Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / When Troubles Won’t Go Away │ Msg 216 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

When Troubles Won’t Go Away │ Msg 216 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: Poetist Nancy Spiegelberg wrote insightfully about the weary, exhausting lives
0:08
Speaker 1: Christians live against oppressive adversity in her touching poem, if
0:14
Speaker 1: only I have known you better, she mused, Lord, I
0:19
Speaker 1: crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup,
0:25
Speaker 1: uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only
0:31
Speaker 1: I have known you better, I'd have come running with
0:34
Speaker 1: a bucket. Isn't that great?
0:39
Speaker 2: Better? Still? Isn't that the truth?
0:43
Speaker 3: When facing life's troubles, we too struggle to understand God's ways.
0:49
Speaker 3: Our minds play tricks on us, tempting us to believe
0:53
Speaker 3: that He has forgotten us, or He has somehow fallen
0:58
Speaker 3: woefully short on passion for our desperate times. Well the
1:04
Speaker 3: Apostle James wrote to remind struggling Christians and us the
1:10
Speaker 3: trials come in order to strengthen our faith, not to
1:14
Speaker 3: weaken it, to foster character, not diminish it, and also
1:21
Speaker 3: to quicken our attentiveness to the Lord's still small voice.
1:27
Speaker 3: To borrow from Nancy Spiegelberg, James delivers a bucket full
1:32
Speaker 3: of God for our trial weary souls. James helps us
1:40
Speaker 3: know God better and explains why God allows us to
1:44
Speaker 3: experience various times of testing. As a backdrop for today's message,
1:52
Speaker 3: I'd like to again read the opening verses of this
1:55
Speaker 3: New Testament letter. I'll be reading James Chapter one, verses
2:01
Speaker 3: one through twelve. My reading will be from the New
2:05
Speaker 3: American Standard version of the Scriptures James one, beginning with
2:10
Speaker 3: verse one. James a bdservant of God and of the
2:15
Speaker 3: Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, Greetings,
2:24
Speaker 3: consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
2:29
Speaker 3: knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And
2:35
Speaker 3: let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may
2:39
Speaker 3: be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any
2:44
Speaker 3: of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
2:48
Speaker 3: gives you all generously and without reproach, and it will
2:53
Speaker 3: be given to him. But he must ask in faith,
2:57
Speaker 3: without any doubting. For the the one who doubts is
3:01
Speaker 3: like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by
3:05
Speaker 3: the wind. For that man ought not to expect that
3:09
Speaker 3: he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double
3:14
Speaker 3: minded man unstable in all his ways. But the brother
3:20
Speaker 3: of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position,
3:26
Speaker 3: and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, Because,
3:31
Speaker 3: like flowering grass, he will pass away. For the sun
3:36
Speaker 3: rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass and
3:39
Speaker 3: its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance
3:44
Speaker 3: is destroyed.
3:46
Speaker 2: So too the.
3:47
Speaker 3: Rich man, in the midst of his pursuits, will fade away.
3:53
Speaker 3: Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once
3:58
Speaker 3: he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life,
4:02
Speaker 3: which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
4:09
Speaker 2: It was pain that knocked upon my door and said
4:12
Speaker 2: that she had come to stay. And though I would
4:15
Speaker 2: not welcome her, but bade her go away, she entered in,
4:21
Speaker 2: and like my own shade, she followed after me, and
4:25
Speaker 2: from her stabbing, stinging sword, no moment was I free.
4:34
Speaker 2: In the poetic words of that artist, he describes a
4:38
Speaker 2: very miserable, hurting condition, and the condition is, simply speaking,
4:45
Speaker 2: the problem of troubles that won't go away. If I
4:53
Speaker 2: could borrow the words from Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors,
4:57
Speaker 2: I would describe the victim in that situation as a
5:00
Speaker 2: wretched soul, bruised with adversity. But that is not any
5:08
Speaker 2: unique individual that, in some way or another describes every
5:13
Speaker 2: person here this morning, or every person who will ever
5:17
Speaker 2: hear this message in years to come. Even in this year,
5:22
Speaker 2: since its inception, you can look back and remember times
5:25
Speaker 2: when you were bruised with adversity. Not all the bruisings
5:32
Speaker 2: that God brings to us appear on the skin, do They.
