SPEAKER_00: Role models.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you admit it or not, we all are following, looking up to someone.
SPEAKER_00: Looking up to someone.
SPEAKER_00: When I was your age, the role models that I had were the superstars of Major League Baseball.
SPEAKER_00: The superstars, the home run hitters, the guys that threw the baseball the hardest.
SPEAKER_00: The defensive players that made the most unbelievable defensive stops.
SPEAKER_00: The ones who who seemingly just did feet after feet after feet after feet, and they they just didn't lose.
SPEAKER_00: For the longest time, the New York Yankees seemingly just couldn't be beat.
SPEAKER_00: They won World Series after World Series in the 1990s, and they they had a stacked roster.
SPEAKER_00: Lots of boys and girls across the United States and around the world just looked at pinstripes in a certain way, and they they think New York.
SPEAKER_00: They think Derek Jeter, they think Bernie Williams, they they think about Jorge Posada.
SPEAKER_00: These are people that you probably maybe Jeter, but you you might be like, well, who are these guys?
SPEAKER_00: Who is Mariano Rivera?
SPEAKER_00: But for me, I looked up to these guys.
SPEAKER_00: They were my role models.
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be just like them.
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to follow their path because I wanted to go where they were going, where they made it to.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're thinking to yourself this evening, I kind of have an idea of where I want to go.
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of see the people that are doing the things that I want to do in the future.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's you, it seems like you have some role models.
SPEAKER_00: Seems like you have people that you look up to.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you admire their work ethic or um their skill, their talents, their abilities.
SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe it's maybe it's their professionalism or their sportsmanship.
SPEAKER_00: But everybody has someone that they're looking up to.
SPEAKER_00: And uh when when you're doing hard things, especially, we kind of use these role models as motivation.
SPEAKER_00: We use these role models like, well, that guy did it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, surely I can do it.
SPEAKER_00: That it's been done before.
SPEAKER_00: It's been done before.
SPEAKER_00: Uh why not me?
SPEAKER_00: Why not me?
SPEAKER_00: And I think today would be a great day for us to look at the role models of scripture.
SPEAKER_00: James is gonna call his listeners, his readers, to look back, to look back, not to look forward at people that are doing it right now, that are where they want to be, but he's telling his readers, hey, your role models, look in the rear view.
SPEAKER_00: Look back to history, look at the guys that have done it, that are no longer around.
SPEAKER_00: Consider the ways that they endured patiently under persecution, under trial, under great stresses.
SPEAKER_00: And they displayed and exhibited steadfastness, and they finished their lives faithfully pursuing the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's what James is going to draw us today to look at as well.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be looking in the rear view to see how it is that we can endure and press on in the midst of life's challenges, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of unjust mistreatment.
SPEAKER_00: Turn with me in your Bibles, please, to James chapter 5 and verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: We'll begin there.
SPEAKER_00: James 5 and verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.
SPEAKER_00: James is speaking about the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
SPEAKER_00: But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the why.
SPEAKER_00: So that you may not fall under condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: Looking back in the rear view, we need to be looking back.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be remembering the steadfastness of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be looking back to the life of Job and see God's work in his life, see how they endured, and see where they put their hope and their trust.
SPEAKER_00: That's an important call for us tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Just as James is calling to his listeners, we need to be looking at role models.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be looking at the right role models.
SPEAKER_00: There's plenty of wrong role models, plenty of people utterly making a mess of their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not it's not hard to find them.
SPEAKER_00: It's not hard to find the people that are messing up in grand ways.
SPEAKER_00: You might see them on the news, people going to jail.
SPEAKER_00: You might see them on TV.
SPEAKER_00: You might see people losing their cool in the midst of high pressure competition, people getting ejected or tossed out of games, they're lashing out in anger, lacking self-control, running their mouths in a way that's dishonoring people and dishonoring the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's plenty of ways, many, many ways not to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of like drawing our mind to certain scriptures, right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, broad is the path that leads to destruction, but narrow is the gate, and those who enter by it, this gate leads to life, and this is what Jesus was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to do it the wrong way, it's easy to fail, it's easy to do it sinfully.
