James chapter one, I'm gonna read the first verses, first four verses, rather, so that we can get the context, but the only verse we're gonna be looking at this morning is verse two. James chapter one, beginning in verse one. James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes who are in the dispersion. Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance. And let perseverance have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word that instructs our hearts that, Father, gives direction to our mind, that corrects our thinking, that causes us to see the way things really are. Father, it is not in us, normally, to look at a trial and see it as joy. Father, this morning I pray that as we consider what's before us in the text today, that you would help us to learn to do exactly that. We're so weak and sinful. And in so many ways, Father, our thinking is corrupt. And so this morning, Father, we pray that any thinking within us that does not match your thinking, your perfect thoughts, that you would purge this from us. Help us to gain the perspective of God. that we might grow in you, that we might better reflect Christ. For it's in his name we ask it. Amen. I think we would all agree that you do not have to spend much time on this earth to learn that trials and trouble and pain are what's normal for us. They come to the Christian just as much and perhaps even more so than the unsaved. Job 5, verse 7 says, for man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward. Job 14, verse 1, it says, man who is born of woman is short-lived and full of turmoil, trouble, pain, difficulty. King David knew trouble as well, and that is why he prayed this in Psalm 22, verse 11, speaking to our Heavenly Father. He said, be not far from me, for distress is near. King David says, everywhere that I look, distress is near. It is near. So he understood that he needed to be near to his God. Trouble, sin, sickness, pain, persecution, these are all the result of a fallen world. That is where we live. That is our address. And these are all troubles. And those troubles often create trials for us. And what the believer needs to see, rather, is that God not only uses trials and trouble in the life of a Christian, we need to understand that he ordains them. He ordains them. They are part of the work of a sovereign God. God is a sovereign God, and He is simply in command over all things. And He has decreed all that would ever happen. In Isaiah chapter 46, verses 9 and 10, It says, remember the former things long past, this is God speaking. He says, remember the former things long past for I am God and there is no other. I am God, there is no one like me. What does he do? He says, declaring the end from the beginning. So from the beginning of time, he has declared everything that's going to happen throughout all of time, even all the way and up to the end of time itself. And then he goes on, and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, my counsel will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. This is the sovereignty of God. And we need to understand that sometimes it is his good pleasure for his children to go through trouble. And so if we believe God is truly sovereign, we must also believe that he is sovereign over our trials. God has ordained our trials, and in our acceptance of that, we can have peace. In fact, I don't know any other way to even conceivably think of having peace when troubles and trials strike than to know that our God is sovereign over them. And it's only when we accept His sovereignty over those trials and those troubles and those struggles, it's only when we accept that, that He has decreed our trials, that they actually make sense. It is only then that they actually have purpose. Just like everything else, he's designed them for his glory and for our good. And that's a mature perspective. Psalmist writes about this in Psalm 51 verse eight, when he says, let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. It's when we're in the trial that we learn what's really in our heart. Specifically, whether we genuinely are trusting in the Lord or not. Listen to what Habakkuk writes in Habakkuk 3, verses 17 and 18. He writes, though the fig tree should not blossom, and understand as I'm reading this, what he is describing, it's hard for us to grasp this in the modern day, what he is describing here is complete and utter devastation. So try for just a minute to imagine an economy that is based only on agriculture, only an agrarian economy. Listen to this. Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no produce on the vines, though the yield of the olive tree should fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls. That is utter devastation. That is an economy that has no economy. No food. No sustenance. What is Habakkuk write? Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exalt in Yahweh. I will rejoice. in the God of my salvation. That sounds an awful lot like James, doesn't it? In chapter one, verse two, count it all joy. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Even in the severity of that trial, Habakkuk says, I will rejoice. Rejoicing, gladness, even peace in the trial. That is what the Christian can have. When God places us in a trial, Often our first response is not joy, if we're gonna be honest, right? Usually when God places in a trial, our first response is to pray, God, remove this trial from me, if we're being honest. That's not what God normally desires to do though. In fact, He has ordained, He has designed, He has decreed the trial because it is what we need. Paul understood this, we're going to come back to this a little bit later in this message, but the Apostle Paul understood this. In the midst of a severe trial he prayed for God to take that trial away and the Lord would not. Here's Paul's account of this 2 Corinthians 12 verses 7-10 Paul writes, In other words Paul says, to keep me from becoming proud. we're gonna see what he's going to tell us is that God sent him a trial. This is severe, listen to this. To keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, what's that thorn in the flesh? A messenger of Satan to torment me. That's a demon, church. A messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content. with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions and hardships for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong. What you have going on here is the Lord sovereignly appointed a messenger of Satan. The Greek text literally says an angel of Satan, a demon to afflict Paul. Why? Because Paul struggled with pride. He knew he was susceptible to it. He knew he could fall to it. And so God gave him this affliction to stop his pride. Paul's response is just like ours, isn't it? He's placed into this trial. He prays earnestly, the text says, three times, God take this away. What's God's response? No. No, Paul. Why? Because the Apostle Paul needed that trial. And once he realized that, instead of asking God to take it away, he immediately switched his game plan, didn't he? He stopped praying for God to take it away, and he chose to become content. That word's in the text. Therefore, I am well content, he says. See, Paul willingly chose to accept what the Father had decreed for him instead of fighting against it. So he is content with weakness, content with insults, content with distresses, content with persecutions, content with hardship. Because Paul realized that a loving Heavenly Father had given him this trial for his own good. It's going to sanctify him. It's going to cause him to trust God more in the trial. It's going to make him reach out to God in prayer more. In short, it is sanctifying him and teaching him humble trust in God. Paul chose to be content in that state. Now listen, think of the text that we've read already this morning in this introduction. David learned to be content and trust in the trials. Job learned to be content and trust in the trial. Paul learned to be content and trust in the trials. How can you learn that? Well, this is exactly what James wants us to learn in James chapter 1 from verse 2 all the way to verse 12. So this is what we're going to be talking about for several weeks as we're in James chapter 1. In fact, the central idea of this text is this, the Christian must understand how to respond rightly to trials. Repeat that again because you need to get that down. The Christian must understand how to respond rightly to trials. And as this is going to be obviously a multi-part message with multiple headings today, I just wanna give you the first. We only have time for one. So number one is this, the right choice. The right choice. Again, this is James chapter one and verse two. How strange this sounds to our ears. Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials. That's a very counterintuitive command, isn't it? And it is a command, by the way. He tells us to consider our trials as joy. Now you don't know it yet, but joy is how he's already begun this book. Look at verse one. James, a slave of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes who are in the dispersion. Greetings. Now that word greetings is a word often used as a greeting, but the root meaning of the word is joy. You could say joyful greetings, is what James is telling them, but he's greeting them with the message of joy. And then he carries that right into their response to trials, right? So James says, to the 12 tribes who are dispersed, joy, count it all joy. Now the early church was no stranger to trials, were they? They understood what this was. The people he was likely addressing are Jews who had already been driven out of Jerusalem in a severe trial of persecution. That's mentioned in Acts chapter 1, and it is severe. I'm sorry, Acts chapter 8, verse 1. And it is severe. Acts 8, 1 says, now Saul, that's the guy who's eventually going to become the apostle Paul. Now Saul was in a hearty agreement with putting him, he's talking about Stephen here, And on that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." So trouble came to the Jerusalem church very early. It came to them very quickly, and they are persecuted to the point that most of them had to leave the city of Jerusalem and had to flee into the surrounding areas. And James is writing to this group of believers who are scattered around, scattered specifically because of trials and persecution. And James says, listen, as you are scattered around, as you are separated from your families, as you're in different and distant places, as you're in unfamiliar territory to you, I want you to think of that persecution and that scattering and all of that as joy. In fact, beyond that, I want you to consider all trials as joy. Let's talk for a minute about what this all means. He uses the word consider. Consider it all joy. Consider means to engage in the intellectual process. It means to think about something deeply, to consider it, to regard it. He says, to look at the trials you go through, I want you to think deeply about it, and I want you to choose to regard that trial, that difficulty, that persecution as joy. He is telling them to make a choice. This isn't just, oh, this happened to me, and I feel however I feel in response to what happened to me. James says, no, that's not what we do as Christians. He says you're encountering persecution and suffering and trials and difficulty and now you make the choice to practice self-control and not let your emotions get out of hand and choose that this will be joy. Regard it as joy. Now the human mind wants to think of trials and despise them, don't we? We naturally want to see a trial and think of it as this is pain, it is difficulty, it is depressing, or it causes me anxiety, or it gives me grief. We want to see our trials from a selfish