5:36
Speaker 2: In fact, some of the deepest, most painful bruises strike
5:41
Speaker 2: us down inside. They hit us in the realm of
5:45
Speaker 2: the hurts of the flesh, called in scripture the carnal nature.
5:52
Speaker 2: We are bruised because of lust or greed or pride.
5:57
Speaker 2: We are bruised because of discipline, ointments and depressions. We
6:03
Speaker 2: are bruised over the death of close loved ones and friends,
6:06
Speaker 2: and children and parents. We are also bruised on the outside.
6:11
Speaker 2: Physical pain bruises us and hurts much. We are bruised
6:16
Speaker 2: by people, bruised by circumstances, bruised by the hurts that
6:22
Speaker 2: come just in the daily bonds of this earth dwelling
6:28
Speaker 2: in it. In fact, David said, on one occasion, many
6:32
Speaker 2: are the afflictions of the righteous. Job said, man's days
6:37
Speaker 2: are short lived and full of turmoil. Paul wrote that
6:41
Speaker 2: we are perplexed, persecuted, knocked down. The habit of our
6:49
Speaker 2: life is affliction trials. Someone has said, if you were
6:55
Speaker 2: to trace the journeys of Paul in the first century,
6:58
Speaker 2: it would be like tracing the past of a wounded game,
7:02
Speaker 2: as he was running from the hunter, one bloody trail
7:06
Speaker 2: after another. Peter says, don't think it's strange concerning the
7:11
Speaker 2: fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some
7:15
Speaker 2: strange thing has happened unto you. You see, the Bible
7:20
Speaker 2: is replete with illustrations and words communicating the reality of
7:25
Speaker 2: hurts and trouble. And I suppose we could not feel
7:30
Speaker 2: any more real pulse of man than the pulse of
7:33
Speaker 2: pain if we were to search for one. And so
7:36
Speaker 2: we will use James as a guide as we search
7:39
Speaker 2: out some insights from God regarding the problem of troubles,
7:45
Speaker 2: and especially those troubles that won't go away, those that linger.
7:51
Speaker 2: When you turn to James Chapter one, as we once
7:54
Speaker 2: again enter into the study of this exciting and practical
7:59
Speaker 2: book of the New Testament, James, I want to remind
8:03
Speaker 2: you was writing to people that were dispersed abroad. Those
8:09
Speaker 2: words in verse one describe an individual who was a Jew.
8:13
Speaker 2: The Twelve Tribes tell us that he was a Jew
8:17
Speaker 2: who was blasted from his home. As it were in
8:22
Speaker 2: those days under Claudius, the Jew was a hated person.
8:25
Speaker 2: He was hated by the Roman or the Gentile because
8:28
Speaker 2: he was Jewish. He was hated by fellow Jews because
8:31
Speaker 2: he was a Christian. So he was the brunt of
8:34
Speaker 2: the boot of the people of his day. He lived
8:38
Speaker 2: without roots. He therefore knew the toil and misery of
8:43
Speaker 2: troubles that wouldn't go away. And so it's fitting that
8:47
Speaker 2: James begins the very first part of the letter by
8:51
Speaker 2: describing the trials of a person like that. It's not
8:55
Speaker 2: surprising that he would immediately undertake the subject of troubles
9:01
Speaker 2: in life. Now in the beginning of this passage, Verses
9:06
Speaker 2: two through four tell us of two very important things
9:10
Speaker 2: we must remember about trials. If you will remember these
9:14
Speaker 2: two truths, then you will be halfway there. You will
9:18
Speaker 2: be a rare individual. You will be prepared, at least
9:22
Speaker 2: for the beginnings of trials. The first truth we want
9:27
Speaker 2: to point out is mention in verse two. Consider it
9:30
Speaker 2: all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, troubles
9:40
Speaker 2: are inevitable. Now don't miss this one, or you won't
9:45
Speaker 2: have a basis for building on all of the rest.
