Last week we had Tim and Darcy Gill with us from the Voice of the Martyrs, challenging us about suffering and the privilege that we have to suffer and our response to that. And you know, in his last message that he shared with us, he was pointing out some very interesting things about how churches are responding. There are a lot of churches that are responding with the gospel of Jesus Christ and seeking to reach out even more to people. And then on the other hand, there are churches that are allowing, for the sake of peace, just anyone to walk into their pulpits. In fact, in one situation that we noticed last Sunday night, as we turned on the evening news, we caught a program or at least a tidbit of information about one of our churches that had got involved in that. In fact, I went to the Florida Times Union the next day and I found this article. It says a variety of faithful stand as one interfaith service urges acceptance. The article states this, as in other years, the service sponsored by the local wing of the National Conference for Community and Justice brought different clergy shoulder to shoulder. Leaders of the Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Baha'i faiths gave homilies to about 200 people at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church. William Mason, who is the president of the Baptist Health Foundation Board and a member of Hendricks Avenue, he said this, we have the chance, the free will, to choose that place called acceptance. That's a narrow road, and in fact, a road less traveled. On Monday, we received in the mail the latest Reader's Digest, and it quoted Muhammad Ali, who was the former boxing champion. He said, Islam is a religion of peace. The people who carried out this attack were not Muslims. They're racist fanatics. And when he was asked what his Muslim faith meant to him, he replied by saying this, it means a ticket to heaven. One day we're all going to die and God's going to judge us, our good and our bad deeds. If the bad outweighs the good, you go to hell. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven. My friend, that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you do not trust Jesus Christ by faith in Him and Him alone, you go to hell no matter how good or bad you are. That's what the Bible teaches. In fact, I wanted to ask you simply this, what kind of reaction would come by making such a statement like that publicly? How do you think the world would respond? Well, here's an example, because there was someone who did respond in that way. Tim emailed me this last Tuesday. This information is all over the media now. The article reads this, President disagrees with preachers' anti-Islam remarks. President Bush is distancing himself from Franklin Graham after the preacher and close ally of the Bush family recently called Islam a wicked and a violent, or rather wicked and violent. Speaking after September 11th, the terrorist attacks, Graham had commented, I don't believe that this is a wonderful, peaceful religion. When you read the Koran, and you read the verses from the Koran, it instructs the killing of the infidel for those who are non-Muslim. NBC News reported Friday that when asked to clarify his statement, Graham repeated his charge that Islam as a whole was evil. It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings. It wasn't Lutherans, he said. It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith. I praise God for him standing up and saying that and being willing to speak out because there are so many people that are seeking to bring what we call tolerance to another level. tolerance in the churches. And you know, if you live by this book and you preach what this book says, the Bible, that there will be reaction to it, either for it or against it. And many times when messages are preached from pulpits and they seem to lean in a direction that steps on a few toes, we begin to say you're not being tolerant. Well, over in James chapter one, it tells us how we respond when we're on the receiving end of being persecuted. Because that is certainly what was taking place in this letter. The church had experienced persecution. Saul, who later became Paul, had persecuted the church to such an extent that Stephen was put to death. It says in Acts chapter 8 that the church was scattered. There was an all-out persecution. And let me say this. When persecution arises, it reveals who truly belong to Him. In fact, when you read in Acts chapter 8, I believe it's verse 4, it says, and those who were scattered, they went everywhere preaching the Word. So the persecution didn't stop the Word of God. It didn't stop those who believed it and preached it. It only spread it. And that's the way persecution is supposed to work. not stop us from proclaiming the truth, but cause us to spread the truth. You think of what took place in Genesis chapter 10, the Tower of Babel. God's intent was that the nations would scatter out, but no, they decided to form one religion. God caused the confusing of the languages to bring about that scattering. Well, here in James 1, in verses 2-7, we see here how we are to respond, what we are to do when we are suffering. I want to take just a moment and read this. It says in verse 2, 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." Now as we look into this subject of suffering, because we've covered it from various aspects in the past few