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When-Troubles-Won-t-Go-Away-Msg-2-16 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Poetist Nancy Spiegelberg wrote insightfully about the weary, exhausting lives
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Speaker 1: Christians live against the press of adversity. In her touching poem,
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Speaker 1: if only I have known you better, she mused, Lord,
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Speaker 1: I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup,
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Speaker 1: uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only
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Speaker 1: I have known you better, I'd have come running with
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Speaker 1: a bucket. Isn't that great?
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Speaker 2: Better?
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Speaker 1: Still, isn't that the truth? When facing life's troubles, we
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Speaker 1: too struggle to understand God's ways. Our minds played tricks
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Speaker 1: on us, tempting us to believe that He has forgotten us,
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Speaker 1: or He has somehow fallen woefully short on com passion.
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Speaker 1: For our desperate times, Well the Apostle James wrote to
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Speaker 1: remind struggling Christians and us the trials come in order
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Speaker 1: to strengthen our faith, not to weaken it, to foster character,
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Speaker 1: not diminish it, and also to quicken our attentiveness to
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Speaker 1: the Lord's still small voice. To borrow from Nancy Spiegelberg,
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Speaker 1: James delivers a bucket full of God for our trial
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Speaker 1: weary souls. James helps us know God better and explains
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Speaker 1: why God allows us to experience various times of testing.
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Speaker 1: As a backdrop for today's message, I'd like to again
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Speaker 1: read the opening verses of this New Testament letter. I'll
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Speaker 1: be reading James Chapter one, verses one through twelve. My
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Speaker 1: reading will be from the New American Standard version of
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Speaker 1: the Scriptures James one, beginning with verse one, James, a
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Speaker 1: bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
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Speaker 1: the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, Greetings, consider it
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Speaker 1: all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing
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Speaker 1: that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let
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Speaker 1: endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be
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Speaker 1: perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of
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Speaker 1: you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
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Speaker 1: to all generously and without reproach, and it will be
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Speaker 1: given to him. But he must ask in faith, without
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Speaker 1: any doubting. The one who doubts is like the surf
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Speaker 1: of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For
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Speaker 1: that man ought not to expect that he will receive
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Speaker 1: anything from the Lord, being a double minded man unstable
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Speaker 1: in all his ways. But the brother of humble circumstances
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Speaker 1: is to glory in his high position, and the rich
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Speaker 1: man is to glory in his humiliation, Because, like flowering grass,
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Speaker 1: he will pass away. For the sun rises with a
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Speaker 1: scorching wind and withers the grass and its flower falls off,
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Speaker 1: and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So too
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Speaker 1: the rich man, in the midst of his pursuits, will
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Speaker 1: fade away. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial,
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Speaker 1: for once he has been approved, he will receive the
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Speaker 1: crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those
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Speaker 1: who love him.
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Speaker 2: It was pain that knocked upon my door and said
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Speaker 2: that she had come to stay. And though I would
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Speaker 2: not welcome her, but bade her go away, she entered in,
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Speaker 2: and like my own shade, she followed after me, and
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Speaker 2: from her stabbing, stinging sword, no moment was I free.
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Speaker 2: In the poetic words of that artist, he describes a
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Speaker 2: very miserable, hurting condition, and the condition is, simply speaking,
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Speaker 2: the problem of troubles that won't go away. If I
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Speaker 2: could borrow the words from Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors,
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Speaker 2: I would describe the victim in that situation as a
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Speaker 2: wretched soul, bruised with adversity. But that is not any
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Speaker 2: unique individual that, in some way or another describes every
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Speaker 2: person here this morning, or every person who will ever
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Speaker 2: hear this message in years to come. Even in this year,
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Speaker 2: since its inception, you can look back and remember times
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Speaker 2: when you were bruised with adversity. Not all the bruisings
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Speaker 2: that God brings to us appear on the skin, do They.
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Speaker 2: In fact, some of the deepest, most painful bruises strike
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Speaker 2: us down inside. They hit us in the realm of
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Speaker 2: the hurts of the flesh, called in scripture the carnal nature.
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Speaker 2: We are bruised because of lust or greed or pride.
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Speaker 2: We are bruised because of disappointments and depressions. We are
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Speaker 2: bruised over the death of close loved ones and friends,
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Speaker 2: and children and parents. We are also bruised on the outside.
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Speaker 2: Physical pain bruises us and hurts much. We are bruised
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Speaker 2: by people, bruised by circumstances, bruised by the hurts that
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Speaker 2: come just in the daily bonds of this earth dwelling
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Speaker 2: in it. In fact, David said, on one occasion, many
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Speaker 2: are the afflictions of the righteous. Job said, man's days
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Speaker 2: are short lived and full of turmoil. Paul wrote that
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Speaker 2: we are perplexed, persecuted, knocked down. The habit of our
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Speaker 2: life is affliction trials. Someone has said, if you were
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Speaker 2: to trace the journeys of Paul in the first century,
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Speaker 2: it would be like tracing the path of a wounded game,
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Speaker 2: as he was running from the hunter, one bloody trail
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Speaker 2: after another. Peter says, don't think it's strange concerning the
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Speaker 2: fiery trial, which is to try you as though some
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Speaker 2: strange thing has happened unto you. You see, the Bible
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Speaker 2: is replete with illustrations and words communicating the reality of
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Speaker 2: hurts and trouble. And I suppose we could not feel
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Speaker 2: any more real pulse of man than the pulse of
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Speaker 2: pain if we were to search for one. And so
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Speaker 2: we will use James as a guide as we search
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Speaker 2: out some insights from God regarding the problem of troubles,
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Speaker 2: and especially those troubles that won't go away, those that linger.
