It will be in the book of James, chapter 1. James, chapter 1. James was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. What mercy it is that the Lord revealed Himself to his half-brother. You remember most that met the Lord or saw Him raised from being a boy on up didn't see Him as being the Christ, as being the Savior. You remember in Luke chapter 4 when the Lord read from Isaiah 61, talked about the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel. And he quoted the entire passage there, then he closed the book and he said, he said, today is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Today is this scripture fulfilled. And they marveled at the wondrous words, the gracious words, the scripture says, that proceeded out of his mouth. But they said, is this not Joseph and Mary's son? They didn't know who he was. They couldn't see him. They marveled at the gracious words. But yet they couldn't see him as Christ. What grace it was that the Lord allowed, not allowed, caused James to see him. The Lord caused James to see him as Christ Jesus, the Lord. And that's our hope. Not that we just See baby Jesus meek and mild, not that we just see and believe that there's a God. The demons believe in tremble, but that we see the Lord Jesus Christ as God as our Savior as our Redeemer. That's our hope. Seeing Christ is all by his choosing. One cannot choose to see Him. He chooses to reveal Himself, doesn't He? Boy, that's our desire tonight. We were singing that song, Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove. Every time we gather, it's amazing that we pray unto the Lord, we sing, begging unto the Lord that the Lord would send His Spirit. The Lord's Spirit's already present. Now, if he chooses to manifest himself in a powerful way, he's on the present. He's everywhere all the time. But yet we pray for that which is already here and say, Lord, can you quicken our cold hearts? Can you make us alive unto you? Can you reveal yourself? Because you're present. We cannot see you and we cannot hear you and we cannot know that you're here unless you reveal yourself just like you did to James. Otherwise, he'll remain hidden even though he's right in our midst. He's everywhere all the time, isn't he? We can't choose to see him, he must reveal himself. It's all because man's will is not free. Men talk about free will, but our will is bound to our sinful nature. Our will is sinful by nature and therefore we don't have a free will. Our will is a sinful will, it's not free. But if you're in Christ, what does the scripture say? You're free. Indeed, you're free. Indeed, there's only freedom in him. The Lord must choose to give that life and give that freedom. And by God's mercy and grace, he does to his people just as he did to James. And like all scripture. This was given by divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He not only revealed himself to James, but he impressed upon his heart to write an epistle. And it was to be written to a specific people. And he tells us exactly who it is in the first verse, the 12 tribes. The 12 tribes, a very specific people. Writing this letter to specific people, to specific persons, to a specific audience, not to everyone. everyone, to the Twelve Tribes. What does he mean by the Twelve Tribes? Well, first of all I want to elaborate just for a second on the thought that if you were to write a letter to Every time that I've ever written a letter, and maybe if you want to see me after service and explain my error, I'll listen to you, but I've never written a letter to a general population. Now, you can write decrees or you can write statutes and things like that. That's not a letter. A letter is to a specific audience. A letter is to a specific person. Most of the time it's an individual, isn't it, when we write letters. And we never, we always greet the individuals that we're writing to to begin with, dear so-and-so. Well, that's how the word of God is written to the 12 tribes. These are the elect of God he's writing to. He's not talking about the physical Israel. He's talking about the ones called unto salvation, the ones ordained unto eternal life. This is who he is writing to. We know this is the case because he tells us to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, but he calls them brethren 15 times in five chapters. That's what James is, is five chapters. He uses the word brethren 15 times. He calls them the beloved of the Lord three times in these five chapters. So this is who the Lord's writing to, his chosen sheep, his elect, his people. Word of God was not written to everybody. It was a specific letter from the Lord to his bride. The greatest love letter that's ever been written. Isn't that right? This is written to those chosen in Christ before time. And we have to, I wanted to give a brief, I'm not sure what intro, if you will, I wanted to give a brief intro in order to have a foundation to build upon for the rest of what's, what's transpiring here. So let's read this again. James chapter one, verse one, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad greeting my brethren counted all joy. when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 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. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James gives us a command that I want to focus on this evening, if the Lord be in our help and would allow his word to go forth in free course and give us ears to hear. Gives us a command that's impossible for us to do. Absolutely impossible for the flesh to do. And it is found in verse two. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Another way to translate that would be consider it a glad occasion when you are encompassed about with trials on every side. Consider it a glad occasion. That's what he's saying. Now, if you're like me, the first response I had was what? What, how are we going to consider it a glad occasion when trials encompass us on every side? Well, in the flesh, we can't. We can't in the flesh. How am I gonna rejoice in trials? How am I going to rejoice in afflictions and suffering and tribulation and persecutions, whatever it may be? But that's what we're commanded to do here. That's what I've titled the message, count it all joy. Count it all joy. How are we to do that? Well, the answer's found in verse three. First word says what? Knowing. Second word says this. That word this is in italics. It's not what we know, it's who we know. Knowing. What do we know? The trying of our faith worketh patience. God's elect rejoiced, we rejoice knowing. Knowing whom we have believed. Being persuaded of him. Knowing that he is able. He is able to keep that which we've committed unto him against that day. We've been made to know some things, haven't we? We know whom. We completely trust that he did it all in our salvation. No matter the trial, no matter the circumstance, no matter the tribulation, we know that he does all the saving, and we rest. He does all the calling, and we rest. He does all the keeping, and we rest. Otherwise, there is no rest. Otherwise, there is no rejoicing, is there? Can't rejoice in affliction physically when I'm hurting physically. Can I rejoice whenever I'm, I've pulled a muscle on my side and it's been an affliction for me for a while. And it, I don't know why it's not getting better. I'm not giving you my burden. I'm just simply saying that it's been a pain, literally. And so how can I rejoice in that? Well, this hurts. Every time I bend or move, I have things to do. Now it's in the way. Now I'm limited and now I'm frustrated. How can I rejoice? The God that purpose the sun to rise every single day, purpose for that to hurt, to drive me to Him, to show me my infirmity, my weakness, my inability, how frail that I am. And that's what the Lord does for His people. He causes us to have no confidence in this flesh whatsoever. He causes us to completely need the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time we start leaning on the flesh a little bit, Things start going, you want to call it good. You know what I'm talking about. Everything's peaceful. We'll call it peaceful. You know, it seems like we don't really have a, you know, everything's not on fire for a moment. You can understand what I'm saying. Then what happens? Well, we don't pray as much, do we? You find yourself the same as me. You don't beg as much, do we? We don't cry out, Lord, save me as much. But we'll wait till something happens. And all of the sudden, oh, Lord, save me. I'm in trouble again. Lord, I'm in trouble again. Can we rejoice in the fact that the Lord just said, seek you my face, didn't leave us to ourself, didn't allow us to continue down the path of self and not ever turn around and look to him. No, he made us look, didn't he? Does all the calling and all the keeping. Everything's right on time. Every second that ticks is his tick of the clock that causes us to do the whole the lot falls in the lap, but the whole disposings of the Lord, he just returns us back to him over and over again. You and I are not wondering about as this other type of individual is being described a double minded man, which we're going to look at Sunday. But We're not wavering or doubting God. We're completely confident at any time that the salvation of the Lord's people completely depends on the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you say amen to that? We're completely confident that he has to do everything, and he did. We believe that, don't we? We're not wavering in that. No, we're not doubting in that. We doubt because of circumstances. We doubt because of getting our flesh in the way of things. We never doubt the finished work of Christ was in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We never doubt that. The Lord did that. The Lord did that. That's how we can rejoice in our sufferings. That's how we can rejoice in our circumstances, knowing it is finished. Run back to that. Every chance that you get, run back to the fact that it is finished. Well, I've had a hard day. It is finished. Well, this has happened in my life. It is finished. Your eternal soul has been justified before the very throne of God in Christ Jesus. Rest. Rest, no matter what you're