Untitled Sermon

chapter 2, the first 13 verses, we're going to learn how to minister impartially, how to minister impartially, maybe you think you do that, we don't have any people of color here this morning, why, how many friends do you have that are from another race, from another ethnic background, and if not, why not, are we ministering impartially, do we cringe when we see people of a lesser economic background, or are we fearful and in awe of people who are in a greater economic background, like they are something special, wait until we get down here a few verses in chapter 1, you who are rich, and then he mashes them again in chapter 5, riches are a bondage, we're going to see that, but are we respecters of persons, and to some extent, listen,

all of us are, and so we need that honing of the spirit where that's concerned, and James is going to hone, in the first 13 verses of chapter 2, then in verses 14 through 26 of chapter 2, we're going to see that actions speak louder than words, actions speak louder than words, you should not have to tell someone that you're a Christian, you should not have to tell someone that you are born again before they figure it out, before they figure that something's different in your life, and if they don't realize that, then the workings of faith are not coming out, and you need to check your priorities, and we'll see that as we're in chapter 2, chapter 3, then we'll see that the

words of faith resonate through our speech, I tried to come up with all these R's, these matching letters, and resonate was the only thing I could think of, resonate through our speech, in other words, yes, your actions speak louder than words, chapter 2, but in chapter 3, your words also mean something as well, and the workings of our faith will resonate through our speech, what is your speech like, verses 1 through 12 of chapter 3, what kind of mouth am I, there's a song a while back called, what kind of fool am I, who never fell in love, well, this one is, what kind of mouth am I, okay, so we'll look at that in the first 12 verses of chapter 3, and then in verses 13 through

18, we're going to see which wisdom speaks, did you realize there's more than one wisdom, according to James, there's the wisdom of this world, and the wisdom of God, which wisdom speaks through you, you see, the workings of our faith will resonate through our speech, through what we say, and how we say it, chapter 4, we'll see that the workings of our faith cause us to release our hold on this cause us to release our hold, to release our grip on the world, verses 1 through 10 in that chapter, we'll see that that occurs as we draw near to God, come near, it says in NIV, draw near to God, it says, a lot of spiritual warfare training in verses 1 through 10 of chapter 4, you don't have

to learn how to tell the devil where to go, you don't have to learn these words or whatever, so that you can take on the enemy, the key to resisting the enemy, to fighting the enemy, is to draw near to God, and resist the devil, you can't resist the devil unless you draw near to God, now, if you don't realize it, in just those two verbs, there is action involved there, draw near to God, resist the devil, and he will flee, the key is, how much effort are we putting into drawing near to God, and how much are we just assuming that since I'm a Christian, he'll flee, so we need to realize that what the enemy wants us to do is get our perspective on this world, to hang on to the things of this world, and we're in a sense drawing near to this

world, and when we do that, he's got us, he may not be taking us to hell, but he had it, he has us, where we are ineffective witnesses, we're ineffective servants, so we need to release our hold on this world, and we do that as we draw near to God, then in verses 11 through 17, we'll find that in releasing our hold on the world, we are relying on his plans for our lives, relying on his plans for our lives, that'll be an interesting section, and then this same heading of releasing our hold on the world carries on into chapter 5, the first six verses, as we look at the warning, to beware of the bondage of riches, to beware of the bondage of riches, bondage of riches, how much makes you rich? More than you have, there's not a dollar amount out

there that is rich, because no matter how much you have, there will be someone that has more, and so you think, well, that's rich, well, that's rich, well, that's rich, how much is rich? There's a bondage in that, and it will strangle your relationship with the Lord, and so we need to watch that, we need to release our hold on the world, then the rest of chapter 5, we'll look at under the idea that the workings of our faith cause us to respond with hope, the workings of our faith cause us to respond with hope, and then verses 7 through 12 of chapter 5, we'll see that the emphasis is on the Lord's coming, the Lord's coming is near, and then verses 13 through

