Published: February 9, 2023 | Speaker: Dr. Chuck Hartman | Series: The Epistle of James - Part 3 | Scripture: James 1:2-8, 1:12-15
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ready we ask that your spirit would guide us in our thoughts and in our discussion we do pray father for the the many in our Church body who are ill
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it's been a difficult season but we do thank you for your grace that the illnesses have not been severe and we do lift up Clint to you and pray
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that you would heal his body again from this cancer this cancer and be with them as Francis has her surgery we pray that your blessing
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would be upon us your grace would be with us with us and that our minds and our hearts would be open to your word and to your spirit
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For Your Glory and for our good we ask in Jesus name amen
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okay so we're um we're actually moving past verse one James again the greeting is very brief and
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then he chapter verse two he says consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials now be honest how many of you consider it
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all joy when James comes up and you're reading through the year schedule
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James is not usually associated with joy in fact even the the legends that we talked about the first week that grew up around James the just that he was a very austere man
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a man who spent pretty much all his time on his knees praying not a man given to frivolity or or laughter he even seems to condemn
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laughter in a passage Lord willing that we'll look at next week where he says um
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chapter 4 verse 9 be miserable and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to Gloom I mean this is this happy guy here and then he starts out by saying consider it all joy Brethren when you encounter
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various tribes trials uh it almost sounds uh like a little bit of um psycho psychosis here that um
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does James like pain I mean is that kind of is that the kind of book we would encounter in Scripture it's not really a question just James like Payne is James a killjoy it's does
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God like pain is is God a killjoy does God forbid laughter
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are we supposed to get some type of masochistic pleasure out of Trials and that seems like a silly question
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but physical suffering is actually a major part of most man-made religions and came into Christianity where you have self-flagellation
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and even within the period of the second and third century you had people who were actually pursuing martyrdom
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pursuing martyrdom like there was something sanctifying just about suffering um but James is not he may not be the most happy-go-lucky
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fellow out there he probably wouldn't put nearly as many jokes in his sermons as virgin did for example but I think it's been a misrepresentation of
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James to say that that he was a Pharisee a legalist um and and basically a real bummer but again when we read his letter
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it does seem to hit us that way and I think it's because we're we're not reading it
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correctly we're not understanding the way faith and Grace actually pervade the letter the letter and the presentation of God is one who
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gives freely gives freely without reproof without reproof not not a grudging God not a harsh God but one that wants to give to his
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children the wisdom that they need so I I think we need to recalibrate possibly you may have already done this in your own reading
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but we need to recalibrate James in order to to get out of James what the Holy Spirit put in um and to understand
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that what we're reading is actually addressing two groups of people
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within the dispersed Jewish Christians that James is writing and addressing and those two groups of people
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are each being addressed in a completely different way different way that the groups are
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the rich do not get good press in James's letter if anything James might be accused of being a socialist a communist
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a communist but not really a killjoy or a stick in the mud or even
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but we we don't make the distinction as we're reading we're reading and so we read and we read something pretty harsh be miserable how mourn you know we think oh my word I'm not
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mourning enough I'm not howling enough and you know and we we feel like we're being condemned by what James is writing
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um but the first thing we need to do is discern to whom is this passage addressed is it addressed to Brethren or is it addressed to the rich
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because it's a completely different perspective any interweaves it even within one what we would call a pericope one little section he could be
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addressing both addressing both but he's doing it in completely different terminology and the terminology throws us so for example
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and we'll look at this passage next week but in chapter four he says submit therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God
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and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be miserable and mourn and weep let your
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laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to Gloom humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you it's a completely toned change there
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draw near to God and He will draw near to you resist the devil and he will flee from you these are encouraging words followed by
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followed by prophetic Old Testament Prophet like condemnation and it and either James is a little bit schizophrenic or bipolar
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or he's not addressing the same group of people even though it's within the same section so we know that he is addressing
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um Believers or those that he has every reason to think are believers when he says Brethren or my brethren foreign we're going to look into again
