Trials and Suffering

If there's one thing, one message that I'd like to leave with in terms of our study in trials and sufferings, it's this. Often times we have very different ideas as to why God allows trials and sufferings into our life. Some would emphasize that the reason for trials and sufferings is to cause us to grow. and mature. Some people think that the reason for trials and suffering is that God is just punishing us or whatever. But as we've gone through this study and we've laid the foundation, hopefully what you've seen so far is that the primary purpose of trials and suffering in your life and my life It is for God's purpose, God's eternal purpose, to reveal His glory through you and through me. The secondary purpose is for us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the primary purpose is for Him to be glorified through you and through me. That is the reason why He allows trials and sufferings into our life. It is a normal part of the Christian life.

And we're going to see that this morning by looking at this passage in Romans chapter 5. So if you'll turn there in Romans chapter 5. I'm going to read through the whole passage of the first five verses. Romans 5, starting at verse 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation work patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope makes not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. Here's a passage which is just rich in this message in terms of God being glorified in your life and my life and Him revealing His glory through us in the face of trials or tribulations.

So let's just go through it verse by verse and what I've done is I'll put the verse up on top here and the part that's in blue is the part that this overhead is going to cover. The part in red will be covered in the next overhead. What I've also tried to do is to put the verse in a more literal sense. Therefore, as you go through the Greek, you'll see that this is more literal with respect to the Greek. So, I'll read it more in a literal sense.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we are having peace with God." Notice that this indicates more of a present tense, and this indicates something that has been in the past. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we are having peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every time you see the word, therefore, you always have to ask, why is it therefore? And it's critical to understand the word, therefore. It's a summary statement. It's a summary statement of what's happened or what has been documented prior to the verse. And I think this reaches way back into chapter 1, starting at verse 18. and going through chapter 4. So you have to look at the previous context. So it's a summary of the entire previous context.

So Romans 1, 18-320, it talks about the fact that all mankind knows that there is a God. They know not only that there is a God, but they know His eternal power. Most of the men, knowing that, with that knowledge, they don't glorify Him as God. They don't attribute or magnify His essence.

This also declares that all mankind is unrighteous and is in need of righteousness. It's interesting the way Paul goes through this. He goes through three groups of people. The first group of people he goes through are those who are immoral and unrighteous, and he talks about them. Then he talks about the group that are moral but self-righteous, those who look at these immoral men and say, Am I glad I'm not like them?" And they put themselves, if you will, on a ladder. So here they are up on top of the ladder looking down at these immoral men, immoral in terms of men exchanging men for men and women for women, all kinds of immorality.

And they say, I'm glad I'm not like them. But God says, no, you're just as guilty as they are, because you do the very same thing. The things that you're condemning them of, you do the very same thing. So that's the second group of men. The third group of men are those who are religious and self-righteous. And so he talks to the Jews who, they know the law, they keep the law, and they think they're being justified by the law. That is the context there. And when you get to chapter 3, verses 21-31, it states the fact that a person can only be justified, or, let me just cover that up, because I should ask you the question.

You know, when it talks about justification, don't look at your notes. What does justification mean? When you think of justification, what does it mean? You're no saint to be declared righteous, right? Okay. So let me ask this question. Who declares this righteous? Who can declare this righteous? Okay, why?

Okay, because he is the only one that is. He is the just, right? He is the righteous one, the only righteous one. And he is the only one that can justify us or declare us righteous. And how is that done? How is How can He declare us righteous? Because of Christ's righteousness. Okay, because of Christ's righteousness. Because of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And how does that then relate to us? We're identified with Him. Okay, we're identified with Him. But in order to be identified with Him, what did we have to do? Believe. So we had to put our trust in the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we were identified with him, we were declared righteous.

And only on that basis alone. So it's by faith. And it's interesting. As you look at all of scripture, the whole Christian, getting into the Christian life, is by faith. living the Christian life is by faith. It's by faith, by faith, by faith. Then in chapter 4, he gives us examples of justification by faith by two Old Testament saints, Abraham and David.

So if we go through and if we take a look at these words, having been justified. And the word justified, di ka'a'o, is to pronounce or declare someone righteous. And as you guys just said, there's only one that can pronounce someone righteous, and that's God himself.

There is no one else that can pronounce one righteous. So that if you go into all of the religious systems out there today, whatever church there is, whether it be the Church of England, the Church of Rome, the Church of Greece, or whatever, there is no one in any church that can declare a person righteous. No one. The only way to declare a person righteous is God Himself.

And on the basis of that, a person believes and trusts in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as indicated there, it's in Aristotle's tense, so it's an accomplished fact in your life, in my life, passive voice, you couldn't do it, God did it, so you're acted upon. Passive voice means that we're acted upon. No one else could have done it but God.

