1704. All Joy In All Trials

No. 1704-29:73. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Morning, February 4, 1883, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

My brethren, consider it all joy when you fall into various temptations; knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. {Jas 1:2-4}

1. James calls the converted among the twelve tribes his brethren. Christianity has a great uniting power: it both discovers and creates relationships among the sons of men. It reminds us of the ties of nature, and binds us with the bonds of grace. Everyone who is born by the Spirit of God is brother to every other person who is born by the same Spirit. Well may we be called brethren, for we are redeemed by one blood; we are partakers of the same life; we feed on the same heavenly food; we are united to the same living head; we seek the same goals; we love the same Father: we are heirs of the same promises; and we shall live for ever together in the same heaven. Therefore, let brotherly love continue; let us love each other with a pure heart fervently, and reveal that love, not in word only, but in deed and in truth. Whatever brotherhood may be a sham, let the brotherhood of believers be the most real thing beneath the stars.

2. Beginning with this word “brethren,” James shows a true brotherly sympathy with believers in their trials, and this is a main part of Christian fellowship. “Bear each other’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” If we are not tempted ourselves at this moment, others are: let us remember them in our prayers; for in due time our turn will come, and we shall be put into the crucible. Since we would desire to receive sympathy and help in our hour of need, let us render it freely to those who are now enduring trial. Let us remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them, and those who suffer affliction as being ourselves in the body. Remembering the trials of his brethren, James tries to cheer them, and therefore he says, “My brethren, consider it all joy when you fall into various trials.” It is a part of our high calling to raise ourselves up into confidence; and it is also our duty to see that none of our brethren are despondent, much less despairing. The whole tendency of our holy faith is to elevate and to encourage. Grace creates no sorrow, except the healthy sorrow which comes with saving repentance and leads to the joy of pardon: it does not come to make men miserable, but to wipe all tears from their eyes. Our dream is not of demons descending a dreary staircase to hell, but of angels ascending and descending upon a ladder, the top of which leads to the shining throne of God. The message of the gospel is one of joy and gladness, and were it universally understood and received this world would no longer be a wilderness, but it would rejoice and blossom as the rose. Let grace reign in all hearts, and this earth will become a temple filled with perpetual song: and even the trials of life will become reasons for the highest joy, so beautifully described by James as “all joy,” as if every possible delight were crowded into it. Blessed be God, it is our work, not to upbraid, but to cheer all the brotherhood: we walk in a light which glorifies everything upon which it falls, and turns losses into gains. We are able in sober earnest to speak with the afflicted, and encourage them be patient under the chastening hand of God; yes, to consider it all joy when they fall into various trials because those trials will work out for them such exceptional and lasting good. They may be well satisfied to sow in tears since they are sure to reap in joy.

3. Without further preface we will come at once to the text; and observe that in speaking about affliction, for that is the subject of the text, the apostle notes, first, the essential point which is assailed by temptation, namely, your faith. Your faith is the target that all the arrows are shot at; the furnace is kindled for the trial of your faith. Notice, secondly, the invaluable blessing which is gained by this, namely, the proving of your faith, discovering whether it is the right faith or not. This proof of our faith is a blessing of which I cannot speak too highly. Then, thirdly, we may not overlook the priceless virtue which is produced by this process of testing, namely, patience; for the proving of your faith produces patience, and this is the soul’s best enrichment. Lastly, in connection with that patience we shall notice the spiritual completeness which is promoted by this: — “So that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Perhaps you have noticed those little variations I have made in the text; but I am now following the 1881 English Revised Version, which gives an admirable rendering. I will read it. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various temptations; knowing that the proof of your faith works patience. And let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

4. I. First, let us think a little upon THE ESSENTIAL POINT WHICH IS ASSAILED by temptation or trial.

5. It is your faith which is tested. It is supposed that you have that faith. You are not the people of God, you are not truly brethren unless you are believers. It is this faith of yours which is particularly obnoxious to Satan and to the world which lies in the wicked one. If you did not have faith they would not be enemies of yours; but faith is the mark of the chosen of God, and therefore his foes become the foes of all the faithful, spitting their venom especially upon their faith. God himself has put enmity between the serpent and the woman, between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed; and that enmity must show itself. The serpent bites at the heel of the true seed: hence mockings, persecutions, temptations, and trials are sure to beset the pathway to faith. The hand of faith is against all evil, and all evil is against faith. Faith is that blessed grace which is most pleasing to God, and hence it is the most displeasing to the devil. By faith God is greatly glorified, and hence by faith Satan is greatly annoyed. He rages at faith because he sees his own defeat and the victory of grace in it.