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probably next week we're going to look into the into the what we can infer as to the makeup of the communities the communities to which he is writing
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everyone to whom he is writing in this letter appears to profess to be a believer they're in the community of the church
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but James is not accepting that they are all believers all believers it may be that he is writing more generally and that he's writing to Jewish people
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in the diaspora some of whom just like in Jerusalem are unbelievers some of whom just like in Jerusalem are believers I I tend to think and I can't be
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dogmatic on this because we can't prove it I tend to think that there was a mix in the church as there has always been there are those who they all profess to
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be believers be believers but there are those whose love and affection to the world speaks the lie to their profession of
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faith and that's really what what James is getting at here and trials Temptations to some extent
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are what separate the wheat from the and so the theme that we start with with trials actually pervades the whole
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no what I'm saying is I think they're in the church they they're all in the church these are subgroups of the believing Community okay but it could be that the rich are not
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actually in the church although I think James is addressing a believing Community a professing community because he says for example in in
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chapter two he says my brethren do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and
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dressed in fine clothes and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes see they're together they're together the rich man and the poor man are together in the assembly and the favoritism is being shown in the
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assembly right so I do think that the setting is as best we can tell it's not just the general Jewish diaspora but rather the Jewish professing Church
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that has been scattered from Jerusalem and within that there there is strife there is envy there is Discord there is oppression
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and what is bringing it out or is the trials that they're undergoing so he starts um and and he doesn't end with just what
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we read in in chapter one but he starts considering all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials now that is in itself a
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counter-intuitive statement because there is nothing joyful about Trial and so and so um when he says this it's it's I don't know whether it was for shock value but
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he's not saying anything all that new for example Paul in Romans 5
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explains the same phenomenon that James is talking about therefore having verse one therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
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Christ through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in Hope of the glory of God and not only this but
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we also exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance perseverance proven character and proven character hope
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and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us Peter also says in his first letter
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first chapter first chapter he says in this you also greatly Rejoice even though for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials knowing that the proof of
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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
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Jesus Christ so they're all talking about the same thing and that is the Christian's attitude with respect to trials and tribulations
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now James what James has to say and I do think each of them is approaching it from a slightly different perspective but are they're saying the same thing
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their lockstep in terms of what the Christian's attitude should be toward trials but James uses an interesting word when he says when you encounter
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various trials various trials so the first thing we look at then
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we read in job that man was born for trouble as the Sparks Fly upward the Christian does not have the market on trials
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on trials and and in fact we shouldn't think that we do it's very dangerous to talk about our trials personally personal trials because undoubtedly somebody who's
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hearing has had far worse than we have and we can't really talk about our trials in terms of what God is doing for two reasons number one we don't know
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because he hasn't told us and number two our trials are often so minor compared to our neighbors who's not even a believer
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a believer that it's ludicrous and and very even offensive so I think you know Christians should be more quiet about their trials because
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they are the common lot of Fallen man so that's kind of a first principle here so let's just put down some first
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concerning this idea of Trials okay the first thing is all men
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trials and by man of course I mean men women um this is the lot of Fallen man many of those trials are self-inflicted many of
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them are not but um they're they're certainly not unique to Christians the second first principle of of this set is that we encounter
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there's no sanctity in getting yourself into trouble into trouble or seeking out persecution or just plain being obnoxious okay and and there are and there have been
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Christians who who glory in the fact that they're being persecuted even when they're really bringing it on themselves and there's nothing there's nothing in
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this James is saying when you encounter these things will come first of all because you're a fallen man okay and they come when they come we're
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going to learn later according to the province Providence of God you don't you don't seek them and then a third first principle is we usually