And as it goes through in Romans chapter 1 through Romans chapter 4, it talks about the fact that justification is apart from works and the law. So there is nothing that you can do There is no law system that you could keep that would cause you or make you justified. It's extended to the entire human race. And if the entire human race believes in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, justification is extended to them. And just because a person is good, doesn't mean that they're going to be justified.

How many people have you ever talked to that says, in terms of, where are you going to spend eternity? And their answer is, I think I'll spend eternity in heaven. And you ask them, why? And they say, what's the answer? I'm a good person. I'm a good person. Why would God send me to hell? I live a good moral life. I've spent a lot of time with one fellow here in the past who I've worked with for many years. and several fellows, and one of the fellows says, that, you know, I live my life, I look at everybody around me, and I live above them.

Even those who proclaim themselves to be Christians, he says, I wouldn't do some of the things that these people, that these Christians do. Besides being a former engineer, he does taxes. So he has people that come to him with their income taxes. And he knows that he wouldn't do some of the things that Christians do on their income tax. So he says to himself, he rationalizes to himself, Well, if these people are Christians, and they're going to heaven, and they're doing these kinds of things, guess what? Guess where I'm going to go? I deserve it more than they, right?

And that's the mentality that people get into. So no person can be ever justified by their works, just because they're good. So it's by faith. And the word there, when it says by faith, literally it's the little preposition ek, means out from. Out from faith. Out from faith out of your heart. Believing in the personal work of Christ.

And we have to understand, faith is non-meritorious. It's not a work. It's not a gift. Faith is not a gift of God. And it's faith is something personal, a personal trust that we put on the person and the person and the work of Christ. And as I indicated here, it's faith, that is personal faith, this means only acceptable response to God. God will not accept anything else.

Hebrews 11.6 says what? It is what? Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Right? Okay. Yes, question. Okay. Okay. Ephesians... Ephesians 2.8 says what? For by grace are we saved through faith. And that not of yourself, It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So it sounds like when you read Ephesians 2a, for by grace are you saved through faith. It is a gift of God.

Now the question is, it is a pronoun. It babysits for a noun. If I say, he did it, he is a pronoun, it babysits for some person. So it stands for or babysits for something. So what does it stand for? It is the antecedent of faith. For by grace you say through faith, not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. So, does it babysit for faith? Because it sounds like when you read that verse, it says it is a gift of God, like it's talking about faith. In order for a pronoun to babysit for a noun, it has to agree with that noun. in what is called a person, well let me just put it this way, in gender. Let's just take gender first.

So that if I say John hit the ball, And if I said, and she ran to second, let me put it this way, John hit the ball and he ran to second. Who does he stand for? If I said John hit the ball and she ran to second, who does she stand for? Not John, right? Not John. someone else. So the thing is, because the gender, right, the gender is different.

And if Peter were here, I'd use Peter as an example. Because as you talk to Peter, and he talks about Debbie, and he says, and he really cooked a good dinner last night. And he's talking about Debbie, and then he says he cooked a good dinner last night. I said, Peter, who cooked a good dinner last night? Debbie. So, he mixes the pronouns.

So, the gender has to be the same. So, when it says, it is a gift of God, it is neuter in gender. Faith is feminine. So it cannot stand for faith, because it's the wrong gender. Okay? The word faith is feminine. If you wanted to have it modify or be the pronoun for faith, then you'd have to make it a feminine pronoun. Grace is also feminine. So it, in the context, Even though it stands for salvation. Salvation is the gift of God. As opposed to faith. Is that perfectly clear?

Now in this verse isn't the gift in comparison to the works? If it's works it couldn't be a gift, it's earned. That's true. That is true. It seems to me that, in my understanding, I just compare the gift to the gift of God, therefore it's not of works. Right, it's not of works. True. And the gift is salvation, and it's not faith, because of the pronouns. Okay. Can you help me out? If faith doesn't work, it's not a gift. What would you say it is? It's a trust. Your personal trust. And faith is never meritorious. Never. Okay. Let's look at the next part.

We are having peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The word have there, echo, means to have or to hold. And we are having peace with God. We are holding on to peace with God. We have it. It's our possession. We have this peace. Now, when it says peace with God, there's a little pronoun there, which is pros, which is a little pronoun in the Greek, which means face-to-face peace.

Turn in your Bibles for a minute to Philippians 4.7. I'm sure you all know this passage of scripture.

Philippians 4.7, it says, and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep or guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Do you see a little difference there with respect to the little preposition?

This is talking about peace of God, and Romans 5.1 is talking about peace with God.

