Patient Perseverance in Trials

Now, this morning James is going to take us back to a familiar theme. What I mean by a familiar theme, he's going to bring us back to the subject of trials, the subject of troubles, the subject of persecutions. Now we will remember how in chapter 1 we got into the subject, we had the theme of perseverance and trials, persevering in trials. James chapter 1 verse 12 reads, "Blessed or happy is the man who is patient under trial, perseveres under trial." The amplified version says it like this, blessed, and then in parentheses it has, "Happy to be envied is the man who is patient under trial." I like that.

But if you remember, we had three messages on trials. We had triumph through trials, part 1, our faith is tested, and then triumph through trials, part 2, wisdom is needed, and then part 3 was trust in God. Now I would encourage you to go back and listen to those messages, study those notes, have those truths embedded deep into your heart because for some of us it will answer questions about what we have faced in the past, maybe what we are facing now. I remember when I went through those three messages, I really had a heightened sensitivity to the fact that many of you needed to hear those messages.

One of the people in the life of the church came up to me and they were casual and they were quiet, but they were oh so serious and they said, "I know what my trial is." What the messages had done, they had answered questions and equipped them to be able to face what they were struggling with in their life at that particular time. Now what is James doing here in revisiting this thing? Is he being repetitive for a reason? This is what was needed. These Christians here in the life of these churches, this is what they needed. Now notice that they were facing obvious struggles, these Christians.

Remember they had fled Jerusalem because of the persecution. We know of the persecution in Acts chapter 12. They were kind of huddled up in the headquarters in Jerusalem. Persecution had broken out and when they fled, they fled persecution and they spread the gospel. They spread the good news. They evangelized, but these were the Jews that were scattered and James is writing to them. But now that we are nearing the end of the book, you can see that there were other struggles as well. In Wednesday night I talked about how we have outside persecution, outside struggles, but we also have inside persecution, inside struggles.

Some of what we've learned is they were facing struggles in the church as well. Just a quick review, they faced trials we saw in chapter 1. They were supposed to be doers of the word we saw in chapter 1. Evidently some of them were not doers of the word. They had a profession of faith, but it didn't mean anything. We saw that in chapter 2 there were some that they showed favoritism. Favoritism was a big, big issue. They were neglecting the poor. That was an issue in the church. We saw in chapter 2 that there was an issue of works. There was an issue of some who said that they professed Christ, but they did not have Christian works.

They demonstrated faith, demonic faith, and demonstrated faith. Chapter 3 we saw that there was an issue with the tongue. Some of the Christians or people in the life of the church were using their tongue to judge others in the life of the church. Then we had five messages on conflict within the church. Then chapter 5 we had the rebuke to the unrighteous rich. What am I showing you? There were problems in the church as well. It wasn't just persecution out of the church. There was persecution from without, but there were problems that were within.

What James is doing is he's going back to this familiar theme, back to this subject of dealing with trials, dealing with persecutions. How important is it for us to deal with trials, deal with persecution? For us, we have an American mindset. We might say, "Yeah, trials, I'll take it, but persecution? No, I'm an American." We need it because we need this to undo our mindset. I'm afraid that we think that we are insulated. We are set apart from many of the things that we look at in the scriptures and many of the things that we hear about going on in the life of the church around the world. We're not insulated from those things.

We are not set up high on a shelf to be insulated from struggles and trials and persecutions because they just might be on our doorstep. As a matter of fact, Jesus said an entirely different thing. This is very anti-American in our mindset. John 16, verse 33, he says, "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have," what? "Tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world." He's addressing that to all Christians. We will face trials and tribulations. See, it's an added layer now because after we've gotten through the book almost, we see they've got troubles within.

See, for you, for me, for us, we might face persecutions and trials and struggles outside of the four walls of the church, but there could come a day when we face trials and persecutions and struggles in the church. That's what Paul said to the Ephesians when he got ready to leave them. He said wolves will rise up among you from within you and that day can come here as well. Now the title of the message this morning is patient perseverance in trials. Patient perseverance in trials. We're going to be in verses 7 through 11 and you'll see on the screen that we have two main truths that we're going to explore this morning.

We'll cover a little more scripture than we sometimes do, but it's very obvious, it's very simplistic, but yet it is very, very needed for us today. Let's look at verses 7 through 11 together and let's see what James has to say to these churches. He says, "Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold the farmer, he waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and the late rains. You too be patient. Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brethren, against one another that you yourselves may not be judged.

