God's Process of Maturity, p.1

Amen. Well, let's grab our Bibles and go back to the Book of James, all right? The Book of James, Chapter 1.

I, like Ephesians, didn't plan on staying here that long, but I'm so glad, I'm so glad I'm looking at this again, because God is just unfolding things to me. I have quite a few expositions that I did during my Reformation, and I say my Reformation, you know what the Protestant Reformation is, or maybe you know a little about it, how God raised up some very gifted and scholarly men like John Calvin or Martin Luther and John Wycliffe or John Huss or some Baptist guys like John Bunyan and actually Dr. Gill and some others, but anyway, men who literally broke off of the state churches that were, of course, the Catholic churches. Of course, in old Europe, you had to belong to the Catholic church because your country embraced that religion.

Of course, later the English broke off because they had a king that wanted to marry another woman, and Catholics wouldn't let him, so he started his own religion called Anglicanism, and the Episcopalian church came out of that. Anyway, that's just church history. It's a fact, but anyway, these state churches, whether it was the Anglican church of England or Roman Catholicism that covered most of the rest of Europe, and these men of God started studying their Bibles and said, man, the Roman church and the Anglican system has lost the faith, and they begin, verse by verse, exegeting the Bible, and without question, the greatest conservative biblical scholarship came out of that error, and I'm convinced the reason it came out of that error because their lives were on the line, literally, and so as they're interpreting the Bible and teaching people to leave the established church, they're putting themselves up for execution by the government, which is one with the church. The church had all authority because it had the power of the government and, of course, the military and police with it, and so they did such amazing exegesis, and I'm always studying the Puritan fathers and those guys because their study is just unparalleled to any other generation, and I guess ours would, too, if our lives were on the line.

I mean, their point was, we better know this is biblical if we're going to die for it. Now, I call it my reformation period because when we were in our earlier years of process as pastor and people of changing a lot of things to be more biblically sound, we received, I personally received lots of condemnation and criticism and scoffing and derision for leading you in the direction I was leading you. From within my own heart, questions and wonderings, and then from outside, our own community, our own area, you may not remember it well. If you're around, maybe you do, but there was just a hoard of criticisms about, y'all are going the wrong direction, this isn't right, or this isn't bad, or whatever argument they would make, and men in literally the highest positions of Protestant influence in the country would call my name and talk about how messed up we were, where we were going. To the end that today, all the leaders of all the Baptist graduate schools would embrace and affirm 98% of everything we stand for, and so God's vindicated us.

But here, I want to say something to you. It doesn't matter if all the high up, brilliant, mucky dead monks like us or not, if we're right, but it is encouraging when time changes and you're affirmed in what you're doing. But anyway, there are a number of books that I preached through in those early years where I was really under a lot of pressure, and I'll be honest, I think I did some of my best studying I've ever done in my life. We were just under such, I would call it oppression, that I thought, well, if we're going to change our church and change the way we view things and approach things, I better know we're right. And as I've told you a million times, first of all, I had to know that biblically it was a substantial, clear teaching. I'm not going to ask you to change something that's some sideline issue just found in a verse or two.

It had to be a substantial, systematically taught issue. And secondly, I had to be able to find it strongly in church history. We are the most arrogant of fools if we think we found a truth in the Bible nobody's found before. Two thousand years of scholarship, I guarantee that it's been found. So as I studied Baptist history in particular, and Protestant and Evangelical history in general, I found the things I was teaching and encouraging were thoroughly believed in practice by our forefathers.

And I'd say roughly a generation or rather a century and back. So saying all that to say, as I've re-studied some of these books that I studied earlier, it's just been super rich and encouraging to go back through there. Let's talk about today James chapter 1, verses 2 through 12. And I'll not get through all of it.

I'll get through part of it. But I'll probably just go down through verse 5 for this evening. In verse 2 of James chapter 1, he says, consider it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials. Some Bibles say temptations, but it's much better trials.

It's something that's come upon you that you're not responsible for. Then verse 3, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Then he continues on, but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Now these are believers who are literally scattered all over the known world. In Acts chapter 8 verse 4, the Bible says, all those who are scattered went about preaching the word.

So these are Christians who've left house, home, vocation, family members, just literally running for their lives because of one simple thing, they had embraced Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ. So these guys are facing a trial that's been cast upon them. They didn't cause this trial.

