D. A. Carson, "The Saving Word" - James 1:12-25 (Session 4)

now today we're going to look at a passage of scripture that intersects with our lives again and again and again whether we want it to or not James chapter 1 beginning at verse 12 reading to verse 25 James 1:12 2:25 the thing is that if we are concerned about Christian living if we are concerned about growth in sanctification then at some point we have to think about how we face trials and temptations all of us face trials and temptations and how we handle them is really in lockstep with how we grow or do not grow in sanctification and this passage focuses on trials and temptations I could begin at verse 2 I'm going to refer back to those earlier verses in a few moments but at the moment I think I'll begin with verse 12 blessed is the one who persevere is under trial because having stood the test that person will receive the crown of life of the Lord has promised to those who love him when tempted no one should say God is tempting me for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed then after desire is conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full-grown gives birth to death don't be deceived my dear brothers and sisters every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows he chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created my dear brothers and sisters to this everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like but whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it not forgetting what they have heard but doing it they will be blessed in what they do this is the word of the Lord I know an English chap who quite a number of decades ago felt calls to Christian ministry he attended a theological training institution in England and in due course graduated and became pastor of a church in that country he was a gifted communicator he was pretty bold good mind a pastoral activist in many ways and the church began to grow flourished sadly after about three or four years he was caught out in adultery he resigned of course disappeared from the scene I didn't norm at that stage I met him in Canada without knowing anything of this background he was attending in the late 1960s a Seminary that I then attended we didn't know of his background but we were in some of the same classes and graduated about the same time and I went off to the west coast of Canada and he disappeared into the while of Ontario he became pastor of a church there and I heard through the perennial ecclesiastical grapevine that things were going pretty well and then after some years I was in Europe and I heard through the grapevine that he'd got caught got caught out in adultery and was forced to resign more years went back eventually I moved back to Vancouver and some years after that in the Lord's peculiar Providence I moved south of the 49th parallel and became a missionary to the United States I arrived in Chicago and began teaching a Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and when I got there I didn't know any of the churches in the area all my life had been in Canada or in Europe and and so I was still poking around finding out how the ecclesiastical structures have put together in this country and the seminary administration asked if I would mind filling in an an interim basis part-time at a nearby church it turned out that this church had had recently gone through a serious dislocation it had had a pastor who had been quite effective the church was growing people were converted things were flourishing and then lo and behold he this Minister it had got caught out in adultery you guessed it your friend and mine the same chap now why do I tell you this story it's not very edifying I could say quite a lot about the foolishness and irresponsibility of churches and not doing some elementary background checks but that's not my point if you talk to this fellow after this event I haven't communicated with him now for many many years but the last time that there was any sort of connection whatsoever he had moved to Ohio where he was selling computer components and if you asked him then you know what went wrong I mean one time was horrible but three times did it the damage you've done what what what went wrong his answer would be God says that there is no temptation taken you but what is common to men but he would provide a way of escape so that you may be able to bear it I couldn't bear it so that proves God is a liar and that's all he would say oh he was pretty blunt all right but are there not sometimes when we're pushing pretty hard on the temptation front or the trial front and we really feel we can't take anymore now that's a my first Englishman story but lest we malign all Englishmen let me tell you another Englishman story and then we'll plunge into the text this man this man I'll give him a name his name is Norman Anderson long now since gone to glory he went to Cambridge University which was my old stomping grounds in the 1930s which was long before I was stomping anywhere and there he met his wife he was active in kaku cambridge intercollegiate Christian Union their version of University and eventually went as a missionary in the 1930s to Egypt where he learned Arab Arabic fluently and so on served well there at the outbreak of World War two he was eventually conscripted into counterintelligence partly because he knew the language after World War one they moved back after World War Two they moved back to to to Britain where he did more studies and eventually became the director of the Oriental Institute of London University and for his academic and institutional services was eventually knighted by the Queen and so he became Sir Norman Anderson and all during these years decades on he he was an active layman in the Church of England a very gifted preacher and in addition to writing all kinds of technical works about Islam and Arabic and so on he he he also wrote Christian books from a lay point of view Christianity and world religions still worth reading to this day Norman Anderson and wrote evangelistic books and spoke at student missions