Behold the judge is standing right at the door." Verse 10, "As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealing that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful." Now, you see on the screen that we've got two main truths that we're going to look at this morning. First of all, number one, he tells us to wait on the Lord and then number two, he says to learn from the examples. We're going to look at main truth number one, wait on the Lord verses 7 through 9.

I want you to notice going back to the text, what does he say? Be patient therefore, brethren. This is addressed to Christians. This is obvious. Then he goes on down to verse 8. He says, "You too be patient." In other words, there are two times he uses this word patient and he says, "Strengthen your hearts." And he goes on to say, "For the Lord, the coming of the Lord, it is right at hand." So he's writing to Christians and he's writing some encouragement and he's writing for them to do some things in dealing with trial and persecution. So if you're taking notes, I want you to jot some of this information down.

First, I want you to notice how do we wait? Notice how do we wait? This is very important for us to explore this question because waiting is one thing, but waiting correctly is an entirely different subject. But James answers that question, how do we wait in the scripture? Notice what he says, we must be patient. Look at verse 7, be patient. And then look at verse 8, he says, "You too be patient." Two times he says, we must wait, but we must wait patiently. Now all of the different translations that I refer to, they use the same word and that word is patient.

Now I like to refer to the King James because some of you use it, the New American Standard, the English Standard version. Occasionally I will go out and get one of the more modern or easier to read translations, but all of the translations use the word patient. But in the original, I want you to see that this word patient, verse 7 and verse 8, it is a compound word. Now a compound word is when two words are brought together. It is a compound word, two words, the word long, and the word anger, James brought them together. Literally, it can read long angered. We would translate it like this, to be long tempered.

You see this word refers to being patient, now listen, with people. It means to be patient with people. Now earlier in chapter 1, verses 3 through 4, James uses the word endurance. And this word endurance primarily deals with circumstances. But now this word long angered, long tempered, it primarily deals with people. So with that in mind, go back to the verse. He says, "Be patient therefore brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold," he gives an example here, "the farmer he waits patiently for what? The early and the late reigns.

You too be patient, strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand." He's dealing primarily with the relationships with other people. He's saying, "You be patient. You be long suffering with men." So with this how do we wait? I want you to see, he says, "We must be strengthened." He says, "We must be patient." And now he says, "We must be strengthened." Go back to verse 8, "You too be patient." Notice what he says, "Strengthen your hearts." Now the new international version says, "Stand firm." The English standard and the King James says, "To establish your hearts." Now this word means to establish one's heart, to strengthen one's heart.

Now this is the exact same word that Jesus uses in Luke chapter 9 verse 51. You don't have to turn there, but I want you to listen to what it says about the Lord in Luke chapter 9 verse 51. It says, "It came about when the days were approaching for his ascension that he," listen, "Absolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem." What does that mean? Even though Jesus knew that he was going to be murdered, he was going to be put on the cross, he was going to give his life, he was going to be treated the way he was, he was going to be arrested, even though he knew in his heart what was going to take place. What does it say? He set it in his mind.

He strengthened his heart. He established it in his heart that no matter what, he was going to go to Jerusalem. Think about it like this. How many times did Jesus say to the disciples, "I'm going to Jerusalem, I'm going to die, I'm going to the cross," but yet how many times did he not get it? As a matter of fact, one time Peter rebuked him for that, did he not? And what did he say to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan"? What is that a picture of? Christ had strengthened his heart to do the will of the Father. That's what he did in the garden. What did he do?

He looked at that bitter cup as it was coming his way and he said, "May this cup pass by me," but yet immediately he said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but your will." What is that? That is a strengthening of the heart. That is an establishing one's heart for what? For one purpose. Let's see. That's what James is saying right here. He's saying, "Listen, you wait on the Lord, you wait on the Lord," but he says, "But you got to wait patiently." Listen, you got to be patient with others around you.

You got to not only endure circumstances, but you've got to endure patiently with other people within the life of the church, those problem people, these people we've been talking about in chapters one through four. And what does he say, "But you strengthen that heart." So we've seen first, how do we wait? Now I want you to see what do we wait on. What do we wait on? Go back to verses seven through eight. "Be patient therefore brethren," notice, "till the coming of the Lord." Then he gives us this former example. Verse eight, "You too be patient, strengthen your heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." What do we see here?