19, he ends with, so pray, pray, so an exciting study, an exciting time, as we look at the workings of faith, today, let's look at the workings of faith, as they're revealed by trials, and let's see if we can get a proper perspective of trials, now, you know this, and you, I'm sure you have a proper perspective of trials, so bear with me, because I'm just going to kind of stir it up again, and just put us in remembrance of what this is, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, now, if you can get past that verse this morning, you are a whole lot better off than I am, consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds,

and we just came out of Philippians, where the emphasis was on rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, same kind of thought process is coming here, as we come to consider it pure joy, count it all joy, if you're reading King James, consider or count, the word in the Greek means to evaluate, to evaluate, and so, in essence, what James is saying is, when the trial comes, you and I need to be able to evaluate the fact that this has a purpose, and in it, see God's love, and rejoice, James wrote this first, before Paul wrote his epistles, and so, I see Paul, personally, gleaning his rejoice in the Lord, always from James, he saw James teach this, I think, he heard James say these things, he may have even read James'

epistle, and he saw it in James' life, and he knew James' background, and he thought, man, if he can consider all these trials joy, then I can too, and so, he can write to us in Philippians, and say, I'm in jail, I've been beaten, stoned, and left for dead, and shipwrecked, and everything else, and I'm rejoicing, because I've learned to evaluate the trials, and realize there's a purpose behind them, and God always, brings that to pass, so, evaluating a trial as being joyful, is something you and I have to do as Christians, now, listen, it is a discipline, oh, I hate that stuff, I want the stuff that just happens, you know, I want the spontaneous working of the Spirit of God, great, you got that at

salvation, the spontaneous working of the Spirit of God, and from there on, we grow in the Lord, doesn't mean we lose the intimacy, no, we're seeking to gain a deeper intimacy, as we know more, but that is a discipline, and I'm sorry, there's no other way that it happens, you and I have to come to the point where we can purposefully evaluate trials, and count them joyous, because we know what God's doing, that means no grumbling, or complaining, Philippians chapter 2, verse 14, no regretting, no sorrowing, because of the trial, because God has a purpose, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many, kinds, if you're reading King James, it says, when you fall into, I like that, when you fall into,

the word literally means, when you come into the middle of, in other words, you're not just kind of bouncing off of a trial, but you're smack dab in the middle of it, and it implies with an intended purpose, so it's not like you haphazardly bumped into the trial, oh, I fell into this trial, it's you have been placed in it, right smack dab in the middle of it, face to face with the trial, that's why the NIV renders it that way, and that's why it's so important, and that's why it's so important, when you face trials of many kinds, and it's with a sense of expectation, so it means as believers, we should expect to be in the middle of trials in our life at any time, part of my prayer life has

been, bless this situation, Lord, and what I mean is, when I pray that, don't let anything bad happen, you pray that way, we're going to be with the boss's relatives today, you know, Thanksgiving, holiday, whatever, Christmas, so bless, bless this encounter, Lord, and in praying that, I'm praying, don't let anything happen, you know, let it all just kind of go smooth, what should I be praying, what should we be praying, should we pray that, well, yeah, that's okay to pray that, but what are the chances that it's going to go real smooth, most cases, it would take a miracle, right, because we know the boss, we know his family, or whatever your situation is, maybe pray for the evidence of God's spirit and presence in

the midst of this trial, Lord, give me your wisdom, so that I'll know how to respond to your in the midst of this situation, it's not wrong to pray for protection on loved ones that are traveling, it's not wrong to pray for God's blessing in the midst of this financial situation, but also pray, God, show me how to respond, that's what we'll get to when we get down to praying for wisdom, we ask for wisdom, that's what you're asking for, is wisdom on how to respond in the midst of this trial, how to count it pure joy, none of this is disjointed here, this is all talking about the same thing, so Lord, I know the trials are coming, I know the trials are coming, I know the trials are coming,