and and that sort of thing he was a really a remarkable man he had three kids the first one became a medical missionary to what was then the Belgian Congo in the great violence of the Belgian Congo when it was throwing off the Belgian Overlord and was becoming as a year.this daughter who was a medical missionary was gang raped she was furloughed home and was recovering went to California to do some Advanced Study in medicine before going back to Congo but while she was in California she tripped fell down some stairs and drowned in her own spittle the second daughter died in circumstances scarcely less bizarre the third child was a son born rather later in life his name was Hugh he died of a brain tumor in his third year as an undergraduate at Cambridge University he was so bright and was moving in all the right circles that he was already being touted as a potential future Prime Minister of England but he died he died just a few months before I moved to England for the first time in 1972 that's when I first met Sir Norman over the years Norman and his wife became very close friends and late in life by which time his wife was suffering from advanced Alzheimer's he was asked to give his testimony at a large meeting of students about 2,000 students he couldn't trust his memory anymore and he didn't have the energy to write it all up so they asked him if he would just answer some questions so one of the chaps asked him a whole lot of questions of what his life and he answered 2,000 students that sat spellbound and in all the years that I knew him until he died and in that testimony I never ever heard one single word of bitterness not one not one what's the difference between my two Englishmen and that's what this passage is about we are all going to face trials and temptations we are going to face them if you live long enough you'll get kicked in the teeth you'll be bereaved you'll lose a job you might lose a child you succumb to rheumatoid arthritis or cancer or you lose your mind if you live long enough you get kicked in the teeth and along the line there will be moral temptations physical challenges relational challenges how do you handle them number one when you are struggling under trial remember the Christians goals when you are struggling under trial remember the Christians goals verse twelve blessed is the one who persevere under trial because having stood the test that person will receive the crown of life at the Lord has promised to those who love him now in fact verse 12 is picking up a theme that was already introduced back in verses 2 to 4 of the chapter so we're going to look at those verses as well consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds did you hear that consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything now you read these two passages together verses 2 to 4 and verse 12 and what you are given in effect are two reasons for facing trials not only with equanimity but with joy first because of the desirable goal of becoming mature consider it pure joy when you face trials because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything and that's what a Christian wants to be in other words what is being done here is is a goal is being held up for you if you're a Christian you don't want to simply have an escape ticket out of hell you want to grow in conformity to Christ you want to be strong you want to be able to persevere and one of the things that gives you perseverance is trials in this fallen broken world what gives you perseverance is trials plus the added grace of God to those trials that gives you perseverance and when you had enough perseverance you're finally becoming a little more mature that's the first desirable goal that a Christian was to maintain and second you get the crown of life at the end verse twelve blessed is the one who persevere under trial because having stood the test that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him now those who make profession of faith and fall away and crumble maybe there's no gospel in them at all but the one who persevere is under trial well that Christian is remembering the Christians goals and the ultimate goal is the crown of life it's not a common expression in the Bible but it does reoccur elsewhere in Revelation 2:10 be faithful even to the point of death notice the emphasis on perseverance again be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life that is the reward that is life it's crowning life it is not only eternal life we receive that already but eternal life and resurrection existence and the new heaven and the new earth and so you press on toward that goal in other words the point here is when you are struggling under trial remember the Christians goals if the Christians goal is to get through with as few dangers or bouts of suffering or anxieties as you can possibly manage if that's your cardinal goal then every time you face any challenge you become resentful but if your goal is Christian maturity and resurrection existence that changes everything as if some people are upset here over the reward language do this and you get that the reward of this crowning life oh there are so many things that could be said about that but an illustration I've sometimes found helpful from CS Lewis I'll pass on to you he says when you think about rewards consider two men one wants a woman so he goes to the red-light district of town and he pays his money and he has his reward the other courts a young woman that he fancies gets to know her really well treats her with wonderful respect and affection and tenderness treats her with purity and genuine love wants her good gets to know the family is trusted by the family and in due course is a spectacular wedding the two families come together and they're married and he has his reward what's the difference the difference he says is that in the first case the payment is so in commensurate with the reward that the entire transaction is odious vulgar and obtuse in the second case the reward is nothing other than the consummation of a relationship Christian rewards are finally bound up with