He didn't say, you're preaching a different gospel. James emphasizes salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. If you look at chapter one, verse 18, of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. It's sovereign grace, it's not good works that makes the man accepted by God.

And then in chapter two, verse one, my brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality. And then the sort of passage that Roman Catholicism invokes, and unfortunately has affected some Protestant interpretation, is James 2, 14 to 26. James' point, again, is not that you have to have a mingling of faith plus works in order for salvation. He is simply speaking about those who have professed faith in Jesus, those who have confessed that they are saved by grace through faith, that there is that sanctification that does follow justification.

And all of that, the context makes that very clear. If you look at 2.14, what does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have words? Can faith save him? I think it's better rendered, or at least interpreted, can that faith save him?

And this is the same emphasis of the apostle Paul. Paul preached justification by faith alone, and Paul preached that those justified by faith alone would let their conduct be worthy of the gospel. So James is addressing those whose conduct is not worthy of the gospel. He invokes the examples of the patriarch and the prostitute.

He points to Rahab. Rahab's hiding of the spies demonstrated, it was a public demonstration, of the faith she had previously exercised in God. Same with Abraham. Abraham was justified when he believed God according to Genesis 15.

Genesis 22, that test of Abraham by God, was a demonstration of his faith. So James' emphasis is the same as the Apostle Paul's.

Introduction

Our focus tonight, however, is going to be on James 1, specifically verses 2 to 8. So I want to read the section, and then we'll look at it in some detail. So James, a bondservant of God, in verse 1, 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."

Trials in the Christian Life

So James addresses something that Paul himself addresses, that the Psalms address, that the prophets address, that the Old Testament throughout addresses. David confesses twice in his life that Yahweh delivered him from all of his adversities. David was not a man who had... David was a man, rather, who had trials and adversities and hardships.

It's just part and parcel of being a child of God. You live in a fallen world, you have remaining corruption, there's going to be some difficulties along the way. So James addresses the presence of trials in the lives of God's people. And in the first section, in verses 2 to 4, he gives us the believer's response to trials, and then in the second section, the believer's request during trials, in verses 5 to 8.

So the response to trials in verses 2 to 4, and then the request of the believer during trials in verses 5 to 8.

The Believer's Response to Trials

So four things to consider under that first section in verses two to four. First, the identification of the trials in view. Secondly, the expectation concerning trials. Third, the disposition necessary during trials.

And then fourthly, the recognition of God's purpose in our trials. So in the first place, to identify.

Identifying the Trials in View

Notice in verse two he says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. If you drop down to verse 13, you'll see the same word used, but with a different nuance. 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 the trials of verse 2 are different than the trials of verse 13.

The trials of verse 2 are those things given to us by God for our betterment, for our improvement, for our further sanctification. The Lord tries or tests his people with the intention of a good outcome. The Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through suffering. It was prophesied that he would be a man of sorrows, he would be acquainted with grief.

He understood that, he embraced that, he knew that that was the will of the Father. The Apostle Paul on several occasions rehearses the trials and the difficulties that he had endured as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in verse 2, it's not talking about a solicitation to do evil. The trial there is not the temptation of verse 13.

He's not saying, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, vis-a-vis solicitations to do evil. That's not something you're to count All joy. You're supposed to resist that. You're supposed to run from that.

You're supposed to pray to God, deliver me from evil. Verse 13, however, is a solicitation to do evil. It's the activity of the devil. He comes to tempt Jesus in Matthew chapter 4.

He comes to tempt the people of God. He roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And so what we find in verse 2 is not what we find in verse 13. The temptations associated with our remaining corruption is where the emphasis lies in verses 13 to 15.

So you need to understand that distinction. James isn't saying when you're tempted to do a bad thing, you should count that as all joy. No, not at all. When you're tested by God, when you're tried by God, when there's afflictions received from God, you're to count that all joy.

John Gill describes it this way, 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 that's the emphasis there, and this passage is calculated to help promote this particular attitude in us, because it is counterintuitive when we consider then the disposition necessary during trials. But before that,

The Expectation of Trials

Note the expectation concerning trials. Verse 2, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. That's an assumption. It's a presupposition.

It's a given. It's axiomatic. It is foundational. There's going to be trials that the people of God endure.

