You can turn in your Bibles to
the book of James. We're gonna go ahead and pick
up in our studies in Genesis when we come back in September.
Remember, we're taking the next two months off, July and August,
so we'll resume on September 4th, which is a Wednesday night,
and we'll return to Genesis at that time, Genesis 24. It's actually
67 verses, so it'll probably take me the summer to get ready
for that. that's studied. But James 1, we're going to focus
on verses 1 to 8. I know that I taught this material
a couple of years ago when we were going through the book of
James, and then I'm pretty sure I did it in a Wednesday night
Bible study probably not too long ago, but I thought it was
appropriate in light of our studies concerning Abraham and Sarah.
Remember that we were just about at the end with reference to
Abraham. But we have seen that persevering
faith, we have seen as well the various trials that faced Abraham
and the way that he managed to press on through those things.
And James 1, specifically 2 to 8 rather, really highlights the
believer's response to trials. So I'll just pick up reading
in James 1, we'll read to verse 8, and then we'll look at the
passage in detail. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect
work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to
all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts
is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let
not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the
Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Amen. So essentially we have the believer's
response to trials in verses 2 to 4, and then the believer's
request during trials in verses 5 to 8. So James tells us how
we're supposed to face trials, and then James tells us what
we're supposed to ask of God in the midst of trials, namely
wisdom, which makes perfect sense when we're going through such
things, to ask the Lord for the wisdom to be able to bear up,
to be able to persevere, and to be able to learn the lessons
that we need to as we move our way through these particular
issues. But in the first place, with reference to the believer's
response to trials, notice the identification of the trials
in view. Verse 2, he says, My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing
that the testing of your faith produces patience. Remember that
when Abraham is called by God to go to Mount Moriah with Isaac,
we're told that the Lord is testing him. Back in Hebrews 11, verse
17, it says, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac, and he who had received the promises, offered up his
only begotten son. So we're told that these are
tests that come from God to believers. But if you look at verse 13 in
James 1, it's the same Greek word. In verse 13 it says, "...let
no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God
cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone."
So as I said, it's the same word, but the context indicates what's
in view. And in verse 13, what it is is
a solicitation to perform or commit evil. So God doesn't tempt
us so that we'll respond in sin. God doesn't bait us the way we
might have bear so that we can shoot it in the head. God doesn't
present something to us in order to trip us up and make us sin.
That's not what's in view in verse 2. What's in view in verse
2 are the sorts of tests, the sorts of trials, the sorts of
difficulties and afflictions that we see, say, Abraham received,
and the things that we fall into under God for His glory and for
our well-being. The temptation of verse 13 is
a solicitation to do evil. It's an activity of the devil.
You see that in Matthew chapter 4. You see it with reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see it in 1 Corinthians chapter
7 with reference to married couples. The devil tries to get in there
and solicit one or the other to engage in wickedness. As well,
there are those temptations associated with our remaining corruption.
If you look at verses 14 and 15, James certainly has a doctrine
of remaining corruption. James 1.14, but each one is tempted
when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then
when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin,
when it is full-grown, brings forth death." So there's temptation
to do evil, there's temptation to do evil by the devil, there's
temptation to do evil by peers, there's temptations from within
because of our remaining corruption. But in verse 2, that's not what's
in view. It's the trials, it's the difficulties,
it's the hardships that under God have a remedial purpose for
the lives of His people. In other words, we need to understand
that Christ learned obedience through suffering according to
Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 8, and oftentimes it is the case
for the people of God that they too learn in the midst of suffering
and hardship. John Gill describes the test
in verse 2 this way, not the temptations of Satan or temptations
to sin. For these cannot be matter of
joy, but grief. These are fiery darts and give
a great deal of uneasiness and trouble. but afflictions and
persecutions for the sake of the gospel, which are so called
here and elsewhere because they are trials of the faith of God's
people and of other graces of the Spirit of God." So it's important
that we get that down. Verse 2 is not dealing with solicitation
to do evil, but rather the various trials, the afflictions, the
difficulties, and the hardships associated with life as Christians. God uses those testings of our
faith to bring glory to himself and to conform us evermore unto
the Lord Jesus Christ." Notice as well, with reference to James'
expectation, or the expectation James commends to us, my brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into various trials. He doesn't
say, I want to give you the cold hard facts that, you know, it
might be the case somewhere along the line you're going to fall
into various trials. No, James assumes this. James
operates in this context that believers will, in fact, face
trials. James certainly got this from
his half-brother in the flesh and his Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Jesus taught this in Matthew
chapter 10, verses 16 to 25. Jesus taught this in John 15,
verses 18 to 20. And of course, Jesus taught this
in John 16, 33. In this world, you will have tribulations, But
be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." When we
get to the book of Acts, we see that the people of God are not
immune from suffering, from affliction, or from trial. We see James beheaded,
the other James. James is beheaded. The brother
of John, the sons of Zebedee, he's beheaded. in Acts chapter
12 for the cause of God and truth by Herod. In Acts 14, Paul preaching
says, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. 1 Peter
chapter 4, verses 16 and 19, Peter exhorts the people of God
with reference to how they are to respond to trials and to difficulties. And he says, don't be surprised
when these things overtake you. Do not be shocked living in a
sin-cursed world when there are hardships and issues that confront
you as the people of God. And in terms of the various persons
that James was writing to, they were in the first place exiles.