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they try to hold up the harshest punishment of the worst family the most closed-off country and look at this look at this he basically almost
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died you want to go there and help him no I I really don't uh yeah but it's almost there's this there's still this idea of a glory in martyrdom which is
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certainly not unique to Christianity it's it's fairly common in in religion and that idea that that you you pursue martyrdom for personal Glory really
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um we're going to talk about that because there is a there is
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we are also tried for the Perfection of our faith our faith in ways that have nothing to do with our okay just making a living is a trial
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right okay raising children is a trial four-way stops or a trial
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he's not talking about persecution for your faith Peter does when he actually says don't be persecuted as a wrongdoer you know that don't don't seek it and don't don't be guilty of
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crime and then say Oh the Lord is testing me no idiot you were speeding you know or you killed that man or you did you know you're you're getting the just recompense of your own crime that's
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that's not persecution either so there are different classes of Trials what I'm trying to say is what James is talking about is the most generic
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and that is the fact that that life in a fallen world fallen world is full of Trials okay and they're not necessary we can't limit them
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limit them to just those that are directly connected to our profession of faith does that make sense
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not necessarily this is a broader rubric okay yes there will be trials because of your faith but they are a subset of a life full of Trials if we only focus on the subset
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that we fail to gain the benefit of the whole set whole set and it's the whole set of which James is speaking okay we are not merely our faith is not
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merely perfected when we're persecuted
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okay does that make sense all right so um if we say oh no this this is not that kind of a trial because this is just I don't have enough money to pay my taxes
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it doesn't have anything to do with my profession of faith you know we missed the point of James and we miss the purpose of that trial it cannot do its work as as James is
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talking about because we've categorized it as just a mundane thing we don't need to bother god with that I need to get another job or I need to have a raise or I need to okay that's actually
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love of the world when we solve our own problems that's love of the world and and so you know we may think okay if
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I were persecuted for my faith then I would know it because they would say I'm persecuting you because of your faith in Jesus because they always do that um and you know I could stand firm then
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but the fact that my son just came out as a homosexual you know that's not that type of a trial no I'm not yeah that's totally totally
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rhetorical um he yeah that's why I did because he certainly hasn't um we can't make that distinction of Trials and still be within what James is
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talking about okay so so I guess what I'm saying is yeah yeah there are trials
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that everybody has and within those trials there is a that we call persecution okay but that's just one part of a life
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of Trials of Trials and and yes it is a significant part but how often are we persecuted for our faith okay so then obviously in God's wisdom
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he already knows either that our faith is already perfect right so he doesn't send us persecution because our faith is already perfect we
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don't need that trial to perfect our faith or we're so far gone that even persecution isn't going to help us you see my point person if we wait for persecution then we're not understanding
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James but persecution or not how many of us how often do we undergo trials daily every four years yes okay but um
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yeah or every two years um and so that's what James is talking about he's not just talking about persecution for our faith he's talking about
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various trials it's a very Broad and generic term probably the most generic word in the Greek for trials these are simply difficulties in life
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and what is it about them he said well now why do we consider a joy well we don't consider a joy because it's difficult
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it's difficult we consider it Joy because even though all men encounter trials
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Believers can actually benefit from them okay so now we go with distinction in trials
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right this is everybody everybody has a rough day okay everybody has to pay their bills everybody has a lousy boss everybody you know the common Trials of men
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are that they're coming but the unbelieving man gains nothing from them
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James is not talking to him he's talking to my brethren so he says consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials why because you know that the testing of
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your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect or mature and complete lacking in nothing it's not the trial that we rejoice
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it's what the trial is doing okay so for the Christian alone
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I'm not saying that you endure it I'm not saying that I Endure it I'm saying we should we should I'm saying we should consider it all joy I'm saying that there is a response in our hearts
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our hearts I'm not saying you know I'm not saying this I'm not saying that you're standing by the road going praise God I have a flat tire
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flat tire no I'm not saying that okay
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don't grow bitter over that flat tire flat tire because even because even handling that flat tire with equanimity is perfecting your faith
