How firm a foundation, ye saints, of the Lord is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you or someone you love is suffering today, and you need some encouragement that God is with you, that He loves you, that He has a plan for you, well, stay with us. This study in James is just for you. Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, welcoming you aboard the Bible bus as we continue our study in the very practical New Testament book of James. Now, one of the lessons that we learn today is that during times of testing and trial, we’re often tempted to ask, why God? And we’re reminded that God’s answer is always, trust me. Let’s listen now as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, tells us more in this introduction.
SPEAKER 01 :
The Bible bus, friends, is going through now the very practical book of James. And we are right down now where the rubber meets the road in our bus. And we are coming to some things that are going to be very practical. And actually, we’re going to find, especially in the study today, that the epistle of James is the answer to all of these how-to books. You know that today we are flooded with books telling you how to stay well, that God wants you well, He wants you prosperous, He wants you successful, and He wants you happy all the time, and He wants life to be a bed of roses for you, and that the Christian life is really something that’s great fun. Well, James is going to contradict that. He’s going to say that God’s going to test you. And God’s going to test you with maybe not letting you have enough money. He may test you and you won’t be well. He may test you and you won’t be successful. The fact of the matter is the epistle of James is so practical that many of us veer away from it today because we don’t want to hear James say some of the things that he says to us. But actually, the epistle of James can mean more to us and be more practical in our everyday lives than you could possibly imagine. And it reveals that you really don’t have to be a howling success in the business world or a social lion in the world of today in order to be a Christian, that you can be a very ordinary person live a very ordinary life, and God will test you with many things. And all of these he’s doing to develop you and to make you the kind of a person that he wants you to be. And friends, it should be a criminal offense today to give a person who’s been on a hospital bed for 15 years, a hospital bed of suffering, and give them a book that’s entitled, God Wants You Well, or How You Can Get Well, without actually seeing a doctor or anything like that. That type of thing today is very popular. We live in the day of easy believism and We today want it very nice and comfortable in this affluent society that we’re living in. And the pulpit today is appealing to that which is in the old nature that we’ve got and not challenging people today that God is using this life down here, not as a bed of roses, but as a testing ground for us and that that is the primary purpose of it. My friends, if you are having difficulty finding that peace of mind today and that you feel like the Lord ought to treat you as a special person, that you happen to be his favorite child, well, forget it. And let’s go through the epistle of James and let him tell you. Let him tell you how you can be happy in this life, even if you are on a bed of pain and sickness.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s not easy to hear, is it? But what an important message. Before we jump into our study, I want to show this quick letter from Anna in Brooklyn, who writes about what she has learned about God’s purpose in her suffering. She says, I’ve been ill for the past several years, so I’m mostly at home. Of course, this means more time in God’s Word and listening on the radio. The Lord has strange and sometimes painful ways of drawing us closer to Him. And wouldn’t you know, Dr. McGee always has the message I need on the days of fear and sometimes even despair. However, the comfort of the Lord comes to me each day. So I rely on Through the Bible for each day’s need and the assurance of His love, compassion, and comfort. Well, thanks, Anna. Thanks for writing and for your honesty and encouragement. God is with you. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, use your word today to comfort and strengthen and encourage those who are in times of testing. Thank you, Lord, for the way that we can know you deeper. We can know you more intimately, and we can cling to you for life and hope. Lord, lead us now through your word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. We’re off to James 1 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, friends, we are in this first chapter of James. I hope you have turned to it now. And in this very first chapter, we have set before us the test of faith. And we have seen here that we have a verification of genuine faith here in these first three chapters. And God tests faith by trials in the first 12 verses. And we are in that section, and trust we’ll finish that today. I have likened this to a university. We said at the beginning that James is very much like Proverbs, and Proverbs very much like James. We saw that yesterday when he made the statement, “…a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” That means undecided man. It means a man that can’t make up his mind. He’s unstable in all of his ways. The one that is changeable, that’s the yo-yo Christian. Well, we said when we began the book of Proverbs that it was like a young man getting ready to enter school, and he gets a catalog from the different universities, and one comes from the University of Wisdom. Well, here again, we have a school, and it’s called here the School of Hard Knocks. And it’s the university that most of us are in today. And God wants to bring those that are his own into full-grown Christians. And he has a great deal of tests to go through, certain entrance examinations, because God tests all of his children to see whether they’re genuine, whether it’s reality. He wants to weed out the counterfeit, the phony, the pseudo-saint. And then he wants to give assurance to the child of God. Now, trials are actually not a proof that you’re not a child of God, but they’re proof positive, of your faith. Believe me, if you’re not having a little trouble today, why, I’d question your salvation. You’re having trouble, then that’s a good test. And he says that you can know, you remember, and I want to emphasize that again, knowing this, that the testing of your faith. Now, God will test it in many different ways. And he does it in order, we’re told here, that the testing of your faith will work patience in your life. In other words, God has a goal to be worked out. And that goal that’s mentioned here, there are many others, is