They didn't do something wrong. It came upon them for their profession in Jesus Christ. Again, I'll say to you, like I've said many times before, we live in an ever degrading culture that is going to continually consider folks that believe what you and I believe as the problem in the society. And we're going to face some trials as the generations go on unless there's some sort of great supernatural revival in our country. We're going to face trials just for believing biblical doctrine.

I'll tell you what's going to happen too. It's going to be a great dividing line. You're going to see a lot of people you thought were Christians capitulate and compromise to save their necks.

That's going to come. Well, that's part of the trial these folks are facing. They're really scattered about, enduring a lot of persecution. They're looking for shelter, many of them. They've been robbed of their possessions, many of them.

Many of them are simply hungry, looking for enough clothes to put on the backs of themselves and their children. And in that context, James, the pastor of the local church of the members that are now scattered, writes this, consider it all joy when you encounter various trials. So, Roman number one, I call required trials. The title would be God's Process of Maturity. God's Process of Maturity, that's the title.

And Roman number one, required trials. I don't know if I would be that bold. Would you be that bold if somebody's literally suffering, looking for a place to live and lay their head, looking for enough food to live, eat on, and the thing you say to them is, well, consider it a joy. Well, that's what God had inspired Pastor James here to write to his people. The word consider here in verse two is of the imperative mood, which means he commands them to declare it such once and for all.

He said, just decide right now, declare it a joy, and then he says, consider it a joy when these various trials that you're enduring come upon you. The word various has the idea of multifaceted. It wasn't just one thing.

Most of these people were struggling from under various sickness, hunger, destitute, clothing, you name it. So they have various aspects. And he says to consider once in all imperative mood, that's a command to settle in your mind. I'm going to consider this a joy. Now he didn't say feel like it's a joy. You don't function by your feelings as a child of God, you function by truth as a child of God.

No, you decide to dictate to your emotions God's truth. So you decide as an act of the will to consider it a joy that these trials are coming. Now the word joy here, he literally means consider it all joy, which means a whole joy, a an unmixed joy. It's not just some joy with some grief. He says, no, it's all joy. Then he says, consider it all joy when you encounter.

It has the idea of when you come across, when you fall upon. In other words, again, these are trials that you didn't cause, this has come upon you. And then various trials again, and again, it's not a temptation here.

That's not a good translation of the Greek word here. It means that thing that's come upon you and it's multifaceted. He said, understand that it's God's plan that these trials are here for your good and for his glory. And he says, understand that it may be even better for you when you have various trials. Maybe right now in your life, there are circumstances and there's this and this and this and this, and it's just kind of overwhelming at times.

Well, let me stop just a second. Have you as a strong, forceful, active for your will said, I'm going to claim it as a trial my Lord has sent for his purposes and my good. You know what I find is folks don't do that.

They kind of sort of think about it, could be, well, it kind of could be. No, no, no. James says, consider it all joy, the unmixed full joy when various afflictions and trials come your way. Hey folks, only a child of God can do this. Don't try to preach this to a church full of lost people.

They're not going to get it, they're not going to like it, they're going to hate you for it. This is only for God's elect. This is only for those who are truly God's. Consider it all joy when this comes upon you. Now, most people consider it a joy when they get through a trial. Well, there's some truth to that, but God says we should consider it a joy when we see the trial coming. You make a faith decision when you see it coming and you'd make a faith decision to consider it all joy. Now look, I don't think James is saying, I don't think the Bible is teaching that you're supposed to be some obnoxious praise freak when something difficult comes. Sometimes joy is so deep and so real, you're just quiet. Are you hearing me? Sometimes in situations that others may not can understand, you're walking through some deep waters, but God is with you and there's a deep joy in there that you just don't go around talking about too much. Does that make sense to you?

Now don't get me wrong, personalities are different and sometimes it's good to express it outward. I understand that, but don't feel like that if you're not just jumping up and down all the time with your hands in the air shouting hallelujah, that somehow you're not spiritual. Sometimes there's a deep, deep joy, but for the elect of God, every trial is God designed for our good and His glory. Folks now listen to me, if every trial is not designed by our God, He's not sovereign. If He's not sovereign, He's not God.

It's either one way or the other. If the difficulty, the frustration, the heartache in your life was not designed by God, then God's not sovereign. If He's not sovereign, then He's not God. Romans 8, 28 reminds us that all things, how many things is it on the screen? All things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purposes. Not every trial is designed by God, everything's good.