weeks, we've talked about, from Matthew chapter 5, Verses 43 to 48, that we are to love our enemies, as Jesus has told us there in those verses. Tim shared with us last week how that we are to even be more committed to the Word of God because the time is coming when you will be challenged about what you believe. In fact, persecution has already arrived. It is occurring right here today in the country in which we live. Even though you have God bless America spread all over most of the billboards around town, I agree with what Tim said. Which God are you asking to bless America? And God will only bless America as America blesses Israel. I wholeheartedly agree with that. But how are we to respond? We're to love, but what about the internal things that we feel? What about those times when people stand in your face and they say all kinds of evil against you? How are you to respond? Well, what we know about suffering can help us because it begins to build for us a foundation. You see, it's one thing to know something. It's another thing to take what you know and apply it. And in most situations, things that we learn, some things are applied right then, some things are applied a little later. But we need to know. Let me just share a few things with you that the Word of God teaches as to what we know about suffering. First of all, we know that suffering is God's will. We know that it's God's will. If you will, take your Bible and look with me over to Philippians chapter 1. Just hold your place there in James, chapter 1. We're coming back there. But there in Philippians, chapter 1, if you look at the last part of the chapter, you find that Paul states that this is the will of God right there in Philippians 1, verses 29 and 30. Notice what he says here. He says, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me." They heard about the conflict. In fact, when he wrote this letter, he was just released from a jail. A jail there in Philippi, having been beaten. They wanted to release them. Then they found out that they were Romans. Then they wanted to release them secretly because you just didn't go around beating Romans. Paul said, no, I'm not going to do that. But in the midst of the persecution that arose during that time, there were people that came to know Christ. The Philippian jailer and his household came to know Christ in a personal way. But he says here that we are to have the same conflict that we hear and that we see that was occurring in him. That is God's will. Now what does he mean by that it has been granted to us? He says here, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ. The word granted there means to give or to grant graciously or to grant generously with the implication of good will on the part of the giver. Kenneth Weiss puts it this way, it has been graciously given to the saints to suffer not only for the sake of, but in the place of Christ. God has graciously given that to us. You say, wait a minute, that doesn't sound like something that Something we really desire or something that we want, but yet God has graciously given us that privilege to suffer for Him. If you remember, Jesus said this in John 15 20. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. So it says here that to you it has been graciously given on behalf of Christ. Kenneth Weiss adds by saying the presence of conflict is a privilege. I mean, think about this for a minute because this goes past human rationale. That this is a privilege? He says the presence of conflict is a privilege. We suffer for His sake. In fact, Paul tells us that this conflict is granted to us. It is a gift. If we were suffering for ourselves, it would be no privilege, but because we are suffering for and with Christ, it is a high and a holy honor. After all, He suffered for us, and a willingness to suffer for Him is the very least we can do to show our love and our gratitude. But a privilege? Again, that goes against all human rationale, because when we suffer, we immediately want to lash back. We want to render evil for the evil that we have received. Love our enemies? You've got to be kidding. Edward Rustio, he sums it up this way. He said the Christian's privileges are to believe on Him and to suffer for Him and always in that order. God confers upon us the high honor of suffering with Christ and for Christ. Let me take just a minute to direct your attention over to Acts 14. And you'll see in Acts 14 about one of the conflicts. Maybe he had this in mind, probably more directly he had in mind there of what occurred in Acts 16, about his experiences there in Philippi. But when he had come over to Iconium, and they preached, the people responded in a positive way. But the problem was, was the response. They ran around thinking that this was Zeus and Hermes, one of the gods that had come down to us. And they wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. When Paul had figured this out, he raised his voice, according to verse 11, It says in verse 12 that they called Barnabas Zeus and they called Paul Hermes. But he says in verse 15, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and we preach to you that you should turn from these vain things to the living God who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. It says, Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without a witness. And that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings, they were