Let's turn back to James Chapter
1. In the spring of 1990, I was
in the hospital, very sick. I'd been sick for a couple of
years, and they still hadn't found out the reason behind it.
It ended up being Hodgkin's disease, but they hadn't found it yet.
And I had spent a lot of different times in the hospital, and I
was getting very discouraged, couldn't find out what was wrong
with me. And Donnie Bell came in to see me, and he walked in
the room while I was laying there, and he said, the Lord must really
love you to be putting you through this. And I remember that hit me like
a ton of bricks. I hope we'll learn to sincerely
count it all joy when we fall into various trials. In this sin-cursed world, you
will have trials. You will have troubles. It's for sure. While I was sitting
here thinking, I've got my share of troubles and trials all the
time. And I don't want to know what's going to happen in the
future. I'd really rather be ignorant of it. But I know this.
They are coming. James says in verse two, my brethren. That's a special word, isn't
it? Brothers and sisters in Christ. Loved by the Savior. Loving the Savior. brothers and
sisters in Christ. It's true that blood is thicker
than water, and it's also true that grace is thicker than blood. Brethren, count it all joy when
you fall into diverse temptations. Count it joy. Be thankful. when you fall into diverse temptations. That's a hard thing to get hold
of, isn't it? That I'm to be thankful and thank the Lord that
he sent these trials my way. A temptation has two meanings
in the scripture. First, there's the temptation
to sin. Look in verse 13 of chapter 1. Let no man say, When he's tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted
when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it's finished,
bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. The first meaning of temptation
is the temptation to sin. And we all know what that is.
We know what that is very deeply. The temptation to sin. But the
word temptation also refers to trials and troubles. And this is what he's talking
about here. Trials and troubles. Man that's born of woman is born
to trouble as the sparks fly upward. The Lord has promised
us in this world you shall have tribulation. You shall have trials. You know, we're taught to pray
and this is a This is a big part of the prayer to me. Lead us
not into temptation. I don't want to be tempted to
sin because I know what happens when I'm tempted to sin. I ask
the Lord to put a hedge about me to where I won't even be tempted. That's what I want. I don't even
want to be tempted. Because I know enough about myself to know what'll
happen when I'm tempted. So I pray, Lord, let me not be
tempted. Lead me not into temptation.
Let me be, have a hedge about me. Keep me. I don't want to
be tempted, do you? And I don't want trials. I don't
want troubles. I don't want tribulations. I
don't want hard times and difficult times in my life. I have no desire
for trials. I'm all for getting out of them.
And you are too. You are too. We don't want to
be tried. We don't want troubles in our life. I'd rather everything
be fine and everything's easy. We all desire that. But we will
fall into temptation and trouble. That word fall is the same word
that's used with reference to the man falling into thieves. We're just going to fall. All
these troubles are going to come and surround us all of a sudden.
It's going to happen. You can't go through life without
troubles and without trials. And I suppose they're all relative.
