8-5-’01 IS YOUR LIFE A WITNESS OF YOUR FAITH?
A. Armstrong
James 1:2-5
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
There is perhaps no time in our lives when sinners watch us more to see what we will do, than when it seems everything is going wrong.
For the character of a person will come to the forefront then as at no other time.
I like to try to remember when some ‘trial’ comes into my life, that God is trying to do a work ‘in me.’
But if I don’t allow that work to take place, the devil will also try, by the trial, to do a work also.
The Bible tells us…
Rom 6:16
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
When something goes wrong, if you are a ranter and a raver, [guess what] - you are not yielding your members unto righteousness.
I remember one time, my mom saw a man out back of our house stomping and saying things that he ought not say. I don’t think it ever entered her head that this man was suppose to be a Christian, because he certainly wasn’t being Christ-like. But later we found out he was suppose to not only be a Christian, but a Pentecostal.
Talk about a shame and a reproach! Can you imagine anyone looking at that scene and saying, ‘That is what Christ is like.’
But Christian means ’Christlike.’
How we act when things go wrong, tells others what we really are.
1 Peter 1:6-7
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
True faith is, in every case, the operation of the Spirit of God.
Its nature is purifying, elevating, heavenly.
It is, of all things that can be cultivated in the human breast, one of the most precious.
It is called, "like precious faith," and Paul called it "the faith of God’s elect."
Wherever faith is found, it is…
the sure mark of a blessed condition-
the forecast of a heavenly destiny-
the eye of the renewed soul-
the hand of the regenerated mind-
the mouth of the new-born spirit-
the evidence of spiritual life-
the mainspring of holiness-
the foundation of delight-
the prophecy of glory-
And the dawn of endless knowledge.
If you have faith, you have infinitely more than he who has all the world, and yet is destitute of faith.
To him that believeth it is said, "All things are possible."
Faith is the assurance of son-ship-
the pledge of inheritance-
the grasp of boundless possession-
And the perception of the invisible.
Within your faith there lies glory, even as the oak sleeps within the acorn. If you have faith, you don’t need to ask for much more, except that your faith may grow exceedingly, and that you may lay hold of all the promises which are made to it.
He who has it is blessed; because he pleases God… he is justified before the throne… he hath full access to the throne of grace… and he has the preparation for reigning with Christ for ever.
WOW! Isn’t faith wonderful?
A beautiful rose in the garden of God.
But roses are famous for something else too. To harvest roses, you have to endure the pricks of the thorns. If you are going to have faith that is enduring, that faith is going to have to go through the fire. That is the trial of your faith.
These two things are put together-- faith and trial….
You cannot possess the faith without experiencing the trial.
YOUR FAITH WILL MOST SURELY BE TRIED.
You may rest assured of that. A man may have faith, and be for the present without trial; but no man ever had faith, and was all his life without trial.
That could not-- must not be; for faith, in the very nature of it, implies a degree of trial.
My faith is tried in believing the promise, in waiting for the fulfilment of the promise, in holding on to an assurance of that promise while it is delayed, and in continuing to expect the promise, and acting upon it until it is in all points fulfilled.
I do not see how that can be faith at all which is not tried by its own exercise.
Paul said of faith…
Eph 6:16
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Shield and fiery darts are all indicative of battle.
And he that has faith may expect between here and heaven to know what battle means.
The devil has a full arsenal of fiery darts.
He is always trying to convince us that God is not faithful, that he will not act according to his word. But if you will notice, Jesus gave us an example when the devil comes against us. He simply referred to the Word of God.
He was saying ‘God says, and I believe him.’
Have you ever had the devil bring up past sins to you, and by them try to make you doubt they are forgiven? Or try to make you dwell on them in sorrow?
I remember being beat down by my transgressions. I cried over them continually. They were with me every day. But when the Lord saved me, one of the first things he did was made me quit beating myself for my past.
The sorrow and shame of them was with me like a weight continually. But when I came to Jesus and was born again, he told me to let that go because God had forgiven me.
But the devil was still trying to beat me down with it. Then I heard that there is no shadow of turning with God and someone preached on this scripture…
Isa 38:17
but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
I shouted. Then, when the devil tried to bring up my past, I remembered that God had cast my sins behind his back, and because he never turns around, he would never come across them again. He had truly wiped my slate clean.
I held up the shield of faith and said I choose to believe God.
WHOSE REPORT WILL YOU BELIEVE?????????
Have you ever been in such a trial that you feared even for your salvation?
The devil told you that you couldn’t make it? That you would surely be overcome this time? You felt like you were losing out?
But you found in the scripture…
Rom 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
And…
Phil 1:6
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Did you believe then, that the trial that you felt was trying to separate you from your God couldn’t possibly?
WHOSE REPORT WILL YOU BELIEVE???????
The shield of faith enables you to believe God when all seems lost. Arm yourself with it. If you don’t, you are in danger.
It is simply believing God’s report.
Rom 1:17
The just shall live by faith.
Believing is our living, and we, therefore, need it always; at all times; in every place; under every condition.
Charles Spurgeon said, "Do you want great faith?
If God gives you great faith, you must expect great trials; for, in proportion as your faith will grow, you will have to do more, and endure more."
One man said…
Little boats may keep close to shore, as becomes little boats; but if God make thee a great vessel, and load thee with a rich freight, He means that thou shouldest know what great billows are, and witness "his wonders in the deep."
Ps 107:23-29
23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.
28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Launching out into the deep in Christ not only takes faith for the launch, but will require faith for the trip.
