Romans 5:3-5
"Assurance in Suffering"
Romans 5:3-5, “Not only so, but we also
rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has
poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given
us" (NIV). "Romans 5:3-5, "And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience,
experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”
(KJV).
Introduction
“Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5 as we
continue to look at reasons for assurance. Reasons for assurance in Romans chapter 5. Last week we saw that we have assurance of
salvation. If we have believed in Christ
[Yeshua haMeschiach for our Messianic Jewish believers], and have been born
again by the power of his Holy Spirit, we will go to heaven [be in the 1st Resurrection to immortality, cf. 1 Cor. 15:49-54]. And we have that assurance, verse 1 says,
because we've been saved, we have peace with God. We're not at war with God, and God's not at
war with us anymore, we have peace with God. We have made our peace with God, we don't have to wait till the day we
die. It's been done at the cross. Amen? And then secondly, verse 2 says, that we have access to God. Whereas before, God was, there were many
barriers separating man from God. Now
Jesus Christ has made the access for us, through the blood that he shed, and we
now can come to the Father at any time. And thirdly, we have hope, we have the hope of heaven [ or as some
believe the Scripture says: "entering the Kingdom of Heaven, which will be
established on earth at Jesus 2nd coming, the same period of time
when the righteous dead will be raised as immortal beings"]. We have the assurance that we're going to
heaven, and really, heaven has begun already. There's a change that has begun in our lives that God never begins
without completing. And so, we have
assurance for those three reasons.
Assurance In Suffering
But We Don’t Have Immunity From Trouble
Now Paul says, ‘Now it's just not all assurance in the by-and-by, there's
some real assurance you can have right now, meeting the troubles and suffering
that everyday life brings.’ And he says, 'We have reasons
to rejoice because of our assurances of salvation, we have reasons to rejoice
in even our sufferings and our troubles.' We'll look at that in a minute. Well, let's read verses 3, 4, and 5 right
now. “And not only this, we also
exalt in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance
(or endurance), and perseverance proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because of the
love of God which has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit
who is given to us.” When you talk about suffering, we need to
understand that Christians are not immune from suffering. Sometimes listening to the people on TV [he
means the "Sunday Morning Comedy Hour" or some televangelists] and
some of the people on the radio, you begin to get the idea that Christians have
been guaranteed some kind of immunity from trouble and suffering and poverty,
if they will just give enough, if they'll just believe enough, and if they'll
just say enough times what they want, that's what they'll get. [“Positive Confession” we talked about in Romans 4:17-25, pp. 12-14] I've picked that up, listening to TV
preachers, listening to some of the people on the radio. I've picked it up looking at certain books
you can buy in the Christian bookstore. There's a big problem with that, it's not true. Christians are nowhere guaranteed immunity
from life's storms. Christians are
nowhere guaranteed freedom from trouble. Nowhere have we been guaranteed success and freedom from poverty. I'm sorry, it's not what God's Word
teaches. Jesus said speaking to his
followers in John 16, I'll just read it to
you, “These things
I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace” -- because, boy you're going to need it
because of the next thing I'm gonna tell you. And he goes on to say -- “in the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good courage" he said "I have overcome the world.” Jesus
said, ‘You're
going to need my peace, followers, because in this world, you're going to have
trouble. You're going to have
tribulation. You're going to have hard
times, you're going to have trials. In
this world you're going to need my peace -- because I haven't guaranteed you
immunity from life's hurts.’ The apostle Paul says something
very illuminating in Acts chapter 14. Turn there with me, just go to the left one book,
Acts chapter 14. For some of you this
may be your life verse, Acts chapter 14, verse 22, and you'll see what I mean in a minute. Let me give you, as you're looking, a little
bit of background for the verse. Paul
had been preaching in a city where they thought he was God and he just
declared, ‘I'm
just a man with a message.’ They rioted, they stoned him,
throwing rocks on him until he died, he actually died, because verse 20 says
that while the disciples were standing around him, it looked as though he'd
been left for dead, and he actually did die, it said “He arose” and that word in Greek is the word that's
always used for a resurrection from the dead. He died, and he actually was brought back to life by God, and he went
back into the city and began to preach again. Well, these early disciples realized right away, that just because
you're a great apostle doesn't mean you have immunity from the flying rocks of
this world. They may score a hit,
they may knock you down, but the neat thing, if God isn't finished with you,
he'll pick you right back up and stand you on your feet and away you go. Right? God was in control. But the
apostle Paul didn't want them to lose heart. So it goes on now in verse 22, it says that he stayed
there awhile, and he strengthened the souls of the disciples. And this is what he did to strengthen
them. “Encouraging them to hang in there, to continue in
the faith, and saying” -- and
this is a life verse for some of you -- “through many tribulations we
must enter the kingdom of God.” Is
that your life verse? I think it's
mine. Through many tribulations we must
enter the kingdom of God. Now why did he
say that? Did he not have enough
faith? Was he making a negative
confession? Of course he had plenty of
faith. You're talking about the guy who
wrote the Word that saved you. Yes, he
had faith, but he did not have immunity from trouble. And
he's saying, ‘Look, in this world you're going to have tribulation. In this world, you're going to have trouble.’ ‘But be of good
courage’, as Jesus said, ‘I've overcome the
world.’ “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven.” Paul
told Timothy, his buddy, in 2nd Timothy 3:12, he said “All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” We
could probably just say, ‘All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer.’ Now
you can't erase these verses from the Bible. And I'm concerned for some of you who have been taught wrong things
