# A Crown of Life

Key Passage: James 1
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your mind to James chapter number one, if you would please. James chapter number one. I just saw Brother Almas Raymer slip in back there, and it’s not very often you get to see a war or two vet coming to church. And we’re glad to see him back there.

I tell you what, let’s do this. I like to make it a special day for him as best we can. Mr. Raymer back there, would you just—would you raise your hand, Brother Raymond? Would you—let’s turn around and let’s walk back. Sit him back there. Yeah, let’s give him a hand. Amen. There you go. There you go.

We don’t get that opportunity much anymore in America. And we’re honored to have them with us today. We have been covering crowns for several Sundays. We took two weeks off for different subjects. We have covered three crowns. The Bible mentions five of them. One crown we will not preach on. And I want to just briefly mention that crown to you before we get into this.

They’re working on it back there, but we will not really take a whole Sunday and deal with the crown of glory. It’s mentioned once in the Bible. The reason why we’re not covering it is for pastors, and pastors that do their job like God wants the job done. And we don’t have a room full of pastors, so I’m not going to take a whole service and preach on it.

But I would like to say two things. There’s a great shortage in America and around the world of good pastors. And it is amazing the ministry, the need of great pastors. And I’m learning this, and of great Christian school teachers. Just since we are starting hours in the fall, I’m kind of going to a new realm that I don’t know a lot about. I’m learning, and one of the great things I’ve learned: there’s an amazing shortage of Christian school teachers. It’s amazing.

But this thing of a pastor, I want to say, if God is calling, don’t put yourself there, but if God is calling you, don’t shy away from that. I’ve heard from people, even in our church, young people before, “I’ll be a preacher or whatever, but I don’t want to be a pastor.” There’s too much responsibility, there’s too much work, and all those things. And can I say this? Say, look, if God’s calling you to something, he’ll equip you. He never calls; he equips the called. He equips the called. And then I’d say, be willing. Be willing. Don’t put yourself there, but be willing. So, “Lord, do you want me to be a pastor? Is that your calling on my life?”

Such a great shortage of pastors, and God says, “I’ve got a crown of glory,” and I believe it includes a pastor’s wife. Let me say this: we’ve got a young lady graduated from high school. If the Lord were to call a young lady to be a pastor’s wife, and the Lord calls your husband, that is such a great need. The majority of pastors that get out of the ministry, by far, the statistics say it’s because the wife don’t want to be in there. And she just says, “I’m tired of it. I just don’t want to do it anymore.” So there’s a great need. And so I would say be willing, pastor-wise. But we’re on a different subject today. We’re on a crown of life. Crown of life.

Life this morning, and this will be our last Sunday morning as far as this series on the crowns. All right, y’all kind of know what we’re talking about. Let me just—let me just make sure we’re all on board, maybe for all of us and our guests alike.

By the way, we have some new young people in big church today, and it’s Promotion Sunday. They have moved up; they’re in seventh grade, they’re in the teen department now, so they’re in church with us. Let’s see here: Jared, where you’re already—are you sure? Then we got Oscar, raise your hand. There’s Oscar right there. It’s his first Sunday morning in. He’d been in our church for years. Hossette’s been around a lot, but it’s their first official Sunday morning in Big Church this morning. Hossette, raise your hand there. Good deal, good deal. And I apologize; I’ve forgotten our young lady here. Can you help me out? Lerick—Lerick—it’s our first Sunday in Big Church also. These are promoted to Big Church. You’re stuck with all of us old people now! What about that?

I’ll tell you what, it’s a bummer, you know. But the Crown of Life—when the Lord comes back, we don’t know when that’s going to happen; it could be today. But when the Lord comes back, he’s going to take all the saved people out of here. Boom, twinkling of an eye, the Bible says. We’re out of here, and we’ll stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ. That’s when he’ll give out rewards. We gave out somewhat of awards or rewards this morning, and that’s the judgment seat of Christ. He’ll give out rewards, and the Bible mentions crowns that he’ll give. Five of those the Bible mentions. He’ll give them to us.