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Speaker 2: When you turn to James chapter one, as we once
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Speaker 2: again enter into the study of this exciting and practical
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Speaker 2: book of the New Time estimate, James, I want to
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Speaker 2: remind you was writing to people that were dispersed abroad.
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Speaker 2: Those words in verse one describe an individual who was
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Speaker 2: a Jew. The Twelve Tribes tell us that he was
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Speaker 2: a Jew who was blasted from his home. As it
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Speaker 2: were in those days under Claudius, the Jew was a
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Speaker 2: hated person. He was hated by the Roman or the
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Speaker 2: Gentile because he was Jewish. He was hated by fellow
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Speaker 2: Jews because he was a Christian. So he was the
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Speaker 2: brunt of the boot of the people of his day.
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Speaker 2: He lived without roots. He therefore knew the toil and
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Speaker 2: misery of troubles that wouldn't go away. And so it's
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Speaker 2: fitting that James begins the very first part of the
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Speaker 2: letter by describing the trials of a person like that.
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Speaker 2: It's not surprising that he would immediately undertake the subject
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Speaker 2: of troubles in life. Now in the beginning of this passage,
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Speaker 2: Verses two through four tell us of two very important
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Speaker 2: things we must remember about trials. If you will remember
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Speaker 2: these two truths, then you will be halfway there. You
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Speaker 2: will be a rare individual. You will be prepared, at
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Speaker 2: least for the beginnings of trials. The first truth we
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Speaker 2: want to point out is mention in verse two. Consider
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Speaker 2: it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
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Speaker 2: troubles are inevitable. Now, don't miss this one, or you
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Speaker 2: won't have a basis for building on all of the rest.
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Speaker 2: We have to say troubles are inevitable. Isn't it interesting
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Speaker 2: that James does not say, count it all joy if
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Speaker 2: you fall into various trials? Does he? That would be
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Speaker 2: like saying, be prepared if you have to pay taxes. No,
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Speaker 2: you can't say that. That would be like saying, don't
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Speaker 2: be afraid if you will someday die. No, that's when
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Speaker 2: you pay when you die. And just as real and
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Speaker 2: inevitable as taxes and death, there are trials coming in
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Speaker 2: your life. Trials are inevitable. It's interesting to me that
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Speaker 2: the word various in verse two comes from the word
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Speaker 2: originally in the Greek, which means spread out all different shapes, colors, varieties,
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Speaker 2: and sizes. But all of life is dotted with trials.
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Speaker 2: And the most familiar response that God hears from his
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Speaker 2: child is why, And it really should never come from
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Speaker 2: our lips. I'm reminded as I say that, of a
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Speaker 2: story I read this past week about a fellow who
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Speaker 2: was on his way home in a subway. He was
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Speaker 2: prone to motion sickness. To begin with. He had had
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Speaker 2: a big lunch, and he had worked that afternoon already
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Speaker 2: with a little bit of an upset stomach. He was
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Speaker 2: jammed into the subway as the last person able to
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Speaker 2: get on, and the door automatically, by the motion of
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Speaker 2: those driving this subway, opened it and closed it. And
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Speaker 2: so it was that he was there in the doorway
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Speaker 2: facing out as things were flashing by ninety miles an hour,
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Speaker 2: and the longer he stood, the sicker he got. Until
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Speaker 2: it came up to the stop, and it wasn't his
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Speaker 2: place to get off, but a fellow was waiting on
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Speaker 2: the platform to get on. The door opened and out
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Speaker 2: came his lunch all over the guy waiting on the platform.
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Speaker 2: The door shut and the thing went right on. The
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Speaker 2: fellow standing on the platform was suddenly covered with another
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Speaker 2: man's lunch all over his body, and he turned and
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Speaker 2: said to the guy behind him, why me, Which is
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Speaker 2: a perfect illustration of what James is saying here. Don't
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Speaker 2: respond when trials come saying why me? Or why this?
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Speaker 2: Or why now? James says, trials are inevitable. If the
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Speaker 2: door doesn't open on you. This time. It will the
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Speaker 2: next time, so be ready. I would love to have
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Speaker 2: had an interview with the fellow on the platform in
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Speaker 2: a few moments after that happened, But wasn't there. Trials
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Speaker 2: are inevitable. Trials have a purpose. That's the second fact.
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Speaker 2: And if you get this one down, you will be
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Speaker 2: way ahead of the average Christian trials have a purpose.
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Speaker 2: And James doesn't leave us questioning what the purpose is.
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Speaker 2: He gives us an immediate or initial result, and then
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Speaker 2: he gives us the ultimate result. And the pathway of
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Speaker 2: tests will lead us to that immediate and then the
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Speaker 2: ultimate results. And what would that be? Verse three? Knowing
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Speaker 2: that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Now there's
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Speaker 2: the first purpose. God designs specific things to stretch us,
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Speaker 2: to force us into a corner and we cannot get out.