I mean, Somebody that they feel like it's a severe trial for
them. Somebody else might think, well, that's no trial. Well,
it is to them. It is to them. And you and I are going to fall
into temptation. And the biggest trial I have
is me. Can you say amen to that? My
sinful desires, my sinful actions, my sinful nature, and the sorrow
I bring on myself because of it. That's the biggest trial
I have. But I've seen so many trials that others have gone
through, the trial of mental problems, the trial of emotional
problems. Everybody has their issues, don't
they? Everybody has their issues but me. Insecurity? How miserable people are that
are insecure? The fear of unbelief, the fear of what's going to take
place, what's going to happen, the fear of the future, depression,
mental illness, and there is such a thing as mental illness,
and some people have to go through terrible, grievous times with
mental illness. There's health problems. You
know, you can't separate who you are from your body. And if
you're sick, it affects everything about you. If you're in pain,
it affects everything about you. And these things are going to
come. Family problems. How difficult it is to go through
a difficult marriage or an unhappy marriage. What a trial. What
a problem that is. What problem it is when your
kids are rebellious, when they go in a way that you don't want
them to go. What grief that causes you. You'll
lay up at night thinking about it. financial problems, not having
enough money to pay your bills, troubles at work, troubles with
people, conflicts with people. You know, I remember one job
I had where my boss, I became so I still dream about this person,
still do. I mean, this has been, I have dreams. And I would walk
across from one building to another and I remember I would dry heave,
I would be so upset because of the conflict I had with this
individual. It was awful, it was awful. A
real trial. Being slandered, being misrepresented,
being mistreated, You know, the abuse some people have experienced
through no fault of their own. Children being abused, sexual
abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse. Having a warped upbringing
you carry with you everywhere you go and you never really quite
get rid of it. Bereavement. Shattered relationships. Heartbreak. being let down, being done wrong,
trials and conflicts even in the church. Now wherever you
have men, you have sinners. And quite often even believers
behave like unbelievers. That's not at all unusual. I
wish it wasn't that way, but it is. Turn with me for a moment
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Verse 14, now we exhort your
brethren Here's the kind of people you're going to be dealing with
in the church. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that
are unruly, disorderly, insubordinate. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support the weak. Be patient toward all men, men
that are going to be trying your patience and see that none render
evil for evil unto any man. Somebody's going to do you wrong,
don't pay them back. Don't get even. But ever follow
that which is good both among yourselves and to all men. So
you see what kind of people you deal with even among God's people.
We're sinners, we all have our issues and our problems and quite
often believers will behave themselves like unbelievers. Do you ever
behave like an unbeliever? Sure you do. We're aware of that.
Now, these trials are hard. They're painful. They're grievous. And how many times have you laid
awake at night troubled over what's taking place with you?
You can't get to sleep. It's trouble and it's trial. It brings on sorrow. You know, somebody says, I got
through that trial pretty easy. It wasn't a trial then. I can assure
you that. If you got through it easy, it
wasn't a trial. Trials are difficult and grievous,
and they break you up, and they make you see how weak you are
and sinful you are. And you see you don't pass them.
You see you don't pass them. You don't get through it with
flying colors. You flunk. You get an F. You see how poorly
you've thought through this trial. Now, considering all these trials,
this is kind of depressing. Opening 10 minutes, wasn't it?
Considering all these trials, James says, count it all joy. Count it all joy when you fall
into trials. If you're in the midst of trials,
this is not a sign of God's disfavor. Don't look at it that way. Count
it all joy. It's for your good. Your Heavenly
Father sent this your way for your good. He's the first cause
behind it. He's in control of it. It's for
your good. It's what you need. Count it
all joy. Now, I couldn't help but think
of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus, poverty stricken, sitting
at the gates of the rich man, sores covering his body, having
the dogs come and licking the wounds, didn't have anything. And the rich man fared sumptuously
in purple and fine linen every day. He had such a good life. Who had God's favor? Who was
under God's curse? Lazarus had God's favor, God's
love, God's grace. The rich man was under the curse
of God. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 12. We're there in James Hebrews chapter 12 verse
5. And you who have forgotten the
exhortation, Hebrews 12, 5, you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for
our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now, no chastening
for the present time seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby." Now, with regard to this joy,
obviously this joy doesn't have anything to do with circumstances,
does it? Because this joy at this time doesn't make the trial
easier. It doesn't make it less sorrowful.
