Amen. Again, our scripture is taken from the first chapter of the book of James, where we'll read verses 12 through 18. That's James chapter 1 beginning in verse 12. Blessed is the man who remained steadfast under trial, but when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Had no one say when he has tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is Lord and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my brothers, for every good gift and every perfect gift comes from, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. They God richly blessed both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. Last week from our text in James verses 8 through 11, James deviated from the subject of Christians enduring various trials, which he began in verse 2, down through verse 7 in particular or verse 8, but he deviated from the subject of Christians enduring various trials to take on a very important issue, and that is of Christian identity being tied to our union with Christ instead of our social or our economic status or any other cultural branding. It is important that we see ourselves not as being exalted for the wrong things or humiliated for the wrong things, but we see ourselves first and foremost as the children of God purchased by the blood of Christ. And so I thought that was a very important deviation. He wasn't addressing the issue of trials which he had beginning in verse 2 all the way down through verse 8, but as we look at our text this morning, you see that he returns to the very subject, the very theme that he had taken up in verses 2 through 8. And the theme there of course is Christians enduring trials. It can be boiled down to an issue or really an exhortation, it's actually twofold. The issues in exhortation and the essence of the exhortation is for Christians to persevere or to be steadfast in your trust in the sufficiency of the gospel during your trial and to be confident in the continuing love of God in spite of your trials. That's really the essence of his exhortation. Continue to persevere, continue to trust and to continue to be confident that God's love is for you in spite of the trials. And also in verses 2 through 8, he not only gives a word of exhortation, but he also gives a word of warning and the warning is against allowing the seasons of trial to bring about any series or any doubts concerning the sufficiency of what God is supplied in the gospel and doubt concerning God's love for us because of the trial. So the exhortation is to continue to trust the content of the gospel and to continue to trust and persevere in the knowledge of God's love in spite of the trial and the warning is to not allow the trial to make you think that somehow the gospel is insufficient for that. In other words that yes, I believe in the gospel, but for this I need something else. No, there is nothing else that you need. Everything is in the gospel and the trial, if we are not careful, can also cause us to question whether or not perhaps the trial is because of, because we have lost God's love, been disconnected from it, or somehow his favor is no longer upon us. For this reason in verse 5 and James 1, James admonishes that one should seek wisdom from God in the time of one's trials and he warns again against allowing trials to fuel doubt. So in verse 5, as at admonition, is that if anyone lets wisdom, let them ask of God but don't ask without. In other words, don't ask from the standpoint, don't seek from God that which will confirm something that can't be confirmed which is, in other words, don't ask thinking that, well, maybe I need something else. Maybe this is God's disfavor. No, he says, ask without wavering and there he delineates between those who persevere and those who actually give our unstable, which is the way he describes them as being unstable. So in our text this morning, in essence, what James does is he fleshes out these two concepts. These two concepts of either on the one hand, he confirms and he comforts those who have persevered or those who are persevering in their trials and on the other hand, he fleshes out his word of warning to those who are unstable in their trials. And basically what he is doing is returning to the fullness of what he has expounded in verses 2 through 8, but he's turning it up a notch and he's even making, he's addressing these issues with more altimacy, with more of a sense even of urgency. And so what I want to do is begin with his word of warning. In verse 13 he says, let no one say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. And it's herein that he gives a word of warning to those who may not have sought wisdom from God in their period of trial. Let no one say when he is tempted, they are being tempted by God. And there are three things that we'll look at in this morning. The first one is this. We need to be able to make a distinction between being tempted and being tested. There is a difference between being tested and being tempted. Testing is for the purpose of proving the quality or the value of something. And with this understanding in mind, we can say this, that God allows trials that we can be tested. So he does allow trials and in those trials he allows our faith to be tested. What is tested is sometimes our trust in him. So trials are allowed by God. And from those trials he tests us. But here's the problem. We can't say that he tempts us. Now in the sense of what we just explained what testing is, testing is the proving of something. It's a set of procedures that are put in place to prove the quality or the value of something. As proof of this, Peter, in 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7, puts it this way concerning trials that test us. Trials coming from God, being used as to test us. Peter puts it this way. In this you rejoice. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that tested. That is so that it is tested that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes. Though it is tested by fire, it may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So here's what Peter is saying. That our trials may be severe, but God uses those trials to test the genuineness of our faith. Not to see if we're faithful, but to prove to us that our faith is a genuine faith. To prove to us, not to prove to God. That's the point that Peter is making. That God uses various trials as severe as they may be in order to prove to us the genuineness of our faith, which he says, which is more precious than gold. So testing comes from God or trials are allowed by God as a means of testing the genuineness of our faith. But here's the second thing, and this is understood in a, there's a two-fold implication that's given in this warning. In this warning, there's a two-fold implication. The first one is this, that trials can sometimes put us in a position where it may seem like our only choice is to do that which we know to be against the word and will of God. Can sometimes put us or bring us to a place where we think that our only choice is to do something that is a violation of God's holy law. Now there's a non-Christian version of this that's called situational ethics. In other words, I would not ordinarily lie, but given the situation, it was necessary for me to do so. Now that's in the world. But here's what trials can do. Trials can prevent us with a set of circumstances where we try to sanctify situational ethics. Here's an example, Abraham takes his wife down to Egypt, and he finds out that he realizes that his wife is beautiful. And he assumes that if they see his wife and he was 10 years older than her, that they would take, and by the way, that's the volumes for Sarah's beauty because she was 90 years old and Abraham is so convinced that the king would want her that he would kill him in order to get her. So here's the situation. It is possible, and by the way, as the narrative plays out, it happens just as Abraham thought. The king does take Sarah because Abraham, in order to facilitate it, said that's not my wife, but she's my sister. And so again, here's the trial. The trial is to bring is in the situation where your life and your wife might be in danger, or your life may be in danger because of your wife. And here's what Abraham does. He says, well, we can resolve that. She's not my wife. She is my sister. So if he writes in his position, and the answer is no, his tribe, put him in a situation where he thought that he needed to do something outside of the will of God. So in that situation, he lies, and God brings conviction to him. And by the way, he made that mistake. He made that mistake not once, but twice. It's like someone was shot. They were in the situation saying, oh, well, he shot him. He says, yeah, he accidentally shot twice. Whoa, what an answer is it, right? Is there Abraham did this two times? Two times he was in a situation where he could have trusted God, but he didn't. Now, we don't know what the outcome would have been if he had messed up. No, she is my wife. But here's the point. Trials can sometimes put us in a position where it may seem like our only choice is to do what we know to be. The violation of God's holy law. Here's the be part of that. What is also implied here is not just that trials, because remember, James shifts his language from trials to tempting. And so, what is also implied here is that since God has allowed the trial, that he is also the source of the temptation. The trial is the challenge. The temptation is how to respond to the challenge. And sometimes the trial makes us think that our only way out is to do something in violation of the law of God. The other implication is this, that when we are presented with such a dilemma to blame God, because the trial has come from him to blame him for the temptation as well. I think the example of this one takes us all the way back to Genesis before Abraham to Adam. Remember when the Lord comes to Adam and he says, where are you? And he says, you know, he's asking, why are you covered? And he says, well, because the woman you gave me. Now, that is the safest cop out of her. Because on the one hand, Adam says, yeah, I'm naked. He says, how did you know you were naked? Because the woman you gave me. For two reasons. Two reasons I'm standing here naked. I'm here naked because you gave me a woman. Therefore, you are the cause. And because the woman herself. She's the one that's responsible. You see, what being implied here is that not only will trials put us in situations where our ethics and even we will sometimes go against what we know to be right. And with David and that she was that that the trial wasn't difficult in that he had physical pressures against him. He had pressures of pleasure. He said, well, you gave me eyes. The brothers and sisters, here's the point that sometimes in our trials, not only do we, we feel that we are forced to make a choice between doing the will of God and violating, going against what we would ordinarily do. You know, I don't ordinarily do this, but sometimes we think that our trial justifies us going beyond what God permits in his word. And then sometimes when we are tempted because we see as we see it no other way out, then we blame God because the trial has come from him that somehow we conflate our trial which comes from God for our testing. We conflate the trial with temptation and we make God responsible for that which tempts us. And it's for this reason that here's the third consideration here concerning this warning. When we do not seek wisdom from God in our trials, not only are we prone to misconceptions about God, but we are also prone to self-justification. And what James does is he makes it very clear that trials may come from the Lord, but never temptation. And what James does is he brings it down to us and hold in mind. We're not saying that as Christians, if you yield to temptation, that you've lost your salvation, but even though it's not your salvation that's on the line, but here's what is on the line. And here's what James is getting to the bottom of, that we do not have a right because of our trial and because we yielded to temptation to impune the very character of God. And so in our trials and in our moments of temptation, we have a tendency to not only blame God and have misconceptions about him, but we also have a tendency to downplay the impurity that is native to us. And what James does here is he says, no, no, this is not how it goes. He says, no, God doesn't tempt anyone. Look particularly in verses 14 and 15 where he makes it clear that God doesn't tempt anyone. He says, let no one when he is tempted, say that he has been tempted by God. And then in verse 14 he gives us reason. He says, but each person when he is tempted, when he is tempted, it is because he is Lord and enticed by his own desire. Sometimes when we are in the heat of battle, we have a tendency to overplay everyone else's part in it and downplay our own culpability and our own guilt. That's what Adam does in the garden. The question wasn't where the woman came from. The issue is not even what the woman said. The issue is, Adam, I told you, don't eat of this tree. That's what I told