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Speaker 2: And God says, now in the corner, there are some
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Speaker 2: things I want to teach you. First. I want you
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Speaker 2: to learn endurance. The Greek word translated endurance comes from
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Speaker 2: a combination of two words, which put together literally mean
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Speaker 2: to abide under. We would say in our terms, to
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Speaker 2: hang in there. The trials come to teach us how
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Speaker 2: to hang in there when there is no answer on
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Speaker 2: the service. Now, I want you to think back for
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Speaker 2: a moment to your past week, or if you have to,
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Speaker 2: if your life is so blessed and you can't think
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Speaker 2: of a trial, Let's go back this past month. I
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Speaker 2: can hear the groans already up here. Some of you
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Speaker 2: have had a very difficult month. This is a hard
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Speaker 2: time for many of us. Okay. Not one experience that's
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Speaker 2: come through your mind as you have given thought to
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Speaker 2: it during these last few seconds, came by accident. It
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Speaker 2: was designed by God. And the first result that God
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Speaker 2: wanted to see produced in your life was the production
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Speaker 2: of endurance. We call it patience. Now, how are you
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Speaker 2: doing on test number one? As a result of the
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Speaker 2: trouble you see, that's why it won't go away. That's
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Speaker 2: why it's still there, because of the presence of impatience,
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Speaker 2: because of the lack of endurance. James says, know this
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Speaker 2: that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Before I
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Speaker 2: move on to the second result, I want you to
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Speaker 2: study verse three with your eyes. I want you to
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Speaker 2: look at the words testing of your faith equally. Take
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Speaker 2: tests as a personal offense. We should look upon tests
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Speaker 2: as servants that bring about the circumstance to teach us something.
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Speaker 2: And it isn't we who are the target of God's tests.
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Speaker 2: It is our faith. Like a rubber band, great massive
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Speaker 2: rubber band. God begins to stretch our faith, and he
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Speaker 2: pulls at it, and he pushes, and he mashes, and
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Speaker 2: he squeezes, and he stretches again, until finally we begin
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Speaker 2: to be a little bit more flexible. We give a
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Speaker 2: little where we didn't before, and by and by God
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Speaker 2: is hoping we are able to feel comfortable, patient under
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Speaker 2: the load. That's the idea. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 2: God's approach is very positive. Notice the word testing in
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Speaker 2: verse three, the testing of your faith. It comes from
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Speaker 2: the word doc moss. It means approved. If you've done
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Speaker 2: any study in archaeology, or you've traveled to the Near East,
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Speaker 2: you know that many of the jugs and pots and
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Speaker 2: vessels they have dug up have been marked beneath underneath
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Speaker 2: them docu moas. It was an ancient way of expressing
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Speaker 2: approval to a vessel that went through the furnace without cracking.
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Speaker 2: That's what it meant. Now, those vessels that went through
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Speaker 2: the furnace and cracked or chip were placed on a
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Speaker 2: budget shelf and sold for much less. But those that
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Speaker 2: were valuable were those that were docy moss through the fire.
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Speaker 2: They were approved through the furnace. That's the word here.
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Speaker 2: It's the word that you would use for a swimming
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Speaker 2: instructor who all summer long works with a number of
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Speaker 2: children to teach him how to swim. And then the
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Speaker 2: day of testing comes where they, before their parents, swim
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Speaker 2: the lamp. You've been there, you know what I'm talking about.
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Speaker 2: Usually mothers are glued to the fence with their nose
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Speaker 2: pressed all the way through to make sure that Johnny
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Speaker 2: gets all the way down there and back. The swimming
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Speaker 2: instructor tosses the little one in not to disapprove, but
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Speaker 2: to see him swim all the way down and all
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Speaker 2: the way back. It's a test to watch his approval.
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Speaker 2: That's the thought. God flings upon us a particular kind
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Speaker 2: of test. And before we're ready for that one, another
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Speaker 2: one comes and he corners us and he says, now,
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Speaker 2: my child, I'm working with you that you might know
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Speaker 2: this particular area of your life needs much attention. Don't
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Speaker 2: run because I will catch you. And when I catch you,
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Speaker 2: I have another set of circumstances that you can't get
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Speaker 2: out of, and so cornered, the Christian begins to get
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Speaker 2: the message hopefully. He says, this is inevitable. He secondly says,
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Speaker 2: this is purposeful. This situation is a servant. You see,
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Speaker 2: God doesn't manifest himself in human form and strike you
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Speaker 2: on the face. God comes in forms of circumstances and
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Speaker 2: trials in all different messages. God says to you, now
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Speaker 2: that I have your attention, let's get some approval out
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Speaker 2: of you. Let's get some of this patience underway. Let's
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Speaker 2: see you stretched in the realm of adversities, so that
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Speaker 2: you will now begin to be patient, that you will
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Speaker 2: show endurance. But that's not all. That's just the first quiz.
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Speaker 2: That's just the result of the initial part of the test.
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Speaker 2: There's something more than that verse four, and he goes on,
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Speaker 2: not only that faith might produce endurance, that is the
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Speaker 2: testing of your faith, but let endurance and it's perfect result.
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Speaker 2: It's like stacking up a row of dominoes. You remember
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Speaker 2: as a child, you did that. You stood them on
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Speaker 2: the end, one after another, and you made them go
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Speaker 2: down a little path, and you'd push the first one
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Speaker 2: and they would all fall over. God says, I have
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Speaker 2: stacked up some chain of events that will take place,
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Speaker 2: and my finger of testing pushes the first one, and
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Speaker 2: it is endurance. When endurance is taking place, then it
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Speaker 2: bumps onto the beginning of maturity. And as maturity leads
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Speaker 2: on its course, you become a person with deep, great character.