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because what it's saying is this too has come from my father that's what I'm saying that's what James is saying he's not saying that you're actually praising God for the trial
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like some masochist no he's saying everything comes from our father and therefore we accept it
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lovingly joyfully and not because we know Lord I know you're teaching me how to use a jack
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Lord actually I would like you to help me find the Jack okay these modern cars I don't know where they put these things so it's like you know you get what I'm saying it's not the trial itself that
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we're trying to find some silver lining in no in no but even but even the the difference in response between
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submitting believing and what is it that we believe we believe that our father has Us in his hand in all times in all situations and
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therefore don't don't get me wrong I'm not modeling this I'm teaching it all right I mean be honest be honest if any of you can actually model it I'll
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sit down sit down I'm just trying to say this is what James is saying and and this is how we are to understand trials if we have a mind and a heart of
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wisdom which is going to seemingly abruptly move to in verse 5 but it's not abrupt at all
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yeah Hebrews yeah Hebrews 12. he disciplines the son whom he loves and if he doesn't discipline you then you are not a true son John
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the curse was justified in Genesis and so we deserve a flat tire but we know with Christ we're going to come out of it and we're going to win because Christ is on our side right right yes the circumstances if we stop and think about
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it all the negative that we get is well earned but we don't think that way we think why me let's see right there that's a statement of unbelief
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of unbelief why me or even just the attitude not even saying it okay and and I and this is a this is a thing this is a daily thing this is not oh I'm being persecuted for my faith this is me
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living in life in Christ in this world and God and God the Holy Spirit wanting to use the
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trials that are coming my way anyhow to perfect my faith and I think the I'm going to make the argument that many do and I think
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correctly it's the only way that faith can be perfected because of the nature of faith Aaron
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because that he was the Messiah we read that he hungered that he was thirsty right he worked he labored Okay so Okay so he lived he was tempted in all ways such
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as we yet without sin so again yes it is it is the model that Christ has given us but what I want to focus on as James does is that the nature of faith
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demands trials for its perfection now again we're not talking about saving faith and and scripture does talk about different for example in First Corinthians 12 we learn about those who have the gift of faith and so so obviously there's a concept of
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Faith that's not saving faith because all believers have saving Faith right and then there are some who have the gift of faith so we've got to be careful that even
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though we're using the same word we're not talking about your salvation and we're talking we're talking about the Perfection of that faith so it is it is something it's not
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something that we necessarily gain in measure but that we gain in strength it becomes perfected and and so the the issue is faith
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now the first thing I'm going to do is talk about the ways we try to perfect Faith while avoiding trials because that's the way we want to do it okay so we're going to affect this is this is what we do
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we read our Bible every day we have an hour's devotion we meditate on a memory verse or I mean if we're really into it
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we just get out of it and go off by ourselves and that's going to perfect our faith or
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we study theology and we hone our Doctrine and we make sure we know what the scripture says scripture says because that's going to perfect our
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faith no it's not okay or and this is a this is a very common reformed phrase that I've taken on before we employ what we call the
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means of Grace we attend services we partake of communion we pray
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we pray we Fellowship we Fellowship that's going to perfect our faith no it's not
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there's absolutely nothing wrong with anything I've written up on the board but none of them will perfect our faith
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because faith is basically one thing absolute devoted Trust in God
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my trial meaning if you're weak in Theology and Doctrine would it make sense then to say that you potentially have the wrong perspective on your trial of your job the greater my Theology of my Doctrine the more correct
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my perspective is on my job maybe yes maybe certainly these are these are not uh to be dispensed with okay
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but they do not lead directly to the strengthening of your faith they may be part of the journey and obviously if you're if you're humble
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in these then yes the holy spirit is going to shed light quite possibly through the Epistle of James as to the nature of your trials
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so I would say in answer to your question if you take these things all of which are important and you add wisdom
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maybe you get it but that wisdom is not really the wisdom of these things it's the wisdom of the
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scripture shedding light on the nature of Trials to the perfecting of Faith now the reason that faith can only be perfected through trials is again because of the
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nature of faith faith is the same word pistis is also this the word for trust
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or even with your heart that would be you know Theology and
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you trust them when you have to rely on them does that make sense it's that Reliance that tests the trust