There's going to be afflictions. There's going to be hardships. There's no two ways around it. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Moving through the Upper Room Discourse, we see in John 15-18, all the way to John 16-4, Jesus' emphasis to his disciples that if the world hates me, then it's certainly going to hate you. And if the world that hated me and crucified me, they're going to hate you, and they're going to cast you out of their synagogues, they're going to deliver you up to death, and in that, they're going to think they're doing God's service. So the assumption by James is not maybe, perhaps, there's a possibility, I've heard it been said before, that along the way some of God's people have had these difficulties and these afflictions. No, it's an assumption, count it all joy, when you fall into various trials.

So the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ underscores that reality. the experience of the early disciples in Acts 12, the imprisonment of Peter, and the beheading of James. Paul's statement in Acts 14.22, he says, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. As well, that statement that I just invoked from 2 Timothy 3, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So there's an inevitability involved with reference to these particular trials.

If you look at Peter, 1 Peter chapter 4, a passage we'll refer to a bit later, but in 1 Peter chapter 4, Peter gives attitudes for persecution. Christian attitudes with reference to persecution. He tells us first, we're to expect it in verse 12. He then says we're to exult in it, not exalt, but exult.

That means to rejoice in it. I wanted to alliterate here. to exult in it in verses 13 and 14, evaluate its cause in verses 15 to 18, and then entrust yourself to God in verse 19. So James is coming at the same issue that Peter does with the same sort of reasoning or rationale. But notice in Peter at chapter 4, verse 12, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.

It's not strange that trials come upon the people of God. It's not strange in light of the fact that our Lord learned obedience through suffering. It's not strange in light of the fact that we have remaining corruption and God is presently conforming us unto the image of his beloved Son and oftentimes the way that he does that is through affliction and hardship and trial. The psalmist said, it was good for me that I was afflicted.

Before I was... he speaks of that reality of having gone astray. Affliction brings him back to the Lord Most High. So James says that we must expect that this is going to happen. So the Lord teaches this, and then James' own context highlights this.

If you go back to chapter 1, the people to whom James wrote were exiles, according to James 1.1, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. The people James wrote to suffered poverty, according to chapter 1, verse 9, chapter 2, verses 1 to 7, and chapter 2, verses 15 to 17, as well in 4.13 and 5.11. And then the people James wrote to suffered religious persecution. So James isn't making up this concept in the perhaps chance that they're going to undergo some sort of trial or hardship.

And I think this is one of those pernicious errors that has been perpetuated by the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. But there is a great degree of spillover into evangelicalism and perhaps even into Reformed churches. We think we're children of the king. There shouldn't be any hardship.

Shouldn't be any difficulty, shouldn't be any problems. That's not what Jesus promised in John 16.33. He says, in this world you will have tribulation. That's the promise of Christ.

What the encouragement is, be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. So James, along with every other biblical author under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, assumes the reality and the expectation concerning trials.

The Disposition Necessary in Trials

Now note, thirdly, the disposition necessary. He says, count it all joy. Count it all joy. That is counterintuitive to when afflictions and trials fall upon us.

If you're like me, when a trial or affliction comes, the first avenue in terms of the throne of grace is, Lord, please remove the trial. Lord, please take the affliction. Lord, please smooth out these difficulties. Lord, please help me to not go psychotic in the midst of these particular things.

He says, count it all joy. Now, I'm not suggesting, and I don't think James is teaching, that there's joy in suffering for suffering's sake. It's in this particular context, and he's going to lead us by the hand, as to how we can count it all joy when we fall into various trials. Because God has his purpose and plan here in the conforming of us unto the image of his beloved Son.

So he says, count it all joy. He's going to give specific reason or rationale for that in verse three, but this is a necessary reminder. When afflictions come, when trials hit us, the first knee-jerk response ought not to be, well, why has God done this to me? Or where is God in the midst of these things?

That's not the way that we're supposed to respond. Again, we don't chop a finger off and then smile and laugh and have giddiness in our hearts. That's not what I'm suggesting. There's not joy in the act of suffering.

There's joy in the effect of suffering and trial and affliction and hardship. And that's what James will come to address. This is a reminder. Calvin says he means, in short, that there's nothing in afflictions which ought to disturb our joy.