about pain and suffering and trouble and trials. I'm concerned, because I understand that bad
theology can turn your life sour and bitter towards God. Nowhere in the Bible are you promised
immunity from hurt, pain or suffering. I'm
sorry, but it's not there. And I never
told you that you were immune from that. You look at the Bible, and look through every book of the Bible, all 66
of them, and you will see that in every one of those books there is some kind
of talk about suffering and pain. The
book of Psalms, for instance, has 150 Psalms, and of those 150 Psalms, 90 of
them talk about trials, talk about pain and hurt. There's no believer in the Bible that I can
think of, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Daniel, Peter, Paul,
James, the early church--I can't think any of them that we have any real
information on their life that didn't suffer, that didn't have some kind of
trouble. And it wasn't the result of sin
in their life. It was the result, many
times, of their opposition to sin that they got into trouble. Our response to suffering is determined
by our understanding of God. Why do people get mad at God
when bad things hit? It's because they
don't know God. They don't really know
the living God. See, the basis, the
foundation for talking about suffering is you gotta know the character of
God. You've got to understand that God
is love, and that God loves you. Someone says, ‘Well, if God loves me, then why doesn't he answer my prayers?’ Well,
you're probably praying prayers, ‘Give me this goody, get me out of this jam, Lord protect me from this
jam, Lord I need money here, I need money there,’ and it doesn't happen, and you're saying, ‘Well, he doesn't answer my
prayers.’ -- because it's his will
for you now to be in trouble. You say ‘What!?,
what are you saying?’ I said it's his
will right now for you to be in trouble. 'Well, then I
don't like him.' You see, that's so immature. That is like, I mean it really is, it's like
my little kids, you know. Especially my
three and a half year old, you know, she's at the age right now where she's
beginning to reason I think, and she's beginning to talk back, and she'll argue
with me, and I'll ask her to go to bed for her nap, and oh man, you'd think I'm
the meanest guy on earth, she doesn't like me for awhile,
she rejects me for awhile, she gets mad. You ask her to eat certain vegetables on her
plate, you know, and there's this big deal and you're such a scoundrel, but see
I know vegetables are good for you. I
know that she'd better take a nap, because she needs that rest. And she doesn't see things from a mature
perspective yet. And many times when
we're shaking our little fists at God, and we're kicking and screaming in
trouble, we don't understand that the trouble in our life works something into
our life that nothing else can do. Believe
me, God loves you so much that if some other way could work what trouble works
into your life, God would use it. If
there were something besides trouble he could use, he would. Remember Jesus (Yeshua), God's beloved Son,
right? He's praying in the garden, he
says “Father, if
possible, take this cup”, the
cup of death, “take it from me. But not my
will, but your will be done.” You better believe that if
there was a possibility that God could have done the work in some other way, he
would have done it. But it necessitated
the death of his Son. And you can
believe that God loves you so much, that if there was any way that he could
spare you an ounce, a drop of trouble, he would. He loves you, and he has withheld so much
trouble from you. But that which he does
allow is working a work that nothing else can do in your life as a
Christian. It doesn't apply to you if
you're not a Christian. [But God does
know and care that people in the world do suffer. He even made a remark by Paul or one of the
other apostles which shows people in the world are suffering as we do. He goes as far as to call them “our brothers
in the world.”] But if you're a
Christian that's true. There is meaning
to your suffering and to your troubles. [Comment: And in the overall plan of God, there will be meaning for the
suffering of the whole world, throughout it's long
suffering history. Don't forget a clear
biblical fact, one ignored by most Christian teachers, that God created and
placed on this earth Adam and Eve, mankind--a planet infested with evil demons
and Satan himself. This is Satan's evil
world right now. Responsibility for all
six thousand years of human suffering will some day be placed on Satan's head, as he and his demons are banished from earth and the
presence of mankind forever (cf. Leviticus 16, whole chapter, Rev. 20:1-3,
7-10; Genesis 3:1-6; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-17). God had to have a very good reason for
placing mankind that he created on a planet infested with demons, with Satan as
their evil ruler. Remember, nothing in
the angelic or demonic world gets done without God's approval, it's his
universe, he created it and rules over all of it. God must have a plan that goes far beyond our
limited human vision, a plan that encompasses the whole numbers of human lives
he was responsible for the creation of. Don't forget, it is God who is responsible for creating man on a planet
infested with demons, with Satan as their evil ruler. The buck stops on God's desk, not ours, not
Satan's. Just keep this in the back of
your mind when you think of trouble and that this whole world is a world of
trouble, pain and suffering. We live in
an evil world right now, it's not God's world right now--Satan and his demons
hold unseen authority over all life on the planet right now--except for those
God has specifically called out of this world. God has a purpose worked out, and mainstream Christianity hasn't focused
on that whole purpose yet. Christian
teachers currently have just focused on the specific plan of salvation for the
individual believer--the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. You can be sure more on this theme about
God's overall plan and purpose will be revealed after Jesus returns, things he
hasn't' revealed to us yet. The Old
Testament is filled with more prophecies about the actual physical coming of
God's kingdom on earth than anywhere else in the Bible. But very strangely, pain and suffering seem
to be banished from those living in that Millennial Kingdom of God. Christians who have lived and died during the
Church age (30AD to the 2nd Coming) must be a special leadership
cast, as Revelation 20:4,6 brings out. Our reward for suffering and building the resultant Christian character
into our lives through suffering must bring us a huge reward, in
comparison to those yet to be born-again after Jesus Christ's 2nd coming. During that time, Satan and his
demons will be banished, the evil societies of man will be gone, a thing of the
past.]
