James 1:3 "When Faith Is Tested" - Steadfast Hope with Steven J. Lawson

well top of the morning to you you've tuned into steadfast hope thrilled that you could join us i'm steve lawson as always joined by my partner kent stainback and we're thrilled you've joined us we're coming to you from herb's house here in dallas texas we're about a block away from the bush presidential library you need to come and see us sometime be a part of one of these broadcasts but i'm excited to look into the word of god with you today it's a great great lesson we have it comes from the book of james james chapter 1 and we're going to look at one verse today verse 3. so the title of this is when faith is tested when faith is tested so i'm going to begin reading in verse 2 which we looked at last time verse 3 is our focus consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance ken what we learned from this is that god reserves the right to step into our lives at any moment and disrupt it i mean we're just going along uh everything is routine we're in cruise control it's a normal predictable day and then suddenly out of nowhere we're caught off guard it could be a phone call could be something in the mail we learn about a child we learn about health we learn about a business and god brings a trial into our life and it's like a storm that just blows in and it's totally unexpected and what we need to understand is what james is teaching us here it's all part of god's master plan for our lives nothing's out of control god could have prevented it from coming and many times god is the one who actually sends it and so the verse we're going to look at today verse 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance this this is what i want us to dig into so i want to look at it this way kent there are five key words in this one short verse five key words and i want us to look at each one of these five words the first word is knowing it's the first word in the verse knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance everything in the christian life begins with the mind it doesn't begin with the emotions and it doesn't even begin with the will everything begins with the mind and in order to have the joy that he talks about in verse two in the midst of trials we have to know something and this word no is a word that means experiential knowledge in other words it's it's not just book knowledge and it's not just uh the observation as you're a spectator in life looking at things no you've learned this by personal experience you've seen this to be true in your own life and so this speaks of first-hand knowledge and specifically it's knowledge that god has worked for good even through our most difficult trials i've certainly seen that in my own life kent i wouldn't be sitting at this desk with you and doing this study if it had not been for trials previous in my life to move me from point a to point b but more than that to mature me and to grow me to come to a point like this so surely as you look at your life you can look at trials that you have had and you know by personal experience that god has brought much good into your life from it so you've got to know that that's the first key word the second key word is testing it goes on to say knowing that the testing of your faith this word testing means to test something in order to prove it's genuineness and the only other place in the new testament this word is used is in first timothy 1 7 and talks about putting gold into the fire to test to see if it's genuine and to see if it's real and that's what god does in our lives he puts us into the fire of adversity puts us into the furnace of difficulties to test us to see everything that you've been learning as you've been studying the bible is has this really worked its way into your life has this become a part of of really of your walk with the lord and so there are times when god puts us into the fire like putting gold into a furnace to see is this genuine is this real have you been actually appropriating what you've been learning in your study of the bible so i don't know what's going on in your life right now but it may be that right now is a time in which god has put you into the fire and please understand it is a loving all-wise god who has done this and allowed this and it's like a pop quiz it's like a unexpected exam in school ken i remember one time when i was in seminary i was sitting in a greek class and i wasn't really prepared and the teacher announced we're having a pop quiz everybody get paper out and i was like oh my goodness i know i'm in trouble and then he decided not only for us to write it down but we would have to stand up in class and give the answer and i can see we're going down the row and my row is next so you know what i did i just got up and walked out of class yeah yeah and started coughing and pretending like i'm sick but we can't do that in life we can't just get up and walk out of a trial that god brings and so the idea is god is regularly testing us with a trial now the third key word is um the third key word is faith uh he goes on to say knowing that the testing of your faith that's what god is wanting to test your faith faith is so important in the christian life hebrews 11 verse 6 without faith it's impossible to please god did you hear that without faith it is impossible to please god uh for he who comes to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him you you cannot advance in the christian life without walking by faith we want everything to be worked out we want to be able to see it beforehand but that's just not the