being anchored in the grace of God in the gospel which transforms us and sets us on a path where God in His mercy starts talking of reward even though he knows full well the only reason why we gained any of these rewards is because we're anchored in grace in the first place it's mir-2 the consummation of a relationship that's why romans can speak of rewards that are reckoned by grace but there's some wonderful extra clauses in here we should think about blessed is the one who perseveres under trial we read because having stood the test that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him you're identifying who these people are now they're Christians and Christians love this Lord Jesus a friend of mine alec metier now retired many years pastor tells in one of his books of a of a funeral he took it was a funeral of an old woman she and her husband had had about sixty odd years of marriage now she was finally gone and as the widower stood by the tomb he wept and said to my pastor friend I suppose God must have you have more things for me to do elsewhere why would he have left me here and my pastor friend said my dear brother God has nothing more for you to do except to love him still you see he was not saying there's nothing more to do that's not the point but your self-identity can't be bound up first and foremost with doing stuff but still under trial still under trial to love him still this crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him to love him still so that you join the heritage of a job who can still say in the midst of it all though he slay me yet will I trust him many many moons ago when I was an undergraduate and McGill University in Canada studying chemistry and mathematics of all things there was a chap who came on to our campus to lead us in a Bible study on the book of James and in those days after all this is 1963 so it goes back a year or two in those days we all were reading the King James Version and he was giving a series of expositions of James so he came to James 2 which says in the King James Version counted all joy my brethren when ye fall into divers temptations some of us decided we better take this seriously this is what the Word of God said so four or five of us guys we made a little covenant together that every time we heard one of the others whining or complaining we quote this verse Adam so you can guess what happened the next day somebody came onto the campus complaining about a 10 o'clock calculus exam and the other one would smirk and say count it all joy my brethren when ye fall into divers temptations and someone came on campus you know complaining about a dicey relationship with his girlfriend my brother counted all joy when you fall into divers temptations and of course it didn't help it was like rubbing salt into an open wound you know it it was a game sort of spiritual went up in Shep aha gotcha gotcha but in God's mercy after a while it actually became the voice of God we were beginning to listen it caught on in the whole group and you know what happened whining and complaints just disappeared not just because everyone was afraid of a gotcha but but because of the goals that are set out for Christians we want don't we we want the perseverance that leads to maturation and we want to live with eternity values in view and the result was that of my four years at McGill we saw more people converted to Christ that year than all the other three altogether listen when you are struggling under trial remember the Christians goals number two when you confess God's sovereignty do not misunderstand God's motives when you confess God's sovereignty do not misunderstand God's motives verses 13 to 15 now the problem in understanding verse 13 is that the root behind test and the root behind tempt is exactly the same in the original which it means depends entirely on context so likewise the word behind trial is the same as the word behind temptation if I had to paraphrase verse 13 it would be something like this if you are tempted by such trials do not say God is tempting me if you are tempted by such trials do not say God is tempting me you see James plunges from one to the other because he is writing as we experience these things the same events that are opportunities to go forward are also temptations to become embittered and go backwards trial becomes temptation because it finds an answering chord within us and what begins as a trial becomes now an occasion for bitterness and resentment and swearing at God and and and breaking up relationships and so on do you see so if you are tempted by such trials do not say God is tempting me for or God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone the point is God does test people but he doesn't tempt them God tests people in the sense that he purposely in his sovereignty brings things together situations and people where their willingness to obey Him is frankly tested the Bible says so Genesis 22:1 explicitly says God tested Abraham when he gives him instructions to take him to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him there or again God tested Israel Judges 222 or again God tested king hezekiah 2 chronicles 32 31 and so today God certainly brings his people to various tests of one sort or another but although God may do this to prove his servants faith or to lower their pride or to foster endurance he never does so to induce sin that would be temptation he never does so in order to destroy their faith and the reason why he could not possibly be thought of as inducing sin bringing us to temptation as tempting us is because 13 be God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone you might well say well of course the fact that God is tempted by evil that's obvious but what's that got to do with the argument the argument is this what you must understand is that temptation is an impulse to sin and since God is not susceptible to any such impulse himself how could you possibly imagine that he would be trying to give us some impulse to sin what's in it for him the one who is not tempted why should he be interested in to in inducing