Trials and Suffering in the Christian Life

I am thrilled to have been here today. I very much appreciate what has been spoken on and taught today. I trust that what is to follow in conclusion today will be a help to some, if not all.

Let's read in James chapter 1 please. The book of James in the New Testament in chapter 1. James chapter 1, we'll begin our reading in verse 1. James 1 verse 1, James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations or trials, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, endurance, confidence.

But let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, lacking nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that give it to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.

For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice when he is exalted in the rich, in that he is made low.

Because as the flower of the grass, as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with the burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, trial. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. There is something today that is called the prosperity gospel.

There are vast stadiums and buildings that are filled with multitudes of people to hear men speak of ways whereby they can be prospered in this life. That the reason that a person would need the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is so that they don't have to be poor anymore. Because God wants you to enjoy a life of wealth, of prosperity.

And they will teach you that the work of the Lord Jesus Christ was enough to put away even our sicknesses, that the one who suffered on the cross bore our infirmities literally, and that there is no reason that any Christian should ever be sick. And there are multitudes of people that believe this nonsense. Now, as far as our soul salvation is concerned, we enjoy every spiritual blessing in Christ in heavenly places.

We've already heard that there is nothing better than knowing our sins forgiven and a relationship with the God of heaven. But you don't have to be a Christian very long, and you will find out that life is not perfect. Without difficulty, without problems, without sadness, without sorrow.

You see, the Lord Jesus Christ never promised a life of ease and prosperity to his disciples. He actually told them that in this world you will have tribulation. Paul gives similar teaching to Timothy.

He says, yea, in all that will or desire to live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. So the reality of the Christian life is this. We know that all is well with our soul.

We enjoy peace and security as far as eternity is concerned. But as far as our life here on earth, we can all but be guaranteed we will suffer. So that's what I would like to speak about briefly at the end of this day.

Sufferings in the life of a believer, trials in the life of a Christian. Something that might be difficult for some to understand. As even a man, Rabbi Harold Kushner, he wrote a book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, trying to wrap his mind around why the God of heaven would allow his son to to have a degenerative disease that would ultimately cause his death at an early age.

So maybe even as believers we would wrestle with these things. That God is a God that we have we have already heard about that loves that loves us in such a great way. How is it possible that he would allow then suffering, hardship, sickness, death in our lives? We've already heard a little bit that it might be the will of God for us.

And James would say it like this. He says, count it all joy when you come into different trials. That for the majority of people in this world, they couldn't understand how is it that a person could be actually could actually be joyous in a time of great difficulty.

But I just say this at the very outset, the difference between the believer and the joy that he knows that comes from God in this world, this world is searching for their happiness in the circumstances that they live in, the experiences that they can have, the places that they could go. Their happiness depends on their circumstances. But as far as a believer in the Lord Jesus, our joy does not depend on circumstances.

Our joy comes from God. He is the source and the Holy Spirit in his work in us. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy.

So James could write these words, count it all joy when you are coming to different trials. How is it that we can count it all joy as we come into trials? Verse three says knowing. So there has to be an understanding of God's purposes.

And maybe we do not understand everything that God has in mind and everything that God is doing in our lives. But to understand that there is a sovereign God in heaven who does everything first and foremost for his glory is a God that is working in our lives. I don't know if we have time, but just to give you a basis for that, John chapter 11, verse four, the sickness of Lazarus.

When Jesus heard that he was sick, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God may be glorified through it. You see, ultimately, God would allow things to come into our lives for his own glory and for the glory of his son. Now, we're not speaking about discipline for some sins that we commit.

Let it be between you and God and understanding that you have failed God in some way. And God is working to correct something in your life. We're speaking about things that God allows for our spiritual well-being, though difficulty, though difficult they might be for us.

We need to understand. As James says, knowing this, that there is a purpose for it, that the trying of your faith work as patience, that there's actually a purpose in allowing these things in our lives. And I take it simply this, that you and I as believers who have trusted God with the eternal well-being of our souls, we might trust God in the day-to-day things of our lives.

This is something we have to deal with. If you're an overseer, you understand that the lives of believers, there's so many different problems, issues that believers face. And to know how to help these people.

