Well, good morning. I'd invite you to open your Bibles with me to James chapter 1 this morning. One of the greatest curses in modern technology is that of the television commercial, right? I mean, that's when we go get another Coke. That's when we go pop some popcorn. It's when we brew more coffee. We don't like commercials. But the truth is, the commercials land with us and stick with us, don't they? I'm going to give you a commercial quiz right now. And this is the part of the service where you're allowed to give a little feedback from the pew. Can you remember the company that came up with these commercial slogans? Sharp minds, sharp products. You remember that one? Sharp electronics. Okay, that one's kind of old. How about this one? It keeps going and going and going. Who's that? The Energizer Bunny. How about this one? Is it live or is it? Memorex, that's a really, who said that over here? Scott, yep, that was old. Here's one of my favorites from my childhood. I love this one. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. See, you didn't tell me the company. You just went. Yeah, that's Alka-Seltzer, very good. Now you're gonna be singing that the rest of the day. How about this one? Have it your way. Burger King? Milky Way, okay. This is pre-Milky Way, Burger King. Or how about this one, it's so easy a caveman can do it. Geico, very good. Two more, three more. Mm, good. Campbell's Soup, two more. My military guys will know this one. Pain is weakness leaving the body. Who first came up with that in a commercial, as far as I could tell? I don't know who that is. No. It's my quiz. It's the wrong answer. No, the Marines. Mark, where are you? Mark Meredith. Oh, he's on security maybe? I don't know. Here's one more about pain that I like. Last one. No pain, no gain. Remember that one? Nike. Nike came out with that or made it popular. You see, that last one by Nike kind of sticks with me. No pain, no gain. And that brings my mind right up to this epistle of James and what we have been studying. No pain, no gain. You see, James' audience that he's writing to knew all about the reality of pain. They were being persecuted. Persecution at home in Jerusalem scattered them to land in other regions, other Jewish regions and other Gentile regions, where now the persecution is not only waiting for them there, it's getting worse. So his readers knew the reality of pain. James is writing this epistle to help them understand and embrace the gain of that pain. We see that in the opening verses of James 1, that trials or tests building you endurance, and that endurance is the vehicle that will carry you on to spiritual maturity. No pain, no gain. And we've been studying through this whole first chapter up to this point, watching James trying to comfort this congregation that was scattered and being hurt, and they're even starting to fragment amongst themselves and attack each other because they're under such intense persecution. They're turning their own guns on their own people, if you will. Things are looking rough, and James says, look, do you see what's coming out of your heart? You're thinking that the worst thing happening to you is what you're enduring? No. The worst thing happening to you is what these tests are revealing about your heart. You want to turn around and you want to blame your environment for how bad things are? Some of you even want to blame God for how bad things are in your life, but really, your greatest battle is always what's in your heart. We saw that in chapter 1, verses 14 and 15. And there's a predictable pattern of dissatisfaction in God, then substitution with something else, and then gratification over time, and then devastation. And then James says, and we saw this in our last study of that, look, if the problem's in your own heart, look up. God is there with you to help you. He's going to pull you through. He's sovereign. He's good. He's going to finish what He has started in you. As a matter of fact, you are kind of the first fruits of what God's going to do, not only in redeeming people, but in the new creation. It's just getting started. And in your stress, in your trials and tests, in those battles with temptation, God is with you. So he's laying this out, and we're watching chapter 1 extend like an antenna. A very smooth argument here by James. And when we come to chapter 1, verses 19-25, which is our next section to consider, he's going to start telling his readers then and now, not only spread out into the Jewish and Gentile regions surrounding Jerusalem, but those of us who live in Washtenaw County and Wayne County, he's going to start laying out for us now The specifics. When we find ourselves in those tests, what are the specifics that we need to do? We understand where the battle is, it's in our heart. With that knowledge, what's our first priority? It's so important what we're going to see in verses 19-25 that once again, like the last paragraph, I don't want to hurry through it. Lord willing, today, next Sunday, and two Sundays from now, I want to take three Sundays to unpack this paragraph, and I want you to walk out of these doors every Sunday morning these three weeks, owning one reality that you will pull together and lace tightly. I'm calling this mini-series, Believers, Burdens, and Bibles. And what I want to show you this morning from James chapter 1 will come from verses 19 and 20. And I call this your first response. Your first response. And incidentally, next week we're going to look at the second section, your great caution. And then thirdly, in the third part of this study two weeks from today, we're going to look at your constant pursuit. But I want you to own each one of these and only one of these each of these three Sundays. So we're going to look at your first response. Look at verse 19. When you're in the test, when you're coming into the trial, and by the way, before we read verse 19, do you remember how we've broken up the stage for the last few weeks? This is in