Our Response To Suffering Is Determined By Our Understanding Of God
Our response
to suffering is determined by our understanding of God. What we think about God will determine how we
respond to the trials. When we shake our fist at God [we prove]
that we don't know him--we don't know him well enough to trust him for what we
don't know. We need to learn to live
above the level that we can see, I call it the "see level". Too many Christians are living at "see-level",
"see" you know, and they live by sight and not by faith. And when you step into trouble, it's a big
lesson in living above "see-level". You've got to get your sight on things above. You've got to get your sight on the things of
faith and the things that God's Word says, and not just on what you can
see. We need to understand that God is
in control of our trials and our suffering. [i.e. in spite of seeing that this
is really Satan's world we live in right now-God even in these awful circumstances,
is still in control.] Satan is not in
control of them. For awhile,
as I was coming into Christianity and the things of the Lord, there's so many
winds of teaching, so different things, and I would buy the popular books and
read them. For awhile,
I had the view that a lot of people have that when God's busy over here with
John Doe, and got his back on me, Satan comes running in and does some mean
thing to me, and God turns around -- ‘Hey, hey, hey! Get away, get away! That's my
son, you know.’ And as long as God's watching me I'm OK, but
then when--it's like Satan can sneak up on God and do things to us. And I remember telling people ‘God is not in control of
suffering. God never wills that you
should suffer or be in pain, it's not God's will that you be in pain and
suffer.’ And that would effect the way I would pray and everything I would [teach], I would try to rebuke
everything bad in someone's life [i.e. “Positive Confession” baloney]. Well, that's a bunch of baloney. God is in control of the suffering that we go through. It is not just by chance, nor is it the devil
coming in and doing things that God doesn't know about. [Good case in point, read the whole book of
Job. See in the beginning, God has a
hedge set about Job, but for Job's own good, God let's Satan trouble Job. But you have to read the whole story. God does use the evil that he's allowed to
remain on this planet, and he uses it for our good, for our spiritual
development, and yes, for the spiritual development of the entire world later
after Jesus' return.] Satan is not some
kind of a semi-god or a little demi-god. Satan is just a big created being with a lot of power. He's like an elephant, you know. I mean, to me, an elephant is a lot stronger
than me. I don't want to get one [mad at
me]. Elephants are mighty creatures, I
don't want to mess around with them, or a polar bear [where everything a polar
bear sees is food to them!], or a lion [and Peter refers to Satan as being a
roaring lion] or anything like that. I
acknowledge their authority, their power, but they're not God, and Satan is
just a created being, he's not God. And
anything he does is just because God allows him to do it.
Is There Anything In Christianity That Helps Somebody Face Trouble?