I know there will probably be trials today, don't let me be Pollyanna-ish enough to think that today I'm just going to go through without any, so Lord, prepare me, help me have your perception, help me have your wisdom, help me speak your truth, help me reflect your love, help me to have your grace, to be a dispenser of your grace, whatever the situation is, you're going to have trials, in the world you will have philipsis, you're going to have tribulations, that hurt, Jesus said, promise, you want a promise from God, there's one, grab onto that promise, you know, I don't see that one in my little breadbasket of promises here, I want the ones that say, he'll take it away, he'll lift my burden, he'll always be there, he'll carry me through, but I

don't want the one that says, in this world you'll have tribulation, I don't want that promise, but it's there, you've got it, it's in the word, you can't avoid it, when you fall into trials of many kinds, trials are, if you're reading King James, it's temptations, and maybe even NAS says temptations, when you face trials or temptations of various kinds, or many kinds, the word for trial or temptation there is the word periosmos in the Greek, and it means a trial or testing directed to an end, and the end is that he who is tested should emerge stronger and purer from the testing, it's a trial or a testing with a directed end, with a specific end, now I don't know about you, but maybe there are times when you kind of

see even God dangling something out there and playing with your mind, kind of like trying to just get you on the fritz, you know, just kind of, you're just toying with me God, you know, I don't know if you've thought I have before, it's the wrong way to think, God doesn't do that, he doesn't toy with, he doesn't dangle something out here and then pull it away so that you can't get it and leave you just wanting it, he's not a mirage maker, God has a specific end in mind, and so that's what these periosmos, these trials or these temptations are all about, the idea here is not a seduction into sin, and James defines that a little bit later on and says God doesn't tempt,

God's not the one who tempts, this is the idea of a strengthening and a purifying as a result as when a baby bird tests its wings to see if it can fly, that's the idea of the testing here, is to make sure that we can fly, now the same word is used here in verse 2, whenever you face trials of many kinds, drop down to verse 12, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, same word, down in verse 13, when tempted, tempted there is the same word, down in verse 14, but each one is tempted, same word, same word in all four areas, periosmos, the testing that comes, now as James will say, God doesn't, God is not the one who tempts, but your own flesh, when it's enticed by Satan's evil, your own fleshly desires is what

leads us off into sin, and James will develop that a little bit later, but God will allow certain times like this, certain testings of our flesh, with a directed purpose, purpose, with a specific purpose of revealing our faith. Hold your finger here in James. You're in James. Go to your right. Excuse me. 1 Peter chapter 1. We'll begin reading at verse 3. Should be over

just a page or so. Verse 3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He's given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while

you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These trials have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine, and may result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. And so, Peter says, these trials and temptings are to reveal your faith, are to polish that. They're revealed through trials. That's exactly what James is saying here. These trials come with a specific

end in mind, and that's to reveal your faith. God has a purpose in them. J. Brenner McGee in his commentary says, trials are meaningless. Suffering is senseless, and testing is irrational unless there's some good purpose for them. God says there is a reason, and it is a good reason. There is a purpose. A God-intended purpose for the trials that we go through. So, therefore, consider, evaluate,

and discipline yourself to count joy the times that you fall into various trials. Trials of many kinds. Manifold testings, maybe one of the versions has. Manifold trials. Manifold testing. The word in the Greek means variegated. Variegated. Variegated plants, you know, they have the little things on the leaves. They're variegated leaves. So, have the idea that your

trial is a variegated trial. In other words, it's coming to you. It's coming to you. It's coming to you. It's coming to you. It's coming to you. It's coming to you. It's coming to you. You're not getting somebody's overgrown trial. Oh, this is, you know, I'm getting the trial of a major football player. You know, I can't handle this. It's 300-pound linemen. It's cut to fit. It's a variegated

trial. It's been specifically cut for you and me. So, when you fall into that, instead of losing courage when we're tested, we should realize the value of the trial. That's gaining the proper perspective, and that takes discipline. I was listening to Jill Briscoe, another of Jill Briscoe's tapes, and she says, you know what courage is? Courage is simply fear that has said

its prayers. I like that. Courage is fear that has said its prayers. So, instead of fearing, instead of losing courage when we face a trial, we need to discipline ourselves to have the proper perspective to see that God has a purpose, and I can rejoice in that because it's been cut to fit. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5 through 7, God said he chastens those he loves. He chastens his children. Romans 8,

