Proving Our Faith Pt. 2

Take your Bibles and turn once
again to the epistle of James. James chapter one is where we
find ourselves and we have only just begun this great journey
into this epistle. It is a book about faith. My faith, your faith. book about
the Christian faith and the exercise of that faith, it is the one
great overarching theme. And as we saw that first week,
that word occurs over and over again, 16 times in this epistle. So James will talk about faith.
He’ll talk about weak faith, feeble faith. He’ll even talk
about false faith. And through that he exhorts us
to examine ourselves. James will go on to argue that
if faith is genuine, if you’re truly a Christian, if you are
really saved, your life will be changed and works will be
evident. The presence of those works,
the presence of God’s transformation will be evident not only to you
but to others. Faith without the evidence of
good works, James says, is a dead faith. It’s a false faith. It’s not legitimate. And so James
wants not merely to challenge the genuineness of his reader’s
faith. And he isn’t doubting their profession
of faith. He’s offering up a test so that
they can determine its genuineness. So James desires that And not
only these first century readers to whom he wrote, those living
outside of Jerusalem, but he desires that you and I come away
with a settled confidence that our faith is substantial. Our faith is real. Our faith
is true and genuine. But as you already know, nothing
tests our faith. Nothing examines our faith more
than trials. And as it turns out, that is
their God-ordained design. God tests us. God proves us. God ensures that we discover
whether or not our faith is genuine. If you would, I want to review
that brief passage this morning verses 2 through 4 of James chapter
1 where James admonishes consider it all joy my brethren when you
encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith
produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete
lacking in nothing. We began our consideration of
this passage and I told you then that I had the final vote on what book
to next study and as I kept coming back to James I kept coming back
literally to these few verses. And I knew that in considering
this epistle, that I was doing so largely from my own heart. We need to prove our faith, each
one of us. But it isn’t, in the end, it
isn’t us that is doing the proving, it’s God. And so as we began
last week in considering this passage, what I suggested to
you was a process of developing an attitude that glorifies God
when we are tested. That’s a process. It doesn’t happen overnight.
And even as I read the passage, I saw people wince. I saw people
nod with an understanding that knows that trials are not easy. This is not an easy passage to
read. It’s not an easy passage to live. It’s not an easy passage, it
shouldn’t be, an easy passage to quote to other people. Trials
are difficult. They’re real, substantial difficulties. And it’s a process. It’s the
Christian life that is the process of appropriating this particular
principle from God’s Word. We began last week in this consideration
of developing an attitude that glorifies God when tested and
we saw that the very first thing that we need to do is cultivate
a mindset of embracing God’s sovereignty in trials. Verse
2. A mindset that embraces God’s
sovereignty in trials. Verse two just said, consider
it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. James graciously refers to those
whom he’s writing as my brethren. A reference that communicated
warmth and affection to all who would read this letter. When
James says my brethren, he strikes a special chord of humility.
He’s not above his readers. James had experienced this. He wasn’t just pontificating.
He loves his people and he communicates to them in that frame and with
that heart. James begins by launching into
what is arguably the thesis of this entire epistle. Trials will
come. And when they come, they come
as tests of our faith. And we encounter them, he says.