6. Because the trial of your faith brings honour to the Lord, therefore the Lord himself is sure to test it so that out of its trial praise may come to his grace by which faith is sustained. Our chief purpose is to glorify God, and if our trials enable us more fully to serve the purpose of our being, it is good that they should happen to us. So early in our discourse we see reason to consider it all joy when we fall into various trials.

7. It is by our faith that we are saved, justified, and brought near to God, and therefore it is no marvel that it is attacked. It is by believing in Christ that we are delivered from the reigning power of sin, and receive power to become the sons of God. Faith is as vital to salvation as the heart is vital to the body: hence the javelins of the enemy are mainly aimed at this essential grace. Faith is the standard-bearer, and the object of the enemy is to strike him down so that the battle may be won. If the foundations are removed what can the righteous do? If the cable can be snapped where will the vessel drift? All the powers of darkness which are opposed to right and truth are sure to fight against our faith, and various temptations will march in their legions against our confidence in God.

8. It is by our faith that we live; we began to live by it, and continue to live by it, for “the just shall live by faith.” Once let faith go and our life is gone; and hence it is that the powers which war against us make their main assault upon this royal castle, this key of the whole position. Faith is your jewel, your joy, your glory; and the thieves who haunt the pilgrim way are all in league to tear it from you. Hold firmly, therefore, to your choice treasure.

9. It is by faith, too, that Christians perform exploits. If men of old performed daring and heroic deeds it was by faith. Faith is the fighting principle and the conquering principle: therefore it is Satan’s policy to kill it even as Pharaoh tried to kill the male children when Israel lived in Egypt. Rob a Christian of his faith and he will be like Samson when his locks were cut off: the Philistines will be upon him and the Lord will have departed from him. Do not marvel if the full force of the current shall beat upon your faith, for it is the foundation of your spiritual house. Oh that your faith may remain steadfast and unmovable in all present trials, so that it may be found true in the hour of death and in the day of judgment. Woe to that man whose faith fails him in this land of peace, for what will he do in the swelling of Jordan?

10. Now, think of how faith is tested. According to the text we are said to fall into “various temptations” or into “many temptations” — that is to say, we may expect very many and very different troubles. In any case these trials will be most real. The twelve tribes to whom this epistle was written were a specially tested people, for in the first place they were, as Jews, greatly persecuted by all other nations, and when they became Christians they were cruelly persecuted by their own people. A Gentile convert was somewhat less in peril than a Jewish Christian, for the latter was crushed between the upper and nether millstones of Paganism and Judaism. The Israelite Christian was usually so persecuted by his own kith and kin that he had to flee from them, and where could he go, for all other people abhorred the Jews? We are not in such a plight, but God’s people even to this day will find that trial is no sham word. The rod in God’s house is no toy to play with. The furnace, believe me, is no mere place of extra warmth to which you may soon accustom yourself: it is often heated seven times hotter, like the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar and God’s children are made to know that the fire burns and devours. Our temptations are no inventions of nervousness nor hobgoblins of dreamy fear. You have heard of the patience of Job — his was real patience, for his afflictions were real. Could each tested believer among us tell his own story I do not doubt we would convince all who heard us that the troubles and temptations which we have endured are no fictions of romance, but must be ranked among the stern realities of actual life.