us to sin for goodness a it's ridiculous to think that God has any motive in him that wants us to sin he does not tempt anyone the text says no no no a true account of temptation under God's sovereignty is then in verses 14 and 15 each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed stop blaming God for your temptations God may bring you to the test but the temptation to turn it to evil in some fashion or another is all bound up with your own life and heart then after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full-grown gives birth to death there are really two images together here that are intertwined one is a kind of fishing image where where you send out a lure or you send out a bait and and and you snap after it the fish snaps after it you dragged away and enticed and the other is a conception birthing it's it's bizarre the mother is the desire she gives birth to the child which is sin and the sinful groan is death gives birth to death shocking language to be full grown and stillborn we understand how this works of course we flirt with sin feed our desire for something bad then we act on it we act on it enough times it becomes a habit the habit stamps our character when Charles Spurgeon one of the greatest preachers of the 19th century was expounding Psalm 1 he he made a point along the similar line Psalm 1 describes the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of Walker's slowing down and grinding down from from listening to bad advice to actually adopting a lifestyle to becoming a sneering condescending mocker at this point Spurgeon says a man receives his master's in worthlessness and his doctorate in damnation there are all kinds of mysteries bound up with a confession of gods absolutely sweeping sovereignty nothing finally escapes the outer bounds of his sovereignty that is why he can be trusted but in Scripture that is always held in a certain kind of dynamic tension with the truth that human beings are responsible people to human accountability human responsibility does not jeopardize God's sovereignty and God's sovereignty is not threatened by human accountability I wish I had time to probe that more with you but those are Givens in Scripture they're just Givens and here it's spelled out explicitly when you are tempted do not question God's motives when you are challenged by trials do not misunderstand God's motives when you confess his sovereignty do not use that as a way of excusing your own moral accountability before God number three when you feel abandoned and crushed do not forget God's goodness verses 16 to 18 verse 16 is really transitional don't be deceived my dear brothers and sisters that is do not allow yourself to wallow in rebellious self-pity or in an accusing stance don't kid yourself be honest about things don't be deceived don't be duped don't you understand here's the point verse 17 every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows now I'm standing at this lectern there spotlights on me from up here they're more spotlights from back there and the result is that as I look around there are shadows just about everywhere there's a shadow of my head down there and another shadow of my head over there I hold up my hand here in my and has a shadow running in this direction as a shadow running in this direction as it's another shadow running in this direction these spotlights all all throw shadows of one sort or another you know it's just impossible in the physical world to avoid that so we have the Sun and and we get a lot of light during the daytime from the Sun and at night we don't get anything directly from the Sun but on the other hand some of it bounces off the moon and we get some light that way but but their shadows it's just it's just inevitable we can't think in any other term and if we think light is good and well then the shadows are bad but we have a God who is all light that's what the text says it's a remarkable image every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows and the physical world things do change and where the light is coming from what direction where the shadows are cast that changes but we're dealing with a God who is all light he's good he's good good good good good good good good he's not bad he's never been bad he never does anything bad he's only good his good is unqualified oh he sovereignly and mysteriously and providentially rules over a decaying rebellious world where there is an awful lot that is bad of course the Bible talks about God's sovereignty in these of areas in many many ways but but still he himself remains unqualifiedly good he cannot ever be anything other than good in that sense you see he's very different from the force in Star Wars in Star Wars there's this force but but whether it's the good side of the force of the back side of the force basically depends on me and whether I use the good side or the bad side but this god is his good good good good good good good he's all surrounding good he's good from any direction no shadows he's just good so that part of Christian confidence in God in the midst of trials even in trials that are hellish is to recognize that in the mystery of Providence God still remains good and you trust him and I know that can be so hard when you're surrounded by alligators in a swamp but you know the final proof that God is good the text tells us verse 18 he chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created now what is this birth some have thought this birth is natural birth he brought us to existence he gave us life so we owe him everything because we have life that is a true statement but it's not the point here no he gave us birth through the word of truth what does that mean now that expression the word of truth is found only five times in the New Testament and every every case it means the same thing the most explicit case is found in Ephesians 1:13 there we read and you also were included in Christ where when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in other words the word of truth in the New Testament is precisely the gospel so read this again he chose to give