Now, it’s very interesting. The bottom part of Revelation, for the first part, I think, is talking about the rapture. The last part is talking about we see him on his throne. And these 24 elders, they take the crown and they throw it at his throne, at his feet. I believe that represents me and you. He’s given you a reward, a crown, and yet we’ll see him and we’ll say, “Hey, you know what? I’m only here because of you. I got problems galore. I got sins. I’m only in heaven because of you.” And the honest truth is you deserve this crown, and we’ll give our crowns to him.

Now, let me just ask you along that line: Will you have any crowns to give the Lord? Will you have a crown to be able to say, “Hey, I love you so much. You’ve given me; I owe everything to you. I want to give you a crown”?

Not only that, but seven years later, after the tribulation period is done, Jesus Christ comes back, not for his own, but with his own. It’s called the Battle of Armageddon at that moment. Revelation 19 talks about that, and it says there he has many crowns. That is the way the Bible words that—many crowns. I do not think when you cast your crown at his throne and at his feet, I don’t think it just kind of gets out of it. I think he picks that up and wears it. So how can he put all those crowns on his head? I’m not sure; he’s God. And I’m far from that level of understanding, friend, and you are too. But it’s God. And when he comes back and he’s going to set up his throne here on earth on the throne of David in Jerusalem, I believe he’s wearing those crowns. And let me ask you, will there be a crown you gave to him?

Now salvation God gives that. Nobody will go to heaven by earning heaven. Nobody earns heaven. Only Jesus earned it. We all go to heaven by receiving the gift. It’s a gift. Now, once you receive that gift, once you are saved, as you live for the Lord, you earn these crowns. And that’s why I ask you, will he be wearing a crown that you gave to him?

Now, this last crown, a crown of life, you can win. I think this week I’ve studied more on the crown of life than at any time in my life. And the more I studied, the more I contemplated it, the more I think it really has a lot to do with those that live for the Lord over the long haul, that go through hard times, and just the long-haul type thinking. My mind goes that way more and more. Sometimes we think, well, it’s just a day or two instance of a trial. I think it’s more over the long term. But we want to look at this crown. It’s mentioned twice in the Bible. We’ll just look at this one time here in James 1: the crown of life that you can win. By the way, I would love for every person here in this church to win this. I think about our young people graduating; I would love for them to win this crown. Our young people that are being their first Sunday in big church, I would love for them to one day win this crown. Every person in here, I would love to see. I long to see you winning crowns for the Lord Jesus Christ. I love to see that one day, and you have opportunity to win this crown. Let’s look at it. Let’s look at it.

James 1, verse number 12. Would you please stand if you’re able to, out of respect to the Word of God? James 1 and verse number 12 of God’s Word. And the Bible there says, “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.”

Would you pray with me that God would speak to our hearts, not just our heads, but our hearts this morning? Would you do that as I pray the same? Father, you know, we’re having little problems with the PA. It just seems that the devil loves to distract from Your Word and the preaching of it. Lord, some of these people won’t be able to be at the dining table of Your Word like this for a long time. So, Lord, would You prevent all the distractions? Help us, Lord, to focus on Your Word. Lord, help me to present it like You want it to be presented.

And then, Father, we’re asking, would You send Your Spirit giving power to the message? Let it be effective in the hearts and lives here, Your people. Lord, would You make it where many people would win this crown? Help them to do so. And Lord, we’ll thank You for what You do. We’re asking this, Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

This verse, James 1:12—what’s the first word there? Say it out loud, would you please? “Blessed.” Now this whole crown is wrapped up in people going through tough times, trials, temptations, tragedies—those things you say, “I hope I never have to deal with that.” When you have to deal with all these hard times, it’s wrapped up in that. That’s what the crown of life is for: those that endure trials, temptations.

But I want you to notice when he gets to this subject, the first word he uses is “blessed.” That is totally the opposite of our human way of thinking of it. When the phone call comes and they say, “Well, your results are not good,” they’ll never tell you on the phone, “We need you to come in,” and for those next few weeks, boy, all you do is worry. We don’t think this is a blessed thing.