They were Jews, most likely, outside of their homeland. They
were exiles dispersed from their homeland. As well, we find within
the epistle of James, some of them suffered poverty and some
of them suffered religious persecution. So we ought not to be surprised
when we have these various trials, afflictions, or hardship. That's
not James's point. I want to try and teach you about
this reality that someday you may fall into trials. No, that's
not the case at all. They were already experientially
connected with or acquainted with trials. James' emphasis
is how to deal with it when we do fall into various trials,
and that's the disposition he commends in verse 2b. He says, my brethren, count it
all joy when you fall into various trials. We are to count it all
joy. Go back to Matthew chapter 5
for just a moment. You see a lot of Matthew in James. A lot of Matthew's gospel in
James. But notice specifically in the
Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 at verses 10 to 12. Jesus says,
blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You all know the word there,
blessed, means happy. Happy are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. Verse 11, blessed are you when
they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against
you falsely for my sake. rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
For great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets
who were before you." Well, James takes the same tact in James
1, 2. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into various trials. Now that doesn't mean you have
some sick fascination with pain and suffering. It doesn't mean
you just sort of laugh in the midst of tragedy and hardship
and woe, and you don't have any sorrow or lamentation whatsoever.
But what James is saying is, count it all joy when you fall
into various trials. And as the context will make
clear, God has His theological reasons for these trials that
you fall into. In other words, God is using
these things for your benefit. He is using these things for
your good. That's where the joy comes. The
joy doesn't come in that you got your arm lopped off and you
laugh about it. No, you look in terms of God's
dealings with you to appreciate that even in the midst of great
calamity, He is using such things in your lives to conform you
further unto the image of the Lord Jesus. That's why we can
count it all joy. So the specific reason's gonna
follow in verse three, but this is in fact a necessary reminder
for us because it is so contrary to the way that we respond to
trials. It's probably not the case, if
you're like me, that a trial comes and you say, yippee. Now
again, I don't think that's what James means in James 1 and 2,
but you get the point. Your first response, the natural
reflex when you fall into trials is not to count it all joy. If
it is for you, then you can probably shut down for the rest of the
Bible study because this passage isn't really for you. It's for
the rest of us who need to be told how to respond properly
to the trials that we face. So it is contrary to us to count
it all joy when we fall into various trials. The natural disposition
is, God, please take this child away from me. The natural disposition
is some panic. The natural disposition is some
complaint. The natural disposition is some
grumbling or some argumentativeness with God. But he says, count
it all joy when you fall into various trials. We see this emphasis
on joy in other contexts that it would seem to be paradoxical
in nature. In Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter
5, verse 3. And not only that, but we also
glory in tribulations. Again, do we do that out of reflex? Not typically. That's why these
men wrote what they wrote, so that we'll think in terms of
the written paradigm, or written precedent, so that we will respond
the way we're supposed to. And not only that, but we also
glory in tribulations. Why? knowing that tribulation
produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope.
Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been
poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to
us. And the same context obtains here in James chapter 1. Count
it all joy knowing that. In other words, when you fall
into these various trials, You don't rejoice over the loss of
limb, you don't rejoice over the loss of loved one, you don't
rejoice over the particular difficulties that you are suffering, but you
rejoice in God's purposes being realized in your life. You rejoice
in the reality that God is using those things to sanctify you
and to conform you further under the image of the beloved Lord.