SPEAKER_00: It's much harder.
SPEAKER_00: It's a smaller number of people that will follow the right leaders.
SPEAKER_00: And in Jesus, in Jesus' case, he was calling his listeners.
SPEAKER_00: This is James' brother Jesus, he was calling his listeners to follow him to the Lord, to follow him to get to God, the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone, if anyone, no one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: I am the only way.
SPEAKER_00: And and exactly that's the prophet's message.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the prophets who speak, who spoke on behalf of God were pointing to God.
SPEAKER_00: Thus saith the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: They were speaking the words of God to the people that needed to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: The perfect prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, says, You can't get to heaven, you can't see the Father, God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can't get to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: And the way that he went about making a way for people to follow after him was through through suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Since I suffered, you will also.
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's a non-negotiable for the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: If you're if you're thinking, like, I'm gonna follow Jesus, this is this is what I'm committed to doing, you can expect suffering of various kinds, you can expect trials, you can expect persecution.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you signed up for because that's where the Savior walked.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're following in the steps of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, we also will suffer in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: But James is telling us, hey, like last week, take heart, take heart.
SPEAKER_00: Look, focus up, focus up, establish your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: So, so don't grow weary, don't grow faint.
SPEAKER_00: The judge is standing at the door.
SPEAKER_00: We were talking last week to to be patient while suffering, to be patient and fix our eyes on the one who would return, who will return and make all things right.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will come back and make all things right.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, speaking about the prophets, um, the prophets were uh were not superheroes.
SPEAKER_00: We're not like, sometimes we look at the prophets and be like, well, they were like the superheroes of the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how could I ever how could I ever be like them?
SPEAKER_00: But but really what it came down to was they were faithful to follow after God.
SPEAKER_00: They were faithful to receive the message from the Lord and faithfully deliver.
SPEAKER_00: They were the messenger.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have any supernatural abilities, they didn't have any any intellect that was just off the charts beyond.
SPEAKER_00: They were men and women, just like you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but God used his chosen mouthpieces for his purposes, for his glory, to tell people to turn.
SPEAKER_00: To tell people that if you don't, if you don't stop what you're doing, it's not gonna go well for you.
SPEAKER_00: Please stop, please turn, don't go that direction.
SPEAKER_00: Don't go there.
SPEAKER_00: Follow after my way.
SPEAKER_00: Follow the law.
SPEAKER_00: Live your life in a way that brings God honor and brings God glory.
SPEAKER_00: So, Isaiah, let's talk about some prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about some prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Consider the prophets, brothers.
SPEAKER_00: As an example of suffering and patience, look back, adjust your rear view, and guess what?
SPEAKER_00: The way we do that is turn to the left in our Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the left.
SPEAKER_00: We turn to the left, adjust the rear view and look left.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets, they were mocked, they were scoffed at, they were humiliated, and they were used in a powerful way to speak God's plan, to tell people what would happen next.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah was was uh Judah's evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: Judah's evangelist, he, his name is salvation.
SPEAKER_00: It means salvation through the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation through the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah was preaching God's warnings.
SPEAKER_00: Stop living the lives that you are, turn back to God, follow his commands, stop chasing after false gods, stop intermarrying with other cultures.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what God has commanded you.
SPEAKER_00: And with apathetic hearts, the people did not listen.
SPEAKER_00: They did not listen.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets brought an unpopular message.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't trending, it wasn't getting all the likes, it wasn't getting all the hearts, it was getting the thumbs down.
SPEAKER_00: They were getting booed, they were getting ran out of town because people did not want to hear the truth.
SPEAKER_00: They rejected the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And God used uh other other men that would encourage Isaiah, Micah, and King Hezekiah, and and ultimately God through Isaiah would tell his people that, hey, this is what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna continue in this direction.