9:47
Speaker 2: We have to say, troubles are inevitable. Isn't it interesting
9:53
Speaker 2: that James does not say, count it all joy if
9:57
Speaker 2: you fall into various trials? Does he? That would be
10:02
Speaker 2: like saying, be prepared if you have to pay taxes. No,
10:10
Speaker 2: you can't say that. It would be like saying, don't
10:13
Speaker 2: be afraid if you will someday die. No, that's when
10:19
Speaker 2: you pay when you die. And just as real and
10:23
Speaker 2: inevitable as taxes and death, there are trials coming in
10:29
Speaker 2: your life. Trials are inevitable. It's interesting to me that
10:36
Speaker 2: the word various in verse two comes from the word
10:40
Speaker 2: originally in the Greek, which means spread out all different shapes, colors, varieties,
10:46
Speaker 2: and sizes. But all of life is dotted with trials.
10:54
Speaker 2: And the most familiar response that God hears from his
10:58
Speaker 2: child is why, And it really should never come from
11:04
Speaker 2: our lips. I'm reminded as I say that, of a
11:07
Speaker 2: story I read this past week about a fellow who
11:11
Speaker 2: was on his way home in a subway. He was
11:15
Speaker 2: prone to motion sickness. To begin with, he had had
11:18
Speaker 2: a big lunch, and he had worked that afternoon already
11:22
Speaker 2: with a little bit of an upset stomach. He was
11:25
Speaker 2: jammed into the subway as the last person able to
11:29
Speaker 2: get on, and the door automatically, by the motion of
11:34
Speaker 2: those driving this subway, opened it and closed it. And
11:37
Speaker 2: so it was that he was there in the doorway
11:40
Speaker 2: facing out as things were flashing by ninety miles an hour,
11:44
Speaker 2: and the longer he stood, the sicker he got. Until
11:50
Speaker 2: it came up to the stop, and it wasn't his
11:52
Speaker 2: place to get off, but a fellow was waiting on
11:54
Speaker 2: the platform to get on. The door opened and out
11:58
Speaker 2: came his lunch all over were the guy waiting on
12:01
Speaker 2: the platform. The door shut and the thing went right on.
12:06
Speaker 2: The fellow standing on the platform was suddenly covered with
12:11
Speaker 2: another man's lunch all over his body, and he turned
12:15
Speaker 2: and said to the guy behind him, why me, Which
12:23
Speaker 2: is a perfect illustration of what James is saying here.
12:27
Speaker 2: Don't respond when trials come saying why me? Or why this?
12:34
Speaker 2: Or why now? James says, trials are inevitable. If the
12:42
Speaker 2: door doesn't open on you this time, it will the
12:45
Speaker 2: next time, so be ready. I would love to have
12:50
Speaker 2: had an interview with the fellow on the platform in
12:52
Speaker 2: a few moments after that happened, But wasn't there. Trials
12:58
Speaker 2: are inevitable. Trials have a purpose. That's the second fact.
13:05
Speaker 2: And if you get this one down, you will be
13:07
Speaker 2: way ahead of the average Christian trials have a purpose,
13:12
Speaker 2: And James doesn't leave us questioning what the purpose is.
13:17
Speaker 2: He gives us an immediate or initial result, and then
13:21
Speaker 2: he gives us the ultimate result. And the pathway of
13:26
Speaker 2: tests will lead us to that immediate and then the
13:31
Speaker 2: ultimate results. And what would that be? Verse three? Knowing
13:38
Speaker 2: that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Now there's
13:43
Speaker 2: the first purpose. God designs specific things to stretch us,
13:51
Speaker 2: to force us into a corner and we cannot get out.
