Alright, well turn with me to the book of James, if you haven't done so already. Continue our study. I know some of you are like me because you've said something already, had a few people come up during the week that already in verse 2 and there's some guilt because we're not quite living up, but It's, as I've said before, encouragement as well, and we're gonna see some of that today. Encouragement is, not that we shouldn't feel guilty when we don't measure up, because James is telling us here's how it's supposed to be, but the encouragement is that he's not done with us yet, and there's more work to be done. Remember, James is talking specifically to persecuted believers of the diaspora or the dispersion, and teaching them how to turn their trials into triumphs, how to not get bogged down with those burdens or those difficulties that are before them, but to look beyond them. And the ultimate goal in that is spiritual maturity. So in chapter one here, we're looking at four imperatives, four verbs that he uses in this chapter that set the stage for that idea of turning troubles or trials into triumphs. Last week, we looked at the first one, count or consider. In verse two this week, we're going to look at the verb know. and then two others let and ask, we will get to. But all four of these verbs are pointing to an essential for our victory in our trials, our victory in Christ and ultimately that essential mark of spiritual maturity. So again, last week, the verb we looked at, or the imperative was count, and that essential was a joyful attitude. If you do not have a joyful attitude as a Christian, you need to stop where you are and figure out why. Of all the people in the world who should be joyful, it should be believers. With everything that we have been saved from and everything that is promised to us and everything we have to look forward to, why shouldn't we be joyful? And if there's a lack of joy, it's going to be filled with something. The alternative is bitterness, self-centeredness, I mean, how often do you complain about your circumstances? And think about, especially those of you as parents, how frustrating is it when our children ignore all the blessings that they have and all we do is hear them complain? Doesn't that speak a lot to you as a parent? It's like, you know, I do all these things. I feed you, I clothe you, I protect you, I take care of you, I guide you. And then we get bitterness in return or complaining in return. It's no wonder God was frustrated with the children of Israel. But how often do we do the same thing? How often is there, rather than joy, bitterness or selfishness? So joyful attitude is absolutely an essential for spiritual maturity. You are not spiritually mature if you're always complaining. that may be painful to hear, but it's true. And so, you know, spiritual immaturity is not an option. Paul said, get off the milk. It's time to be getting onto the meat. And so, a joyful attitude. Let's look at the second one. This week, the verb we're gonna focus in on is the verb know. That's a command here. But that essential that he's talking about here in verse three is an understanding mind. So you've got to have a joyful attitude if you're going to be spiritually mature, but you also have to have an understanding mind. Think about the book we just went through, the book of Romans. Paul is just laying out fact after fact after fact after fact. Not so that we can win Bible jeopardy someday. It's so that we can take those facts and apply the disciplines that come from them. And so James is going along that front. Let's read verses two and three together, though, because they're part of the same sentence. So yes, we looked at verse two last week, but I want to see the big picture here. He says, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Again, last week we were looking at the idea we should be joyful in the face of trials, but James was making an intellectual argument rather than emotional argument. We tend to lump joy and happiness together often. You could be unhappy with a set of circumstances. I mean, for example, if you are faced with a trial of some injury or illness that causes pain, that pain doesn't generally produce happiness, but it can produce joy. And so, that whole sentence, the reason we can count it or reckon it is because of the things that we know. We must go through that reckoning process to have that joyful attitude. But here in verse three, he finishes that thought. And that little word for ties these things together. The main idea is easier to see though sometimes if we remove some of the descriptor words. Let me read just a few words from that. Peel it back so we can see what he's saying. He's saying there, count it all joy for you know this. The only reason you can count it joy, the only way you'll be able to is going back to what you know. Remember, it's a reckoning, it's a processing, an intellectual thought. Okay, I should be joyful because I know these truths. And what's the main fact here that we're to use for a reckoning? Look there in verse three. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. LSB says perseverance, NASB, endurance, KJV, patience, all those are good words, steadfastness. Perseverance, endurance. People who have those qualities, we can easily see how they might be considered mature, right? And that's what we're striving towards. The Greek word there is hupomone. And it means the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty, patience, endurance, fortitude, steadfastness, perseverance. All those words were used. Listen to that again. The capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty. When there's a trial that affects a group of people, We all look to the people who can do that, correct? We're looking for the ones who can bear up. There's where leadership comes from because there's maturity there. And so, James is telling us we can be joyful in the face of trials because we're being made into a more mature and stable Christian by these trials. we're being strengthened by these trials to be able to endure even more difficult trials. I think of the Apostle Paul, and he is a model for us in many ways. But imagine Saul on the road to Damascus at his conversion. What was his question to Jesus Christ? Lord, What do you want me to do? Here's what the Lord didn't say. I want you to write most of the New Testament. I want you to travel the globe. I want you to be laughed at, spit upon, stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, put in dark, dank prisons. And then I want you to do that repeatedly until I call you home. What do you think he might have said at that point in time? I mean, you got my attention, but I'll just pass on that, right? What did Christ tell him to do? Lord, what do you want me to do? Obviously, you're more powerful than me. You're something I'm not. What do you want me to do? Go to town. And then he went to town and he gave him a little preparation and then he sent him into the wilderness for preparation, and then he continued to prepare him. The men's breakfast yesterday, we talked about Abraham quite a bit. When we were going through our study of Abraham, we referred to what he was going through as the school of faith, because God was preparing him. What did God tell Abraham to do at the beginning? Just leave that place and your family and go here. Abraham couldn't do that, right? He couldn't obey. Do you think Abraham could have obeyed if God said, okay, I'm going to give you a son and then I want you to kill him? He couldn't have. He had to be prepared for it. So we are being strengthened to be able to endure even more difficult trials and You know what, those trials will make us stronger too. Hopefully, if you are maturing, you're able to stand up to some things that you wouldn't have been able to early in your Christian walk. Romans 8, 29, we've quoted it often, it's worth repeating here. For those who me foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So those who are called, those who are the elect, He gave a destiny. He preset this destiny, and what's our destiny? If you are a child of God today, you have a destiny, and that is that you are going to be conformed to the image of his son, pressed into a mold to look like him. And so, Christ experienced trials, we certainly know, and that's part of the mold that we have to go on. We are told in the New Testament They persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. The apostles collectively rejoiced at the idea of being able to suffer for their faith. And it's because they did that reckoning ahead of time in their minds, and they looked at what they knew. Now, there are a couple of words we've skipped over there in that verse. I mentioned last week in passing, I'll bring it up here again, the King James Version translate the last word of verse two as temptations. That is a poor translation there. That's not the right word. Verse three is how we know that. Verse three is what proves that to us. Now, that Greek word in verse two, it can be translated temptation. That is one of the meanings, and just like, English, there's some words that could be used in different contexts with different meanings, but that was a secondary definition. The primary definition of the word that other translations translate as trials is this, it is an attempt to learn the nature or character of something, to test, to try. So this is an attempt to learn the nature or character of something. And so that fits much better than temptation. Now again, we're gonna talk later. He's gonna delineate temptation versus trials later on in the chapter. So that's the word there in verse two. Now look at what he says in verse three. It's a different Greek word, but here's what this word means. The process or means of determining the genuineness of something. So even within the King James Version itself, the translators knew that tempting didn't fit in verse three. They should have kept it out of verse two, but even the word temptations had little bit different connotations back then. Because in verse three, they used the word trying, which fits perfectly in this context. There's several definitions of the English word try. Seems like it would be a pretty basic word, simple, definition, but there's many. But the angle they were going after can be found in a couple of them. Here are two definitions of the word try. To subject to something, such as undue strain or excessive hardship or provocation. So to subject to something that tests the powers of endurance. That fits pretty good right here. The other one that I think is alluded to is to melt down and procure in a pure state. Refiners, when they're producing gold or gathering gold, not really producing it, it's all tucked up into rocks. There's garbage in it. There's all this stuff. They throw it in the fire. And all the garbage floats to the top, and they're refining it. They're getting the dross and the impurities out of there, so they're left over with the good stuff. And that process is called trying it. Job 23.10, maybe the most well-known use of that, Job said this, but he knows the way that I take, and when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. And he's referring to that refiner's fire process. Now look at verse three again then, with that in mind. He says, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. So