That's the joy that we are supposed to have. 1 Peter 1, same sort
of emphasis in verses 6 to 9. 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, honor, and glory at the revelation of
Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, though now you
do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy, joy inexpressible
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation
of your souls. So the joy that James calls us
to is not associated with the pain of the trial, but with the
purpose of God in the midst of the trial. That's the emphasis
of James in this particular situation. John Calvin says he means, in
short, that there is nothing in afflictions which ought to
disturb our joy. So even in the midst of suffering,
we ought to be able to comply with Paul's command Rejoice always,
again I will say, rejoice. Now notice the recognition of
God's purpose in the trial in verses 3 and 4. So he says, count
it all joy when you fall into various trials, verse 3, knowing
that the testing of your faith produces patience. You must know
this in order to respond properly. It's another good reason why
you should read your Bible and why you should internalize it
so that when trials hit, when afflictions come, you're not
caught off guard, but you're able to connect and say, oh,
this is what James meant, and now I'm supposed to respond in
a way that's appropriate. to what James meant. So we are
to know that the testing of our faith produces patience. The
believer must be prepared and sustained by such knowledge,
and notice what he says, that it produces patience. Now this
could be translated probably better as endurance or perseverance. When we think of patience, we
think of just not, you know, having a fit or flipping out
or panicking, but it's more passive in nature where perseverance
and endurance emphasizes an activity on our part. In other words,
we're going forward. We're not just passively waiting
as all these things affect us and afflict us, but rather we're
enduring or persevering in the midst of them. So that's probably
the emphasis, and it's the same sort of thing that we see in
Hebrews 12.1, the same idea that we are to run with endurance
the race that is set before us. Not that we are not to have patience,
and certainly patience is part of the definition, but endurance
and perseverance, going through it. knowing that the testing
of your faith produces what? It produces endurance. How do
we grow in perseverance or endurance? It's through affliction. It's
through hardship. It's through trial. How do we
learn more patience? It's through the difficult circumstances
in our lives. Now, you've probably heard me
say before that we don't learn patience sitting on a beach,
sipping a drink by the water. We learn patience in the crux
of life. We learn patience when we have
a lot of issues and a lot of hardships. That's the proving
ground or training ground for patience in that particular way. And then notice that the trials
have a theological purpose. God produces endurance by strengthening
the soul through trial. It's just like in the physical
realm. I mean, if you want to run a marathon, you don't get
up tomorrow morning and go run 26 miles. I mean, you might,
but you're an anomaly. Most people have to start with
one mile and then increase it to two miles and then three miles.
If you want to turn that fan on, that would be utterly delightful.
So there is this growth, there is this building up, and that's
the Christian life. You see, at times people get
saved, they get converted, and then they're a bit sort of exasperated
or frustrated that they haven't grown like they think they should.
Well, it takes time. You don't just run a 26-mile
marathon. You don't just, you know, high
jump whatever the world record is. You have to build up. And
God uses the trials and the afflictions and the testings and the difficulties
in our lives to cause us to persevere and to endure. That's James'
point. God has a theological purpose
in view. David says tempered metal is
more precious than the raw material. You've got to put it in that
forge. You've got to fire it up. You've got to get the impurities
out, and that's what afflictions do in the lives of God's people.
Manton says God's aim in your afflictions is not destruction,
but trial, as gold is put into the furnace to be refined, not
consumed. Now, I think that has a world
of information for us as well, because another reflex when trials
come, not only do we not count it all joy, but we question why
is God doing this to us? In other words, we treat God
as if he's an adversary because we've fallen into affliction.
If we're tracking with Manton, we need to see God as our best
friend as he's giving us these things, because it's for our
good. It's like a parent training the
child. If you only indulge your children
with sweets and sugar and refined carbohydrates and couches and
no activity, no nothing, you're going to spoil that brat. He's
going to be absolutely obnoxious. And if God were to treat us in
that manner, He would be spoiling us and we would be obnoxious.
It's afflictions, it's trials, it's testing, it's hardship that
produces the gold that God is after. And that's James' point. And then notice verse 4. He says,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance
or perseverance, verse 3, and then verse 4, but let patience
have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking nothing. Again, you see how virtue produces
virtue. Virtue produces more virtue.
Now here, the word perfection is not perfectionism. If you
haven't learned at this church yet that you're never going to
be perfect in this world, you haven't been listening. Because
I know that I review this often. We are not going to be perfect
on this side of heaven. It's not perfection. The perfection
could be maturity. God uses these things to grow
us up. God uses these things to conform
us further onto the image of Jesus Christ, and maturity is
certainly in view. As well, it could be blamelessness.
We see that with Noah in Genesis chapter 6, verse 9. He's a perfect
man. The margin, I think, captures
it well. He's a blameless man. And so you see, when you fall
into these various trials, you're supposed to count it all joy.
Why do you count it all joy? Because you're a theologian.
And you live in God's world. You're not an atheist. You don't
say, well, there's afflictions. I have no idea, no frame of reference
on what to do with this. James says no. You know what
happens in God's world. When you fall into these various
trials, you know that the testing of your faith produces patience.
And then patience gets perfect or complete. You get to the point
where you're blameless and you're walking in holiness and in righteousness. Now, it's not going to be realized
completely until the end when we receive the crown of life
that he speaks of in verse 12. But you see, there is a purpose
for afflictions in God's people, and that's what James highlights.