13:55
Speaker 2: And God says, now in the corner, there are some
13:59
Speaker 2: things I want to teach you. First. I want you
14:03
Speaker 2: to learn endurance. The Greek word translated endurance comes from
14:10
Speaker 2: a combination of two words, which put together literally mean
14:15
Speaker 2: to abide under. We would say in our terms, to
14:19
Speaker 2: hang in there. The trials come to teach us how
14:24
Speaker 2: to hang in there when there is no answer on
14:28
Speaker 2: the surface. Now, I want you to think back for
14:33
Speaker 2: a moment to your past week, or if you have to,
14:39
Speaker 2: if your life is so blessed and you can't think
14:41
Speaker 2: of a trial, Let's go back this past month. I
14:44
Speaker 2: can hear the groans already up here. Some of you
14:47
Speaker 2: have had a very difficult month. This is a hard
14:50
Speaker 2: time for many of us. Okay. Not one experience that's
14:57
Speaker 2: come through your mind as you have given thought to
14:59
Speaker 2: it during these last few seconds, came by accident. It
15:05
Speaker 2: was designed by God. And the first result that God
15:11
Speaker 2: wanted to see produced in your life was the production
15:14
Speaker 2: of endurance. We call it patience. Now, how are you
15:22
Speaker 2: doing on test number one? As a result of the
15:27
Speaker 2: trouble you see, That's why it won't go away. That's
15:32
Speaker 2: why it's still there, because of the presence of impatience,
15:38
Speaker 2: because of the lack of endurance. James says, know this
15:43
Speaker 2: that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Before I
15:48
Speaker 2: move on to the second result, I want you to
15:51
Speaker 2: study verse three with your eyes. I want you to
15:54
Speaker 2: look at the words testing of your faith equately. Take
16:00
Speaker 2: tests as a personal offense. We should look upon tests
16:07
Speaker 2: as servants that bring about the circumstance to teach us something.
16:17
Speaker 2: And it isn't we who are the target of God's tests.
16:20
Speaker 2: It is our faith. Like a rubber band, gray, massive
16:26
Speaker 2: rubber band. God begins to stretch our faith, and he
16:29
Speaker 2: pulls at it, and he pushes, and he mashes, and
16:33
Speaker 2: he squeezes, and he stretches again, until finally we begin
16:37
Speaker 2: to be a little bit more flexible. We give a
16:39
Speaker 2: little where we didn't before, and by and bye, God
16:42
Speaker 2: is hoping we are able to feel comfortable, patient under
16:48
Speaker 2: the load. That's the idea. As a matter of fact,
16:51
Speaker 2: God's approach is very positive. Notice the word testing in
16:55
Speaker 2: verse three, the testing of your faith. It comes from
16:58
Speaker 2: the word doc moss. It means approved. If you've done
17:04
Speaker 2: any study in archaeology, or you've traveled to the Near East,
17:07
Speaker 2: you know that many of the jugs and pots and
17:09
Speaker 2: vessels they have dug up have been marked beneath underneath
17:13
Speaker 2: them docu moss. It was an ancient way of expressing
17:18
Speaker 2: approval to a vessel that went through the furnace without cracking.
17:24
Speaker 2: That's what it meant. Now, those vessels that went through
17:27
Speaker 2: the furnace and cracked or chip were placed on a
17:30
Speaker 2: budget shelf and sold for much less. But those that
17:33
Speaker 2: were valuable were those that were docu moss through the
17:37
Speaker 2: through the fire. They were approved through the furnace. That's
17:43
Speaker 2: the word here. It's the word that you would use
17:46
Speaker 2: for a swimming instructor who all summer long works with
17:50
Speaker 2: a number of children to teach him how to swim.