facing, rest. And if God's given us the faith to do so, we will. We'll rest, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that it is finished. We know that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now, How can that be that we don't serve sin anymore? Well, we died in Christ. We know that, don't we? We know that that's true. I died in Christ and therefore I no longer serve sin. Somebody said, the preacher, we sin all the time, I know that. But the way that the Lord sees it is is we're perfectly righteous before him, not serving sin any longer, but serving him by faith. We truly know this. What else do we know? Well, we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law. We know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2.16. We know that. We know that our justification comes through and by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And if we have any hope of being justified, we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way we believe is if he gives us the faith to do so. He is our justification. He is our, we know that, don't we? We have no hope in justifying ourself, no hope in putting away our sin, but he did. We know that, we know that. We don't doubt this ever. We're not wavering in this. That's something to think about, isn't it? In false religion, if any of you were in false religion, do you ever remember a time whenever you had to ask somebody to get some kind of approval or something or brag a little bit on yourself or need to be bragged, get some affirmation, get some confirmation from a preacher or somebody you held in high regard. Maybe some of you all didn't have to do it. I know we did. We would be, guess what I'm doing for Jesus? Guess what I've done here and what have you done? And it was like we were puffing each other up and like, yeah, well, I know that you're a believer and you know that I am because of this and because of that. We don't do that anymore. No, we don't do it. We don't look, I don't, you don't want me to examine you and I don't want you to examine me. We point each other to the one. The one that is our justification, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's our only hope. We're not wavering in that, are we? We're not doubting that the work is finished. Sometimes we doubt our salvation because we look at ourself. But do you ever doubt your salvation when you look to the finished work of Christ alone? Do you ever doubt that it's finished, what he accomplished on the cross of Calvary? No. No, I know that he accomplished salvation. And if he died for me, I know that I'm saved. Why? Because he did it. That's why. He did it, not me, but he did it. We're not wavering in that, are we? We believe the Lord Jesus Christ. He's put our feet on a solid rock. We're no longer tossed about with every wind and like the sea as he talks about here. We know some things. You remember in the book of Daniel, There was a king, Nebuchadnezzar, and three Hebrew men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They knew some things. They knew that they were not going to bow down to the graven image that Nebuchadnezzar had built. It was a 60-foot statue of himself. He thought, everybody needs to worship me. Look at how magnificent I am. And that's all false religion, by definition. Everybody look at me. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down whenever they heard the music, and the king gave a consequence for that of throwing them in the fiery furnace. He said, I want you to heat it up seven times. He was very angry with these Hebrew boys for not doing as he said. He was the king. So what happened? Well, the king threw them in the fiery furnace that was heated up seven times. Now, I love the number seven being the number of perfection, the number of completion. representing the completed work on the cross of Calvary that Christ endured the wrath of God in our stead. And that's the picture when they were through into the fiery furnace, they were not burnt up. They were not singed. And the most amazing part, have you ever been around smoke for very long? You know, it gets all over you. I mean, as soon as you, it doesn't matter what kind of smoke it is, you're around it for just a second, and I'll come walking in, and she said, where were you around smoke? I'm like, well, I didn't know you'd smell it. You know what, it's very easy to get on you, but they didn't smell of smoke. What's that a picture of? It's a picture of everything required the Lord provided in the person Jesus Christ, and he endured it all, and there's nothing left, not even the smell of it. He took it all for his people. Now, what did the Hebrew men know? They knew two things. Number one, God is God, and they are not. They are not. And they believed God. And they knew that they were gonna be thrown. They knew the consequence for disobeying the king, but they knew the consequence for disobeying God was much greater. They believed God. Why? God gave them faith to do that. Now, we're talking about trials and afflictions, and we're talking about rejoicing. Rejoicing and afflictions. or joying in whatever circumstance