Look at 1st Peter, chapter 4, verse 19, very important
verse. 1st Peter chapter 4, verse 19, Peter
is talking about suffering. When we were
in the book of Peter years ago, there was a real precious brother who was
fellowshipping with us for a time, and finally he says “I'm leaving here, I want to hear
something positive. I'm tired of hearing
about suffering and trials. I'm going to
go to a church where I don't hear about those things.” You
know, I've thought about that so many times since then, I thought ‘He wants to go bury his head in
the sand.’ He's a superstitious Christian that thinks
that if he talks about trouble it's going to happen. No, trouble can happen whether you talk about
it or not. Right? And I don't have to go looking for it, it
finds me, knows my address very well. But talking about it, gang, is what we ought to do. Instead of coming here with this
phony-baloney stuff, saying, ‘Oh, we who have real faith, why we're not in financial troubles, and
those of us who really believe, we're not sick.’ Instead we wear these little line-masks, where instead we ought to get
real and get honest and say ‘Hey, look, we're all in trouble. We've all got trials, we've all got suffering.’ Some
of us have marriage problems, some of us, money problems, some have kid
problems, some have other problems, we have sickness, some of us have cancer. Now let's come to
God's Word and see how we can get through this! Is there anything in Christianity that helps somebody face trouble? Listening to some of these people you would
think there isn't. And so we have to
pretend that there's no such thing as trouble. Hey, if you're in trouble, you're in pretty good company. Jesus was known to be a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief. Sorrow and grief
come from trouble, don't they? 1st Peter 4:19 tells us that God is in control of our
suffering. And it is sometimes God's
will that we suffer. Verse 19, “Therefore let those also who suffer” -- how? – “according to the will of God, entrust their souls to a faithful
creator in doing what is right.” I've heard people tell me ‘Well, I don't believe that,’ and I say ‘Well, sorry but this is the Bible, you know -- like
‘Are you a Christian?’ ‘Well, I don't believe that.’ It says, “according to the will of God.” They're suffering
according to the will of God. ‘It's not God's will that I suffer.’ Well,
if you're into that, man, there's not much we can do with you, because we swear
allegiance to the Lord, and the Lord of this book. And the book says it's God's will, sometimes
that you suffer. And he says, ‘What should you do?’ ‘Don't fight him, and
trust your soul to a faithful creator in doing what is right.’ When
Jesus was suffering his greatest trial as he stood before Pilate and was about
to be crucified Pilate said to him, ‘Ooh, you're not going to answer me?’ Pilate
had asked him some questions, Jesus just remained silent, fulfilling the
prophecy that the Messiah would stand dumb before his shearers. ‘You're not going to answer me, huh?’ Pilate
says, “Don't you
know I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you?” And
Jesus broke his silence. He answered “You would have no authority over
me, unless it had been given you from above” John 19. What
Jesus is saying here is, ‘Look, my Father's in control of my suffering right
now. You think you're in control of me because
you have my hands tied, because your men have been spitting in my face, because
you've been bludgeoning me, because you've been pulling out my beard by the
roots, you think you have control over me because you're going to deliver me
over to be crucified, but you're not in control, my Father's in control.’ And if
that's true of God's beloved Son, gang, it's true of the children of God
too. There's no authority over you right
now that hasn't been allowed by God. God
is in control. Remember that last time
before his death, that Jesus had with Peter, there on the night of the last
supper? Jesus predicted that Peter would
deny him. He said, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has
demanded and has obtained by asking permission to sift you like wheat”, Luke 22. What do you learn there? You learn that Satan couldn't touch Peter
without first obtaining permission from God. He had to ask. He had to submit in triplicate or
quadruplicate his plan. It had to be
reviewed by God and God could say yes or no. It's so incredible, gang. The
Bible teaches us all the way through that God is in control of his children's
lives. Because you suffer doesn't mean
God's on a vacation, God's taken the day off, something slipped by him while
his back was turned. Not on your life. Look at the book of Job, think about it. Remember Job in chapter 1? It's a day when the "sons
of God", the angels of God stand before the Lord, and Satan happens to
come in among them. God says to Satan, "Have you seen my servant
Job who serves me with integrity in his heart?" And
Satan replies, “Aagh, the only reason why Job serves you is because you have put a
hedge of protection around him. He's a
rich man, he's a healthy man, he's a happy man. Take away those things from him, his money, take away his health, take
away his happiness, and he'll curse you to your face. No one loves you for who your are. The only reason why anybody serves
you is because you give them things, you buy their love.” You
can just imagine the accusations behind all these things. God says, ‘OK, I'll give you permission, I'll
give you permission to take away his money.’ He had
his first ‘stock market crashed’, Job's wealth was all in his stock -- his
cattle, crashed in one day. His house
was destroyed. His children, his
happiness, they were taken away, they were destroyed. His health, he became afflicted with severe
pain. And finally, his sweet wife turned into a
nag. She said “Why don't your curse God and
die.” Such an encouragement, in time of need. [laughter] Remember that, brothers and
sisters, be encouragers to one another. Well, did Job curse God? No, in
spite of all that he went through, Job served God. He said, “Though he slay me, yet I'll trust in him.” ‘I just love him, I
know he loves me. Those things have
fallen to me, I'm in severe pain.’ I'm sure he wasn't saying it
with a big smile on his face, but he's saying ‘Hey, I trust him. I know him. I'll trust him.’ Part of the problem with Christians is they
really don't know God. They really don't
know God, the real God of the Bible, or you'd be able to trust him a little bit
more. And walking through the trouble are
times when you learn to trust him, because then you look back on past
experience – ‘Hey you got me through this’ I can trust him for this one too.