28 and 29, the verses that everybody loves to quote, but very few of us really understand. All things work together for good, King James says, to those who are called, to those who love God and who are called according to his purposes. NIV says, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Okay, do you love him this morning? If you're born again, yeah, you love

him. Okay, have you been called according to his purpose? You see, that's where we lose it. What's his purpose? Well, if you go on in verse 29 in Romans chapter, it says to be conformed into the likeness of his son. That's what you and I have been called to. We've been called to be conformed in the likeness of his son. Now, in your own mind, how would you take you and conform you into the likeness of Jesus Christ? Well, I know with me, I'd start by

rumbling it all up and throwing it away and start with a new design. You know how bad you are. You know in your own life, the crumminess of your own life. You see, God doesn't do that. God doesn't just wipe us out and start over with a new design. God knows how to make the right cuts and how to conform us into the likeness of his son. That's what we've been called to. We've been called to be

the image of his son. And so we realize that in all things, God is working for the good because he's conforming us. So that's what the trials are for. That's how he shapes and molds us into that image of Christ is through the trials. It's not just through Bible studies, not just through memorizing scripture. It's through the trials that he cuts out. Now, this isn't necessarily

a time for laughing hilariously either. You know, counting it all joy does not mean we just hilariously laugh in the midst of trials. But it means that we come to a point of a deep-seated confidence that God knows what he's doing and will respond accordingly, just like Abraham did. Hold your finger here in James and go back to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22, quickly. You know the story anyhow. God calls Abraham,

tells him to take his son, his only son. Now, at that point, we could have an argument in linguistics because Abraham had another son named Ishmael, but he told him to take his only son. And that's the only begotten that is referred to in the gospels as well of Abraham. And he says, take your son, verse 2, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. Immediately, if you've studied the Bible at all for any length of time, you should ask the

question, why did God do that? Why did God ask Abraham to do that? Is this just one of those God things? You know, is this just one of, I mean, it's not, we don't have it specifically revealed here as to why. We just see that Abraham responded. But can we, can we make some assumptions as to why? Well, let me throw out a couple of things for you to think about. Could

it be that Abraham had become all wrapped up in this son, Isaac? Could he have gotten his life all? I mean, here's Abraham a hundred years old and Sarah is 90 and they have this child. I mean, that's a miracle. They're both dead as far as reproduction is concerned. And they've heard the promise from God. They've both doubted it. Now God's brought it to pass. This is a miracle.

Kid, we're excited. Now, I don't know how many of you have experienced, or maybe you know someone who has experienced a time where maybe they couldn't have children. Maybe they had tried and had several miscarriages and then a child is born. Or maybe they're, you know, after a long time of saying that, that you can't have a child, all of a sudden God opens the womb and you have a child and the feelings towards that child. I mean, this is something more than precious. This is

something you want to guard and protect and, and life. Lives focus on that child. They do everything for that child. They get them all the latest strollers and the latest animal toys and all that stuff. Lives are focused on a child. And I don't know about you, that's how I see Abraham and Sarah. Wow. You know, this kid is it. And their lives could have gotten all wrapped up in that. So much so that God's saying, guys, and they're just going,

wow, look at this kid. And God's going, hey, remember where that came from? You know, and they're going, wow, look at this kid. You ever get wrapped up in anything like that in the world? And God goes, Abraham, why don't you do something for me? Why don't you take that wonderful child that I've given you, that I promised you, and I'm going to give it to you. And God's like,