SPEAKER_00: The Assyrians and the Babylonians, they're gonna they're gonna take you captive.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're gonna be prisoner, they're gonna take you away to a foreign land, and you're gonna be exiles.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be exiles.
SPEAKER_00: But also there is some great encouragement that the prophet Isaiah would bring to God's people as well.
SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah says, in contrast, the people who wait for the Lord, who listen, who do not reject God's message, if you're waiting on the Lord, if you're listening for his voice, if you're following after God, pursuing him, obeying his commands, he says this, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
SPEAKER_00: They shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not grow faint.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is a great encouragement for God's people.
SPEAKER_00: This is a great promise that we can take to the bank today.
SPEAKER_00: We're pursuing after God, we're waiting for Him, we're letting Him lead and guide our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Our strength will be renewed inside and out.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we we might grow weary or weak, but in our souls and our hearts, the deepest part of us, we're not going to be discouraged, we're not going to grow faint, we're not going to grow weary.
SPEAKER_00: God will give us the endurance to make it to the finish line in our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah also speaks about God's heart for his people.
SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah 30, he says, Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, he exalts himself, he glorifies himself by extending his grace and his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord is a God of justice.
SPEAKER_00: This suffering that you were enduring, for those of you who are faithfully waiting on the Lord, it's not permanent.
SPEAKER_00: God will exercise perfect justice, undefiled, uncorrupted justice at his timing, and that's something that we can find comfort and confidence in.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Blessed are those who wait for him, for God's timing, for him to execute his justice.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a people, this is a people that is being persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: These are Jewish Christians who are getting heat from the culture because of their faith.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a great encouragement for them.
SPEAKER_00: This is a great encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: They might be down the dumps.
SPEAKER_00: And James is like, look in the rear of you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the prophets?
SPEAKER_00: Remember their promises, how they spoke for the Lord, how they spoke his word.
SPEAKER_00: And Jeremiah, another prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah's life was filled with him patiently waiting for people to respond and suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He was the last prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: He spoke both to the north and the south, to the Assyrians and the Babylonians as well, and he was known as the weeping prophet.
SPEAKER_00: He suffered greatly.
SPEAKER_00: His life was full of turmoil and heartache.
SPEAKER_00: In Jeremiah 11, some context for these prophets went through it and they really suffered greatly.
SPEAKER_00: In Jeremiah 11, there's an account that he was hunted down from men from his hometown.
SPEAKER_00: No such thing as a home crowd for the prophet Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted him to stop speaking for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: They had enough.
SPEAKER_00: They chased him out of town.
SPEAKER_00: They chased him out because they had enough.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, we're going to do harm to you if you don't get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: They chased him out.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah was commanded by the Lord not to marry, not to have children, so he lived a lonely life.
SPEAKER_00: And he uh he charged for four decades, for 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: He told, he told, he told, he preached, he preached, he preached.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, stop, stop, stop.
SPEAKER_00: Judgment is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Turn.
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: Without without success.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord knew.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord knew his people.
SPEAKER_00: He knew the status of their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah called the people of Judah to stop worshiping false gods.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah chapter 44.
SPEAKER_00: The people were blending their worship with the surrounding cultures.
SPEAKER_00: And Jeremiah tells the people of Judah, hey, okay, go ahead, make your vows.
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead, make your vows.
SPEAKER_00: They were pouring out drink offerings to the queen of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Ever heard of her?
SPEAKER_00: I haven't.
SPEAKER_00: Pour out your drink offerings to the queen of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah says, Go ahead, make your vows.
SPEAKER_00: See how she responds to you.
SPEAKER_00: See how faithful she is.
SPEAKER_00: And that's got to be so discouraging to see people wandering so far from the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Discouragement and loneliness and anguish just was scattered throughout his life.
SPEAKER_00: And Jeremiah chapter 20, he suffers great persecution.
SPEAKER_00: He's beaten and placed in stocks.
SPEAKER_00: He's bound and condemned by the people around him.