We're told in Scripture to rejoice always. Paul even says, I say again, rejoice always. So there's this overarching emphasis with reference to the Christian life that we're to have a joyful disposition, a joyful attitude. Again, that doesn't mean you walk around with a big fake or painted grin on your face, but there's that settled peace with God as a result of justification by faith alone.

The reality that if we get hit by a car, we enter into the presence of God, we're going to be accepted in the beloved. There's a certain amount of joy that that doctrine of justification should yield to the believer in all times and in all seasons and in all circumstances. So the emphasis here is to remind us that we're not to have those knee-jerk reactions, to call into question the goodness or the justice of God, and then to impugn evil upon God for the things that have befallen us. That is a response that oftentimes is intuitive.

So James's words are counterintuitive in terms of what we do when trials affect us. We are to count it all joy. Turn back to the Gospel of Matthew in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter five, as I understand it, Susie Spurgeon had written this or had a, I don't think it was a painting, some sort of a, what do they call that?

Words that are framed and hung it on the wall in their bedroom because Spurgeon definitely received a lot of scorn and persecution for being a gospel preacher. His brother, Pastor Romain, pointed out he was well loved by his people. But he was not well loved by, not his people. He was, you know, hated by the hyper-Calvinists, well, I don't, hated, not liked by the Arminians, and then the press had a field day with him.

So he knew something of persecution. Notice in chapter 5 of Matthew's Gospel, verses 10 to 12, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There's that counter-intuitiveness with reference to the Beatitudes. Notice verse 3.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. That's not typically the response to those who find themselves in poverty of spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Literally, happy are those who mourn.

It's counterintuitive. We need to be told this. We need to be reminded of this. We need to be instructed that this is kingdom ethics for the children of God, justified freely by His grace.

So back to verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 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." Same sort of a method there. He tells them to rejoice, he tells them that they're blessed, and he tells them the reason why.

Not because there's virtue in the act of suffering. There's virtue in the act of being persecuted. There's virtue in the act of going through these these aches and pains. No, he says specifically, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You can turn to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, see a similar emphasis with reference to Moses, Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 23, by faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Now, verse 26 is going to explain why he does that, because Moses was a good monk and he knew that there was virtue in suffering. No, that's not what the text says, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. In other words, the suffering and the hardship and the reproach were constant reminders that there was a better city, a more glorious habitation, the reality that it's better to suffer for Christ than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. So James does that in our text.

God's Purpose in Trials

And that brings us to the fourth point under the main head, the recognition of God's purpose in our trials. So after having said, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, in verses three and four he tells us the virtue and the value. Notice the virtue, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Patience doesn't come through book learning.

I mean, you can learn about patience, but patience comes usually in the crucible of suffering, hardship, and affliction. You don't learn patience when you're sitting on a sunny beach sipping your favorite beverage. That's not the time that you learn patience. You learn patience in crunch time.

You learn patience when you're stretched. You learn patience when everything around you seems to be falling down. And so he says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. The believer must know what James relates here.

That's absolutely essential. If you're not in tune with what James says concerning trials and the knee-jerk reaction is to say, where is God? How come he's doing this? Or how come he's not good to me?

If your knee-jerk reaction is to lose your mind over the situation you find yourself in, if your knee-jerk reaction is anger and hatred and animosity, and it's not joy, then you're not going to know that the testing of your faith produces patience. So James tells us, know this, and by knowing this, it will help you imbibe what I've said to you in verse 2. In other words, if you know that the testing of your faith produces patience, when the testing of your faith comes, you'll count it all joy. This is a tightly knit argument designed to not only provide for us the imperative, but to give us the rationale or the reason, the justification for that imperative.

So James says the believer must know what James says here. Manton says ignorance is the cause of sorrow. So many times people don't have a biblical doctrine of what trial is, what affliction is, what hardship is, what difficulty is. They don't have a doctrine of God's providence wherein he governs all his creatures and all their actions. that the good comes from God, but the bad comes from God as well.

And when believers don't know these things, they're not going to respond to trials in the way that James says, to count it all joy. Why? Because you know certain truths about God. You know certain truths revealed in God's Word.