Now, secondly, look at the believer's request during trials. We count
it all joy. We reflect upon the theology
of James 1, and we know that the testing of our faith produces
patience. Okay, so how do we navigate our
way through this particular trial, this particular test, this particular
affliction? Well, James tells us we need
wisdom. Verse 5. He says, if any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally
and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Now again,
there's an assumption here, just like there is in verse 2. The
assumption is, you're going to have trials. That's the assumption. Well, here in verse 5, the assumption
is, you're not going to have wisdom, okay? I don't want to
be mean or vicious or unkind or make you feel bad, but that's
what James assumes. When the trials and the afflictions
hit you, you need to cry out to God for wisdom. And that is
another good effect or a good sort of byproduct of the afflictions
and trials and the difficulties we have. It evokes prayer from
us, and it evokes prayer for wisdom in particular. Because
how many of us, on a regular basis, pray for wisdom? How many
of us are Solomon-like in our prayers to the Lord God? How
many of us start the day saying, God, would you please grant me
wisdom so I can make it through the day in this miserable world,
with this miserable heart, doing all that I do for your glory
and honor? Wisdom is a precious commodity in the lives of God's
people. So he assumes that we will lack
wisdom, and he assumes, or rather commands, that we ask God for
wisdom. Now, in the context, this isn't
a general wisdom on how to live life in this godless world, but
it's specifically connected to the trials, to the afflictions,
to the hardships that we face. Manton again says, it, wisdom,
is to be restrained to the circumstances of the text, not taken generally. He intends wisdom or skill to
bear afflictions. So again, I think these are contrary
to what we would typically think when it comes time for an affliction.
We wouldn't want to rejoice in the affliction, and we certainly
wouldn't want to pray for wisdom. What is the first response? Now again, you may be the exception
to the rule, but for a lot of us, when afflictions hit, the
first prayer to God is, please take the affliction away. it
isn't usually, grant me the wisdom to be able to bear up under the
affliction. And again, you guys may have
mastered, maybe I'm preaching only to myself tonight, and you're
all witnessing this unholy soliloquy here, but, okay, you think not
good. If this was a black church, we
could say, can I get an amen? Yeah, so he's telling us to respond
in ways that are not typical. Count it all joy and ask God
for wisdom. Now notice what he says. Verse
5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. The means
employed for the acquisition of wisdom, it's prayer. And at
the end of James, it ends on prayer. James obviously emphasizes
prayer. He begins with prayer, James
1, 4 and 5. And then he ends on prayer in
James 5, 13 to 18. Now, we go back to Matthew chapter
7. Again, I think there's a lot of Matthew in James. Matthew's
gospel is what I mean. Matthew chapter 7. We have Jesus'
words to his people on how they're supposed to seek him for things
that they need. And at least in the English translation,
the acronym is great. A-S-K. Ask, Seek, Knock. That's
the flow of the text. It's really cool, isn't it? Notice
in verse 7, "...ask and it will be given to you, seek and you
will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone
who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks
it will be opened." Or what man is there among you, if his son
asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, love...
Jesus' assumption there too, right? James assumes that we're
going to fall into trials and that we're not going to have
wisdom, so we need to ask for it. Look at Jesus' assumption
with reference to his disciples. And if you, being evil men, love
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? Talk about a powerful
assumption in terms of total depravity or at least remaining
corruption. Nobody ever gets mad at Jesus
when he says stuff like this because I don't think they read
carefully enough. I mean liberals in the early
part, I don't mean political liberals, I mean theological
liberals, in the early part of the 20th century loved the Sermon
on the Mount. For them, all it was was a sort
of set of rules on how to be good human beings. And that's
basically what Jesus did. He came to teach us how to be
good human beings. You be a good human being like
He is, and everything will be good. You'll enter into heaven.
But they seem to bypass these sorts of statements of Jesus
when he says, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask Him? And James' emphasis
is the same. If any of you lacks wisdom, let
him ask of God. Now that, again, is counterintuitive. On the one hand, when we fall
into trials, we don't count it joy. On the other hand, when
we fall into trials, we don't seek wisdom. And on the other
hand, when we're told to seek wisdom, we don't typically ask
God. We read books on wisdom. We discuss
how to get wisdom. We enroll in a Sunday school
class on wisdom. We buy the latest DVD series
on attaining wisdom. But he says, ask of God. You
see, you always have that availability. You always have God. You always
have access to the throne of grace. And James emphasizes that. If any of you lacks wisdom, which
all of you do, you should understand that too. If any of you lacks
wisdom, let him ask of God. God is the source and giver of
wisdom. If we need wisdom, we go to God
because He is the source and giver of it. Job 9.4, God is
wise in heart and mighty in strength. Job 12.13, with Him are wisdom
and strength. He has counsel and understanding.