SPEAKER_00: They denounced him.
SPEAKER_00: You're guilty.
SPEAKER_00: You're being convicted of unjustice, of wrongdoing, of evil.
SPEAKER_00: People were taking the message, the truth from the Lord, and putting the label of, no, this is an evil message.
SPEAKER_00: This is a wicked message.
SPEAKER_00: It says, this is incorrect information.
SPEAKER_00: We reject it, we reject you.
SPEAKER_00: But he was faithful.
SPEAKER_00: He endured.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah, a man of suffering and patience.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah, the famous prophet who challenged, who challenged the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, calling down fire from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He faced King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, who wanted him dead.
SPEAKER_00: He was on the run.
SPEAKER_00: He was a wanted man for no reason other than speaking God's truth.
SPEAKER_00: These were people that heard God's message to repent, to turn from their ways, and were so happy and so content to remain in their wickedness that the thought of that angered them.
SPEAKER_00: The thought of that brewed up hatred for the prophet in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He was a faithful prophet who spoke to the northern kingdom of Israel for 22 years.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Faithfully preaching and speaking the word of God to a people that rejected you and hate you for 22 years.
SPEAKER_00: What a career.
SPEAKER_00: What a guy.
SPEAKER_00: No, he he endured a lot of strife.
SPEAKER_00: It's not, you think your job is bad.
SPEAKER_00: Look to the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Look in the rear view.
SPEAKER_00: See how much suffering God's faithful and steadfast people endured.
SPEAKER_00: Queen Jezebel wanted a particular plot of land and uh essentially just stole it.
SPEAKER_00: Stole it and had that family killed on the spot.
SPEAKER_00: I want that farm, that vineyard over there.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you guys can leave.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're not leaving?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're dead.
SPEAKER_00: Get the rocks, stone them.
SPEAKER_00: Dead.
SPEAKER_00: This is these are the people in the leadership that Elijah opposed.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words, these are the words that God spoke to his people and to his opponents through the prophet Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah spoke to God's people in dark days.
SPEAKER_00: In dark days.
SPEAKER_00: And he uh he's one of the one of the people in the Bible that that didn't die.
SPEAKER_00: He he was snatched up in a chariot of fire, and uh he did not die.
SPEAKER_00: God brought him brought him home.
SPEAKER_00: So God's prophets, a great, a great reminder for us.
SPEAKER_00: When you're feeling discouraged, when you're feeling like you're going through it, James is telling his readers, his listeners, he's telling us today, think about the people that have gone before that have faithfully stood for what God had instructed, who faithfully called people to turn from their wickedness, excuse me, from their wickedness as an ex as an example of suffering and patience.
SPEAKER_00: We need to, we need to have, we need to have godly role models.
SPEAKER_00: Let's write that down for point number one.
SPEAKER_00: Select, it's your choice, it's your decision.
SPEAKER_00: You have a say in this.
SPEAKER_00: Select them wisely.
SPEAKER_00: Select godly role models.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a that's a heavy burden for the adults in the room, for the small group leaders, the people who are wanting to lead you faithfully in the ways that God would be honored and blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Every leader in this room, this is a charge for us.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is a heavy, this is a heavy weight for us.
SPEAKER_00: For these students, we need to be pointing them to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be modeling what it looks like to endure, to remain.
SPEAKER_00: Steadfast, to model a life that says, follow me as I follow Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's a heavy, that's a heavy task for us to take on.
SPEAKER_00: But through the Lord's faithfulness and his word and his spirit leading us, we need to remain dependent and we trust that he is faithful to continue to make disciples, and that's our goal.
SPEAKER_00: That's our aim.
SPEAKER_00: For you students, our goal, our aim, the scripture's aim, James's aim for you is to understand who God is, and he wants you to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: James wants you to see the prophets of the Old Testament, consider them as examples who spoke in the name of the Lord and follow after them.
SPEAKER_00: They are worthy to be followed.
SPEAKER_00: And they they made mistakes.