It doesn't make it less grievous. It's still just as bad, just
as painful. But you still have a joy. In the midst of our sorrow, we
have this joy. God's in control of this. Romans
8, 28. Everybody knows this verse. And
we know. That all things, now that covers
everything. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Now, I love it when the Lord
reminds me of that. When you remind me of that, when
I'm complaining, it irritates me. But when the Lord lets me
know this, oh, what a blessing it is. All things, all things. That's why Paul said that the
Thessalonians and everything give thanks for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Whatever's going on with
you, whatever's happened to you, whatever trial and trouble and
tribulation you're going through right now, this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It's exactly what you need. It's given to you by God himself
for his glory and for your good. If you believe that, in the midst
of your sorrow, you can have joy. The Lord's doing something
for me with this. This is for me. This is for me. It's for my good, and it's for
His glory. Now, this trial is brought on
by your Heavenly Father, who's too wise to err, and He's too
kind to be cruel. You believe that? He's too wise
to err, and he's too kind to be cruel, and he's using this
for your good. David said, the man after God's
own heart, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn thy statutes. Now, I don't ask to be afflicted. I don't want trials, but oh,
may God give me grace with everything he brings my way to know It's
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. With regard to everything, the
Lord says, be of good cheer. It is I. It is I. I did this. I'm in control
of everything. Now, think about this. How are
you going to learn the joy of truly forgiving somebody? if
you've never been wronged. You won't, will you? What a blessing
it is to be enabled by the grace of God to truly forgive somebody
from your heart. How can you truly be sympathetic
to a person if you've never experienced something similar? I remember
before I experienced a true bout of depression where I was suicidal,
I had no sympathy with anyone who got depressed. Come on, believe
God. What's wrong with you? Can't
you believe? This is ridiculous. You're on
some kind of pity porch and pity party. Get yourself out of this.
Well, when I found out what it was that you can't get yourself
out, oh, how different I felt toward others who had this affliction. Verse 3 of our text in James
chapter 1. My brethren, verse 2, count it
all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that
the trying of your faith. Temptations, these troubles,
have something to do with the trying of your faith. Look at 1 Peter 1. Verse 6. Peter says, Wherein
you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you
are in heaviness. through manifold many temptations
and trials and troubles that the trial of your faith, your
faith is going to be tried. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with the fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having
not seen, you love, in whom though now you seem not yet believing,
you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Now, our faith is going to be
tested over and over and over. When Abraham was an old man,
the scripture says, and God did tempt Abraham. I bet when he
heard his name, Abraham, I bet he flinched. Every time he heard
his name, it was right before some great trial he was getting
ready to get through. Abraham, take now thy son, thy
only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him up there as a burnt offering to me on
a mount that I'll show thee." What kind of trial was that? And God's going to test our faith,
not to tell him anything about our faith, but to tell us something
about our faith. And what is this faith that is
to be tried? I think this is very important
for us to see this. He says, knowing this is the
trying of your faith, work with patience. What is faith? Faith.
Faith is the gift of God. It's God's gift to you. You believe,
but it's God's gift to you. By grace, you say, through faith,
and bad not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. This is God's gift to you, and
this is all you got. This is all I got. Now, faith is called in Hebrews 11,
1, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Now, can you see anything about
you that would assure you that you're one of God's elect? Only one thing, faith. as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Can you tell your elect by something
you do or some way you conduct yourself? It's faith, isn't it? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. What about justification? Now remember what justification
is. If I'm justified before God, That means I have absolutely
no guilt. That means I'm perfectly righteous.
That means when God sees me, He does not see any sin because
there's nothing there because I'm justified. Christ put it
away. It's gone. That's what justification
means. Don't you love thinking about that? Oh, it just takes
all the pressure off. I'm justified before God. I have
perfect righteousness before God. I have no guilt. I've never
done anything wrong, and I've always done that which is right.
That's what it means to be justified. It means whatever Christ's righteousness
is, that's my personal righteousness before God. Now, justified. What's
the evidence you're justified? Well, it's because of the way
I'm living. It's because of the good works I'm trying to do.
No. The evidence I have that I'm
justified is faith. That's the only way I know I'm
justified because I believe the gospel. That's what faith is.
Faith is relying on Jesus Christ only as my personal righteousness
before God. It's believing that who he is
and what he did is all that's needed to make me perfect and
accepted before God. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. To him that worketh not, but
believeth. On him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith. is counted for righteousness.
