We’ve got one of my very favorite family pictures to put up on the screen: In 1998, I ran the Tulsa Run road race with Paul, David & Libby, our three oldest kids. Cheryl took this picture of the four of us at my favorite time of a race: when it was OVER! The Tulsa run always had huge tables of cokes, Gatorade, water, and big selections of candy bars and all kinds of snacks for you after the run. It was fun running that race together with our kids, and in the picture now I could smile, because we’d finished the race and now we could celebrate!  The race was hard – but it made the rewards very sweet!

The running of a race is often used as an illustration of the Christian life, and it is an apt illustration. A race has a beginning, but it requires perseverance to reach the end. And that is how it is with the Christian life, too. You have to have a “beginning” to your Christian life — a time when you first give your life to Jesus as your Savior. Like Jesus said in John 3, “You must be born again.” Many of us understand that. But unfortunately, many people don’t seem to understand that the Christian life not only has a beginning, but it also involves perseverance. Perseverance in one’s Christian life demonstrates that the profession of faith they made was genuine. Perseverance, the Bible tells us, is necessary for us experience the reward of heaven. James 1:12 shows us “What Real Faith Looks Like” when it says:

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” 

 I.  The Proof of Perseverance

We saw earlier in James 1 that the trials we experience are not “bad”, but they are part of God’s purpose for our lives. And we saw that one of the purposes for trials is that they test our faith, to demonstrate whether it is genuine or not.  Verse 12 picks up this idea and elaborates on it some more. It says: “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life.” It tells us that when we persevere through trials it demonstrates whether the faith we claim we have is genuine or not.   

In The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Jesus said when the gospel “seed” is sown, that some “fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprung up, because they had no depth of soil.  But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”  In :20-21, Jesus explained the meaning of this parable. He said: “The one on whom seed was sown in the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.” 

Jesus said in this parable that there’s a kind of person who SAYS they have faith in Him, but whenever difficulties come, their so-called “faith” withers, and they don’t continue to follow Him. The trial, or the affliction that a person goes through, tests their faith, to see whether it is genuine or not.  When they persevere in their faith through their trials, you can be confident that this person really does have eternal life.

One of the mistakes we have made as Baptists over the last few generations is pronouncing as “saved” anybodyk who ever makes a profession of faith. We say things like: “If you prayed that prayer, you are saved.” It may be well-intentioned, but the fact is, it is just not true. In fact, Jesus said the opposite; He said: “NOT everyone who SAYS to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven”! I say this all the time in our invitations: just mindlessly repeating some canned words does not save you. Anyone can “parrot” the words a prayer. We need to get back to the understanding that a “profession of faith” is just that – a PROFESSION. It means that the person CLAIMS to have faith. But a “profession of faith” is not the same as genuine POSSESSION of saving faith. 

Genuine salvation is not just a matter saying some words. it is something that happens in the HEART. For a person to be saved, there must be genuine repentance and faith in that person’s heart, and a real regeneration from the Holy Spirit which changes their life. And you and I cannot tell instantaneously whether that’s really happened. It takes time and the experience of persevering through difficulties to see if the decision they made was real. That is what this verse is talking about. After you make a profession of faith in Jesus as your Lord & Savior, you will invariably assaulted with various trials not long afterwards. As we saw, Peter says we are not to be surprised at this, “as though some strange thing were coming upon you.” (I Peter 4:12)  We must all be tested, to demonstrate whether our faith is genuine. When you come through the trials that afflict your life, and you still believe and you’re still following the Lord, then you can be certain that you are really saved. The trials and tests of life test you, to demonstrate to you and others if your faith is genuine. 

Because of the uncertainties in the economy, many people buy gold as an investment. But of course it’s important to know if their gold is genuine.  There are a number of tests to ascertain the authenticity of gold: you can bite it – like some Olympic athletes do their gold medals, because gold is soft, and your teeth will make an impression in it if it is genuine. If you don’t want to bite it, you can also drag the item across an unglazed ceramic plate. If it leaves a black streak, it’s not gold. If it leaves a gold streak, it is genuine.  

