Pull them down and read them. And they're good, Bill. They're
good. I mean, Orthodox. Orthodox. Calvin was shot. He was shot. But as cold as steel pipes in
a freezer. just all fact. But how could they be otherwise?
He was just 26 years old. Do you understand what I'm saying?
We don't learn anything except by experience. David said in
verse 75, I know, oh Lord, that thy judgments are right and that
thou in faithfulness has deflected me. Within the rough shell of
sorrow, we find the sweet kernel of grace. Happy is the man who
is enabled to redo it. I read something by Spurgeon
today. He said, rare gems glisten in
dark minds of adversity. And we seldom ever trust God so simply, so completely,
as when we are at our wits end and compelled by grace to cast
ourselves upon him. When earthly comfort is gone,
then and only then heavenly comfort blossoms. Again, Mr. Spurgeon said, God is never so
much a father as he is to the fatherless, and never so much
a husband as he is to the widow. Therefore, we count them happy
which endure. Enduring our trials, we find
ourselves compelled to cling tightly to God our Savior. We find ourselves compelled to
draw closer to him, and there we enter into sweeter, more intimate
communion with him. We're admitted in the midst of
trial as we cling to the Savior into the inner chambers of him
who loves us and him whom we love. Sorrows reveal the man
of sorrow. Grease cast us upon the heart
of God. Trouble brings us to the throne
of grace. We run to his arms when we need him. We run to his
arms when we need him. You still raise chickens. You
see those little chicks out in the yard. They just go everywhere
they want to, just pecking whatever they see. They just have a good
time, pay no attention to anything until there's a hawk in the air.
And then that mother hen lets out an alarm, and those little
chicks run up under her wings for refuge and safety. And we're
kind of like those dumb, stupid little chicks. peck along at
everything and pay attention to nothing until we're brought
to alarm and the Savior graciously forces us under his arms. He shall cover thee with his
feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust. One of the most delicious sensations
this side of heaven is to fall helplessly into the arms of the
Redeemer, casting all your care on him
because you just can't do anything else. And when he graciously forces
you to cast all your care on him, oh, what refreshing for
your soul. We find strength in helplessness,
joy in submission, Rest in resignation, peace in surrender. Besides all
that, the Lord has a choice way of manifesting himself to us
through adversity. He comes and makes our bed and
our languishing and he's like a nurse in the hospital room,
he pulls the curtain around your bed. and shuts out the world. And as he pulls the curtain around
your bed and shuts out the world, he pulls another curtain open
and shows himself through the lattices and makes himself known
to you as he does not to the world. And anything that gives
new life to prayer, anything that brings me to the throne
of grace, anything that brings my Savior to me is good. We count them happy which endure. There's no place in all our pilgrim's
journey more needful for our souls than the valley of humiliation. We like to build the delectable
mountains, but the steep Steep slopes, we just can't stand firm
there and there. Air is so thin, we can't breathe
well there. Best for us to be in the valley
of humiliation, where the Lord walks with us and ministers to
us and causes us to grow in His grace. We count them happy which
endure, because our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now,
look back at James 5 and verse 11 again. And notice that James
exhorts us to faith and confidence in God our Savior in the hour
of trial by reminding us of the patience of Job. Now that's been
the thing here that has been really kind of clogging my mind. The patience of Job. I've heard
about the patience of Job all my life. I've heard men say,
if I had the patience of Job, or he has the patience of Job,
I've heard about that all my life. But when I read this book,
honestly, if James hadn't written it, I would never dream that
Job had a patient bone in his body. When you read the book
of Job, doesn't appear to be anything patient about it. What's
he talking about? You've heard of the believing, confident endurance
of Job. That's what he's talking about.
The patience of Job. Had it not been for the trials
he experienced, this man Job, who lived in the very earliest
ages of time after the flood, this man Job, his name would
have been cast off into oblivion. You'd have never heard of him.
We don't know the name of any other prince who lived during
his day. But Job's name we know well because of the trial he
endured and the patience, patience, endurance, patient faith, confident
faith in which he endured. Let me remind you of a few things. Turn back to the book of Job.
Job, back in chapter one of Job. I'll just say these six things
about Job, and I'll be very brief. You can look them up yourself
and work on them more. Job was a perfect man. Job 1.1
and 1.8 tell us that. God says Job was a perfect man.
Now, fellows can debate and argue all they want to about Job. I've
heard fellows say Job wasn't saved until you get to chapter
42, or Job wasn't saved here or there. And a lot of faithful
men, faithful men. But God says Job was a perfect
man. He was not perfect by nature any more than you are. He was
redeemed. He was justified. He was sanctified
by the blood of Christ, by the power and grace of God the Holy
Ghost. Job was a perfect man, loved
of God, chosen of God, called of God, redeemed by God, justified
by God. Second, though he was a perfect
man, Job was tried. This perfect man. This perfect
man. He was tried, Mark Henson, like
no other man in history was ever tried except the Son of Man,
God our Savior. You read how Job was tried. Just
read the next two, the first two chapters and see how God
tried Job. Abraham's trials in Genesis 22,
no more than Job's trials here. No, no. Job was tried in every
aspect of his life. He lost his family. One clean
sweep. Lost his sons and daughters.
Lost his health. Lost his riches. Lost his name.
Lost his reputation. Finally, even his wife said,
why don't you cuss God and die? Job had everything contrary to
him. Everything contrary to flesh,
everything contrary to what he would want, everything exactly
opposite of what he would choose. And Job's great trials, all these
bitter, bitter trials, Job understood were brought upon him by the
hand of God who loved him. Whom he loved and who loved him. He said, Have pity on me, the
hand of God has touched me. This is God's hand. You might
suppose Satan did this. It was God who brought the issue
up with Satan to start with. This was brought on Job by the
hand of God. Here's the fourth thing. Job
endured all the slanders of his three accusing, condemning friends. all their slanders and accusations.
