� you can sit if you'd like. Turn to book of James, James chapter 1. And as I was considering continuing on in our church covenants, I determined that it would probably be better to do that on a sunday morning as opposed to a sunday afternoon so that I can grab everyone at the same time but as a as one of the elders of the church i' get to share and participate in the different challenges and the trials that many of you face, and I just believe that it was the right time to share a message in the book of James regarding trials. There is one thing about it. We will all go through trials as God's people there there are things that we go through that are very difficult and one of the things that I want to do is to help you to view God view the trials that you are in or may be going in from a biblical perspective or if you would, to help you have God's view of your trial so that you can work your way through the difficulties that you will face in some point in some time or another in your life and to endure in the midst of a trial.

That's really to persevere through that. So in James chapter one, in verse 12 is where I want to hit, I know that the first part of James speaks quite a bit about trials. He says in verse 2 that I'll read it in a little bit, but he's telling us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials. But the point that I want to focus on today is in verse 12. And this is what James says.

He says, Blessed is the man who endures temptations or trials. For when he has been approved, He will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let's ask God's help. Our Father in Heaven, we do thank you for the word that you have given us, the very word of God that instructs us and teaches us how we ought to think. Lord, so often we listen to ourselves or we try to interpret our understanding of things based upon the circumstances that we are in and Lord we need to be drawn back to your word so that we can see and understand your perspective of these things.

Lord I pray for all of those today who may be experiencing some really difficult things in their life and Lord that they would rest upon the fact that you are sovereignly and intimately involved in the trials that they are facing. And in fact, you've ordained them. And so Lord, help us to rest our attention upon your word to instruct us in how we should think and how we should live in the midst of trials that we will face. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

� So again, blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. It seems to me, as one of your pastors, that there has been, at least, from my perspective, an uptick in some of the trials that you all have been experiencing in your personal lives, And as you experience these things, I really hope to bring some nourishment to your soul while you're in this season of difficulty. There are times in every believer's life, As you all know, if you're over the age of probably three, you understand this, that we're going to face things that are difficult, things that are real trials, things that stretch us. And if you're a believer, if you've been a believer for any amount of time, you understand that there are things that you're going to experience that really challenge even the very core of your faith and understanding who God is and how God is going to walk with you through these difficulties. �rinfo difficult times, no one is exempt from trials however your trials may and most likely will be different than someone else within this church, James he mentions here in verse 2 of chapter 1 he calls them various trials they're different they're multi-faceted, they're really the idea is they're multi-colored, There's a lot of different ways that we experience trials And that's because we are so different.

God understands who we are at the very core of our being. And so these trials come in manifold and diverse ways and even in various degrees. Thankfully, God knows exactly how to turn the thermostat in your life to produce exactly what he is doing in your life. We know that our trials are carefully ordained by our Heavenly Father with a purpose. There's no useless things that you're going through.

Not one second of your life is useless. God uses all of it. No matter what it is that you may be going through. So nothing haphazard has ever befallen a child of God. Rest there.

There's no happenstance in your life. It's providence. It's God's good hand upon you. So my hope this afternoon is to encourage you in your trials to view them from a biblical perspective and so that you would respond to them with godly endurance or perseverance. So let's get started in this First and foremost in this one verse, in verse 12, it's within this context here and really the whole book of James is about the double-minded man.

It's really correcting double-mindedness. If you look from the beginning to the end of James, that's kind of this big thing that James is dealing with is how people can be double-minded. They can be unstable in their thinking. And so he's wanting to correct our thinking in a wrong way about our trials? So he's wanting to help us to understand that.

But the one who endures trials is blessed. That is so counterintuitive. That is such an oxymoron to our natural way of thinking. But God declares emphatically this. Blessed is the man who endures temptation.

That word temptation again there is the same word as trial. Blessed is the man that endureth trials. There's one thing that is certain in life and that is common to all of us and that is the difficulties in the trials that we will face. However, what is not common to all men is that how they deal with and if they endure or persevere under that trial so everyone is going to go through some form of difficulty some form of trial but how that trial affects you and changes you will look different it can �k for the advancement of your soul in being a blessing to your soul so that you would be drawn closer to Christ. Purtisvon says some men come out of their difficulties not softened but hardened.