I want you to notice that really the spirit, the attitude he wants us to have when we come to this: He said, “Blessed.” It’s a different atmosphere. It’s a different thought. It is so opposite of what we’re prone to. When I go through temptation, when I have a hard time, can I tell you what my temptation is? My temptation is to go in the corner and suck my thumb. I sucked one of them off. Maybe not literally, but even if you don’t verbalize it, our temptation is to have a little bit of, “Nobody knows how bad I have it. I got it worse than anybody. This is awful. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I don’t deserve this.” We have a first-class pity party. And often we’re not vocal about it, but inside it affects us. And Satan loves for us to have a pity party. That’s what he’s trying to get you to do.

Because if you get there, you’re just one step from backsliding. You’re just one step from not reading your Bible anymore. You’re just one step from not praying like you ought to. You’re just one step from not being in church. You’re just one step from using that language you ought not to use. You’re just one step from backsliding and not being where you used to be for the Lord Jesus Christ. That road that Satan tries to get you to go down, that alley right there—pity party alley—it always ends up in the wrong place. You’re very susceptible to sin at that moment. You’re very susceptible to quitting when you’re having a pity party.

Listen, listen. When you’re having a pity party, you’re no help to anybody. You’re not going to help your spouse; you’re not going to help your kids like you ought to. You’re not going to be encouragement, and you’re in pity party row, right where Satan wants you to be. And it’s amazing. God says, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Blessed.”

Now God starts really this chapter off of that fault. If you go back up to verse number two, if you would. Look at verse number two right there. Blessed—he starts off verse number 12. But look at the very first beginning of this chapter. He says, “My brother”—speaking to Christians—“My brother, count it all joy.” Now, when you go through trials, and that’s what he gets to, you’re not going to be, “Oh boy, this is great! I got a cancer report. Boy, isn’t this good?”

So God says, count it all joy. You’re going to have to, you’re going to have to on purpose in your mind say, “You know what? There’s going to be something good here. I’m going to count it all joy.” Can I just—can I just be a myth buster? Sometimes we think Christians are always saying, “Rejoice evermore,” everywhere we go. That’s not biblical. That’s why God had to tell us, “Rejoice evermore,” because you’re going to have a down, so you’re going to have to rejoice. That’s part of the Christian life for him. And it starts off this way; he says, count it all joy.

Now it’s very helpful for me when I begin to understand the next couple of verses: How can I count it all joy when I’m falling into all these problems? Verse number two, he says, “My brother, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” By the way, this word “temptation” here in this verse and in verse number 12 is very broad. It has two types of temptation: one is just a trial, and sometimes it’s solicitation to evil. In these verses, it’s speaking of both. Right? And he says, “Blessed is the man that endureth divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be”—here’s the conclusion—“that ye may be perfect.”

What is this perfect? It has to do with being mature. You say, “So-and-so is a mature Christian.” You’ll never be a mature Christian unless you go through trials. He says, “I’m allowing this trial, and I want you to count it all joy because the end product: you’re perfect, you’re mature, you’re full grown.” You say, “I would love to be a mature Christian.” All right, you’re going to have to go through trials; there’s no other way to make you there. And he says, because you know that I want you to count it all joy because you know I’m allowing this for a reason, and one of the reasons is He’s trying to make me a grown and mature Christian.

Now let’s finish this truth here at the bottom of verse number four: “That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, lacking nothing.” You say, “I would like to be a well-rounded Christian when I mature in every area of the Christian life.” How do you get there? Trials. And God sees sometimes I’m lacking, maybe in the area of faith. And so God says, “I’m in that trial in my life, and I’m going to count it all joy because I know in His mind the end product is I’m mature and I’m well-rounded, and I’m not lacking in the area of faith anymore.” And because I know what God’s trying to do, I can count it all joy because God has a finished product in mind.

Now let’s go back to verse number 12. That’s why he gets started off when he’s talking about trials when he said, “Blessed.” Blessed. You’re not going to get there to a mature Christian and a well-rounded Christian without trials. I wish I knew a shortcut, my friend. There’s the only way there: to go through trials.