There are a number of such tests, but they say that by far the best is to test it with nitric acid. Because of the risks involved, it’s wise to let a jeweler do it, but in this test, you put a drop of nitric acid on object in a small stainless steel container. If there is a green reaction, it means that the object is NOT pure gold; it’s either a base metal, or gold plated. A milk-colored reaction indicates that it’s gold-plated silver. But if there is no reaction, it indicates that what you have is indeed genuine gold. Now: when that object comes through that acid without a green or milky reaction, that does not MAKE that object gold. It just demonstrates that it really WAS gold the whole time. You may have heard of the expression, “the acid test” – this is where that comes from: the nitric acid test for gold.

That “acid test” for gold is a great picture of what happens when a Christian perseveres through their trials. Our trials are like acid – and sometimes they feel that way, too, right?! They are painful; they are difficult to endure. But when we come through those “acid tests” with our faith intact, still believing in the Lord and following Him, it demonstrates that the faith that we SAID that we have in Jesus is real. Now, we need to understand an important difference here:  persevering through your trial does not MAKE you a Christian; just like that gold coming through the acid test did not MAKE it gold. The acid test does not make something genuine; it just reveals what it already was. In the same way, you don’t become a Christian by persevering through your trials; it’s not some “work” that earns you a spot in heaven. No, like that acid test, persevering in your trials just shows that you show that you really WERE a Christian the whole time. When you persevere, you demonstrate that your faith is genuine, and that you will indeed receive the crown of eternal life. 

This is exactly what I Peter 1:6-7 says: “Now for a little while you have been distressed by various trials, so that the PROOF OF YOUR FAITH, BEING MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD … tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Your faith is tested like gold, the Bible says, and it’s shown to be real when you persevere through your trials. 

You may be going through this very thing right now. You’ve made a profession of faith  that you are a Christian – and now you are being tested in that in some way:

— Maybe you are being ridiculed or persecuted for your faith. Will you “ditch” what you believe because people are opposing you, or will you hold on to it?  

— You may be tested by the loss of friends or loved ones or through financial trouble – will hold on to your faith despite those losses?  

— Maybe you’re being tested with the temptation to love something else more than you love God, or to make some other person or possession or purpose more important than following Jesus. 

If you are going through something like this, you need to see that this is a trial that is part of the “acid test” of your faith, and it’s designed to show whether you really possess real faith or not.  So persevere! Hold on to your faith! Demonstrate that the “profession of faith” you made was really genuine, by persevering in your faith during the “acid test” of your trials!

II.  The Results of Perseverance

James 1:12 says two things about the person who perseveres in the tests of their faith; it says they will be “approved,” and that they will “receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Those two things are the “results” of perseverance.  You might call it the “reward” of perseverance – and many good people do – but I hesitate to call it “reward” lest someone think that we “earn” our salvation by persevering.  We don’t. The Bible makes it clear that we are not saved by anything good that we can do. It is “By grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)  We are saved when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, and we realize that we have rebelled against God, but that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, and we repent of our sins, and put our trust in what HE did on the cross for us, and turn to follow Him.  It is all by His GRACE. God saves us NOT because of anything that we do for Him, but on the basis of what Jesus did for us. Salvation is by God’s mercy and grace. But as we said just a moment ago, we get tested to demonstrate whether we really have received that grace or not. So remember that passing our tests does not MAKE us saved; it just shows that we really ARE saved. So James puts the “results” of the “acid test” of perseverance in two ways here: 

A. The Stamp of Approval

James says that when the tested man perseveres, he is “approved.” That word means a “stamp of approval.” If you have a piece of gold jewelry, often times there will be a little imprint in it, that says “14k gold” or “24k gold” indicating that it is genuine. That is basically what this Greek word here, “dokimos,” means: it means “approved.” “Real gold.” It is a stamp of authenticity. Passing the “acid tests” of life in a sense “stamps” you with a seal of “approval” that you genuinely belong to the Lord.    