We Understand That Everything That Happens To Us Has First Passed Through
The Loving Of God For Our Lives
Look at 1st Corinthians 10, verse 13. It's a verse, that man if it's not
highlighted in your Bible, you'd better get with it and highlight it. You'd better underline it, put a star in the
margin, or something! How have you
gotten by without this one? 1st Corinthians
chapter 10, verse 13, “No temptation has overtaken you
but such as is common to man.” See, I told you, you're not
immune. I'm not immune from having my
house blown off the map by a hurricane in Florida! ‘Oh, I'm a Christian. Our tower is
still standing, that means we're better than everyone else!’ It's
funny, in that same region, that's what representatives from a certain
Christian broadcasting company said, ‘Everything's fine, our tower is still standing.’ But
it's interesting to me, another Christian radio ministry's tower was
destroyed. So what does that mean? It's funny, the one who preaches the heresy
is still standing. The one who's
preaching the truth, probably it fell, you know. Interesting to me. The thing is, Christian people had their
houses totaled. They had their cars
wiped out. Christian people lost
lives. It's common to man, see, we're
not all of a sudden made immune to trouble when we become Christians, no, not
on your life. But I tell you, as a
Christian -- you say, ‘Well, why should I become a Christian?’ -- that's another point I want to talk about. If, if the moment everyone
walked down the aisle, pray or do whatever, if the moment they were saved, if
everything went perfectly for them -- they became rich overnight--healthy,
wealthy, happy--who wouldn't become a Christian! You would be
out of your mind, not to become a Christian, you'd be stupid, stupid, stupid. And so, I mean, the whole world would serve God, or at least say they did. But you see, no one would
believe in the cross, no one would accept Christ [Yeshua haMeschiach], and put
their faith really in his gospel, and put their whole life into his hands. You wouldn't have to, man, you wouldn't have
faith. You wouldn't need faith, everything's
taken care of. [And as my first pastor
told us all (when I was a babe in Christ), that is the real danger everyone
living in the Millennial Kingdom of God will face, ‘Why should I really accept Christ, and Salvation
through the cross? Everything’s perfect,
coming up roses, no war, peace, prosperity.’ He was a very perceptive
pastor’] So it's not that way. You accept Christ [Yeshua] because you love
him. Because you know you're a sinner,
and you know he died for your sins, and you accept the gift of salvation, and
you're promised eternal life with him, yes. And you're promised his presence with you now in trouble, but you're not
promised immunity from trouble and suffering and hurt. “No temptation has taken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful” -- don't forget that, God is faithful in
those times -- “who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able” -- underline the word “allow”, permit,
whatever it says in your translation. I
love that point, because he's saying right here in this verse, that before you
can be tried or tested or tempted -- and the word for temptation there in the
first part of the verse can mean “tried, tested, or temptation” -- he says none of these things can come to you without God giving
permission first. He won't allow you,
you see. It can't just happen by
chance. See, Christians have an inside
track here.
Trouble In God’s Hands Produces Something
We understand that everything that happens to us, has first passed
through the loving will of God for our lives. You say it's the loving will of God that some Christian gets
cancer? Yes. That some become crippled by arthritis? Yes. Talked to a man at the door in the first service, broke down at the door
weeping, visiting family from Pennsylvania, precious man. He said his wife is there, she couldn't come
on the trip, she's so crippled with rheumatoid arthritis, she can barely
walk. And yet, he says, “I love God” and
began to weep. He said “she's such a testimony, such an
encouragement to those who are around her.” He says, “Sometimes I think God chooses
people to go through these things so that they can show the great power and
grace of God.” And we just hugged. It may be God's will that you suffer.
"No temptation has seized you except what
is common to man. And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also
provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
But our troubled times are not a waste,
they're not meaningless. You see, that's
where the world, I mean, the world would just commit suicide--'You know, forget
it man.' 'Give me a lethal
injection.' 'I've just got more than I
can bear, and I've made an appointment at the.' You know, they'll think some wonderful name for it, The Exiting Center or something, you know. But our troubled times are not wasted,
they're not fruitless. Trouble in the
hands of Jesus, Yeshua, produces in our lives--and that's what we're happy
about. I'm not happy about any trouble
I'm in. But I'm happy about what it's
doing, it's not a waste in my life because I'm a child of God. Vance Havner told a story of a small town in
the south who's livelihood was based entirely on
cotton growing. These people grew
cotton, picked cotton, bailed cotton, and they were eecking out a living at
it. They weren't rich, but they were
getting along. Then disaster struck the
community when the bollweaval's invaded. And they began to destroy these little cotton plants. And they invaded the whole area, and they
infested the fields and threatened to destroy everything. Financially, most of the people thought
they'd be ruined. As it turned out,
though, the farmers by this disaster began switching crops from cotton to other
crops like peanuts and crops that weren't vulnerable to the bollweaval. And these crops also that they had to switch
to, they discovered, yielded a much greater return on their investment and
their labor. Actually, what happened was
these new crops brought such an undreamed of prosperity to this town, that to
show their appreciation, they raised a monument to the bollweaval. [laughter] And to this day, in that little southern town, that monument with the
bollweaval on it, is standing. As the
people said "Thank God that the bollweaval came to destroy our crops. Because of this we planted in a new
direction, and we have become well-off." Trouble in God's hands produces something. Trials, trouble and suffering can produce
things in your life that nothing else can produce. That's why God allows them. Now he does not get a kick out of seeing you
cry. He doesn't get a thrill out of
seeing you suffer. But he does get a
thrill out of seeing that raw ore turn into 24 karat gold. And that's what trouble does in our lives.