You see them in the lives of David. You see them in the lives of Paul. You see them in the lives of the saints throughout the history of the church. You see them there demonstrated in vivid detail.

So we need to know what God has orchestrated. The believer must be prepared and sustained by such knowledge. So it's good to hide these sorts of passages in your heart such that when trial does come, you're ready for it. I'm not saying that every moment of every day you're going to suffer affliction and trial and hardship.

No. The Bible doesn't say that, but the Bible does say that there is going to be suffering, there's going to be trial, there's going to be hardship. So as one who prepares, it's good to get this good bit of practical theology in your head so that when trial does come. Notice he says that knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

We could translate that word as endurance, or perseverance. As one commentator says, the emphasis is not passivity, but being bravely patient with suffering until it dissipates. So the same word is used elsewhere, it's translated as endurance or as perseverance. And I think that's the emphasis here, probably the margin, yup, endurance or perseverance.

So knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance or perseverance. How do I learn to persevere? How do I learn to endure? Well, through the afflictions and the trials and the hardships that God sends your way.

That's the means by which He conforms us evermore to the purpose of God Almighty. The trials, as we see here, have a theological purpose. God's not just throwing trials into our life, you know, the way we might mock somebody or the way we might upbraid somebody. Hey, look at that.

I, you know, put Saran wrap on the toilet and he had an accident. That's not what God's doing with trials. There's a theological purpose behind this. And if we don't have that theological purpose, we're not going to respond to trials by counting it all joy.

We need to know God and His purpose and providence in our lives in order to respond to these things in a way that glorifies Him. So God produces endurance by strengthening the soul through trial. A modern commentator, Peter David, says, tempered metal is more precious than the raw material. How do you get tempered metal?

Through a forge, through fire, through burning out the dross. That's the emphasis that James is setting forth here. So how do we count it all joy when we fall into various trials? Because we know the practical theology of James that these testings of our faith produce patience.

So the virtue is knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. The virtue isn't us knowing that. The virtue is that endurance or perseverance that comes as a result of God's having tried us by fire. And then the value, notice in verse 4, he says, but let patience or endurance or perseverance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Virtue begets virtue. When you respond properly, it sets off a chain of better responses in the future. If you respond improperly, typically it's a downward spiral. So if at the initial outbreak of trial you respond with anger, or whining, or grumbling, or why did you desert me, oh God, most likely the trial isn't going to benefit you the way that it would if you followed James' exhortation here and counted it all joy, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

When he says, let patience have its perfect work, he doesn't mean perfection. He doesn't mean sinlessness. The perfection in view could be maturity. The word is used elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 14, Ephesians 4.

The perfection in view could be blamelessness, Genesis 6, 9, with reference to Noah. The marginal note says blameless or having integrity. And the perfection or completeness will not be realized until the eschaton. Notice in verse 12.

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. So the fruition of this is ultimately when we get to heaven. But it affects us in the here and now because as we suffer, when we suffer according to God's revealed will that we find here in James chapter 1, we bring glory to God and a faithful consistent testimony to those who see us going through these trials and afflictions and hardships. I don't want to say this, but it's really pretty simple, isn't it?

James wants us to have a particular attitude with reference to the trials that come from God for our good. And the reality is that we need to know that those things are given to us for our good. The testing of our faith produces patience, and that patience has its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So the believer's response to trials.

Don't want to minimize any sufferings or hardships or afflictions or trials, but in terms of a biblical response, it's pretty simple. It's pretty easy to follow. The logic is clear and it's tight. Here's what you're supposed to do, and here's what you're supposed to do, knowing what you know about the purpose of God in the giving of those particular afflictions.

The Believer's Request During Trials

That brings us then to the believer's request during trials in verses 5 to 8. He speaks first of the pursuit of wisdom, and then secondly, the necessity of faith.

The Pursuit of Wisdom

Now note the pursuit of wisdom here in verse 5. This is very intimately connected to what has preceded. There's not a break here. He's not saying, okay, let's shift directions, and for those of you in the church that want wisdom, so that you can compose proverbs alongside of Solomon, so that you can understand the starry heavens, come to God and ask for wisdom.