scarcely restrained. They scarcely restrained the multitude from sacrificing to them. And to add insult upon injury, look at verse 19, then the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul. Here, one minute, they're ready to offer a sacrifice, and the next minute, they stone him. dragging him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. Listen to what Paul said about that situation. It says in verse 20, however, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. I like that. He didn't run from the persecution. He went back into the city from which he was casted out of. Verse 21, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, They returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying this," listen to this, "'We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.'" It's God's will that we suffer. He wrote from experience. I mean, He knew what suffering was all about, did He not? We must, through many tribulations, many times we think that the Christian life will be free of suffering. And if you watch TV today, that's what you're being told by many TV preachers. God wants you rich, healthy, happy. You take that message to Sudan. There was one pastor that did take that message to Russia. He told them that if you come back tomorrow, God will heal you of all of your diseases. They came back and they spit on him. God wants you rich, healthy, happy. We have a prosperity gospel that we preach, that we live by. God's will is that we suffer. We know that from his word. What's the second thing that we know about suffering? We know that it is inevitable. It's going to happen. In fact, you cannot pinpoint when it's going to happen unless you cause it. In John 16, 33, Jesus said, These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. Notice this, in me you'll have peace, but in the world you're going to have tribulation. He says, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Even over in Revelation 1.9, look how John labels himself. I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation. I'm a companion with you in tribulation. Where was he at? He was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, a criminal colony, a criminal island, a place where they banished criminals. He was there for the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ, he says. Ray Stedman, he illustrates how trials are inevitable by saying this, God is always testing us. Did you get that? He's always testing us, and His testings does not come when we are warned and ready. Anyone can pass the test then. If we knew the test was coming, we could pass it, couldn't we? Or at least we could get prepared for it. God's tests catch us unprepared, off guard. It is when we are confronted with some simple situation no one will know about the test of life, how they really come. When you're relaxing at home and the phone rings and suddenly you're confronted with a call for help or a demand for a response, and you had planned to relax and enjoy yourself all afternoon, what happens then? That's the test. How do you think Abraham felt when he woke up and God told him to go up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice his only son? It was a test. R.L. Russell, he adds, if we're going to triumph over trials, it's imperative then that we anticipate them. Have you ever talked with a starry-eyed young couple about being married? And they say, oh, we just can't wait. It's going to be so wonderful to be together 24 hours a day. He says, I often tell them about W.A. Criswell, who, having been married for 50 years, when he said, sometimes I love my wife so much I could just eat her up. Sometimes the next day, I wish I had. You see, what we know about suffering is that it's God's will and that it's inevitable, and then we also know that it can come in various forms. Listen to some of the forms that it can come in. Philippians 1.30, if you're still there, comes in the form of conflict. Matthew 5.11 uses a word like this, reviling. Matthew 5.11 also says it this way, evil said against you falsely. In Luke 6.22 it says hate. People can hate you. And also that they can exclude you as a response of hating you. And they can cast out your name as evil and the ultimate that can come can be death. Maybe you've experienced something like that before because of your faith in Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, 23, that he was in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stolen. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeys often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold, and in nakedness, having the same conflict which you saw and hear is ending? How would you last going through that? Are you grounded enough that you could go through that and come out all intact? I mean, how do you handle trials? Let's widen it for just a moment. How do you handle trials in general? Do you handle them? Or do you think that people are picking on you? How do you handle it? How grounded is your faith in Christ? Because what Greg read this morning in 1 Peter 1, 7, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, they'll be tried with fire, may be found into praise and honor. at the appearing or the revelation of Jesus Christ? Do you understand that your faith will be tested? Do you understand that trials are there to test your faith? And do you understand that if you live for Jesus Christ, that you may be