The word, as we saw, literally means to fall into or fall around
or fall upon. And so we’re reminded that these
troubles that we encounter burst onto the scene. They slam
us suddenly. They are as so many pitfalls
in our lives. Things evil, difficulties, trials,
challenges, hardships. A believer falls into these. They are substantial difficulties
that occur. They’re not just a figment of
our imagination. They’re not just a temptation
of our mind, but they’re real significant trials. James goes
on to tell us that We fall into all kinds of trials, various
trials, variegated, multicolored trials. Our trials come in all
shapes and sizes. They vary in their nature, they
vary in their intensity, they vary in severity and duration,
and all according to God’s divine purpose in them. They’re for
us. They’re designed by God for us. according to our need as he sees
fit. God has infinite resources to
bring this about, as you know. And so our trials come to us
in every imaginable form. And even in some ways that are
beyond our imagination, we never could have seen it coming. Persecution,
infirmity, sickness, poverty, chastening, physical trials,
spiritual trials, social trials, all kinds of trials. And these
trials are really tests, James says, they’re tests of our faith. But it’s a serious trial that
the Christian falls into, and it’s one that can have serious
ramifications, serious consequences for the believer. great challenges,
major difficulties, overwhelming calamities that come into our
life. One of the privileges I have
in doing a brief overview of a one-hour sermon is to present
to you something that ended up on the cutting room floor last
week. Already one of my heroes of the faith, Robert Johnstone,
Scottish preacher, And just the kind of guy you can’t wait to
sit down to in glory. Seems like just such a loving
man. He said this about James 1. Effected through affliction,
it is intended by God and therefore eminently fitted to strengthen
our spiritual life. and in particular to ripen the
sweet grace of patience and constancy. Affliction lets down a blazing
torch for him into the depths of his own nature, and he sees
many things which he little expected to see. He finds his faith weak
where he thought it was strong, his views dim where he thought
them to be clear. his pride strong and stubborn
where he thought it broken and he cries to his father for a
fuller sanctification. Thus, afflictions of every kind
are trials, testing and revealing agencies. Through them, to give
knowledge to the believer, the master himself, all-knowing,
tries him as gold and silver are tried by fire. And so we hoped. We hoped for
some help from James, and James does provide it, but not as we
expected it. Basically, he says, use your
head. Use your head because his straightforward
admonition here is that we should consider. Consider it all joy. This is the kind of conviction,
James says, at which a person arrives after serious deliberation,
after using their head. We are to esteem, think about,
consider our trial not to be evil, that it’s not for ill,
it’s not an occasion for gloom, it’s not a cause for despair.
We are to use our head. We are to consider it all joy. We are to evaluate it differently,
judge it differently, because it is different. We have to make
a conscious mental effort to think of these trials differently
than we may otherwise be inclined to think of them. You have to consider these trials
as having a divine purpose. And we’re reminded here to consider
these trials as being ordained by God in His absolute sovereignty. God has designed these trials
for us, for you and for I, according to our good, according to His
purpose in our lives. God does cause all things to
work together for good, to those who love, and who are called
according to His purpose. God is in absolute control and
everything that falls out to us, everything that falls upon
us, everything into which we fall is by His design. It’s for His glory. It’s for
our good. And in that we must rejoice.
God is in control. But there’s a second point here
in James 1 two through four, I said that we’re developing
an attitude that glorifies God when it is tested. And the first
step in that is cultivating a mindset that embraces God’s sovereignty
in those trials. But there’s a second step that
we find in verse three. And that second step, I would
just label it as this, it is a reflection upon the divine
blessing of trials. It’s one thing to acknowledge
that God is sovereign in these trials, it’s yet another, it’s
another step in the process of developing a proper mindset. It’s another step entirely to
realize that these trials bring blessing. They bear fruit in
our lives. Look at the passage again. Consider
it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. So James, by this little word,
knowing, is calling his readers to adjust their thought life
with regard to trials. He urges us to use our heads. First of all, as we’ve seen,
he has urged us to develop a mindset that embraces God’s sovereignty
in our trials, and he has two more admonitions. Secondly, here
he tells us to reflect upon the divine blessings of trials. And here is yet another mental
activity. Initially he said consider, now
he says knowing, remembering. It’s a mental activity that he
bids us to engage. And again, this is a mindset,
it’s a way of thinking that we are called to develop, to cultivate,
to exercise. And he says this knowing provides
the reason that we should consider it all joy. There is something
that we already know that we need to remember, that we need
to call to mind, that we need to actively engage in the course
of our trials that will help us to recognize them as producers
of joy. This whole mindset. is the result
of a process. It takes time. But as this mindset
is developed, it absolutely, assuredly brings with it the
grace of quiet patience. So we are to seriously consider,
really recognize, and settle with a particular knowledge of
a truth or a set of facts. That’s what James means when
he says knowing. We are to reconcile these things
in our mind, gather the facts, mull over those facts, and come
to a right conclusion. It’s an abiding, guiding knowledge
that James calls us to. It’s a conviction that changes
the way we live. It changes the way we function.