Psalm 147.5, great is our Lord and mighty in power. His understanding
is infinite. Isaiah 40, 28, his understanding
is unsearchable. Romans 16, 27, to God alone wise,
be glory through Jesus Christ forever, amen. And Colossians
2, 3, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
You see, the resources are available. The wisdom that you need to navigate
through your current trial is there. You just need to ask God. Thomas Manton again, who by the
way is very good on James, but very voluminous. He wrote a lot
or preached a lot on James, so if you have some time, well even
if you don't, skim through Manton, you'll be the better for it.
Manton says, God will have everything fetched out by prayer. He giveth
nothing without asking. We usually wear with thanks what
we win by prayer, and those comforts are best improved which we receive
upon our knees. pithy, puritanical way of saying
it. Now notice what James goes on
to do. He says, if any of you lacks
wisdom, let him ask of God, and then he encourages us in this. He doesn't just say, ask of God,
and then he moves on. But he says, ask of God, and
then he gives us three encouragements as to why we ought to ask of
God. Isn't the Bible great? God is
so glorious. God offers us blessing, and then
He encourages us why we should come for the blessing. He incentivizes
His people. He gives us incentives to sue
out in prayer for the various blessings that He promotes. Notice,
in the first place, He gives to all who ask. So what ought
we to conclude? If we're going through an affliction,
or a trial, or a testing, or a hardship, and we don't have
wisdom, it's because we didn't ask, right? Because He gives
to all who ask. And so if you find yourself having
come up short in the wisdom aisle, then you need to reflect upon
your own prayerlessness. Proverbs 2, 6, and 7, for the
Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge
and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for
the upright. He is a shield to those who walk
uprightly. So he gives to all who ask, but
not only that, he gives liberally. Notice what James says, who gives
to all liberally and without reproach. Liberally. He doesn't
just sort of miserly dole it out. He doesn't just say, okay,
well, here's your two cents for today. No, he gives it liberally,
profusely. He gives it beneficently. Calvin
says, hence no man, based on this reality, ought to deprive
himself of so great a privilege. If you then, being evil, love
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
in heaven give good gifts to his children, to those who ask. He gives to all, and he gives
liberally. And then it says he does not
reproach. He does not upbraid, as the old
King James has it. He doesn't condemn. He doesn't mock. He doesn't scorn. And the best way I can illustrate
this is if I were to say to my child, you're coming back to
me for that very same thing again? God never does that when we come
to him for wisdom. He doesn't upbraid us. He doesn't
reproach us. He doesn't sort of slap himself
on the forehead and say, you again? You're looking for wisdom?
How did God respond when Solomon asked for wisdom? God rejoiced. God delighted. I kind of get
it from that passage that not a lot of people are asking for
wisdom. If you study the Word of God and you see how Solomon
prays, it's not that the Lord is surprised I'm speaking in
the manner of men, but the Lord is like, really? You're asking
for wisdom? That's not the common request
from my people. My people want deliverance. My
people want ease. They want comfort. They want
to navigate through this life without trials and afflictions.
No, we want wisdom to go through these afflictions, and God's
not going to upbraid us, He's not going to reproach us. Now,
it doesn't specify, but there are some reasons, and I'm probably
dependent on Manton here, but why do we need this wisdom to
go through trials? Well, in the first place, in
order to see the hand of God in our afflictions. We really
need to be able to see the hand of God in our afflictions, and
wisdom will contribute to that. Because if we don't have wisdom,
we'll only see bad things in the midst of the trial. We won't
count it all, Joy. We won't have any sort of frame
of reference in the sense that God is working this for our good. Remember, when David is cursed
by Shimei in 2 Samuel 16, he's able to see that this is of the
Lord, right? His servants want to deal with
Shimei. They want to behead the man of
his primary appendage, and yet David says, no, this is God.