17:53
Speaker 2: And then the day of testing comes where they, before
17:56
Speaker 2: their parents, swim the lamp. You've been there, you know
18:00
Speaker 2: what I'm talking about. Usually mothers are glued to the
18:03
Speaker 2: fence with their nose pressed all the way through to
18:06
Speaker 2: make sure that Johnny gets all the way down there
18:08
Speaker 2: and back. The swimming instructor tosses the little one in
18:12
Speaker 2: not to disapprove, but to see him swim all the
18:16
Speaker 2: way down and all the way back. It's a test
18:20
Speaker 2: to watch his approval. That's the thought. God flings upon
18:25
Speaker 2: us a particular kind of test. And before we're ready
18:27
Speaker 2: for that one, another one comes and he corners us
18:31
Speaker 2: and he says, now, my child, I'm working with you
18:34
Speaker 2: that you might know this particular area of your life
18:37
Speaker 2: needs much attention. Don't run because I will catch you.
18:44
Speaker 2: And when I catch you, I have another set of
18:46
Speaker 2: circumstances that you can't get out of, and so cornered
18:50
Speaker 2: the Christian begins to get the message hopefully. He says,
18:54
Speaker 2: this is inevitable. He secondly says, this is purposeful. This
19:00
Speaker 2: situation is a servant. You see, God doesn't manifest himself
19:05
Speaker 2: in human form and strike you on the face. God
19:08
Speaker 2: comes in forms of circumstances and trials in all different messages.
19:13
Speaker 2: God says to you, now that I have your attention,
19:15
Speaker 2: let's get some approval out of you. Let's get some
19:17
Speaker 2: of this patience underway. Let's see you stretched in the
19:21
Speaker 2: realm of adversity, so that you will now begin to
19:24
Speaker 2: be patient, that you will show endurance. But that's not all.
19:30
Speaker 2: That's just the first quiz. That's just the result of
19:33
Speaker 2: the initial part of the test. There's something more than
19:36
Speaker 2: that verse four, and he goes on, not only that
19:41
Speaker 2: faith might produce endurance, that is the testing of your faith.
19:45
Speaker 2: But let endurance have it's perfect result. It's like stacking
19:51
Speaker 2: up a row of dominoes. You remember as a child,
19:54
Speaker 2: you did that. You stood them on the end, one
19:56
Speaker 2: after another, and you made them go down a little path,
19:58
Speaker 2: and you'd push the first one and they would all fallover.
20:01
Speaker 2: God says, I have stacked up some chain of events
20:04
Speaker 2: that will take place, and my finger of testing pushes
20:07
Speaker 2: the first one, and it is endurance. When endurance is
20:13
Speaker 2: taking place, then it bumps onto the beginning of maturity.
20:18
Speaker 2: And as maturity leads on its course, you become a
20:24
Speaker 2: person with deep, great character. The people that I know
20:29
Speaker 2: that are what I would call great Christian characters are
20:34
Speaker 2: people that have learned how to handle life in the furnace,
20:39
Speaker 2: and I think probably the same is true for you.
