Adrian Rogers: Learning to Endure [#2470]

welcome to love worth finding with Pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers reaching out with God's love bringing people to Christ touching lives around the world and helping you find the answers you need today join us as we prepare to open God's Word and discover how your life can be changed forever by his great love worth finding I want you to find the book of James if you will and I want you to find the first chapter in that book and we're going to think today about what God teaches in that wonderful book about learning to endure I'm going to taste something about God God is a strange teacher he gives the test first and then gives the lesson and many of you are going through a test or trial look here in James chapter 1 let's begin in verse 2 my brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations that is just simply different kinds of temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith work of patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing if any of you lack wisdom let masks of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him now look up here and I want to ask you a question how many of you this morning want strength how many of you want victory how many of you want prosperity how many of you want contentment all of us do but let me ask you another question how many of you want tribulation most of us don't but it is tribulation that works patience which literally means in Durance and without the patients without endurance you're not going to have these other things because tribulation works endurance now the word patience in our King James Bible here doesn't mean the ability to thread a needle the Greek word who Pomona means to abide under God lays certain burdens on us and we must abide under those burdens or we're not going to have anything else now folks let me tell you something we need to work by faith and we need to praise God by faith but we need to wait by faith years ago when the Earth's crust was first hardening I was playing football and you know when I got out there on that football field for the first time in my life I had the ball and there was no one between myself and the goal now you just have to understand what a thrill that was the first time ever I had the ball I had broken loose and there was a goal line this was my big day and I was running as hard as I could but I was running out of steam also and I saw the goal line and I said well one thing for certain that God behind me is not going to catch me before I score and I dived over the goal line had it made but do you know what it wasn't the goal line it was a five-yard line how humiliated but I never reached the goal because I quit too soon some of us can quit too soon we don't learn to endure now if you don't learn to endure you're not going to learn much of anything you're not going to learn to play the piano if you don't learn to endure and do the scales you're not going to learn Greek if you don't endure and do the Greek verbs you're not going to lose weight unless you learn to endure you're not going to build character unless you endure now in the passage we have here the word for temptation in verse 2 literally means trials our testing look if you will in verse 2 my brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations well what is he Mitch what does it mean there by divers temptations should we say praise God I'm being tempted to sin know the word the word may be used as a temptation to sin or that same word is used in the Bible as a testing a trial now let's look at those you see we get the test from God we get the temptations from the devil don't get the idea that God is tempting you to sin in James chapter 1 let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with sin neither tempteth he any man God will not tempt you to send the devil will but God will not you know if the devil if God tempted you to sin you'd have a perfect excuse who can resist God he's the master tempter no only the devil will tempt you to sin God will test you the devil will tempt you to cause you to stumble God will test you to cause you to stand and what we're talking about this morning is endurance under trials under testings that God gives to us so we can grow and notice he doesn't say not if you're tempted but when you're tempted look in verse 2 my brethren count it all joy when when you fall into divers temptations now these tests these trials produce patience that is endurance let me give you an ancillary scripture to put in your margin there if you have a Bible don't mind writing in it right right alongside James Romans 5 verse 3 and not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience now when you're praying to God God give me endurance give me patience well you're going to have to have something to endure before you can ever learn anything about endurance and patience and so when you pray for patience don't be afraid to do that don't be afraid of God's tribulation God is not trying to cause you to stumble but to stand a wise man said the bumps are watch you climb on and that is so true now I want to say to all of us who are sons and daughters of God don't get the idea that the Christian life is all sunlight and roses that there will be no heartaches that there will be no tears there is tribulation and Jesus said in this world you shall have tribulation so if you're going through deep sorrow trouble pain anguish disappointment that doesn't mean something is going wrong it means that the Word of God is true now what if the temptation is a temptation to sin from the devil what should you do you'll to pray you ought to praise God I mean in the midst of it praise God what the devil is going to say look here what I'm doing to this individual and it's causing him to pray and praise God I better stop if it's from God you ought to praise Him and pray because he does all things well and it's not a sin to be tempted Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are and let me tell you something about these tests these tests are tests to let us know that God is real in the darkest night would you like to fly on an airplane that had never been tested well listen the faith that can't be tested can't be trusted and so God is going to give us tests and trials and I want to mention five things that I've learned and I prayed that God will write them on your heart and see if you can learn them also and the first one's going to