you. And something led you to go against what I said. And what caused you to go against what I said is not the woman that you are blaming and it's not me who gave her to you. The problem is within you. Brothers and sisters, when we do not seek the wisdom from God in our time of testing, then we are prone to over-exaggerate those moments where we feel that we must do what is wrong. We justify our efforts to go against the will of God. I know I shouldn't have said this, but I had no choice. Why did we have no choice to say, well, because of what was going on and you would do this? And we have a thousand and one ways in which we justify ourselves. You do the same thing, but the other person is not an issue here. So what James says is don't let anyone say when he's tempted, that he's tempted of God, but understand this, that man is tempted because he's lured and enticed by his own desire. It just says then that desire when it is conceived it gives birth to sin. And that sin when it's full-grown leads to death. And basically what James is saying, not saying that you will now because of your sin, you are lost, but what he's reminding them of is your actions. Your sin in your trial is because you acted according to your fallen dead nature. In other words, you were following the pattern of Adam. Here's again what James is making clear in this warning. There is a distinction between trials and testing or trials and temptation. God tests us, but he never tempts us. The twofold implication of this warning is that in our moment of trial we may reach a point where we think that we have no choice other than to do what's right. And when we follow the wisdom of the world instead of the wisdom that comes from God, then we find all sorts of ways to self-justify. And in this amazing we'll go to the most extreme examples, well I was hungry so I stole. Or I was poor so I sold drugs. Or you would do it too. I know I shouldn't have said what I said about so and so, but it was in the heat of the moment. No one is denying that, but understand where it comes from. The point that James is making is that's why you need wisdom. You need wisdom for your trial. Whether that trial is a family situation, whether that trial is a personal situation and brothers and sisters, whether that trial is a church situation that we can respond to it in the flesh. The more we stand in the flesh, the thought will be everyone else, other than us. And James, here's the warning. When you start pointing the finger away from you, ultimately you accuse God of tempting you. That's his warning here. That God tempts no one. Now, having considered James' words of warning to the unstable, that's the height of instability. To think that God who loves you and sent his son to save you and now to say that he's tempting you, that is the ultimate of instability. Self-justifying ourselves and so what James does now is I want to go back from his warning because this is what he does in verse 13, he goes through, he warns those who are unstable, be careful, be careful, be careful, that you don't use your season of trial as a means of hiding your sin. But then he offers a word of comfort and a word of confirmation to that person who actually perseveres in their faith in the gospel in spite of their trials. Now, as verse 13 is the beginning of the word of warning to the unstable person who is trying to navigate their way through the trials of life without seeking wisdom from God, then in verse 12 he begins his word of comfort and confirmation to those who continue to trust God in spite of the trials in their lives. The way that he describes him, it fits Jesus' words of the blessed person in his Beatitudes. It follows the pattern of blessings that we see in the Psalms and especially in Psalms, one blessed is the man. I'm so in verse 12, the word of comfort and the word of confirmation begins with he who remains steadfast under trial and I love the wording here, not will be blessed, but he who remains steadfast under trials is blessed. And I would argue that remaining steadfast under trial is itself a fruit of wisdom, the wisdom that we are to seek in our time of trial, the wisdom that we are to seek from God in our time of disturbance again whatever the source of the trial is to go to God. And God gives the ability to make application of the truth that he's given us in the gospel to the points that we have confirmation. He doesn't give new stuff, he gives new insight on the old gospel that he saved us with. And so even though in verse 12 he says that he will give a crown of life, the crown of life is not the reward for being steadfast, but the crown of life in essence is the reason for the steadfastness. Let's look at three things as it relates to what we receive or the word of confirmation that James gives to those who remain steadfast in their trust in the gospel and the sufficiency of the gospel in the face of their trials. Three things, first off, and let me put it this way. Those things that are on display are what is what is confirmed are the fruits of wisdom. So three aspects of wisdom in those who persevere under trial. First off, wisdom informs us that God is at work in our trial for good. In verse 17, he says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of light with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Now let me put it this way, he said, wait a minute, are you now saying that the trial is good? No, I'm saying what Paul says in Romans 828, that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. RC scroll puts it this way, he says that does not mean that only good things that everything that happens in the life of a believer is good. But what it does mean is that everything that happens in the life of a believer God uses it for good. There are bad things that can happen to us, horrible things that can happen to us, things that we experience whether it's loss or whether it's pain, whether it's frustration, whether it's betrayal, we experience any number of things but the things that we experience work together for our good. This is the way Paul expresses it in Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, he says therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through him, we have also attained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Brothers and sisters, wisdom tells us when we seek wisdom in our time of trial, wisdom doesn't always tell us what God is doing, wisdom doesn't always explain why the trial, but wisdom confirms to us that God is at work in the trial for our good. Here's the second thing, wisdom