11. Indeed, and notice too, that the trials of Christians are such as would in themselves lead us into sin, for I take it that our translators would not have placed the word “temptation” in the text, and the Revisionists would not have retained it, if they had not felt that there was a colouring of temptation in its meaning, and that “trial” was hardly the word. The natural tendency of trouble is not to sanctify, but to induce sin. A man is very apt to become unbelieving under affliction: that is a sin. He is apt to murmur against God under it: that is a sin. He is apt to use his hand in some evil way of escaping from his difficulty: and that would be sin. Hence we are taught to pray, “Do not lead us into temptation”; because trial has in itself a measure of temptation; and if it were not neutralized by abundant grace it would bear us towards sin. I suppose that every test must have in it a measure of temptation. The Lord cannot be tempted by evil, neither does he tempt any man; but this is to be understood of his purpose and intention. He entices no man to do evil; but yet he tests the sincerity and faithfulness of men by placing them where sin comes in their way, and does its best or its worst to ensnare them: his intention being that the uprightness of his servants may be proved by this, both to themselves and others. We are not taken out of this world of temptation, but we are kept in it for our good. Because our nature is depraved it makes occasions for sin, both out of our joys and our trials, but by grace we overcome the tendency of nature, and so derive benefit from tribulation. Do I not speak to many here who at times feel strong impulses towards evil, especially in the dark hour when the spirit of evil walks abroad? Have you not been made to tremble for yourselves in times of fierce trial, for your feet were almost gone, your steps had almost slipped. Is there any virtue that has not been weather-beaten? Is there any love that has not at times been so tested that it threatened to curdle into hate? Is there any good thing this side of heaven which has marched all the way in silver slippers? Did a flower of grace ever blossom in this wretched clime without being exposed to frost or blight? Our way is up the river; we have to stem the current, and struggle against a flood which would readily bear us to destruction. So, not only trials, but black temptations assail the Christian’s faith.

12. As for what form they take, we may say this much: the trial or temptation of each man is distinct from that of every other. When God tested Abraham he was told to take his son, his only son, and offer him upon a mountain for a sacrifice. No one here was ever tested in that way: no one ever will be. We may have the trial of losing our child, but certainly not the trial of having a command to offer him in sacrifice. That was a trial unique to Abraham: necessary and useful for him, though never proposed to us. In the case of the young man in the gospels, our Lord Jesus tested him with, “If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven.” Some have dreamed that it must therefore be the duty of everyone to part with their possessions: but this is idle. It would not be the duty of any man to offer up his only son; and it is not the duty of every man to part with all his goods. These were tests for particular people; and others equally special and searching have been applied in other cases. We are not to test ourselves, nor to desire other men’s trials; it will be best if we endure those which the Lord appoints for us, for they will be wisely chosen. What would most severely test me would perhaps be no trial for you; and what tests you might be no temptation for me. This is one reason why we often judge each other so severely, because feeling ourselves to be strong in that particular point we argue that the fallen one must have been strong in that point too, and therefore must have wilfully and earnestly have determined to do wrong. This may be a cruel supposition. We hastily conclude that the temptation must have been as feeble in his case as it would have been in our own; which is a great mistake, for a temptation which to you or to me would be no temptation at all, may be to another individual, of a particular constitution and under exceptional circumstances, a most fierce and terrible blast from the adversary, before which he falls mournfully, but not with the malice of forethought. “Various trials,” says the apostle, and he knew what he was saying.

13. And, dear friends, sometimes these various trials derive great force from their seemingly surrounding us, and cutting off escape: James says, — “You fall into various temptations”: like men who fall into a pit, and do not know how to get out; or like soldiers who fall into an ambush; or travellers in the good old times when two or three footpaths surrounded them and made them feel that they had fallen into bad hands. The tempted do not see which way to turn; they appear to be hemmed in; they are as a bird that is taken in the fowler’s snare. It is this that makes calamity of our various temptations, so that they hedge up our way, and unless faith finds the clue we wander in a thorny maze.

14. At times temptation comes suddenly upon us, and so we fall into it. When we were at rest, and were quiet, suddenly the evil came, like a lion leaping from the thicket. When Job’s children were eating and drinking in their oldest brother’s house, then suddenly a wind came from the wilderness, and the patriarch was bereaved: the oxen were ploughing, the sheep were grazing, the camels were at their service, and in a moment, by fire from heaven, and by robber bands, these entire possessions vanished. One messenger had not told his story before another followed at his heels; Job had no breathing time, the blows fell thick and fast. The trial of our faith is most severe when various trials happen to us when we do not look for them. Is it not strange in the light of these things that James should say, “Consider it all joy when you fall into various trials?”