Another man said You will either come out better or bitter. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. This word blessed means to be fully satisfied. It indicates the state of a believer in Christ. This word here for blessed differs from what we understand as just being happy.

Happy in our common understanding of that is just that your circumstances are going well. Like man, I had a good day today. Everything went the way I wanted it to. Happy am I. But this is talking about something much different because he says, blessed is the man that endureth temptations.

Then before, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. How can a believer count it a joy to experience various and diverse trials? In the Biblical sense, a blessed person is one whom God makes fully satisfied, not because of your favorable circumstances, but because the believer knows that God is not absent in your trial, but rather he has ordained it for your good. Not to mention we have the promise of God. One of the promises of God, there are hundreds if not thousands of them in the Word of God, "'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" There's a promise you can hold on to.

Another one is in this verse. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. There's an encouragement in your trial. When you think of this word, blessed, my mind often goes to Psalm chapter 1, I think of Matthew 5 and I think of this verse in James 1 12. And on a at another time, I would encourage you to spend some time meditating upon those passages, because they will be just a balm for your soul, Psalm 1, Matthew 5.

And James this James one 12. �遛 나눠封, but meditate upon these things of what it is to be the blessed man or the blessed man. Any passage that declares the blessedness of God's people should be a passage that really perks our ears up that we would that we would listen to that passage. And what is that passage? What is God teaching me in that passage why is it that most of the things God declares to be blessed are the things that the world says no thanks I don't want any of that but God's people can actually enter into a trial or a temptation and be blessed.

You can become through a trial fully satisfied in your God. And in fact it may be the very reason for the trial so that you would be fully satisfied in your God. Next, I want us to consider this word temptation as I mentioned this word temptation is translated testing is it's also the idea of a trial here it depends upon who is doing the tempting if you read on in this chapter here you notice he's wanting to correct this he's wanting to correct the double-minded man on understanding that the that the trial is actually you're blessed if you endure it but this correction here is let no one say when he is tempted I'm tempted by God you're not tempted by God you can be tested by God God will never tempt you to sin. That's what he's saying here. He says, let no one say when he's tempted, I am tempted by God for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and entice. So in fact, in every trial, in situation that you find yourself in, there will be a form of temptation within that, but the temptation actually comes from within you it can be something that your heart is you may find that you're double minded in something you're double minded in understanding what it is that God is trying to teach you and going after the wrong thing So the meaning depends on who's doing this tempting. If it's God, it's for the purpose of proving someone and never for the purpose of causing them to fall into sin. So However, when the devil does the tempting, then it's for the purpose and the cause for one to fall into sin. We see this most clearly in the book of Job, and I'm not going to quote much from that, but you know the story of Job and the purpose behind Satan's tempting of Job and the purpose, the overarching purpose of God in that trial, that he is doing in Job's life.

So this context of this verse indicates that it is the Lord who is bringing this trial about and it's for the purpose of approving that we will see in just a few moments. So this next idea that we see here is the verb endureth or endures. This is the � taken towards our temptation. This is our response to it. Blessed is the man that endures temptation.

It's not just blessed is the man that's being in a trial. You might not come out of that thing blessed if you respond with bitterness or hardness. But blessed is the man that endures temptation. To endure means to sustain under of a heavy load. It means to endure or to sustain against adversity or persecution or provocations of faith or even in your own patience.

� ੧੭੕ੱੱ੡੮੼ੴ੩ੱੱੴੴੴ੼. It means more than negative endurance of a hardship. It is actually a heroic act of someone who meets trials with unbreakable spirit, who remains faithful, Who remains steadfast, who stands firm underneath a trial. I believe that this definition brings to light something very important. It's more than just a negative endurance.