One Key Thing Trouble Produces,
Endurance
And so we're told now in Romans, going
back to Romans, chapter 5. And we'll
look at verse 3, “and not only
this, but we also exalt (or rejoice) in our tribulations.” Is he out of his mind? Did he get hit with one too many rocks? ‘We exalt in our tribulations?’ Well the word in Greek is very powerful, it
has the meaning of “shouting for joy.” It has the meaning of “jubilation.” We might say “Joy to the max!” How many of you rejoice that way? You call up your friends, ‘Hi, I'm so excited, I'm so thrilled about
what's happened! The doctor said I've
got five weeks to live!’ ‘You invite
your friends to come over for a party’ -- what for? ‘We've lost everything!’ [laughter] ‘We're broke. It's pot luck for that reason. We have
nothing left. Wow, we're so excited,
we're just rejoicing in this!’ Call
the men with the little [white] jackets. But really, that's what the Bible says. “Count it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials”
James 1 says, “knowing that these troubles produce in your life.” Peter says the same thing. He says, ‘Hey, hang in there a little
while you're suffering, because God is working this gold ore into the real 24
karat stuff.’ We rejoice in our
sufferings because we know what suffering and tribulation produces. It's not because we're a bunch of sadists or
masochists, and it hurts so good. I
don't rejoice in the pain, but I rejoice in the product. He says it produces, verse 3, tribulations produce perseverance,
or as one translation says, endurance. Or the King James Version says “patience.” The word "endurance" here means
"to stay under pressure." Oh, it was a military term to begin with,
that was a word for a soldier who stayed in his spot in battle, no matter how
heated the battle became, he stayed in place. [Watch "The Band of Brothers", Part
7, "The Breaking Point" tape (about the battle of Foy), showing the
frozen fox-hole emplacements they held onto despite repeated German barrages of
88's and 105's they had to endure, and "stay in place -- holding the
line." That describes this kind of
endurance that's being talked about, developed by our trials. It puts it into flesh and blood perspective
in graphic living color what this word endurance, Greek for "holding the line", meant. And some of those men are still alive,
elderly vets who endured under extreme pressure to pay for our present
freedoms. Another military movie which
graphically shows this, a true WWI story, is titled "The Lost Battalion". Men that physically endure and hold the line
do develop a special character that stays with them for their entire
lives. Tremendous spiritual types jump
off the screen here. There's tremendous
physical character exhibited for us by the examples of these soldiers. The type transfers directly over into our
lives, by this Greek word Paul used for endurance. We're all in a war-zone. We all live on a planet infested with demons
under Satan's command, and they're all at war with God and all of us who are
God's -- that's us folks! We've been
called -- every Christian who has been born-again from above -- into a
spiritual war-zone. Planet earth is a
spiritual war-zone. If you doubt me,
just read the news closely for a week. We are more literally soldiers of Jesus Christ than most would want to
admit, and we must develop the character of a good soldier. I would highly recommend Brian Brodersen's
booklet Spiritual Warfare, but for some reason it’s been taken out of
print from the Calvary Chapel lineup of booklets, you might ask them why these "Calvary
Basics Series" booklets are no longer available.] And when the pressures are on, and the
troubles are coming at you, you stand firm, endurance. It means "to
stay under." It sounds to me almost
like what happens to a piece of coal, as it stays under tremendous pressure and
tremendous heat it turns into a tremendously valuable gem [a diamond].