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Speaker 2: The people that I know that are what I would
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Speaker 2: call great Christian characters are people that have learned how
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Speaker 2: to handle life in the furnace, and I think probably
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Speaker 2: the same is true for you. It is the mother
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Speaker 2: who was able to say to God, you gave you
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Speaker 2: took away, Blessed be your name. It is the father
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Speaker 2: who comes home having done the very best he could,
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Speaker 2: but having lost his job, and says to his family,
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Speaker 2: let's get together tonight and let's thank God for this
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Speaker 2: opportunity to trust him. It's the teenager who says, I
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Speaker 2: will not give up my principles. I will maintain my standard,
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Speaker 2: even though right now I feel like I'm just not
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Speaker 2: liked by anybody. You see, it is this marvelous quality
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Speaker 2: of maturity that emerges when we are patient under the load.
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Speaker 2: So let me say at the very outset that when
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Speaker 2: troubles come, they do not come as an enemy, they
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Speaker 2: come as a servant, They come as God's messenger with
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Speaker 2: a note in their hand, and when you open it,
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Speaker 2: it reads, this is for your patience and ultimately it
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Speaker 2: is for character development in the realm of maturity. Now
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Speaker 2: the question is how can I then rise above my situation? Yeah,
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Speaker 2: I don't want to drop out. I don't want to
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Speaker 2: quit I don't want to stop short And so what
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Speaker 2: are some techniques that will help me handle circumstances like this? Well,
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Speaker 2: in the same verses we just looked at, there are
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Speaker 2: three words that I think will give us some guidelines.
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Speaker 2: Let's go back up there verse two, consider verse three,
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Speaker 2: no verse four. Let let's put them in the same letter,
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Speaker 2: consider comprehend, cooperate. Maybe that'll help you remember them when
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Speaker 2: trials come. The very first thing to do is to
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Speaker 2: consider those trials with a certain mindset. And the mindset
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Speaker 2: is joy. Frankly, it is just the opposite. It is
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Speaker 2: contrary to our normal response. Our normal response is like
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Speaker 2: the fellow in the subway, why me? Why now? Why this?
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Speaker 2: Why not? Someone else? God says no, When that test comes,
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Speaker 2: consider it all joy. The etymology of the word consider
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Speaker 2: that is the one translated consider is an interesting one.
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Speaker 2: It means to lead the way into something. It was
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Speaker 2: used for the person who was on the end of
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Speaker 2: the line leading the way or a prosasion. It would
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Speaker 2: be like following the leader, and it is the leader.
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Speaker 2: The leading thought that is to go into as a
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Speaker 2: reaction to the trial is to be thoughts that are positive.
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Speaker 2: God has a reason. He has this for my good.
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Speaker 2: He knows that I need it, and I say, with joy, Lord,
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Speaker 2: come and teach me what I am to learn through
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Speaker 2: this experience. I'll grant you at this moment that if
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Speaker 2: your response to testing is that you are a rare
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Speaker 2: individual and you are in for some of the most
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Speaker 2: exciting lessons God could ever teach his child on earth.
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Speaker 2: It was not until David could say, Lord, I take
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Speaker 2: Saul as a part of your tool in my life,
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Speaker 2: and I say to you, with joy, let it run
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Speaker 2: its course. You see, I didn't finish the quotation from David.
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Speaker 2: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
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Speaker 2: delivers him out of them all. Many are the afflictions,
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Speaker 2: but the Lord delivers. Now there's another word. It's knowing
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Speaker 2: or comprehending. In order for me to consider my trial
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Speaker 2: with a certain mindset. I have to have a comprehension
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Speaker 2: of the good of that trial. I have to realize
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Speaker 2: that it is not for my bad, it is for
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Speaker 2: my good. It is not to see me drown, it's
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Speaker 2: to see me swim. It's to approve my faith. It's
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Speaker 2: like the vessel in the furnace, and while it is
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Speaker 2: there in all of that heat, the potter does not sail.
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Speaker 2: Let's see how much it can take before it cracks.
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Speaker 2: It says, ah, it's not cracking yet, And when the
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Speaker 2: furnace wears down, he lifts it out with pleasure. Documas
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Speaker 2: consider comprehend that plan and third cooperate, don't fight, Let
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Speaker 2: it have its perfect result. Frankly, I think that the
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Speaker 2: verse we've just looked at. Verse four tie in with nine,
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Speaker 2: ten and eleven. Had trouble in my outlining of the
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Speaker 2: passage because I couldn't fit in nine, ten and eleven.
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Speaker 2: But the let is a narrative connecting link. Let me
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Speaker 2: show you verse four. Let endurance have its perfect result.
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Speaker 2: Verse nine. Take the brother of low circumstance, let him
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Speaker 2: glory in the position that he has in Christ. And
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Speaker 2: let's let the rich man glory also not in what
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Speaker 2: he possesses. But even though he is rich, he is
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Speaker 2: the object of God's care, and his riches may pass,
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Speaker 2: but he stands the test. Even in the midst of
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Speaker 2: his pursuits, they will fade away. But let that man
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Speaker 2: also cooperate. I want to take a moment, and have
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Speaker 2: you turned from James one to First Peter five, And
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Speaker 2: let me get even more practical about it after five
27:03
Speaker 2: verse six. These are familiar words in One Peter five,
27:10
Speaker 2: six and seven. But I think maybe you've not plumbed
27:13
Speaker 2: the depths of them as yet, nor have I. Let's
27:17
Speaker 2: get more insight on them. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the
27:22
Speaker 2: mighty hand of God. First Peter five six is a command.
27:28
Speaker 2: Humble yourself. It means to cooperate. It means to yield
27:35
Speaker 2: that He may exalt you at the proper time. Now,
27:37
Speaker 2: don't dwell on that. Let's look at the mighty hand
27:39
Speaker 2: of God to start with. Peter says to the suffering Saint.