way the christian life works uh it's a series of steps of faith as we follow christ and so it is our faith that is so important to god our trust in in him our confidence in him our commitment to him our yielding to him and god brings these trials into our lives to test our faith and so let me ask you are you passing the test um and that's easy for me to ask and it's hard for me to live it in my own life but that's what god is about in your life now the fourth key word is produces [Music] knowing that the testing of your faith produces and this word produces in the original language literally means works to work something out to to accomplish something or to achieve something and what we need to understand is that god has a positive intent in testing us and it is to to produce something it's to work something into the fiber and fabric of our soul and so what is that what's the fifth and final key word is the word endurance how easy it is to start something and how hard it is to persevere in it and carry through with it all the way to the end and so the last word in verse 3 is endurance knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance now that's what god's about in your life he he is wanting to give you staying power in the christian life uh he is wanting to build up your spiritual stamina so that you don't weaken and so that you don't wilt in the midst of your christian life and the re the way he does that is to bring trials into our life which is like a heavy load which builds up our spiritual muscles i mean ken you know from athletics if you just sit on a sofa all day you're just going to be a couch potato you're going to be flabby and weak i mean you've got to have resistance with weights in order to build up your muscles well the same is true spiritually so god intentionally puts heavy weights on us if you will to build up our spiritual stamina and our strength to advance in the christian life this word endurance is a compound word in the original language and it literally means the root word means to bear and to bear like a weight and the prefix means under so you bear up under like you're under this stress this heavy load the trial brings but it's making us stronger in our walk with the lord it's strengthening our prayer life it is strengthening our our work of faith it's weaning us off of the world in all of its vain illusions it's causing us to to look unto jesus the author and perfecter of our faith i'm going to end with this one verse about how trials build up our endurance in the christian life it's romans 3 5 verse 3 romans 5 verse 3. paul writes the very same when he says we exalt and that idea is what he's saying here we're filled with joy in the midst of our trials we exult in our tribulations knowing there's our word that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance is the very same word in the original language that's used here in james 1 verse 2. so god has a purpose and god has a design for your spiritual life that as he allows or brings trials and tribulations into your life is to test your faith will you continue to walk with the lord and be strong and it builds up your endurance so that you can face bigger trials that will be coming your way so he who is faithful and little will be given authority over much and when we pass the small tests in life we're ready to face the larger trials so kent this is such a practical verse this is where we live our life yeah yeah it really is it really is and and we have a lot of questions and yeah and uh and i think you mentioned last or maybe yesterday about job maybe it wasn't yesterday yeah it was yesterday okay and and in job one the lord says to satan have you considered my servant job there's none like him on the earth and and we see and we know what job went through what about christians like me that just say i don't want to go through a trial like like how do you because really you know lord keep the hedge of protection up i don't want to be in a trial i'd rather not be in a trial how how should we face when we really don't want to go through a call from the doctor or a financial issue or an issue with our children how do we how do we fix that or what kind of mindset should we have yeah well i think job gives us the answer in job 1 21 at the end of that ordeal he lost his whole business he lost seven sons he lost three daughters he lost everything except his wife and job says said the lord gives and the lord takes away blessed be the name of the lord so everything that we have is a gift that's been given to us by god and god has given it to us and at any moment god can take it away whether it's health or finances or a business or whatever it is it's all come from god and god can recall it at any point and job responded blessed be the name of the lord and the last part of that verse says in all this job did not sin so he held everything with an open hand and so ken again i want to say it's easier to teach on this than it is to live this but you and i have just got to hold everything with an open hand yeah because if we've got a tight grip on it's going to hurt to have that pride open we have to hold it with an open hand and know that we're just stewards of what god has given to us even our children i received an email a text very very early this morning and it was to tell me that a good friend of mine his son just died yesterday while on campus at a christian school wow and and and he wrote an email to send out to everyone about the death of his son well that's that's where life's lived yeah that's very real and it's intended by god god has sovereign purposes far