In Romans 16:10, the Apostle Paul says: “Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ.” The word “approved” there is same word James uses here, “dokimos.” Basically, Paul is saying, Apelles has “dokimos” stamped on his life; he is “approved.” You can “read between the lines” here and deduce that this man Apelles had evidently been through some tests in his life, and he had come through them with flying colors, still following the Lord — so now Paul was confident that Appeles had a genuine, persevering faith. He had “dokimos”; “approved” stamped on his life.

In the same way, when you & I pass the “acid tests” that God allows to come our way, then our faith has been “tried and tested” and we are “dokimos” – stamped with the seal that our faith is genuine, and that we really do belong to God.

But here’s the thing: God’s approval is different from man’s approval. As men, we often look at people and say, “Oh, yeah, they are saved. They have ‘prayed the prayer.’ They have been baptized. They joined the church.” Too often we see give them our “stamp of approval” – we consider them “approved them for heaven” and say “once saved always saved” about them – when they really haven’t even been tested yet – or worse, when they appear to have FAILED the tests by NOT holding to their faith in their trials. I’ve heard people say things like: “Yeah they made a profession of faith years ago, and they never did really follow the Lord, but you know, ‘once saved always saved.’!” That is a false confidence! Remember Jesus said “NOT everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who DOES the will of My Father who is in heaven.” YES we believe “once saved always saved,” but I think it’s better put as “IF saved always saved.” Not everyone who makes a profession is genuinely saved. We have to see what the tests of time and trials will reveal about whether their faith is genuine.

There are millions of names of people on church rolls all across America today who made “professions of faith” but who have failed the tests that subsequently came their way. At some point we need to stop putting a “seal of approval” on those whom God has not approved, who have failed the test of authenticity. We need to stop claiming “once saved always saved” for people who did not persevere in their faith, and whose lives show no real evidence that they were ever genuinely saved. James makes it clear: it is the one who perseveres in his faith who gets the “stamp of approval” that they are genuinely the Lord’s. 

What about YOU? How has your faith responded to the trials you have faced? Do YOU have “dokimos.” “genuine faith” stamped across your life — or not?

B.  “The Crown of Life”

But when a person does pass the “perseverance test,” James says you can be confident that they will “receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” This is just what Jesus told the church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:10, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” 

Now in Greek the word “crown” here in James 1:12 is not the kingly crown, the “diadem,” but the Greek word “stephanos;” the victor’s crown, the wreath that was given to the winner of the races or the Olympic games. Josephus the Jewish historian tells us that they had the Greek games even in Jerusalem in the days of Herod the Great, so James and the other Jewish Christians there knew about the “victor’s crown” which was awarded to the winners of the games. When the winner crossed the finish line, they were given this “wreath,” this “stephanos,” this “crown.”

Paul talks about that crown in I Corinthians 9:25, and II Timothy 2:5. He Himself looked forward to the “crown” that he would receive from the Lord in II Timothy 4:7-8, where he said: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 

What is this “crown” we will receive if we persevere in our faith? Without going into all the grammatical details, I’ll just tell you that the great Southern Baptist Greek scholar, A.T. Robertson, tells us that the Greek here indicates that the crown IS life. There is not some other reward that is our “crown,” eternal life IS the reward!  It IS “the crown.” When you persevere in your faith, you are stamped with a seal of “approval” that your faith in genuine, and you and others can be confident that you will indeed receive the greatest treasure there is: eternal life in the presence of God forever. Eternal life with God IS the crown! That IS the reward!

But notice again the qualifier here. James says the crown of life will be given “to those who love Him.” This is a HUGE qualifier! People tend to overlook these things in scripture. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that people are fond of quoting Romans 8:28: “God causes all things to work together for good” – but they omit the qualifier: “TO THOSE WHO LOVE HIM and who are called according to His purpose.” You can’t just claim the promise without meeting the qualification. You can’t know that all things are working together for good in your life unless you LOVE GOD.  