As one faithful expositor said it, our measure of success in
the discharge of this most difficult duty will depend upon the clearness
and fullness with which we know their usefulness. Here, as everywhere
in religion, he says, it is by intelligent apprehension of God’s
will that we become strong. We often come away from trials
with just that question, don’t we? We just don’t ever do the
math. We don’t ever work the problem. We don’t ever see the
equation through. We know the trial, and we know
who God is, and we know the principles of scripture, but sometimes they
just don’t seem to fit, and we don’t spend the time to work
the equation. So when James here says knowing,
he’s calling his people to recall the truth. They know the truth
about trials, who doesn’t? But James wants them to remember
the full equation. He wants them to work the problem.
And in this very short sentence, he stirs their remembrance to
the nature of trials. Look at it just very briefly.
Verse three, knowing that the testing of your faith produces
assurance. Pardon me. Knowing that the testing
of your faith produces endurance. Pardon me. So James essentially
identifies four things that we could look at there in that little
verse. what they warn you about in seminary preaching a sermon
within a sermon I’ve already given you a three-point outline
here comes four more points sub points if you will to point to
first of all he says remember the process that the process
involves a testing it’s not just that God has lost control and
some horrible thing just happened to you we’ve already processed
that part of it. God is sovereign. God sifted
this. He designed it for you. But it’s a process. It’s a testing.
It came with a purpose. Secondly, he says, remember the
element tested. It is the Christian’s faith that
is tested. Thirdly, he says, remember the
beneficial effect. Remember the beneficial effect,
it is productive. It’s not just like we’re going
through the trial, going through this difficulty, just for no
reason at all. It’s there for a purpose, it
does something, it’s productive. And then fourthly, this morning,
James says, remember the product. That it’s there not only to produce,
it’s there to produce something, And particularly, it’s there
to produce endurance. With that sub-outline communicated,
let’s jump in. This reflection upon the divine
blessing of trials. That’s where we’ve gotta come
in 30 minutes or so. We’ve gotta close the gap to
understand that when trials come, they bear with them divine blessing. Look again at verse three. that
the testing of your faith produces endurance. And James says, remember
the process. Remember the process that is
testing. In verse three, he uses this
phrase, the testing of your faith. And I want to show you something
very, very quick, a few minutes, but something very important
about this word testing. It’s translated from a word that
appears in four different forms in the New Testament. It’s used
as a verb, it’s used as an adjective, and it’s used as a noun two different
ways. Dokimadzo, the verb, to test
or to examine the process of testing something, proving them
in the course of the testing. The noun just speaks of the test
itself or the genuineness of a thing. Dokime is a noun that
refers to approval, something that has been tested and is now
set before us as having been approved, having been tested
and found genuine. And dokimeon is testing or genuineness. Just let me do a brief characterization
of each of those little words. First, the verb. The verb, as
I said, means to test or to examine. to prove something by the test. And the verb form of the word
refers to a process of testing that results in verification
or proof of a thing. And so it’s to examine something
for the purpose of determining its genuineness. Paul uses this
word in Romans 12, verse 2. Just listen. He says, do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind so that you may prove, same word, what the will
of God is. Paul here says that as believers,
we now have the ability to test and prove God’s will. We have
a capacity to correctly interpret and discern God’s intentions. Paul uses the word likewise in
1st Corinthians 11 28 regarding the Lord’s table remember let
a man examine himself test himself before you come barging into
the Lord’s table Paul likewise says that he prays for discernment
for the Philippians so that they may approve the things that are
excellent And so the illustration is clear when in Peter’s epistle,
which verse we’ve already considered last week, 1 Peter 1.7, the proof
of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable,
even though tested by fire. That’s our word. The whole point
of trials, this is what I want to point out to you, the whole
point of trials is securing proof The noun, one of the nouns, is
likewise translated very frequently as approval. This word refers
to the fruit at the end of the test, the proof itself. Romans 5.4 speaks of perseverance,
bringing about proven character, proven character hope. The only
problem is character isn’t even in the Greek in that word. It’s
proof. The proof just happens to take the shape of corrected,
sanctified character in the life of a believer. Perseverance,
proof, hope. In 2 Corinthians 2.9 Paul says,
for this end I also wrote, so that I might put you to the test. So that I might test you and
see the fruit of your lives. in the Macedonian church. Philippians
2.22, Paul speaks of Timothy, you know of his proven worth.
