The Product of Trials | Sermon 2/6/2022

James 1:2-4

After a brief greetings James moves quickly into an admonition to the once Jerusalem church congregation. Pastor James exhorts the now scattered Jewish Christians to consider the outcome of their trials as joy. They have endured homelessness, persecution, poverty, wrongful litigation, and slander for their allegiance to Christ. We now in the 21st century church must realize it’s not a matter of if but when concerning our own trials. God sovereignly ordains these trials as a testing of the faith. He gives us His Word, His presence, and His promise that He will bring us through to the other side of these ordeals. The joyous part is they will undoubtedly produce endurance and perseverance to continue on to the upward prize in Christ. And as we continue to grow our faith and strengthen the endurance muscle Christ will bring us to a place of maturity. The benefits of eternal life are not just future but here and now. And that includes a justification that leads to a sanctification and a promise of perfection in the glorification.