27:44
Speaker 2: That's the theme of Peter. By the way, First Peter
27:48
Speaker 2: is a book of suffering. Peter says to the suffering saint.
27:52
Speaker 2: God's hand is on your circumstance. Humble yourself, don't fight.
28:00
Speaker 2: What is on a hand, well, fingers? What do you
28:05
Speaker 2: do with fingers? Well, you can touch, you can shake
28:11
Speaker 2: another person's hand, and you can squeeze or pinch, can't you.
28:18
Speaker 2: God's mighty hand is engaged in pinching us. If you
28:23
Speaker 2: please let me name some arias. Some of you have
28:27
Speaker 2: a position in your work that is extremely unrewarding and
28:32
Speaker 2: unfulfilling at this time. But it's a living and it's
28:36
Speaker 2: apparently where God wants you to be, and so the
28:39
Speaker 2: Lord is squeezing or pinching you with his mighty hand
28:43
Speaker 2: in that work. It may be monotonous, it may be
28:46
Speaker 2: surrounded by people who irk you. It may be less
28:52
Speaker 2: than you feel you ought to be making. There may
28:54
Speaker 2: be unfair treatment in your work. That's the squeezing hand
28:59
Speaker 2: of God. Some of you are in situations at school
29:05
Speaker 2: that seemed terribly unfulfilling. At least every day just seems
29:11
Speaker 2: to be one grind after another. You're missing the forest
29:14
Speaker 2: of the future because of the trees of today, and
29:17
Speaker 2: so you're living that way under the mighty hand of God.
29:22
Speaker 2: You haven't the academic ability you feel to meet the
29:25
Speaker 2: demands of that school. That's the mighty hand of God.
29:29
Speaker 2: He knows that God isn't saying in heaven. My I
29:33
Speaker 2: didn't realize you'd be in such a circumstance once you
29:36
Speaker 2: got to school this year. God says, that's exactly where
29:40
Speaker 2: I wanted you this year, with others of you. It's
29:44
Speaker 2: a situation at home that's unbearable. Before I came into
29:48
Speaker 2: the pulpit in the early service. I arrived at the
29:50
Speaker 2: church about twenty minutes till late this morning, and a
29:53
Speaker 2: thumb through the Saturday mail for a few moments, and
29:56
Speaker 2: of my mail, several pieces were marked personal to me,
30:00
Speaker 2: and I ripped him open. There were three letters, one
30:02
Speaker 2: from New York City and a couple from nearby, all
30:06
Speaker 2: three with impossible circumstances, asking for insight, the hurting, smarting
30:12
Speaker 2: rot of God at work. The hand of God is
30:16
Speaker 2: squeezing and pinching. Is that happening right now to you?
30:22
Speaker 2: You know the very best way out from under the
30:24
Speaker 2: mighty hand of God, or to handle it, to yield,
30:29
Speaker 2: to give in. My wife tells the funniest story of
30:35
Speaker 2: her childhood when she would misbehave in church. And I
30:40
Speaker 2: can't imagine my wife misbehaving at church. I did a
30:42
Speaker 2: couple of times, but my wife I can't picture that.
30:45
Speaker 2: And she said when she was a little girl, her
30:47
Speaker 2: dad had a way of correcting her, and her mother
30:49
Speaker 2: had a way of correcting her. She said that when
30:52
Speaker 2: she was acting up and her dad would be back.
30:54
Speaker 2: If you rows in this little country church, he would,
31:00
Speaker 2: you know, kind of like the thunder was coming down
31:03
Speaker 2: on you, and so she would straighten up. If her
31:07
Speaker 2: mother was nearby, she would reach over and just pinch her.
31:12
Speaker 2: I want you to think about that for a minute,
31:14
Speaker 2: just a pinch. You can't scream because you're in church.
31:18
Speaker 2: You know, you're sitting there and there you are pinched,
31:22
Speaker 2: and you're thinking, oh man, what am I gonna do?
31:25
Speaker 2: Right now? You can't swing back because it's your mother,
31:29
Speaker 2: you know. So you' that's what God says. I've got
31:32
Speaker 2: you in a place where you cannot do anything but yield,
31:36
Speaker 2: and he pinches you really hard. You think, oh man,
31:40
Speaker 2: what am I gonna do? You know? God says, yield,
31:45
Speaker 2: give in and if necessary straightened up. Well, you have
31:51
Speaker 2: to let some of it out, don't you? Look at
31:53
Speaker 2: verse seven, Chapter five, Verse seven a verse Peter casting
31:57
Speaker 2: all your anxiety on him. Now, wait, a minute. The
32:01
Speaker 2: pinch isn't the anxiety, it's the pain that forms the anxiety.
32:07
Speaker 2: The pinch is the loving hand of God. The hurt
32:11
Speaker 2: that comes from it, that's the part that makes you
32:13
Speaker 2: want to scream. And God says, I'm ready to listen
32:17
Speaker 2: with you and me. There's nobody else around. Let it
32:19
Speaker 2: all out. So those anxieties that often come in a
32:23
Speaker 2: trial ought to be poured out to God in your
32:25
Speaker 2: closet before him. He's not a beautiful picture. God says,
32:30
Speaker 2: I don't club you and see how much you can
32:32
Speaker 2: stand without screaming. I expect some screams, but I want
32:35
Speaker 2: them to come to me. I want to hear your anxieties. Why,
32:40
Speaker 2: because he says in verse seven, I have a care
32:42
Speaker 2: for you. I care about that hurt. I want to
32:47
Speaker 2: hear the things that are on your heart. But believe me,
32:51
Speaker 2: my child, I am working, pinching, squeezing, using all the
32:56
Speaker 2: circumstances I have at my disposal to develop in you
33:00
Speaker 2: character qualities you would never otherwise exhibit. Now back to James,
33:05
Speaker 2: but before we stop in chapter one, look at chapter five.