What we are waiting on. And I want you to notice, we are waiting on his return. Verse seven, verse eight, and verse nine deal with the second coming, the coming of the Lord. Now we've already talked about this. They were living in the last days just like we are. Today is the day of grace. James' day was the day of grace. You know, I've heard people say, "Well, preachers have always said we've been living in the last days." Well, that's true. Because the last days are the days between Christ's first coming and his second coming. These are the days of grace. And they were yearning and waiting on the coming of the Lord like we should be.

And three times he deals with this coming of the Lord. James is referring, he refers three times, and listen, over 500 times in the entire Bible, this truth is mentioned. So what are we waiting on? He says, "You're waiting on the coming of the Lord." Also they were waiting on the judgment. Look at verse eight and nine. "You too be patient, strengthen your heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brethren, against one another." See this was that patience with one another, but he says that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the right hand of the door. What is he talking about?

He's talking about the judgment, and we are waiting not only on the coming of the Lord, but we're waiting on the judgment. See James is using the judgment as motivation. He's using the judgment to motivate them that they would behave properly. What is he saying? Listen, you need to take heed to what I'm saying, because the Lord's coming, we're yearning for the Lord to come, and one day we will stand in judgment for how we have reacted to the circumstances that we're in. That's motivation. James is revealing a temptation here, because listen, right here, what does it say? He says, go back to the verse, verse eight.

"Do not complain against the brother." What is that talking about? There is a temptation for them to grumble against each other, to complain against each other. Remember, they're supposed to be patient with each other. And there's the temptation to grumble, to complain. It literally means in the original language to groan within oneself. This was an attitude of impatience. This was an attitude of impatience and acting out against each other. Now, what do we see? This main truth, wait on the Lord. How do we wait? We wait patiently. We strengthen our heart.

We have a resolute strengthening in our mind and our heart that we were going to wait on the Lord. We wait on His return, but we know that we are going to stand before God and we will give an account for the circumstances before us. But I want you to notice the example. Go back to verse seven, the farmer. He says, "Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and the late rains." It's a very simplistic picture. What is he saying? That old gray haired experienced farmer, he plants his crops. He didn't grumble. He doesn't complain. He just waits on the rain.

He knows that the rain comes at God's hand and he trusts the living Lord. And what does he do? He sits back and he doesn't grumble and he doesn't complain and he's waiting, not just for the rain, but he's waiting for the produce that comes when the rain comes. And what James is saying is, listen, you've got to wait. You've got to wait on the Lord and you must wait patiently, strengthening within your heart, waiting on his return, but yet knowing we will stand before God and we will give an account. I like how MacArthur explains these verses.

He says, "Patience is the righteous standard God expects all believers to conform to no matter what trial they face. Thus patience under persecution becomes another, listen, test of genuine saving faith for James." I like that. I like other tests, people. What James is saying is, is if you really know God and if you really love God and when this type of test comes along, you'll pass. And I'm giving you instruction how to pass. Don't be a grumbler. Don't get mad at one another. Wait on him. I've been tested in this area before myself.

What I mean is I've had people in the life of the church who have wronged me and done things to me and I relived a set of circumstances that went on in the life of the church and there were men in the life of the church who wronged me and I dare not say one word. And what God taught me to do, he taught me to wait on him and let God take care of circumstances like that. He taught me to be patient and be strengthened by seeking him and trusting him. There was an inner strengthening that was in my heart during that time.

There was an inner single-minded determination and I knew that I would have to give an account to God by how I handled those people in the life of the church. You know what I did? I kept my mouth shut. It was God's business. I'll never forget during that time. See I don't counsel with many people. As a matter of fact, I have one or two people that don't live around here and lots of times I will counsel with them with church issues and problems and I was counseling with a brother in Christ about this set of circumstances and he did not have the heart and the mind of God in this set of circumstances at that time.

He said, "Man, I hope God gets them." He said, "I hope God gets them right now." I said, "No, no, no." Because if he gets them, he'll have to get me. And what God did was during that time he led me to pray for them. He led me to bless them. He led me to keep my mouth shut and be patient with that trial that came about from other people and in that I rose above it and there was an inner determination and I just waited on God and that day, that time, that period of time, I did pass the test. Now those of you who are taking notes, I would like you to write down a scripture verse, Psalm 40 verses 1, 2, and 3.