an effort to get you to not just say, oh, I understand more of James 1. I want you to see your life up here in these different case studies. The first case study we've been looking at, we've been putting over in this part of the stage, And this is going to be my relationships. When tests and temptations and trials happen with those that I'm in relationship with, friendship, maybe marriage or home, or partnership in business or ministry, this is that first category I want you thinking in. Another category that we've put in this part of the stage each week is physical pain. It could be physical pain that's new to you. It could be physical pain that is ongoing with you, and there is no promise you'll ever be through it. As a matter of fact, the only promise that can be made is it might get worse. And then there's a third section. You remember this section we've been referring to? Because we're going to keep referring to it. I want you to see yourself on stage. This is the section that we call sin consequences. In your past, either before you came to Christ or even after you came to Christ, you gave in to sin, and you went on for a season, and there was gratification, and then there was devastation, but you still get rescued from that. And you're walking in grace now, and you're loving the Word, and you're loving your Lord. You're not perfect, but by God's grace, you're growing as a disciple. But some of the decisions from your past, some of the consequences are around you. It doesn't mean you're not forgiven. It doesn't mean you're not growing. But these consequences are still realities in your life, and you had to learn to live with them. And then the fourth part of the stage that we've been looking at every week is the area of just the normal pressures of life. Life is hard. In Job 14, verse 1, we read that, as sparks fly upward, life is hard. Man experiences trouble. I mean, just getting up, paying the bills, going to work, the responsibilities of parenting, the responsibilities of fighting your flesh. These are tests. that we live in. And so you find yourself in one of these tests, or a test like this. What must be your first response? Based on everything James has been telling us, what must be your first response? Now look at verse 19. This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. What must be your first response as you come into one of these temptations? As you come into one of these tests, whether you're being physically persecuted like these believers were, or even economically persecuted like these believers were, or whether it's you enduring the pain, or a difficult relationship, or responsibilities, or sin consequences. What is your first response? I want to take this first response and give you four key words. that'll make up these four points. The first key word, letter A, revelation, revelation. Or you could be answering this question, what must be my starting point? It must be revelation. Now look at the verse 19 here again. I'm reading a New American Standard here, and you know one of the reasons I like this translation is it still retains italicized words. What does an italicized word mean in the text of Scripture? You don't have them in your ESV and some of the more current translations like the NIV and even the CSV. But you still have them in the NASB, and I appreciate that. An italicized word means that that word is being supplied by the translators. There's no corresponding word to that one word in the Greek. So look at this, if you were using a new American standard, it can say, you know. But still, that's translating it like just a statement of fact. You know something. The problem is, this in the Greek is a command. It's not a statement of fact. There are two commands in this verse, and they're both front-loaded in verse 19. It should read, and your New American Standard has a footnote to this regard next to verse 19, it says, no, this. It's a command to know something. And the next verb, by the way, the next command is that you are to be. There's a command to know in verse 19. And there's a command to be. What must be my starting point when I come into a temptation or a test? James is saying here, everyone must be quick to hear. You've got to know this. This knowing and this being is coming out of verse 18, knowing who you are in Christ because of God's will. He brought you forth by His word. He regenerated you. He birthed you. Since that's true, since you know this, know that you should be walking in a certain direction. It's not just knowing and being. And what is it? He's saying basically, hurry up and listen. Everyone must be quick to hear. And he's going to start talking a lot about hearing between now and the end of this chapter. This is going to be like what you might call a hearing test. I read just this morning of an older couple. They were really old, like in their 60s. And they were a cute couple, a sweet couple, but there was one point of tension between them all the time. They both were losing their hearing. because of their age. But they both thought that the other one was worse off. She'd get mad at him because she's like, you can't hear anything. And he'd get mad at her because, well, you can't hear anything. And the more they put each other down, the more they assumed that they could hear better than their spouse. And this was a point of contention with them all the time. And so one day, they're in separate rooms of the house. She's in one room reading. And she's in her chair. And he's several rooms away watching a football game. And he's just like, I'm going to pick a fight now. I'm tired of this. And so he turned the TV down, and he hollered through the house, honey, could I get you some tea? And he heard nothing back. He's like, yeah, figures. So he walks to the room between their two rooms. He gets a little closer to her. He says, honey, can I get you some tea? And he heard nothing. He's like, yep, there you go. And so he walked into the room she was in, standing behind