20:43
Speaker 2: It is the mother who was able to say to God,
20:46
Speaker 2: you gave you took away, Blessed be your name. It
20:54
Speaker 2: is the father who comes home having done the very
20:56
Speaker 2: best he could, but having lost his job, and says
21:00
Speaker 2: to his family, let's get together tonight and let's thank
21:04
Speaker 2: God for this opportunity to trust him. It's the teenager
21:09
Speaker 2: who says, I will not give up my principles. I
21:12
Speaker 2: will maintain my standard, even though right now I feel
21:17
Speaker 2: like I'm just not liked by anybody. You see, it
21:22
Speaker 2: is this marvelous quality of maturity that emerges when we
21:28
Speaker 2: are patient under the load. So let me say at
21:33
Speaker 2: the very outset that when troubles come. They do not
21:36
Speaker 2: come as an enemy. They come as a servant. They
21:40
Speaker 2: come as God's messenger with a note in their hand,
21:46
Speaker 2: and when you open it, it reads, this is for
21:48
Speaker 2: your patience and ultimately it is for character development in
21:54
Speaker 2: the realm of maturity. Now the question is how can
22:02
Speaker 2: I then rise above my situation? Yeah, I don't want
22:10
Speaker 2: to drop out. I don't want to quit, I don't
22:12
Speaker 2: want to stop short, And so what are some techniques
22:15
Speaker 2: that will help me handle circumstances like this? Well, in
22:22
Speaker 2: the same verses we just looked at, there are three
22:24
Speaker 2: words that I think will give us some guidelines. Let's
22:27
Speaker 2: go back up there verse two, consider verse three, no
22:34
Speaker 2: verse four. Let let's put them in the same letter.
22:39
Speaker 2: Consider comprehend, cooperate. Maybe that'll help you remember them when
22:47
Speaker 2: trials come. The very first thing to do is to
22:51
Speaker 2: consider those trials with a certain mindset. And the mindset
22:58
Speaker 2: is joy. Frankly, it is just the opposite. It is
23:04
Speaker 2: contrary to our normal response. Our normal response is like
23:10
Speaker 2: the fellow in the subway, why me? Why now? Why this?
23:16
Speaker 2: Why not? Someone else? God says no. When that test comes,
23:25
Speaker 2: consider it all joy. The etymology of the word Consider
23:29
Speaker 2: that is the one translated consider is an interesting one.
23:33
Speaker 2: It means to lead the way into something. It was
23:36
Speaker 2: used for the person who was on the end of
23:38
Speaker 2: the line leading the way, or a proceason. It would
23:42
Speaker 2: be like following the leader, and it is the leader.
23:46
Speaker 2: The leading thought that is to go into as a
23:49
Speaker 2: reaction to the trial is to be thoughts that are positive.
23:54
Speaker 2: God has a reason. He has this for my good.
23:59
Speaker 2: He knows that I need it, and I say, with joy, Lord,
24:04
Speaker 2: come and teach me what I am to learn through
24:08
Speaker 2: this experience. I'll grant you at this moment that if
24:11
Speaker 2: your response to testing is that you are a rare
24:17
Speaker 2: individual and you are in for some of the most
24:20
Speaker 2: exciting lessons God could ever teach his child on earth.
24:24
Speaker 2: It was not until David could say, Lord, I take
24:28
Speaker 2: Saul as a part of your tool in my life,
24:33
Speaker 2: and I say to you, with joy, let it run
24:37
Speaker 2: its course. You see, I didn't finish the quotation from David.
24:42
Speaker 2: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
24:47
Speaker 2: delivers him out of them all. Many are the afflictions,
24:52
Speaker 2: but the Lord delivers. Now there's another word. It's knowing
24:57
Speaker 2: or comprehending. In order for me to consider my trial
25:02
Speaker 2: with a certain mindset. I have to have a comprehension
25:07
Speaker 2: of the good of that trial. I have to realize
25:10
Speaker 2: that it is not for my bad, it is for
25:13
Speaker 2: my good. It is not to see me drown, it's
25:16
Speaker 2: to see me swim. It's to approve my faith. It's
25:22
Speaker 2: like the vessel in the furnace, And while it is
25:28
Speaker 2: there in all of that heat, the potter does not sail.
25:31
Speaker 2: Let's see how much it can take before it cracks.
25:34
Speaker 2: It says, ah, it's not cracking yet, And when the
25:39
Speaker 2: furnace wears down, he lifts it out with pleasure. Documas
25:46
Speaker 2: consider comprehend that plan and third cooperate, don't fight, Let
25:53
Speaker 2: it have its perfect result. Frankly, I think that the
25:57
Speaker 2: verse we've just looked at. Verse four tie in with nine,
26:01
Speaker 2: ten and eleven. Had trouble in my outlining of the
26:04
Speaker 2: passage because I couldn't fit in nine, ten and eleven.