This has been medicine to my soul for years, especially during a particular time and I want you to notice, you don't have to turn there now, what the psalmist says, he says, "I waited patiently for the Lord." The footnote for the New American Standard, it footnotes another word, "Intently." Isn't that a new layer? He says, "I waited patiently." I waited intently, what? "For the Lord and he inclined me and he heard my cry." What is that a picture of? That is a picture of someone in a set of circumstances and they just wait on God.

They wait patiently even when it's persecution outside of the church with circumstances, even when it's people, they wait and yet they have an inner strength, they have an inner determination and yet it causes them to realize, "Wait a minute, this is not my home." There's a home in glory that is far greater and far better than this and listen, they're always should be, there always should be a little fear in the back of our mind because we know we must give an account for what we do in these times. My question for you is, when trial comes through people, how do you react? See it's a little added layer. It was more circumstantial.

Now it's people. When trial comes and it comes through people, how do you react? Maybe when it comes from loved ones in your family, maybe when it comes through people in the life of the church, maybe when it comes from people that are the closest to you, how do you react? Do you have this patience in waiting on the Lord to work in the circumstance? Do you have an inner strengthening motivated by the fact that He's coming and you will give an account? Do you react to people? Because look, sometimes it's a lot easier to handle circumstances and it's a lot tougher to handle people. You know us preachers have jokes among preachers.

The world has jokes for preachers too. But you know among preachers, especially at seminary, you know somebody would always have a preacher joke and they'd say, "Well, ministry would be pretty good if it wasn't for all those people." Ministry is people. That's the point. But you know it's tougher to deal with people. And I want to ask you, listen, how do you pass this test in dealing with people? When people in the life of the church, when people in your family, maybe your mother or your father, your son or your daughter, somebody in the church that you're close to and they have hurt you or they are wrong you.

Remember the point is patience and trial and look, that trial has a face and a name. And really if you were to react in your flesh, you'd want to punch them in the face and tell them a few things. James is saying, "No, no. You've got to wait. Let me handle it." And you wait patiently. You wait on me. And you have an inner strengthening. And you'd be motivated by the fact that I'm coming. You'd be like that old gray-haired farmer. You just put the seed in the ground and you wait. You don't grumble and complain. And you take what produce I bring your way.

See with this, I'd like you to write down another word and that's the word "responsibility." See this is a great responsibility here. James is putting the weight on their wagon because this is what they had to do. He's saying, "You better buck up and do it." The second truth that I want us to see is we must learn from examples. We must learn from examples. Now notice there's an obvious transition in verse 10. Verse 7, "Be patient." Verse 8, "Be patient." But then verse 10, what does he say? As an example, brethren, these are Christians. As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets.

James says, "All right, let's just turn around. Let's look at the prophets who spoke the name of the Lord." Verse 11, "Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings." And now he says that the Lord is full of compassion and he is merciful. So what James has done, he gives this great lesson on being patient, having an inner strength, waiting on God. Then he turns around and he says, "All right, let's look back. Let's look at the prophets." He says, "Learn from these examples." So let's break down these examples.

First, I want you to see there were the prophets. There were the prophets. We see this in verse 10. As an example, brethren, he talks about their suffering and their patience. All of these Jewish Christians would have known exactly what they were talking about. And what does he say? Take the prophets. See we always, or I say it like this, from time to time, we need to be reminded of the role of the prophets. Not just the role, but their circumstances. The role of the prophets were, they were to be, the very mouthpiece of God. But their roles were very tragic. Now think about that. They had wonderful roles. They were the mouthpieces of God.

They were the hand and the feet of God. They had the mind of God. And they would literally utter the words of God. How wonderful. We would love to be that kind of man, would we not? Yet in that wonderful role, they had tragic circumstances. Most all of them, most all of the time. There were those like Elijah. See these prophets were given to the people of Israel, God's people. But yet it's terrible. God's people rejected them. And I think about the story of Elijah. Remember Elijah was a great man of God, but who did he face? He faced that wicked King Ahab and his wife Jezebel.

And yet when we study that story about Elijah, great persecution, excuse me, great troubles, great personal weakness. I mean, he could stand toe to toe with Ahab and toe to toe with Jezebel. But yet the next day he could flee like a child. He was the hand of God, the mouthpiece of God, but yet tragic circumstances. I'll tell you another one who is not quite as famous and that is the prophet Amos. I remember we took a course in seminary on Amos. He was a lesser known prophet, but he faced accusations from God's people. He faced rejection from God's people. But see, notice their reaction to their circumstances.