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it occurred yes knowing the person who you trust or in whom you trust and knowing him better should of course increase your trust yes
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who is the prime example of that scripture it's it's Abraham and Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteous but how did he believe God
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by taking his son his only son the son who whom he loved the son of the Covenant and coming within a inch of killing him because that's what God told him to do
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now that was a an exemplary trial and how is it that Abraham was able to do that do that because the writer well Abraham himself
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says God will provide the ram and then the writer of Hebrews explains that Abraham knew that God was even able to raise Isaac from the dead
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he he that was his trust level okay so the the nature of faith demands that it can only be perfected It
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could only be tested you know it all can only be proved to use the uh the metaphor of gold or metal through the fires of Trials
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because in those trials the proper Christian response is one of complete trust in God Yuri the word trust is Anglo-Saxon but
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the Latin version confines as with face confide yeah with faith to confide so um yeah the the
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concept then what we're talking about um James actually uses the example of um one of the commentators that I I've
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consulted writes Jews of course have a long tradition about testing reaching back to Abraham the prime example of one who passed the test and to the
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Israelites in the wilderness the prime example of failure the tradition was Amplified under the experience of the Exile and of persecution so what this is Peter
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David's but what he's saying there is um if and and if this this is how do I say this
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we may think that we will stand and glorify God if and when we are persecuted for our
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it is more reasonable to think that if I rail against God because of a flat tire I'm not likely to stand against true evil
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that that's the biblical way of looking at it and Peter David's in comparing Abraham to the children in the wilderness what did they Grumble about
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everything how many of them were asked to sacrifice their only son none of them right so you know they they were God's children God's people although they did
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not find favor with God and they perished in the wilderness but they are as as David said they are the example of failure but they were not tried as Abraham was
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okay they were actually delivered you know from bondage from Egypt they were given a land full flowing with milk and honey you know and they threw that
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away through their grumbling all right they are the they were the double-minded men who should not expect anything from God so they there's living examples of these
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two types of people in terms of of how we respond to trials
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well Paul tells us that he will never test us beyond what we are able but in the trial will give us a way of Escape now that way of Escape we we've got countless books written
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when really it is just one word and that
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and that standing is trusting and that trusting is not necessarily with knowledge with knowledge we look at Job who's going to be used as an example and a lot of people wonder
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why would you use job as an example of patience well because in all of his trials he never once sinned against God with his
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yeah he grumbled he didn't know why this was happening and God didn't tell him why it was happening but the end of it his faith was perfected and he could say I once heard with the ear but now I have seen with the eye and
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I repent I repent I put my hand to my mouth so we see the whole process in job he endured he never succumbed to the
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false reasons being given to him by his friends because they were not right okay so for him to have accepted what they were saying would have to abandon God and to abandon his faith he knew
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they weren't right he did not go along with his wife and just Curse God and die nope you speak as a foolish woman okay I'm not doing that God gives God takes
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blessed is the name of the Lord so it's not necessarily as so many will try to do tell you why you're going through this and I've told this story before about the struggles we had
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back in Oklahoma and how you know people in church they would tell me that you know this this is going to lead to a minute a Ministry that we're going to have a Ministry okay
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afterwards I realized what they really were saying was a mini-series okay I mean because it would have it would have made on Netflix it would have made a mini series but it wasn't a
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Ministry and that's not how we're supposed to look at we're not supposed to try to that's not the wisdom that comes from God trying to figure out what God is doing now we're encountering various
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trials and flat tires are not going to lead to a Ministry a Ministry you know that's not what that's that's just life just life but how do we trust God in life
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that's what perfects our faith every single day single day and it's a challenge um and and I mean I'm challenged just in Reading James this way and and spending
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time in James rather than just reading it and then you know getting to the end and going who
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[Laughter] I'm hoping that when we're done this study we will never read James that way again because I don't think it was there he ever intended it to be read that way
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in the midst of Trials but to that it is it is part of the recognition through our prayer and things like that that we see those things in the example I've kind of come to mentally is you know it's hard for me to imagine
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myself you know in the worst possible situation let's say losing a child to praise God in that moment for the loss of the child I think I don't think god holds us for a reaction of grief but in