that I would give you, that I have opened Sarah's womb up to give you. And I want you to take him up to Mount Moriah, a mountain I'll show you. And I want you to sacrifice him as a burn off. God is seeking to gain Abraham's attention. And he's going to test Abraham to see that Abraham has complete confidence in God. Now, God already knew that he did, but Abraham in himself had turned his

focus from the Lord onto the creation of God. And you see, that's Romans one. We've turned away from the creator and we exalt the creation. We want the creation. We exist for the creation. We want more of the creation. We worship the creation. We dress up on Sunday in goofy football uniforms. That's a form of worship. You ever think about that? You watch the football games on Sunday,

and here's the guy. If the team's blue, they've got blue on this side of the face and a white on this side of the face and funny hair or a block of cheese, you know, or whatever. I mean, that's getting into worship. That's giving yourself over to a particular thing. And it's a creation. And we can go too far in worshiping the creation. I mean, I put on my Broncos sweatshirt.

I get into it. I think here that Abraham really got into it. And God knew that he loved him. God knew that Abraham loved him, but he had to bring that back to Abraham's realization. And so in faithfulness to God, Abraham did what God told him to do in verses seven through 11 here. And then God stays his hand. You know that Abraham's ready to sacrifice him. And in verse 12, he says,

do not lay a hand on the boy. He said, do not do anything to him for now. I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham, your focus has been realigned and it's been revealed to you through this particular testing. You see, I don't think Abraham ever looked at Isaac the same way. Now, Isaac was probably, we started off this talking about this little baby. Isaac about this time was either a teenager

or a young adult because it's right from here that Abraham goes to find him a bride. So for years, he'd probably been enamored with Isaac. For years, we haven't seen any activity in Abraham's life here other than Isaac. And God is bringing his attention back. You need to live by faith, Abraham. You need to trust me. You need to walk by faith and not by sight. You need to live

by faith. You need to look beyond the circumstances and see me. Go back to James. Go back to James. Warren Wiersbe says, our values determine our evaluation. Let me say that again. Our values determine our evaluations, how we evaluate things. He says, if we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and the physical more than the spiritual,

we will not be able to count it all joy. If we live only, for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter and not better. James says, count it all joy, brothers, when you fall into trials or face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. You know, he says, that's a knowledge that he says you have gleaned from experience. Now, you and I know this,

don't we? As I'm sitting here this morning and we're talking together, I'm standing here, you're sitting there, and I'm saying this, you know that. You can call to mind right now, certain trials. You've been through, and remember that through those, God brought you, and it was a joyous time when he brought you to the other side, when he provided the finances you needed, when he brought you through the workings of that new job, when he brought you through that time at that new school, when you went through that time of loneliness and he brought you a spouse. You remember that,

and you can remember the rejoicing that you have. Well, that's what he's saying here. You know, this is something you already know, that the testing of your faith develops perseverance or patience. You know that. The word for perseverance there in the NIV, patience in the King James is the word hupomone in the Greek, hupomone, and it means not merely the ability to bear things, it's the

ability to turn them into greatness and glory. It doesn't mean just to bear the load, and I can bear the load. It means to take it and turn it into greatness. See, the martyrs, when the martyrs died, they didn't die grimly. You read Fox's Book of Martyrs, and I mean the deaths that they faced and endured are hideous and horrendous, and a lot of times we focus more on the death of the

martyrs, whether they're pulled apart by horses or their bodies were cut in two with a saw or whatever, rather than the attitudes of the martyrs. None of them died grimly. They all died joyously, most of them singing to the amazement of their persecutors. That's perseverance. That's the patience that he's talking about here. You know that the trials bring patience, hupomone, made up

of two words, which literally means to remain under, to remain under. Now, endurance, physically, comes as you remain under the pressure a little longer, right? If you're running, if you're developing your endurance running, and you start off running a block, you know how you feel at the end of a block. If you've never run before, and you run a block, you're ready to die. Okay, to build

up your endurance tomorrow, you run a block and a half, and walk a block, or run two blocks, and walk a block, and by the end of a block, you come into that end of that first block, and you've run that block yesterday, and you're feeling about the same way you did yesterday. You can't breathe, you can't move, but you remain under, and you continue on for the next block, and as you get to that halfway point, you know, it's just like you kind of build up, and you get to that next block, and you know, if I can just make it to the stop sign, I can die, you know, and you're running, and you get to the stop sign, and you quit, but at the same time, you realize, I made it two blocks.