redirects us from our temporal circumstance to God's eternal purpose for us. And so when we seek the wisdom of God in our trials, what it means is not that we are unaware of what's going on, but we no longer just look at it from a temporal perspective, but we connect what is taking place temporarily. We interpret it through what God has eternally promised to us. Verse 18, he says of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth for this reason that we should be a kind of first fruit of his creatures. In other words, God has saved us for an eternal purpose and the trial can't change his purpose. Again, the words of Paul and second Corinthians chapter four, Paul and speaking of the greater weight of glory, he reminds us of this. I'll begin in verse seven, I'll begin reading yet in verse seven, it says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted on every way, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us or in our bodies. Now let me skip down to verse 18, or yet to verse 13. Since then, we have the same spirit of faith working according to what has been written, I believe, and so I spoke and so also believed and also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. But it is all for your sake so that as grace stands to more and more, extends to more and more people, it may also increase in Thanksgiving and glory to God. So we do not lose heart, though our outer man is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day, that for this light affliction, this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are not seen are eternal. The wisdom that God gives us in our season of trial enables us to not, it doesn't mean that our immediate circumstances are not difficult, but when God gives us wisdom in the midst of our trials, he allows us to see them not from the vantage point of the temporal, but to the eternal. See, I believe that's what the Hebrew boys in Daniel, I believe that was the perspective they had. They knew the trial was whether or not to bow, and by the way, if they had bowed out of fear, it would not have meant that they had lost their salvation, but they refused to bow. And then when they were faced with the possibility of being thrown into the furnace, they didn't see the furnace as the end of it. You know what fire, fire is hot and it burns, but here's what they realized, they didn't say, Lord, keep us from the flame. Here's what they did, they recognized that in this challenge, they had an opportunity to continue to trust God. And at worst, what could happen is that they would be burned, but if they were burned, they knew that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, but they also know that God is greater than the fire. And there was a possibility that he would even quench the flames, so therefore they tell the king when they give them the ultimatum either bow or get thrown in. They said, okay, here's what we know, that our God is able to deliver us from the flames, but if not, we still don't bow. Brothers and sisters, God gives wisdom to His people as we are in the midst of trials to redirect our focus from the fear of the immediate, even to that which is unseen and that which is eternal, but which has been secured for us by the blood of Christ. Abraham is another example on the flip side of this. Remember when the Lord told him to offer up his son, Isaac, and of course as we read it in the book of Genesis, we are told that Abraham, he was ready to do it, but he did not offer up his son. However, when we read the story in the book of Hebrews, we are told that Abraham by faith offered up his son, but the reason that he was willing to do it, even though we know the Lord stayed his hand, is because he believed in the resurrection. Here's what James says, the end of our salvation. God has saved us by His eternal Word. He didn't have to intervene in our lives, but He saved us to make us a first fruit of creation. In other words, we are visitors from another dimension. God has saved us for His eternal glory and His eternal purpose. The writer of James is telling us that wisdom allows us to lean in to what God has called us to be so that we are not afraid of the trial that we are surrounded by. What that brings us to a third and final thing here that James eludes to. Wisdom enhances the trustworthiness of God's promise. Wisdom, when we seek wisdom in the time of our trial, what it does is he doesn't give us new stuff, he just re-enances the trustworthiness of God's promise as the basis for all of our reasoning in verse 12. Here's what God has done. He says, the crown of life which God has promised those that love Him. And if we are in the midst of a trial and we know that we love the Lord, then He has promised a crown and in the midst of our trials, wisdom tells us that the trial cannot negate the crown. Because God's promise is secured by His blood, by the blood of His Son, and there is nothing that we can experience by way of trial or testing that will cost God to turn His back on His promise. He has promised us a crown of life for those that love Him. And so James is basically saying, as you go through your trial and if you feel like you are at Wisdom, if you feel like God, everything is crashing in on me, do you still love me? Ask God for wisdom and He will give you the knowledge of what He has given you in His Son. That will guide your affections in your thoughts even as you endure and rather than looking at what's going on, you will be reminded of what God has promised. And God's promises are greater than our trials. Brothers and sisters, don't let the trial bring out in you that which the Son has died for but let the trial bring to fruition what God has guaranteed by the blood of His Son. He has promised and there is nothing that can reverse what God has promised. And so as Peter says that what God is doing through your season of trial is proving the genuineness of your faith which is more precious than gold which perishes because what God has given us is imperishable. It's irreversible and it's tied to His holy character. God doesn't make you sin but in the season of trial God shows you the fact that there are trials is because of the reality of sin but His promise is greater than your sin and His promise is greater than your trial. Amen. Father, thank you so much for that word that we just heard Lord. Thank you that we can find strength in the power of your Holy Spirit to face our trials Lord and to see them as us being purified seven times in the fire. We thank you Lord for all that you've given us in Christ and His name we pray. Amen.