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the long term recognizing God's sovereignty and what he's doing and I often wonder if that's the language being used intentionally as it's some of it is largely retrospective rather than it is retrospective but but not entirely
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because job lost all his children and he did mourn and he tore his robes and he threw ashes and you know he mourned okay so this is this is not a
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denial as you're saying it's not a denial of the emotion that goes into and comes from trials and and I also don't think it's you know I've made this comment before in the um
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you know in The Lord of the Rings type uh fantasy where you where you encounter that those perfect
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elves they have no personality at all they don't get happy they don't get angry they're never sad that's not it actually we're all more like the Dwarfs
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party hardy and they get really ticked off okay off okay and and that's actually Who We Are at various degrees and God isn't trying to change that because that's when he made us
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so um I'm not saying that you you hug the flat tire flat tire well thank you flat tire for bringing this trial to me no and I'm not saying you don't kick the car I mean that's
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your personality what I'm saying is in the midst of the sadness of the anger of the frustration the frustration there is an underlying and growing awareness
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that God is Sovereign in all things and I am his and therefore at no time do we curse God with our mouth I don't think job was at all at fault
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for what he said God found no fault with what job said and even went so far as to say to the other three you have not spoken truly about me as my servant job
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has okay so you know that again that's a perspective to read when you read job is read the read the last part first and then go back and read the dialogues or the monologues okay and realize that
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even though the three friends would say something like yeah that sounds right God said it was wrong and even though it's like job whoa watch what you're saying God found no fault in
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what he was saying because in his heart and in his mouth he never cursed God he knew God to be righteous and just and he knew that he had not done anything to
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deserve what he was suffering and that's what was so painful to him he could have said my God my God why
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hast Thou forsaken me okay he was so righteous that God is bragging on him to say and he didn't do anything to
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lessen that or to bring the calamities on himself on himself and his response was of righteous anger this is not the way that the righteous
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should be treated but I am being treated this way and oh if I could just plead my case before God but nonetheless we read that he was
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patient that means patience is something other you know just keeping my mouth shut and my head bowed because that's not what job did
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Okay so Okay so it's it's not a personality change and it's not some type of um of mental gymnastics whereby we don't
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react to life as it happens it's deeper than that it's it's that fundamental Abiding and growing Trust
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growing Trust that this is my God he is my God and I am his child and therefore what can happen to me Romans 8 you know what can possibly
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separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ okay okay so that's put in that light I think it fits very well with everything else we read in scripture but
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um Rudolf steyer who is um uh Lutheran kind of a pietist writer of the 18th 19th century he writes Faith
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receives this so necessary test only in trials this word has an evil sound as Temptation it might seem as if God were not faithful and good in applying such
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tests as if he put stumbling blocks in our way that we might fall but that trouble should thus become temptation to us lies in ourselves
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and in our own Folly as James afterwards takes care to teach and we're going to touch on that this evening God's part in our trial serves only for the purpose of salutary testing of faith
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in order that it might be confirmed God was not trying to prove that Abraham did not have faith
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he knew Abraham had Faith because he gave it to him the faith we have is not our own Paul tells us is the gift of God so he's not he's not wondering whether
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you or I have faith he knows
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then trials are actually something to be glad for because without them our faith which is more precious than
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gold cannot be purified you cannot purify faith in a life that never demands trust in God but in a real life
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where trials demand trust in God all the time faith can be perfected and that's why he goes on to say that
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that similar to to what we read about and this I think touches on what Dallas was saying about Doctrine and reading the word the word um Paul tells us in second Timothy
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chapter 3 chapter 3 that scripture that scripture is such that we become we lack for nothing okay that is profitable for reproof
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for instruction and what scripture is doing in James and in Romans 5 and in First Peter 1 and in The Sermon on the
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Mount what scripture is doing is teaching us the purpose of trials in God's program as opposed to trials in the world
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the trials that the unbelievers suffer have no salutary effect it will make and we think oh you know when we pray you know when we know of
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people that are going through a certain trial we pray oh Lord use this to bring them to you but what normally happens it sends them further away
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not I'm not saying we should stop praying because it's only the intervention of the Holy Spirit and regeneration but that's not necessarily going to come through a trial