And I don't excuse everything Job said to them. Job responded
sometimes. Well, it's hard to believe. He
responded sometimes like Mark Daniel in the flesh. He responded sometimes like a
man who didn't believe God. He responded to those fellows
sometimes like, like a man who was just fit to be tied. Read
the book of Job. How could you say that? This
man walked in faith. We live in the Spirit and yet
we struggle with this flesh all the time just like Job did. But
Job endured this great trial of life, still believing God. He said, I know redeemer lives and I know that he'll stand on
this earth in his body in the last day and I know that though
my skin were to destroy this body in the grave in my flesh
with these eyes I'm going to see God my Savior face to face
for myself and you can't take that from me I know that I know
that Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. All the days of his life, Job
endured believing God. And then fifthly, you get to
chapter 32, and you have a young man, a young preacher, a young
prophet, thought of the name of Elihu. He'd been sitting around
listening to Job and his three friends, his three miserable
friends. They were determined to destroy
Job and Job was determined to defend himself. And then Elihu
spoke, he said, all of y'all are wrong. And Job took the correction
of this young preacher and bowed and worshiped God in patience,
still in great adversity as he considered the wondrous works
of God. And then in chapters 38 through
42, God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind and Job patiently endured
believing God in utter abhorrence of himself and
utter astonishment of God. He endured patiently, confidently,
Believe in God. You've heard of the patience
of Job? Now, look back at our text again. Here's the third thing James
tells us. He calls our attention to God's object in our trials. And he's specifically referring
to the trial that Job endured. And you have seen the end of
the Lord. James 5 verse 11. Behold, we
count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord." Now I can say a
lot of things about God's object in the end. Oh, the object of
God in the afflictions. He intends to teach us to believe
Him. His object in every trial is
to make Christ more precious. His object in every trial is
to wean us of the world. His object in every trial is
to set our hearts upon eternity. His object in every trial is
to conform us to the image of His Son. But let's stay with
James' intent. He's obviously referring to the
patience of Job when he speaks of the end of the Lord. What
did God intend for Job by this trial? when the Lord God called
Satan up and he said, have you considered my servant Job? And
God provoked Satan to tempt Job. And he called him up again and
said, have you considered my servant Job? And he provokes
him again to try Job and try him hardly. What was his intention? Why did God destroy his family? Why did God destroy his health? Why did God take away every dime
from his pocket? Why did God cause his wife to
lead him, to urge him to blaspheme his name? What was God's purpose?
By his trials, by enduring his trials, the Lord brought his
purpose end upon Job. First Job discovered. everything you can put your hands
on. Merle Hart, everything you put
your hands on. Reach over and take that pretty
lady by the hand. Everything you put your hands on, at best,
is just temporary. Just temporary. just temporary. Everything. God called Job to discover how
fickle man is. We put no trust in the flesh
because his wife said, why don't you cuss God and die and his
friends, those men who had been his friends. Oh, can you imagine
the hardship of those fellows sitting and waiting
in their astonishment for a week. They said they're just astonished
to speak to Job. Can you imagine the pain that
must have gone through Job's mind while he's waiting for those
fellows to start their stuff? And then when they started, these
men had been his friends. These men had been men with whom
he worshipped God. These were men that Job knew
well. They knew him well. He found out that man at best
is fickle. And Job discovered by his trials
how sinful, frail, and unbelieving he was. But that's not all he
learned. By his trials, Job learned to
be sympathetic, gracious, and kind to other fickle, sinful
men like himself. Do you know how the book closes?
Read chapter 42, and you read about Job praying for his three
friends. Isn't that amazing? Praying for
his three friends, and God heard his prayer. He's praying for
those men who've been cussing him. Praying for those men who've
been slandering him. Praying for those men who spoke
evil of him. Praying for those men who thought
worse than they spoke. He's praying for them. Spirit of God, make it so with
me. And in the end, the end of the
Lord upon Job was the double portion of the firstborn. You
remember when Elijah said to Elijah, Elijah said what do you
want? He's a oh, give me a double portion
of the spirit that's on you. That wasn't greedy That wasn't
if I'd say I want more to all the other prophets here and I
want more than you've got a double portions portion the firstborn
Give me the portion of the highly honored son in the family God
gave Job in the end a double portion as his firstborn He had
twice as much in the end as he had in the beginning I can't
say much about it now, but we had twice as much in Adam, or
in Christ, as we had in Adam. Double for all our sins. Job
had the fullness, completeness, and perfection of the grace of
the triune God in the giving of his seven sons and his three
daughters. God, our Savior, shall make it
so with us. I reckon, Paul said, that the
suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Now, look at
one last thing in James 5 11. The Lord is very pitiful and
of tender mercy. No matter what appears to contradict
that fact. God seal that fact to our hearts. The Lord is very pitiful and
of tender mercy. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. What does
this mean? The triune Jehovah God our Savior
has many bowels or as it were a great great heart overflowing
with pity and tender mercy insofar as God's elect are concerned. Insofar as God's elect are concerned. Are you listening? insofar as
God's elect are concerned. God is all heart. God is all heart. The Lord is very pitiful and
full of mercy. Oh, how gracious, how kind, how
good he is, how confident and patient we should be, how pitiful
and merciful we should be, how forgiving, helpful, and gracious
we should be, how anxiously, how zealously
we should seek to make him known who is all heart, very pitiful and full of mercy. How easy it ought to be for you
to trust Him. How easy it ought to be for me
to trust Him. He is very pitiful and of tender
mercy. Amen.