33:08
Speaker 2: Here's a thought that I have gotten within the last
33:14
Speaker 2: ten to twelve days that maybe will answer a question
33:17
Speaker 2: or two in your mind. This is a very important
33:22
Speaker 2: matter James chapter five introduces, and it has to do
33:25
Speaker 2: with the difference between affliction and sickness. I don't want
33:32
Speaker 2: to be confusing here, but let me describe it this way.
33:35
Speaker 2: They will look at the verse. I have been in situations,
33:38
Speaker 2: and you have two where the individual was undergoing an affliction,
33:45
Speaker 2: he was what we would call smitten, and you go
33:50
Speaker 2: to him or with him, and you pray and there's
33:53
Speaker 2: no relief, and you think, my there ought to be
33:56
Speaker 2: a relief. Or in your situation, you prayed and prayed
33:59
Speaker 2: and prayed and there's been no answer, or the answer
34:02
Speaker 2: has been no. And there have been other circumstances where
34:07
Speaker 2: you've been ill and someone has come, or through the
34:09
Speaker 2: surgeon's scalpel, or through some period of time you've been
34:12
Speaker 2: relieved and the answer was yes restoration. I am of
34:17
Speaker 2: the opinion, now, the decided opinion, that there are certain
34:20
Speaker 2: circumstances that will not end, but they are built into
34:27
Speaker 2: the framework of our being to keep us living on
34:30
Speaker 2: the level of endurance. In other words, I don't think
34:35
Speaker 2: we have the promise of full restoration in this life
34:38
Speaker 2: from all of its afflictions. Paul is an example. Three
34:43
Speaker 2: times he prayed three times. No, Then he said, Lord,
34:47
Speaker 2: I've learned your grace is sufficient for me. I live
34:50
Speaker 2: the rest of my days with the quality of endurance.
34:54
Speaker 2: Now look at verse thirteen. Is anyone among you suffering?
34:58
Speaker 2: And the word means to be smitten by a misfortune
35:02
Speaker 2: or afflicted. It's not the normal word for physical pain.
35:08
Speaker 2: James five point thirteen asks, is anyone among you smitten
35:11
Speaker 2: by misfortune? Afflicted by stress? Let him pray? Period, no
35:20
Speaker 2: promise of relief. Just let him pray. Period, He prays,
35:27
Speaker 2: and he waits and it doesn't end. How about the
35:32
Speaker 2: one that's sick? Well, after asking, is anyone cheerful? Let
35:35
Speaker 2: him sing? Praises. Verse fourteen says, is anyone sick, fine,
35:39
Speaker 2: let him pray. Elders will come, there will be the
35:41
Speaker 2: medicinal help, there will be the restoration. If sin has
35:44
Speaker 2: caused it, there will be confession, there'll be relief. We'll
35:47
Speaker 2: get into this in depth when we get to chapter five.
35:49
Speaker 2: What I want to show you is a contrast. There
35:53
Speaker 2: is a suffering kind of affliction, and then there is
35:57
Speaker 2: a sick kind of affliction, and undergoing the sick kind
36:01
Speaker 2: of affliction. In this category there can be restoration. But
36:06
Speaker 2: all I find addressed to the sufferer is in verse thirteen,
36:09
Speaker 2: let him pray. Frankly, I don't find that to be
36:16
Speaker 2: very bleak because of James one verse five, will you
36:21
Speaker 2: go there? In fact, these two things I want to
36:26
Speaker 2: share are reasons why our troubles often overwhelm us. These
36:32
Speaker 2: two reasons are the reasons many of us cannot handle
36:35
Speaker 2: the trials, why many of us blow it. First of all,
36:40
Speaker 2: there's a lack of wisdom for which we are to pray.
36:44
Speaker 2: That ties into chapter five, verse five. If any of
36:47
Speaker 2: you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
36:51
Speaker 2: to all men generously and without reproach, and it will
36:55
Speaker 2: be given to him. Now the context of verse five
36:58
Speaker 2: is verses two, three and for the troubles that won't
37:01
Speaker 2: go away. And here you are surrounded by the troubles
37:05
Speaker 2: and there's no way out. So what do you do?
37:08
Speaker 2: James five says pray. James one says, pray for wisdom.
37:13
Speaker 2: What's wisdom? Wisdom is the ability to view life from
37:18
Speaker 2: God's vantage point. Lord, I ask right now, you pray,
37:23
Speaker 2: I ask right now that in the midst of this
37:25
Speaker 2: loss or grief or heartache, our disappointment, our discouragement or failure,
37:32
Speaker 2: this overwhelming situation. I ask for wisdom first to view
37:35
Speaker 2: it from your viewpoint, and then I ask for faith
37:40
Speaker 2: not to give up. Lack of faith is the other.
37:43
Speaker 2: Let me show you that in verse six. Let him
37:46
Speaker 2: ask in faith without doubting. Lack of wisdom causes us
37:51
Speaker 2: to be overwhelmed. Lack of faith causes us to be overwhelmed.