Secondly, in the midst of trials, we need to be reminded of God's
sovereignty. Because what happens as well
is that we think, well, you know, God's on a holiday, God obviously
isn't on watch, because I'm going through these sufferings and
these hardships. We need that Romans 8, 28 orientation, and
wisdom helps us to get it. As well, we need to understand
the good end of God in our afflictions. This is most important. When
God brings afflictions, when He brings trials, when He brings
these tests, His goal and ultimate end is not our ruination. It is not our demise. It is His
glory and our further conformity unto Jesus. That's a settled
axiom in Scripture. God is not out to get His people. God is out to conform His people
unto the image of Jesus. That's the reality, okay? When
you're brought up Roman Catholic, you have this thought that God
is out to get you. If you're not Roman Catholic,
but you're of a certain disposition, you might have that thought as
well. God has set me up to fail so that he can get me. That's
not the point in Romans 8, 28. God causes all things to work
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose. Wisdom helps us to understand
that. And then a fourth reason as to
why we need wisdom in the midst of affliction. It is to help
regulate our response to our afflictions. In other words,
we're not supposed to freak out, we're not supposed to lose it,
we're not supposed to come unglued. Manton says, to moderate the
violences of our own passions. He that lives by sense, will,
and passion is not wise. Skill is required of us to apply
apt counsels and comforts that our hearts may be above the misery
that our flesh is under." It's a beautiful statement, brethren.
That is not the way we want to go through afflictions and trials
and hardships governed by sense, will, and passion. As Manton
says, that's not wise. We need wisdom to navigate through
it in an objective manner, reflecting upon the theological purposes
of God and the reality that He is conforming us under the image
of His beloved Son. Now notice, He not only enjoins
upon us to ask God for wisdom, but He highlights the reality
of faith. Verses 6 to 8. He says, let him
ask in faith. Let him ask in faith. So the
focus in verse 5 is theological in nature. Okay? Ask of God,
who gives to all liberally and without reproach. So in verse
5, the spotlight is on God. Verse 5, the spotlight is upon
the resources. Verse 5, the emphasis is upon
the goodness and the kindness of God to provide those things
necessary. Verses 6 to 8 emphasizes man's
response to this God who grants wisdom. And so James says that
we must ask in faith. The emphasis on faith, again,
certain sort of evidences that we have, the Gospel of Matthew,
Matthew 17, Matthew 21, and, of course, Hebrews 11. Those
who come to God must not only believe that He is, but that
He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. John Gill
says, not only in the faith of the divine being that God is,
but in the faith of the promises he has made, and in the faith
of his power and faithfulness to perform them, and in the faith
of this, that whatever is asked according to the will of God
and is for his glory and his people's good shall be given."
So yeah, we believe in the divine being of God. We believe in his
power. We believe in his glory. But
we believe in his willingness and the profuseness of his grace
to bestow that wisdom upon us. So James says all of the resources
are there in God, but when you go to God, you need to ask in
faith. If you do not ask in faith, you
are going to be in trouble. Notice in verse 6, let him who
asks in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave
of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that
man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is
a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." So James underscores
the danger of doubt. Jesus underscores the danger
of doubt. Again, we need to understand
that Jesus and James are not health, wealth, prosperity preachers. They're not telling you that
if you have enough faith, you can do whatever it is you want.
You are basically exhorted here under God to believe in God. Now obviously God is able to
bless persons that even have little faith, as I'm sure we
would all testify, and God is able to bless persons that have
at one time or another entertained doubt, as I'm sure we can all
testify. The emphasis on Christian response
to the God of heaven and earth is faith. If you're not exercising
faith, you'll be unsettled, unanswered, and unstable, according to James. Notice, first, unsettled. Verse six, let him ask in faith
with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the
sea driven and tossed by the wind. That's an unsettled man. What sort of explains his unsettledness? It's his lack of faith in God.
That's the emphasis. The metaphor of a stormy sea
was a common one. In fact, look at a doctrinal
application in Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4, we
see the purpose of gospel ministry, the gifts given by Christ to
the church. And in verse 14, one of the emphases,
that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine. by the trickery of men in the
cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting." Unsettledness in the
Christian life is not to be coveted. That's to be rejected and resisted. We want to be settled. And the
way of settlement in the Christian life is through faith in the
Lord God Most High. Notice that James goes on to
say he will be unanswered. Verse 7, for let not that man
suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. The tendency
is to suppose we will be answered, but the reality is that we will
not. If we have this lack of faith,
the Lord God says through His inspired man, James, that we
will not receive this. And again, we need to generalize
this because all of us at the throne of grace, at one time
or another, have not expressed the kind of faith that James
is calling upon us here. And God is good, God is gracious,
and God oftentimes overrules that. But in terms of our normal
day-to-day operations, and especially when we fall into afflictions,
the reflex on the part of the people of God is faith in God,
it's trust in His promises, it's trust in His provision, it's
trust in His ability to see us through it and to bring glory
to His name. And then finally, He says that