SPEAKER_00: They were not flawless human beings.
SPEAKER_00: They sinned, just like you and I.
SPEAKER_00: And the faithful and true prophets from the Lord, they spoke only what God told them to speak.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't deviate from God's words.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a great challenge for us as well.
SPEAKER_00: We need to know God's word to accurately understand and speak in a wicked world.
SPEAKER_00: Not much has changed.
SPEAKER_00: Not much has changed from the time of the prophets to now that the world is still wicked.
SPEAKER_00: The world still needs to hear the message of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you don't stop, there's judgment coming.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't pause, if you don't turn back, it's not going to go well for you.
SPEAKER_00: There is a judge who is righteous, who is holy, and who is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: Where do you stand with this judge?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we talked about last week, and that's something that we need to continue to remember today.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: We'll hop back into our middle verse, only three verses this evening.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, we consider those blessed, happy.
SPEAKER_00: We consider those happy who remained steadfast.
SPEAKER_00: You've heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the first word that we think about to describe Job is probably not blessed.
SPEAKER_00: If we're thinking about the span of his life, if there is one word to describe Job, it's probably suffering.
SPEAKER_00: But I'd like us to look at this man's life in a different light, in a different light today.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose of examining Job's life is going to be helpful for us as we look in the rear view and we look for models, for godly examples, role models of how we are to live this life.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of this has to do with perspective.
SPEAKER_00: And Job's life, if we're going to uh just rattle off the resume, let's do that.
SPEAKER_00: He lost all of his livestock.
SPEAKER_00: He lost his servants, he lost all of his children.
SPEAKER_00: He had excruciating pain all over his body, head-to-toe boils.
SPEAKER_00: You think your pimples are bad.
SPEAKER_00: Physical pain and suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He was literally scraping off.
SPEAKER_00: You ever have a mosquito bite that like eventually bled?
SPEAKER_00: That all over his body.
SPEAKER_00: All over his body.
SPEAKER_00: And he's scraping his body with shards of pots to try to find relief.
SPEAKER_00: Physical pain, emotional grief and sorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Mocked by the closest person, the closest friend that he had in his life, his wife, mocked by his wife.
SPEAKER_00: Abandoned by his friends.
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like a prop like the prophets, right?
SPEAKER_00: Similar resume.
SPEAKER_00: Accused by his companions.
SPEAKER_00: Falsely.
SPEAKER_00: He cursed his own birth.
SPEAKER_00: His life was so miserable that he's like, I just wish I wasn't even born.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on with my life?
SPEAKER_00: Sleepless nights, nightmares and night terrors constantly.
SPEAKER_00: A crushed spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He was down in his mind, in his heart.
SPEAKER_00: Isolated, an isolated man, lonely, disfigured.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I've become like dust and ashes.
SPEAKER_00: He's ridiculed.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been trolle by someone younger than you?
SPEAKER_00: He got trolled.
SPEAKER_00: He got trolled by the Groms.
SPEAKER_00: He got trolby by the youth.
SPEAKER_00: Got spat on, rejected.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, he was confused.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world is going on in my life?
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
SPEAKER_00: Is this forever?
SPEAKER_00: Is this real life?
SPEAKER_00: He was probably like slapping himself, like, surely I'm going to wake up.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is a cruel dream.
SPEAKER_00: No, it was his real life.
SPEAKER_00: He was rejected, he was confused, he had no comfort or relief.
SPEAKER_00: And he felt forgotten by God.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's not the end of Job's life.
SPEAKER_00: Job at the at the end of his life, at the end of his internal struggles.
SPEAKER_00: No, he he finished his he finished this season of trials and of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to take a look at Job forty two.
SPEAKER_00: Job forty-two.
SPEAKER_00: Turn there with me.
SPEAKER_00: Go to Psalms and then go left.
SPEAKER_00: Find the book of Psalms and go left.
SPEAKER_00: We're examining godly role models.
SPEAKER_00: We're considering those who remain steadfast.