perspective. Affliction happens to us and instantly our first concern is us. Isn't it? James says reject that. In fact, this is so counterintuitive that the word consider here in James chapter one verse two is a, as I mentioned earlier, a command. This is a command, it's in scripture, therefore it is a command of God, so for us to violate this command is sin. James tells them to think about their trials and he orders them to think of them as joy. This is completely counter to everything that our depraved mind wants to do, isn't it? This is so against the grain of humanity that it's not even funny. It's sometimes the case that when we enter a trial, we know we're in the trial because God is sovereign. And so instead of joy, we choose to be offended or get angry at God or lash out at him because of the trial we're experiencing. God has acted in such and such a way, you fill in whatever the such and such is for you, and that is offensive to me. God has offended me. James says no. Your reactions aren't just reactions that happen. In every reaction you have a choice. Here James issues a divine command to think of your trials Whatever your initial gut reaction is, you grab a hold of that, and James says, you consider it, I want you to think about it, and I want you to understand that it is joy. That joy is a matter of the will. It is not a matter of the feelings. It's a conscious commitment flowing from a determined heart that I will choose to view this as joy. And we need to understand that because God has commanded it, when we are Holy Spirit controlled, when we are Holy Spirit filled, this is how we will respond. The mature choice is to embrace trials as joy. The mature response is not anger, is not depression, is not anxiety, or whatever other emotion we would have That's outside of joy. That doesn't mean things don't hurt. But we are to consider them as joy. And the more we know, or rather, the more we grow in Christ, the more mature we are, then the more we will accept trials as from our Heavenly Father and for our good. And for our good. The more mature we are, the harder it should be for us to be offended. The more we are easily offended, the less mature we are. And the more mature we are, the more we see trials as a friend to accept. We accept them from the hand of our loving Father. We accept them as from His hand and for our good. All joy here in the text means only joy. Only joy. All of it. The totality of the trial is to be embraced as joy. Complete joy, pure joy, full joy, unmixed joy. These are all ways that different people have translated this. And as you read this and you begin to understand it, do you get the sense that God is boxing us in by his command so that your flesh has no opportunity to get angry and to complain. Because that's exactly what he's doing. He commands joy in the trial here for a reason. He does this so that you won't allow anger and bitterness and fear and anxiety or loss to have a corner of your heart to occupy. So joy is our attitude in the trial. and having joy in the trials is a conscious choice. Now we know that joy is, that the trial rather is joy because of what it produces in us, but also because we know that when a trial comes, we are in it because we have a sovereign God. Listen, beloved, understand that trials are not just random. They do not just happen. God has decreed every trial, every circumstance, every difficulty, and every challenge that we go through, everything we face, He is a loving Heavenly Father and He has determined what is best for us. He has determined what we need to grow and He has determined what gives Him the most glory in our lives and how to get us to the point of being someone who yields the most glory to Him. And He works all of that together, all of those different circumstances to produce what is best in you and to give you the best opportunity as a Christian to grow. just speaking personally here, found that one of the hardest things in trials is to realize that I am in this trial because this, right now, is what is best for me and what my heart needs the most. That's hard to accept sometimes. Boy, I don't hear any amens to that one. That's hard. So the best thing that we can do in a trial is number one, embrace it. Number two, thank God for it. And number three, be eager to see how you will be sanctified in the midst of it. And understand this, God never brings trials simply to wound, hurt, or just bring arbitrary pain into your life. That's not your Heavenly Father's purpose. And the trial does have a purpose. And He is working godliness in you that, listen, you would never achieve otherwise. He never leaves His children in a trial longer than what we need And He never leaves us there longer than what is best for the good of our soul. Because, see, your Heavenly Father is just that. He's a Father. And he only brings pain into our lives for a purpose. And the question is, do you believe then that your father's purposes are good? Do you believe that he knows what he's doing? Do you believe that he only acts for your benefit and for his glory? And do you believe that your trial will glorify him? See, in short, the question is, do you trust God even when he puts you in the middle of a trial? See, that really reveals the main purpose of it all, doesn't it? The more you're able to rejoice, the more you're able to be content in your trials, the more you're able to rejoice and be content in your trials and in your sufferings, the more that you realize that they are a privilege and not a burden and they are not to harm but to benefit you ultimately. This is all so counterintuitive to everything we naturally think, isn't it? And when we embrace trials and we actively choose to count them as joy, what you will find is that the greatest benefit in the trial will be that you draw closer to Christ. And that the trial will cause you to love Him more, and it will cause you to see that you must lean on Him as your only source of strength. And so in the trial, you will experience His love, His goodness, His grace, and you will know His presence in a way that will become dear to you. And your time in trials increases your thirst for God. And that grows. And as that grows, your level of trust in Him will explode. And knowing and experiencing all those things, that's joy. I wanna show you some examples of this. First, specifically in the life of David. Psalm 42, verse five, listen to this. I want you to hear what David actively does in this psalm as he speaks to his own heart. Listen, Psalm 42, verse five. Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him for the salvation of His presence. In another Psalm, in Psalm 63, David is in a tremendous trial and the people are seeking to kill him. And what does he do? What is his attitude? Listen to this, Psalm 63, verses three through eight. David writes, because, and remember, this is a song. It is a psalm, so it is a song to sing. Psalm 63, verses three to eight. Because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will laud you. Thus I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul is satisfied as with fatness and riches. My mouth offers praises with lips of joyful songs. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. For you have been my help. And in the shadow of your wings, I sing for joy. My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me." People are seeking his life. They're trying to kill him. And this is his song? It is. Do you hear the joy, the trust, the dependence upon God? Do you hear David seeing God as his only refuge in that text? It's unusual to have that kind of nearness to God without a trial, isn't it? Because see, when we're not in trials, we tend to trust in ourselves way too much and forget that it is without God that you can't even take a breath. It is then when we realize how much you need, how much you depend upon, and how much you delight in him. That brings you to joy. Not joy in your circumstances, or joy in this world, or joy in even possessions, or what you have or don't have. It's joy in Him. We see this also in the person of the Apostle Paul. I told you we were coming back to this, and we are. If there is ever anyone who knew trials, it was Paul. And how does he choose to handle them? Look again at 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning in verse seven. Again, Paul writes, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. He's talking about the revelation that God was giving him. Right? You're talking about Paul, who is an apostle, and what does he regularly do? He's writing letters to the churches that he's founded because of troubles and difficulties that they're in. He's writing scripture. And he knew that. If you're an apostle and you have that kind of authority over churches, and if you're regularly receiving direct revelation from the Holy Spirit of God, I don't know, I might be tempted to become proud. How about you? Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, verse seven, for that reason, to keep me from exalting myself, There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me, and he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Beloved, that's a huge trial. A messenger of Satan sent to torment you, as we said earlier, that's a demon. This is no easy thing. What does Paul do? Well, he does the same thing that you and I would be tempted to do. He implores God three times to take it away. We get into a severe trial and we go to the Lord and we say, God, just take this away. Please, I can't endure it. What does God do in the midst of this trial? He reminds Paul that his grace is sufficient to sustain him through, not out of, through the trial. See, Paul's loving Heavenly Father has determined that it is not best for Paul to be rescued out of the trial, to be removed from it. That is not what's best for Paul. And because Paul happens to be writing scripture, it also is not what's best for the church, is it? He wanted to keep Paul qualified, didn't he? And this is God's choice means to do that. It was for him to go through the trial so he would not become proud. The trial is going to sanctify him. Paul begged God to take this excruciating pain away from him, and God says, no, I will not take it away, but I will provide you with grace to endure. So how does Paul respond? verses 9 and 10, he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. How is Paul going to respond to this direct word from God? Most gladly, therefore. Has that been your response? Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. And then he goes beyond, therefore, I am well content. Do you hear those words? Well content. Not just content, not just scraping by. Paul says, I am well content. In the midst of this severe trial, with weaknesses, with insults, well-content with distresses, well-content with persecutions, well-content with hardships, for the sake of Christ. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Why? Because it's the power of God working in him, not his own strength. You say, wait a minute, what? Most gladly, Are you kidding me, Paul? You have a demon tormenting you and you're glad? You call this joy? And as soon as God told him, I've got you, Paul, and my grace is in you and it will be seen in your weakness and in your dependence upon me, as soon as Paul understood that, he stopped asking to be removed from the trial and immediately changed his tone and said, now I choose to rejoice in it. This is incredible. God said that, and Paul says, now I get it. Now I understand. I will go through this. I will rejoice in this. I will happily submit. I will choose to be content, listen, within the boundary of this trial. How long, Paul? As long as God has me here. Why, Paul? so that the power of God may dwell in me. Now, I can be content with my own weaknesses. Now, I can