Never
Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never, Never, Never, Never
Near the end of his career Winston
Churchill was invited to speak at the commencement of his Alma Mater. The young graduates were in hushed expectancy
as this heroic giant of a statesman rose to speak. Every eye in the auditorium was fastened on
Churchill. Though he was just a little
over five feet tall, he was a giant in their eyes, for he had led Great Britain
triumphantly through one of her greatest crisis. Everyone waited expectantly to hear what this
man after years of experience, years of knowledge, would say to these young
graduates. And I'll tell you what they
heard, they'd never heard anything like it before, and they'd never hear
anything like it again. And I'll give
you his entire speech. “Young gentlemen”
he said, "Never give up, never give up. Never give up. Never, never, never, never." And with that he sat down. God is saying the same thing to us. Children, never give up. Hang in there. Let the trouble work in your life what
nothing else can do that works in the hanging-in-there-ness. That doesn't happen when we're in the good
times, when there's some lovely person peeling grapes and popping them into
your mouth, fanning you with ostrich feathers--just doesn't cause endurance in
your life, it doesn't. But the hard
times do. Real Christian faith has never
been destroyed by trouble. It is
developed by trouble. Do you understand
that? Real Christian faith has never been destroyed by trouble, it's
developed by it. [You might say
here, to be more accurate, the faith the Lord places in us is developed into,
transformed into, battle-hardened endurance.] Every piece of film to be developed, to have
that image perfectly reproduced-what happens to it?-it has to go into a
"dark" room. We call it that,
a darkroom. And I tell you, for the
image of Christ to be reproduced in our lives, if you want to be more than a
black & white, upside down negative, you've got to go into dark times
too. You've got to go into God's developing
room. And there, chemicals of God's
will, and God's permission will be applied to your life, and the result will
not be a disaster. It won't be an
explosion, it will be the image of Christ reproduced in your life. We won't ever be given more than we can
endure. Remember 1st Corinthians 10:13 said “No temptation has overcome you, but such as is
common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond
what you are able to endure, but will with the temptation provide the way of
escape also, that you may be able to endure.”
Your Troubles Don’t Come To Trash You,
They Come To Burn Off The Things That Are Binding You
A week ago I was supposed to be on this
little vacation, relaxing, and I woke up in the beauty of Flagstaff with a
migraine headache. I've never awakened
with one. The pain was so severe that as
I got up fighting nausea, not able to open my eyes and to move them, I felt
like someone had stakes in my eyes. I
sat in that chair because I couldn't lay my head down, Leslie was rubbing my
head, it hurt to rub my head, it hurt not to have her rub my head. And I told you, “You know, I wish I could
just pass out.” And I was thinking, ‘God,
I know you're in control, and I know you love me, I don't understand why this
has to be, but if you want me to pass out right now, it would be really fine
with me. You said you wouldn't give me
more than I could endure.’ A few
moments later the medication I took began to take effect. For six months I've been passing kidney
stones. I mean, if they were gold, or
diamonds or rubies, I'd be independently wealthy. I watch some of you go through your
sufferings and trials, I watch my wife go through her trials, I watch my kids
with the battles they have physically, and I can honestly say, I trust
God. You know, I'm not just talking as
some guy who never had anything bad happen to him. God's OK, and his work is good. And it hurts. But you know, the only nice thing about all of the trouble is that, hey,
it's working something in all of our lives that we'd never have before. And we need to know that we never get tested
alone. Hebrews 13:5 says “I
will never leave you or forsake you.” And I think of Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
there in Daniel chapter 3. They were
very involved in the government, and the king, out of his mind, basically, had
commanded a huge image be put up in the plain of Babylon [Dura], and that all
the people gather out there, the officials of the country, and that they bow
down when the music started playing, they all bow down before his image and
worship him. And you know, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were good men, they were godly men, they weren't about to
bow to an idol. They worshipped the
Living God. And it's interesting to me that
that's what got them in trouble. It
wasn't sin in their life. It was just
being a follower of God. “All those
who live godly in Christ Jesus [Yeshua haMeschiach] shall suffer” the Bible
says. You're gonna suffer. And so they didn't bow the first time the
music played, and the king said, ‘Look, if you guys don't bow, you see
this furnace over there?’ ‘Yeah, I see
it.’ ‘Well, we're heating it seven times
hotter than it's ever been heated, and that's where you're going!’ ‘We're going to have roasted Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego if you don't bow.’ And they said, “Oh king, live forever, you're very great, but we
serve the Living God, and we can't bow down to you, and our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us out of our hands and from the fiery furnace, but even if
he doesn't deliver us, we're not going to serve you and bow down to you.” Well, the music played again, the king was so
enraged the Bible says that his countenance changed, his face changed he was so
mad, ‘Seize them! Throw them in!’ So
they threw them into the fiery furnace. It was so hot that flames leapt out of the fiery furnace and killed the
two men that threw them in. They bound
them hand and foot, threw them in fully clothed. And the king said ‘That's what happens
to people who don't bow to me.’ And that's sort of the way the devil is, you know. God allows him to do things to our lives, God
allows it. God allowed that. And the king of this world, Satan you know,
the god of this world -- Jesus called him that -- he thinks ‘I've triumphed
now, they're in the flames now.’ “Wait,
wait, wait, what's going on here? How
many people did we throw in the fiery furnace?” the king asked. “We threw three in, your majesty.” “Then why do I see four, and the fourth one
looks like the Son of God!” I'll
tell you why, because Christians, God's children don't go through trouble
alone. You can't enter into the fiery
trial without Jesus Christ, the Son of God standing right there with you. And he said “Why do I see them lose and
walking about?!” Because I tell you,
the fire for a Christian ain't as hot as for a non-Christian. I'll tell you, when you're a Christian, God
takes your troubles, and rather than consuming you and burning you to ashes,
all that was consumed, when he called “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you
servants of the Most High God, you come out of there. Come here, I want to talk to you.” He didn't call the fourth One, did he?