And to see people waver. People that profess and know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. And yet when difficulty comes along, it seems like they waver in their confidence in God.

And we remind them that if you have trusted God with the well-being of your soul, can you not trust God for the difficulties of this life? You see, God never allows trials in the lives of his people to drive us away, to destroy us or destroy our confidence in God. The trials that come our way are actually an exercise of our faith. Actually something that is given to make us stronger.

Just as a person would exercise in all the difficulty of exercise, it's not to make themselves weaker, it's to become stronger. And I think that's what God's purpose is this. Not to drive us away or to make us doubt the faithfulness, the goodness, the love of God, his care for us, but to prove to us that he is faithful, to prove to us that he is still a God of love, that he cares for us, that he wants the very best for us.

So trials and tribulation, the life of a believer. Please don't jump to the conclusion that it's because of some sin that has been committed. Maybe we are too quick to judge again, John chapter nine, rabbi, teacher, who sinned that this man, this man or his parents, that he was born blind.

That would be a tremendous trial to have a child that is born that is not well. And some of you know what that means. The joy of having a baby born, but then how sad it would be to discover he's blind.

You see, the people of the day, they would have been quick to find some fault in the parents. I don't know how they could find fault in the son. He's born blind, that's their mentality.

But the Lord Jesus says this, it's not because of sin. Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. So as difficult as it would have been for these people, these parents, to believe that God allowed their son to be born blind, maybe 30 or 40 years had gone by.

But all that time, God had a plan that the works of God should be revealed in him. You see, it wasn't just an accident. It was actually something that God had allowed that he might work for his glory.

Of course, we read here that the trial of our faith at works, patience, endurance, that our confidence in God might grow in a greater way. And James tells us, let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect. And we've heard that word already today, lacking nothing complete.

It says perfect, entire, wanting, lacking nothing. It's the same word in verse five that you lack. If any man lack wisdom, if you do not have.

God wants us to have everything, even though we lose things. Trials in our lives, they come in the form maybe of the loss of an income, a job. Maybe it's a loss of the crops in the field.

Maybe it's a loss of health, sickness, disease. Maybe it's the loss of a loved one. We say it's lost, but James tells us that it is for our completion that we lack nothing.

It's so difficult in our minds to understand this, but we cannot doubt that God is sovereign and that what God does is good. The psalmist tells us that thou art good. And now do us good.

Can I ask you a question? Can God do evil? Can God make mistakes? Can God be unjust? God is none of those things. Because God is good. Whatever God does is good.

Though from our point of view, maybe we do not understand what God's purposes are. Who is God? He is a creator. He is the healer.

The Lord Jesus Christ is time on earth. He proved this, that he is able to take away sickness and disease. And we pray that he would do these things in the lives of those who are sick.

But that might not be God's purpose. We understand that God is the one who takes away kings and the one who raises up kings. And yet we live in a world where there are dictators.

And there are wicked men who come to power and to rule and do all kinds of awful things. How is it that Chinese communists can kill 60 million of their own people? How is it that presidents can turn on their own countrymen? How is it that there can be war and conflicts and persecution against God's people? Is it not God who raises up men and takes them away? Is there not a sovereign God who has over all of these things? Maybe we don't understand God's purpose in all of it, but God knows his purpose for us in it. The trying of your faith works patience, that our confidence in God might grow, that our faith that we put in him for the salvation of our soul might be a reality of every day of our life, saved by faith unto faith, that we believe God and we rely on his goodness to us, that his love is unchanging, that his care for us is unfailing, that our prayers do not go unheard.

I so much enjoyed what was spoken on from Matthew, not only the fact that we have a heavenly father implying care, but we read that he loves and he sees and he hears and he gives. He is so good to us, though we are so undeserving. You think of Job in his life and the difficulty that came to him.

You read through the first chapter of the book of Job, and we get the picture of Satan speaking with God and really telling God, Job, if you take away what he has, he will not worship you, he will not fear you, he will not reverence you. We see the behind-the-scenes picture but in Job's life he knew nothing of it. The only thing that he knows is one day his flocks are taken away or dead and that his sons and daughters have all been killed and he has absolutely nothing left in this world but his life and his wife and his health for a while.