we may be in. So how could they be joyful? How could they count it all joy to be thrown in the fiery furnace? Because the God that they believed in, they knew if they were to burn up, they deserved it being sinners. But they knew he made a promise, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. And they believed his words. See, the Lord cannot lie. The Lord cannot lie. And they knew that he's the God of that fire as well. Nothing could touch them that didn't pass through his hand. Do you believe that? Do you believe that nothing can touch you unless it passes through his hand, unless he gives permission, unless he has purposed it? It can't touch you. He must do it. He's all sovereign over everything. Well, the Hebrew men get thrown into the furnace, and you know the story. King says, did we not throw three men bound? And yet I see four men, and they're all loosed and walking around. The law that bound them burnt up in the fire. That's the bands, right? That's the law. The Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. And who was the fourth one? Well, the king said, it's like unto the son of God. He's right there in the fire with them, wasn't he? There's not a place you can go. David said, if I make my bed in hell, thou art there. Thou art there. We can't escape him. We can't get from his presence or his sight, no matter what we do. We can't mess it up. If we're his child, if we're his children, he tends to us. He looks upon us. He knows us by name. There's my hope. Lord, if I'm yours, what should I fear? What should I be concerned with? Why should I doubt if I'm my beloved and he is mine? Well, we're in the flesh, aren't we? Aren't you glad the new man always looks to the Lord Jesus Christ, always believes, even though this flesh may be, flesh never looks to Christ, but the spirit does. That's why we have to come and hear it again, and feed again, eat again of that manna, that, hear of the blood again, so that we can rest again, just for a moment, and know that he's right there in the midst with us, no matter what we're going through, he's provided everything. everything here and in the life to come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego rejoice in the fire? Well, they rejoiced in the God that sent it. They knew it was of the Lord. The Lord purposed it. The Lord permitted it. The Lord controls the inhabitants of heaven and earth and under the earth. Everything's His and the fullness thereof. He's supreme over all. You and I know the same thing that they knew. We just need to be reminded God is just. And if Christ Jesus put away your sin on the cross of Calvary, justice has been satisfied for you. Justice has been satisfied for you. That's our hope, isn't it? God is just and the justifier of his people. He's completely sovereign. We bow to him alone. That's what those Hebrew men knew. That's what you and I know. We know those things. That's the only way we can rejoice. That's the only way we can count it all joy when we fall in diverse temptations is because we know that our sin has been put away. We never glory in our flesh for our salvation, do we? We know that if we died in our sin and went to hell, it's what we deserve. But we have complete confidence that whomsoever the Lord died for, he put away their sin. And my hope is that when they nailed him to the tree, he was bearing my sin. And if he was, that means my sin has been put away. They're gone, cast as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again. We are made to know throughout the greatest trials of grace that nothing can touch us. He was forsaken for his people on the cross of Calvary so that he can honor his promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He had become forsaken for you not to never be forsaken. He had to become afflicted so that you and I would never be afflicted, spiritually speaking. He had to become smitten of God so that you and I would never be smitten of God. See, he's our great substitute. He's our great surety. And he truly redeemed his people on the cross of Calvary. How can I count it all joy when I fall into diverse temptations? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. How can I count it all joy? That's the only way. Looking unto Jesus. Don't look at the circumstance. What do you mean? Well, I know that we're going to. We're going to try to fix it. We're going to try to do what we can. There's nothing, I'm gonna say this the right way, The lot falls in the lap. It would be, my daughter's car broke down today. It would be very foolish and stupid of me to say, well, if the Lord wants that fixed, he'll fix it. That ain't going to work. Just leave the car there. I mean, we won't, the car won't be there. It's in Redding. It's going to be there in a couple of days. You're putting the wrong part of town. Anyways, you understand what I'm saying. But I guess, The point I'm making is, is it's our responsibility to do that which our hand finds to do with all our might, looking unto the Lord, looking unto the Lord. And he provides according to his purpose. He provides according to his will. Truly the whole disposing is