It wasn't good that these people were being persecuted and put under these trials, but God is going to cause it all to work together for the good. And I have a little principle of what I call throw yourself into praise. I'll be counseling with someone, they'll tell me what they're going through. And first of all, weep with them and grieve with them and have compassion for them. But also I say, look, you just got to throw yourself into praise. The old preacher said one time, when you can't pray your way through, you praise your way through.

Has it ever been so heavy you just couldn't pray, well then just start praising God, knowing that He has a purpose, knowing that He knows what He's doing, knowing that nothing can come to you that does not filter through His sovereign, omnipotent, loving hands. Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials. And it could be, child of God, that the reason why the trial hadn't lit up is because you hadn't gotten in joy yet. You might need to show the Lord that you can trust Him and believe He's sovereign and cast a little joy toward that thing, and then God may lift the trial. Consider it all joy.

In other words, if we're going to mature like we need to, there's going to require trials coming into our life. I was counseling with a pastor recently, and man, he's doing a good job and he's been about seven to eight years now at his church and they've changed a lot of things, and they're just getting ready to really put some things in place as far as being a biblically healthy and biblically functioning church. And right as he was about to do that, a leader in the church was exposed as embezzling money.

And on one hand, he was grieved about it, but I rejoiced with him. I said, that's exactly what I expected God to do. God's cleaning up His church.

He's exposing the stuff that's in the way of God's blessing. And these trials is what is going to build you and your church in faith. You know why I was able to do that? Because I've been through those kind of trials. I've seen those kind of things. I've experienced that kind of heartache and difficulty. I know what God...

I know what the backside of that looks like. It's a good thing. Not the thing itself, but what God's accomplishing through exposing it and getting it removed and out of the way. Well, required trials. Notice Roman numeral two, revealed faith. Notice the wording here, revealed faith.

Verse three, Paul says, well, consider it all... we're back up in verse two. He says, consider it all joy when you encounter these various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. This idea of testing it. And then the first of all, the word knowing here means believing and understanding. Understanding something. You're going to believe and understand that this testing experience, not a purifying experience at this case, it's a testing in the sense that it's revealing what is actually already there. A.T. Robertson, the eminent Greek scholar said, it means the genuine element in your faith.

He says, knowing... here's what you need to know about these trials. It's about to bring forth, it's about to reveal and make manifest the genuineness of your faith. Not necessarily an amount of faith, but the quality of the faith. Not an increase in faith, but what faith really is, is about to come out. In other words, the trial serves to squeeze out of you the faith that God placed there at conversion.

Did you hear that? The trial squeezes out of you the faith that God placed in you at conversion. There's a very real sense in which faith doesn't grow and faith doesn't mature. Faith is just faith.

But you mature in grasping it, walking in it, and showing it. And that's kind of what he's saying here. Romans 12 3, the Bible says, God has allotted to each man a measure of faith.

There it is on the screen. God has allotted to each man a measure of faith. Now, the trial manifested and activated this already residing, yet to this point unmanifested and unactivated faith. 1 Peter 1 7 is a good cross reference here. 1 Peter 1 7. So that the proof, the genuineness, in other words, you've got this true genuine saving faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, what's the context of 1 Peter 1 7? Well, verse 6 says, in this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you've been distressed by various trials, that it may prove your faith. In other words, God has ordained that you go through these trials to the end that the faith that you really have.

Listen, that you didn't create, that you don't work up, that you don't manifest, God put it in there and he calls it to be manifested to show forth you're of the elect. The way you go through trials manifests much about what's inside of you. Has God regenerated your heart?

Has God put a measure of faith in your heart? Then he goes on and he said, this produces endurance. Now, back in our original text, James chapter 1 verse 3, knowing that the testing your faith produces endurance, literally it means it results in endurance.

The trial comes, it's a required trial. It starts revealing faith and as it goes on and on, you begin to get on this plane of faith and there's a steadfastness or an endurance. There's a new level of faithing it in this difficulty. Now, I'd like to say that we get up to this new level and we never dip that back down again, but it's quite normal for us to dip that back down. We get in the flesh again and whine and complain again and et cetera, et cetera.

But I think the truth is we don't stay in the dip. We want to get to that place where we're enduring and for the most part, we're functioning in a steadfastness and an endurance. The Apostle Paul was a great example of this. 1 Corinthians 4, 9 through 3, I think it'll be on your screen. 1 Corinthians 4, beginning in verse 9. Is it up there?