persecuted, you may suffer for it? Do you understand that? Because see, in naming the name of Christ also means that you counted the cost. You counted the cost. And you're willing to suffer shame for Him, if need be. You're willing to suffer for His name. So what do we know about trials then? What do we know about suffering? Well, we know it's God's will. We know that it's inevitable. They're going to come. And we know they can come in various forms. Well, having that information, what are we to do when they come? What are we to do when we are suffering? And now, just take your Bible and look with me to James chapter 1. Because in this chapter, he tells us what we are to do when we are suffering. Because again, I remind you that these believers had been scattered. He mentions that in verse 1. James, the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered. I mean, how would you feel if somebody came in here and ran us off? Well, I can imagine how you'd feel. I'd probably feel the same way. But how would you respond days after that? Would your face be intact? Because that's exactly what happened here in James' writing to his scattered congregation. They're scattered everywhere because of the persecution on the church. How would you respond to that? Well, he tells us right here how to respond. He says, my brethren, count it all joy. What's he say then? Rejoice. That's exactly what Jesus said. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He's saying, rejoice! But you know, He just doesn't tell you that without telling you why you could rejoice. I mean, Jesus tells us there in John 16 why we can be of good cheer, because He says He has overcome the world. And because He's overcome the world, and if your faith is in Him, you have overcome the world also. Right? So, there's your basis of joy. But what about right here? What does he tell them right here? Notice what he says here. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. There's the inevitableness of the trials, anticipating them coming. He says, when you fall, count it as joy. He says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces, and the word there is not the word for patience. It's the word that means perseverance. The word that means endurance. Because that's what you need when you go through a trial, isn't it? You need perseverance. You need that ability to stick in there. That's what you're going to get when you go through suffering. That's what you're going to get when you go through trials. You're going to learn that. You can't learn that without going through that. You can't learn what it means to persevere and to endure until you suffer. Because you don't need it. You don't need it when everything's right, do you? We find out what we need in those moments, don't we? When we are tested, we see what we really need. And He tells us right here, He says, Rejoice! Count it all joy! The word count, it means to consider, or regard, or evaluate. Think of it as a means for joy. One writer says, the natural human response to trials is not to rejoice. Therefore, the believer must make a conscious commitment to face them with joy. That means that you set yourself on a determined plan and a determined path to rejoice. And it's hard to do that if you're wallowing in it, isn't it? Right? If you're thinking about other things or causing yourself to focus on other things, What kind of joy is He talking about here? He says, all joy. Think of it as an opportunity to rejoice with all joy. And this phrase has been interpreted by many as meaning a pure joy or an unmixed joy, complete and total joy. Consider it all joy, He says. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to rejoice during persecution. Did He not? In Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12, we have here in this section called the Beatitudes, He says, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Did you get that? When you're persecuted for righteousness' sake, He says, happy are you, blessed are you. The kingdom of heaven is yours. Because would an unbeliever suffer for righteousness sake? Not at all. It says in verse 11, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. He says rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In Luke's version, he says it this way in verse 23 of chapter 6, he says, Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. You know, when you suffer for righteousness sake, you suffer for Jesus Christ, you are lining up right there with the prophets who suffered and died. Isn't that amazing? So he says, rejoice. And Paul, he even identifies with this. He echoes the same message of joy in the midst of suffering. Look with me over to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. We find here in chapter 12 that Paul had received an opportunity, and here he is talking about that opportunity when he was called up to the third heaven. In the midst of that, he tells us in verse 7, "...lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations. A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, the Buffet, lest I should be exalted above measure." Now he says concerning this thing, he did exactly what you and I do. What do we do when we have some kind of illness? Well, we do one or two things. We pray, we go to the doctor or some of us go to the doctor and we don't pray or we do both. We pray and go to the doctor. He says concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart. And he said to me, God answered him and he said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect and weakness. Now, what was his response at that point? God, you didn't hear me. Take this away. They got an answer. How did he respond? He says, therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He says, therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. How would you like to hear something like that? Somebody asks you, how are you doing today? Well, I'm boasting in my infirmities today. Let me tell you about what God is teaching me through these infirmities. Got a minute? No, what we usually do is we go on in this long spiel of what life has been like for the last 30 minutes or 10 minutes or the last week or the last year, the last 10 years. And we're hung up there. Instead of what God is doing in my life with this. We know a lot of people that go through a lot of things, don't we? Our prayer list swells every week. People that have infirmities. Some believe that what Paul had situation going on here was some type of eye problem. We don't really know. But whatever it was, he said it was a thorn in the flesh. It was enough to hinder him. It was enough to make him uncomfortable. It was enough to cause him to plead with God to remove it. You've been like that? Yeah? But he says here, he would most gladly boast in his infirmities. Why? That the power of Christ may rest upon me. Think about that for just a minute. Do you rob yourself of God's work in your life when you go around saying, Oh, I feel bad today. I got all these problems today in my life. And instead of recognizing what God may be doing through those things, what He's trying to teach you in those things. How can the power of Christ rest upon you if you don't recognize Him in those moments? Right? He says here that He was willing to recognize it. And He said, if I'm going to boast about anything, Dan, and if I've got to deal with this infirmity in my life, well, then I'm going to boast about it so that Christ's power can rest in me. I had an opportunity while we were out of town this week to share this passage. I want to get you to just back up with me there in 2 Corinthians. Look there in chapter one. Notice what he says right here. Beginning at verse two, he says, grace to you and peace from God, our father in the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Then notice this. who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." You know that through the infirmities that you experience, God will give you the comfort that you need to go through it. And then at the same time, He wants you to take what you learn from Him and comfort somebody else who's going through a similar situation. He wants you to minister out of your sorrow. He wants you to minister out of your pain. Right? He wants to teach us in those moments. And you know, folks, that is the time in our life when we are teachable. When we're broken. Are you teachable all the time? Am I teachable all the time? I mean, we hope that we are, but it's when we're really broken that we're humbled. And we can hear at that point. I think of Gary Smalley. Gary Smalley talks about how his marriage, in the very beginning, was having all kinds of trouble. And he'd talk about it with his wife, and she said, no, we talk about it, we talk about it, you just don't hear it. He said, well, tell me one more time. And he said, I finally heard it for the first time. Even though they had said it so many times, and they talked about it so many times, he finally heard what she was saying. What made it where he could hear? He was finally broken. He was finally at that point. And I just want to tell you that in those trials you can rejoice even though you feel horrible, but you can rejoice because of what you know. It's based upon knowledge. It's grounded and rooted on the knowledge of His truth. Because He says in the next verse, knowing that the testing of your faith is producing. Well, it's going to produce something. You can rejoice because you know what you're going through, that God is testing your faith right now, and He's going to produce perseverance and endurance in your life. He's going to produce that in your life. And you know what? We also learn from 1 Corinthians 10-13 that the way out of the trial is through the trial. And we also know that through that, He's not going to give you any more than you can handle. He's going to strengthen you for the next one. Isn't that amazing? Rejoice. Jesus said we could rejoice. Paul echoes the same message of joy. Even the writer of Hebrews, he gives the same message over in Hebrews 10, 32. He says, but recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle and sufferings. Partly while you were made a spectacle by both reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully, get this, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven." You see, here's a group of believers that come to the place in their life that they realize that they have nothing in this world. They're just passing through. We hold on to things so much that when those things get messed with, it messes with us because they control us, don't they? Some of you know, I like to listen to Adventures in Odyssey. It's no secret. I talk about it. Wonderful program. Doesn't matter how old you are. It's developed for kids, but still a kid. I love drama. And sometimes I can be