of the Lord. There is nothing pleasant in heartache or hurt. When the dross is being removed, By the fire, it's painful. It is painful, but the Lord's people, we have a sure foundation. We have a sure hope, and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work. How can I count it all joy when I fall into diverse temptations? It must be looking unto him. It must be clinging unto his promises alone. Everything has been ordered and provided by our creator and the sustainer of all life. He's the one that did it all. Paul had afflictions himself. Paul had to deal with infirmity of the flesh. The scripture is not really clear on what it was. Biblical scholars say it was this or it was that. You know, we're not going to speculate. The Holy Spirit is silent on it. I think it's wise that we be silent on it. But he had something where he entreated of the Lord. He came before the Lord three times. He asked the Lord, Lord, if it be thy will, let this pass from me, remove this, remove this. And Lord told him the answer was not that he was going to remove it. What did he tell him? You remember? My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient for thee. And that is the answer he gives every one of his children. Boy, there's such comfort in that, knowing that where sin doth abound, grace did much more abound. Think about that. What sin is he talking about? Is he talking about the sin that I do? Well, yes, but he's talking about this, where sin doth abound. Where does it abound? Every square inch of our body, grace does much more abound. What comfort there is in knowing that his grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. Daniel cried out unto the Lord, being burdened of the Lord. They were in Babylonian captivity. They were being persecuted. They actually ended up having pretty good lives there, but they had no worship of their God. Daniel longed to go back to worship God, and they weren't allowed to worship and assemble the way that they did once before. We see that he cried out unto the Lord for 21 days. Have you ever been so burdened that you've cried out to the Lord for 21 days? I know that there's been times in my life where I've cried out unto the Lord, but this man was very burdened. May the Lord give us a burden to cry out unto him. That's something that we need. A burden to, he has to remind me to cry out. Does he have to remind you to pray? He does me sometimes, certainly. The Lord calls us to remember, calls us to be burdened for our brethren and for the church. But, prayed for 21 days, and what a, you imagine how discouraging that must have been. He's gonna keep praying until the Lord responded to him. But, something I find interesting is, In religion, they say, pray until you get an answer. Sometimes the answer is no. And it's hard sometimes to hear no. When my children want something, when they were younger in the store, they may say, I want this. I said, no. And they learned really quick not to throw a temper tantrum in public. That's what the Lord does to us. When he tells us no, sometimes it bothers the flesh, and yet What does he do? He teaches us. He shuts us up to Christ and teaches us, it was for your good and for my glory. That's what he teaches his people. He came to Daniel after 21 days and he said, I've come for your words. From the very first time you prayed, the very first time the words left your mouth, I heard you. I heard you. He hears his people when they pray. He bottles up their prayers, their tears, they go before him. Think about that. Your prayers go before the throne of God. Talk about a miracle that Jesus Christ performed on the cross of Calvary to allow us to be able to pray. Being our advocate, being our intercessor to come up before him. And what did the angel of the Lord tell Daniel? Well, he gave him the prophecy of all the things that were going to come to pass. And we know that it was all the Lord's purpose and all the Lord's doing. And sometimes it may not be as what we think is best, but may the Lord calls us to rejoice. May the Lord calls us to count it all joy for Christ's sake, looking unto him alone. That's the only joy that we have is looking unto Christ. Do you think Joseph was counting it all joy when he was sold into slavery? Certainly not. What about some of these other stories? How about Jonah being swallowed up in the belly of the fish? He was in rebellion, but I guarantee he wasn't rejoicing to be in. As a matter of fact, he said, out of the belly of hell, I've cried. But it was for his good and for the glory of God. The Lord put him where he wanted him, didn't he? Wherever we find ourselves, whether it's amazing that we're always to blame for everything that When we end up in the belly of hell, it seems like we're the problem. You know, that's true, isn't it? I'm the problem, I'm to blame, Lord, save me. Every time we cry out for saving, it's all our fault and he gets all the glory. And every time he saves us, it's all his doing and he gets all the glory. And we love that about our God. Wherever we find ourself, no matter the circumstance, may we count it all joy, knowing that he's seated on the throne. He's seated on the throne. We know all things work together for good. Who's good? Your good. Your good, child of God, works together for your good to them that are called according to his purpose. If you're called according to his purpose, everything, all things work together for good. Every trial is given to prove our faith is true and our flesh is false. Every trial is given to prove our faith is true and our flesh is false. And that's a good thing. It may hurt. Flesh don't like it. Flesh never will. But it's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's what the Lord said. Made to have no confidence in the flesh. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. I was I always get in trouble talking about my age because I'm too young to talk about some things to talk about, but I got married really young and been through some things. But I find that even now at my age, I can't do things that I once did without having problems. And I was talking, I think I was talking to Al a little bit and kind of felt stupid for even mentioning it because when you get, the older you get, the harder it gets and everybody can understand what I'm saying in that regard. No matter what it is, no matter your age, your strength fades eventually. No matter how intelligent you are, your mind fades eventually. We have no confidence in the flesh. The Lord's going to see to it. By the time you draw your last breath, you have zero confidence in your flesh. And the only hope that you have is the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he does for his people. He does it by trials. He does it by afflictions. He does it by breaking us down one way or another. Emotionally, mentally, physically, causing us, Lord, save me again. I can't do this. I can't do this. We're made to say truth, Lord, you're right, and I'm wrong. You're truth, and I'm false. You're good, and I'm the bad. You're righteous, and I'm the sinner. I need a substitute. I need a substitute. Save me, Lord. Peter didn't have much confidence of swimming back to the boat when he sunk, did he? He didn't say, Lord, give me a second, I'll see if I got this. No, no. No, he cried out, Lord, save me, immediately, didn't he? The Lord, by trials and tribulations and afflictions, proves the weakness of our flesh, and it creates the need of a Savior. Creates the need of the Savior. And that's the only time that we'll say, Lord, save me. And it's a good thing. Can you say I've got to have the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter the circumstance, I've got to have him. If you can count it all joy, count it all joy when you find yourself in whatever circumstance you're in, knowing that he's seated, knowing that he successfully redeemed. Can you rejoice that he put away the sin of his people? You know that, don't you? I know, and you know that he put the sin of his people away. There's no doubt. Then count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptation. Rejoice in his purpose. Believe him. If he put your sin away, do we not think that he's ordered every other detail of our life? Of course. Of course, he did the most impossible thing that we could do, and that's redeem ourself. He did that for us. Now, is he going to leave us by the wayside to deal with the cares and circumstances of this life on our own? No, no, he's going to keep us. He's going to keep us. We're kept by the power of God. Rejoice that the trial is his providence. It's not punishment, brethren. Somebody said, well, this is happening is so and so because they've done this and they've done that. And that was a big thing in religion. You do this wrong. And that means that equals this. Well, that's I mean, if I'm speeding and I get a ticket, I understand that logic. But that's not what they mean. That means that they've upset God is what they're saying. And that's not true. That's not true. The Lord is angry with the wicked and they that are in Christ Jesus are made the righteousness of God in him. Rest in knowing that the wrath of God has been satisfied on the cross of Calvary and that sort of justice will never awake again for all of those that were in Christ Jesus. Whatever is happening in your life isn't because you've done something. It's because God's providence, if you're his, it's for your good and his glory. He's bringing you to the knowledge of the truth more and more so that you have no confidence in the flesh and all of your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. He does that by giving faith that just believes him. We know the trying of our faith worketh patience. That trying is the same word as chastening. Chastening means to be taught. I remember thinking in religion that chastening meant getting beat. You know, that dad was chastening me. I thought I was getting whipped. That's not what chastening means. The Lord don't whip his children. He teaches them. He teaches them. What better lesson? How longsuffering is our Lord? How patient is our Lord? How loving? Boy, it's the love of the Lord. It's the love of the Lord that it's his goodness that leads men to repentance, isn't it? It's