15. Those were the days of tumults, imprisonment, crucifixion, sword, and fire. Then the amphitheatre devoured Christians by thousands. The general cry was “The Christians to the lions!” Do you wonder if sometimes the bravest were made to say, “Is our faith really true? This faith which is abhorred by all mankind, can it be divine? Has it come from God? Why, then, does he not intervene and deliver his people? Shall we apostatise? Shall we deny Christ and live, or shall we go on with our confession through innumerable torments even to a bloody death? Will fidelity pay after all? Is there a crown of glory? is there an eternity of bliss? Is there in very deed a resurrection of the dead?” These questions came into men’s minds then, and were fairly faced: the faith of martyrs was not taken up second-hand, or borrowed from their parents; they believed for themselves in downright earnest. Men and women in those days believed in such a way that they never flinched nor turned aside from the fear of death; indeed, they pressed forward to confess their faith in Jesus in such crowds that at last the heathen cried, “There must be something in it: it must be a religion from God, or how could these men so gladly bear their troubles?” This was the faith of God’s elect, the work of the Holy Spirit.

16. You see, then, the main point of attack is our faith, and happy is the man whose shield can catch and quench all the fiery arrows of the enemy.

17. II. So that we may make the text more clear we shall next notice THE INVALUABLE BLESSING WHICH IS GAINED BY THE TRIAL OF OUR FAITH.

18. The blessing gained is this, that our faith is tested and proved. Two weeks ago I addressed you upon the man whose bad foundations led to the overthrow of his house; {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1702, “On Laying Foundations” 1703} and I know that many said after the sermon: — “May God grant that we may not be like him: may we have a firm foundation for our soul to rest on.” Then you went home, and you sat down and said, “Do I have this sure foundation?” You began to question, argue, reason, and so on, and your intention was a good one. But I do not think that much came of it; our own looking within seldom yields solid comfort. Actual trial is far more satisfactory; but you must not test yourself. The effective proof is by trials of God’s sending. The way of testing whether you are a good soldier is to go down to the battle: the way to test whether a ship is well built is, not merely to order the surveyor to examine her, but to send her to sea: a storm will be the best test of her staunchness. They have built a new lighthouse upon the Eddystone Rock: {a} how do we know that it will stand? We judge by certain laws and principles, and feel tolerably safe about the structure; but, after all, we shall know best in later years when a thousand tempests have beaten upon the lighthouse in vain. We need trials as a test as much as we need divine truth as our food. Admire the ancient types placed in the ark of the covenant of old: two things were laid close together, — the pot of manna and the rod. See how heavenly food and heavenly rule go together: how our sustenance and our chastening are equally provided for! A Christian cannot live without the manna nor without the rod. The two must go together. I mean this, that it is as great a mercy to have your salvation proved to you under trial as it is to have it sustained in you by the consolations of the Spirit of God. Sanctified tribulations work the proof of our faith, and this is more precious than that of gold which perishes, though it is tested by fire.

19. Now, when we are able to bear it without turning aside, the trial proves our sincerity. Coming out of a trouble the Christian says to himself, “Yes, I held firmly to my integrity, and did not let it go. Blessed be God, I was not afraid of threatening; I was not crushed by losses; I was kept true to God under pressure. Now, I am sure that my religion is not a mere profession, but a real consecration to God. It has endured the fire, being kept by the power of God.”

20. Next, it proves the truthfulness of our doctrinal belief. Oh, yes, you may say, “I have heard Mr. Spurgeon expound the doctrines, and I have believed them.” This is poor work; but if you have been sick, and found a comfort in those doctrines, then you are assured of their truth. If you have been on the borders of the grave, and the gospel has given you joy and gladness, then you know how true it is. Practical knowledge is the best and most certain. If you have seen others pass through death itself triumphantly you have said, “This is proof to me: my faith is no guess-work: I have seen for myself.” Is not this assurance cheaply purchased at any price? May we not consider it all joy when the Lord puts us in the way of getting it? It seems to me that doubt is worse than trial. I would sooner suffer any affliction than be left to question the gospel or my own interest in it. Certainly it is a jewel worth purchasing even with our heart’s blood.

