WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.120 James wrote, and we continue to think about what he teaches about trials. This evening from verse 00:00:08.120 --> 00:00:18.539 nine to eight, three truths a Christian should know in trials. Let me begin with a scene from 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:26.120 Thursday morning, a technology trial that I found myself facing. So I was trying to get a grip on 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:33.060 the media desk up there, along with Daniel, our apprentice, and everything was going really well 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:40.160 until we had to see what was up on the big screen. Because the problem was, I had no glasses, and 00:00:40.160 --> 00:00:45.200 Daniel had the wrong lenses. So I was kind of up here, saying left a bit, right a bit with the mouse, 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:53.500 and it all went badly wrong because we had the wrong lens. That's no big deal. We can cope. But 00:00:53.500 --> 00:01:02.259 when we're facing serious trials, when people are suffering, if we're not wearing gospel glasses, 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:08.599 if the gospel isn't the lens through which we look at our life and our circumstances, 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:16.760 then our view will be faulty, and likely our response to our circumstance will be faulty too. 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:23.920 So today, we're going to look at another three truths that we find in the gospel that we need 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:30.100 to know for ourselves when we are going through hardships. So that as we thought about last week, 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:38.580 joy can be ours. So that growth and maturity in our faith might come even as hardships come. 00:01:39.740 --> 00:01:46.740 So the first truth for us to think about together is this, we need to know our identity in Christ. 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:55.219 This is verses 9 to 12. There's a connection in the section, verse 2, to remind you of last week. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:02.820 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Then down in verse 12, 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.500 blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.700 he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. So this section is 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:20.719 all dealing with testing and trial, and how can we count trials joy? How can we persevere under trial? 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:30.819 Well, verse 9 to 11 says to us, we need to learn how to boast. We need to learn how to take pride. 00:02:31.839 --> 00:02:35.259 And maybe you're thinking, well, hold on a minute. I always thought that pride and boasting was wrong. 00:02:35.259 --> 00:02:42.539 We tell our kids, don't boast. Don't boast about yourself. You know, this isn't, Paul isn't saying, 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:47.039 or James isn't saying, look at me, look at what I have, look at what I have done. 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:54.259 We're being encouraged to boast in a particular way, to boast in God and in the gospel. 00:02:54.799 --> 00:03:00.680 If you look at verse 9 and verse 10, we are to boast in our position. 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:10.280 And that's a position that's not based on our financial state. It's based on spiritual reality. 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:18.240 So James, in his context, he is applying the gospel to financial difficulty. How do we deal 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:24.939 with those trials, whether we find ourselves poor or rich? And that's helpful because 00:03:24.939 --> 00:03:32.900 there are different challenges and different challenges for thinking about our true identity 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:41.520 in Christ. So we think about the poor, the brother in humble circumstances. What's the message often 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:48.259 that the poor hear from the world? Well, it's you're a nobody and a nothing unless you are earning and 00:03:48.259 --> 00:03:54.419 consuming and acquiring. James is going to say, remember the gospel. 00:03:54.939 --> 00:04:02.500 That in Jesus, you are a somebody. When the world says, I am because I have, 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:12.680 the gospel says, in Jesus, you have everything. So we are not to think of ourselves based on our bank 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:21.000 balance. We're told to think about ourselves in relation to who we are in Christ. When we put on 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:31.360 the glasses of the gospel, for those who are poor, they discover Jesus is enough. Jesus gives dignity 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:39.220 and value and joy despite poverty. I was reading this week of a Bible study taking place in one of the 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:46.920 many garbage cities that there are in Cairo. So tens of thousands of people living around the various 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:55.420 cities, city dumps, enduring some of the worst kind of conditions known to man. But there are Christian 00:04:55.420 --> 00:05:02.060 people in those dumps and there are others who are going in and they're sharing the gospel and they're 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:09.780 giving them livelihood training as a way that they might escape the horrible conditions. 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:19.859 To the world, nobody's despised, but to their Father in heaven, precious and valued in His sight. 00:05:20.779 --> 00:05:31.439 To those who are poor, they are reminded of the gospel promise that there is in verse 12, this crown of life 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:41.639 that lies in store for them, the winner's wreath from the Olympic Games. So just as Jesus urged people, 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:51.220 store up treasure in heaven, so James is saying to the poor, consider yourself rich when you have faith 00:05:51.220 --> 00:06:00.519 in Jesus. So the gospel serves to raise the poor and that's often counter to the voice of society. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:08.259 But then to the rich, very different. Verse 10, the one who is rich should take pride in his 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:16.259 low position because he'll pass away like a wild flower. Again, on the surface, generally, 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:22.240 if someone is rich, they are regarded as a somebody. That was definitely true in James's day, 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:29.680 still true in our day. And it's often the case then that resources become a person's way to face the 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:40.420 world. I am secure because I have financial reserves. But here James is giving that reminder from the 00:06:40.420 --> 00:06:48.960 Bible that money is fleeting and fragile and that for richer Christians, they are to rely on Jesus 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:58.479 and not their wealth as their and our true security. Stocks and shares are not where security is found, 00:06:58.579 --> 00:07:09.620 knowing Jesus is. Ian read for us Luke chapter 12. And Jesus speaks a warning in that parable. 00:07:09.859 --> 00:07:13.639 Remember the man who said, well, I could take life easy and eat and drink and be merry. Well, 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:20.819 that can very quickly become, you fool, this night your life will be taken from you. And so there is 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:27.060 that warning to rich Christians not to rely on their wealth, instead to depend and base their identity 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:36.759 on Jesus. So the gospel, which raises the poor, also serves to humble the rich. And it's there in the 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:41.459 very message of the gospel, isn't it? To the successful and the self-made man, the gospel says 00:07:41.459 --> 00:07:51.219 spiritually you're bankrupt. To those who come to the Word of God with many resources, humanly speaking, 00:07:51.379 --> 00:07:58.680 there is the message you cannot earn or buy salvation. To those who are self-reliant, 00:07:58.939 --> 00:08:05.099 there is the message that you need God's charitable gift. You need God's grace as it's found 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:13.820 in Jesus. So James in his letter says to us, when we are facing a financial trial, 00:08:15.460 --> 00:08:21.280 and perhaps that's where we're at right now, or we've been there, certainly our country is still 00:08:21.280 --> 00:08:27.820 in a fragile state. He's saying to the church, don't think in the world's terms. Don't think in terms of, 00:08:28.180 --> 00:08:34.920 am I poor or rich financially? See yourself in Christ. He calls the church in verse 12 to 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:44.159 pursue loving God and his reward and to recognize that our true value and our true identity and 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:54.219 significance is found in Jesus. Perhaps we can think of Jesus's, the words that Paul records of 00:08:54.219 --> 00:09:01.639 Jesus' ministry in 2 Corinthians 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:08.740 that though he was rich, that though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you through 00:09:08.740 --> 00:09:18.279 his poverty might become rich. The reality is for us, if we're trusting in Christ, we are eternally rich. 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:25.059 We have that treasure in heaven that cannot be taken from us. And so when we face trials, 00:09:25.059 --> 00:09:34.599 we need that as a solid foundation. So we need to know our identity in Christ. And then in verses 13 to 00:09:34.599 --> 00:09:43.619 15, there's a change of focus. So the second truth we need is we need to know ourselves and we need to 00:09:43.619 --> 00:09:49.399 know the danger of temptation. So up until this point, he's been talking about trials. He's been talking 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:56.179 about those external pressures that come to us. And those can be financial, it can be sickness, it can be 00:09:56.179 --> 00:10:03.039 grief, it can be injustice, and they're all in the letter. Temptations are different because they are 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:15.279 our internal response to those external circumstances. And in verses 13 to 15, James is highlighting the 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:23.299 problem of a problem of a blurred vision, where rather than seeing the problem of our own hearts, 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:32.639 there can be the tendency to see the problem as lying out there, particularly here to blame God. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:39.639 God made me this way. God sent me these circumstances, therefore it's how I have responded. 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:48.620 Verse 13, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. And so what James is going to say to 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:53.639 us, and he continues down to verse 18, is that we need a clear vision of the character of God. 00:10:54.460 --> 00:11:02.360 We need to know the God of the Bible. We need to be clear on the personal work of Jesus and what 00:11:02.360 --> 00:11:10.340 he's done for us. And we also need to be clear on our own sinful human nature. Again, that's an 00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:20.960 important part of our gospel message, that there is still this war with sin that rages within us, 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:28.519 that Jesus has come to win a victory over Satan and sin and death, but that victory is not complete 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:38.419 until his return. And until that day, our hearts remain a spiritual battleground. And we need to be 00:11:38.419 --> 00:11:44.179 honest about that. We need to recognize that as Christians. So what does James teach about the 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:54.000 temptations that come along with trials? So beginning at the top of verse 13, we recognize again that these 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:02.860 temptations are normal, just as trials will come, so too will temptations when tempted. Of course, 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:07.759 we recognize that temptations come in different forms, sometimes subtle, sometimes intense. 