God makes nothing in vain, especially makes nothing in the spiritual kingdom in vain; and if He makes faith, it is with the design that it should be used to the utmost and exercised to the full.
A wise man said…
Faith thrives most in such weather as might seem to threaten its death. Indeed, it is the honor of faith to be tested- consider Job.
Job might not have felt the honor of the test in the beginning, but it was he who said…
Job 23:10
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
We have the comfort of the Word when it seems trials are getting to heavy to bear…
1 Cor 10:13
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
This tells me that if I am in this trial, God knows I am able to bear up under it…through him.
Faith has a need. That need is trial. Because it is only through trial that faith is purified [improved].
I love an illustration of an old Puritan.
He said when you go into the woods and are very quiet, you may never know what is in the forest. But when you go in noisily, birds fly up, rabbits run… you discover what is living there.
So, when affliction comes into the soul, and makes a disturbance and breaks our peace, up rise our graces.
********
James said a seemingly very odd thing…
James 1:2
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Lets break that down in the Greek…
COUNT- deem, consider, esteem,
ALL- whole, unmixed
JOY- gladness, delight, joyfulness
WHEN- whenever
YE FALL INTO- fall into something that is all around, light among, be surrounded with
DIVERS- manifold [not only many, but of various kinds]
TEMPTATIONS- trials, adversities
Robertson word study of the Bible says [concerning the word ‘when’]- this word implies that it is something that WILL happen.
It does not imply ‘if’.
So, in esscence, James was saying this...
’Consider it unmixed delight whenever you are surrounded with many trials.’
This is a very strong statement by James. But James was a very ‘strong’ writer. He didn’t mince words or do any watering down.
He might have been standing by when Jesus said…
Matt 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
And he probably had personal experience….
Acts 5:40-41
when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
Can you imagine the frustration and amazement of the council when they saw these men leaving ‘glad’ that they had gotten whipped?
They probably wondered what on earth they were going to have to do to make these people afraid, or cry, or give up what they were doing.
We ought to perplex the devil in the same way. He ought to have to say of us… ‘I don’t know what it is going to take to make these people give up on God.’
He’s tried death and life, angels and principalities, powers, present things, heights, depths, creatures… He’s tried tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword…
But nothing can be found that shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But unless we understand trials, it is hard to ‘count it all joy.’
But James didn’t just say that and nothing more… He gave us a reason for counting it all joy…
KNOWING THIS…
It is hard to get this kind of perspective on trials, but here is the help… knowing this….
THE TRYING OF YOUR FAITH has a purpose. It will do something for you. It will increase the grace of God in your life. It ‘worketh’ - fashions, accomplishes
PATIENCE.
It builds in us ‘endurance, and constancy’.
This word ‘patience’ comes from the word hopomeno- fortitude.
We might better understand it as ‘staying power.’
JAMES 1:4
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
God will mold us into his image, but we must allow it.
And allowing God to make perfect and entire by the necessary means takes faith. It takes trusting him.
It takes ‘an attitude’. Joy
Having joy requires an understanding… knowing this…
it is for our good and for our benefit. It is to help us. It is to prove us-to make us stronger and much more pure and righteous-to make us much more dynamic witnesses for Christ. God allows trials and temptations to make us more and more like Jesus.
2 Cor. 4:17
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory
Joy is usually not what fills our heart when we face these things. When severe trials come our way, too often we despair and become discouraged and defeated. Most of us certainly do not joy.
There is only one way to face trials and temptations with a spirit of joy: we have to switch our thinking; turn our attitudes about trials and temptations completely around. We have to quit thinking negatively and think positively.
In the words of Scripture we must know something and we must do something.
We must know it is for our good - ‘All things work together for good to them who love the Lord, who are the called according to his purpose.’
And we must do something- ‘Let patience have her perfect work.’
We know that patience is calm endurance, but in the Greek, it is far more than just endurance.
It is to take the initiative and to exert the energy and effort to conquer and to gain the victory and to triumph over the trial and temptation.
When a man gains victory in trial, he becomes more entire, more fit, more sound, and more complete.
He also eliminates more weaknesses, more flaws, more defects, and more shortcomings. He is becoming more like Christ…
2 Cor. 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The work of the Holy Ghost is not only evangelism, but also for the perfecting of the saints. He is preparing Christ a bride.
We can talk about having joy in trials all we want. Knowledge alone probably won’t get you that joy. And effort alone probably won’t get you that joy.
But it is when you are touched by the Holy Ghost with that knowledge and led by him in that effort that you will be a conqueror.
I know that I have faced some trials in my life. And I knew how I was suppose to act under them. I knew that I was suppose to persevere. But until I got down on my knees in prayer and let the Holy Ghost speak to me about it, and let him assure my heart, I never got the ‘joy’ that I was suppose to have in it.
But when he touched me, faith arose in my storm. And although my storm did not cease, I could say along with Paul…
…I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me…
Then I could rejoice.
Are you facing any trouble today?
Do you know that others who know about your trouble are watching to see what you will do? Get ahold of God until you are assured by His Spirit…
2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations…
James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him
God is at work in your life, if you are his. And he is shaping and molding you into what he desires you to be.
He works at perfecting you even as an artist chisels at a piece of stone to make a statue.
Sometimes it seems we feel the blows of the chisel, but God is perfecting his image in us.
Trust him. Believe him. Know that ’all things work together for good to them who love him and are called according to his purpose.’
Let this faith [the trial of your faith] work that patience [enduring constancy] in you.
Others are watching. What are they seeing in your life?