it'll be unstable. So unsettled, unanswered, and
unstable. Verse 8, he is a double-minded
man, unstable in not just some of his ways, but in all of his
ways. You see, a lack of faith in the
midst of reflection sort of boils down to this. But if we take
the man out of a fligshed, and he has this little faith in God,
and he has a lack of, you know, sort of confidence in God, this
nevertheless describes him, an unsettled, unanswered, and unstable
man. Now, the word James uses here
is literally double-souled or double-minded. That's where the
emphasis lies. Look at James 4.8. James 4.8,
draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. cleanse your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
Double-minded is bad. Single-minded is good. And in
verse 8, chapter 1, he says that that faithless man, asking of
God, not really believing God will provide, God will give the
wisdom necessary, for the affliction, that man is unstable. The word reflects a departure
from what God calls His people to in Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy
18, and then again in Proverbs 4, this emphasis on a single-mindedness. The word was used of unfaithful
Israel in 1 Kings 18, 2 Kings 17, and Hosea chapter 10. You see, it's a powerful theological
word that James is pressing upon those who ask of God without
the requisite faith. And so, in summary, James says,
when we go through trials, there's a disposition we're supposed
to have. And when we go through trials, there's a particular
request we're supposed to make. And when we make that request,
we're supposed to do so in faith, lest we be shown up to be unsettled,
unanswered, and unstable men. and women, okay? It's inclusive. Man means man and woman, at least
up until these confused days in which we live. Now, just a
couple of concluding thoughts and then we'll close. First,
the believer's preparation for trials. I'm always a bit hesitant
to talk to these things because sometimes people say, well, you
know, I haven't really gone through anything really hard, and I always
want to say, but you will. And I don't mean that in a mean
way or an unkind way, but it is the reality. If Jesus Christ
learned obedience through suffering in Hebrews 5, 8, I don't know
why it is in the world we think that we're going to go through
and learn obedience through not suffering. It's just the reality. There's, you know, that's varying
degrees and, you know, not everybody's a Job and not everybody goes
through what the Apostle Paul went through according to 2 Corinthians
11. Not everybody is the man of sorrows that was Jesus Christ,
but everybody living in a sin-cursed world who desire to live godly
in Christ Jesus, they're gonna have some issues along the way.
It's inevitable. There's going to be some difficulties
that confront us. And so we need to be prepared. If we haven't gone through these
things, you need to be prepared. And the way of preparation isn't
to go live on an island somewhere, because you're still going to
have something happen there. You'd fall in the water and get
stung by a jellyfish. There's always going to be an
issue. But studying passages like these, studying Romans 5,
studying the Psalms, learning lamentation from the psalmists
and from Jeremiah the prophet. Lamentation is a biblical category. The people of God, when they
are afflicted, have a God that they can pour their afflictions
upon. Cast your burdens upon God because He cares for you. You see, God is a gracious Father
that hears the prayers and even the lamentations of His people. Thomas Manton again says, Christ's
eyesalve must clear your sight or else you cannot make a right
judgment. There is no proper and fit apprehension of things
till you get within the veil and see by the light of the sanctuary
lamp. A man that hath no other light
but reason and nature cannot judge of those things. God's
riddles are only open to those that plow with God's heifer,
and it is by God's Spirit that we come to discern and esteem
the things that are of God." Beautiful. I love that. glorious
statement, God's riddles are only open to those that plow
with God's heifer. You get the reference. Remember,
Samson said, you would have never gotten my riddle if you hadn't
plowed with my heifer. And so Manton says, we need to
plow with the heifer. We need to go to the word of
God. We need to prepare. and we need to determine God's
purposes for trials in our lives. I mean, that's a settled reality.
Romans 8, 28 is truth. He causes all things to work
for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose. Secondly, we need to remember
our disposition during trial, certainly the joy that James
tells us, certainly as well the request for wisdom that James
exhorts us on, but just some broader sort of concerns. We
must remember God's purposes and not rage against God. See,
that's a reflex in the people of God. Well, why is God doing
that? Or why does God let these things happen? I don't know. And you may never know. But we
know that God knows and God has it all according to his purpose. There is that tendency to get
upset when bad things happen. There is that tendency to blame
people. There is that tendency to blame
God. We saw that with reference to
September 11th. All the people were saying, well,
where was God on September 11th? We need a scapegoat. We need
somebody to blame. God was not on the throne when
those planes flew into those towers. That's the mindset. We see it in the world, but we
see it in the church, and we see it with individual believers.
This anger, this rage against God, because things are the way
that things are. Brethren, God has his purposes.
Sing, God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. Get that hymn in your heart,
because that is a beautiful statement with reference to the infinite
sovereignty of God in the midst of the sorrows and sufferings.
And even one better, learn about the author of that particular
hymn. If you know nothing of William Cooper, do yourself a
favor and learn something of William Cooper. See, I think
we have this mindset that, you know, hymn writers and Christian
poets and apostles and Puritans were these guys that sat in ivory
towers, unblemished by the world, just doing holy things. Cooper
was a mess, brethren. Cooper was a mess. There was
one man God used to keep Cooper alive, and that was John Newton.