SPEAKER_00: Looking to those in the rear view that have gone through it.
SPEAKER_00: They've been wrung out.
SPEAKER_00: Now Job is having this aha moment after all this laundry list of sufferings.
SPEAKER_00: And he's looking to God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's confessing.
SPEAKER_00: He's pouring out his heart to God.
SPEAKER_00: I know who you are.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you can do all things.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing that you plan can be undone.
SPEAKER_00: Who has knowledge like you?
SPEAKER_00: There is none.
SPEAKER_00: The things that you do, I can't even understand.
SPEAKER_00: They're too wonderful for me to understand.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about his life.
SPEAKER_00: Too wonderful for me.
SPEAKER_00: Hear and I will speak in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: I will question you and you will make it known to me.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to take care of me.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to help me understand the things that I need to know.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard of you.
SPEAKER_00: But now my eyes see you.
SPEAKER_00: Now I understand.
SPEAKER_00: Now I understand, God, you are supreme.
SPEAKER_00: You hold all things in the palm of your hand.
SPEAKER_00: You are in complete control.
SPEAKER_00: God, you are sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's looking to God and his life, his life ends better than it started.
SPEAKER_00: Better than it started.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.
SPEAKER_00: He had, and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
SPEAKER_00: He also had also seven sons and three daughters, and he called the name of the first daughter Jemima, and the name of the second, Kaziah, and the name of the third, Karen Hapuch.
SPEAKER_00: And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
SPEAKER_00: That's uncommon.
SPEAKER_00: And after Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons and his son's sons, four generations, and Job died an old man full of days.
SPEAKER_00: James is telling us to look, to look to God and see his steadfastness.
SPEAKER_00: See how God does not leave his people on the rocks in a ditch on the side of the road, bleeding out to die.
SPEAKER_00: Though some will suffer, and we all will die one way or another.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to die if you are pursuing after God with your whole heart, if you are seeking him, seeking to know him, seeking to obey him, he will not reject you and leave you.
SPEAKER_00: He will stay with you.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a promise that you'll be like Job, wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.
SPEAKER_00: No, this is a reminder for us to see how steadfastness, how men and women of the past have endured tremendous sorrow, tremendous suffering, and they endured.
SPEAKER_00: They endured.
SPEAKER_00: They held tightly on to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: They did not turn away, they did not reject him.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures say we draw near to God and he will draw near to us.
SPEAKER_00: And the blessings, the happiness of enduring suffering is drawing nearer to God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: To know God in a deeper, in a more meaningful, in a more intimate way.
SPEAKER_00: God, I went through a lot of stuff that was really hard, but you never left me.
SPEAKER_00: I was struggling.
SPEAKER_00: My life was a mess, but you were still there.
SPEAKER_00: We consider those blessed.
SPEAKER_00: You're blessed if you remain steadfast because you have a deeper and richer understanding of the love of God, the faithfulness of God.
SPEAKER_00: He saw you through it and he saw you to the end of it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're in Christ, he will remain faithful to you to the end.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: He is compassionate and merciful.
SPEAKER_00: He's not going to allow you to endure things that you cannot endure.
SPEAKER_00: He will give you the strength to carry on.
SPEAKER_00: He will sustain you through it.
SPEAKER_00: And if your life comes to an end, he will receive you if you're in Christ into his arms, into his rest, into his peace, into glory with him.
SPEAKER_00: That is a promise from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: A great reminder for us.
SPEAKER_00: We need to write this down.
SPEAKER_00: We need to, point number two, see God's blessings through steadfast living.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to experience trials.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to experience from one degree or another some suffering in this life.
SPEAKER_00: There's a God who is with you at all times, who is ever-present, compassionate, and merciful.
SPEAKER_00: You can bring your cares, you can bring your hurts, you can bring your pains, your sufferings to him.
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Think about Job.
SPEAKER_00: Let these people of Scripture inform us how to faithfully lean on God in every stage, in every season of life.