his goodness. It's his love. The Lord said, my people shall be willing in the day of my power. Do you know why? Because they're all taught of me. He said, I'm going to teach them. I'm going to make them have no confidence in the flesh and complete confidence in my son. And that's what he does for us. Nothing done in and by our flesh can teach us the things of God. His spirit must teach us. Thankfully, he says in Revelation chapter three, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. One of the greatest evidences of being a child of God is. Affliction. It's affliction. It's chastening. When you see a brother or sister that's going through a lot of trials, whether it's, I could name several people I know, and I think to myself, boy, the Lord must love them a whole lot because they're going through a lot right now. That's why we lift each other up unto the Lord. The Lord would give grace to each other. The Lord would give grace to each other. No matter the hardship, If we can start seeing hardships as hugs, that'd be a little bit different perspective, wouldn't it? It's hard to see it, and the flesh won't. But how do we see it that way? Look to Christ. Believe Him. That's how we do it. That's the only way we can do it. The next time you feel overwhelmed or lost or discouraged, remember His promise. He cannot lie. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Everything has been ordered and provided by our God. Last thing I'll leave us with, Paul said this as a comfort to the Lord's people, who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Who? I like that he didn't even say what, he said who. There's nobody that has that kind of power. It's not possible. Shall tribulation? No. Shall distress? No. Shall persecution? He's asking rhetorical question, isn't he? He's making you and I realize something. It's an impossibility to be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Everything that's happening to the Lord's people right now is by divine providence and purpose of God that was determined before time ever began. And now the clock just keeps ticking and everything just keeps coming to pass according to his will. Nothing is going to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. It is truly, truly finished. Though the King commands us to be cast into the fiery furnace, our God is in the furnace. Our God is the God of the fiery furnace. Though He commands us to be cast into the den of lions, do we believe that He has the power to close the lion's mouth? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord, if you command that, I know you can, if you will. Lord, if you will, I'll be made whole. I can be made whole if you will. Lord said, I will be thou made whole. Now, if we have not the faith that rests in Christ alone, the promise is this, ask and you shall receive. If you have not this faith that rests in the Lord alone that I'm talking about, The only thing that keeps us looking is the faith that he gives us. If we don't have that faith and we need it, if there's a trial that we're facing and we're having difficulty rejoicing, ask. Lord, cause me to rejoice in Christ right now. Cause me to have joy right now, no matter what I'm facing. Cause me to take my eyes off of the storm and focus on you and your finished work. There's where our rest is. There's no other rest. We're not gonna find rest in the circumstance. We're not gonna find rest in the trial. Boy, there's rest in Christ no matter what it is. Look to Christ, ask and you shall receive. That's what he said. Look in verse five. Any of you like wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given unto him. What a promise. What's wisdom? Christ is our wisdom. If you lack seeing Christ, ask him. Ask him. It's not presumptuous to ask. He commands you to ask him from the heart of faith. Lord, give me Christ. Cause me to rest right now. Cause me to count it all joy, whatever I'm facing, knowing that you've ordained it. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's repentance and faith, isn't it? Lord, give me repentance and faith right now. If you've not bowed to him, do so right now. Ask for the heart of faith that he's given. He's commanded us to. He's commanded us to. What glorious promises he gives us in his word. The only way that we can count it all joy that the Lord chastens us is realizing he only chastens his children. He only chastens his children. Boy, that changes perspective, don't it? If I'm being chastened of the Lord, you know what that means? I'm his child. What am I worried about then? There's rest in that, isn't there? There's rest in that. How do we count it all joy, no matter what it is? Looking into the Lamb of God. No matter the trial, no matter the circumstance, take our eyes off of this world, look to Christ, look to Christ. And then and only then can you count it all joy. That's the only way. That's the only way. May the Lord cause us to do so. Let us pray. Father calls us according to your will. We're asking now that you would give us this wisdom and you cause us to rest truly in Christ's name. Amen. In closing, let's turn to number.