21. Next, your own faith in God is proved when you can cling to him under temptation. Not only your sincerity, but the divinity of your faith is proved; for a faith that is never tested, how can you depend on it? But if in the darkest hour you have still said, “I cast my burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain me,” and you find he does sustain you, then your faith is that of God’s elect. If in temptation you cry to God in prayer so that you may keep your garment unspotted, and he helps you to do so, then also you are sure that yours is the faith which the Spirit creates in the soul. After a great fight of affliction, when I emerge as a conqueror, I know that I do believe in God, and I know that this faith makes me a partaker of covenant blessings; from this I may fairly argue that my faith is of the right kind.

22. I find it especially sweet to learn the great strength of the Lord in my own weakness. We find out under trial where we are most weak, and just then in answer to prayer strength is given answerable to the need. The Lord suits the help to the hindrance, and puts the bandage on the wound. In the very hour when it is needed the needed grace is given. Does this not tend to create assurance of faith?

23. It is a splendid thing to be able to prove even to Satan the purity of your motives. That was the great gain of Job. There was no question about his outward conduct, but the question was about his motive. “Ah,” says the devil, “he serves God for what he gets out of him. Have you not set a hedge around him and all that he has? His is cupboard love: he cares nothing for God himself, he only cares for the reward of his virtue.” Well, he is tested, and everything is taken away, and when he cries, “Though he kills me, yet I will trust in him,” when he blesses the taking as well as the giving God, then the devil himself could not have the impudence to accuse him again. As for Job’s own conscience, it would be quite settled and confirmed concerning his pure love for God. My brethren, I think that the endurance of every imaginable suffering and trial would be a small price to pay for a settled assurance, which would for ever prevent the possibility of doubt. Never mind the waves if they wash you upon this rock. Therefore, when you are tempted, “Consider it all joy” that you are tested, because by this you will receive a proof of your love, a proof of your faith, a proof of your being the true-born children of God.

24. James says, “Consider it.” A man requires training to be a good accountant; it is a skill which needs to be learned. What muddles some of us would make if we had to settle accounts and manage disbursements and receipts without the aid of a clerk! How we would get entangled with balances and deficits! We could much easier spend money than count it. But when a man once knows the science of bookkeeping, and gets into the swing of it, he readily arrives at the true position of affairs. He has learned to count, and no error escapes his eye. James gives us a ready-reckoner, and teaches us in our troubles how to count. He sets before us a different kind of measure from what carnal reason would use: the shekel of the sanctuary was very different from the shekel in common commerce, and so is the counting of faith far different than that of human judgment. He tells us to take our pen and sit down quickly and write at his correct dictation. You are going to write down, “Various temptations”; that would be so much on the wrong side: but instead of that he tells you to write down the proving of your faith, and this one asset transforms the transaction into a substantial gain. Trials are like a fire; they burn up nothing in us except the dross, and they make the gold all the purer. Record the testing process as a clear gain, and, instead of being sorry about it, consider it all joy when you fall into various trials, for this bestows upon you a proof of your faith. So far there is sufficient basis for considering all trials joy. Now, let us go a little further.

25. III. Let us think of THE PRICELESS VIRTUE WHICH IS PRODUCED BY TRIAL, namely, patience; for the proof of your “faith works patience.” Patience! We all have a large supply of it — until we need it, and then we have none. The man who truly possesses patience is the man who has been tested. What kind of patience does he get by the grace of God?

26. First, he obtains a patience that accepts the trials as from God without a murmur. Calm resignation does not come all at once; often long years of physical pain, or mental depression, or disappointment in business, or multiplied bereavements, are needed to bring the soul into full submission to the will of the Lord. After much crying the child is weaned; after much chastening the son is made obedient to his Father’s will. By degrees we learn to end our quarrel with God, and to desire that there may not be two wills between God and ourselves, but that God’s will may be our will. Oh, brother, if your troubles create that into you, you are a gainer, I am sure, and you may consider them all joy.

27. The next kind of patience is the kind when experience enables a man to bear bad treatment, slander, and injury without resentment. He feels it keenly, but he bears it meekly. Like his Master, he does not open his mouth to reply, and refuses to return railing for railing. On the contrary he gives blessing in return for cursing; like the sandalwood tree which perfumes the axe which cuts it. Blessed is that holy love which hopes all things, endures all things, and is not easily provoked. Ah, friend, if the grace of God by trial shall work in you the quiet patience which never grows angry, and never ceases to love, you may have lost a trifle of comfort, but you have gained a solid weight of character.