[laughter] Interesting. ‘And you, the
Son of God, you stay there.’ They
came out, and they were loosed and walking. How were they thrown in, gang? Tied up. The people looked at
them, “Man, their clothing's not even singed, their hair hasn't even been
scorched. There's not even the smell of
smoke on them!” (I wish that could
happen to me when I go into some restaurants. Don't you?) “There's not even
the smell of smoke on them.” The
only thing's that have been burned are the ropes
which had bound them. You see the
purpose of trials, gang, is not to destroy you, how stupid that would be of
God. Why, he redeemed you with his
blood. He bankrupted heaven, so to
speak, to purchase your salvation. How
silly to trash you. Your troubles don't
come to trash you. They come though to burn the things that are binding you off. They come to loose you, to free you. Sometimes it's self that's getting burned. Sometimes it's pride that needs to be burned. Sometimes it's disobedience that needs to be
burned. [Disobedience to what? God's will is expressed in his law, the
spiritual mirror we are supposed to use to cleanse ourselves (cf. James
1:22-23), under the power and help of the indwelling Holy Spirit.] Or some other work of the flesh that needs to
be burned out of our life. But I'll tell
you, God doesn't mean any of the trouble you're in right now to destroy
you. No way. It's really to make you into the purest of
pure.
God’s More Concerned About What’s
Happening Inside You Than Outside Of You, Get An Eternal View
It says, going on in chapter 5 of Romans, verse 3-4,
"tribulation brings about perseverance-endurance, and endurance brings
about proven character." The
word proven
character here comes from a word that means "to smelt metal, to
refine gold ore, or metal ore." We
could say ‘And perseverance brings about 24 karat character.’ ‘And 24 karat character brings about’ --
what? – “hope” in verse 5, “And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he
has given us.” God's whole purpose
in our life is that all these things will work together a greater glory for
us. You know, the process is to make us
more like Christ. But God will reward
you for going through the process. Isn't
that silly? I mean, we ought to be like
Christ anyway. But then God, when you go
through the troubles, he rewards you. And one last verse in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, verse
16-17, “Therefore we do not lose
heart.” So often that's about what
you do, isn't it? -- just about lose heart. “But though our outer man is decaying” -- when you hit your 30s
it starts, you begin decaying. Sort of a
weird way to put it Paul. Why did you
have to say that? But you do begin, your
hair starts falling out, teeth start falling out, memory starts falling out,
stomach muscles start falling out [laughter], the chest sags, oh man -- “though
our outer man is decaying” -- we're all just sitting here decaying! What a picture -- “yet our inner man is
being renewed day by day.” God's
much more interested in what's happening inside you than he is outside of
you. OK? So if you don't get healed, just remember, God's more concerned about
what is happening inside than outside. Sometimes the outside affliction that's affecting the decaying body is
having such a tremendous impact on the inside, that God would be crazy to not
allow it to continue. I mean, it really
is doing a work in your life -- and wait, don't turn me off! -- because when
you stand before God, you see, you're going to get rewarded for what God has
been doing in your life through that affliction. The next verse says that, look. “For our momentary light affliction” --
now I know, that is offensive to some of you -- “How dare you call what I'm
going through momentary [or light], I've been going through this thing for 15
years! HOW CAN YOU CALL IT LIGHT?! Have you been what I'm in?” We'll it is encouraging to know that the guy
who wrote this went through more than all of us combined as far as trouble is
concerned. But the reason he calls it
momentary and light affliction is because Paul is seeing things in eternity's
perspective. He's saying, ‘The
problem with you guys is you're seeing everything right now in the tunnel
vision of the here-and-now.’ He
says, ‘Hey, look beyond see-level. Get your eyes up and look at things that are seen by faith, and you'd
realize this stuff is all working for your glory to come, a reward to come.’ Look, he says, “For our momentary light
affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all
comparison. While we look not at the
things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things which
are seen are temporal” -- temporary -- “but the things which are not
seen are eternal.” Get an eternal
view. And rejoice in your troubles. Throw a party. Throw a ‘we're losing our house party’ and
invite us all over. I'm not
kidding. We ought to, I told the last
service, I said “I think in a couple weeks, we're going to throw a trouble party.” Oh, the superstitious won't come. They'll be afraid if they come, trouble might
happen. But I mean, would you go? I'd go. I got things to celebrate. How
about you? And we'll put balloons in the
place, and streamers, we'll deck out that fellowship hall over there,
inaugurate it with a "trouble party" and we'll rejoice. We'll give our testimonies. And we'll just give God praise -- the praise
that really counts, because when things are falling apart and you praise God, I
tell you, that's awesome praise. Amen?"
“Therefore we do not
lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but
on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2nd Corinthians 5:16-18)
[This is a transcript
of a sermon given by Pastor J. Mark Martin of Calvary Community Church, P.O.
Box 39607, Phoenix, AZ 85069]
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