SPEAKER_00: In every season.
SPEAKER_00: Now, James is going to do something interesting here.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, if any of you are basketball fans, he's like Euro stepping.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: He's going one direction and he just completely goes the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: He's driving, he's making a point here.
SPEAKER_00: He's making a point here.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, remember, listen.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Above all, James doesn't do transitions very well.
SPEAKER_00: He's just kind of choppy.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of understand that.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of can relate.
SPEAKER_00: He says, above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath.
SPEAKER_00: But let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: There was a I can't remember what show, but when I was younger, I've saw someone put their fingers crossed their fingers like this and put it behind their back, and they would like tell something that wasn't true.
SPEAKER_00: And they thought that if they like did that, if they crossed their fingers behind their back, like it didn't count.
SPEAKER_00: Are any of you familiar with that?
SPEAKER_00: It's like there's there's certain there's certain things that you can do to undo things that you did wrong.
SPEAKER_00: People's words when they're making big claims or big promises, big statements, they they wanted to put more weight behind the truthfulness of their words.
SPEAKER_00: So they would swear it.
SPEAKER_00: They would swear it on something, swear it on the temple, on the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00: They might swear it on their mama, on their auntie, on their whoever.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I could, I could back my words.
SPEAKER_00: I could I could put this, they they vouch for me.
SPEAKER_00: Something might go wrong to this person if I name their name and what I say isn't true.
SPEAKER_00: James is saying, hey, just cut it straight.
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't make it weird.
SPEAKER_00: Just if you're gonna say something and you're gonna do it, go do it.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not, if you're saying I'm not gonna do it, don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get it complicated.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get weird.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get it twisted.
SPEAKER_00: Just let your yes be yes and your no be no.
SPEAKER_00: Stop swearing, stop making these like verbal complications to like give you an out just in case you don't want to do the thing that you said you're gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we we can we can say to our parents, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll do it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: Take out the trash.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some other things I'd rather do.
SPEAKER_00: So you so you don't do it?
SPEAKER_00: Your yes was not your yes.
SPEAKER_00: Did you uh did you did you take the did you take your siblings candy bar?
SPEAKER_00: There's you know, there's it was here, now it's not.
SPEAKER_00: Um how can I slip and slide my way out of this one because I got caught.
SPEAKER_00: No, let your yes be yes and your no be no.
SPEAKER_00: Be truthful, keep it simple.
SPEAKER_00: Keep it simple.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord wants you to tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lie.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you don't need to swear.
SPEAKER_00: Let your reputation be strong.
SPEAKER_00: Let your reputation be this.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a brother the other day.
SPEAKER_00: Your reputation should be so good that when when people when people recognize that you're willing to accept your mistakes, you confess like I was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: When you say something didn't happen, they're gonna believe you because if you're owning your mistakes and saying, like, yeah, that was me, that was my fault.
SPEAKER_00: I messed up.
SPEAKER_00: Will you please forgive me?
SPEAKER_00: If you're living a life that is accurate to reality, you're not living in some like other world where things aren't happening the way that real life is happening, people are going to respect you, they're gonna trust you, and you're gonna have a reputation that is finer than silver and gold.
SPEAKER_00: And that that's going to honor the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 12, 22 says this lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
SPEAKER_00: You you want you want to bring honor and glory, you want to be a delight to the Lord, tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Even if it puts you in a bad spot, tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: If it brings discipline to you, punishment to you, correction to you, tell the truth all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.
SPEAKER_00: To put it simply, let's write this down for point number three.
SPEAKER_00: Speak honestly and simply.
SPEAKER_00: Don't make it complicated.
SPEAKER_00: Speak honestly and simply.
SPEAKER_00: Take it away if I'm not telling the truth.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a thing that I've heard.
SPEAKER_00: It might be something you do.
SPEAKER_00: If you're doing it, stop.
SPEAKER_00: Just tell the truth simply, honestly.
SPEAKER_00: Just keep it, just go as straight at the truth in conversation as you possibly can.
