Live What You Believe - During Trials and Temptation

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:13–18 ESV

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Numbers 13-14 show us the story of the spies being sent into the promise land.

Numbers 13:31–33 ESV

31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Their problems were giants to them. If we are not careful ours will be to us as well.

Numbers 13:30 ESV

30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Let’s look at two important truths from these james passages we read earlier

Trials and Temptations

Trials and Temptations reveal particular truths to us that are immeasureably important in our growth as a believer.

Trials

Suffering - Persecution (outside pressure)

Life-circumstances - No one is persecuting us, but there are all kinds of circumstances that make life very difficult and challenging.

Life just has you down for a multitude of reasons.

One quick distinction

Brought by you or brought by God

1 Peter 4:15–16 ESV

15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Opening Up James (A Distinction)

If we fail to feed and nurture ourselves spiritually, our walk with God is going to deteriorate

Suffering brought by God - Nothing is clearer in Scripture than the truth that God sends trials and difficulties into the lives of his children because he has certain purposes to achieve.

It may trouble us to read this. It might trouble you right now to have me say it. But scripture is clear that God does subject us to trial and suffering with the intent of producing something beautiful in us.

1 Peter 1:7 ESV

7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 48:10 ESV

10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

Trials have purpose.

Trials reveal two things that are meant to help us.

First, they reveal our weakness.

do no believe the lie that God does not give you more than you can handle.

He does, often times to help us recognize and understand our need.

We need His presence, His provision, His power, to stand in the trials we face.

But when we do stand, we realize the second benefit.

Second, they reveal our strength.

Caleb knew, King David knew, Joseph knew and Jesus certainly knew that our strength comes from the Lord.

Trials are used by the Lord to strengthen us.

Soft hands make for bad fighters.

Christianity becomes the most pure in my own heart when it is the least popular in the eyes of the world. When it will hurt my own social standing to declare it, then I recognize the worth it truly holds in my heart.

In the army they train you over and over and over until the strategy and capability you need to stand strong in the battle are second nature. But you do not need my analogies, let’s see how the bible puts it.

James said it this way.

James 1:1–4 ESV

Paul said it this way

Romans 5:1–5 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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.

2 Peter 1:5–8 ESV

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every time we stand for our belief, we get better at standing for our belief. We get bolder.

So, count them all joy.

Now let’s move onto Temptation

Temptation

While trials come from outside, temptation comes from the inside.

James 1:13–18 ESV

Temptation is born of wrong desires.

take authority for example.

In the heart of man is the natural inclination to reject authority. We do not like being told what to do. We reject the authority of God, of His Word and of His pastors. We need not feel alone in this attitude however. Satan exhibited the same one years before we did.

Matthew 26:41 ESV

41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus knows our struggle and the path to our victory over it.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

How do we stand firm in these trials and temptations?

We take every thought captive.

2 Corinthians 10:4–6 ESV

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

James 4:7 ESV

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Stand firm in trial, resist temptation and witness what the Lord will do through that.

Put on the full armor of God.

We are those firstfruits, but fruit trees must be pruned and cared for.

The trees must resist disease.

I want my faith to stand in times of trouble

I want temptation to become less of a stumbling block for me.

I also want those things for you.

Our Savior knows, is compassionate toward, makes intercession for and equips us to overcome Trials and Temptations.