No, the wisdom here is the wisdom necessary to navigate the trials and afflictions that we have. So the connection is, or verse 4 rather, highlights the perfection and completion of the one who has been trained under trials and indicates that he will lack nothing. Verse 5 begins with the supposition that believers will lack wisdom. So until you get to this verse 4 reality, ultimately achieved in verse 12, right now, in order to get there, you need wisdom.

And again, notice the counter-intuitiveness of this particular passage. When trials come, we typically ask for their removal. When trials come, we typically ask for better circumstances. When trials come, we ask for bags of money.

But James says when trials come, you need wisdom in order to be able to navigate. Manton again says wisdom is to be restrained to the circumstances of the tax. In other words, this is not a general request for wisdom. It's good that we pray every day for wisdom.

If you're a man, you're a husband, you're a father, you're a worker, you're a citizen, we need wisdom to navigate in each of these areas. There's a general sense where we always stand in need of God's giving us wisdom. But there is the specific application here to the trials that we face and the afflictions and hardships that we undergo. We need wisdom, not deliverance.

We need wisdom. We need joy. We need to understand the theology behind the suffering of God's people. So again, Manton, wisdom is to be restrained to the circumstances of the text, not taken generally.

He intends wisdom or skill to bear afflictions. Wisdom or skill to bear afflictions. John Gill, similarly. It intends wisdom to behave aright under temptations and afflictions.

So verse five, with reference to the, if any of you lacks wisdom, it is specifically conditioned by the context relative to the troubles and the trials that the believer faces. So James, as well, assumes, presupposes, supposes that most likely you will lack wisdom, most likely you'll lack joy, most likely you'll not remember the theology behind the suffering that the people of God go through. So he assumes that pastorally, and then he gives admonition or exhortation on what we do. So he says, let him ask of God.

Great. When we have affliction, instead of being angry with God, instead of blaming God, instead of calling God to respond as to why we're going through such hardship, we're to ask of God for wisdom. Now, God is the source and giver of wisdom, so this makes perfect sense. 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 then that wonderful statement by Paul in Colossians 2, 3, concerning our Lord, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So he says, let him ask of God.

Not, go read a book on affliction. You can read books on affliction. I encourage that. There's a lot of good Christian treatments out there on how to deal with trials, how to go through suffering, how to navigate, all those sorts of things.

But your first stop is the throne of grace to seek wisdom from God to navigate through those trials. And in that wisdom of God, it might be, go find yourself a good Christian book and bone up on God's purposes in trials. Notice as well the means employed for the acquisition of wisdom, primarily prayer. The book begins and ends with prayer.

James begins and ends with prayer. This is similar to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, ask, seek, or Matthew 7 rather, ask, seek, not. Similar to what Jesus says in the upper room discourse, ask in my name. Similar to what you see in 1 Kings chapter 3 when God comes to Solomon in vision and asks Solomon, what do you want?

And Solomon says, I want wisdom. So that's where we go when we're in trial or when we're in difficulty and we need wisdom to navigate. And Manton again 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. Manton on James, at least the bits that I've read, is very much worthwhile, Thomas Manton. So James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, which most likely all of us will, He goes on to encourage, to ask of God, and then he further gives an encouragement. He says, who gives to all liberally and without reproach.

So this is a promise. It's not, you know, if he's got time for you, he might fit you in. If you grovel enough, then he might dole out a few units of wisdom. No, it's a promise who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

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. He's a fountainhead of wisdom. So let him ask of God. and not only let him ask of God, but know this about God. He gives to all liberally and without reproach.

The liberality in view, the old King James has, he upbraideth not. What does he mean by that? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach. Here's what I think he means.

God doesn't say, oh, you again? You're back? You want more wisdom? I don't ever remember getting a father of the year coffee cup.

And I know one of my propensities, when my kids came to me time and time again with the same thing, it was in me to say, again? You did that again? I know these are horrible admissions, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. Again?

James is saying God doesn't do that. It's you again? He doesn't do that. He upbraideth not.

He gives to all liberally. He doesn't, he's not miserly with it. He's not Ebenezer Scrooge. He's not withholding things in some sick manner to get you all twisted up.