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s are only beneficial to those who are already in Christ who already have faith and who already have a God in whom they can put their complete Trust complete Trust so again it may be nothing more than
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just knowing and and knowing and knowing that my times are in God's hands and he is good
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is good so if he Wills that I should lose a child if he Wills that I should have a flat tire if he Wills that I should be fired
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you know the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord okay that that's the attitude and how do we get that attitude well he goes on
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in verse 5 of chapter one but if any of you lack wisd lacks wisdom let him ask of God of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach and it will be given to him but will wisdom
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but let him ask in faith faith is actually a key term in James's letter comes up time and time again talking about faith so he he's certainly not opposing Paul
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in terms of walking by faith and not by works but when we ask God we cannot we cannot ask God apart from
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trusting God trusting God and what we're asking is not um Lord please take this trial away from me
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that's not the prayer that brings wisdom the prayer that brings wisdom is the is the one that says Lord strengthen me to trust you in this trial
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strengthen me not to sin against you with my lips strengthen me not to doubt in my heart your care for me that's that's the issue
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and the wisdom that that James is saying we need is not the wisdom of how to pay my taxes my taxes or how to fix the car it's the wisdom to understand what
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trials do for the believer it's the wisdom of what he's just said he says consider it all joy but if you can't you lack wisdom
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the only reason we cannot consider trials to be joyful not talking about the nature of the trial but the outcome of the trial
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is because we don't really believe that God is sovereign or that he loves us or that he's in control of the events of Our Lives
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and you think of a child especially a young child if the circumstances of their life have been proper been proper do they not have an implicit trust in
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their parents now they lose that they lose that because of their own the growth of sin within them but also
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um they do come to realize that their parents are not sovereign or omnipotent and sadly and sometimes they come to realize that their parents don't have their best interest at heart but rather their own
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right you know so we lose that but we do have that little fleeting example of that implicit trust which is what Jesus says unless you come to God as a child unless you have the faith as of a child
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that's what we're what we're getting at here is that implicit trust that really doesn't it doesn't matter what the circumstances are I know as as job says I know my redeemer lives
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and I will stand and I will see him in the latter day okay whatever happens I know God is and he is mine
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okay and I think when we look at in that perspective we realize how trivial many of our trials are and how unbelieving many our responses are to those trials
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that we we cannot even trust God in the in the little things of of and it doesn't seem like little but even the little things of putting bread on the table
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when Jesus says do not be anxious for such things such things rather look at the Sparrow okay God takes care of them will he not even more take care of you
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oh you of what little faith little faith okay you see how how it's just connected throughout it's it's biblical thinking is what it
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is that trials and Faith are connected as as naturally as can be and that all the different things we try to do to read our way to a better
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stronger Faith No that's not going to get us there we cannot study our way devote our way meditate our way or in any way Cloister ourselves away to a
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higher Faith to a stronger Faith it's not going to come upon us as some Second Blessing so we can't pray in tongues and receive an immediate dose of faith
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that's not how it works it works through trials and various trials and trials and not necessarily those that we can clearly see are intended
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because of our profession in fact in fact to those who are truly persecuted in a Biblical way Biblical way as we read for example Fox's book of
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Martyrs we read the stories of of the martyrs we realize that that wasn't really a trial for them
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was it their steadfastness for the Lord and I think God gave the Greater Grace but we read many many stories of those people who have been persecuted and so simply would not yield
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that wasn't really a trial okay it obviously it was a bad time it was physically painful it was emotionally draining it was hard on the
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families but I'm saying it really wasn't difficult for many of them because of God's grace and because of that trust that they had
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implicitly though he slay me yet I will exalt in him okay no matter what God brought their faith wasn't shaken
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and then we can argue from the greater to the Lesser then if they're able to endure great trial great trial how much more should we be able to trust
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God in minor things so that's what James is driving at um and and I'm going to be getting going back and forth through the scripture
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through this book so some of the things that we miss here and they're in the notes we'll talk about later for example you know the man who comes to God and says yeah I really I really appreciate
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if you'd help me out here but not sure you will so you know I'm going to kind of uh go my way too we'll work parallel path on this one okay I'll pray for you to help me out to you to help me out of
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this but I'm also going to kind of do things to fix the problem that's a double-minded man literally James creates a word here