Again, the proof, or even more accurately, approval is what
is in view in this particular word. Lastly, the adjective. The adjective. The adjective
just means acceptable or approved after testing. And it marks some
difficulty that has been faithfully overcome. Something that someone
has been tested in and found true, and they are as such approved,
Romans 14. Paul uses this word there. He
who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved
by men. Men see the man’s work, they
see the way he conducts himself, and it is generally received. 2 Timothy 2.15, be diligent,
he says to those who would preach the word, be diligent to present
yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
handling accurately the word of truth. Study the word. So when you stand up, you have
something to say, something intelligent to say, and that it is proof
that you studied the word. I hope that you find that to
be true even this day. I said lastly, but there’s another
noun, and it’s the noun that’s found in our particular passage. It’s the noun that refers to
the testing and the genuineness. It’s kind of all rolled into
one. And so when James says knowing the testing, he basically is
pointing as well to the proof that comes from that testing,
the proving of your faith, which is something that God does, not
us. We’re not out to prove ourselves
to God. God knows exactly who you are.
God is out to show to you the validity of your faith, the genuineness
of it, the need of grace, And so when Peter translates
this same exact word, whereas James talks about the testing
of your faith, Peter says the proof of your faith. Same exact
word. James doesn’t doubt that there
is faith. in the communities to which he’s
writing, these scattered Jewish Christian believers. There is
faith, legitimate faith, even though it’s a weak faith, needs
to be developed. But as one said, where there
is but an empty profession or a mere dreamy sentiment, and
not based on firm and intelligent convictions of truth, the fire
of trouble will burn it up. That kind of faith won’t stand.
It didn’t stand to remember the parable of the soils. As soon
as the blazing heat of the noonday sun came out, it didn’t stand. But he goes on to say, but where
there is true faith, Affliction naturally leads to deeper thought
than under other circumstances and thus frees the heart from
the control of self-righteousness. Do you know what he says? He
says in the midst of trial, the man or the woman or the child
of faith is going to find themselves responding in a way that they
never even thought possible. They’re going to find themselves
responding in a manner that is clearly superhuman. It is infused by God Himself. They are made capable. Their
faith has been stretched and strengthened, and they now find
themselves, because of this test, living well beyond any of their
own expectations. Sub-point. number two Not only
do we need to remember the process James says if we’re going to
really cultivate a reflection of divine The divine blessing
in trials we have to remember it’s a test But secondly we have
to remember the element that is being tested It is the Christian
faith or may I say even more accurately,
it is the Christian’s faith that is tested, the individual’s faith
that is tested. As we learned in our introduction,
the epistle of James has gotten a bad rap. Remember this? The question exists that whether
James really believes in, might believe in salvation by works
because he sure puts a lot of stock in them. that maybe James
doesn’t believe in salvation by faith alone, in Christ alone.
