Blessed Perseverance

James 1:12-15: Blessed Perseverance

James 1:12–15 ESV

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Intro: Sometimes reality is the opposite of what we would expect:

1. Inexperienced driver in ice

2. A child choosing what food to eat each day.

3. An athlete thinking that more training equals more success.

James’s teaching doesn’t match what we might expect at first glance:

Persevering in trials is a BLESSING.

God is not against us simply because we are suffering.

Sin starts with desire and leads to death.

FCF: The sin within us affects how we view and respond to the trials we face.

Main Point: Wise Christians persevere through trials knowing that God is good and sin is deceptive.

I. The promise: a crown of life for perseverance

Blessed is…

What Biblical phrases come to mind when you hear “blessed”?

Maybe the beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are the meek

Maybe Psalm 1: Blessed is the man who walks not according to the world’s way but God’s

Perhaps Psalm 32:1: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven…”

Persevering under trials may not be on the top of your list of blessings. But it’s here in James.

We sing the song “Blessed assurance”, which about knowing we are secure in Christ. We should also speak of blessed perseverance. Those who are in Christ are called to remain steadfast in trials.

Why is steadfastness under trials a blessing?

Because the person who stands the test of trials (any circumstance that would cause difficulty and threaten our allegiance to Christ) will receive a crown—the crown of life.

We will be adorned with and given the glorious crown of eternal life.

The Jewish mind would envision a king’s crown, but the Greek mind may have envisioned a wreath or prize for an athlete competing and winning a sports event.

The reward is not for starting the race but finishing. The blessed person keeps faith!

“The tried Christian shall be a crowned one: and the crown he shall wear will be a crown of life… We only bear the cross for a while, but we shall wear the crown to eternity”. -Matthew Henry

What is the key to steadfastness?

James says the crown of life is PROMISED. This is covenant and grace language. God is a promise-keeping God. If He promised life, you will have life.

James the crown of life is promised to those who LOVE Him.

The chief reason for us to keep the faith is that we love God because He first loved us.

The way we stand firm when we face is trials is by loving God more and more.

The more we love God, the more we will trust Him in the tough times.

Application: Are you growing in your love for God?

The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mt. 22:37-38)

Loving God is more than emotion; love BY obeying Him and loving other Christians (1 Jn. 4:19-21, Jn. 14:15).

Loving God includes godly desires.

Psalm 42:1–2 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

Psalm 73:25–26 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

If we want blessed perseverance when we are under trials, we have to cultivate deep love for God. This is a moment-by-moment pursuit of God in the life of a Christians. We have to fight to love and seek after God day after day, whether in suffering or prosperity.

II. The precaution: God is never our tempter

Perseverance is vital, and loving and trusting our good and sinless God is vital when the flesh and enemy whisper lies in our ears.

God is never the Author of sin

The human desire to blame God for sin comes from our father Adam, who first blamed God saying, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:12)

Matthew Henry: “It’s very bad to sin… it’s much worse to charge our sin to God as though it was His fault.”

It’s against God’s nature to tempt people to sin.

God can’t be tempted with evil.

He can be put to the test, though we are warned not to do something so foolish (Mt. 4:7)

What James is saying here is that God can’t be tempted to do evil.

For God to be tempted to do evil would be for God to desire something that goes against His complete will and nature. It is not possible for God to desire or commit sin.

God doesn’t tempt anyone.

If God doesn’t go against His own will and His own goodness, then He wouldn’t tempt others to do so either.

God may stop restraining sin and turn people over to their reprobate minds. But He won’t urge or entice you to commit evil.

For the suffering Christian, God is working all things for God, not evil. If God is for us, how can He be against us?

God tests our faith, but He never aims to make us sin.

God tested Abraham when He told him to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22:1).

God tested Israel when he left some of the godless nations around them (Jdg. 2:22).

God tested Hezekiah when officials from Babylon came to see about his prosperity and riches (2 Chr. 31).

In all these situations, God never enticed or urged any of these people to sin. He was proving the genuineness or lack of their faith.

Application: Preach the truth to yourself when you’re under trials.

Don’t believe the whispers of the enemies or the screaming of the flesh that says, “God is tempting me!” But how?

Remind yourself of the goodness of God. He won’t tempt you to evil because it’s against His nature!

Ask God to help you see His perspective in the trial, even if it seems like there’s nothing good that could come from it.

Stay close to God in all of life so that when trials come you won’t turn against Him in sin. When you’re a friend of God, you will strive to love Him. And Jesus says if you love me, keep my commandments.

Transition: In our trials, we must remember the real problem: the sin within us.

III. The problem: our desires carry us away into sin.

Illustration: Describe a person with a food allergy constantly eating what they’re allergic to because the food is tasty. Blame-shifting won’t fix it. Similarly sin is self-sabotage.

Christians still have the old self—our sinful nature—within us.

Col. 3:5: “Put to death, therefore what is earthly in you.”

Instead of looking outward, James calls us to see that sin comes from what’s within.

The 3 stages of temptation:

James uses a vivid illustration of temptation; childbirth. Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “[sin] is born of lust, and it brings forth dust”.

Desire: We are lured (drug away) and enticed by our own desire.

External temptations entice or awaken sinful and forbidden desires within us.

Ill: When Bro. Yates throws a lure in the water, that bait entices the fish to bite. When the fish bites, it’s dragged out of the water. Our desires when met with temptation, do the same to us!

App: Sin starts at the level of desire. If we play with forbidden desires, we are playing with fire!

Greed desires more stuff. Lust desires more beauty. Pride desires more praise. Gossip desires more tearing down of others. Fear of man desires more people pleasing.

We don’t have something so we desire it. We lust for it.

Sin: When desire is given a home in our hearts and minds, sin is born.

The illustration continues with giving desire a bed in our hearts, which leads to conception. Once desire is conceived within us, it brings forth actual sin.

Sin is the child of sinful desires and the flesh. Our flesh is like a womb that holds sinful desires until it’s ready to be born. Then sin comes full circle.

Throughout the Scriptures, we see phrases like:

“They give birth to evil” (Job 15:35)

“Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.” (Psalm 7:14)

This language means that we are not passive in our sins. We don’t merely fall into sin. We conceive it by letting sinful desires live and develop within us.

We may sin in an instant, but those desires had long been existent in our hearts.

Death: When we continue in sin and let it grow to its fullness, we get death.

One writer said, “Think carefully before you allow sin to pilot your plane, James warns; you will crash into hell.”

Just as Adam and Eve would “surely die” when they ate from the tree, so will everyone who chooses to play with sin.

James doesn’t hold back. When we let sin get “fully grown” in us, it “brings forth death” (James 1:15).

Application: Be constant in killing the sinful desires that rise in your heart.

Keep praying for wisdom to know and do God’s will.

Pray for eyes to see when sinful desires are rising up in your heart.

When you notice sinful desires, put them to death by the Spirit. Don’t normalize it or indulge “one last time!”

When you sin, run to the cross of Christ for forgiving and transforming grace. The only hope we have when we sin is the mercy and grace of God! He is faithful and just to forgive those who trust in Him!

Gospel Call

Conclusion: Trials carry with them at least two opportunities.

Trials can lead us into sin and cause us to doubt and turn away from God.

Trials can draw us to deeper faith and help us love and trust God more.

The key difference is our view of God and His purposes in our suffering. When we know the result of perseverance, trust the goodness of God, and kill sin at its roots, we can receive the crown of life promised to us!

In Christ, we can stay faithful and strong in the face of the trials we encounter in this life.