The scripture says this word suffer right here. Go back to verse 10 and an example, brethren, of the suffering and patience. Notice what it's saying right here. This word suffer, all of the translations use this word suffer. Now this word suffer right here is another compound word. I wouldn't mind you to underline or circle that word suffering in verse 10. It is another compound word and it is the word evil and it is the word suffer being brought together. And what James is saying is they are suffering evil and it was at the hands of God's people. And what does he say? Patience. That same word. That same word. What does he say?

Have patience with people. This is what's going on here with the prophets. They are God's men in God's time being the mouthpiece of God and God's very people are acting out in evil way against him. And what does James say? They suffered. They suffered evil from people, but yet they did distribute. They demonstrated patience with those people. What a great example. They had patience and we see that from verse seven and eight. James is saying suffer circumstances even with evil people, just like the prophets. See it's a tall order in verses seven through nine, but now he's turning it around and saying now now let's look at the prophets.

Now I get specific. We learn from their examples there were the prophets and now notice there was Job. Go back to verse 11. Behold, we count those blessed who endured and notice what he says. You have heard of the endurance of Job. Now every one of these readers would have known exactly who Joe was. Joe was very familiar to these first century Christians, Jewish Christians. Now Joe, he experienced great suffering. He experienced an outright attack from Satan. If you know your scripture, what happened? Satan comes before God. I don't understand that. And God says, look at my servant, Joe. And Job says, Satan says, well, look at him.

You've blessed him. God says, well, you can do what you want. Satan says, you let me get a hold of him and he'll curse you. God says, you can do what you want. Just don't take his life. And yet there's this terrible onslaught by Satan himself. And see, that's where we get the understanding that sometimes trial comes from Satan, but yet God is behind the whole thing. So with Job, he had great suffering. He had an outright attack from Satan. He lost his own children. He lost much of his wealth. He lost his health and he lost his reputation. Even his own friends thought something was wrong with him.

Even if his own friends thought that he was in sin. But John MacArthur says that he lost one thing that was worst of all. He lost his sense of God's presence. God was there the whole time, but for Joe in his very heart of hearts, he's like, where are you God? Some of you might not understand, but that could be the very worst of suffering that a Christian could ever face. Not that God would forsake Joe, but in Joe's eyes and in Joe's understanding, he even lost the very presence of God. But yet, Joe utters a statement of inward victory. And you tell me if this is not a strengthening, an inner resolve to do the will of God.

In Job 13, 15, he says, though he may slay me, yet will I hope in him? What is Job saying? Even if God kills me, I'm still going to serve him. I am strengthened to love God. And then he goes on to say, I will surely defend my ways to his face. In other words, he knew he was not in sin. He did not understand, but he says, I will come before God and defend my position. What a great example. See he had that strengthening. He had that patience. Yet he had suffered so much. So there were the prophets as our examples. He's saying to these Christians, remember the prophets, they did what I'm telling you to do. Now he's saying there was Job.

But then notice the end of verse 11. He says, behold, we count these, those blessed who endured. You have, what does he say? You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealing. Notice that the Lord is full of compassion and merciful. Notice James gives the very heart of the Lord. He says now people look at the examples of the prophets. Look at the example of Job. But now he says, but let me tell you about the heart of God. He says God is full of compassion. See this word is only found here in the New Testament. And you know what it means? God's full of compassion. But yet notice what he says.

He says he's full of compassion and he is merciful. Now what does that word merciful mean? A lot of people get mercy and grace confused. Grace is a gift. Grace is when you give something that no one, someone does not deserve. Give something to someone that they don't deserve. I've illustrated this with students before. I pulled out maybe a credit card and I've said, see a grace gift is if I hand you that credit card and say you go on a spending spree, you go to Bass Pro Shop or you go wherever you want and you buy what you want and you haven't done anything far, it is a gift. But that's not mercy.

Peculacy is when we do not get what we deserve. And see for you, for me, for all of us, we deserve death and hell. We deserve an eternal damnation. We deserve that God, now listen, he is not contained by time. We deserve that God would look down the tunnel of time and see that all of us will reject Christ. We deserve God to look down the tunnel of time and say they're going to forsake me. They're going to forsake me for sin and self. I'm going to go ahead and send them all to hell right now. I'm not going to deal with it and I'm not going to send my son to die. That's what we deserve. But see mercy is not getting what we deserve.

