Post by Char on Oct 24, 2008 17:14:05 GMT -6
ALL JOY IN ALL TRIALS Chs
JAMES 1:2-4
James call the converted among the twelve tribes his brethren.
Christianity has a great uniting power; it both discovers and creates relationships among the son of men.
James shows a true brotherly sympathy with believers in their trials, and this is a main part of Christian fellowship.
If we are not tempted ourselves at this moment, others are; let us remember them in our prayers; for in due time out turn will come, and we shall be put into the crucible.
James says, MY BRETHREN, COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN YE FALL INTO DIVERS TRIALS.
The whole tendency of our holy faith is to elevate and to encourage.
The message of the gospel is one of gladness, and were it universally received this world would be no longer a wildness, but would rejoice and blossom as the rose.
I. THE ESSENTIAL POINT WHICH IS ASSAILED BY TEMPTATION OR TRIAL.
It is your faith which is tried. It is supposed that you have that faith. you are not the people of God, you are not truly brethren unless you are believers. It is this faith of yours which is peculiarly obnoxious to Satan and the world which lieth in the wicked one. The hand of faith is against all evil, and all evil is against faith. He rages at faith because he sees therein his own defeat and the victory of grace. It is by our faith that we are saved, justified, and brought near to God, and therefore it is no marvel that it is attacked. Faith is the standard bearer, and the object of the enemy is to strike him down that the battle may be gained. It is by our faith that we live, we began to live by it, and we continue to live by it, for THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, hold fast.
Faith is the conquering principle; therefore it is Satan’s policy to slay it even as Pharaoh sought to kill the male children when Israel dwelt in Egypt.
Now, think of how faith is tried. According to the text we are said to fall into manifold temptations or into divers temptations–that is to say, we may expect very many and very different trouble. A man is ver apt to become unbelieving under affliction; that is a sin. He is apt to murmur against God under it. He is apt to put forth his hand to some ill way of escaping from his difficulty; and that would be sin. Hence we are taught to pray, LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION; because trial has in itself a measure of temptation and if it were not neutralized by abundant grace it would bear us toward’s sin. Our way is up the river; we have to s tem the current, and struggle against a flood which would readily bear us to destruction. The trial or temptation of each man is distinct from that of every other. Sometimes these divers trials derive great force from their seemingly surrounding us, and cutting off escape. James says, YE FALL INTO DIVERS TEMPTATIONS; like men who fall into a pit, and do not know how to get out or like soldiers who fall into an ambush.
II. THE INVALUABLE BLESSINGS WHICH IS GAINED BY THE TRIAL OF OUR FAITH.
The blessing gained is that, our faith is tried and proved.
The way of trying whether you are a good soldier is to go down to the battle; the way to try whither a ship is well built is not merely to order the surveyor to examine her, but to send her to sea; a storm will be the best test of her staunchness.
We need trials as a test as much as we need Divine truth as our food. A Christian cannot lie without the manna nor without the rod.
The two must go together-sanctified tribulations work the proof of our faith, and this is more precious than that of gold which perish, though it be tried by fire.
Now, when we are able to bear it without starting aside, the trial proves our sincerity. Next, it proves the truthfulness of our doctrinal belief. Next, your own faith in God is proved when you can cling to Him under temptation. Not only your sincerity, but the divinity of your faith is proved; for a faith that is never tried, how can you depend upon it.
I find it specially sweet to learn the great strength of the Lord in my own weakness. The Lord suits the help to the hindrance, and puts the plaster on the wound. In the very hour when it is needed the needed grace is given. Does not this tend to breed assurance of faith?
It is a splendid thing to be able to prove even to Satan the purity of your motives. That was the great gain of Job.
I reckon that the endurance of every imaginable suffering would be a small price to pay for a settled assurance, which would for ever prevent the possibility of doubt.
When you are tempted, COUNT IT ALL JOY that you are tried, because you will thus receive a proof of your love, a proof of your faith, a proof of your being the true born children of God.
III. THE PRICELESS VIRTUE WHICH IS PRODUCED BY TRIAL, NAMELY, PATIENCE; FOR THE PROOF OF YOUR FAITH WORKETH PATIENCE.
First he obtains a patience that accepts the trial as from God without a murmur.