Now let’s talk about this word “blessed” for just a minute here. It goes in line with those verses we just mentioned, but “blessed.” Many people will say, “Well, blessed means happy,” and I agree for the most part; it does mean that. But I think it means much more than that. The first two times “blessed” is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis chapter number one. That’s a good way to get a definition of a word when God is in the middle of creation.

And on the fifth day, God is creating these water animals. He’s creating the whales and the sharks and all these other things. And he’s going through those sayings, and this is what he says: “And God blessed them, saying…” First time that word is mentioned. And God blessed them, first time it’s mentioned, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

The second time the word “blessed” is mentioned is a day later. On the sixth day, he’s creating the land animals and mankind. And verse number 28, he says, “And God blessed them.” Second time, them. “And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply.” You see, so this “blessed” has to do with, yes, being happy, but more than just that, I kind of know joy, why? Because God’s growing me. I’m becoming fruitful. I can multiply in the kingdom of God. And God says, “Blessed”—you’re going to grow; you’ve got some growth coming in your life because God is allowing temptations or trials in your life. That’s how I can count it all joy. That’s how I can keep a right attitude.

We visited Brother Warren this week—remember that Anthony—and boy, such a sad [change] from where he was to where he’s now, not doing real well. He’s had a heart attack, and they’ve got him on strong medicine, and his mind’s not sharp like it used to be, and you can tell his mind drifts there and there and yonder. And sometimes he has his phone on airplane mode—that’s why if you’re trying to call him, you can’t get through—that’s what’s going on. But all this is going on, and I mentioned some of the conversation: Brother Warren, you always do good at keeping a good attitude. And he mentioned, with his mind kind of scattered, he said, “That’s so important.” And he works at that. And it’s key when you go through trials that you don’t get into a pity party; you say, “I’m going to work at keeping this attitude.” Blessed, brother. God’s got a purpose for this thing. Count it all joy.

Now, let’s go on. Let’s go, and we’re going to run out of time. I have illustrations, but we’re going to kind of leave them all. We’ve only covered one word of this whole thing. Wow, we’ve got a whole lot more to go, don’t we? I mean, Brother Ricky is going to take his niece—I’m sorry—Brother Ricky is going to take his niece to Red Lobster, so we’ve got to hurry and get done, amen? Is that good preaching or what? She says, “Amen.” Amen. So we’ve got to hurry along. We only got one word covered; we’ve got to keep going.

Real quick, let’s get this briefly, just briefly. Watch at the very top of your page right there. Read it. Very top. Say that loud. Say that out loud. Go ahead. James. I just say a word about that. James was the pastor of the church of Jerusalem. Look what he says over there in that very first verse, very first verse. He says, James 1:1, “A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, that’s the Jewish people, which are scattered abroad. Greeting.”

Why were they scattered abroad? Well, remember James, pastor in Jerusalem, remember that church? Man, God just blessed it; had 3,000 people saved. A little while later on, 5,000 men saved. I think God was blessing this church, and what happened? Persecution. Persecution. So what happened? They scattered all over. And James, the pastor here—I want to put this out—James, I think, knew their burdens.

I’m not trying to be braggadocious here, but probably no man here knows more of the burdens of the people of the church here than I do. Not because I mean anything, but I’m the pastor. And the story behind every face—man, I know so many of the stories pretty much everywhere I look. I know the story. And I’m not trying to—I’m just saying I know the problem. And James, he knew their problems. I mean, nobody knows it all besides the Lord, but James knew them, if any man knew him. James is talking to these people that are scattered around the world because they’ve been persecuted. He knows; he knows so-and-so had a good paying job, and now he is over in a certain part of the world; he can’t support his family. James knows about that. James knows so-and-so over there has health issues, and sometimes he or she cannot even function, and the spouse has to help out. James knows about that. James knows so-and-so’s got some marital problems. And James knows so-and-so they’ve got a flaw. James knows all that. And he’s talking to these people, and he’s got all these burdens that James knows about. And through the inspiration of God, James says, “Hey, blessed is he that endureth temptations.” That’s the man that God chose to pen that. Blessed.