You remained under. Then the next day, you're going for three, and you get to that first block, and that's not too bad. I mean, you're kind of feeling the same way, but you remember, I made through two blocks yesterday, and you go through that second block, and you get into that second block, and you're ready to die, but there's something there that says, I can make it three, and you're going, and you're ready to fall down and crawl to the corner, but you keep pushing through, and you get to that third block, and okay, I made three blocks. All right, you're building endurance physically. That's the same way we do it spiritually as we go through trials. We remain

under. We endure. More patience, more perseverance, more endurance is the result of more trials. God forbid. I'm not going to pray for patience because that means God will bring more trials. What happens to your body when you don't exercise it? It becomes flabby and weak and prone to illness, doesn't it? You don't exercise. You become not only flabby, but your muscles become weak. You're not as strong, and

you become literally physically prone to illness. Same thing's true spiritually. If we don't exercise, if we're not brought to those points in our walk of going beyond what we normally can endure, you're not going to be able to do it. You're not going to be able to do it. You're not going to do it. Then you and I will grow spiritually flabby. We won't be sharing our faith as readily. We

won't be trusting the Lord as readily. He won't be using us in situations because we're not built up and strong and ready for him to use us in those situations. We'll become prone to spiritual illness, apathy. Oh, woe is me. It's not going to work anyhow. Why try? Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Verse three here is the first place that the

word faith is used in James. He's going to use it a whole lot, but this is the first place that it shows up in James. When trials come, it's to strengthen our faith, our faith in God's ability, our faith in his word and his promises. Listen, many people do not grow in the Lord because they've not learned to believe him. They have not learned to trust him. And it's important for every believer to come to the point

of having absolute confidence in the Lord and in his faithfulness. We could go to several places to show that this morning, but we're running out of time. Psalm 34 verses four and five, jot that down and look, look at that. It's important for every believer to have absolute confidence in the faithfulness of the Lord. Perseverance, he says, verse four must finish

its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. You see, God has a purpose for working patience out in our life. And I say that working it out because patience, if you read Ephesians five is a fruit of the spirit. The spirit of God is the source of patience, is a source of perseverance. And when you and I receive God's word, we're going to be able to work it out. We're

going to receive Jesus when we say, Lord, come into my life. And he sends his Holy Spirit to live within us. Patience is there. Perseverance is there because it dwells, it resides within the spirit of God. So it needs to be worked out. It needs to be brought out of our life. But you can't work something out of your life if it's not been put into your life. Do you have a relationship

with Jesus Christ? Have you ever come to that point where you asked him to come into your life to save you from sin? Based on the shed blood that he shed on the cross. Have you ever done that? If not, you see, you have no resource for patience. You have to have the relationship before you can have patience. You see, a lot of times we make a mistake by telling each other, you just need to be more patient or

us saying, well, I just need to, I just need to be more patient. Like it's something we can be, or it's something we can do. You can't, you can't. It's like, I'm going to turn over a new leaf. Well, you can turn over the whole tree. You can't change your life. It's only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. You cannot get more patience on your own. You cannot be patient.