listening to that and miss my exit. You know what I mean? Get into it. One of the programs they had on there was talking about how your possessions can control you. It was very good. And many times, if you look around, that happens a lot. What we have controls us. I mean, you know that. You own a car. The car has to be fixed at times. It has to be maintained. Are you going to call guys like this, you know, to help you with maintaining it? But still, you've got to get it there, right? But see, here it says here that they joyfully accepted the plundering of their goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession. Again, it goes back to what you know. He says here, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. We're ambassadors for Christ, are we not? We're passing through. Our home is in heaven, not here. We're just here temporarily, and one day we're going to leave this temporary body and be given a glorified body. Do you look for that day? If you suffer, you will. You'll think it's coming sooner than you think. So James says here that we are to rejoice. Peter also calls for the same attitude in suffering. Look with me over to 1 Peter 4. Look at 1 Peter 4 verse 12. Notice what he says here. He says, Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. It's like, why am I going through this? That's how we respond, isn't it? I don't know why I'm going through this, brother. But he says here, but rejoice. Same message. Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. That when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. He says, if you are approached for the name of Christ, blessed are you. For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." On their part, he's blasphemed. But on your part, he's glorified. It's a privilege to suffer for him. He says, but let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. He says, rejoice. You can rejoice. You can rejoice when you go through difficult times. You can rejoice if you suffer for Christ. My fear is, folks, today is the church isn't suffering. Not the church in America. I mean, when you look at it as a whole, when's the last time you suffered for talking about Christ? Think about it. Somebody slammed the door in your face when you wanted to go share the gospel with them? You said the name of Jesus and they slammed the door. You ever suffered like that? You ever had anybody tell you, when you're walking up there and you want to talk about Jesus, get out of my yard, I don't want to hear it. You ever have anybody write you up at work because you were talking about Jesus? You ever have anybody tell you at school, stop talking about Jesus? Don't carry that Bible, it's against the law, pray. Anybody ever told you that? Folks, if we live what this book says, that's exactly what is going to happen. You can count on it. Even more today. Persecution is around right now. It's just that, as Elwynn Hall says, the lying, cheating, stinking media is not going to report it, are they? They're not going to tell you that. If you want to hear really what's going on in the world and what's happening to Christians, you're going to have to have it from people like Tim and Darcy that are willing to come and tell us. Or you're going to find it on Internet sources that are willing to tell us about it. You're not going to find it when you pick up the morning paper. I think most things that you read in the paper are things that are some type of scandal or wanting to say something bad about the situation. That's the kind of reporting that we hear. You turn on the TV, that's what you hear. Everything negative, everything bad. And it comes at you just like this. No one remains on any subject no more than 30 seconds. And then, boom, we're way to a commercial and Ronald McDonald's jumping through the TV. I mean, they've jerked your emotions. All around. That's how come our society is so numb to what's going on. And it took something like what happened September 11th to wake many of us up. What's the second way He tells us in responding to trials? What else are we to do? Well, we know that He tells us to rejoice, but He tells us something else that's found right there in verse 4. And in my Bible, it's the second word. It's the word let. Let me read it all to you. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let... Let what? Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. What is it telling us by that word let? What do you have to do to let something happen? You have to be willing to submit. Right? Are you willing to submit? That's what takes place in responding to suffering. You rejoice and you submit. John MacArthur says the only way out of a trial is through it. The Lord promises no bypasses, only that He always will see His people through the trials without their suffering spiritual harm. But God cannot do His perfect and complete work in and through us without our willing submissiveness. When we learn to rejoice in our trials and come to understand that our gracious Heavenly Father uses them not to harm us, but to strengthen and perfect us, we are motivated to embrace them as beneficial. You see, it goes back to what you know, what you understand. What is the purpose of this? It falls on all of that. There's the basis of joy. But we must be willing to submit. 