Yeah, there you go. Paul says, for I think God has exhibited us apostles, last of all, as men condemned to death. That's a pretty tough place to be. He said, I live my life as a condemned man, just because I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. Because we've become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ. We are weak, but you're strong. You are distinguished, but we're without honor.

Through this very hour, notice Paul's trial here. He says, we are both hungry and thirsty. We're poorly clothed. We are roughly treated and we're homeless. We toil.

We work with our own hands. We're reviled and we bless back. We're persecuted. And we endure. There it is. When we are slandered, we try to conciliate. We have become the scums of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

But he said, what's that key phrase? But we endure. We've learned all of these things are happening, that we have the faith to know God's orchestrating this. He's given us this capacity of faith that we can walk in and live out.

And we have reached a level of endurance. I'll never forget reading Charles Haddon Spurgeon after he'd been the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle for many years. And my, did he have vicious enemies. The Armenians on one side hated him and the hyper cabinets on the other side hated him. And the secularists despised the fact that he had such popularity.

And so many people want to hear the gospel under his preaching. And the demeaning and unbelievable things they said about him. And at one point Spurgeon said, well, they can't hurt me anymore. Everything that you could say about somebody, they've already said it now. It's just all been said.

So whatever they say, it'll be the second time I've heard it. So he said, I'm done now. And I think what Spurgeon was saying, I've reached a level where it just didn't bother me. So I know God's in control of all this. Well, resulting maturity. Well, I've got to go quick here.

When we come back together, I'm going to go back over some of this and spend a little more time. Look at verse four. First of all, he said it requires trials. Then in those trials, the faith he put in you at conversion is revealed. And then it results in your maturity. Your faith that mature, you mature, mature, trusting the faith he put in you. Verse four, and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.

The word let means keep on having. Let this process keep on bringing you to this mature spiritual place. And the perfect result he refers to rather in verse four is the proper end.

You're coming to this place of maturity. To be perfect here doesn't mean sinless perfection. It means you're mature and your viewpoint of this thing now. You're maturing your grasp of what God is about and letting the trial come into your life. He says you'll be lacking in nothing in verse four.

This is the negative of the other side of being perfect or mature. In other words, faith has not been purified in you. Faith has not been matured in you. Faith was just revealed in the trial and then it purifies your mind and your emotions getting them in line with the ways and purposes of God. You're beginning to understand these are the ways of God.

Trials are the purposes of God. God is up to something. God is doing something fantastic in my life. I'm maturing and my emotions now respond to the fact that God's behind all this accomplishing something.

My mind is beginning to grasp that and that's the maturity God's wanted me to get to all along. Faith hadn't changed. I've changed to embrace faith. Faith always believed God. Faith always knew God was on his throne. Faith always knew God was doing this for my good in his own glory. I'm just now getting myself in agreement with the faith he put in me when he saved me.

Folks, listen to me. Do you understand the faith in you is not of you? The faith in you is not of you. God gave you that as a gift.

It's a supernatural gift. Ephesians 2 8 and 9. For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

What's not of yourself? It includes the faith. It's the gift of God. Not the result of works lest any man boast. There is a faith capacity.

Listen to me. If you're elect of God and you're born again of God, faith has been put in you. A sixth sense. You don't function in these trials according to your five senses.

You function according to the sixth sense. The sense of faith that begins to rise up and show itself. It manifests itself when the trial comes and you begin to come to that level of endurance whereas a pattern and a habit of your life, you're viewing this that God's up to something. God's doing something. I know he's purposing this for my good and for his glory and I'm seeing that this is now the process, the way of God, not just in my life but in all of our lives. So our minds and our emotions get in line, harmonize with, and support the purposes and ways of God.

How you doing in your trial? Is faith being manifested? And are you coming to a place where I'm not saying there's never any dips, but you're coming to a place where you are finding I have a capacity given to me when God saved me to see that God's hands in all of this.

So I can. It doesn't all feel like joy, but I can consider it all joy when I encounter various trials. Knowing that the testing my faith is producing a new steadfastness and then I come to embrace my emotions get to be happy that satan can throw the worst things he has at me, but everything satan throws at me comes through the sovereign hand of a loving God. The devil is the God's devil. He can't hurt me. Everything he thinks he's doing to hurt me, he can only help me.