No, he gives to all liberally. Calvin says, based on this, hence no man, excuse me, ought to deprive himself of so great a privilege. The ideas of liberality and bountifulness and generosity are in view, along with sincerity and singleness of mind. So James wants you to fetch out wisdom at the throne of grace, and he gives you the promise that he'll receive it, and that he'll receive it abundantly.

He gives it abundantly and without reproach, or liberally and without reproach. And then notice, well James doesn't do this, this is a bit of practical application. The reasons why we need wisdom, if you just kind of comb through scripture, and you read Thomas Manton, you come up with a few ideas here. First, to see the hand of God in our afflictions.

Right? If you are in the midst of something, wisdom will help you to see the hand of God in that something. It's inevitable. God teaches his people, by the wisdom he gives, to understand theologically and practically the various situations that they find themselves in.

Again, David is a wonderful example of this. Job is a wonderful example of this. to secondly, appreciate the sovereignty of God in our afflictions. In Romans 8, 28, we know that God causes all things to work for good. We know that God causes all things to work for good when those are good things.

We know that a job promotion, we know that finding a bag of money, we know that hitting every green light as you're trying to drive through, that's great, yeah, it's causing everything to work for good. I suppose that Paul is speaking about the bad things, the hard things, the difficult things. Those things are overruled, or governed rather, by God in His providence for our good. And it's wisdom that helps us to make that conclusion. as well to understand the good end of God in our afflictions.

Wisdom received by God will help us to apply verses 2 to 4. If we don't have wisdom from God, we're not going to apply verses 2 to 4. And as well, this wisdom will help regulate our response to affliction. regulate our response to our affliction. Again, Manton, 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. That is profound. passions, anger, outbursts, outrage, which is typical for a lot of people that get afflicted, that's not the way to live, as Manton says. You need to govern those things.

How do you govern those things? The wisdom that you fetch out at the throne of grace. How do you govern your flesh? It's by knowing God and receiving the wisdom that he has promised to give to those who ask, and he will not do it with reproach.

In Psalm 73, you have a Psalm of Asaph, and Asaph, in fact, look there for a moment. I don't want to assume familiarity with the Asaphian Psalms. Let's just look at it. Psalm 73.

I don't know that Christians who are not inspired by the Holy Spirit are as honest as the psalmists are with reference to their struggles and their hardships and their difficulties.

Psalm 73: Wisdom and Perspective

Notice in Psalm 73, a psalm of Asaph, truly God is good to Israel to such as are pure in heart. That's axiomatic. He starts the psalm that way. Whatever else I'm going to tell you, this much you need to know.

Don't ever forget that. God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. We believe that, we confess that, we know that that is a perfection of God. Asaph knew it, but Asaph had an Asaphian moment, and he now rehearses that.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men.

Therefore, pride serves as their necklace. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than heart could wish.

They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them.

And they say, how does God know? And is their knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the ungodly who are always at ease. They increase in riches.

Surely I have cleansed my heart and vein, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning." I think we can all relate to that to some degree. I don't know that we're as honest as Asaph here to actually tell people about it. It really bugs me that these people that are bent on destroying the universe constantly prosper.

These people that are pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-sexual perversion, they're just pro-everything that is anti-God. Yeah, it shouldn't bug us. There is justice given us by God. We image God.

One of those perfections is justice and righteousness. So Asaph looks around, he sees the prosperity of the righteous, and it causes him to stumble, especially when he reflects on the suffering of the saints. Notice in verse 15, if I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. till he got wisdom, till he got God's perspective, till he got a bird's eye view from heaven about the conditions on earth.

Then I understood their end. He says, surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment, they are utterly consumed with terrors as a dream when one awakes. So Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image.

You see what he's saying? I saw the prosperity of the godless, I saw the suffering of the godly, and it vaxed my heart until I went into the sanctuary. Then I understood. The godless are going to lose.

The godless are going to be cut off. The godless are going to be judged, and righteously so, by the Most High. See, it was that Godward perspective that he lacked when he's looking around and it's vexing his heart rather than him appreciating the fact that God was going to right every wrong. And so James is telling us we need wisdom to navigate, to see the hand of God, to appreciate the sovereignty of God, to understand the good end of God, and to help regulate our passions in the midst of the trials.