us birth through the gospel that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all that he created in other words he chose to give us what we would call new birth he chose to regenerate us through the gospel the final evidence that God is good is in fact the gospel the gospel of Jesus on the cross the gospel of Jesus resurrected the gospel of God by which through Christ he goes after a rebellious sinful people and constitutes and you humanity by the means of what his own son has done in our behalf we receive his righteousness he receives our guilt and cancels that he expiates it and turns aside his his father's wrath he propitiate his own father by God's own plan and design and he he not only gives us his holy spirit now as a downpayment of the promised inheritance but ultimately he gives us resurrection existence and absolute utter perfection and and glory still to come in a new heaven and a new earth the home of righteousness all of this comes about through the gospel he chose to give us this he didn't have to it wasn't that we earned it or he was just having a soft side that day he chooses to do this out of the counsel of his own perfect will he chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all of either of all that he created and as Paul argues in Romans he who did not spare his own son but freely gave him up for us all how shall he not also with him freely give us all things that's the argument so that even when you cannot see what God is doing and the pain is pretty awful and the dislocation hurtful and you feel lonely almost to the point of despair and the temptations are ganging up on you and you want to give in don't doubt God's goodness because the final proof of God's goodness is the gospel lay hold of the gospel go back to the cross think in terms of eternity meditate much on the character of God is displayed in the gospel did you see it's the gospel that transformed you and lastly when you hear gospel instruction do not merely listen to it when you hear gospel instruction do not merely listen to it verses 19 to 25 my dear brothers and sisters take note of this everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves now the first question to ask is what is this word sometimes I think we read verses 19 to 25 and cut them off from the rest of the chapter so that we don't see the flow we don't feel the power of the argument so the word merely is that now which tells you right from wrong and it tells you you're you're you're two-faced and you're you're a bit of a liar maybe it's the law and then in some sense if that's what the word is and so you look at in the mirror of the word of God and the Word of God tells you you're a bit two-faced and you're a bit arrogant and you're not very good and and you really can be prayer less than a bit cold-hearted and you don't love God with heart and soul and mind strengthen your neighbors yourself and and and this word comes to you and tells you who you really are and then you turn away from the mirror and just forget who you are not really all that bad you know I mean compared with some people in the church that I know I'm really not bad now there's some truth and that's what we do all right but I don't think that's what this passage is about at all because we have just come through a very tight argument that introduces us to the word of truth which is in the New Testament the gospel that's what it is and then the same expression word is picked up in verse 21 and in verse 22 therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted the gospel that's been planted in you which can save you do not merely listen to the gospel and so deceive yourselves what you say no wait wait wait a minute wait a minute you say accept the word planted in you if this is apparently being written to Christians the word planted you this gospel plant in you which can save you I thought you already were saved I thought that's what the gospel does in this case I thought that's what the gospel did so how can it speak of the gospel saving us now I think that's the whole point the gospel comes along and it's very holistic those of us from the reformed tradition rightly prized and cherish the importance of justification justification is that act of God by which God declares sinners to be just not on the basis of their own qualifications they're not just they're sinners but on the basis of Christ's justice Christ's righteousness becomes ours our guilt becomes his and he atones for it he pays for it he he expiates that he cancels it God declares us just not on the basis of our being just but on the basis of what Christ has done on the cross and we we glory in that and that is a huge part of salvation but it's not the only part of salvation that addresses the question of our guilt it addresses the challenge of how we need to be reconciled back to God we can't be reconciled back to God unless our guilt is dealt with but by itself that doesn't handle the question of the power we need to break the bands of cancel sin the power we need to overcome sin that that is borne along by the Spirit of God we are regenerated we are transformed we are born again the gospel in other words not only cancels sin in the forensic dimension it also empowers us and transforms us so that in the experience of life we actually do change direction and love holiness in a way that we never did before but then there are also relational dimensions so much of our sin is bound up with bad relationships with God in the first place but also with one another and so we are saved actually to belong to this community called the church we are incorporated into the church where we are to love one another as Christ also loved us and the salvation is not only for this world in some piecemeal sort of thing this this salvation is ultimately to perfect health resurrection existence transform life around the throne forever and ever and ever it's it's got an eschatological dimension it's bound up with the end this gospel is utterly transforming so that at various points in the history of the church we've tended to stress one dimension or another