28. The patience which God works in us by tribulation also takes another form, namely, that of acting without undue haste. Before wisdom has balanced our zeal we are eager to serve God all in a hurry, with a rush and a spurt, as if everything must be done within the hour or nothing would ever be accomplished. We set about holy service with somewhat more of preparedness of heart after we have been drilled in the school of trial. We go steadily and resolutely about work for Jesus, knowing what poor creatures we are, and what a glorious Master we serve. The Lord our God is in no hurry because he is strong and wise. In proportion as we grow like the Lord Jesus we shall cast aside disturbance of mind and fury of spirit. His was a grand life-work, but he never seemed to be confused, excited, worried, or rushed, as certain of his people are. He did not strive nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. He knew his hour was not yet come, and there were so many days in which he could work, and therefore he went steadily on until he had finished the work which his Father had given him to do. That kind of patience is a jewel more to be desired than the gem which glitters on the imperial brow. Sometimes we blunder into a good deal of mischief, making more haste than speed; and we are sure to do so when we forget to pray, and fail to commit our matters into the divine hands. We may run with such vehemence that we may stumble, or lose our breath: there may be in our random efforts as much undoing as doing, for lack of possessing our souls in patience.

29. That is a grand kind of patience, too, when we can wait without unbelief. Two little words are good for every Christian to learn and to practise — pray and stay. Waiting on the Lord implies both praying and staying. What if the world is not converted this year! What if the Lord Jesus does not come tomorrow! What if our tribulations are still lengthened out! What if the conflict is continued! He who has been tested and by grace has obtained the true profit of his trials, both quietly waits and joyfully hopes for the salvation of God. Patience, brother! Is this high virtue scarce with you? The Holy Spirit shall bestow it upon you through suffering.

30. This patience also takes the form of believing without wavering, in the very teeth of strange providences and exceptional demands, and perhaps inward misgivings. The established Christian says, “I believe my God, and therefore if the vision tarries I will wait for it. My time is not yet come. I am to have my worst things first and my best things afterwards, and so I sit down at Jesus’ feet and wait for his leisure.”

31. Brothers and sisters, if, in a word, we learn endurance we have taken a high degree. You look at the weather-beaten sailor, the man who is at home on the sea: he has a bronzed face and mahogany-coloured flesh, he looks as tough as the heart of oak, and as hardy as if he were made of iron. How different from us poor land-lubbers. How did the man become so accustomed to hardship, so able to weather the storm, so that he does not care whether the wind blows south-west or north-west? He can go out to sea in any kind of weather; he has his sea-legs on: how did he come to this strength? By doing business in great waters. He could not have become a hardy seaman by staying on shore. Now, trial works in the saints that spiritual hardihood which cannot be learned in ease. You may go to school for ever, but you cannot learn endurance there: you may colour your cheek with paint, but you cannot give it that ingrained brown which comes from stormy seas and howling winds. Strong faith and brave patience come from trouble, and a few men in the church who have been prepared by this are worth anything in times of tempest. To reach that condition of firm endurance and sacred hardihood is worth all the expense of all the heaped-up troubles that ever come upon us from above or from beneath. When trial works patience we are incalculably enriched. May the Lord give us more of this choice grace. Just as Peter’s fish had the money in its mouth, so sanctified trials have spiritual riches for those who endure them graciously.

32. IV. Lastly, all this works something better still, and this is our fourth point: THE SPIRITUAL COMPLETENESS PROMOTED. “So that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

33. Brethren, the most valuable thing a man can get in this world is what has most to do with his truest self. A man gets a good house; well, that is something: but suppose he is in bad health, what is the good of his fine mansion? A man is well clothed and well fed: that is something: but suppose he shivers with ague, and has no appetite through indigestion. That spoils it all. If a man is in robust health this is a far more valuable blessing. Health is far more to be prized than wealth, or honour, or learning: we all allow that, but then suppose that a man’s innermost self is diseased while his body is healthy, so that he is disgraced by vice or fevered with passion, is he not in a poor plight, notwithstanding that he has such a robust body? The very best thing is what will make the man himself a better man; make him right, and true, and pure, and holy. When the man himself is better, he has made an unquestionable gain. So, if our afflictions tend, by testing our faith, to create patience, and that patience tends to make us into perfect men in Christ Jesus, then we may be glad for trials. Afflictions by God’s grace make us all-round men, developing every spiritual faculty, and therefore they are our friends, our helpers, and should be welcomed with “all joy.”

