Proclaiming Scriptural Truth, Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina brings you the Chapel Platform. God has used many speakers to share the truth from the Bible at the various preaching services here on the Chapel Platform. Today's speaker is the Dean of Men at the University, Mr. Tony Miller. He delivered this sermon at a summer chapel service on June 12, 1989. His text is James chapter 1, verses 2 through 9 and verses 12 through 17. His message is titled, God's Instructions for Dealing with the Pressures of Life. I suppose this morning, if I started with some of you that were here last session and said, I'm going to ask you three questions, some of you would say, I remember those questions and I remember my answers. We'll only ask you one question this morning. You know, I like to start. messages or Sunday school classes with questions. Hopefully it gets people thinking and it gets them in gear to where you're going in your message. When you get under pressure, under stress and different types of trials, what is your initial response? How do you handle those extreme pressures or stresses that you get under? You say you've given me another good question. You know, it's like the fellow that was saying to a Jewish man, he says, why is it that all of you Jews are always answering a question with a question? And the Jewish man said back to him readily says, well, what's wrong with that? And I hope you don't come back with a question this morning and answer to my question, but I hope you have an answer this morning in your own perspective as you analyze your life, what kind of response do you give when you get under extreme pressures and trials in life? I'm going to have you turn with me to James chapter one this morning. Probably Peter and James are the classic books of the Bible that deal with Christians under stress, persecution, trials, temptations, whatever you want to call them. And here we find in James chapter one, God's instructions or encouragement and how to deal with this. You know, there are a lot of books written today concerning how to deal with stress. And I realize that maybe some of you have overextended yourselves in activities, extracurricular, maybe too much dating, maybe too much classes, whatever it may be. And some of you just as town students possibly have given yourself over to too big of a load. And you've begun to realize that. And you can adjust some of those things. But whenever it comes to things that you can't control that have come your way, that are stressful, how do you handle them? Starting in verse 2, it says in James 1, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways." Then in verse 12 it says, "'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren, every good gift. And every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variable illness, neither shadow of turning." How did you answer it this morning? How did you say that you handle stress? I think that all of us would say that when we get in the flesh or when we're responding naturally, we either become reactive or negative in some way towards stresses that come our direction in life. All of us would have to say that. And sad to say, many of us have developed a repeated habit to where it's almost spontaneous. Any time that we get under pressure, we start resisting and reacting and rejecting the pressure and start fighting it and trying to get rid of it. But here, God says whenever divers temptations, that is, different types of trials or tests come our way, he says that we ought to count it all joy. We ought to rejoice, not reject. We ought to be glad, not try to get rid of, he says, whenever we get into diverse temptations. He says here, my brethren, he's speaking to Christians, you count it or you reckon it to be all joy when you get into diverse trials or tests. Oh, my, if we could only practice what I'm now preaching, if we could only learn the blessing and benefits and the end result that comes in learning to not react and reject at trials that come our way. Now, once again, he says, when you fall into divers temptations, catch that point. He doesn't say when you jump into trials. Or when you jump into temptation, you know, many times we sit there and say, God, I don't know how to handle this temptation to sin, but we've all along been pursuing it. We've been going after it. We've been jumping in the midst of it. We've been trying to get tempted. But he's saying, no, when you're going along life's duties, when you're following the path that God has laid out for you and then you fall not by your own design, but by the course of life God has given you. into divers temptations, you ought to count it all joy. Now, I can remember speaking one time to a young man that was having a temptation in his life. This was particularly a constant temptation to sin. And I told him, I said to him, you probably ought to start thanking God for this aspect of your life. And he looked at me so strangely. And I went through James chapter one and tried to get him to see why he should rejoice in it. and what it could do for him in his life. You know, many times we're thinking that God, if I just didn't have this weakness, if I didn't have this pressure, God, if I just didn't have this temptation in my life, God, you just don't know what a fireball I'd be for you. And many times we see our trials as the very thing that is going to stop us for being all that God wants us to be. And really, it's our trials many times that make us. what God wants to make of us. The touch of the master's hand, the little poem that is talking about the master's hand playing the fiddle or the violin, as we would call it here. Hey, that that lady just recently