be content when others insult me. Now, I can be content when I'm in distress. Now, I can be content when I'm persecuted. Now, I can be content when I'm in any hardship for the sake of Christ. Because when I am weak, when I don't have the strength, and by the way, that's all the time, you just don't know it yet, it's God's strength that will sustain me. Beloved, Paul understood then the purpose of trials and the joy of seeing God working in him. Now, some of you are sitting out there maybe right now saying, well, I wish that God would just audibly speak to me in the middle of a trial the way that he spoke to Paul, that would sure make it a little easier, wouldn't it? Humbly, can I suggest something to you? He has. He already has. See, I submit to you that there's an additional reason that Paul endured this trial and God spoke to him. And that additional reason is this, because God is speaking to you in your trial through Paul's trial in his word. That message from God that he spoke to Paul, that he has recorded there for us, is just as much to you and to I in the middle of our trial as it was to the Apostle Paul. He has already spoken to you. And he's done it through his word. Do you see that? What more do you need? Beloved, God will almost certainly not rescue you out of your trial. There are times that happens. Rarely. Why? So that you can know the power of God working in you. That's why. This is why he will take you through the trial. So you and I can learn to be content with the weaknesses, content with the insults, content with the distress, content with the persecution, content with all the hardships that we face for Christ. For when you and I are weak, then God's power is what is sustaining us. And you will know your Heavenly Father in the midst of that like you never have before, if you're truly trusting in Him and you're leaning on Him during that time. And that thing, knowing your God, feeling His power sustain you in the trial, experiencing His grace and His comfort, even in the worst trial, that's joy. Why? Because my God is with me. He's here in the pain. and in the agony and in the difficulty of it. He's here with me. Listen to this. I'm hoping that you see this in a new way this morning. Psalm 23. We just rattle that off, don't we? Listen to these words, Psalm 23 verses 4 and 5. You know what? Turn there. Keep a finger here in James and turn to Psalm 23. Verse 4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He really meant that. He's facing death. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You think that's a trial? That sounds like one to me. I fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil and my cup overflows. David says, I don't fear death in the darkest trial. Why? Because my God is walking with me in the trial. And then he uses that expression, your rod and your staff. Those are the tools of a shepherd to protect and defend his sheep. What's David saying? He's saying, I know Yahweh will shepherd me in the trial. And then it's as if David says, wait a minute, this is amazing. It's like I'm feasting at peace While my enemies that want to kill me are all surrounding me. They're circling like sharks. And they smell blood in the water. But it's okay. Because Yahweh is with me. That's a joy you can never know outside of the trial. David ends verse five by saying, my head is anointed, my cup of blessing overflows. That's true in the middle of his trial while others are trying to kill him. That sounds like a man who's at peace, doesn't it? That's amazing. Do you know your God that way? Could you ever know him that way? outside of a trial that severe. This is how you and I respond in our trials. Because you really can't have joy in the middle of that. And it's a joy that you can have no other way. Now who is this joy for? In verse two James says, my brothers. Consider it all joy my brothers. That's who it's for. Now remember, we know James is addressing Jewish believers to help them in their trial, isn't he? But what is here applies to all Christians. It's for us all. But listen to this. It is only for us. Those who don't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior do not know joy in the middle of their trials. So the question this morning is this. Do you suffer as a Christian? and no joy in the midst of your trial through Christ, or when a trial overtakes you, do you suffer like an unbeliever? The source of joy that we have in the trial is knowing that God is working it for good, for the good of his own people and for his own glory. The unsaved person has no joy in their trouble. It's a distinctly Christian thing to have joy in your trial. And if someone is in the church who claims to be a Christian but truly is not, the trial will expose them. How does that happen? Well, sooner or later, the price becomes too great for them to pay in the midst of the trial, and they don't want to endure it anymore. They don't want to bear it anymore. And what do they do? They fall away. And that's when you realize they don't know Christ, and they never did. Because the trial reveals who they really are. That's what the unsaved person does, but the genuine Christian will endure. Why does the authentic believer endure? Because he truly belongs to Christ and when you truly belong to Christ you love him and there is no price too high to pay and there is no persecution so severe that we will forsake our Savior. We're his, aren't we? He's ours. And there is no separation between us. There is no force or power anywhere that can separate Christ from His people. Listen to this. Romans chapter 8 verses 35 to 39, Paul says, who will separate us from the love of Christ? He asked the hypothetical question, what can separate us from our Lord? Listen, here's his answer. Will affliction or turmoil or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it's written, for your sake, this sounds like a trial to me, for your