The Necessity of Faith

And then the section ends on the necessity of faith. Notice in verses 6 to 8. And again, he's not saying you need to be saved. You need to look to Jesus and be saved.

He's talking to Christians, professing Christians. He's talking to justified by grace through faith in Jesus believers. And so the faith here is that faith that believers have. Remember, we're justified by faith alone, but that faith is not alone.

It's always accompanied by all other saving graces and is no dead faith. That's our confession of faith that invokes as a proof text James chapter 2. So when we are justified, we have faith in our Lord Jesus that brings us savingly in union with Him. But in the life of sanctification, our faith can grow.

How does our faith grow? By feeding it Scripture, by praying, by using the means that God has ordained. And so now James is going to encourage them with reference to having faith. Don't come to God without faith.

Don't come to God unbelieving. But remember the glorious description in verse 5. 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. Remember, James is writing under the inspiration of the Spirit.

He's not making this up. He's not hoping that this is the case. This is the case. This is the case for every one of God's people.

If we lack wisdom and we ask of God, we can trust that he will give it to us liberally and without reproach. Pretty good. That's why Calvin says, hence no man ought to deprive himself of so great a privilege. You ever been in that condition where I really need this?

Well, have you asked God? Well, I don't usually pray about that. Maybe you should start. Might be a good thing to add to the old prayer list there.

So notice he says in verse 6, let him ask in faith. So the focus in verse 5 is more theological in nature. You need to understand who God is. You need to understand your theology when you come to God asking wisdom.

Verses 6 to 8, the focus is on man. How does a believing man or woman come to that throne of grace to present that petition with reference to wisdom? Well, the emphasis is on faith. As 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 James says, let him ask in faith, and then he gives this condemnation with no doubting. Again, brethren, I understand all too well that most of us don't go to the throne of grace with absolute confidence the way that we ought. and that there's doubts and there is those minglings of little faithness that perplex us and all of that. But James is exhorting the method or manner by which we come to the throne. So let him ask in faith with no doubting.

Now, this danger of doubting is highlighted and illustrated by James in a threefold way. Notice what he goes on to say. For, so don't doubt, 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.

The Danger of Doubting

So the danger of doubting results in an unsettled man, an unanswered man, and an unstable man. So see how this kind of all works together? If you don't have that faith, and it's all doubting, then this is going to be the end game for you. First of all, you'll be unsettled.

The metaphor of a stormy sea was a common one. It's still a common one. It works really well. Paul uses it in Ephesians 4 to talk about the need for the people of God to be instructed well by the teachers of God's Word so that they're not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

So unsettledness we ought to conclude from this text, is not a desired trait in the Christian life. Settledness is a desired trait in the Christian life. Settledness is a virtue that comes not because of our faith, but by the instrumentality of our saving faith in Jesus Christ. We have confidence in God, not just that He is, but that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

We take his promises, we take them to heart, and we bring them to him and pray them back to him. Unsettled, if you doubt. Notice, will be unanswered. 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.

Unsettled. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He'll be unanswered. They'll be unanswered.

You ask in faith. And again, I don't think the idea here is that you're cut off and you're a reprobate and off you go, you go. That's not the issue. When we're struggling and when we don't believe God and when we're not taking God at His word and with His promises, most likely we're not even praying anyway.

If we have a proper view of who God is in light of the situations that we find ourselves in, the reflex of the born-again believer is to pray. It's to come to God. So let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. Now, see, what happens in these kinds of situations is that people come with doubting.

They may offer up a prayer, and they're unanswered. And then they say things like, well, I tried to pray, but it didn't work. Well, that's not the way you should really look at prayer. It didn't work.

It's kind of like a Coke machine. I put a dollar in and it didn't work. It's not a mercenary activity. It's not a barter deal.

It's not, you know, negotiations. Okay, I'll pray 15 units of prayer. I'll get 15 units of wisdom and all the good things that God has promised. That's not it at all.

Rather, we need to understand faith in God, faith in His promises, typically evokes from the believer prayer to God for those things He has promised, and we are not to doubt what God's Word has revealed to us. And then lastly, he will be unstable, literally a double-minded man. James condemns this elsewhere in James chapter 4. So he says in verse 7, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double-minded man. Notice, unstable in all his ways, not just some of his ways, but all of his ways. So unsettledness, unansweredness, and unstableness, those are not good things. By faith in the living God, trust in the written word, it brings settledness, it brings answers, and it brings stability to us.