patience in your life. He not only wants to give you proof that you’re a genuine child of his, but he also wants to produce patience in our lives. And there’s been so much written on this particular subject, by the way. Old William Penn, is the one that the state of Pennsylvania gets its name from. He made this statement, no pain, no palm, no thorn, no throne, no gall, no glory, no cross, no crown. And an anonymous writer said this, if all were easy, if all were bright, where would the cross be? Where would the fight? But in the hard place, God gives to you chances for proving what he can do. And that’s been put in many different ways. Someone else put it like this. If I must carry a burden, Christ will carry me. Sometimes we must be laid low before we look high. In ourselves, we are weak, even where we are strong. In Christ, we are strong, even where we are weak. It’s not how long you’ll live, but how you’re going to live. That’s the important thing. A great many people, therefore, wonder, why in the world must I endure this? I got a letter several years ago from a man down in Long Beach, California, And this is what he wrote. He said, I have a wife who’s been sick for the past 20 years and has been paralyzed for the last 10 years with Parkinson’s disease. There’s no hope of her ever leaving the hospital. How can a loving father make a person suffer and linger as she has? And I know that she loves the Lord. Now, this man was genuinely concerned, by the way, And he didn’t have any answer for his problem. You can be sure of that. But the interesting thing is, I didn’t either. I couldn’t tell him why. But I could say this, that there was a purpose in it. and that God was working out something in her life. And we’re going, I think, to see that now as I move down here to verse 12. That’s where we left off last time at verse 11, and I pick up at verse 12. “‘Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.'” Now, that is, again, the same word that we had before that was translated “‘testing.'” Or it’s called trying. In our King James here, I’m using the New Schofield, and I think they’ve made a very nice distinction here. Diver’s temptations or testing or temptation is a good word, if you understand it in a good sense, as we’re going to see. If not today, we will see it next time. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. For when he’s tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” Now, this is God’s method of developing you and me in the Christian faith. This is the way that he’s going to enable us to grow. And he wants to produce patience in our lives. We’ve already seen that. But now he has something for the future. This matter of testing presents a program for the future. Testing of any sort, I don’t care what it is, especially though if it’s severe, a calamity or tragedy, it has a tendency of producing a miasma of pessimism and hopelessness. And that was the case of this letter that I read. I don’t blame that man for feeling like that at all. Why? But God was doing it for a very definite reason. He had a purpose in it all. Now, the man of the world will sink beneath the waves of adversity. Even life at its best makes him pessimistic. How many pessimists there are today? How many cynics are there today? How many that are filled with bitterness and that have everything? We’ve seen an epidemic of suicides. among teenagers in the past few years. We see them dropping out of society. And today there are thousands of young people that have dropped out of society. And why? Well, they have no goal in life. The commentator during that period when it was at its worst, And he was one of the sensible ones, probably I should say one of the few sensible ones, said that back during the Depression, people had a will to live and there was very few suicides. But today, everything that’s been given to them, they want to die. Now, when faith is tested and surrounded by darkness and the waves are rolling high and all seems lost, the child of God knows that this is not the end. It may be gloom now, but glory later on. The psalmist says, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And now he says here that he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. And I have noticed that people that suffer a great deal have been brought into a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s been expressed like this. So much has been written on this. And let me read this. Is there no other way, O God, except through sorrow, pain, and loss, to stamp Christ’s likeness on my soul no other way except the cross? And then a voice stills all my soul as still the waves of Galilee. Canst thou not bear the furnished heat if midst the flames I walk with thee? I bore the cross. I know its weight. I drank the cup I hold for thee. Canst thou not follow where I lead? I’ll give thee strength. Lean hard on me. You see, it brings an individual into a loving relationship with Christ. and causes him to look forward to that day when he’s going to be brought in his presence and he has something, very frankly, friends, to look forward to. The fact that the Lord Jesus is going to give him a crown of life. Now, let’s look at that for just a moment. What is a crown of life? Well, there are many crowns that are mentioned in the Scripture that are given as rewards to believers. It’s not salvation, but a crown represents a reward. It’s something that is given to an individual. We had an unknown boy in California. That won, what, five or six gold medals at the Olympics in Germany? I understand he has a movie contract and all of that. Well, Christian friend, he has a reward for those that will endure down here. He says they’ll receive a crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. And that is what the testing does. It’ll either drive you to the Lord or drive you away from him. So many Christians become better. And my friend, it’s not going to be a pleasant experience someday to come in the presence of Christ, of letting the very thing that a loving Heavenly Father was doing to you to develop your character and to bring you into a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So that today, these things are happening. But there’s going to be a crown of life. Now, somebody says, what is a crown of life? I don’t know what a crown of life is. I’ve never seen one. And I’ve read a great deal on these crowns. I sometimes wonder where some of the writers get all their information. But let me give you just my very simple interpretation of what I think the crown of life is. We have found out that there are different kinds of punishment for the lost. Some will receive so many stripes. Some others will receive more stripes. There are degrees of punishments. for the lost. There are degrees of rewards to believers. I do not expect to receive the reward that a man