A person stuck under a fallen tree may be enduring under a heavy load, but he may be doing that in such a way that he is angry or swearing or yelling and mad or in despair. That's not the type of endurance that James is mentioning here. What he's talking about, he's talking about those who endure trials while remaining faithful to Christ we must remember that it's not the man who faces the trial here that is called blessed but it is the man who endures the trial and maintains a godly character. You see gold comes out of the furnace more pure and yet still soft But when you put steel into a fire and you quench it, it becomes harder than when it entered. What has been the result of your trials?

How have you responded to the difficulties that you faced? Have you found that they've drawn you closer to the Lord or have they made you bitter to the Lord? And that's really something that you're going to have to do some real self-examination here because you may still be coming to church, you may still be coming in with a smile, hey, how are you doing? But on the inside, you may be full of doubts and fears and maybe even angry. � that you've gone through.

Thomas Watson noted that there are no sins God's people are more subject to than unbelief and impatience. He says they are ready either to faint through unbelief or to fret through impatience. The book of James is such a help to us here. It really encourages us to view our trials in a Biblical manner from God's perspective. We learn something here also in Matthew 10 22.

It says, and ye shall be hated of all men for my namesake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. So what Jesus is not saying, he's not saying that the person who lives to the end shall be saved, but rather the person who endures the harassment of the name of Jesus Christ over their life shall be saved. It's the person who maintains their Christian character through the persecutions who are blessed. You know, we really have the greatest example of this in our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews and in chapter 12 verse 2 he says, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Listen when he says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The question really that we should ask ourselves is how did Jesus endure the cross? What was his attitude in his endurance? When he was being scourged, when he was being mocked or harassed, when he was experiencing the humiliation, when he was experiencing the infathomable pain that he was facing, the struggle not only of the physical but the spiritual. What was his response? How did he react?

If anyone ever had an excuse for being angry, it would be Jesus. He was perfect. He had done no sin. There was no human purpose in punishing this man in this way. Except, as � He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

But his attitude, think of it. His attitude, instead of being angry, he prayed and asked God to forgive. Instead of reviling, he did not revile in return. He rather blessed. Instead of turning his anger and his wrath upon his enemies, he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

So yes, truly blessed is the man, John Gill says, that endures afflictions in such a manner as not to murmur or repine at them, but is quiet � and still and bares them patiently and constantly and so endures to the end. Such expect afflictions. Do you expect afflictions? And when they come they are not moved by them, but not withstanding them, they continue in the ways and the works of the Lord. And such are happy persons.

They are happy now and shall be hereafter. He says Saints are happy under affliction and even on account of them. For they are tokens of God's love to them and evidence of their sonship. And especially they are happier under them when they enjoy the presence of God in them, when they are instructive to them, and saner and lifted when they learn from them the useful lessons of faith and patience, humility, resignation to the will of God and are made more partakers of his holiness, and they will be happy hereafter as follows. You see, the one who learns this will truly be blessed in the trial.

I've alluded to this next point already but I want to drive it home there is a certainty of your trial blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life You see there is this certainty of your trial James would make it clear to us that the way to eternal life will be paved with the pavers of trials and it may and it will be persecuted if any man desires to live godly he shall suffer persecution there'll be some form of trial in your life it may be a trial of of a persecution because you're standing for the standing on the name and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ it may be a trial of your health it may be a trial of your faith it could be it there remember they're various they're multifaceted They're in different colors and different degrees, and they will be specifically designed for you. Your trial doesn't work for me, and mine doesn't work for you. God knows you. Remember the purpose within them and we'll look at that in just a moment. So this idea of tried means to be approved, to be as metal as tried.

Look with me over in 1 Peter, in 1 Peter, and verse 1, �n, in First Peter 1, chapter one verse six. Listen to what he says, First Peter 1,6, "'In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. The same thing James is talking about that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." You see, it's your faith that God is working on. He's purifying your faith. Your faith is more precious to God than gold is to us.

How pure do you want your gold? Are you satisfied with 50% pure? Think on, I don't have gold, but I think on the gold bars, I've seen them before, but it'll say on there a decimal and 99.99% pure gold. There's still some impurities within that bar that's been melted down. Well guess what?