reading about her, she patted her wheelchair and said, this is what made me a real poet for God. She had to go to A wheelchair before she could start writing poetry. John had to go to the Isle of Patmos. Paul had to go to prison. And we go on and on through the records of history. And we find that it's really many times in the midst of the trials that men and women of God soar the highest for God. That's exactly what James says here this morning. Wouldn't you know it? He gives three reasons why we ought to rejoice. Every preacher delights in a three point outline. And here we are this morning with three reasons that James gives. He just doesn't say rejoice because I love pain and I love pressure. No, that's not what he's saying. You know, like some people that think so providentially that God is dealing, you know, they fall down the stairs and say, thank God that's over with, you know, that sort of thing. And they think that everything is predestined. And some stoically sit there and they grin and bear it and they just passively take it. But he comes here and he says, I want to tell you why you ought to rejoice. It's the end that God is going to work through all those trials that ought to make you rejoice. First of all, in verse three, he says, knowing this. That the trying of your faith. Works patience and let patience have her perfecting work is what he's saying. He's saying patience, patience in the Greek mind was not a stoic sort of thing or a passive sort of thing or just simply grin and bear it sort of attitude or a Charlie Atlas just holding the world's weight upon him. But when we think of the Greek idea, they would illustrate it as a man in blood flowing battle. out there in the midst of all of the commotion and fight and blood and tears. And maybe he would be with his shield blocking a sword's blow. Maybe a duck his head so that the arrow would miss his head. And maybe over here he would sidestep a sphere. But all along, he's not there just standing his ground. He's going on and fighting for more territory. He's pressing forward. He's gaining more of the enemy's territory. And that's exactly the idea of Christian patience. Under pressure, under trials, under attack, going on for God and doing more for the Lord and taking more of the devil's territory. It's not a passive thing of just grin and bear it. He says, what does endurance do? That simply means to remain under it. Don't try and get it off. You know, I can remember a few times when I was trying to build up my body. You guys and ladies today don't realize that I'm muscle bound, do you? Now, you say, I can look at you and tell you're not muscle bound. No, I really am. I'm muscle bound. I'm bound to have muscles someday, just like some of the rest of you folks are. But I can remember a time or two where I thought I was going to try some heavyweight, a binge pressing, and the guys had lifted on me. And you've had this experience. You get it down on your chest and you can't get it off. And you'd start get this thing off of me and beg for mercy, you know, give anything. And, you know, many times that's the way we feel when the pressure gets so heavy. We just say, God, get this off. I could do better without it. And we start saying, oh, I want to get rid of it. But, you know, the way that God develops large souls. For his own army is by increasing the pressure and the strain upon the soul. You know, most of us would like to just simply become strong Christians by reading the Bible and praying. And those are necessary ingredients in Christian growth. But some of us would turn out to be like a athlete if all he did was sleep and eat and never exercised his muscles. You see, it takes the weight and the pressure for him to strengthen his body. And so that's what God is saying is the first reason we ought to thank God for trials and tests. He says, knowing this, that the patience has a perfecting work. that you may be entire and perfect, wanting nothing. That means complete in every part and full stature of person. Hey, don't we all want to grow up and be strong in the Lord, strong souls, Hercules, saints, so to speak. Folks, it only comes through trials. It just doesn't come by having a healthy diet of the Bible. It's whenever we mix a good diet and good exercise and proper sleep and all of that, that we get a strong body. And so it is when God mixes trials in with our healthy diet of the word of God and prayer and witnessing and those things that we become strong for God. And that's the first reason. A developed soul only by pressure and adding more weight. You see, that's the way a weightlifter does. He simply does more repetitions or he simply adds more weight to the bar if he wants to get stronger muscles. The marathon runner actually ends up running more miles per week or runs the miles faster in order to get a stronger race in his developing to become an outstanding marathon runner. And anyone that is going to become a stronger Christian for God is going to have to have more pressure or more repetitions of trial and more. adding of the difficulties of life to become stronger. That's God's way. That's not our way. We'd like it much easier, wouldn't we? We'd like it a little bit less difficult, but God knows how to develop his souls. There was once a peach farmer that had frost come and our peach farmers around here probably understand this very well. He got so discouraged by the fact that the frost had killed his peaches that year that he quit going to church. His pastor came to visit him, trying to get him to come back to church and ask him what was the problem, and he said, God destroyed my peaches and I'm not coming back to church. The godly old pastor thought a moment and then he said graciously to the man. He says it is true that frost kills peaches. But God's not in the business of so much growing peaches as he is growing men, and it takes frost in men's life to grow them to how God wants them. Struck home to him, he understood that the trial, that God was dealing with him as a farmer and a saint and a Christian more than he was concerned even about the peaches. We've got to learn that lesson in life before we can really rejoice. in divers for diverse trials. The second reason he gives is found in verse five. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not, and it shall be given him. What's he really saying? You know, there's been all kinds of people that have used this text to prove all kinds of things in the summers where we've gone out into Mormon territory. There have been many Mormons tell me that this was Joseph Smith's own claim for the revelation that he got from God as to what was a true religion that was taken out of context for Joseph Smith. You realize that wisdom here and the idea of biblical wisdom is a very practical thing. It's really the best means to the best end. And in the midst of trials, it's really a child of God coming and saying, God, I'm in this fix. I'm in this trial. I'm in this difficulty and I don't know how to handle it. And God, I want you to help me get through this the right way to the right end. That's really what this wisdom is all about in the context, it's a very practical thing in the midst of our stresses and trials. You know, that's why James 513 says this. If any of you are afflicted, let him pray. There's piles of books on dealing with stress in human lives. And really, you know, one of the things that I'm convinced of, like one man said, he says, you know, these folks on diets and getting the right food and I think you ought to eat healthily. But he said, you know, it's not so much really what people are eating, it's what's eating them. That's the problem. And folks, many times the way we're dealing with our trials, it's eating us up inside and putting us down. And we're not growing out of it when God intends for us to grow out of it. But, you know, one of the things I found when I get under the most stress simply to come and pray. And that's what he's saying here in verse five, turning to God and saying, oh, God, help me. You know, we don't naturally grow close to God. You know how many of you could just say, I just naturally read my Bible every day. You know, it's just something that's within me and and I just have this spirituality going on that's natural to me and I'll just go to it. No, that doesn't happen naturally to any of us. So the second reason we ought to rejoice in trials is that when we get in the midst of trials, we're prone to turn to God and say, oh, God, I need you. I want you to help me, God, I'm going to draw an eye to you and I want you to draw an eye to me. Yes, indeed, God uses trials to keep driving us to be close or nigh to him. Near to the heart of God, the songwriter said, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love, take my heart, take and feel it for the courts above. Now, that man believed in sanctification that wrote that total eradication, as I understand. But, you know, God uses trials to keep sealing or pressing our heart toward his heart. That's what he does with trials. Recently reading an illustration, I thought this was appropriate. Once you ever get children into grade school and they have to collect the leaves off all of the trees and identify them, you'll become An expert triologist, you will. We've gone through it now the second time with a second child here in the elementary school. But oak trees, I'm starting to differentiate between the many fold oak trees, but I was reading about how vines grow up oak trees and one particular vine is greatly benefited by the oak tree when it comes to storms. For example, if the wind is coming from the other direction and the vine is on this side of the tree and the wind, well, of course, there's protection and blocking by the oak tree. But whenever the wind comes from this other direction against the vine, all the wind simply does is press that vine closer to the oak. And folks, that's what God does with trials. He presses us closer to himself by trials and circumstances. You know, the proverbial Jonas storm. There was once a man out at sea and they got into one of those raging storms where they started unlading the ship and throwing everything off like they did in Acts when Paul was in that storm. Sure enough, after they'd done everything that they could unladen the ship and, you know, gotten down in it and Just hoping that somehow they'd get by, they finally went to a man that they thought was a Christian and they came to him and said, hey, we've heard or we have an idea maybe you're a Christian. And if you've ever prayed before, this is the time to pray. Now, come on, pray to your God. So that man prayed that day. He said, God, you know, we're in a real fix and I haven't asked anything of you for five years. And God, I promise you, if you'll get us out of this situation, I won't bother you for another five years. Huh. Isn't it so sad that we're so slow to come to God when really God wants us to be near him all the time and he has to use trials to do that? The last thing that we need to consider at all joy when we fall into divers temptation is not only knowing that God will develop our souls and make us stronger through it or drive us to a nearness to him by trials, but it's in verse 12. In verse 12, he says, Blessed is the man spiritually prosperous, happy, joyful, that man that endures temptation. He endures it, he remains under it, he doesn't