That was Martin Luther’s criticism. But this verse alone ought to
dispel that very inaccurate criticism. James, just like Peter, just
like Paul, holds only to salvation by faith. Faith is the cornerstone
of the entire Christian experience for James. Faith is the bedrock. Faith is the foundation of the
Christian life. And because of that, James desires
most deeply for his people, including us, to be absolutely assured
of the quality of our faith. This isn’t God being a bully
or a meanie when he sends a trial. He wants us to know the quality
of our faith. And so James transitions here
to a consideration of the element that is being tested, the believer’s
faith. Now, as we’ve already noted,
this testing of which James speaks was often used to the process,
to describe the process rather, of purifying metal, gold specifically. And it’s a process that involves
the burning off of the dross, the impurities that are embedded
within the gold, pieces of stone and carbon and whatnot. But here,
James substitutes the Christian faith, the Christian’s confidence
in God for the gold of the smelter’s furnace. Faith begins by belief,
trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross that
there is nothing a person can do to earn eternal life. We are saved, justified by faith
alone in Christ alone. That is the great cry of the
Reformation. But James urges that this faith must necessarily
be tested and tried and refined and proven. by God Himself. Perhaps you know this very familiar
little proverb that cites this truth. Proverbs 27, 21. The crucible,
that’s the pot that’s used for smelting precious metal. The crucible is for silver and
the furnace for gold and each is tested by the praise of God.
He’s using the same exact image. And what James points to by this
same image is of a believer’s faith in the process of being
made pure and genuine. That once the dross of unbelief
has been burned away through testing, what comes out is pure faith. The believer’s
confidence in God. is strengthened. If the phrase,
the testing of your faith, sounds familiar, we’ve read the passage
several times. Peter uses the same exact phrase
in 1 Peter 1.7. Listen for the echo there in
what Peter said in his letter. Written to those Christians who
were dispersed abroad He said, in this you greatly rejoice,
even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have
been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith
being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though
tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory
and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter, essentially,
tells his first century scattered group the same exact message
that James, you think God maybe put a premium on this message?
Peter here speaks of the same poikilos perasmois, the same
various trials that James mentioned, same exact wording. He uses the
same exact phrase that James used to speak of the target of
trials, the testing of our faith. Peter says here that the very
purpose, the divine purpose of these very trials serves to prove
the believer’s faith. Here’s how one faithful shepherd
described it. God puts us in the crucible of
Christian suffering. You have in this day and age,
And we’ve had it now for 25 plus years, this idea of, you know,
God wants us to be happy and wealthy and rich. And I don’t
know how they reconcile a Christian’s funeral in their churches when
they preach them. I don’t know how they do that. God puts us
in the crucible of Christian suffering in which process sin
is gradually put out of our lives. Our faith is purified from the
slag of unbelief that somehow mingles with it so often. And
the result is the reflection of the face of Jesus Christ in
the character of a Christian. Christ-likeness is God’s ideal
for His child. Christian suffering is one of
the potent means to that end. God put you there. God brought
you this trial. God did this to you for His glory and your good. And so it’s in this image that
is so familiar to First-century people this idea of a smelter
working in his shop So enriched by its biblical use the Peter
Offsets here the believers faith with gold Which he says is far
less precious This is both the language in
the very illustration of none other than Job right Job new
trials didn’t he a few a Job in the course of that great difficulty
where God took away family, took away possessions, friends. Job 23.10, he knows the way I
take. When he has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. Job used the same image. Job
used the furnace of a smelter to point to his own faith that
was being, at that moment, tested and tried. And he says, God will
bring me through. One of my favorite privileges when I was a young
Christian was to listen to J. Verna McGee on the radio. And
he used to close his radio Bible class with that familiar hymn. which line goes like this, when
through fiery trials my pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient
shall be thy reply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design thy draws to consume and thy gold to refine. James says we have to remember
the process, it’s a testing. We have to remember the element
tested It’s the Christian faith that’s being tested. And we have
to remember the beneficial effect. It’s productive. It serves a
purpose, as Peter would say. It does something. That if we’re
going to reflect upon the divine blessing of trials, we have to
consider this, that it’s there for a purpose. It’s doing something. James says, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces. You can’t miss. If it’s God that’s
doing it, you know that it’s going to be effective. You know
that He’s going to have His way. In short, James says that trials
produce. The testing of our faith produces. The word here, translated from
the Greek word, katagodzitai. In its basic meaning, it means
to accomplish. Trials produce. Trials accomplish
something. Trials do something, and if it’s
God that’s doing it, it will be done. Our testings are purposeful. They have a God-given function.