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't take a roundabout way.
SPEAKER_00: Just be direct.
SPEAKER_00: Stay correct, be direct.
SPEAKER_00: Keep it simple and honest.
SPEAKER_00: Speak the truth.
SPEAKER_00: All the time.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 15 1 through 5 says this.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
SPEAKER_00: Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
SPEAKER_00: He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, who swears to his own hurts and does not change, keep it simple, keep it honest, who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
SPEAKER_00: He who does these things shall never be moved.
SPEAKER_00: Your your reputation, your word, the way that you honor the Lord, so often is connected to the what just what flows out of our mouths.
SPEAKER_00: What flows out of our mouths.
SPEAKER_00: We we need to be a people that honor the Lord and just tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let your yes be your yes and your no be a no.
SPEAKER_00: And this verse concludes, verse 12 concludes with a warning.
SPEAKER_00: Do this so that condemnation doesn't crush you.
SPEAKER_00: Condemnation for the believer, your reputation will be damaged, but there's room for you to confess.
SPEAKER_00: And if if you are making a continual habit of of lying, if you're making a continual habit of twisting the truth, manipulating the truth, omitting the truth, telling partial truths, flat out lying, you have a lifestyle, a pattern that is not fearing the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There's evidence against you.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not repenting, you're not turning from that sin, there is condemnation coming your way.
SPEAKER_00: And James is saying, Don't make it so complicated.
SPEAKER_00: Just tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let your yes be your yes, and your no be your no.
SPEAKER_00: People want to be around you, knowing that your character is strong.
SPEAKER_00: People will will choose you first to be a partner, to be in the project together.
SPEAKER_00: And the more importantly, the Lord is honored.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is delighted to know his people are speaking the truth.
SPEAKER_00: So even if you are in trouble, you're in the wrong, there's a temptation that's gonna come.
SPEAKER_00: If you give an accurate representation of what happened, you're gonna you're gonna lose some things.
SPEAKER_00: You might you might lose a phone, you might, you might lose the some privileges, but tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Your parents, your your relationship with your parents, they're gonna respect you for it.
SPEAKER_00: They're they're gonna trust you more because of your truth telling when when it puts you in a tough spot.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord, the Lord will be ultimately.
SPEAKER_00: Glorified.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what James is wanting us to understand today.
SPEAKER_00: Look in the rear view.
SPEAKER_00: Connecting it to let your yes be yes and your no be no.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets, knowing the response of their audience would be against them, chose to speak the truth of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: God says, tell them.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't manipulate the message, they didn't change the message, they didn't distort the message.
SPEAKER_00: They told the people that they were in the wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what that's what we can we can look back and find godly role models.
SPEAKER_00: We can look back and see the blessings of living a life that's pleasing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And God will be ultimately glorified as we speak just simply and honestly to a world that is lost, that is drowning in lies.
SPEAKER_00: They need the truth, specifically the truth of the gospel, and so do we today.
SPEAKER_00: So I hope that is an encouragement and a challenge to you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the truth of the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't, if you don't, you need to be wrestling with that tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God in heaven, we want to just confess that we fall short.
SPEAKER_00: We in our in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Our yes is not our yes at times, and our no is not a no.
SPEAKER_00: God, help us to turn, help us to repent and confess our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to be forgiven, to be cleansed by just your promises that you you will forgive.
SPEAKER_00: God, you will you will cleanse uh the sin-stained sinner.
SPEAKER_00: You will make, you will make us white as snow before you will we can stand blameless if we have forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: And God, you have made a way for us to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: God, help us to be people that uh have a high integrity, a people that are just moved by um by people of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to have godly role models.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to say, I want to be more like Paul, I want to be more like Moses, I want to be more like Ruth.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be more like John.
SPEAKER_00: God, help us to look to the many examples of your scripture, people that are broken, fallen, that have their own problems and sins.
SPEAKER_00: But God help us to remain steadfast and to continue uh pursuing after you with all that we are.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.