dimension at the time of the Reformation we very much stressed the forensic dimension and we and we spoke of justification at the time of the great evangelical awakening as it's called in Britain the evangelical awakening in America it's called the the Great Awakening at the time of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield and the Wesley brothers in Britain and so forth one of the great great themes of the preaching of George Whitfield who crossed the Atlantic thirteen times always by by sail and preached and preached and preached evangelistically in town after town after now one of his great themes was you must be born again you must be born again he preached on the necessity of the new birth more than he preached on justification and when he was asked on one occasion toward the end of his life after he had preached on John 3 something like three thousand times he was asked why do you keep on preaching again and again and again you must born again you must be born again preach you in another town was born again you must be born again then you go to another town you preach again you must be born again you must be born again why he says because you must be war to get men and that too is bound up with salvation do you see there is a possibility of sort of being doctrinally aware forensic substitution and all the rest and still not see that you must be born again but this gospel this word of truth comes to us and is able to save us that is not merely see that we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son though that is saving us not merely a pay for our sin though that is saving us not merely declaring us just before God though that is saving us but but but saving us from our ongoing sins our ongoing temptations are our ongoing weaknesses we're still not perfected but this gospel still comes to us in all of its dimensions it saves us it's able to save us that's what it does this gospel continues and works in us saving us in every dimension until finally on the last day we're saved completely and totally and we call that glorification salvation is a big category in the New Testament and what drives it and empowers it is the gospel but the New Testament writers on five occasions call the word of truth so now read these verses again understanding the flow from the proceeding my dear brothers and sisters take note of this everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry probably still understood in the context of trials and temptations it's when we're facing trials and temptations were most likely tempted to blow up speak intemperately become angry embittered no longer listening to anyone forgetting the human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires therefore get rid of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you the word that you've already received the word that is yours this gospel truth that has already transformed you that has already saved you and the accept this word which can save you now in the midst of your trials and temptations don't you see the argument is continuing you humbly accept this gospel truth this full orbed comprehensive gospel reality and you look to the God who is good who has proved his goodness supremely in the giving of his own dear son you accept this gospel truth and recognize that in a sovereignty can yet be trusted and there are Christian goals goals that only Christians can understand the desire to be mature to live with heavens glory still in view the crown of life that awaits those who love Him and you press on accepting the word of truth which is able to save you what that means of course is that you don't merely listen to the word you don't just hear another gospel sermon and think to yourself oh that's all for although all the blokes you're not yet converted I can to note on this one think about football tell me they listen to the word you're kidding yourself there is a sense of course in which you're if you're a Christian you're you're saying I know I know that your standing with God is established but there is a sense in which if you're a Christian you still need to be saved don't get yourself oh I know you're standing before God is already secured I know I'm not trying to jeopardize your salvation you don't know miss understand but don't deceive yourself either do what the gospel says do what the word says because the gospel holds up what we really are what we really need what God's answers are it holds up everything before us and we're driven back to the cross again and again and again and again that's what Christians do when they hear the word of truth they they are driven back to the gospel whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom that's another of James ways of referring to the gospel and continues in it not forgetting what they have heard but doing it they will be blessed in what they do so what's the difference between my two Englishmen which of the two Englishmen would you like to be like when you are struggling under trial remember the Christians goals when you confess called sovereignty Dunamis understand God's motives when you feel abandoned and crushed do not forget God's goodness and when you hear gospel instruction do not merely listen to it do it let us pray eternal wise good Heavenly Father we bow before you and confess how frequently we have been ready to follow the advice of job's wife and curse God and die but be we bow afresh before you this morning you know our lives through and through you know what burdens and temptations each of us is carrying we thank you for the demonstration of your love in so many avenues and venues across the pages of your most holy word and supremely in the gift of your son this gospel word of truth by which we are saved paid for by the blood of the master so help us we beg of you to remember the Christians goals not to impugn your motives but to trust your goodness and to return again and again and again to the cross we beg of you these mercies for Jesus sake amen

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Length: 51min 50sec (3110 seconds)

Published: Wed May 02 2012