the chair where she was reading, and he said even louder, honey, can I get you some tea? And she turned around startled and she says, for the third time, yes! Maybe a hearing test would be good for both of them, right? As we come here into verse 19, all of us are going to go through a hearing test. When I'm in that first scenario of relationship tests and trials, or in a scenario of pain, or the scenario of consequences, or the scenario of just the pressures of life, how is my hearing? How is my hearing? You say, well, when I get in one of these tests, and this goes on the line next to the word not in your notes, what I don't need to primarily hear right at the beginning is personal opinion, right? If I'm struggling with relationships, I don't want to go to all my buddies and say the first recourse I have in this trial is to ask them how they handle a wife or a child like this. I need personal opinion. Is that where I start? Whether it's pain or consequences or pressure as well? No, I don't start there. What else is it not? It's not a run to an evangelical fad. Every five years or so, there's a new fad on a certain prayer you need to pray to get results you want, or a new language you need to speak in order to manipulate people around you. I don't need to start there. I don't need to start with dealing with just my emotional needs in each one of these. That'll drive you nuts. And it's not focusing on just secular wisdom for these different tests. If it's a spiritual trial, even if it's a physical trial, that is finding me responding in a spiritual manner, I need to not run to those that I've listed. I need to run to God's Word. Let all of us hurry up and listen. You say, well, how do you know He's talking about God's Word here? Well, He's already talked about God's Word back in verse 18. The verse before, in the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the what? By the Word of Truth. And then go down to the text that's coming up after the text we're looking at today. Look at verse 22. Prove yourself doers of the Word and not merely hearers. You've got to start by hearing the Word, but it doesn't end there. And the same in verse 23. If anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, it's got to start with hearing, but it doesn't end there. And so sandwiched between this are the two verses we're looking at, 19 and 20, and the hearing here is gearing his readers up to the fact that God's Word must be your first recourse in any test, in any temptation. Where must you start? You must start with revelation. And I don't mean new information from God through intuition. Nothing mystical like that. I'm talking about the Word of God that we have open in front of us. We were just told early on in this chapter that God only gives good things. Remember verse 17, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Your Father gives you good things. He gives you good gifts. And you want to know the most amazing gift your Heavenly Father has given to you? It's His Word. By His Word, He regenerated you. And by His Word, He's going to mature you. So when you find yourself in a trial, in a temptation, and you're hitting a wall, what must be your starting point? It needs to be this question. Has God spoken to this issue? Again, here we go. It's getting redundant because I want you to remember it when you're driving around on Michigan Avenue this week. When you're struggling with relationships, and I don't care what kind of relationship it is, your first question needs to be, has God spoken to this? In His Word, has He discussed what it's like to live with difficult people like I'm living with? And by the way, you may be a difficult people too. And does God say anything to people like me who struggle with my flesh on how not to react to difficult people? Has God spoken to this at all in His Word? If you're suffering great physical pain, you're like, wow, well, let me look into the Old Testament and the New Testament and see if God has anything to say to people that hurt physically. when you're facing your sin consequences, does God have anything to say about endurance and the grace that's available and the resurrection power that's coursing through you? And as you're going through the normal pressures of life that sometimes can be crushing, has God spoken to this at all? At all? Many times when someone comes to you for help and for spiritual counseling, I'm telling you, in most cases, It's because they haven't started at this point. Listen, if you start your temptation and your test at the wrong point, it'll go downhill fast. You must start, has God spoken to this issue? Last fall was a great joy for us as a church family to celebrate the 500th birthday of the Protestant Reformation and we got to know people like Tyndale and Wycliffe Luther and Calvin and others. One of those, Martin Luther, put it this way. He wrote, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. And it has hands. It lays hold on me. That's God's Word. No wonder Paul said what he said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. It's profitable for doctrine. That's what's right. It's profitable for reproof. That's what's wrong. It's profitable for correction. That's how to fix what's wrong. And it's profitable for training in righteousness. That's how to keep right what's right. Big fat promise coming to you right now. God's Word is sufficient for any test you get into. And remember what we mean by the Scripture's sufficiency. The Bible is sufficient to fully address any spiritual need in any person, in any generation, without exception. It must be where we look first, or things will go down quickly. They will go downhill quickly in our pain, in our relationships, and dealing with sin consequences and with the pressures of life. And there's only one other option, right? If my first recourse is not to ask, has God spoken to this? I only have one other option, and it's this. It's what we read in Proverbs 3, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and