34. Afflictions expose our weak points, and this makes us attend to them. Being tested, we discover our failures, and then going to God about those failures we are helped to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

35. Moreover, our trials, when blessed by God to make us patient, make us mature. I do not know how to explain what I mean by maturing, but there is a kind of mellowness about believers who have endured a great deal of affliction that you never find in other people. It cannot be mistaken or imitated. A certain measure of sunlight is needed to bring out the real flavour of fruits, and when a fruit has felt its measure of burning sun it develops a lusciousness which we all delight in. So it is in men and women: a certain amount of trouble appears to be necessary to create a certain sugar of graciousness in them, so that they may contain the rich, ripe juice of a gracious character. You must have known such men and such women, and have said to yourselves, “I wish I could be like them, so calm, so quiet, so self-contained, so happy, and when not happy, still so content not to be happy; so mature in judgment, so spiritual in conversation, so truly developed.” This only comes to those in whom the proof of their faith works experience, and then experience produces the fruits of the Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, there is a certain all-roundness of spiritual manhood which never comes to us except by various temptations. Let me attempt to show you what I mean. Sanctified trials produce a chastened spirit. Some of us by nature are rough and untender; but after a while friends notice that the roughness is departing, and they are quite glad to be more gently handled. Ah, that sick room did the polishing; under God’s grace, that depression of spirit, that loss, that cross, that bereavement, — these softened the natural ruggedness, and made the man meek and lowly, like his Lord. Sanctified trouble has a great tendency to create sympathy, and sympathy is to the church as oil to machinery. A man who has never suffered feels very awkward when he tries to sympathise with a tested child of God. He kindly does his best, but he does not know how to go about it; but those repeated blows from the rod make us feel for others who are smarting, and by degrees we are recognised as being the Lord’s anointed comforters, prepared by temptation to help those who are tempted.

36. Have you never noticed how tested men, too, when their trouble is thoroughly sanctified, become cautious and humble? They cannot speak quite so fast as they used to do: they do not talk about being absolutely perfect, though you are the very men who are scripturally perfect; they say little about their doings, and much about the tender mercy of the Lord. They remember the whipping they had behind the door from their Father’s hands, and they speak gently to other erring ones. Affliction is the stone which our Lord Jesus throws at the brow of our giant pride, and patience is the sword which cuts off its head.

37. Those, too, are the kind of people who are most grateful. I have known what it is to praise God for the power to move one leg in bed. It may not seem much to you, but it was a great blessing to me. Those who are heavily afflicted come to bless God for everything. I am sure that woman who took a piece of bread and a cup of water for her breakfast, and said, “What, all this, and Christ too!” must have been a tested woman, or she would not have exhibited so much gratitude. And that old Puritan minister was surely a tested man, for when his family had only a herring and a few potatoes for dinner, he said, “Lord, we bless you that you have ransacked land and sea to find food for us today.” If he had not been a tested man, he might have turned up his nose at the meal, as many do at much more sumptuous fare. Troubled men get to be grateful men, and that is no little thing.

38. As a rule, where God’s grace works, these come to be hopeful men. Where others think the storm will destroy the vessel, they can remember storms equally fierce which did not destroy it, and so they are so calm that their courage keeps others from despair.

39. These men, too, become unworldly men. They have had too much trouble to think that they can ever build their nest in this black forest. There are too many thorns in their nest for them to think that this can be their home. These birds of paradise take to their wings, and are ready to fly away to the land of unfading flowers.