Now let’s keep going. We’ve got to hurry along. We’re back there in verse number 12. We got one word, and we got the first word at the top of the page. We’ve got two things covered. We’ve got about 20 of them, amen. We’ve got to hurry along because Red Lobster, amen. Brother Ricky’s got a wallet full of money he’s going to spend on his niece today. Brother Raymer says, “I’m going to a different church next week,” man.

Verse number 12, he says, “Blessed is the man that”—what’s the next word?—“endureth.” I’m not trying to do away with everything I just said about counting it all joy, but can I say you just endure them sometimes? Sometimes it’s all you can do just to put one foot in front of the other. I’ve already mentioned, but I don’t think God’s saying, “Well, while you’re going through chemo, just smile and laugh,” and everybody walks by you. You’re sitting there, and you’ve got that injection in your arm, and you can’t even keep your thoughts. It affects your emotions; it affects everything. Sometimes you just endure. That’s what God says: blessed is the man that endureth.

Sometimes, friend, I’m not going to try to make it all sweet and wonderful sometimes. It’s just—you just endure it. And God doesn’t say this crown here’s for someone that’s just all the time, just flying, you know, way above everything and happy. He says, “Blessed is the man that endureth.” You go through some trials; you just—can I say this?—you don’t quit. You keep reading your Bible. You keep praying. You keep going to church. You keep passing out tracts. You keep loving your family. You keep paying your bills. You just put one foot in front of the other. You endure. Blessed is he that endureth.

Can I just say, don’t quit, don’t quit on the Lord? When someone’s just wrecking you over the coals and it looks like everybody’s believing it, whatever may be, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. You endure. Blessed is the man that endureth.

I like old Harold Sightler. One time a young preacher boy said, “Brother Sightler, if I don’t have someone come forward and get saved every service, I think I’m going to die.” And that old preacher had that raspy voice, said, “Well, son, you ain’t going to live long then.” That was good for me to hear as a younger preacher. Sometimes you just endure. You apply that to your life and your way, but blessed is the man that endureth.

By the way, Jesus endured. By the way, I’m glad Jesus didn’t quit. 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.” I’m glad he endured. Glad he didn’t throw in the towel. Sometimes he just endured.

And we’re picking up steam all of a sudden here. Amen. Let’s go back over here, verse number 12. We’re moving along here. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.” For when he is—what’s the next word?—“tried.” I don’t like to be tried. I, as a pastor, had the privilege—and I say that privilege—of being with a lot of people when they’re tried. And if I could be just a little help, I love it. And being with families when they got cancer, at the funeral home, or all those, and if I could just be a help, I love to be that. But I’m just saying, I’ve been with that a lot of times, but it’s different when it comes to my doorstep. It’s different when the doctor comes down and says your wife has cancer. I’ve been with a lot of people in the waiting room, but it’s different when you’re in the waiting room for your wife. I’ve been with a lot of families when their loved one passed, but when my dad died, it’s a little different. But nobody bypasses that. If you want this crown, he says, “For when he is tried.”

My goodness, I don’t like it when I’m on trial, when I’m being tried. It’s no fun. But if I’m going to get this crown, I must be tried. I’m going to grow. If I’m going to be a mature, well-rounded Christian, I must—I must be tried. It’s no fun. I don’t like it. “For when he is tried.”

The Christian school that I went to, and I was in high school, eighth grade on through—the sports program, it was a little, maybe, oh, maybe a little above or below, right along the category of “sorry,” you know. We never won anything, you know. And somewhere along there, at the beginning of days, we had a new athletic director, Coach Crosby, come in. And Coach Crosby, he coached soccer and basketball. We didn’t have a whole lot of sports, but any guy sport he was over, and he was over all the sports. And then he improved our sports program where we actually won games. It’s always kind of nice when everyone ought to win, you know. And we never won championships, but we made it to playoffs. And the thing is, when that guy came in, he introduced to us—fellows, at least on the basketball team—he introduced to us what legs were really for: running your head off. I mean, I remember one basketball practice. I’m not sure what I had for breakfast and lunch, but I saw it real soon. You know what I’m talking about? I mean, some people call it regurgitating or throwing up, but I would never say those terms, you know? I think he even saw supper the night before, you know. I mean, all of it, you know. This guy was killing us. But you can’t get to be in a winning team, a growing, fruitful, multiplying team, unless you’re tried. And God says, “For when he is tried.”