They’re designed to do something positive in our lives. That particular
word is a favorite word of the Apostle Paul. Used only 23 times
in all the New Testament, 21 of them, I think, are by Paul. Let’s take a minute to see how
the great Apostle uses this word. Just a few verses. First of all,
Romans 4. The law brings about wrath. That’s why I tell people
all the time, the law never saved anybody. The law never saved
anybody. The law brings about, it accomplishes
wrath. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 5. Now He who prepared us for this
very purpose that our mortality would be swallowed up by life,
that is eternal life, is God. God prepared us. God accomplished
our preparation so that letting go of this earthly life and looking
forward to eternal life is easy for the Christian. God prepared
us. 2 Corinthians 7. The sorrow that is according
to the will of God produces a repentance without regret. You ever had people make a sorry
apology? That it really isn’t an apology
at all. They kind of say they’re sorry
but they really don’t mean it. That’s what Paul’s talking about
here in 2 Corinthians 7. There are people that could put
on such a great show of remorse, torn up over the thing, right?
But he says, there’s a sorrow that God produces, God accomplishes,
that works repentance, real repentance. It’s an apology that can never
be doubled back on. But there are two very significant,
other very significant occurrences in Paul’s epistle of this word. I just want you to hear it. So
significant that I would even go so far as to call these parallel
passages, and I’m very careful whether to do that or not. Romans
5.3 is one of them. I’ve already identified that
as a parallel passage, so this one’s fairly easy. Not only this,
but we exalt in our tribulations, remember that? Count it all joy,
we exalt, we are having a worship service just at the privilege
of having the opportunity to suffer this trial that I’m, not
only this, but we exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation
brings about perseverance. It accomplishes perseverance. It does something. It changes
us from within. It thoroughly brings it about,
it makes it happen. Romans 5.3 and then the other
one is 2 Corinthians 4.17. Where Paul says of his own trials,
momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight
of glory far beyond all comparison. He says this momentary, and remember
his list of trials? Momentary light affliction is
producing, it is accomplishing for us an eternal weight of glory.
It’s prepping us for heaven. That’s what trials do. And so this reflection upon the
divine blessing of trials, it’s a process. It’s a process
that involves testing. Secondly, we have to remember
the element tested. It’s our faith, the beneficial
effect to our faith. It’s productive. It does something.
And lastly, this morning, number four, remember the product. Knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance. Remember the product. It’s the
spiritual grace of endurance. Not only does James remind us
that we are in the process of having our faith tested, as if
he needed to tell us that, and that it is for a God-given purpose
that much was helpful. We forget about that one very
easily. That God took a break, maybe took his eye off of us
for a moment, and some calamity came our way that God knew nothing
about. That’s how we tend to think of
them in the moment. They have a God-ordained purpose,
but lastly, in the end, it will bear fruit. We noted that trials are productive,
but look here at what they produce. It’s patience of a sort, but
it’s more, it’s endurance. It’s not just a sullen obstinance
that grits and grinds and merely bears up under trials. A man
who does not know Christ can do that. Nor is this the attitude of a
man who might more naturally lash out in violence or in verbal
rage at whoever is inflicting this trial. This Character quality
is the brave, and may I say it, manly virtue of fortitude, steadfastness. This word, as one writer painted
the picture, literally refers to the developed virtue of remaining
under, bearing up under a burden. This is not the kind of person,
he goes on to say, who fretfully strives to throw off a burden.
Isn’t that our natural tendency? We just want to find a way out.
Some way, somehow. No wonder another pastor carefully
described it as steadfast endurance under trials. MacArthur said it this way. It
does not describe a passive, fatalistic resignation, but a
victorious, triumphant, unswerving loyalty to the Lord in the midst
of trials. The very nature of perseverance
is pressing on, enduring, it’s not quitting. When Paul wrote
back to his beloved, troubled Corinthian church, part of his
purpose was to share with them the price that he was willing
to pay for the privilege to serve them and the greater church.