37:58
Speaker 2: Wisdom is gaining god insight for the test. Faith is
38:04
Speaker 2: gaining God's strength to endure the test. Now to me,
38:12
Speaker 2: it is a beautiful description verses six and seven of
38:19
Speaker 2: a person who wants two wills when he goes through
38:24
Speaker 2: the test. Look at that verse six. Let him ask
38:29
Speaker 2: in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts
38:34
Speaker 2: is like the surf of the sea. What a descriptive word,
38:39
Speaker 2: driven and tossed by the wind. The opposite of faith
38:43
Speaker 2: is doubt. This isn't faith that saves you. This is
38:47
Speaker 2: faith that sustains you. It means you don't abandon ship.
38:53
Speaker 2: That's what it means. You hang in there. You don't abandon,
38:59
Speaker 2: but you abandon yourself to God and his safety, his strength,
39:11
Speaker 2: and will you notice in verse six it refers to
39:14
Speaker 2: a man who is driven by the sea and tossed.
39:18
Speaker 2: He won't receive anything from the Lord because he's double minded.
39:22
Speaker 2: Verse eight. Haven't you wondered at times what does it
39:24
Speaker 2: mean to be double minded? You've heard of the verse
39:27
Speaker 2: and you've wondered what is double mindedness? I believe I
39:30
Speaker 2: could share with you what I think it is at
39:32
Speaker 2: this point. It's a person who wants his will and
39:36
Speaker 2: at the same time God's will. That's double minded. I've
39:41
Speaker 2: never done it, but I've talked to people who have
39:43
Speaker 2: said they've watched it done. And when you catch a monkey,
39:48
Speaker 2: one of the practical ways to do it is to
39:50
Speaker 2: tie a gourd to a tree, put rice inside the gourd,
39:55
Speaker 2: and he smells it, and he comes along and pushes
39:59
Speaker 2: his scrawny little down the thin neck of that gourd
40:02
Speaker 2: and grabs the rice. But then he's caught because that
40:09
Speaker 2: dumb monkey won't release the rice and pull his hand out,
40:13
Speaker 2: and he chatters and screams and jumps up and down,
40:15
Speaker 2: and when his captors come to take it, just let
40:18
Speaker 2: go of the rice. That's the Christian down inside the
40:23
Speaker 2: gourd is my will. I want the freedom of living
40:27
Speaker 2: under God's plan, but I want that rice to And
40:31
Speaker 2: so I hang on. And a trial comes and we
40:34
Speaker 2: say I'm not gonna give in. I'm not gonna give it,
40:36
Speaker 2: and it just captures us. We're finished, and God's trying
40:41
Speaker 2: to say, look, take your hand out of the gourd,
40:44
Speaker 2: but you won't get the rice. When you do, you're
40:47
Speaker 2: gonna take my plan or you're gonna go under in
40:51
Speaker 2: this test. It's as simple as that. Now, to release
40:55
Speaker 2: the rice, if you please, means wisdom knowing I'm better
41:01
Speaker 2: off without the rice, and strength knowing that I don't
41:06
Speaker 2: need that rice to be happy. You got it? Isn't
41:13
Speaker 2: that fantastic stuff mine? I mean, God put it down here.
41:17
Speaker 2: We just happen to be uncovering it right now. Well,
41:20
Speaker 2: what can you promise a person that lives like that?
41:25
Speaker 2: What can you say to an individual who says, all right,
41:27
Speaker 2: I abandon myself to God, I give up the rice
41:30
Speaker 2: and all that goes with it. I want to live
41:32
Speaker 2: under God's marvelous arrangement, even though it may include a
41:35
Speaker 2: few subways along my life. Okay, Verse twelve, I could
41:40
Speaker 2: promise you two things real happiness, real living. First of all,
41:45
Speaker 2: it says in verse twelve, blessed is a man who
41:48
Speaker 2: perseveres under the trial. The word blessed means genuinely happy.
41:54
Speaker 2: In the Old Testament. It is always in the plural happy,
41:57
Speaker 2: many times over, over, over and over. You will be
42:01
Speaker 2: happy like you've never been happy when you get your
42:03
Speaker 2: hand out of the gourd. You will be happy like
42:07
Speaker 2: you've never been happy when the test comes and you say,
42:09
Speaker 2: thank you Father for your trust in me that I
42:12
Speaker 2: can handle this. Teach me what I have to learn.
42:16
Speaker 2: And the second thing is it says in verse twelve,
42:19
Speaker 2: after you have been approved, you will receive the crown
42:22
Speaker 2: of life, real living. To be sure, there's a future
42:27
Speaker 2: crown promised to those saints that endure because of their
42:30
Speaker 2: love for Christ. But I think there's a temporal crown,
42:33
Speaker 2: and it's life itself. I honestly believe that the person
42:38
Speaker 2: who really lives in the Christian life is the one
42:43
Speaker 2: who perseveres under the trial. He's not irksome, he's not irritable.
42:49
Speaker 2: He just reminds me of the little child's toy that
42:52
Speaker 2: probably you've gotten for your child before, has a big,
42:56
Speaker 2: heavy weight on the bottom, and when you hit it,
42:58
Speaker 2: it goes un back up again, and you hit it again,
43:02
Speaker 2: it back up. It lasts forever. You have to finally
43:07
Speaker 2: take it to the dump. It never does wear out.