what's the next part? Do not lean on your own understanding. That's my only other option. and making sense and enduring and going through my battle with temptation. And that leads us to the second key word that you need to know to unpack this first point. The second key word is argumentation. It's a long one. Have fun spelling that. Argumentation. Or it answers the question, where will be my first battle? If my first recourse in my intersecting with a test or trial in my life is not to ask, what is God doing? What has He said in His Word? Then it will lead to my first battle in its argumentation. Look at verse 19 again. This you know, my beloved brethren. By the way, every time you see beloved brethren or just my brethren in James as we go through it in the series, circle it. This is the third time already. James usually uses this title to not only reiterate his love for them, but he's reiterating his love for them because he's getting ready to tell them something that might be taken wrong. It's going to be strong. But it's out of love and it's speaking the truth in love. This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear Slow to speak. That phrase, slow to speak. One commentator says, we sometimes get this out of line. Sometimes we are slow to hear and quick to speak. And he's right. He's right. You say, well, what do you mean? You know, a lot of times you get bothered by people, don't you? And you get bothered by people because you're listening to them complain all the time. Right? And as a matter of fact, given the opportunity as to whether you would like to spend an afternoon lunch with them or have someone torture you by pulling out toenails, you'd rather take the torture, right? It's like, and Proverbs is going to speak about this, and we're going to talk about this in our Wednesday night series in Proverbs about contentious people. I mean, it's just a guy that lives with someone contentious says, I would rather live on the roof on a rainy, stormy day. And you're like, wait a minute. I mean, there's thunder and lightning out there, and the water would be beating on you, and you'd be miserable. And this guy's saying to you, mm-hmm, it's better up there. We don't like being around contentious people. We don't like to hear them complain. But if we're not careful, we're really good at complaining about complainers because of what we hear, but we don't listen to ourselves talk anymore. We can't even hear our own complaining anymore. You say, what do you mean? It says be slow to speak. This is talking about complaining about your trials, complaining about your test. You mean like what? Well, number one, about my exception. Someone may say, you know what, I'm experiencing this pain, I'm experiencing these relationship trials, I'm experiencing this pressure, or these sin consequences, and I get to be the exception to whatever James is going to say here. You know, it's just my personality. I'm going to blame my personality. I'm going to blame my past, what I've endured. I'm going to blame my parents. I'm going to blame my pain. But I have a right to complain about my exception. I'm suffering here. And there are no easy answers for mine. I can help you find answers for your problems. But for mine, I'm the exception. You ever hear people talk like that? Have you ever talked like that? Or it might be number two, they might be arguing and complaining about the burden's duration. This is the person that says, well, you know what? I've been enduring this situation, this test, for a long time, for hours or days or weeks or years. And every time they talk with you, it's about how long they've been having a bad day. when we're all having bad days. Have you heard these people? Or thirdly, it could be complaining about God's fairness. Like, wow! I mean, how could God put me in this? I thought He loved me. I thought He saved me. How come He's allowing me to go through and fill in the blank? There's complaint. There's a swiftness to speaking and complaining. Now you hear other people talk like this. Could it be that you talk like this too? You just don't hear yourself. And another question. What are we going to do, if this is you and your thoughts, what are we going to do with a passage like Romans 8.28? The New American Standard says, and we know, that God causes all things to work together for good. And we're left to ask, what's that good? Remember verse 29? It's Christ-like. That verse forever communicates this truth to you in your test, in your trial. God will never, ever, ever, how many more times do I have to say it? Waste a trial in your life. With that it will make you more like Christ. He'll never waste a relationship trial. He'll never waste physical pain. He'll never waste the struggle with sin consequences in the present. and he'll never waste the daily pressures of life, but will always use all of them to make you more like Jesus. That is truth. Argumentation. It's interesting. Remember, James is writing to that first layer of Christians that fled Jerusalem. They're Jews. These are Jewish Christians. And James is writing to these Jewish Christians in a language that they would understand. And he's talking to them in tones of a Jewish proverbial mindset. Or can I just put wisdom literature sounding stuff. He's sounding like the book of Proverbs a lot, right here. You know, Proverbs 17, verse 27, he who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Proverbs 17, 28, even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. When he shuts his lips, he's considered perceptive. Proverbs 10, 19, in a multitude of words, sin is not lacking. Proverbs 13.13, he who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. If I'm not starting in my trials with what does God say in His Word about what I'm enduring now, I will start down this path of argumentation and complaining. That's why James is saying you must be quick to hear and slow to speak, and then thirdly, slow to anger. And this brings us to the third word, indignation. Indignation. Or it answers this question. If there is no repentance, where will this argumentation lead? If there is no repentance, where will this lead? Well, it says here, it's going to lead to anger. And this particular word in the Greek is a very important word. This is the word that doesn't communicate an explosive anger. This is the word that communicates the slow burn. You're building up in your heart with the passing of time and going through trials. Without God's perspective, you're building up a slow but sure reservoir of bitterness. Of bitterness. Now, we need to be reminded, like right now, commercial time, the Bible doesn't say all anger is sin, right? Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 4.26, and he's quoting the Old Testament, so it's both Testaments. Paul says, be angry and what? Sin not. It's like, oh, well, yeah, I was wondering about that, because isn't all anger sin? No! I suggest that you look at anger as a gift from God. Righteous anger is a gift from God. J. Adams used to put it this way. Righteous anger is extra energy from God to solve a problem that's in front of you. Or as he used to say, to destroy a problem. But this gift of God called righteous anger becomes sinful anger. When I take this gift from God to solve a problem and I use it, not to solve the problem, but to destroy other people or to destroy myself, to blow up or to clam up, that's sinful anger. Be angry and sin not. But these believers and believers here on Ecorse Road today, we're talking about a different anger here. We're talking about one that's the slow burn, and it'll build up a tank of bitterness. James here, in this verse, is actually striking a match and lighting a theme that he's gonna come back to every chapter after this in his epistle. You want to take a peek? He's going to talk a lot about anger. Look at verse 26 of chapter 1. If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not, here it is, bridle his tongue. An angry person speaks angry words. Look at chapter 3, verse 1. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. And the tongue is of fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and itself is set on fire by hell." Wow. Our words. Verse 7, he says, "...for every species of beast and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way." It's going to go off on anger in chapter 3. What's an example of chapter 4? Look at chapter 4, verse 1. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? is not the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members, you lust and you do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. Then you do not have because you do not ask, and then you ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your own pleasures." Chapter 5, verse 12. But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but your yes is to be yes, your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment, rash vows, out of desperation and anxiety, and I'll argue in the context of chapter 5, anger. Anger towards those who are persecuting you actually in chapter 5. He's striking a match back here in chapter 1, verse 19 that's going to continue to burn and reach a crescendo at the end of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4. Why? Well, isn't it kind of relieving a little bit to know that believers back then struggled like us? We're not in the Word of God, so we don't have good footing to even start a test. And so we start complaining about our tests, and that complaining gives birth to an anger. You say, well, in what direction is my anger focused? In two directions. Number one, towards others. towards those who are persecuting me. Or even in an envious way, towards those of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are not being persecuted like me. Who are not going through tests like I'm going through. Number one is towards others. And number two, towards God. And His putting me where I am. And what about these promises that I've claimed one time, I've prayed them one time, and I'm still in the test? Our Kent Hughes, again, one of my favorite writers, pastored for many decades at the college church in Wheaton, said this to his congregation when he preached this message to them. One sentence, an angry spirit is never a listening, teachable spirit. An angry spirit is never a listening, teachable spirit. I sometimes put it this way, bitterness has amnesia. The intensity of my current trial makes me forget all of God's kindnesses to me in all the other trials through the years and decades. Key words, revelation, it's got to start there. If it doesn't, the second key word, argumentation, start getting critical. If it doesn't stop there, there's indignation. slow build-up of bitterness. What does that lead to? Not a good place. The fourth key word is realization. Realization. Or it answers this question. What is the guaranteed outcome? What is the guaranteed outcome? Look at verse 20. Why run from anger Verse 20, because the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Alright, I want you to hang on because I want to teach you just a little bit of theology right here. When you see that phrase, the righteousness of God. You have several choices in the New Testament and Scripture. But let me just keep your mind on the New Testament right now. The righteousness of God could be talking about the character of God and how he follows through consistently with his holiness. He keeps all his promises. God is always righteous. So one nuance that we have as an option is the character of God, the righteousness of God. There's a second way you can take this phrase, the righteousness of God. And it is what we might call theologically the forensic righteousness of God. You say, what does that mean? It just means this, that when you come to Christ in faith and repentance, and you're born again like what we saw in verse 18, you have the righteousness of God applied to you. You have the righteousness of Christ credited to you so that God, looking at you through Christ, says, righteous. It's a righteous declaration of God concerning you. So, you have two choices so far. How are we going to take this? We're talking either about God's character or we're talking about your standing before God if you're a Christian. But there's a third option. And the third option for righteousness of God is the manner of a righteous life that God expects and empowers you to live, because you're positionally righteous. This is right living by God's grace. So which of the three are we looking at? Which of the three are we supposed to grab hold of in verse 20? It's the third one. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God in your tests. I'm not trying to build up God's character. It's perfect. And I'm not talking in terms of salvation here. We're being written to as believers. Remember my brothers and sisters? In other words, he's saying this, if you're going through your test, whether people are hitting you, or anything less, and you're angry, you understand that you are working against the righteous life. that God wants you to live out. I've mentioned many times that over 20 occasions in these five chapters of James, James is alluding to the Sermon on the Mount. This is another one. In Matthew 5, verse 6, verse 10, verse 20, in Matthew 6, verse 33, you're going to see Jesus using the righteousness in the same way, the righteousness of God, in the same way that His little brother is here. For example, you know Matthew 6, verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God and His, what? Righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. He's talking about you hold forward and walk by His grace in a righteous life. In a Christ-like life. You say, well, what's the realization? It's this. Number one, when I don't start with my first recourse being, has God spoken to this? And I start down a path of complaining and then anger. Understand, number one, I stall my maturity in Christ. I stall my maturity in Christ. And this ought to be taking your mind right back to chapter 1, verses 2-4. Trials bring endurance, and endurance brings maturity. I stall my maturity because I'm not working a practical Christ-like righteousness out in my life by His grace. But secondly, watch this one. Be careful with this one. I need you to take this one home today. Not only do I stall my maturity, but number two, I compound my burdens. You get that? I compound my burdens. Say, what do you mean? Okay, watch this. I'm going to go over here again. I'm going to do number one. Relationships. I'm in this test. And my first recourse hasn't been a stubborn, what has God said to people like me in a relationship struggle like this? And I'm in the Word, and I'm praying over it, and praying that the Holy Spirit helps me understand and apply it. I don't start there. Instead, I note the people that I'm ticked off at, and I might have good reason to be ticked off at them, I would think. And then I start complaining about them to them or to other people about them. And then on top of that, I start building up a slow reserve of bitterness. It starts leaking out. See what I've done? I've gotten a lot done to help, haven't I? I haven't changed anything in this relationship test at all, except one thing. I've now made it worse. Because I am adding my fleshly reaction to a bad situation. Now it's worse. You can say the same thing here about complaining about pain. I can make it worse. You can say the same thing about straining under the consequences of sin from the past. I can make it worse by complaining and getting angry. You can say the same thing about the pressures of life. Not only do I stop growing and I stall my maturity in those tests, but I am managing to make each one worse. I told you at the beginning. If we don't start right, it goes downhill fast. This is where we start. This is where we start. Next week, we're going to come back to this text and look at a great caution. And then thirdly, we're going to see your constant pursuit. I want you to take this home today. At every test, and remember, if I didn't list yours on the stage, I just happened to miss you because you're fast. At any test, there is a why in the road. You start right, you finish right. You start wrong, you finish horribly. So what's your first response in your test? Is it to run to scripture for wisdom? Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. And I love how he starts this out. He says, know this, know this. John MacArthur is so helpful in his commentary on this point. And I'm going to finish up with his words. He writes, quote, James' appeal is for believers to seize every opportunity to increase their exposure to scripture, to take advantage of every privileged occasion to read God's Word or to hear it faithfully preached or taught. The sincere, eager desire for such learning is one of the surest marks of a true child of God. When he is especially blessed, he turns to the Word to find passages of thanksgiving and praise. When he is troubled, he searches for the words of comfort, encouragement, and strength. In times of confusion, he searches for words of wisdom and guidance. And even when he's tempted, listen to this, when he is tempted, he searches out God's standards of purity and righteousness for power to resist. The Word is the source of deliverance from temptations and trials. It becomes the most welcome friend, not only because of what it delivers us from, but also because of what it delivers to us. Glorious, intimate, and loving communion with our heavenly Lord." Yeah, he's right. You may be here this morning and you're saying, hey, I've tried reading the Bible and it didn't work. I tried it. And one of these trials or another one, I've tried reading the Bible and it didn't work. Well, let me reply to that. What didn't work? The Bible or you? Our next two studies are going to unpack what that will look like. Looking at the Word and being transformed by it during the worst of storms.