THE TRYING OF YOUR FAITH
(TRIBULATION / TEMPTATION)

By Jay Pearson

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

There are many ways to define and express tribulation. Temptation manifests itself in tribulation, trials and many of life’s circumstances. Tribulation may be defined in a multitude of ways. My Bible program defined tribulation as "pressing together, pressure, affliction, or distress." A secular word dictionary defines tribulation as "annoying or frustrating, or catastrophic event." My Bible dictionary defines temptation as "an enticement to sin, temptation, whether arising from the desires or from the outward circumstances." None of these descriptions give me the desire to chase after tribulation and/or temptation. Quite the contrary, I’m ready to avoid as much as possible all these definitions. If we live in the world, we can’t escape tribulation and temptation. Our best shot is to avoid them as much as possible. Jesus has overcome the world and therefore tribulation. In Christ is a Zone Free area for tribulation. When we veer from the path Christ has established for us we experience more tribulation.

John 15:5
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

A more common term today for tribulation is we experience negative circumstances. In my youth it was referred to as a bummer, but that was ages ago. Without shaking out any more contents of my balding cranium, let’s check out the Holy Scriptures.

Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

May we strive to maintain our faith through out tribulation and temptations.

2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Tribulation, temptation, trials, and circumstances are one method the advisory uses to deceive, distract, and freeze dry your faith in the Lord. As you recognize these distractions, it affords you an opportunity to seek the Lord for deliverance. Focusing on our deliverances and not our circumstances allows us to trust in the Lord for the thing at hand and a way to see beyond our present circumstance.

1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We not only have outside distractions but left unchecked man himself is his own enemy.

James 1:14
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Remember we are not left without a savior, Jesus Christ the righteous.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

1 Peter 1:6
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

Yes, we can rejoice when we consider the example that Jesus left us with in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus endured the cross with the joy set before him. His focus was on the joy set before him and not the circumstance at hand. With the faith of Jesus Christ, we can look to the joy set before us and not our circumstance at hand.

Eternity extends much longer than the vapor of our circumstance, tribulation, and temptations we face. Yes, our circumstance may be trying, that’s true. It’s trying to shift your focus from trusting the Lord to leaning on your own understanding and sufficiency.

1 Peter 1:6-9
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

May we, in Christ Jesus, seek the joy set before us, rejoicing in hope and patient in tribulation, denying temptation’s lure, always.

Jude 1:24-25
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Amen

Remember last Sunday’s lesson. Let’s be fully persuaded. Our God is able and his promises are without failure. His Word speaks truth, not maybes. In the trying of your faith you are more than a conquer.

 

 

---

Presented November 3, 2019