26:07
Speaker 2: But the let is a narrative connecting link. Let me
26:11
Speaker 2: show you verse four. Let endurance have its perfect result.
26:16
Speaker 2: Verse nine. Take the brother of low circumstance, let him
26:22
Speaker 2: glory in the position that he has in Christ. And
26:27
Speaker 2: let's let the rich man glory also not in what
26:30
Speaker 2: he possesses. But even though he is rich, he is
26:34
Speaker 2: the object of God's care, and his riches may pass,
26:39
Speaker 2: but he stands the test. Even in the midst of
26:43
Speaker 2: his pursuits, they will fade away. But let that man
26:46
Speaker 2: also cooperate. I want to take a moment and have
26:52
Speaker 2: you turned from James one to First Peter five, And
26:56
Speaker 2: let me get even more practical about it Chapter five,
27:03
Speaker 2: verse six. These are familiar words in on 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 irt 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.
29:23
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
29:54
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 them 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 in 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.
31:19
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 of 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
32:43
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.
33:09
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
34:21
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: I 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 undergoing the sick kind of affliction.
36:02
Speaker 2: In this category there can be restoration. But all I
36:07
Speaker 2: find addressed to the sufferer is in verse thirteen, let
36:10
Speaker 2: him pray. Frankly, I don't find that to be very
36:16
Speaker 2: bleak because of James one verse five, will you go there?
36:24
Speaker 2: In fact, these two things I want to share are
36:27
Speaker 2: reasons why our troubles often overwhelm us. These two reasons
36:33
Speaker 2: are the reasons many of us cannot handle the trials,
36:36
Speaker 2: why many of us blow it. First of all, there's
36:40
Speaker 2: 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
37:52
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 in,
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? Not mine? I mean, God put it
41:17
Speaker 2: down here. 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 abandoned 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,
43:04
Speaker 2: back up. It lasts forever. You have to finally take
43:07
Speaker 2: it to the dump. It never does wear out. It
43:09
Speaker 2: goes on and on and on because it's learned how
43:12
Speaker 2: to come back up. Why, well, it's got the proper balance.
43:16
Speaker 2: It's built that way. So it is with the Christian
43:19
Speaker 2: a couple of blows, we're flat out given up the faith,
43:22
Speaker 2: planning to defect. But God comes and he says, get
43:27
Speaker 2: back on your feet. Lauren Sandy says, if I were
43:30
Speaker 2: to put my dad's counsel all in one fell swoop,
43:33
Speaker 2: it would be get with it. Son for words, that's
43:37
Speaker 2: what God says. Trial. So they're inevitable, but they're more
43:42
Speaker 2: than inevitable. They are purposeful. And if you will consider,
43:46
Speaker 2: if you will comprehend my plan, if you will cooperate
43:49
Speaker 2: with it, I will teach you, through the presence of
43:53
Speaker 2: faith and the presence of wisdom, how my plan can
43:56
Speaker 2: show you real happiness and real life that's really living.
44:02
Speaker 2: I came across a quotation that I want to share
44:05
Speaker 2: with you. In closing, I'm sorry I cannot give you
44:08
Speaker 2: the source, because the man that I was reading didn't
44:11
Speaker 2: give the source, and he was quoting another. But here
44:14
Speaker 2: it is in a nutshell. All of us are facing
44:17
Speaker 2: a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible or
44:26
Speaker 2: unsolvable problems. Now some of you were digging in your
44:31
Speaker 2: purse for your keys, and also you missed it. Let
44:32
Speaker 2: me do it one more time. All of us are
44:35
Speaker 2: facing a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as unsolvable
44:46
Speaker 2: problems that describe you this morning. Unsolvable. Now it's God's
44:57
Speaker 2: opportunity with you in the corner, to prove himself faithful.