The next kind of patience is when experience enables a man to bear ill-treatment, slander, and injury without resentment. He feels it keenly, but he bears it meekly.
The patience which God works in us by tribulation plus takes another form, namely, that of acting without undue haste. In proportion as we grow like the Lord Jesus we shall cast aside disturbance of mind and fury of spirit.
That is a grand kind of patience, woo, when we can wait without unbelief. Two little words are good for every Christian to learn and to practise-- pray and stay. Waiting on the Lord implies both praying and staying.
This patience also takes the shape of believing without wavering, in the very truth of strange providences and singular statements, and perhaps inward misgiving.
You look at the weather-beaten sailor, the man who is at home on the sea; he has a bronzed faces and mahogany-colored flesh, he looks as tough as heart of oak, and as hardy as if he were made of iron. He can go out to sea in any kind of weather; he has his sea legs on. He could not have become a hardy seamen by tarrying on shore.
IV. THE SPIRITUAL COMPLETENESS PROMOTED, THAT YE MAY BE PERFECT AND ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING.
Affliction by God’s grace make us all-round men, developing every spiritual faculty, and therefore they are our friends, our helpers, and should be welcomed with ALL JOY.
Afflictions find out our weak points, an this makes us attend to them.
A certain measure of sunlight is wanted to bring out the real flavor of fruits, and when a fruit has felt its measure of burning sun it developes a lusciousness which we all delight in.
So it is in men and women; a certain amount of trouble appears to be needful to create a certain sugar of graciousness in them, so that they may contain the rich, ripe juices of a gracious character.
Sanctified trials produce a chastened spirit.
Sanctified trouble has a gr eat tendency to breed sympathy, and sympathy is to the church as oil to machinery.
A man that has never suffered feels very awkward when he tries to sympathize with a tried child of God.
Those repeated blows from the rod make us feel for others who are smarting, and by degrees we are recognized as being the Lord’s anointed comforters made meet by temptation to help those who are tempted. I have found this true in my life.
Many times when I am praying for another I remember how God brought the same problem and it helps me to know about how to help this person. Have a good day. Love in Christ (Shepherd).
JAMES 1:2-4
James call the converted among the twelve tribes his brethren.
Christianity has a great uniting power; it both discovers and creates relationships among the son of men.
James shows a true brotherly sympathy with believers in their trials, and this is a main part of Christian fellowship.
If we are not tempted ourselves at this moment, others are; let us remember them in our prayers; for in due time out turn will come, and we shall be put into the crucible.
James says, MY BRETHREN, COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN YE FALL INTO DIVERS TRIALS.
The whole tendency of our holy faith is to elevate and to encourage.
The message of the gospel is one of gladness, and were it universally received this world would be no longer a wildness, but would rejoice and blossom as the rose.
I. THE ESSENTIAL POINT WHICH IS ASSAILED BY TEMPTATION OR TRIAL.
It is your faith which is tried. It is supposed that you have that faith. you are not the people of God, you are not truly brethren unless you are believers. It is this faith of yours which is peculiarly obnoxious to Satan and the world which lieth in the wicked one. The hand of faith is against all evil, and all evil is against faith. He rages at faith because he sees therein his own defeat and the victory of grace. It is by our faith that we are saved, justified, and brought near to God, and therefore it is no marvel that it is attacked. Faith is the standard bearer, and the object of the enemy is to strike him down that the battle may be gained. It is by our faith that we live, we began to live by it, and we continue to live by it, for THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, hold fast.
Faith is the conquering principle; therefore it is Satan’s policy to slay it even as Pharaoh sought to kill the male children when Israel dwelt in Egypt.
Now, think of how faith is tried. According to the text we are said to fall into manifold temptations or into divers temptations–that is to say, we may expect very many and very different trouble. A man is ver apt to become unbelieving under affliction; that is a sin. He is apt to murmur against God under it. He is apt to put forth his hand to some ill way of escaping from his difficulty; and that would be sin. Hence we are taught to pray, LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION; because trial has in itself a measure of temptation and if it were not neutralized by abundant grace it would bear us toward’s sin. Our way is up the river; we have to s tem the current, and struggle against a flood which would readily bear us to destruction. The trial or temptation of each man is distinct from that of every other. Sometimes these divers trials derive great force from their seemingly surrounding us, and cutting off escape. James says, YE FALL INTO DIVERS TEMPTATIONS; like men who fall into a pit, and do not know how to get out or like soldiers who fall into an ambush.