Now would that describe you? You know you can't be saved by
your works in any measure to any degree. You really believe
that. And you're ungodly. You really believe that. You
work not, you're ungodly, but you believe on Him. You believe
on Him who justifies the ungodly. Now that's the faith he's talking
about that is to be tried. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. All of the blessings of union
with Christ, sonship, sanctification, a holy nature that doesn't sin,
are not things that can be seen. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, I know I'm a believer, and
it's not because of anything I can see. It's because I, by
His grace, I really am relying on Jesus Christ right now as
my only salvation. That is faith. 1 Timothy 1 15
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
the chief. Now, I'm not saying this flippantly
or in a cliche way. I am a sinner. Therefore, I conclude he came
to save me. You see, you can't take the promise
unless you fit the character of the one the promise is made
to. Now that faith is not simply
a scent to some things. It's all you have, it's all you
need, it's all you want, and it's not for sale. It's not for
sale. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 8. Verse 4. And when much people
were gathered together and were come to him out of every city,
He spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell by the
wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured
it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung
up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some
fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked
it. And others fell on good ground, and sprang up and bear fruit
a hundredfold. And when he said these things,
he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples
asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said,
Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God, but to others in parables that seeing they might not see,
and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside, or they
that hear, then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out
of their heart, lest they should believe and be saved. The gospel
didn't mean anything to them. They on the rock, which when
they hear, receive the word with joy. I've seen this happen so
many times. Man, that's the greatest thing
I've ever heard. I'll be back next Sunday. I love this. This
is fantastic. This is what I've been wanting
to hear. This is the truth. This is it. They that are a walker, they
which receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation, time of trouble. I didn't sign up for this. This
isn't doing me any good. They fall away. It's not real
to them. They fall away. Verse 14, And
they which fell among thorns are they which, when they have
heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures
of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. You know, the stony ground hearers
leave. The thorn-choked hearers, they
stay right there. They bring no fruit. They're
caught up with the world, with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts
of the eyes, the pride of life, pleasures, lusts of all the different
things that He, they bring forth no fruit. But
now let's look at this good ground here. Verse 15. But that on the good ground are
they which in an honest and a good heart. Now what's that? I thought our hearts are desperately
wicked, deceitful above all things. What's this talking about an
honest and a good heart? Well, when God gives you a new heart,
it's a pure heart. It's a good heart. And it's honest
before God. This honesty is what makes you
honestly before God own your sinfulness, your wickedness,
your evilness. That's what an honest heart does.
It owns its sinfulness before God. And it's a good heart. It's a heart given by His grace.
But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and a
good heart, having heard the word, they keep it. They lay hold on it. They don't
let it go. This is their hope. And they
bring forth fruit with patience. They bring forth fruit with Patience. Now, do you remember what we
just read out of James? The trying of your faith worketh
patience. Patience. What is patience? Well, it means endurance. It
means steadfastness. It means literally abiding under. That's what the word, if you
take the word strictly for what it means, patience means abiding
under. Now, there isn't anybody in this
room that doesn't at times lose their patience, some worse than
others. That's not good, but that's really not, doesn't have
anything to do with what this thing of patience he's talking
about is. Abiding under. Now, the sovereignty
of God is over me, and I abide under it. Can you hear any of that? The
absolute sovereignty of my God is over me. He controls everything
and everybody. He controls the free actions
of men. He controls the thoughts that
goes through everybody's heart. He controls every action. He's
absolutely sovereign in all things. That's what's over me. And you
know what? I abide under that. And I like
being under that. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere
but under that. Now that's what patience is.
It's an abiding under. You don't want to be, you abide
right here. It's where you want to be. You know, God's sovereignty
isn't some kind of theological doctrine. It's, we love this. We love this and we have willingly
abide under this and we don't want it to be any other way.
We want to stay right there. Samuel comes up to Eli and says,
God's going to kill your two boys. He says, it's the Lord.
Let him do what seemeth him good. Shema's cursing David. Abishai
says, you want me to cut off his head? He said, no, the Lord
said, curse David. This trouble, this trial, this
difficult person, this conflict, the Lord brought all this on.