What would that number be on myself and upon you if there, if God had was to write a number upon you of the purity of your faith, I can testify assure assure you that mine does not say 99.9% I promise. It's interesting in Luke chapter 8, Jesus says, they, this is the parable of the soils, they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these having no root which for a little while believe and in time of temptation fall away. What is the result of your trials? The rocky soul man falls away because he has no root. So in fact the rocky the the trial is actually to reveal what is usually unseen.

It actually reviews what is underneath the ground. It's revealing the root of that person. What have your trials revealed in you? A man may dig in the ground and find a lump of gold and rejoice when he finds it. � ཯ྲྀྲཱྀོོདགླཱྀ཰ོསོོོརཱཱོོོོོོོོོེོལཱིོཾ཰཯ོོསེགེ཯ཱོཻོོིོོཽོོོོོོོིོོོཕ཯ོོོེ཮ྲཱྀ཰ � But the refiner knows that what the man found is only partly gold and partly other types of ore or minerals.

It is not pure gold until the furnace has done its work. I found that through various trials, I'm not near the man that I thought or believed I was. God knew exactly who I was and he needed to show me those things and he's still showing me those things and he will continue to show me these things until the very end. As sinful people we often think that it is the trial that makes us act the way we do But this is not entirely true. It's easy to say that if this trial or this affliction had not happened, then I would not have acted or responded in the way in which I did.

However, the truth of the matter is that the trial only reveals our true nature. Which under more favorable circumstances would not be revealed. Matthew Henry says this, afflictions cannot make us miserable, if it be not our own fault. A blessing may arise from them and we may be blessed in them. They are so far from taking away a good man's joy that they really increase a good man's joy.

We see this in Job 23, 10. He says, but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold. 1 Corinthians 10 13 there is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able but with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And then of course I read 1 Peter chapter 1 but remember � only some do. And those that do are blessed.

And are promised by God this great promise, a crown of life. I don't believe that what he's talking about here, and this is really my last main point here is the promised reward of enduring trials, I don't believe that this is a literal crown that you're gonna put on your head, the crown of life. I think what he's talking about here is eternal life itself. The crown of life is eternal life. The crown of life surely is meant to express the reality of eternal life without trials.

Earthly men seek gold. They seek � in the Olympic Games. But here James is telling us that God has promised us that we will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. You see, this is the promise of God. Think about that just for a moment.

God has given you a promise in the midst of your trial that through endurance you will receive the crown of life. A promise from our Lord who has not the ability to lie whose word established the heavens whose word brought the earth into existence, who spoke and there was light, who made all things for his own glory through the word. And this word is the word that speaks to us this promise it is this promise to those that love him I don't know if you've noticed but the Christian life always comes back to this do we love God but really there's a greater question John tells us this we love him because he first loved us. It's not within us in a natural man to love God in such a way, but we love him because he first loved us. Our endurance, listen, our endurance and ultimate victory is not based on how strong we are to endure temptation, nor on how great is our love for God, but rather in truth, it is solely dependent on how great God's love is for us.

The only reason that we have any inkling of the love of God is because God first loved you. And When you are in the midst of your trial, that's what you need to remember. The only reason I have the capability of loving God is that he loved me. If he loves you, everything he brings into your life is ultimately for your good. To think that somehow my ability can keep me is contrary to everything that scripture teaches.

The crown of life is a crown of grace. God gives it to those he loves and to whom it has been prepared. Does this not echo the words of Romans 8 28? And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. The words of William Cooper bring the child of God such comfort.

Listen to these words of this very popular hymn, Oh, fearful saint, fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shame. � in blessing on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning Providence, he hides a smiling face. So, my dear brothers and sisters, know that the trials that you are faced are lined with the blessed promises of God.

That when you by his grace persevere the trial that God has ordained for you, you shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. And so my prayer is that God would bless you and keep you � And I will end with the words of Peter, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the �. Whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Listen, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Amen.

Our Father in heaven, we ask you now to keep us. We know that as Peter says, we are kept by the power of God. Lord, we thank you that it is your power that keeps us and sustains us in the midst of trials. And I just pray, O God, that that truth would so just galvanize our