45:06
Speaker 2: Maybe a bow together, please, especially to you that are
45:14
Speaker 2: what Shakespeare would call the wretched souls bruised by adversity.
45:17
Speaker 2: This passage has been designed, in fact, has been designed
45:24
Speaker 2: for all of us. Some bruises are deeper and lasts
45:28
Speaker 2: longer than others, but we're all bruised. The greatest bruise
45:35
Speaker 2: that ever occurred was when Isaiah told us it pleased
45:39
Speaker 2: the father to bruise his son though he were a son.
45:46
Speaker 2: Yet he learned obedience through the things that he suffered.
45:53
Speaker 2: If you have never come to know the Lord Jesus.
45:56
Speaker 2: Let me say to you that your misery is described
45:59
Speaker 2: in the New Testament as conviction. God has cornered you
46:06
Speaker 2: in his universal subway, and you are covered with the
46:12
Speaker 2: filth of the flesh. But God has planned to rescue crew.
46:20
Speaker 2: It's his son, Jesus Christ, who endured the bruising, the hate,
46:27
Speaker 2: the sin of man, that you might have a solution,
46:33
Speaker 2: not a relief from trials, but strength to handle them. If,
46:40
Speaker 2: in this quiet moment you've never given your life to
46:44
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, those people sitting around you and the one
46:49
Speaker 2: talking to you right now want that for you more
46:51
Speaker 2: than anything else. Because of God's matchless love, He's come
46:59
Speaker 2: to you rescue at the cross, and he says to you,
47:06
Speaker 2: accept my son Jesus Christ, yield to his will, some
47:16
Speaker 2: child of God that's here this morning and saying all
47:21
Speaker 2: that message was for me. Well, hearing the message is
47:25
Speaker 2: one thing. Responding God's way, that's another.
47:33
Speaker 3: Our dear Father, as we close our time together today,
47:36
Speaker 3: we're reminded of the often harsh reality of living in
47:41
Speaker 3: a broken world, a sinful world, a world you created
47:46
Speaker 3: that has been ruptured by our sinful desires and fractured
47:52
Speaker 3: by our rebellious deeds on top of all that Father
47:57
Speaker 3: life can press in through such reliefless and painful circumstances.
48:03
Speaker 3: You know the one listening today who is fainting under
48:07
Speaker 3: the press of addictions, or reeling from the shock of
48:11
Speaker 3: discovering the truth about a mate who has been unfaithful,
48:16
Speaker 3: or another who is struggling under the burden of living
48:19
Speaker 3: with a debilitating depression or a lingering chronic disease. All
48:26
Speaker 3: of us need the reminder that none of this falls
48:29
Speaker 3: outside the tender and compassionate scope of your grace or
48:36
Speaker 3: of your sovereign plan. Help those who are hurting today
48:41
Speaker 3: to realize that you have not abandoned them. Send to
48:46
Speaker 3: their side a fellow sister or brother in the faith
48:49
Speaker 3: to be a source of genuine encouragement and close companionship.
48:55
Speaker 3: And in these days to come, Father, deep in each
48:59
Speaker 3: one of us through these trials, mold us to become
49:03
Speaker 3: more and more into the image of your dear son Jesus,
49:08
Speaker 3: our gracious Savior, who has known every burden and endured
49:14
Speaker 3: all testing as we have, Yet he did it without
49:18
Speaker 3: a hint of sin. We are so unbelievably grateful today
49:25
Speaker 3: for Jesus Christ, who prompts us to praise you in
49:31
Speaker 3: His name.
49:32
Speaker 2: Amen.
49:35
Speaker 4: The preceding message, When Troubles Won't Go Away, was copyrighted
49:39
Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy four and twenty sixteen, and the sound
49:44
Speaker 4: recording was copyrighted in twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
49:48
Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
49:54
Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited.
50:00
Speaker 2: Neighbors