sake we're being put to death all day long. We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's comfort in that, isn't there? Those who belong to Christ will endure. Then the next question is, are trials a sure thing? Can we avoid them? The answer is no. Verse two says, when you encounter various trials, not if you encounter various trials, Trials are not a hypothetical possibility, they are a sure thing. James says, when you encounter them, they're coming. Listen, you're either in a trial or one is coming. So you have to know how to handle this. You have to know how to be content in them. 2 Timothy 2, verse 12, Paul writes, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. All, not some, all who live godly. Everyone who demonstrates godly character and patterns of living will be persecuted by the world. And since godly living is the Father's command, well, that means we need to be ready, doesn't it? Why? Answer, because the world hates us. John chapter 15 verses 18 to 21, Jesus said, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, Well, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know the one who sent me. The world persecutes us because it persecuted Christ. We belong to him. And because we belong to him, it will persecute us. Why? Because there's a conflict between the light and the darkness. You guys learned that in John chapter one, verse five, when Josh gave that sermon a few weeks back, didn't you? So there are those who belong to God, there are those who are of the darkness, the children of darkness, those are the ones who belong to Satan, and there is a conflict between the two. And Satan and his world system always opposes God. He hates God and he'll do anything to destroy God's purposes, and we are God's people and we do everything we can to promote God's purposes. Do you see the reason for the conflict? So we faithfully serve him, and as we do, that they seek to persecute us. Paul put it this way in Colossians chapter one, verse 24, Paul says, no, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And I fill up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh on behalf of his body, which is the church. Now, what did Paul mean by that? Well, Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings, first of all. He's learned the lesson that he talked about, that we saw in the text from Corinthians earlier. And as he serves Christ and Christ's church, he will be persecuted. And then he says, I fill up what's lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh. What does that mean? He's saying we Excuse me, we do not have time really for a full treatment of that, but here's what it means. The world hates Jesus. The world persecuted Jesus. They can't get to Him right now to persecute Him personally because He's with the Father. So they persecute us in His place. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter 4, verses 12 and 13. Peter said, beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery trial among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you." Peter says, the trial's not strange, this isn't unusual, it's not odd, it is for your testing and it's not some weird thing. But to the degree that you are sharing the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing. Peter tells us the same thing that James does, doesn't he? David, Peter, James, it's not strange, it's not unexpected, it is normal. We're to expect trials and what's normal in them for the believer should be for us to have joy in them. What kinds of trials do we face? Well, verse two says various. Various trials, that literally means diverse trials, manifold trials, every kind of trial that's possible. Trials from the world, trials from Satan, trials from your own flesh, trials that are created by your boss, your spouse, your kids, your neighbors, your co-workers, trials from health issues, trials from persecution, trials from the circumstances of life. It's the reality of living in a fallen world that you will face all different kinds of trials, everything. Every trial you can imagine is what James is saying. And the text says, we will encounter. That's an interesting word. We will encounter those trials. It means to fall into or to run into. And the idea is not that we're running towards them, but as you go about the normal course of life, you will walk into them. It's just our lot because of the reality that we belong to God and we live in a fallen world that we are going to smack into trials. Word means to move towards something and to hit against it. It means to strike into it. The trials strike us, we could say. So let's close with this. Yes, you will have trials. Yes, you will run into them. Yes, they will be of every kind of trial that you can possibly imagine. But here's the good news in all of this. It does not matter where the trial is from or what the nature of the trial is. We are either in a trial or one is coming, but in every case, James says, you can have joy. Deep, abiding, genuine, fulfilling, beautiful joy. There's joy to be had in every trial. The Father is with us in it. The Father will sanctify us because of it. The Father will shepherd us through it. The Father will cause us to lean on him to endure it. The Father will increase our prayer life by means of it. The Father will hold us through the pain of it. The Father will shepherd us because of it. The Father will make himself sweet to us in the heart of it. And there you will know your Father. And as you grow near to him, you will find joy as you grow near to the heart of your father. Father, very simply this morning we pray, whatever trial we're facing, maybe it's many, or whatever trial we're about to go into, help us. because it's so counterintuitive for us. Help us count it as joy because of all that your marvelous word has told us about it. Equip us father to handle it and we'll give you the glory for it in Jesus name, amen.