get it out, he doesn't try to get rid of it, he doesn't run from it, he doesn't reject it. You know, he doesn't try to deal with it even in his own strength. He doesn't blame God and say, God, all you do is tempt me. No. God is not the tempter that is one that comes to try and make us fail. You know, there's two aspects of temptation. There's a temptation that Satan is behind where he simply says, I'm giving you this test. I'm creating this situation and I want you to fail. Some of you have accused your teachers of taking that approach. You know, hey, you're giving me questions and you haven't even given me the answers to them or the information to give back the answers and you want me to fail. Some of you would be prone to accuse your teachers of that. You know, that's the way Satan is. But I'm not saying your teachers are that way at all. The teacher, the effective teacher, tries to get the information out to you so that you can grasp it and assimilate it. And then when it comes to test time, write it back and having thought through it, give the correct answer. You know, that's the same direction God comes from whenever he allows temptation to come our way. He always wants us to pass the test. There's no temptation taking us, but such is common to man. But God is faithful. Who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation make the way of escape. Oh, and temptation comes our way. God has a way to handle it. He has the way out. He has the answer. You know, God allows us to be tempted in the Garden of Eden. Satan was wanting Adam and Eve to fail. God was wanting them to succeed and show their love and faithfulness to him. Job, Satan was wanting him to fail and curse God and die. And God was wanting him to show continued love and affection and trust in God. And we see those two persons almost in every temptation or trial of life. We have to choose, though, which one gets his way and his intended desire of the end in our lives. God wants us to pass the test so that he can reward us. He wants to give us the crown of life. You know what the crown of life really is? It's the overcomer's crown. the person that goes through life under all the trials and pressures and stays faithful to God, loving to God, doesn't quit, doesn't reject the temptation and ends out at the end of life, still loving God, having finished the course, having run the race and looking forward to the Lord coming back to reward. Oh, God is not unrighteous to forget our labor of love and our sacrifices for him. He wants to give us every one of us this crown. Yes, God wants us to show devotion to him so that he can reward us and we can have the joy and blessing of enduring temptation by showing him love in it all. Do you realize that every trial or every test is an opportunity to show God that you love him? That's really what it comes down to. I remember Dr. Custer on a grad outing when I was a grad student, put it this way, says, you know, many of us are looking forward to our great escape instead of the Lord's return. We're trying to to get God to get us out of here and get us out of trials and temptations and Satan's presence. But he says, have you ever thought of it this way? We have a unique opportunity here on Earth. To show God that we love him in the face of a foe and in heaven, we'll never have the opportunity to show God that we love him while we're fighting the devil to do it. Now, folks, we have an opportunity here to show God that we love him in the midst of trials, devotion. That's the third reason we ought to rejoice. It's an opportunity to show God that we love him. That's what it says. And it's given to all them that love God. You know, it's really no test of love unless there's sacrifice in it. You know, it's like the lady, 99 years old in the nursing home, and she decided, God, I'm going to give up dancing for you. That lady couldn't even walk, let alone dance. It was no temptation to her any longer. It's like the preacher that said, oh, I wish I loved to drink alcohol. You know, I wish I loved the taste of that alcohol. And the guy says, what do you want to become, an alcoholic, a drunkard? He says, oh, no, you got me wrong. He says, I just wish that I loved the taste of that alcohol. I'd abstain from it for the Lord's sake because I love him. And that'd be another opportunity to show him that I love him in the temptation of alcohol. But he says, I hate alcohol. You don't think God's going to reward me for abstaining from alcohol, something that's no real temptation to me? No trial? Hey, we ought to count it all joy. Why? It develops us. Secondly, it drives us near to the heart of God. Thirdly, every trial is a test. For us to show our love to God, another opportunity to love him. Let us pray. Father, today. I pray. That you would enable us as your children, as weak as we are and as frail as we are not to react at those things that you sovereignly allow to come our way that we cannot control. God, help us. In every trial of life to look at it as an opportunity to love you personally more than we've ever loved you before. And God, we pray not for trials, we just simply ask that we might have a joyful response and that we might benefit from the reason that you allow trials to come our way. We pray in Jesus dear name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for The Chapel Platform. If you'd like a copy of today's message, send a check for $5 to Audio Services, Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC 29614. Please mention the speaker, Mr. Tony Miller, the title of the message, God's Instruction for Dealing with the Pressures of Life, and today's date. Join us again for The Chapel Platform, sponsored by Bob Jones University.