I mentioned from time to time my former pastor, Brother Howes. And I think about his mom. Let me just talk briefly about his mom, and I know we’re really at time, but sometimes real-life stories… Costumatti Howes, she, back in the day, she had twin girls. And both girls ended up dying. I mean, I think one—and don’t hold me to this number—was around eight or so, but maybe both when they died was around there. But here’s the thing: for a mom, one of the hardest things is to lose a child. She lost them both after she had held them and raised and loved them.

And her husband and her, they had a little country store back in the day. You know, back in the day, everybody had a country store, and everybody—you had a ticket, you know? You’ve seen that on bananas and all those others, you know, and that’s the way it was. And then the Depression hit, and everybody that owed you on that ticket, they couldn’t pay you, so they went bankrupt, and they lost their store. And they lost the store. The Depression is going on. She’s lost her two daughters. She’s got another daughter and her son, Jack. And then her husband, because probably the Depression, went bankrupt, lost the store. He starts drinking, and he becomes an alcoholic. I remember hearing a preacher saying, “I’ve seen my dad hit my mom, and I’ve seen something hit the floor.” And as a little boy, I’d kind of crawl up in the corner; I’d look and see what that was. And he said, “I’ve seen a tooth of my mom that came out when my dad hit her.”

She went through that. And eventually, eventually her husband, he just left her, and she was left to raise a boy and a girl, having already lost two children. And I tell that to say that trying time. But yet that little boy she was raising became Jack Howes. He pastored five churches; every church he ever pastored, God just blessed greatly. He pastored the largest church in America for about 20 years. And I’m not talking about a weak, you know, “Don’t stand for anything” church. God’s good, the devil’s good, sin’s good, everything’s good. I’m not talking about a church like that. I’m talking about a church that stands for something and is reaching souls with him. He started the Bible college at one point. Brother Howes would say he had a thousand preacher boys all around the world. Now, friend, you don’t get fruitful; you don’t get multiplying; you don’t get all that unless someone has been tried. I’d love to be a mature Christian. All right? There’s going to be trials to it.

Think about old Lester Roloff used to say, “It’s a battlefield, brother, not a recreation room; it’s a fight and not a game. Run if you want to, run if you will, but I came here to stay.” This crown is for Christians. They have trials. Many times those trials are lifelong trials. That’s where the enduring comes in. I’m not necessarily talking about a week or two here. I’m talking about you endure. It has to do with time. You endure those trials, and you keep serving the Lord, and you keep faithful to the Lord.

“When he is tried, he shall receive”—shall receive. David Humphreys used to be in our church for about 10 years; the sorry rat moved away. Can you believe that? I saw him not too long ago. Antis is a great man, but he taught me this. He said, “Well, if the Bible says something will happen, you can count on it. But if it says ‘shall,’ it’s even stronger.” And he says, “You shall receive a crown of life.”

Crown of life. Can I say something that we don’t have time to cover it all, but a crown of life? A seed you put it in the ground, and it brings forth this plant, and it brings forth life. It cannot produce unless it’s put in the ground. What Jesus is saying is it dies. You go through these trials and these temptations, and a part of you just, in some ways, it kills a part of you, and you kill a part of you, and you die in certain ways. Yet out of that God says, “I bring a crown of life.” Crown of life. By the way, I’m so glad Jesus Christ brought life through his death. You talk about a crown of life.

And we’ll not know him like we ought to unless we go through what Philippians 3:10 calls “the fellowship of the sufferings.” You go through the trials.

Now, one last thing. We’re kind of just jumping along here. Let’s get one last thing in here. Look back at that verse. Would you please? Verse number 12. James 1, verse number 12. Everybody are there? James 1:12. Look it up. Look it up. Good deal. Good deal. That’s great.