What an amazing servant. In chapter six, verse four, he
boldly spoke of commending ourselves as servants of God in everything. He basically said, watch me and
do likewise. By God’s grace. And then Paul
goes on to cite the plethora of trials into which he had fallen. You think you got it bad? Listen
to this list. 2nd Corinthians 6, hardships,
in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, that
is riots, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger. Paul knew it all. Paul experienced it all and yet
remarkably Paul goes on to say that he faced these trials in
much endurance. Not just tolerating them, not
just sullenly bearing it up. But it’s the same word that James
uses. It’s not just mere patience. That’s what we have to exercise
while we’re waiting for our in and out burger. That’s patience. Great patience. No, this goes
way beyond patience. This is fortitude, endurance,
What one pastor previously pointed out is constancy, where you just
are, by God’s grace, living up under this trial for his glory. No wonder this character quality
has always been considered in the church to be chief among
Christian virtues. One man of God described it as
the steady resistance to adverse influences. You just don’t give
in, you don’t give up. By God’s grace, you keep going
back to the well and drawing more and more by his grace. Paul,
again and again, in one of his many, many great uses, uses it
in that superlative chapter of scripture, everyone’s favorite,
Romans 8, right? There in verse 25, he says, but
if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, We eagerly
wait for it. It’s an echo of that powerful
encouragement of Hebrews 12.1, isn’t it? Therefore, since we
have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay
aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles
us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
What is this abiding firmness? What is this endurance? One faithful expositor said that
it is perseverance in confidence, in love and devotion to God in
Christ. It is because you’re a Christian
that you can do this. It is because you’re a child
of God that you desire to do this. He goes on to refer to
it as a humble but firm determination to cling more than ever to the
God who sent the troubles in his fatherly love, who sustains
us in the midst of them, who will give glory and unmingled
joy by and by. This developing an attitude that
glorifies God when we’re tested, it’s a process. And it begins
with a mindset that embraces God’s sovereignty in our trials,
verse two. Consider it all joy when you
encounter various trials. That it also involves a reflection
on the divine blessing of trials. Knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance. It’s a process called testing.
It tests our faith. It has a beneficial effect. It produces something. It produces
the product called endurance. The divine blessing of trials. They give us the golden opportunity
of living out our faith, don’t they? Ever strengthened by God’s
grace. We couldn’t do this without trials.
Do you realize that? You couldn’t be who you are in
Christ without trials. You couldn’t show forth your
faith without trial. They do their divine work in
us, humbling us, weeding out sin, bringing us to repentance,
making us more and more dependent on God, sanctifying us. And as God’s grace piles on,
our trials then seem to diminish, don’t they? And when we sense
in our being that we are being more and more conformed to Christ’s
character, throughout these trials we experience God’s enabling
grace, His spiritual comfort and His support. These trials
remind us of heaven, don’t they? They remind us of heaven in that
there we will have no trials. In heaven we will have no pain.
no sin, no tears, and we know that glory awaits
us, and for that we can endure. Let’s pray. Our merciful King,
we humble ourselves before us. We humble ourselves before you,
and we thank you, Father, for your word. We thank you that
it is such an accurate and appropriate word for our struggles and trials
that are so common to our life here on earth. And
Lord, we pray almost with a heart of repentance
that we haven’t always handled trials the way that we should.
We’ve squawked and complained, bristled, lashed out at others
because of them. We have need of pressing on. We have need of correction in
this process of trials. We have need of growth in your
grace in this process. Lord, if it’s this difficult
for believers, we know that anybody who does not have a relationship
with Jesus Christ cannot do this. They can’t. They cannot glorify
you in their trials. They do not have the grace of
God, and so we plead with you that if there are any who do
not know Christ, that you would move in their hearts, that you
would bring them to faith. Show them the purpose of trials.
They’re designed for the Christian. Lord God, we thank you for these
truths. We pray for your grace and guidance
for the remainder of our day. Be glorified in our lives as
we walk through our trials with a heart to glorify you in them.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.