I did not get what I deserve. I got grace, Christ. See what James is saying is he is a merciful God. He's not giving you what you deserve. Maybe they were grumbling. Maybe they were complaining. Maybe they were murmuring against one another. I think they were. Otherwise he wouldn't have said it. But he's saying look, you haven't got what you deserve. That's how people are humbled. See listen, for us, we must learn from these examples. We must learn from the examples of men like Job, men like Elijah, men like Elijah. So many men like Amos. So many of these men who were God's men.

The story of John the Baptist and study his life, the last of the prophets. What am I trying to show you? These examples are given to teach us. But what about other people that God has put in our lives? Those that maybe we look up to? Those that maybe are not quite where we are spiritually? God puts people around us to demonstrate these truths. That's all James is doing. He's giving them the teaching in verses seven through nine and then he turns them around and says learn from the examples of those who lived it. I've used this example before but it fits. I've got a friend who was on staff somewhere and he was wronged.

They were accusations of an immoral nature, accused, made against he and his wife and trumped up charges and lies. He went through that meat grinder and he left vocational ministry for a while and he's gone through a lot of hurt for a long time. But what I have seen in his life is God has developed a patience. Listen, he doesn't want God to get them. He prays grace and mercy for those people who did him that way.

And listen, I have watched an inner strengthening and I have watched an inner determination to love God and to serve God and I have watched that man live verses seven through nine and it might have taken him a little longer than I thought it should but I've watched him live it and that is an example to me. Let's see, God gives us these people around us. Job and Amos and Elijah, the prophets, John the Baptist, Christ Jesus our Lord and then those around us. Why? We learn from examples. Look, I'm going to be honest with you church, I've said it like this.

I'm not the smartest guy in the world but I'm really dumb if I don't learn from the mistakes and the good examples of those that God puts around me. That's all James is saying. Turn around, look at the prophets. Now as we begin to conclude, I want us to look at the context. Sure there was persecution from without. There were trials. Listen, a horrific persecution had broken out in Acts chapter 12. Men and women and Christians were dying. They were fleeing for their lives. They lost much of what they owned. Some profited, some did not. Some gained, some did not. They scattered, they left. They were on the run. They were refugees.

This is a persecution from without but now I think what James is doing, he's dealing with how they relate to people. There were problems within the life of the church. I've thought about it like this. Maybe some of the unrighteous rich had victimized them. See that's the circumstance. It's not just persecution out. It's trial from within. It's interpersonal and we must look at their troubles as a whole. Now as I conclude, I want to give you some instruction in application. See it's not enough for me to explain the scripture, to teach the scripture word by word, verse by verse. I've got to help you be able to apply it to your life.

I guess if you're sitting in the pew and I go through verse by verse, eventually you got to say so what? What does that mean to me? So as I conclude, I want you to listen. I want you to listen close. When trial comes, when persecution comes from without and from within, especially when it involves people, you must do these things. First of all, number one, you write this down. You look for God in the situation. You've heard me say this, but it must be reiterated. It must be repeated. You look for God in the situation. Joseph is our greatest example. His brothers wronged him. They sold him into slavery.

You fast forward for years, years down the road. He was the second in command in Egypt. When famine had struck the land, Joseph's brothers came before him looking for food. He had the perfect opportunity for revenge. He had the power. He had the authority. And in man's eyes, he would have been just in doing so. But what did he do? He saw the whole set of circumstances, the way God did. And what did he say? You meant it for evil. The devil meant it for evil. Mankind meant what happened for evil, but God meant it for good. I was sitting here ahead of you to prepare the way. And what did he do? He demonstrated that patience with people.

He had an inner strength. He is the great example, look, of looking for God in the set of circumstances. See there are some of you right here, right now, there are some of you here that you are going through trials and those trials have a face and a name. And they might claim to be Christian. They might be a spouse. They might be a son. They might be a daughter. They might be a parent. They might be your parents. But look, what James is saying is look for God in the situation. Look for God in it. Wade through the cloud. Wade through your feelings. Wade through what you want to do and find God in it. You got to look up, not out.

You got to look for Him, not look at what's around because if you look at what's around you, you will get mad. You will get bitter. You will get angry. You will react in the flesh and the flesh will never bring about God's work in you. I thought about a good example and I have not read much about her in a long time. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Corey Timboon. Corey Timboon was raised in a Christian home and she was raised in the country of Holland. And when World War II broke out, her family, when the German occupation came, her father and her family were part of an underground network to rescue Jews and rescue Christians.