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:14.240 Sometimes they come just one time based on a particular circumstance. Other times it's a lifelong 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:23.860 struggle. We need to understand too that temptation is not sin. It's only sin if we give in to 00:12:23.860 --> 00:12:30.940 that desire, to that impulse. We know that because we're told in the Bible that Jesus was tempted, 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:40.480 but he was without sin. So temptation and sin are not the same. So temptations are normal. And when they 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:49.700 come, James is saying to us, don't blame God. Again, in verse 13, we're told two things about God. 00:12:49.700 --> 00:13:01.360 God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. God would never desire evil for his image 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:10.060 bearers. God is not a mean God trying to trip up his children. God tests. He never tempts. He never tempts us 00:13:10.059 --> 00:13:17.719 to evil. Rather, verse 14. He never tempts us to evil. Rather, verse 14, attention is drawn by James 00:13:17.719 --> 00:13:29.179 to the fact that the evil desire is ours. Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:40.000 away and enticed. It's the picture that the Bible presents of us as people. It's the picture that we get 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:48.539 of Adam and Eve in the garden, tempted by that desire to overthrow God, to be like God, leading them to 00:13:48.539 --> 00:14:00.299 disregard God and his word. That evil desire lurks within. And God is not to be blamed for that. 00:14:01.459 --> 00:14:11.539 Just as to think about a classroom setting, if a teacher sets a test paper and a student fails the test, 00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:20.980 the blame lies on the student and not the teacher. And so James is reminding us that we need to be 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:30.039 careful about sin. We cannot be complacent about sin. We cannot be deceived and imagine that we have 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:36.240 achieved a state of goodness such that we will not be tempted. We will never experience temptation and 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:45.399 we'll never give in to temptation. Rather, he reminds us about that evil desire, the sin nature that still 00:14:45.399 --> 00:15:00.419 lies within us. He also tells us that these temptations that come are attractive, but they are deadly. 00:15:00.419 --> 00:15:11.419 The language in verse 14 again, he is dragged away and enticed. It made me think of the Venus flytrap. 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:19.679 You remember, you know, the Venus flytrap with the really attractive leaves, draws in the beetles or the 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:25.319 spider. And as soon as they touch two of those tiny hairs on the inside of the flytrap, they're caught. Or 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:33.760 to think of fishing. Now we stick some bait on a hook as a lure. The fish swims along, thinks it's getting a 00:15:33.760 --> 00:15:42.240 nice free meal and it finds itself caught on the hook. It's the way temptation works in our lives. 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:50.480 We can only be tempted by what we find attractive ourselves. And so we need to be careful. We thought 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:57.360 about Joseph this morning. What did he do when he was tempted? He ran. He ran from Potiphar's wife. 00:15:58.460 --> 00:16:06.379 We need to run from temptation to prayer, to ask for help, to resist, to have wisdom, to see what's 00:16:06.379 --> 00:16:13.259 going on. We need to run from temptation to Christ, to see that he is better and more beautiful and more 00:16:13.259 --> 00:16:23.519 lasting than that thing that is tempting us in a particular moment. Because these temptations come 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:28.700 from our own evil desire, it figures that our temptations will not be the same. 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:35.559 They're based on my evil desires, so they are attractive to me and you have your evil desires 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:40.019 and so there are certain things that are attractive to you and they may or may not be the same and 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:46.039 therefore it's really important that we get to know ourselves, that we get to know our points 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:53.120 of weakness. Where is it that we are most likely to give in to temptation? Where do I need to be 00:16:53.120 --> 00:17:01.659 particularly vigilant and prayerful in regards to? And then the last thing that James says about 00:17:01.659 --> 00:17:09.839 temptations is that temptations ultimately give birth to death and destruction. James is really 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:17.599 not messing around here. The picture is very graphic in verse 15, isn't it? Then after desire has 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:29.279 conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death. Births are usually a 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:38.299 thing to be celebrated but not here. James gives us this picture of a person who is tempted by desires 00:17:38.299 --> 00:17:49.700 and when those desires are fed. There is a pregnancy and sin is born. And as that temptation is fed still 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:56.619 further as we continue in sin, James says that gives birth to death. 