And He brought it on for your good and for His glory. You see, God reigns, He's in
control of everything, and it's all good. It's all good. You see, no matter what you're
going through, you're not being punished. Do you believe that? No matter
what you're going through, no matter what I'm going through,
we're not being punished. Christ was already punished for
my sin. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. This is not
a punishment. Now I remember when Lynn was
carrying Aubrey, I was convinced that she was going to have spina
bifida. I knew it. And I knew the reason she'd have
it is God was going to finally get me back for the way I've
been. What harsh, foolish thoughts
of God. He's too wise to err. He's too
kind to be cruel, and there's no punishment for sin. Christ
already bore it. Everything He brings our way
is for our good, and we abide under it, and we don't want to
be anywhere else, do we? I don't count the trial joy.
Matter of fact, I pray to not happen all the time. Lord, lead me not into temptation.
I don't want to be tempted to sin, and I don't want any trials
in my life. I want everything to be easy
and good, and I don't want this trial. But when they come my
way, I actually have to count it all joy, not being a pity
party. Oh, look what's happening to
me. With regard to troubles and trials,
I can feel resentment. Why is this happening to me? I can feel resignation. Well,
nothing I can do about it. Get through it. What can I do?
Or I can rejoice. Count it all joy when you fall
into trials, knowing that your faith is being tried to bring
out this thing of patience, abiding under. And look what he says
in verse four of our text in James chapter one. You know, even while I'm trying
to deal with this subject from the scriptures, I'm thinking,
what's going to happen tomorrow? I mean, am I getting ready to
have something bad happen? You know, I just think that. Well, don't let that happen. But look what he says in James
chapter 1, verse 4. But knowing this, the trying
of your faith worketh patience, but Let patience have her perfect
work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Perfect means brought to its
end, brought to maturity, brought to full growth, brought to be
a man. This trial God is sending your
way is for that purpose to make you perfect, Mature and entire. Entire. What that word entire
means, it means complete. Complete. And God's sending this
trial your way so you won't have any parts missing. So that you
won't be lacking. He's sending this trial your
way so you'll be gracious and Christ-like in all areas. That's
his purpose. It's to make you a partaker of
his holiness. It's to make you humble. It's
to make you generous. It's to make you confident. It's
to make you courageous. It's to make you forgiving. It's
to make you believe God. That's his purpose in doing this.
That you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. And the only
way to get there is through trials. That's the only way. Now am I going to start praying
for trials? No. No, I'm not. You know, this one fellow wrote,
don't spare me heartache if that is what is best for me. Don't
spare me loneliness if that, if, I can't remember all the
words to it, but the fellow's wife left him. His daughter committed
suicide. I mean, one thing after another
happened, and I thought I'm not going to be, no, spare me. Spare
me. Spare me. That's what I'm going
to pray for. Spare me trials. Spare me any
of that. But I know that the only way
that I'm going to be mature, perfect and entire, wanting nothing,
is if God sends trials my way. So I'm going to continue to pray. Lead me not into temptation.
I'm going to continue to pray that. The Lord teaches us to
pray that. Aren't you glad he taught us
to pray that? I mean, we have some confidence to pray that
because he taught us to pray that. Lead me not into temptation.
But when they come, may the Lord enable me to count
it all joy when I fall into these trials. One last scripture, Psalm
31. David is talking about his troubles. And he says in verse 9, Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed
with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent
with grief, and my years with sighing. My strength faileth
because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was
approached among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors,
and a fear to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me, for I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind. I
am like a broken vessel, for I have heard the slander of many.
Fear was on every side while they took counsel together against
me. They devised to take away my life, but I trusted in Thee,
O Lord, I said, Thou art my God, my times are in Thy hand." Isn't
that wonderful? My times are in Thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon
thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. My times are in thy hand is the
same thing as abiding under the sovereign hand of God. May the
Lord enable us when he sends his trials our way to know who
sent them and count it all joy. Let's pray together. Lord, we're so quick to fret
and so given to unbelief and so weak, so weak in the faith,
so weak to count it all joy when we fall into trials and troubles. And Lord, we do earnestly pray,
lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. But Lord,
we know You've promised in your word that in the world we shall
have tribulation. And we ask in Christ's name that
you would give us the grace to honor you in tribulation and
to count it all joy, believing that you're the first cause behind
everything and that you're not punishing us, but it's for our
good and your glory. Bless this word for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray, amen.