And it’s the same with this verse. The “crown of life” is promised “to those who LOVE HIM.” In light of that, do you qualify for this? Do you love God – or do you love the world?  Do you love God — or do you love something else better? 

— God has not promised the crown of life to those who just acknowledge who He is. As we will see in Chapter 2, even the demons do that!

— He has not promised the crown of life to those who merely SAY they love Him, but who live like they love the world!

— He has not promised the crown of life to those who “like” Him, but don’t really follow Him.

His word says He has promised the crown of life to those who LOVE Him, and who demonstrate that love by persevering for Him. 

When you really love someone, that love will cause you to persevere. We saw in Sunday School just a couple of weeks ago where Genesis 29 tells us that Jacob demonstrated his love for Rachel by persevering for her. It says he worked 7 years to earn her hand in marriage, but those 7 years “seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.” Jacob loved Rachel, and he showed it by persevering until they could marry. 

Love perseveres. I Corinthians 13 says that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Love perseveres — through much hardship and difficulty and trial — real love perseveres.

And the same thing is true of our love for the Lord. You will endure much for the Lord when you really love Him. Saying that you love Jesus is good.  But like the old hymn says: “But how much I love Thee my actions will show.” You demonstrate, by your actions, whether you really do love Him, by how you persevere in your faith. If you do, then you can be confident that you will indeed receive eternal life.    

I’ve heard a number of people bemoan the fact that in America we used to give trophies to winners, but now we give trophies to everyone. I’ll let others debate the pros and cons of that — but I will say this: unfortunately many have this same attitude in the spiritual realm. We want to give everyone the spiritual “trophy,” even when they haven’t won it. We want to grant virtually everyone “the crown of life” – whether the Bible gives us any good reason to believe they really have eternal life or not.

This is where scripture differs from what many of us have been told all our lives. We’ve been told: “Pray this prayer and you have the crown of life.”  Scripture says: “Commit your life to Jesus, and persevere in your faith, and THEN you can know that you have the crown of life.” This is an entirely different thing, isn’t it? MANY people are living today under a false sense of security that because they “prayed a prayer” some years ago, they are saved, even though they have repeatedly failed the “acid tests” of life and allegiance to Jesus. LISTEN TO ME: The Bible offers no assurance of salvation to those who do not persevere.  (Now understand carefully what I am saying here: “The Bible offers no ASSURANCE of salvation to those who do not persevere.” Does that mean that someone who messes up, who doesn’t seem to persevere at some point in their life, does that mean that deep down they are not still saved? No, it doesn’t mean that; perhaps deep down they MAY be saved; but the thing is, there is no ASSURANCE for that person. You can’t be certain of their salvation; you can only hope. The Bible offers no ASSURANCE of salvation to those who do not persevere. James promises assurance here to those who persevere; he promises the crown to those who pass the tests. James says later in this chapter, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” That applies here too. Do not be deceived! Not everyone who prays a prayer is saved. Not everyone who says to Him, “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Rather, the Bible says very clearly here: 

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him”!  

That may not be what we’re used to hearing, but the Bible shows us very clearly here in James that THAT is “What Real Faith Looks Like”!

INVITATION:

— If you believe that you are saved today, WHY do you believe it? Have you made a profession of faith in Jesus as your Lord & Savior? If you have, what has your life shown since that time? Have you continued to follow Jesus? Have you been through some trials and tests — and did you hold to your faith through them?     Maybe you’ve even failed some tests — we all do — but have you always come back to the Lord? That’s one good test that you really are His; you always come back.

But each of us should let the Lord examine our lives this morning. What do the tests of life show about whether your faith is real or not? 

— Or maybe you’d say, You know, all this shows I have never really given my life to the Lord. I need to do that today. You can right now …