II. THE INVALUABLE BLESSINGS WHICH IS GAINED BY THE TRIAL OF OUR FAITH.
The blessing gained is that, our faith is tried and proved.
The way of trying whether you are a good soldier is to go down to the battle; the way to try whither a ship is well built is not merely to order the surveyor to examine her, but to send her to sea; a storm will be the best test of her staunchness.
We need trials as a test as much as we need Divine truth as our food. A Christian cannot lie without the manna nor without the rod.
The two must go together-sanctified tribulations work the proof of our faith, and this is more precious than that of gold which perish, though it be tried by fire.
Now, when we are able to bear it without starting aside, the trial proves our sincerity. Next, it proves the truthfulness of our doctrinal belief. Next, your own faith in God is proved when you can cling to Him under temptation. Not only your sincerity, but the divinity of your faith is proved; for a faith that is never tried, how can you depend upon it.
I find it specially sweet to learn the great strength of the Lord in my own weakness. The Lord suits the help to the hindrance, and puts the plaster on the wound. In the very hour when it is needed the needed grace is given. Does not this tend to breed assurance of faith?
It is a splendid thing to be able to prove even to Satan the purity of your motives. That was the great gain of Job.
I reckon that the endurance of every imaginable suffering would be a small price to pay for a settled assurance, which would for ever prevent the possibility of doubt.
When you are tempted, COUNT IT ALL JOY that you are tried, because you will thus receive a proof of your love, a proof of your faith, a proof of your being the true born children of God.
III. THE PRICELESS VIRTUE WHICH IS PRODUCED BY TRIAL, NAMELY, PATIENCE; FOR THE PROOF OF YOUR FAITH WORKETH PATIENCE.
First he obtains a patience that accepts the trial as from God without a murmur.
The next kind of patience is when experience enables a man to bear ill-treatment, slander, and injury without resentment. He feels it keenly, but he bears it meekly.
The patience which God works in us by tribulation plus takes another form, namely, that of acting without undue haste. In proportion as we grow like the Lord Jesus we shall cast aside disturbance of mind and fury of spirit.
That is a grand kind of patience, woo, when we can wait without unbelief. Two little words are good for every Christian to learn and to practise-- pray and stay. Waiting on the Lord implies both praying and staying.
This patience also takes the shape of believing without wavering, in the very truth of strange providences and singular statements, and perhaps inward misgiving.
You look at the weather-beaten sailor, the man who is at home on the sea; he has a bronzed faces and mahogany-colored flesh, he looks as tough as heart of oak, and as hardy as if he were made of iron. He can go out to sea in any kind of weather; he has his sea legs on. He could not have become a hardy seamen by tarrying on shore.
IV. THE SPIRITUAL COMPLETENESS PROMOTED, THAT YE MAY BE PERFECT AND ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING.
Affliction by God’s grace make us all-round men, developing every spiritual faculty, and therefore they are our friends, our helpers, and should be welcomed with ALL JOY.
Afflictions find out our weak points, an this makes us attend to them.
A certain measure of sunlight is wanted to bring out the real flavor of fruits, and when a fruit has felt its measure of burning sun it developes a lusciousness which we all delight in.
So it is in men and women; a certain amount of trouble appears to be needful to create a certain sugar of graciousness in them, so that they may contain the rich, ripe juices of a gracious character.
Sanctified trials produce a chastened spirit.
Sanctified trouble has a gr eat tendency to breed sympathy, and sympathy is to the church as oil to machinery.
A man that has never suffered feels very awkward when he tries to sympathize with a tried child of God.
Those repeated blows from the rod make us feel for others who are smarting, and by degrees we are recognized as being the Lord’s anointed comforters made meet by temptation to help those who are tempted. I have found this true in my life.
Many times when I am praying for another I remember how God brought the same problem and it helps me to know about how to help this person. Have a good day. Love in Christ (Shepherd).