beyond what we can even understand to to bring about through our trials all right we've got a couple of questions here here's here's one from salem oregon and they want they want to know can you give a real life example in in your life of a trial that you've been through yeah are you kidding me uh just this bible study no i'm sorry just sitting here just sit here you can't i understand yeah and amy understands yeah so yeah of course um there would be any number just to pull one i mean i've been run out of a church it's very embarrassing it's very hurtful to have your wife and your four children in the car with you as you drive to church on the last sunday in which you're being put out and it's hurtful after you've preached and poured your life for eight years into a congregation and for them to reject you but god worked it for good again i wouldn't even be here if if that trial had not blown into my life and that trial deepened my roots in the lord it matured me it grew me up and so no earthly loss can ever be greater than a spiritual game so that would just be one um example um and that but that's just for my life and everyone listening there are incidences in your own life that you can think of uh think about the greatest trial that you've gone through and romans 8 28 and we know that god causes all things to work together for good to those who love god who are called according to his purpose and what is that good it's in the next verse verse 29 to be conformed into the image of jesus christ that's what god's about in our trials is to prune us and to purge us to trim us back so greater spiritual growth can come so thank you for that what's the well we've got a few more questions i don't know how much time we have but one here uh they've been diagnosed with uh an anxiety panic disorder yeah and and uh they want to know what do you suggest uh some pointers can be to make it easier to go through i guess any kind of physical uh difficulty that we sure that we face there certainly is a physiological element in something like this and so i don't discount that but deep down on the inside when you lift up the hood and look into the engine it's spiritual and i think of philippians 4 6 and 7 in which it says be anxious for nothing well that's an anxiety attack be anxious for nothing and in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made done unto god and the peace of god which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus so there just must be a continually casting our burden on the lord entrusting it to him just like when you go to the bank you deposit your money it's out of your hands now that's their responsibility to take care of it you don't get in the parking lot and worry about you know them taking care of your money they'll take care of it as long as in your pocket you might lose it or whatever and so in prayer we just deposit our trials with the lord we turn it over to him and they are so safe and secure in his hands and he knows exactly what to do and when to do it and that just eases the burden from our shoulder and that's something we have to probably do continually to because we have a tendency after we deposit it with the lord to come back and withdraw it and and take it back and put it in our pocket walk around with it and and be worried and we need to be coming back to the lord on a continual basis and casting our burden on the lord for he cares for you greatly first peter 5 about verse 8. all right one more question yeah sure ken for you follow us uh is what if we go through these trials and we don't and we're not getting answers while we're in these trials yeah i mean obviously it looked like job kind of got an answer but sometimes i guess the question is why are we why is the lord bringing this on me and and you don't and we don't have the answer we don't have an answer why and you want to know well that's that's why we have to walk by faith and not by sight sure uh if we knew why this was all happening that lessens the need for faith that's good um and even with job he didn't know what was going on behind the veil not while he was in it yet and here's the lesson ken job never knew why all he needed to know was who that's good referring to god that's great he just needed to know god that god is sovereign that god is all wise that's good and that god is loving that's great that's all you need to know and i actually think if god was to explain it to us it would be so incomprehensible it would be over our heads anyway okay so um in in some ways maybe it's a mercy of the lord that's good that he doesn't explain the whole thing because that'd be like trying to put the atlantic ocean into this little coffee cup i mean it's just not going to fit yeah so we could never understand it anyway that's why we walk by faith wherever you are in your christian life today no doubt trials come you may be in a trial right now i want to encourage you to put your trust in the lord and to know that the testing of your faith right now it's painful and it hurts but it is for a greater good which is to produce endurance in your spiritual life because god already has your future mapped out and there are greater mountains for you to climb and there are greater matters for you to tackle and this is a part of your training to prepare you for what lies ahead may god give you this steadfastness and patience and endurance god bless you as you walk through this time thanks for joining us [Music] do [Music] you

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Length: 22min 34sec (1354 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 04 2020