The Holy Spirit has to work that patience out through suffering and through trials. He doesn't just give it to you on a silver platter. He's shown us in his word. It comes through trials, through going through the trials, you will gain patience and perseverance and perseverance must finish its work. What in the world is that? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter three, we had this,

if you follow your daily breads, and by the way, the new daily breads are out there too on the, on the lobby table. So pick up on those. But this past week, one of the, one of the daily breads was in Daniel chapter three, talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and that relationship that they had with the Lord. You see the circumstances didn't make any difference. The King said,

if you don't bow down and worship me, when the trumpets and the satraps and all these other things blow and cling and ding, you're going to get thrown into the furnace. And they said, the God we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace and he'll rescue us from your hand, but even if he does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods. We're not going to compromise. We're not going to bow down to the ways of the world, King. We're going

to continue to worship our Lord. We're in that relationship with him and nothing can sway us from that relationship. Even going into trials, John MacArthur says the only way, the only productive way out of a trial is through it. And that's true. So often we get into a trial and we, we scratch and fight and scream trying to get out of it. No, go through it. You're going to go

through it. You'll get to the other side. And that's the only productive way to, to get out of it is to go through the trial that it might have its perfect work. It might finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. See, that's the, that's the work of perseverance. That's the perfect work of perseverance. That's the complete work of

perseverance is that you and I might be mature and complete, not lacking anything. The word mature there in the Greek means perfection towards a given end. In other words, the trials God is going to use to develop patience in your life and perseverance because it's bringing you to maturity. It's bringing you to a Christ likeness that you can be mature as he was, that you can be complete. The word complete there in the Greek, uh,

holocleros means to be entire, perfect in every part. It refers to the sacrifices that were offered without blemish and without spot. And I don't know about you, but there are blemishes and spots still in my life. There are areas that have been surrendered to the Lord and he's done remarkable work transforming them in my life. But there are other areas. I know there are weaknesses. How is God going to transform and

develop and, and variegate those weaknesses through trials in those areas that hit those weaknesses, where I will learn to be totally dependent upon him and be patient as he works and persevere as he works. See, that's what he wants us to know. I want to be like Christ. Great takes trials and suffering. So when they happen, discipline yourself to know that God has a purpose

in your life. So when they happen, discipline yourself to know that God has a purpose in your life. Evaluate that these times are necessary and wait upon the Lord to work. Bear up under, knowing that God's going to bring you through the trial. Yeah. J. Oswald Sanders has a book called Spiritual Leadership. And in it, he quotes Amy Carmichael. And I'll close with this poem.

Amy Carmichael was a 20th century missionary to India. And she has a poem. She writes a poem called Hast Thou No Scar? Hast Thou No Scar? No hidden scar on foot or side or hand. I hear thee snug as my hand. Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot or side or hand. I hear thee snug as my hand. mighty in the land. I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star. Hast thou no scar? Hast thou no

wound? Yet I was wounded by the archers spent, leaned me against the tree to die and rent by ravening beasts that come past me. I swooned. Hast thou no wound? No wound, no scar? Yes, as the master shall the servant be. And pierced are the feet that follow me, but thine are whole. Can he have followed far who has no wound, no scar? Father, you are going to reveal to us in

this study and these weeks ahead the workings of faith, the reality of what should be happening in our lives if we've truly had faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ. And the first thing you show us in James is to count it all joy. You don't show us the throne room in heaven. You don't show us the royal robes and the crowns. You don't show us the rejoicing. You show us

the joy of the Lord. You don't show us the joy of the Lord. You don't show us the joy of the Lord. You don't show us the joy of the Lord. You don't show us the joy of the Lord. You don't show us that suffering is necessary. You show us that the trials are necessary. It's by these that the workings of our faith will be revealed specifically to us. You already know where we're at. We have a

hard time sometimes knowing that. You're going to reveal that through the trial. You're molding us into the image of your son. You're shaping us. You're cutting away dross and flesh. You want that that is purer than gold to remain in our lives. We can't see it. All we can see is the pain and the suffering. So teach us, Lord. Help us to discipline ourselves,

to remain under, to persevere, and to evaluate and count it joy when these trials come because you are making us into that that we would really desire most if we could see it completed. Help us. Help us to understand that and to let that happen in our lives, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand again.