1 Corinthians 10.13, I mentioned a moment ago, it says this, "...no temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Notice he says that the way out is through it. He says, "...with the temptation," or more literally, the trial, He says here, He will make the way of escape. Some of you are saying, God, I don't know why I'm in this situation. Would you take me out of it? He's saying, I'm taking you through it. You're not alone. You're not alone. I mean, when I read in the Gospels, I see that everything that every believer suffered, God was right there with them. And some of the things that they did that were so incredible, the responses that they had, They had that because God was with them. They could only do and say what they said because God was with them. He helped them through it. He provided the way of escape. He taught them. How about the many times Peter needed to be taught? Do you remember Peter? Peter, the guy with the foot-shaped mouth? I mean, he followed so closely that I think at times when Jesus stopped, he ran right into the back of him. But many times, his mouth got him in so much trouble. One moment he's blessing the Lord, and the next minute he's rebuking Him. Well, God taught him a lot, didn't he? And even though the last picture we see of him in the Gospels, that is prior to the crucifixion of Christ, what do we see? We see him denying Jesus three times. We see him going out and weeping bitterly. But you know, Jesus built back his confidence, didn't he? How did He do that? Well, He appeared to him after he resurrected. And then you go into Acts chapter 1. What did He do? He filled him with the Holy Spirit. You see Him standing up in chapter 2, verse 11, with the eleven, preaching the gospel. And you see how God changed Him. He used Him. And He brought Him to that place of rejoicing and submissiveness. But let me just say something. To this nature, if we're not willing to submit, how can we learn? How can we get what we need? How can God help us? You know, you've heard the phrase God helps those who help themselves. I don't know about that. He's helping you when you can't help yourself. He's helping you when you've hit the gutter or you went under the gutter. He's there, isn't he? He's there to pick you up. You know, I was thinking this week with all the wonderful food that we all got to enjoy, never seen the righteous forsaken, receive begging bread, Psalm 37. He always provides, doesn't he? Let me show you another verse. It's found over in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 18. He's just told us to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. And then he says in verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable. If because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. When you're beaten for your faults, you take it patiently. But when you do good and suffer for it, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was guile or deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but He committed Himself to him who judges righteously. How did Jesus respond when He went through this? He submitted Himself to God. He let. James chapter 1. He let. He submitted. And you and I need to do the same thing. We need to evaluate the trial that we go through and look at it as a means of joy Because of what we understand, the testing of our faith produces, but we've got to be willing to let it have its perfect work. We've got to let it complete what it started. God is perfecting you. He's working in you. You say, I still have trouble with this. Well, look at what he says there in verse 5, James chapter 1. In verse 5, he says, if any of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." If you're having struggles with this and you're having a hard time grasping this, he says, ask. How are you to respond? You're to rejoice, you're to submit, and you're to ask. If you're to ask, you're to ask God. Ask of God, he says. It says here in verse 5 that He gives to all liberally. He's generous if you would ask. Are you willing to ask? It says in 1 John 3.22, And whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. I get so sick and tired of hearing people get on TV and radio and saying, if you ask God for anything, He'll give it to you because His Word says it and He's got to give it to you. Well, notice what that verse says. It says He'll give us anything that we ask because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. We're not looking at God to be some genie, some miracle worker to give me every single thing I ask for. Because some things I ask are not His will, they're my will. And that's why a lot of times we go to God with our long grocery list of I wants, and we think, God, Your Word says it, you've got to do it. I remember I was in a service one time, and the preacher started doing that. Man, I was ready to leave. I spray trap and it was going to be flying everywhere. You start making demands like that of God. I mean, you can demand all day long. Does He have to respond to your demands? You know, a lot of times we tell people, you know, if you will accept Christ, that's the wrong way. It's more like, will He accept you? Not whether you will accept Him. Right? But he tells us, ask, because he gives liberally. And notice what else he says. He gives without reproach. Let him ask. He says there in verse 5, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach. What that simply means is this, that he will not scold you for asking. He wants you to ask. And ask many times. Paul said he pleaded with