again, what's that Greek word? To subject to something that tests the powers of endurance, to melt down and procure in a pure state. So the refiner's fire is necessary to remove the dross and impurities from our lives, to get rid of the garbage, to get us focused off of the negative stuff. It's these painful experiences that mature us. But how they specifically mature us is tied to the other of the two words we skipped over. So look there, verse three, what is it that is tested or tried? It's our faith, right? So look at that entire sentence again. I want you to look at those verses. I'm gonna paraphrase it. Elaborate a little bit more. So essentially James is saying this. My brothers, you need to determine in your mind that all of your trials of any nature are a cause for joy. And the reason is that you already know that the heat of the refiner's fire and the testing and the trying of your faith will cause it to have the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of greater difficulty. He's telling us to look ahead. It's not the trial that makes you joyful, it's what is being accomplished by the trial. It's what is being produced in you because of that work that the refiner, in this case, our God, is doing for us. So in other words, he's saying be joyful because God's creating in you the capacity to persevere until the end. That should be cause for excitement, shouldn't it? It's God who is the cause of your salvation, and it is God who is and will be the cause of your perseverance. A lot of Christians get that wrong. We're okay with God's, okay, God, you did salvation. Now it's up to me. And what happens when we fail? Satan, that's what he's going after. And so we're, limiting the work of God when we think it's up to us to contribute any part of our salvation. We all know about that sin nature which still resides in our flesh. That's why sometimes some of the most painful times as a Christian are those quiet times when it's just you and your thoughts. Thinking about your failures and your shortcomings. I'm sure You would agree with me, because of that sin nature that's still there, yes, we're children of God, but Paul talked about that battle inside, and we know that battle's real. But if God saved us from danger, and then left us to fend for ourselves to get the rest of the way to heaven, what would we do? We'd go straight back to the danger. I'm sure most of you have probably hit a squirrel with your car before, right? I mean, I've killed dozens of them. They're all over. Now, my philosophy is, you know, you got an animal like that, you try to swerve, your odds are better of hitting them. So you go straight and let them move. Doesn't work with squirrels though, does it? They'll be running across the road well in front of you. They're three steps from that golden pile of acorns on the other side of the street, and what do they do? They see that car coming and they stop, and they're looking right at the car. And then they start moving like this, like, you know, what, six feet width of the car, eight feet, whatever it is. They can't get outside of that, and they're zigzagging, you know, so. They stop right where you're driving. They are so dumb, they head straight for the danger. And they stay in its path. And there's many professing Christians who believe that's how it is with salvation, that God saves us if we let him. There's usually the problem. The reason people struggle with the back end of it is because they don't get the first part right. God saved me with my cooperation. my participation because I chose to let him save me, because I was smart enough to figure out, okay, this is a better path. And since it was our choice initially, then the responsibility is on us to do the rest of the work, finish the job. And that is a very sad and perverted translation of scriptures. Let me ask you a few questions to help validate my statement. They're rhetorical. But before I do, I want to read a few verses first. You don't have to turn to these, but you're familiar with most of them. John 3, 36. Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. Now that word has there, we're going to do a little bit of English lesson here. I know you guys love that. What tense are we talking about there? Past, present, future. Present tense. Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the sun, shall not see life." Do you notice the shift there? Whoever believes has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. Belief and obedience are tied together. So, it's important to know, but he says, then, but the wrath of God remains on him. Chapter later, John 4, 14, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. So you drink the water, you accept salvation or accept more importantly, the fact that he is Lord and he is to be obeyed and bowed down to. Yeah. So whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Later on, John chapter 10, verses 28 and 30, he says, I give them eternal life, present tense, and they will never perish. Never is a pretty strict word, right? How many times can you squeeze into never? What's the biggest number you can fit in there? Zero. They'll never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Later on in his epistle, John wrote this, 1 John 5.20, and we know, see that reckoning again. What do we know? We know that the Son of God has come, It's past tense, and has given us understanding. Past tense again, right? So, as believers, we have that understanding. Why? So that we may know now Him who is true, and we are in Him. What tense are we talking about? We are in Him right now. We are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. So we are in the being that is eternal life, is what