Let’s look at this saying. It’s very interesting. I used to question—it seems like he says two different things here. Would you see what I’m saying? Look at verse number 12 right there: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.” Okay, who gets this crown? The man that endures temptation. Okay, who gets this crown? Look how he finishes the saying: “For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that endure temptation.” No, at the last part he said, “to them that love him.”

Now, my simple country mind, I used to say, “Well, Lord, which one is it? Do you give this crown to those that endure temptation, or do you give this crown to those that love you?” It was a good day when it seemed like the Holy Spirit said, “Hey, it’s one. It’s the same person.” If you love him, you’ll endure the temptation. Now listen to this very closely: If I just love his blessings, when the blessings are not there, I’ll fall in the towel. But if I love him, I’ll go through the trials. Oh, friend.

By the way, when you’re down and you’re going through the tough times, that’s what you’ll learn who your true friend is. The Bible says, “A friend loveth at all times.” God allows sometimes trials in our lives and tough times in our life, and he says, “I want to find out: do they really love me, or do they love what I do for you?” He’s so good; he does so much for us. He gives us salvation, gives us blessings, gives us beautiful homes and houses and families and all that. And so if God takes some of that away, do you still love him or not? If you love him, you’ll endure the temptation. One and the same.

Hudson Taylor, and I’m going to be done. Hudson Taylor, great, great missionary to China. God used him to start the China Inland Mission. I’m talking about it had influence even after he died. Y’all got time for a little additional story about Hudson Taylor?

When he died, communism had moved into China. They could not stand the mention of Hudson Taylor because he was kind of like just a great hero to the Chinese people. So they hired—Communist China hired a man to debunk Hudson Taylor. And this man began to study everything he could about Hudson Taylor. This is years after Hudson Taylor was dead. And he was hired to write a book against Hudson Taylor so people wouldn’t follow this folklore, this hero, Hudson Taylor. And this man learned so much about Hudson Taylor, about his God, that the man they hired to write a book against him got saved.

We’re talking about a man God used greatly. Hudson Taylor—his first wife, he buried her in China; I want to say more than one, but at least one, I think several children—he buried in China. He ruined his health in China. You talk about trials, man—trial after trial after trial.

And they say Hudson Taylor was back, and there were some people, potential missionaries, and he was interviewing them. I think about this old man that had been through so much, buried his wife and children through so many trials. And he was asking these young people, he said, “Why do you want to go? Why do you want to be a missionary?” And one said, “Because of the Great Commission: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’” And all the world because of the Great Commission. Hudson Taylor says, “That’s good.” And another said, “Well, so many people have never heard the name of Jesus. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved”—only the name of Jesus. Only Jesus can save." For him, he said, “That’s a good reason.” And they had several different things.

But this aged missionary, he said, “Young people want to go to the mission field. All those are good, but there’s going to come a time when you have trials that just knock you off your feet, and those won’t keep you going.” This aged missionary quoted a verse, a portion of it. He said, “The love of Christ constraineth us.” And when we grasp how much he loves us, and we love him because he first loved us, when you’re going through tough times, you’re going to say, “I don’t like all this, but I love him too much to quit. He’s been so good to me. He loves me, and I don’t deserve it. And I’m not having a fruitful ministry at the moment. Everything’s not wonderful. But I just love him too much. He saved me. He saved my mom, my dad, my kids, my family, and I can’t quit on him.” And that’s why he said, “I’ll give it to those that endure temptation.” And I promise you, those will love me.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Bless our heads. Eyes are closed. You say, “Preacher, I want to stay in the race for the Lord. I want to endure the temptation.” Or you say, “I need to get back in the race. I haven’t been serving him like I ought to. I haven’t endured like I ought to. I’m not putting one foot in front of the other, maybe Bible reading, whatever may be. But I either need to get back in the race or I’m going to stay in the race for the Lord. I want to win that crown of life. I want to endure these temptations and trials and burdens of life, and I want to stay faithful to him.” God spoke to my heart about that this morning, and that you would just slip your hand up with me. I want to either stay in the race for the Lord or get in the race for the Lord. Now I want to stay in. I want to win that crown. He wants you to win it. Many, many hands. Maybe there’s somebody else. “I need to get back in the race.” Anybody else? “I need to get back in the race.” Anybody just raise your hand? “I need to get back in the race.” Just slip it up. Oh, yeah. Let’s stay in there. Let’s get in there. “For when he is tried.”

Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down. Thank you so very much. I did not preach a salvation message, but oh, I did mention Christ endured the cross because he loves you. We endure temptation because we love him, but he endured that because he loves you, and he wanted to offer you heaven. He loves you. Love gifts—you never earn them. So many people say, “Well, I’m good enough to go to heaven. I’m going to do this.” No, you’ll never earn your way to heaven. It’s a love gift. When you humbly come before the Lord and say, “Lord, I cannot—I cannot earn my way to heaven. I want to receive that gift that you earned for me out of your love. You endured the cross for me, and I want to receive that. I’ve got to receive that.” Friend, that’s the greatest thing. It’ll be a great day for you to receive that gift. You hear this morning, say, “Preacher, I need to receive that gift that Jesus earned for me out of his love, and he wants to lovingly give it to me. I need to receive that gift.” If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up. Anybody like that? “I need to receive that gift.” “I need to receive that gift.” God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. I see several hands. Oh, he loves you. He endured that cross for you. He’s purchased it with his shed blood for you.

Right there where you’re seated. Right there where you said you—you can put your heads down right there. You’re set. You want to go to Jesus and say, “Oh Jesus, I need to receive that gift. I thought I earned it, but I realized today you’re giving it to me out of love, and I want to just receive it in my heart right there.” You set. Call on Jesus. Jesus, thank you for enduring the cross for me and offering me that gift. I receive that gift. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I receive it by faith. You’re the only way I can go to heaven. I’m receiving you as my God. You let them know that. You pray that in your heart.

Would you all stand? Would you stand right where you are? Yeah, all of us. Would you stand? I’m going to have a word of prayer. As soon as I pray, as I say amen, if you raised your hand, I want to stay in the race or get in the race, God spoke to your heart—would you come to an old-fashioned altar and just spend some time with the Lord? If you want to receive that gift, there’ll be some men down front here, and there’ll be a man back there. Would you come with your—shake the hand if you want to go to the back, you go to the back. Either way, we’d love to take the Bible and from the Bible show you how you could know for sure without a doubt you’re going to heaven. We want you to receive that gift. There’ll be men—would you come? Would you come? Just as soon as I say amen, don’t wait. You come. Come, come down front, go to the back, and receive that gift. Would you do that? Everybody raised your hand, gospel talk—would you come? Let’s pray.

As soon as I say amen, don’t wait for anybody else. Don’t look around. Would you step out? You come. Lord, thank you that you tell us how to earn this crown of life. Help many here today to earn it. Lord, those that raised their hand, they need to receive the gift. Father, give them the courage. Maybe they called on you in their seat, but give them the courage to come and shake a man’s hand and let them explain it very clearly from your Word. Let them have assurance you’re going to heaven. They’ve received your gift of love. Bless these few moments, Lord, please. In Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Would you come? Would you come? Don’t wait for anybody else. Would you come? Say, “I need to receive that gift.” Would you come? You need to receive that gift. Would you come? You raised your hand. God speaking to your heart. Would you come? Won’t be long. Won’t be long. If you need to receive that gift, would you come? Two men here, one man in the back. Would you come and receive that gift?

I wish there were ways around it, but there’s not. Not going to be a blessing; I’m going to have growth, multiplied, fruitful trials.

I’ve tried this week, just really from last week’s sermon about the woman that was accused and should have a child. And I’ve tried to pray all week long, “Would you give us new life? Would you give us new life? Myself, my wife, our church family, would you give us new life?” I didn’t think about it until just a minute ago. In some ways, I’ve been praying, “Lord, let us have some trials,” because you can’t get the crown of life, and you can’t be fruitful and multiply except for when he is tried. Oh, friend, let’s stay true to him. And it’s awesome on the other side to see the life, the crown of life that you receive one day. Amen. Thank you for being in church this morning. We’re glad you’re here. Amen.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - A Crown of Life - Sunday AM 06052022