the Lord three times to have this thing removed. Man, ask. You're going through a trial. You're suffering. And more particularly, you're suffering for Christ. Ask God, asking. He's willing to give it to you. He's willing to give you the wisdom, because that's the subject there in verse 5. The wisdom that you need to go through the trial, so that you can realize that there is a purpose here. But there is a condition. Look at the condition, it's found in verse 6. But let him ask in what? Faith. You've got to ask in faith. With no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. You've got to be willing to ask in faith. You've got to be willing to believe Him. That if you ask for it, and you're asking according to His will, and you're doing what pleases Him, He'll give you what you need. Again, The subject of this whole section in James chapter one is not possessions. It's wisdom. It's the wisdom that you need in going through the trial so that you can evaluate it as a means of joy so that you can rejoice and so that you can submit in the trial and allow God to do his work and not hinder and not, you know, sometimes we stop the process by simply doing this resisting. Resisting what He's doing in our life through those situations. You know, who are we hurting when we do that? Who are we causing this trial to maybe go longer than it was intended in the beginning? We are. Because we're not learning in the process. And sometimes you wonder why you go through some things as many times as you do. Maybe it's because you haven't got the message. Maybe it's because you haven't learned. Maybe it's because perseverance has not been produced through that situation. Hebrews 11.6 says, but without faith it's impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So he says here, ask, ask of God, but you've got to ask believing. Because without faith it's impossible to please Him. So what are we saying here? Well, we're saying that we are to rejoice, we are to submit, we are to ask of God when we're suffering. understanding that suffering is God's will, that it's inevitable, and that it can come in a variety of forms than at any time. And we need to remember, as Joseph Church has said, he said, sufferings are but as little chips of the cross. We must remember what God is producing. I want to close with this. Thomas Brooks says, Look, as our greatest good comes through the sufferings of Christ, So God's greatest glory that He has from His saints comes through their sufferings. We understand, going back to Philippians chapter 1, that it has been given to us as a privilege to suffer for Him. Folks, don't miss it if you're given that opportunity to carry out that privilege. I mean, I was just reading Romans 8, just the day before yesterday, and notice what he says here. He says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. I read that and then I got toward the end of the chapter and I had a Hallelujah session going on. He says this, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore, is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? No. Shall distress? No. Shall persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, or people passing notes, or people talking? No. That's not going to separate us from the love of Christ, is it? He says here, as it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yea, in all these things, what's he say? We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And then he says this, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The answer to the question is nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. No matter what you come up with, no matter what kind of ideas you can come up with, no matter if you don't pay attention or don't listen, He still loves you. Amen. And you're going to wish you were listening one day when you need what is being shared. Amen. How are you handling it? Are you suffering for Him? Man, that's a confirmation that you belong to Him if you suffer for Him. Amen. Father, thank You for Your Word today. Lord, it is a privilege for us to be able to share together in it an honor that You give to us. We thank You for it, Lord God, because we don't deserve it. We're wrong if we think we do. We don't deserve Your mercy. We don't deserve Your grace. We are so unworthy. And it's only because of Christ can we be counted worthy, because of what He did for us. And Lord, just the ability and the willingness to be able to suffer for You, what a privilege. What an honor. And that is something that You grant to us by Your Spirit in that moment, in that hour. I pray for each person in here, Father. We will easily say with our lips, oh, I'll suffer for Him, but when the time comes, will we? Has the time come and we've denied Him? Have we been like Peter that said, Oh, I will not deny you. But when the opportunity came. Speak to our heart this morning, I pray, Father. And I pray if there's someone in here that doesn't know you personally, they know you through their lips and through their head knowledge about you, but they do not have a relationship with you in their heart. Father, open their heart to you right now, bring them to yourself. Help them to see that You died for every one of their sins, and that if they would just embrace You, believe in You, receive You, take up their cross and follow You, that You will save them. So Lord, I ask that You would do that today. In Jesus' name, Amen.