he's saying. And he also said this in 1 John 5 11, and this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Past tense there, right? So, couple of questions there. And again, I don't think most of us believe that we have to do the work or that we can lose our salvation, but sometimes we reckon or consider or process the facts like that's the case. So question, according to those verses we just read, when does eternal life begin, present or future? Present tense, we have it right now, right? If eternal life can end, is it eternal? I mean, that's pretty much the key concept of eternal, right? Keeps going and keeps going and keeps going. Another question, if the requirement for salvation is perfection, what do you think the requirement to keep salvation is? Same standard. If I could lose my salvation in the standard of perfection, haven't I already lost it today? That's one of the things that's never, people who argue for this idea that you can lose it or walk away from it, If I think I'm saved and I think it's up to me to keep it, I should be getting saved again every single moment of my life. Why would you think you could lose salvation and you think you're gonna have a good enough day to get by one day as a believer, as a child of God? And so, another question. Would it even be humanly possible for me to keep it? Obviously not. Now, some would argue, well, salvation can't be lost, but we can change our minds. After all, it was my decision to begin with, right? It's all about me using my mind, but I can assure you if you could change your mind, you would. We're the dumb squirrel. Remember, we were God's enemy when he first loved us. And He loved us first. He rescued us from ourselves. So let me read one more verse along these lines. We'll look at it from a different angle, though. Turn to Romans 6, though. I want you to see this one. Romans 6, and let's look at verse 22. Romans 6.22, he says, but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. So we are already slaves of God in this scenario, right? Like today, present. The fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life. So one more question. If you are God's slave, is it your choice to be free from him? I think we kind of misunderstand the idea of slavery when we think that we can just decide to walk away from God. And so those verses there, it's an argument for eternal security, but the perseverance of the saints is something completely different. Now, you're still looking there at Romans 6.22. I want to begin a different string of verses now, but we're going to start with this verse here. So look at 6.22 again. We're God's slaves in the present, right now, right? He purchased us for a price. We are owned by him. It's the master who makes decisions, not the slave. It's generally the way slavery works. Now notice what we get there in verse 22. We've become slaves and the fruit that we get from that slavery leads us to sanctification. And what's the end of that sanctification? Eternal life. Sanctification which leads to eternal life. Now let me read you a few other verses here, Romans 2, 7. To those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. Look what's going on there. Those who by patience or endurance, steadfastness and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he'll give eternal life. Paul said this to the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians, excuse me, 15 verses one and two. He said, now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received in which you stand. Now remember 1 Corinthians 15 is probably the most succinct passage in all scripture for laying out the gospel. And Paul says, what was that gospel I preached to you? Look how he starts it. Verse two, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. Dale touched on it today, but it's worth repeating here. It's possible to believe in Christ and not be a Christian. Now, go stop at the next 10 churches you pass down the road and ask them that question, they would say I was a liar because in our modern culture, it's all about the believing. It's simple, accept, believe, confess, and you're good to go, right? Paul seems to be giving us another idea. The gospel which you received and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Christ told, or we're told in John 2 about the disciples. They believed in him, but he didn't attach himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts. There's another passage from Paul to his young protege Timothy, 2 Timothy 2, 11 through 13. The saying is trustworthy. Now Paul had a few trustworthy sayings, but this is similar to when Christ would say, verily, verily. Christ didn't have to say, that word just means truly. Christ didn't have to say truly, truly before a statement for his words to be true. All of his words were true. When he said that, he was saying, pay attention here, this is important. And that's what Paul's saying. When he says this is a trustworthy statement, remember, we're going back to the processing. It's trustworthy because you know these things. So what did he say? If we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. There's a lot of ifs there. Colossians 1, 21 through 23 said, and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. So we're talking about believers, right? You were enemies, you were hostile, you didn't want anything, you were like Saul, you were trying to destroy him and his church, but now he's reconciled you by his death so that he could present you blameless to the father, but look at verse 23, there's an if, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, became a minister. Listen to the words of Christ in Mark 13, 13, and you will be hated by all for my namesake, but the one who endures till the end will be saved. Judas was hated for a while, but he didn't endure. Hebrews 12, 14, pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Romans 8, 13, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the praxes of your body, you will live. If with the help of the Spirit you are dying to self daily, then you will live. If not, if you're living according to flesh, you must die. Galatians 5, couple more, Galatians 5, 19 through 21. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities. You know, those first ones, pretty easy. Most of us think, well, I'm not worshiping idols. I'm not doing sorcery. You know, I'm faithful to my spouse. But the list isn't done there. How do we measure up here? Enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Last one here, again, Christ speaking, John 8, 31. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him, By our modern definition, these should be Christians. He said, if you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples. It's not just belief in who he is, it's belief in his power, his authority, in his lordship and submission to it. What did James say? Jumping ahead of myself, but he said, the devils believe. The demons know who Christ is. We see that alive in the Gospels. Think of the one encounter, Christ didn't even say anything to him, just his presence and the demons said, hey, please don't destroy us. So if you look at those verses in a vacuum that we just read, it certainly would seem that salvation is earned, correct? And that, If we take that further, the ultimate achievement doesn't come until the end, the very end. But we don't look at verses in a vacuum. All the verses we read earlier are true. Present tense, eternal life. If you're a child of God, you have eternal life right now. When does eternal life end? When does it end? Never, it's eternal. But then he's got all these verses with the ifs. Those verses are true as well. You must persevere to the end. We're told multiple times. If you don't, you're not my disciples. You don't have eternal life. So how do we reconcile these two ideas? It's really quite simple. If you are a child of God, he will cause you to persevere until the end. He won't make it happen. Let me read you a few more verses. Psalm 37, 28, for the Lord loves justice. He will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. He doesn't say the saints preserve themselves, he says they are preserved. Jude 24 and 25, this might be unfamiliar to some of you, but Jude said this, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, You guys know the rest? And to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. Now who is him who is able to keep you from stumbling? Christ. So he's the one who can present us blameless. It's not ourselves, we can't do it. Verse 25, though, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time now and forever. Why? Because he is the one who is capable of doing it. One more passage here. Hebrews 10, 35 through 39. Therefore, do not throw away that confidence of yours, which has a great reward. That's an important verse. Don't throw away your confidence. That's exactly what Satan is trying to do. Satan is trying to get you to say, well, I've blown it. I failed again. I keep doing this same thing over and over again. A Christian's not going to do that. What did Paul say? I'm a wretch. Things I want to do, like my desire is to do these good things and please God, what do I do? I do the other thing. The evil things that I don't want to do, the thoughts I don't want to have, the failures I don't want to have, what do I do? I keep running right back to those. And Satan just tries to pick at them and bring them to your attention and look, you can't be a Christian. So listen to that verse, Hebrews 10, 35. Therefore do not throw away that confidence of yours, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance. Does that word sound familiar? Patience, steadfastness, perseverance. You have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. So the idea, those two ideas that we were talking about earlier aren't contradictory. They mesh perfectly. When we were going through the first part of Romans, what conclusion did we keep coming to? Salvation is all of God and nothing of me. I don't have to contribute anything. I don't even contribute the faith. God gives me the faith that's necessary to complete the transaction. I literally brought nothing but trouble. My righteous one shall live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Well, Christ's soul is not gonna have pleasure in the righteous one, or in the one who's unrighteous. That's why he, 38 and 39 go together. He said, we're not of those who shrink back. We're not like the ones who were the seed on the rocky soil and the hard path. We're like the seed that falls on the good ground. We don't shrink back to destruction, but we have the kind of faith that will preserve our souls. Now flip back to James 1. Let's tie these thoughts together. Unless you think I've just gone on some big rabbit trail. Look at verses two and three again. Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance. Now look at verse four, see the byproduct of this perseverance. Let perseverance, endurance, patience, steadfastness have its perfect work, its full work, its complete work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. That's the idea of perfect. It doesn't mean perfection as in sinlessness. The pure definition of perfection is completeness, fullness. Let perseverance, patience, endurance, steadfastness have its complete work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Now, let's go backwards for a moment. We read two, three, and four. Let's take that thought backwards. First of all, your salvation cannot be complete without perseverance or endurance. But perseverance or endurance comes from the testing, trying, proving of your faith. Therefore, you should be joyful when your faith is tested, when you are being tested and tried. Why? Because it's proof that God is working to complete your salvation. When you look at it through the proper lens, it's a whole lot easier to be joyful in trials, isn't it? Who knows what trial God has waiting for you in the future? Again, I'll go back to Abraham. Abraham had a simple task. We talked about that school of faith in Abraham's life. Simple task, leave here, leave your family, move here. We do that all the time, right? People move all over the country, move all over the world. But Abraham couldn't do it, he took his family, he went not where God told him, he went halfway. Eventually his father passes and God says, I want you to go the rest of the way now. Still took Lot with him, Lot caused a lot of grief. Think how much easier it would have been if Abraham just left his family behind like God said. He finally goes where God tells him to and what has he met with? A famine. Well, God didn't tell him there wouldn't be a famine there. He just said, go here. Now again, if Abraham would have left before, he would have got there before the famine, but he did it his way, gets there in a famine, so what does he do? I'm gonna fix it. I'm going somewhere else. All kinds of problems came out of Egypt. He took Lot there and let Lot get a taste of the good life, which destroyed his family and his future for the most part. Again, if it weren't for what we're told in the New Testament, where he is defined as righteous, not one of us would believe that he's a Christian. It's because Abraham took him there. What did he do when he gets there? Let's lie to this guy. I don't want him to kill me because of you. That worked out well. He almost lost the mother of the promised child. Didn't learn his lesson, though. Did it again later. Abraham, his life, we kept seeing these trials, right? And God was preparing him for the next one. A little more difficult. And then the next one, a little more difficult. He failed a lot of his trials though, didn't he? But what was God doing? He was preparing him. Finally, Abraham gets to the point where we could argue, do you agree with me that the ultimate trial I want you to take your son and sacrifice him. Abraham was old when he had Isaac. Now Abraham's really old. God says, I want you to kill him. But what did Abraham do? We're told he finally did the reckoning. He finally looked back and said, yeah, every time I try to help, I screw it up. And yet God always salvages it. God always fixes my mistake. God solves the problem. I'm just gonna go ahead and obey God this time. We're, again, told in the New Testament, because he knew, well, God will work a miracle. He'll raise him from the dead or he'll do something. Like, I don't know what his plan is, but I'm tired of trying to fix it myself and doing the work myself. I'm just gonna let God do it. And he counted it joy. Think how joyful Abraham was going down that mountain with Isaac, knowing that he had passed that test. But he couldn't have done that 20 years earlier. He was still failing. And so we have to have perseverance until the very end to fully experience that joy of our salvation, but we only get that type of endurance from the testing of our faith. And so be joyful when you're being tested. Think about skipping all those tests and then getting that hard trial later. Our odds wouldn't be as good. but God's working for us. So let me close by reading just a couple more passages. 1 Peter 5.10, Peter said this, after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Look what he said. You got a little bit of trial to go through, but you've got eternal glory to look forward to on the other side. And it is God himself who will do the persevering or cause the persevering. Second Corinthians 4.17, Paul said this, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. It's light, it's momentary. It seems like it's the end of the world for us sometimes going through those trials. It's like it's just small. It's short. It's going away. But the weight of glory is eternal and beyond all compare. You can't compare the weight of glory that you have to look forward to on the other end to this little tiny bump in the road. Romans 8, 18. Paul said this to that church, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not even worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed for us. Paul and Peter had already done the counting, done the reckoning, and that's why they were willing to endure so much. That's why Paul could sit in prison and sing songs like, he's still working on me. He's still preserving me till the end. And so we need to follow their lead and do the same thing. I'll close with this verse. First Thessalonians 5, 23 through 24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. You can't sanctify yourself. You can't set yourself apart from the goats. You can't persevere. You can't do any of it, but the God of peace, he himself will do it. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. I think James was onto something there in those verses. And so, We can't gloss over the perseverance part, the endurance, the patience. It's absolutely vital to our salvation, but it's absolutely one of the things that God has given us. We were told he's given us everything pertaining to life and godliness, even the endurance. So rather than get mad at God or frustrated with God because things aren't going our way, Why'd you give me this family? Why'd you give me this set of circumstances? Why'd you take my job away from me? Why did you give me this illness? Why did you allow me to get in this accident? Why didn't you send my guardian angel down to protect me? Every time we're complaining, it's the exact opposite of maturity. Because we're looking at the things that are insignificant, they're light and momentary, and totally ignoring the things that are beyond comparison or much weightier. So, count it all joy when you fall into all kinds of trials, because that works. Endurance and endurance will accomplish its tasks. We will wrap up there for today. Any other thoughts or comments on Those verses? But I think he's trustworthy though, isn't he? There's a common question on the lips foremost every informed, a little replica informed on the leaders. And it flows over even into some of us, the leaders. And the question is, in Gagaskar, why is it that when Lucifer became satan, he did not bind him completely and show him Why is it that I have been praying because I have this serious issue and it has not been resolved? Why are sinners who are meant for damnation and not held straight to hellfire? And I think James is answering that question indirectly. That if you are truly a chaplain, You have to be proving that you are true. Because again, it's not like birth certificate, natural. That if you are given birth, they give you a birth certificate. That authenticates that you are truly born. In the spiritual realm, you believe. But like we said today, some of the beliefs are not true beliefs. So how do you authenticate that my salvation is real? And these are some of the things God himself, James, have said. He does not tell. He cannot. So who has to do that job? Satan has to be there. His people have to be there. And at times, it's coming from various aspects. It could be people hating you just because you're a Christian, like Jesus Christ. He's the best of all that the world could have, yet they give him the worst that the world could, and therefore they follow us too. So as believers, true believers, you are going through a tough situation, especially for non-believers, and you're still standing, because again, the hurt and the pain on the external, they are spiritually brewing. some spiritual capacity within. So the more you come to know, how am I able to withstand all this? Again, it's giving you evidence that you're a Christian. And when that evidence are coming, then those people who are even hitting you, you cannot hit them. Like almost all they say, the father forgive them, but they don't know what they are doing. And that is how you were able to count it, even though. Because naturally, things were threatening a letter for them to stand and fight. If anybody is hating you, hate them back. But for a Christian to be able to off-go the natural reaction and be able to embrace what God has given to you, again, makes you to be able to And that's how it's encouraging like the guilt is real but without guilt There's no proof that he's still working on us There's no proof that he is Trying or testing or proving our faith, and there's no There's no proof that he loves us because it's whom he loves that he chastens. So that's how you can read letters like James' letter and feel that guilt and yet come out comforted. So. There is also the very calling of God. The desire to read the Bible is not mine. The desire to come to church is not mine. The desire to preach the gospel is not mine. The desire to honor God in everything I do is not mine. Because that desire comes from the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that He is our secure, that we will be convicted and sealed until that day. Now, when you look at the Bible on the book of Luke, then He said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. that all the things must be fulfilled were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Verse 45, it says, and then he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scripture. Boom, that tells you. I don't have no power over anything. If God doesn't open the mind of people, of newborns, there's no point. No second narrative, nothing. I mean, you look at the disciples. First, you see the miracle of feeding the 5,000. You collect 12 baskets, right? Pickled fish and pizza, right? Then they go to the sea. I said, did you see the miracle? How do you get fishes after fishes after fishes? Mine went a little low. Wow, look, I've never seen that before. But to understand that, right before their face, they could not perceive food until they went to the sea. You are the Christ. So unless God reveals Himself, I cannot follow Him, I cannot pray, I cannot look for Him, I cannot search Him, unless He puts the desire. Christ said it, without me, there is nothing you can do. The desire to follow Him, it is His alone. Yep. Alright, would somebody be willing to close us in prayer? out today and we praise You for Your Word which brings us to a knowledge that You alone are holy, You alone are good. All of Your plan is for us, Lord. It is above us. It's not for us to ask why, Lord. We praise Your Name for being a good and holy and merciful God that You reveal Yourself to us through Your Word and give us Even these final aberrations, Lord, that all of your testing of us as Christians brings us to perfection. And Lord, we know that you are perfect, and we thank you and praise you and glorify you for drawing us in that direction in spite of ourselves, Lord. Raise your name, and Lord, help us to have faith in you and remember your holiness and your glory. Lord, bring us safety. Keep us and watch over us. Preserve us as we go from here, in Jesus' name. Amen.