surprise you I have learned enjoying it enjoyment look in James chapter 1 verse 2 my brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations counting joy that doesn't make grin and bear it but it means to rejoice in the Lord why do we count it all joy because if God gives you a test and you overcome overcoming Christians are joyful Christians Barbara Johnson wrote a book one statement in that book is worth the entire book where she said in that book uh that pain is inevitable but misery is optional pain is inevitable misery is optional now you can be Mizzell miserable if you want to but you can in the midst of your trial in the midst of your tribulation have joel paul and silas win that Philippian jail and at midnight they were singing praises unto god now the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10 verse 34 that you took joyfully the spoiling of your Goods one of my dearest friends is a man named Joseph Tong spelled t apostrophe s o N he was a modern day apostle to Romania when that cruel desperate Ceausescu was persecuting the Christians putting them in prison putting many of them to death by one means or another joseph was preaching the Word of God they tried to put a bridle on Joseph but he kept preaching one day the Gestapo as it were the strong-armed people of Ceausescu came to Joseph's home unannounced and said we're going to go through your library what a preacher's library is very precious to him it's like a good friend and we're going to make you sign every one of the books in your library and then we're going to go back and have the scholars to look through those books and if there's any book in this library that denigrates the government then we're going to put you in jail and Joseph and his wife set there as they were taking his books down one book after another and making him sign that book Joseph told me he said I was miserable I was miserable it was awful but he said then they handed me a book to sign it said joy unspeakable and full of glory are you experiencing it now and Joseph learned what Barbara Johnson said that pain is inevitable but misery is optional joy unspeakable and full of glory Joseph said I will rejoice in you our God he told his wife Elizabeth we have guests in our house fix some coffee for them and he began to praise the Lord you see the first fruit of tribulation ought to be in joy Montano 2nd Corinthians 7 and verse 4 I'm exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation now here's the second fruit that I have learned not only enjoyment but enlargement enlargement you grow when trials come look if you will in James 1 verse 4 look at it but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing now look at that word perfect I is a Greek word Telos and it doesn't mean sinless the Bible says of Jesus the captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering he wasn't made sinless through suffering he was already perfect sinless but it's the word Telos means mature mature ah an oak tree is the perfection of an acorn and somebody has written these words when you're discouraged and feeling a little blue take a look at a mighty oak and see what a nut can do that that oak tree is the perfection of an acorn it is it means maturity we grow under stress I was looking at Psalm 4 and verse 1 the psalmist said thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress when did you grow much where did you grow the most when you have no problems our wind stress came when problems came and you learned to endure that is when you grew the most and it not only does enjoyment come but enlargement comes maturity comes now when you're under stress your physical body's under stress when you're lifting weights ah then your muscles began to grow you know the problem today is so many Christians who are not telling us they're not mature they're not perfect they're not fully ripe had a mango for breakfast I love mangoes I do I believe that the Garden of Eden was full of them and if you don't like them makes me very happy because that means it's more for me and mangoes are just a wonderful fruit the best mango in my estimation is called a hayden mango and it's its exotic I wish I could show you a hayden mango when it is fully Sun ripened the top is red then it bleeds off to sort of an orangey red then it bleeds into a yellow and at the very tip is a spot of green now that's the way it is when it is Sun ripened Li the mangoes you get in the supermarket are not Sun ripened because they don't have any shelf life but when a mango is Sun ripen and you smell it that's exotic that's that's ecstasy to the nostrils to smell it and when you peel it the inside is like butter what does it taste like pineapple yes orange yes peach yes banana yes is a combination of all of these and it is ecstasy to get one and let the juice strip off your chin that's mango but let me tell you about a mango a mango to be that way has to be Sun ripened not ripen on the shelf in your house one that you brought out of the supermarket now those are good if any of you want to buy me some in the supermarket I'm not saying don't do that but I'm saying is something about something that has become teleosts it has become mature have you ever seen in Christians who were picked green they never mature they never quite get there sometimes a young preacher will show giftedness ability and he has the natural gift of preaching he has a good vocabulary and he has some convictions but so many times he is put on the circuit in the conferences and he preaches his handful of sermons then later on you learn that he failed he fell he disgraced the Lord what was the matter with this young preacher he was picked green the Bible says when you ordained a man don't ordain a novice lest he be tempted with pride lifted up with pride and fall under the condemnation of the devil now what does what does it teach us enjoy what does it teach us enlargement maturity I'll tell you another thing we learn from trials and temptations and that is enlightenment we learn some wonderful things we get wisdom when these come look if you will James 1 verses 43 but let patience that is maturity have her perfect work that she may be mature and entire wanting nothing and if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not that means he won't scold you for asking and it shall be given him but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waver this' like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord a double minded man is unstable in all of his way now when trials come difficulties come you need enlightenment you need wisdom your job had trials and temptations if you're familiar with the book of Job and chowk was asking God God why and Jobe had some friends who tried to explain to him why and you know the whole story of Joe but finally job said to God I'd like to bring you into court I I want to sue you for damages now it wasn't that Joe was being disrespectful but he said Oh God I would like to argue with you about this thing and God said okay you want to argue and God began to ask job questions I think questions that Joe could not even begin to give the reason for about things that joke could not understand at all and in the book Jobe stops asking why and starts remembering who and that's what we have to do remember who those of you who are counselors your job is not to solve people's problems if you do that they'll become dependent upon you ultimately your job is to bring them to God not to answer the why but to point them to the hoop and in tribulation God will give you this kind of wisdom if you pray and ask him for this kind of wisdom it is a a mark of growth when we stop asking why and start remembering do you know a person can have a PhD and still act like a fool when trials come ask God for wisdom look again in James 1 verse 4 but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing if any of you lack wisdom let masks of God to give it to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him but now watch verse 6 but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waver he's like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed well let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord you pray in faith and you can say dear God I know that it is your will that I have wisdom thank you for giving me wisdom don't be like away a wave is treacherous one time Joyce and I were in Hawaii and we went down to the beach and I saw the most magnificent waves and I said to Joyce Joyce you sit up here on the shore these are the biggest waves I think I've ever seen I'm going to go out and do some body surfing so I went out there and I waited for my wave and I started paddling to get on the front end of that wave that wave pick Nia shook me body slammed me to the bottom of the beach and friend I just lay there I I said I don't move anything that is my spine broken I'm serious I just under the water I just I just waited there for a while and I move this and this in my legs and I said well at least I'm still alive and got up and got out of there and when I turned around there was a sign I'd not seen it said no body surfing allowed spinal injury may occur I walked right past that sign never saw it never read it but I have learned one thing friend you can't trust the wave and God won't trust a Christian who's like a wave of the sea no with a rock like faith you ask God for wisdom and God will give you wisdom did you know that knowledge and wisdom come from God I'm talking about godly knowledge but knowledge is learned from looking around wisdom is learned from looking and really you need wisdom to learn how to use knowledge knowledge comes by study wisdom comes by prayer sometimes these young people asked me pastor pray for me I'm having finals that God will give me wisdom and said son I'll pray for you that God will help you to study I mean being a Christian doesn't increase your IQ you see we need wisdom thank God for the wisdom and friend in trials you will learn more than you learn when the sun is shining I walked a mile with pleasure she had it all the way but made me none the wiser for all she had to say I walked to my with sorrow not a word said she but all the things I learned from sorrow when sorrow walked with me fourthly here's something else I've learned and that is enthronement I've learned that in difficulty and sorrow and pain and perplexity you can actually learn to live as a king during these things not without these things look in Chapter 1 and verse 12 blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive now watch this the crown of life he'll be crown he'll become a king now he's not talking about a crown when we get in heaven not talking about a crown in future in the future he's talking about a crown right now the Apostle Paul said that we are to reign in life God wants you to have dominion over all of these things but you never learn to be over until you learn to be under until you endure without endurance are you not going to have enthroned friend let me tell you something if you do not bear the cross you can't wear the crown in life when these things come get under and stay under until God is finished and God will give you the crown of life God will enthrone you you know the Bible says in proverbs chapter 25 verse 28 he that had no rule over his his own over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls if you don't learn to rule to be the king over your own spirit you like a city without walls enemies can come and go but God wants you to be a king and to rule in this light and if you don't learn to rule I'm telling you you're in danger you know you're like a city that's whose walls are broken down now here's the fifth and final thing I want to mention that will come through trials and difficulties and God is teaching me I haven't I haven't learned everything yet but you know something about God he never flunked you just Rhian rolls you his red roses so you can learn but here's here's the next thing in Richmond look again in Chapter 1 and verse 4 let patience have her perfect work that she may be perfect that's telling us mature and entire now watch this next phrase wanting nothing how would you like to come to place where there's nothing you want well according to this you can come to that place doesn't mean you have the key to Fort Knox if you want to know how rich you are add up everything that you have that money cannot buy and death cannot take away then you will know just exactly how rich yarn god says if you learn to endure I'll bring you to the place where you will need nothing years ago I went out to a camp meeting back in the backwoods of Florida I was driving a little Volkswagen in those days and I loved that little car was a great car one thing about the Volkswagen in those days it didn't have gasoline gauge it had two tanks and when you ran out of gas in the first tank you just turned a little lever and you turned on the second