like Paul the Apostle or Martin Luther, John Wesley received. I don’t expect to receive a reward like they will. But I do hope that I can come in for something. And I’m very much interested about that. And I think a crown of life is that which brings you into a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus than anything else possibly could be. You remember in Revelation, he talks about he’s going to give a stone to each one with a name written on it. And we have assumed that that means he’s going to give to each one of us a new name. And I hate to ruin a good number that a quartet sings today, They’re saying there’s a new name written down in glory. Well, may I say that it’s not the new name that’s your name that’s written down in glory. You’ve been given a new nature. But as best I can tell, the new name there means that he’s going to give you a stone on which there is a name written of Christ that applies to you. For you, he means something a little special than he’ll mean to somebody else. In other words, the Lord Jesus means something to you that he does not mean to me. And he means something to me that he does not mean to you. I can remember a time in my life as a young fellow that I stood at the crossroads at a conference deciding whether I’d go into ministry or not, or I’d continue to follow a life really a sin. And there was a girl at that conference that I tell you I was very much interested in. And she was not really what you’d call conference material by any means. And I never shall forget that night, yonder in middle Tennessee, crawling up and under a water maple with its leaves just thick. And in the shade there, because the moon was shining bright, I got out on my face that night and told the Lord Jesus that I needed his help and strength to make a decision. Now, he means something to me, I’m sure, that he does not mean to you. You probably have another precious moment in your life, and that new name is going to be that. And I think the crown of life means that you’re going to have a degree of life in heaven that that somebody else will not have. There are a lot of folk that have gone through this world and have done nothing for God. Thank God there’s one thief there on the cross that turned to Christ, but I can’t imagine him getting very much of a reward. And when I put him down to a man like Paul the Apostle, and I can imagine what it’s going to be someday when Paul comes up there. Just think what it’s going to be, a crown of life. And Paul was very much interested in it. And James is interested in it here, too, by the way, that there’ll be a crown of life. And you can’t receive that crown of life until you’ve been out on the race course of life today. And if you forgive me, get right down where the nitty-gritty is, right down where the rubber meets the road, right down there where life is being lived out. And my friend, if you can live for God down there, he’s got a crown of life for you someday. And that’s something to look forward to, by the way. Always think of that deacon. He got up at a testimony meeting. They were being asked for their favorite verses. He got up and says, my favorite verse says, it came to pass. And the minister looked in amazement. And the people were puzzled. And finally, the pastor said to him, says, brother, so and so, what do you mean when you say it came to pass? Well, he says, when I have trouble and I have trials, he says, I just go to the Lord and praise him and say, I thank you, Lord. It came to pass. It didn’t come to stay. Thank God for that, friends. And I don’t know a better way of putting it than that. Your trouble hasn’t come to stay. And he used the same argument in warning the rich here. You’re like the grass, the flower of the grass. It may look pretty for you today. Life may be beautiful for you. And you may have a good day. But my friend, the flower is withering. And your riches won’t deliver you. someday you will stand before Jesus Christ. Every human being is to stand before him, some at the great white throne. But thank God there’ll be a group called the church to go before him beforehand to the Bema of Christ to see whether they receive a crown of life. Don’t know about you? I’d like to have that crown. And he offers that crown to those. Now we’re going to move on. And we come to the next major division here, and God does not test faith with evil. Now, that’s what we’re going to talk about next time, because blessed is the man that endureth temptation. Now, a great many people like to say, well, the Lord tested me. Friends, when it wasn’t the Lord testing you at all, And James is going to make it very clear, in fact, abundantly clear. And listen to him now at verse 13. Let no man say when he’s tempted, I’m tempted of God. Now, this is temptation to do evil. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. Now, God couldn’t be tempted with evil. And I’m going to bring up a theological viewpoint next time, and some of you are going to disagree with me, and that’ll be perfectly all right. But though James is practical, he deals with something here I think that many of God’s children need to understand today. Because we blame God for a great many things that actually he’s not responsible for in our lives. And so we’re going to hold that over till next time. And until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 03 :
Several years ago, a listener named Jack sent this note after listening to our study in James. When I went through testing, I learned to trust in God’s strong arms, that even my suffering is under his control. I’m not doomed in meaninglessness. A loving purpose is behind it all and a great tenderness even in the fierceness of the trial. Wow. You know, only God could show you that, Jack. So thanks for your perfect conclusion to today’s study. Well, I sure hope this encouragement from Scripture and from other saints gives you hope as you persevere on the race course of life. As Dr. McGee said, If you or maybe someone you care about is being tested, God’s Word is a terrific resource of comfort. To share this study in James, you can have them download our app or visit TTB.org. And if they speak another language, let them know that our app is available in a growing list of languages. You can find them all at TTB.bible. Now, one more resource that may be helpful is Dr. McGee’s booklet on James 1 titled Tested and True, Lessons on Faith from God’s Classroom. In it, Dr. McGee shares valuable lessons on living the Christian life, all revolving around one important theme, faith. Download your free copy at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you locate it.
SPEAKER 02 :
All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m Steve Schwetz, and for all of us here at Through the Bible, we’re praying God’s peace, mercy, and joy are yours as you walk with Him.