There was a time when Cooper was so despondent, so despairing. I think he might have been suicidal.
I know he had instances in his life. And Newton at one point
said, we ought to write a hymn book. And they did. They wrote the only hymns. I
mean, talk about a good brother in Christ. You want to off yourself,
and he says, let's write hymns instead. Okay. And then he just
started writing hymns. Cooper went through it, brethren,
that hymn by Horatio Spafford, It Is Well With My Soul. He lost
his family at sea. I mean, it's not the case that
the apostles and the prophets and the Christian writers and
the Puritans and these writers of hymns just sat untainted by
the world, only ever thinking holy thoughts. They were real
men with real struggles and real hardships and real aches and
real pains, and they had to navigate through it all. And they were
able to by the grace of God. And they didn't do it by raging
against God. You see, you know, you hear about
this sort of therapy. It's okay to get mad at God and
rage against God and get angry. No, it isn't. God is God and
we are not. We don't have Anything approaching
the wisdom that God has, He knows everything, He has purposed everything,
and He has promised that it is for our good if we love Him and
were to call according to His purposes. And so rage against
God is never, ever a good thing. Secondly, we must recognize His
purposes so that we don't panic. So there's rage and panic. Notice,
maybe I'm just doing that sort of inventory here. James says,
count it all joy. Don't rage against God and don't
panic. Panic never helps anything, right?
If you're drowning, the last thing you should do is panic
because then you're going to speed up the drowning process.
We're not supposed to panic when God brings afflictions our way.
We must, thirdly, count it all joy when various trials come.
Manton again says, a Christian is a bird that can sing in winter
as well as in spring. He can live in the fire like
Moses' bush, burn and not be consumed, nay, leap in the fire. So that's the reality of this. We can count it all joy. Fourthly,
we must endure trial or endure during the trial so that God's
purposes are realized in our lives. If he is doing this, that
means he is taking the time again, according to the manner of men,
God doesn't take time to do certain things, but bear with me, He
is taking the time out of His busy schedule to conform us more
unto the image of Jesus Christ. That is a blessing and a wonderful
and a good thing. I'm often more suspicious of
the person that never has trial. Now don't go wonky with that,
well I haven't had trials, I should go out and find something. No,
they'll find you, you don't need to go do that. But if there's
never a hardship, or never an issue, or never a difficulty,
we need to be mindful that God typically deals with His people
this way. Fifth, we must consider the conduct of other saints who
went through trials. Isn't this Hebrews 11? Hebrews
11 is a grand exhortation for us to run with endurance the
race that is set before us. See, Hebrews 12 is connected
intimately to 11, not just by number, but by concept and by
theme. The apostle is urging the people
of God to persevere. The Apostle is urging the people
of God to endure. The Apostle is urging the people
of God to go forward, ultimately looking unto Jesus, but mindful
of this great cloud of witnesses that has gone before us, those
who had gone through various trials, various afflictions,
various hardships and difficulties, and nevertheless, they, by God's
grace, made it. And then finally, we must seek
wisdom so that we can successfully navigate through trials. So my
encouragement to all of us, especially to me, is when a trial or affliction
or difficulty comes, the first response ought not to be, God,
take this affliction. I don't think we can never pray
that, but the first prayer ought to be, Lord, grant me wisdom.
I remember we got a prayer letter. This is going back many, many,
many, many years. I think it was a VLM. and it
was China. I'm pretty convinced it was China.
We're going 20 years back. And the brother said, don't pray
that God will take our trials. Pray that God will give us shoulders
to bear them up. I was like, wow, that's great. Because here
in the West, we just go right for the take it from me. We don't
pray for broader shoulders. We pray for less trials. Thank
you very much. Again, I don't think you can
never pray, God, I'd like to not have this trial. I think
that's a legit. You know, even Jesus, according to his humanity
in the garden, if it is possible, take this cup from me. There
was an earnest prayer on the part of the Savior to take that
cup from him. But nevertheless, not my will,
but thine, be done. So yeah, you can ask, but get
it in your heads that the first response is to ask for wisdom. Well, let's close in a word of
prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you
for the practicality of the epistle of James and for this very practical
passage concerning trials and testings and afflictions. God,
something I'm sure we're all familiar with, and I pray that
you would help us to count it all joy when we fall into these
things. to ask you for wisdom and to ask in faith. I pray that
you would go with us and that you would help us, God, to glorify
you in our lives, help us to be faithful in this generation,
to hold forth your word of truth, and help us, God, to bring glory
and honor and praise unto you. And we ask through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