Job's mind, no doubt, he could have thought many things about God and God's carelessness, God hatred, that God did not love him, God did not care, but it doesn't say that because he knew who God was. He could fall down on his face and he could worship, he could humble himself before God, he could fast. Naked I came into this world, naked I am going to leave, blessed be the name of the Lord.

God is faithful, God is good, God is sovereign, God does everything for his own glory. What do we read here? We read of those who lack wisdom, let them ask of God. I pray in the days of difficulty and trial that we can ask God for wisdom in it, that he gives to all men liberally.

But we ought to ask in confidence, in faith, not wavering, not doubting God. We ought to have confidence even in the most difficult times. The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

It says in the man of low degree when he is exalted, let him rejoice. But it speaks about those who are rich, they pass through trial, they lose their riches, what of them? Well, they soon discover that riches aren't everything in this world. Verse 12 said, blessed is a man that endureth temptation trial, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.

Similar words we've already heard from first Peter today. In this you greatly rejoice in our inheritance that is reserved and corruptible in the heavens. Though now for a little while, if need be, that he be grieved by various trials.

Peter says that the genuineness of your faith being more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. You see, trials in the life of a believer are not to destroy our faith in God, but to prove the reality of our faith in God. You see, the Lord Jesus, he was also tempted, but it was not to see that he would fail.

He would not. He could not fail. But it's a proving of this fact that he had utmost confidence in his God, that he would not waver or move from the will of God for him in his life.

He was proven to be sinless. In our life, God does not destroy our faith by trial, but he seeks to reveal his genuineness. As difficult for us as it might be to understand, what God does is for God's glory.

Most of you likely know John chapter 11. The Lord Jesus is preaching, teaching. When the message comes, Lazarus, whom you love, is sick.

Did he have to be notified that Lazarus was sick? I think he knew that Lazarus was sick. We have loved ones who are sick. Does God know that they're sick? Does God care that they're sick? You see, the Lord Jesus not going to Bethany was not a sign of carelessness, not dropping everything and going.

This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. And I tell you that the Lord Jesus Christ had all things under control. And even though Lazarus's sisters, they come and say, if you had been here, if you had done something, this would never have happened.

Lazarus could have been healed. Even even the people of the day said he could have healed him so that he never would have died. Everybody knew that.

But that wasn't God's plan for Lazarus, was it? Because God had a purpose that would bring far more glory to his son than healing a man that was sick. The Lord Jesus was going to be glorified in raising a man who was dead. And as difficult as that would have been for Lazarus's family, the Lord Jesus Christ was glorified in it, in his power, in raising a man from the dead.

Do you not care? Yes, he cares. Do you not love? Yes, he loves. But his purpose was to be glorified even in death.

Through the resurrection of his own. Give you just another reason. We've already heard Hebrews chapter 10, you endure a great conflict of afflictions.

As you read in Philippians chapter three, sufferings on this earth. They bring us into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. We often pray that we would like to be Christ-like.

Do we really want to be Christ-like? To be Christ-like means to suffer. Paul says, it doesn't matter who I was in this life. All the things that I could boast in as a Jew, as a Pharisee, it's all worthless.

The only thing that I would like to know in this life, the only thing that I strive for is that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. You see, Paul, he wanted to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. And as his savior had suffered, he would suffer for righteousness sake, for the gospel sake.

And Paul, though he expected the return of the Lord Jesus Christ at any moment, he would have liked to have been like his savior in the fact that he died. Not just to pass through the experience of death, but he wanted to be like his savior in his resurrection. If we could say it, to experience what the savior experienced, to know what it is to be raised out from among the dead.

But Paul speaks of the fellowship of his sufferings. To suffer is to be Christ-like, is to give us a bit of understanding into what our savior suffered when he was here on earth. Brothers and sisters, this is a reality of our Christian experience.

God does not save us from sufferings on earth. He saved us from eternal suffering when he tells us that there is a purpose in it. We need to know, we need to understand that we might have greater confidence in our God, in his faithfulness, in his love, in his care for us.

As one trial would lead us into another, knowing that the purpose of God can be carried out in us, even in suffering.