00:17:56.619 --> 00:18:10.099 And so we need to be so careful about the paths that we find ourselves on to be able to think down the road, 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:16.179 to be able to learn to look down the path. What seems attractive now, what seems attractive in this 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:26.980 particular moment may very well produce guilt and hurt, the loss of God's approval, may ultimately lead to 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:35.400 spiritual death. We need to learn to starve our evil desires. As John Owen put it, be killing sin or it will be 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:47.080 killing you. J.C. Ryle had a helpful image to remind us of how to deal with temptation when we see it. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:54.160 He spoke of a tree, a sapling, newly planted in the ground. When you think of a sapling, they're very skinny 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:00.600 and very small and a child can bend it, a child can snap it, but you let that tree grow. 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:07.699 And Ryle says, you know, a hundred men pushing with all their might can't uproot it. We need to show 00:19:07.699 --> 00:19:17.159 our sin no mercy. We need to learn to be ruthless in dealing with sin, in confessing it, in seeking 00:19:17.159 --> 00:19:23.259 help and being dependent on God for the help that we need to resist it. 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:33.480 And we also need to be profoundly thankful for Jesus, our Savior. Jesus, the one who took on human 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:42.019 nature, the one who was tempted in every way as we are, but yet was without sin. Where we cave in 00:19:42.019 --> 00:19:49.980 to our temptation, he never did. And in his love towards his people, he died for every time we 00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:59.720 cave in to our temptation. And now Jesus, our perfect Savior, is praying for us. And he's sent us the 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:08.240 Spirit and he's given us power so that we can say no to temptation. But we need to know ourselves 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.799 and we need to know the danger that temptation brings. 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:21.799 And then James moves on to another truth that's so important for us to bear in mind, and it's to know 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:30.180 the goodness of God and the goodness of the gospel. So while a person deceived might think God is 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:36.879 tempting me, James will say, no, God is not your tempter. So what is God like? 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:46.580 Verse 16, don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above. 00:20:48.280 --> 00:20:52.720 What we discover in the Bible, what do we discover in the gospel? We discover a God who is generous 00:20:52.720 --> 00:21:00.620 and a God who is good. Every good thing we enjoy physically, spiritually come from God's hand. And 00:21:00.620 --> 00:21:06.260 particularly, James reminds us, they come from our good creator. And that's the idea of the 00:21:06.259 --> 00:21:17.240 the father of the heavenly lights. This almighty creator is the one who loves us. And this good 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:27.740 creator is unchanging. End of verse 17, he does not change like shifting shadows. Everything else in his 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:34.680 universe that he created is in motion. You know, the earth is constantly revolving and rotating, 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:42.720 and that's why we get shadows. But in contrast to his created universe, God is the great unmoved mover. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:52.320 God is unchanging. His character never changes. So he is good eternally, which means he is good 00:21:52.320 --> 00:22:00.980 today, which means in our trial, he is our good, good God. And the same is true of his gospel. 00:22:00.980 --> 00:22:09.559 Verse 18, he chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits 00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:21.700 of all he created. Here is new birth language. Here is a birth to celebrate that through the word of truth, 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:30.900 through the word of the gospel, there is new birth. And notice that it's God who chose to give us 00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:39.400 birth. Notice that that's a gift of his love and his grace. To back up that statement in verse 17, 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:46.840 that every good and perfect gift is from above. And that new birth is a kind of first fruits. 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:55.200 It's just stage one of God's great salvation plan. First fruits in the Old Testament, someone would bring 00:22:55.200 --> 00:23:01.680 in the harvest, a sign that the rest would surely follow. What's the rest that will follow? Well, 00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:07.900 there's final salvation still to come at the second coming. When we, as the people of God, 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:13.480 of our faith is in Jesus, we will be made new, we'll be made like him, and we'll get to live in a world 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:19.799 that's been renewed and perfected. We'll get to live in a world where sin and suffering and temptation 00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:31.919 and trial and pain and death are all gone. And God and his people enjoy eternal life, where we, 00:23:32.139 --> 00:23:37.440 as the people of God, enjoy fellowship with him that will never be broken. 00:23:39.539 --> 00:23:46.879 And so James says to the people he's writing to once again, when you face trials, you need to put on 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:54.440 those gospel glasses to see things clearly, to understand that in Christ you have new birth and 00:23:54.440 --> 00:24:02.800 you have a new identity. That even as we fight against our evil desire, we do so in Christ and with 00:24:02.800 --> 00:24:11.660 the help of the Holy Spirit. And we trust in our good and generous Father. We trust in his character. 00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:21.620 We trust in his word. We trust in his promise to be with us and to be with us always. Let's pray. 00:24:24.080 --> 00:24:29.220 Lord God, we thank you that when we face...