40. And these much tempted ones are frequently the most spiritual men, and out of this spirituality comes usefulness. Mr. Great-Heart, who led the band of pilgrims up to the celestial city, was a man of many trials, or he would not have been fit to lead so many to their heavenly rest; and you, dear brother, if you are ever to be a leader and a helper, as you would wish to be, in the church of God, it must be by such means as this that you must be prepared for it. Do you not wish to have every virtue developed? Do you not wish to become a perfect man in Christ Jesus? If so, welcome with all joy various trials and temptations; flee to God with them; bless him for having sent them: ask him to help you to bear them with patience, and then let that patience have its perfect work, and so by the Spirit of God you shall become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” May the Comforter bless this word to your hearts, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Jas 1]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Unchanging Love — Begone, Unbelief” 734}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Support in Affliction — Welcoming The Cross” 750}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Joy and Peace — Joy And Peace In Believing” 716}

{a} Eddystone Rock Lighthouse: The first lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley. Construction started in 1696 and the light was lit on November 14, 1698. During construction, a French privateer took Winstanley prisoner, causing Louis XIV to order his release with the words “France is at war with England, not with humanity.” The lighthouse survived its first winter but was in need of repair, and was subsequently changed to a dodecagonal (12 sided) stone clad exterior on a timber framed construction with an Octagonal top section as can be clearly seen in the later drawings or paintings, one of which is to the left. This gives rise to the claims that there have been five lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Winstanley’s tower lasted until the Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace on November 27. Winstanley was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him. See Explorer "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse"

The Christian, Privileges, Unchanging Love
734 — Begone, Unbelief <10.10.11.11.>
1 Begone, unbelief, my Saviour is near,
   And for my relief will surely appear;
   By prayer let me wrestle, and he will perform,
   With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.
2 Though dark be my way, since he is my guide,
   ‘Tis mine to obey, ‘tis his to provide;
   Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,
   The word he has spoken shall surely prevail.
3 His love in time past forbids me to think
   He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;
   Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review,
   Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.
4 Determined to save, he watch’d o’er my path
   When, Satan’s blind slave, I sported with death:
   And can He have taught me to trust in his name,
   And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?
5 Why should I complain of want or distress,
   Temptation or pain? he told me no less;
   The heirs of salvation, I know from his word,
   Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.
6 How bitter that cup no heart can conceive,
   Which he drank quite up, that sinners might live!
   His way was much rougher and darker than mine;
   Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?
7 Since all that I meet shall work for my good,
   The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food;
   Though painful at present ‘twill cease before long,
   And then, oh how pleasant, the conqueror’s song!
                        John Newton, 1779.

The Christian, Privileges, Support in Affliction
750 — Welcoming The Cross <7s.>
1 ‘Tis my happiness below
   Not to live without the cross,
   But the Saviour’s power to know,
   Sanctifying every loss:
   Trials must and will befall;
   But, with humble faith to see
   Love inscribed upon them all — 
   This is happiness to me.
2 God in Israel sows the seeds
   Of affliction, pain, and toil;
   These spring and choke the weeds
   Which would else o’erspread the soil:
   Trials make the promise sweet;
   Trials give new life to prayer;
   Trials bring me to his feet,
   Lay me low and keep me there.
3 Did I meet no trials here,
   No chastisement by the way,
   Might I not, with reason, fear
   I should prove a castaway?
   Bastards may escape the rod,
   Sunk in earthly vain delight;
   But the true-born child of God
   Must not, would not if he might.
                  William Cowper, 1779.

The Christian, Joy and Peace
716 — Joy And Peace In Believing <7.6.>
1 Sometimes a light surprises
      The Christian while he sings:
   It is the Lord who rises
      With healing in his wings.
   When comforts are declining,
      He grants the soul again,
   A season of clear shining,
      To cheer it, after rain.
2 In holy contemplation,
      We sweetly then pursue
   The theme of God’s salvation,
      And find it ever new.
   Set free from present sorrow
      We cheerfully can say,
   E’en let the unknown tomorrow
      Bring with it what it may:
3 It can bring with it nothing
      But he will bear us through:
   Who gives the lilies clothing,
      Will clothe his people too:
   Beneath the spreading heavens,
      No creature but is fed;
   And he who feeds the ravens,
      Will give his children bread.
4 Though vine nor fig tree neither
      Their wonted fruit should bear,
   Though all the field should wither,
      Nor flocks, nor herds be there!
   Yet God the same abiding,
      His praise shall tune my voice;
   For while in him confiding,
      I cannot but rejoice.
                  William Cowper, 1779.