As I said, the word used is literally double-souled or double-minded. The word reflects a departure from what God calls his people to. You know, just the opposite of what James is commending here and exhorting us on to. The word was used of unfaithful Israel.

And the word is comprehensively applied to all of his ways. So James' exhortation, on the one hand, is very simple. And when I say that, I get, you know, there's words written on a page. It's good syntax.

That means the words all relate to one another. The sentences are structured. The logic is tight. But on the other hand, it's the most difficult thing in the world, isn't it?

Because once trials come, it seems like all this theology goes right out the door and we whine and grumble and complain and say, why me, God? We need to get these texts in our minds and hearts. We need to hide God's word in our hearts that we might not sin against him. We need to know that theology so that it stabilizes us, so that it encourages us, and so that it helps us when we come to these particular situations.

We need to receive passages like these. And most likely, or I would say most helpfully, it's when we're not necessarily in the thick of trials. You don't get your gun and ammo and your knives and all your stuff ready. You don't do that on the battlefield.

You typically, hopefully, I mean, you could, but you usually get geared up and ready to go and then go to the battlefield. You get the theology of suffering in your mind and heart so that when it happens, you're prepared, you're ready, you've got your kit. Manton 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.

He's telling us we need to prepare for trials with passages like these. We need to hide them in our hearts. He says, 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.

Prepare for it. I'm not, you know, hopefully jinxing anyone or vexing anyone, hexing anyone. Okay, now you're going to go out and your car's going to have a flat tire. You're going to run out of gas on the way home.

Butler put a hex on me. No, no, no. I just, you know, anybody that's been in the Christian life long enough knows it's inevitable. There's trial.

I have yet to meet anybody who's been in the way for any amount of times. Oh no, it's only ever been great. Well, just wait. Just wait.

Application: Prepare for Trials

We need to identify God's purpose for trials in our lives. Vis a vis James 1, 2 to 8. And we need to embrace God's comprehensive providence. Our trials ultimately come from God.

Turn back to 1 Peter 4. I mentioned those four observations on that section. In 12 to 19, expect it, exult in it, evaluate its cause, entrust yourself to God. The entrust yourself to God highlights the providence and sovereignty of God in verse 19.

Therefore, let those who suffer, note that next phrase, according to the will of God, commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. How can anybody deny the absolute sovereignty of God? I've never understood how you can open a Bible and come away thinking that God is not absolutely sovereign. I mean, our suffering is according to the will of God.

So having a proper understanding of biblical providence, or God's providence as biblically defined, will help us to understand the things that we are going through and will hopefully promote in us the right response, joy, the knowledge that the testing of our faith produces perseverance and endurance, and the recognition that if we lack wisdom, we ought to ask of God and we ought to do so with faith. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it addresses all areas of our lives. We thank you that you've not left us wondering and seeking and searching for things that don't exist, but scripture is full. of encouragements and exhortations and admonitions just like this. We have many examples in the scriptures of men who suffered, of men who were tried and afflicted and came through by your grace, singing your praises and glorifying your name.

We do long to persevere and endure And we know that trials are one of the means that you use. So give us this mindset, give grace to us and help to us and flood our hearts with wisdom so that we may navigate properly. And we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 6:9; 15; 22
• 1 Kings 3
• Job 9:4; 12:13
• Psalm 73; 73:15; 147:5
• Proverbs 2:6-7
• Isaiah 40:28
• Matthew 4; 5:3; 5:10-12; 7:7-8
• John 15:18-16:4; 16:33
• Acts 12; 14:22
• Romans 8:28; 16:27
• 1 Corinthians 14
• Ephesians 4:14
• Colossians 2:3
• 2 Timothy 3:12
• Hebrews 11:23; 11:26
• James 1:1; 1:2-8; 1:9; 1:12; 1:13; 1:18; 2:1; 2:1-7; 2:14; 2:14-26; 2:15-17; 4:8; 4:13; 5:11
• 1 Peter 4:12-19