tape now the second tank it was just too might more as I remember of a gallon of gasoline and so Volkswagen would go pretty far on a gallon of gasoline do you find a service station but I had forgotten I was already on that little tank and we're out in the backwoods I had a friend with me and I said oh no we are going to run out of gasoline I was meaning to get gasoline before we ever came out here we have driven way out here and now we're coming back on this lonely road I said to my friend les pray O God listen that we'll find a place a service station and we prayed and we drove and drove and I knew by after while we were running on fumes I thought we're going to run out of gasoline but we kept on praying and I saw the gas station in the distance just when the car ran out of gasoline and the motor stopped I put it into neutral and we began to coast no exaggeration I Coast him right to the pump right to the pump and the man came out and said there's when they would service your car you didn't put it in self-service he said may I help you I said yes I'd like 75 cents worth of gasoline that's all I had I had given the rest to the camp meeting I had 75 cents in my pocket now let me tell you something God doesn't always work miracles like that for you or for me but the thing I'm trying to illustrate is I didn't need any gas I came right to the search state I didn't need any gas and I didn't need any money because I had 75 cents God will bring you to the place if you learn to trust him I promise you that God will be there to meet your need now listen look if you will in James 5 verses 7 and 8 be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold the husband and that means the farmer are the vine dresser waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he received the early and the latter rain you can't hurry the harvest God wants to give you riches but you can't hurry the harvest back in Bible times is what you call the former rain and the latter rain was still true over in Israel today the former rain is in the fall it causes the seed to germinate the latter rain is in the spring that causes the grain to swell up and get ripe and ready for harvest now the Bible says you've got to endure if you want the harvest if you want to be enriched you've got to do a problem with many of us is that we want it now our forefathers would get upset if they missed the stagecoach and they said well another one be along in a month we get upset today if we miss a section of a revolving door we want it now that's the reason why so many people up the ears and worshiping the god of credit and these credit cards have destroyed them they're buying things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like and their play people who will be happy to sell you those things but what God says endure endure I'll make you rich I'll give you the real riches of life and so friend I wish I could tell you more that I've learned but time is gone I've learned this much indeed and I thank God for it let me just close with the line from an old song when through fiery trials by pathway shall I my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply the flames shall not hurt thee I only design by dross to consume and thy gold to refine now you say pastor I want to live that way I want to be in God's school listen to me now you've got to enroll you've got to enroll you say I'm in the school of hard knocks no let's not God school I'm not talking about the difficulties that all of us have in life I'm talking about the trials the testings that come from God that calls us and enable us to endure would you bow your heads in prayer heads are bowed and eyes are closed and if you are not absolutely certain that you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior I've got wonderful news for you our Lord is knocking at your heart's door he is closer to you than the person sitting next to you in this service he desires to save you he wants to save you he will save you he died to save you he promised to save you if you would trust him the bible says simply and sweetly and sublimely believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved to be saved means that every sin is forgiven to be saved means that God through the Holy Spirit comes into us to give us live peace power purpose enjoy and to be saved means that when Jesus comes again or we die we'll go straight to heaven would you like that today would you like to have a personal relationship with God through Christ let me guide you in a prayer and your pray right there silently but fervently in your seat and make this prayer if you can your prayer and don't just repeat the words but pray this way dear God I know that you love me and I know that you want to save me Jesus you died to save me you paid my sin debt on the cross with your shed blood thank you for doing that Jesus now Lord Jesus I opened my life up to you right now I receive you as my Lord and Master I turned from my sinful ways to you Lord Jesus come into my heart forgive my sin and save me Lord Jesus pray that prayer and mean it listen you can put it in the sentence save me Lord Jesus did you pray that prayer then I want to suggest you pray this way thank you for doing it and I'll not be ashamed of you because you died for me I will make it public today I will not be ashamed of you Lord Jesus thank you for saving me we pray that God has blessed you as you've watched this message if you'd like additional copies or information about other resources write to us at love worth finding Bo box 38 300 memphis tennessee 38134 and lwf dot o-r-g in the US you can place Visa or MasterCard orders by calling 1-800 two seven four five six eight three Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time thank you and may God richly bless you

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Keywords: learning, to, endure, Adrian, Rogers, Dr, Pastor, Teacher, Teaching, Preacher, Preaching, Evangelist, Prophet, Prophecy, Truth, Praise, Faith, Worship, Gospel, Grace, Word, Minister, Ministry, Ministries, Love, Worth, Finding, God, Jehovah, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Yahweh, Messiah, Saviour, Savior, Lord, Holy, Spirit, King, Lamb, Ghost, Bible, Bellevue, Baptist, Church, Saved, Salvation, Sermon, Fellowship, Trinity, Preist, Missionary, Revival, Lost, Sin, Satan, Backslide, Help, Forgiveness

Id: uymDU9WxdVM

Length: 33min 45sec (2025 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2016