43:09
Speaker 2: It goes on and on and on because it's learned
43:11
Speaker 2: how to come back up. Why, well, it's got the
43:15
Speaker 2: proper balance. It's built that way. So it is with
43:19
Speaker 2: the Christian a couple of blows, we're flat out given
43:22
Speaker 2: up the faith, planning to defect. But God comes and
43:26
Speaker 2: he says, get back on your feet. Lauren Sandy says,
43:29
Speaker 2: if I were to put my dad's counsel all in
43:32
Speaker 2: one fell swoop, it would be get with it. Son
43:36
Speaker 2: for words, that's what God says. Trial. So they're inevitable,
43:41
Speaker 2: but they're more than inevitable. They are purposeful. And if
43:45
Speaker 2: you will consider, if you will comprehend my plan, if
43:48
Speaker 2: you will cooperate with it, I will teach you, through
43:52
Speaker 2: the presence of faith and the presence of wisdom, how
43:55
Speaker 2: my plan can show you real happiness and real life
44:00
Speaker 2: that's really living. I came across a quotation that I
44:04
Speaker 2: want to share with you. In closing, I'm sorry I
44:08
Speaker 2: cannot give you the source because the man that I
44:10
Speaker 2: was reading didn't give the source, and he was quoting another.
44:13
Speaker 2: But here it is in a nutshell. All of us
44:16
Speaker 2: are facing a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as
44:24
Speaker 2: impossible or unsolvable problems. Now some of you were digging
44:30
Speaker 2: in your purse for your keys and all, so you
44:32
Speaker 2: missed it. Let me do it one more time. All
44:35
Speaker 2: of us are facing a series of great opportunities, brilliantly
44:43
Speaker 2: disguised as unsolvable problems that describe you this morning. Unsolvable.
44:54
Speaker 2: Now it's God's opportunity with you in the corner, to
45:01
Speaker 2: prove himself faithful. Maybe bow together, please, especially to you
45:13
Speaker 2: that are what Shakespeare would call the wretched souls bruised
45:17
Speaker 2: by adversity. This passage has been designed, in fact, has
45:23
Speaker 2: been designed for all of us. Some bruises are deeper
45:28
Speaker 2: and lasts longer than others, but we're all bruised. The
45:34
Speaker 2: greatest bruise that ever occurred was when Isaiah told us
45:38
Speaker 2: it pleased the father to bruise his son though he
45:45
Speaker 2: were a son. Yet he learned obedience through the things
45:50
Speaker 2: that he suffered. If you have never come to know
45:55
Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus. Let me say to you that your
45:57
Speaker 2: misery is described in the New Testament as conviction. God
46:05
Speaker 2: has cornered you in his universal subway, and you are
46:11
Speaker 2: covered with the filth of the flesh. But God has
46:16
Speaker 2: planned to rescue crew. It's his son, Jesus Christ, who
46:24
Speaker 2: endured the bruising, the hate, the sin of man, that
46:30
Speaker 2: you might have a solution, not a relief from trials,
46:36
Speaker 2: but strength to handle them. If in this quiet moment
46:41
Speaker 2: you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, those people
46:47
Speaker 2: sitting around you and the one talking to you right
46:50
Speaker 2: now want that for you more than anything else. Because
46:56
Speaker 2: of God's matchless love, He's come to your rescue at
47:00
Speaker 2: the cross, and he says to you, accept my son
47:07
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, yield to his will, some child of God
47:16
Speaker 2: that's here this morning and saying, Ah, that message was
47:22
Speaker 2: for me. Well, Hearing the message is one thing. Responding
47:28
Speaker 2: God's way, that's another.
47:33
Speaker 1: Our dear Father, as we close our time together today,
47:36
Speaker 1: we're reminded of the often harsh reality of living in
47:41
Speaker 1: a broken world, a sinful world, a world you created
47:46
Speaker 1: that has been ruptured by our sinful desires and fractured
47:52
Speaker 1: by our rebellious deeds on top of all that Father
47:57
Speaker 1: life can press in through such relentless and painful circumstances.
48:03
Speaker 1: You know the one listening today who is fainting under
48:07
Speaker 1: the press of addictions, or reeling from the shock of
48:11
Speaker 1: discovering the truth about a mate who has been unfaithful,
48:16
Speaker 1: or another who is struggling under the burden of living
48:19
Speaker 1: with a debilitating depression or a lingering chronic disease. All
48:26
Speaker 1: of us need the reminder that none of this falls
48:29
Speaker 1: outside the tender and compassionate scope of your grace or
48:36
Speaker 1: of your sovereign plan. Help those who are hurting today
48:41
Speaker 1: to realize that you have not abandoned them. Send to
48:46
Speaker 1: their side a fellow sister or brother in the faith
48:49
Speaker 1: to be a source of genuine encouragement and close companionship.
48:55
Speaker 1: And in these days to come, Father, deep in each
48:59
Speaker 1: one of us through these trials, mold us to become
49:03
Speaker 1: more and more into the image of your dear son, Jesus,
49:08
Speaker 1: our gracious Savior, who has known every burden and endured
49:14
Speaker 1: all testing as we have. Yet he did it without
49:18
Speaker 1: a hint of sin. We are so unbelievably grateful today
49:25
Speaker 1: for Jesus Christ who prompts us to praise you in
49:30
Speaker 1: his name.
49:32
Speaker 2: Amen.
49:35
Speaker 3: The preceding message, When Troubles Won't Go Away, was copyrighted
49:39
Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy four and twenty sixteen, and the sound
49:43
Speaker 3: recording was copyrighted in twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
49:48
Speaker 3: Our rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
49:54
Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.
50:02
Speaker 2: Neighbors