And little did they know that they were some of the main cogs in that network in their town. But they rescued Jews. They rescued tons of Jews and Christians. But they eventually were found out and they were caught and they were sent to a German concentration camp. Corey Timboon's father died. Matter of fact, some other of her family died. But Corey and her sister Betsy ended up in Ravensbruck, one of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany. But in the midst of the situation, they always found God in the circumstances. They always found him. Although it was difficult, they always found him. I will give you an example.

I remember reading about they would try to witness and they would try to share. They would try to evangelize the other ladies there. They would have Bible studies. God enabled them to have a Bible there, although it was illegal. But let me give you an example of finding God in the midst of a set of circumstances. At one particular time, she described in her writing that in the place where they were bunked, there might be a place that would be the size for 30 women. It would be 130 in there. And she wrote that the fleas were so bad that it was intolerable. But yet what happened was the fleas were so bad the guards would not come in.

They began to rejoice. They saw God in the circumstances. The fleas were so bad, so the guards stayed away, so they had freedom to evangelize. And they had a bigger Bible study and they taught the word and they ministered to the ladies. Some rejected the gospel. Some accepted the gospel. What am I trying to show you? They found God in their circumstances. And if you do not find God in the circumstance that could be right in front of you that is interpersonal, you will never find what God wants to do. And look, it's never easy. It's painful. Think about Joseph. Those were his brothers.

He was wrong and it seemed to get, it went from bad to worse before it ever got better. The second thing I want you to see is look for a work in you. See when you recognize God in the situation, the next step must be to look for a work in you because you might not know it. God might be trying to correct you. God might be trying to teach you. God might be trying to prepare you. And God might be trying to protect you. There is a myriad of things that God would want to do and you must look for God to work in you. You remember how I told you that there were men in the life of a church who were on me?

Two or three years later, God showed me that he brought that about to protect me. I never asked why. I never said, "God, why did you let those men do that to me?" I never did. I looked for him in it. And finally one day, God came to me and God revealed to me that it was protection for me. And they rolled me. They were out to get me. But see, God was protecting me because he showed me to pursue that line of ministry. I would have had to be yoked up with him. And I saw that that persecution, that trial that had a name and a face, it was nothing more than God's protection.

And see, if you don't see that God wants to work in you, you will never miss being corrected. You might need to be corrected in a way that you never could have imagined. You might be wrong. You could go into the trial and be as right with God as you know how. But when you go into it and you discover the work that God wants to do, then you might discover that you're in sin and accept teaching and correcting and rebuking and God changed you. And then the third thing, look to be used. Look to be used. God always wants to bring about Christ's likeness to use you. That is how he gets glory out of our lives. It is to use us in kingdom work.

That's his whole purpose. He wants a trophy of grace and he wants a tool in his hand. Let me go back to the story of Corrie Tim Moon. She survived Ravensbrook. Her sister Betsy died, by the way. Her father died, by the way. But upon her release, she found herself involved in Christian ministry in Germany. And you know who they minister to? The very Nazis who imprisoned them. And she would describe circumstances where incoming the door, looking for help, would be the very guards who persecuted them. And rather than be angry and bitter and want revenge, she had compassion. She had the love of Christ and she was used.

And there were many Germans, many civilians that God used people like Corrie Tim Moon to bring the gospel to them and bring healing to them. That is usefulness through the set of circumstances. Now what I want to show you is you will never be used and you will never be usable until you let God work in you and change you until you find God in the circumstance. And according to what James, this circumstance seems to have a name and a face. You might be in a difficult marriage. You might have a difficult boss. You might have a difficult group of people at work. You might have difficulties with your own children.

You might have difficulties in your family. What am I showing you? James is teaching us patient perseverance in trials. And it really seems that these trials are a little different than the ones we learned about in Chapter 1. Chapter 1, Circumstances. Now it seems James is showing them. He's got trials and they come from people. And he's telling us how to handle it. So what I want to say to you, Church, is this. If you were sitting here this morning, this message just could be for you. You could be at a stalemate in your walk because you are not facing a set of circumstances that has a name and a face the way God wants you to be.

You could be stuck in the mud. Maybe that's what was going on with some of these Christians. And that's why he's giving them the instruction. Let's pray.