The prepositions are different, right? So what is the difference then between peace with God and the peace of God? Is there a difference? You don't get the peace of God without getting God Himself? Or having the peace with God? Okay, good. So there's a difference. Peace with God is pras face-to-face peace. And the reason why we're having face-to-face peace with God, the reason for it, has just been stated. Because we have been justified. That's the reason. There's no enmity anymore. There's no barrier between you and God or me and God. The barrier is removed. So we're in his presence. We're in the presence of God. We can have face-to-face peace with God.

The peace of God is the peace that you have in your heart. Peace from fear, worry, and anxiety by resting and trusting, by faith. in some circumstance in life, when you're trusting God in some circumstance in life, that you have the peace of God. It's a peace of heart. It's a peace in your heart which surpasses all human understanding. When you go through a trial or suffering and you're resting and trusting in the Lord in it, and this peace just overwhelms you, No one can possibly understand that peace. So it's peace that you have, or it's the absence of conflict, if you will.

And it's all through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the immediate agency and the instrumentality, and as I've indicated there, the cause of all of our blessings. Okay, as we go into 5.2, verse 2 in verse 2 in the King James reads this way by whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God I've made it in a more literal sense here and the preposition is not by whom but through whom also We have had access. Not that we have access, but we have had access. It's in a perfect tense, which is very interesting.

And it's by faith into this grace in which not we stand, but we have stood. And there's another perfect tense there in which we have stood and we are rejoicing. upon and not in hope, but the little preposition is upon hope. So what is the difference between when we say in hope and upon hope? Why these difference in prepositions? Upon hope of the glory of God. So let's just look at it.

In the King James, does the New American Standard say by whom or through whom? So, King James is by whom, but it's dia, which means through. And the original preposition, dia, comes from a Greek word, which means duo, between two. So, dia is between two.

And the two is you and Christ. then the Whom refers back, the antecedent of Whom is Jesus Christ and this introduces, if you will, another blessing that we have through Christ it's between Him and you between Him and me this access and the word access plus agoge which literally means to lead to.

It's a very endearing term in terms of leading someone. It's like a father holding onto a child's hand and leading him somewhere. It's a very affectionate term. It's like the Lord Jesus Christ taking us, when we responded by faith, leading us into God's grace. It's just a very affectionate term. Now, the person who does the leading has to have the merit to do the leading. It's by the merit of someone else. So it's by the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thinking of an analogy.

Lindy and I were back in Washington, D.C. and my daughter Lisa has a good friend who was a personal assistant to President Bush, the father of President Bush. And Lisa said, call her up, here's the number, And we did. And she said, would you like to come to the White House? And we said, we'd love to come to the White House. Well, I mean, there's all these gates and guards and everything else. She literally took me by the hand and Lindy and walked us right through all of these gates and never had to show any identification. because of the merit of her, because they knew her, because of her merit. And here we were, then, right in the middle of the White House. She said, would you like to go out into the Rose Garden? The President's taken off in this helicopter. Would you like to see him take off in this helicopter? What would you like to do?

So it's very much the same way. Here the Lord Jesus Christ takes us, leads us into God's grace, but it's by His merit. It's a perfect tense, and that's why I've indicated we have had access. Perfect tense simply means that it's an accomplished action in time past, but has abiding results up into the present. So if you really want to translate it literally, we have had access.

When did that start? We have had it. When? But did it have a start? Or were we born into this access into God's grace? Okay, began with our salvation. And our salvation began how? Okay, by faith. By faith, right? By faith. The moment we trusted in Christ. The moment we trusted in the person and the work of Christ. Okay? We have had access. We have had it. We have had it then, we have it now, it's continuing and we'll always have it.

As I've indicated in your notes here, it's an indicative mood. Indicative mood simply means that it's a reality in your life. And it's critical to understand if something is is in the indicative mood, it's a reality in your life and oftentimes you get into situations where you may sin or you may be depressed over something or whatever or some trauma may come into your life where you just don't feel like you're in God's grace, right? You just don't feel you're there and you're not sure whether you really are, whether you know it or not. When it's in indicative mood, whether you feel it or not, whether you know it or not, you're in God's grace. You can never be taken out. Okay? Never. No matter how you feel, no matter what you believe, no matter what you think.

I guess one of the answers is salvation. I would disagree with that. It seems like they're dependent on each other. Okay, I'm sorry. Autumn, I didn't hear the original question. Does grace need faith and then salvation need grace? Is that like the order? Is it all the same thing? I guess I'm almost confused on it.

I guess you couldn't get salvation without grace. You just have faith. Okay, you can't get salvation without God's grace. True. Okay. Now, how about... You can't get grace without faith. You can't get grace without faith. Access, yeah. Access. Okay. Access into his grace without faith. Okay, I just want to... He's like a domino. So, isn't it interesting? God extends grace, if you will, to the entire human race in that He extends through His grace the plan of salvation. But to enter into His grace, it's by faith. For by grace are you saved. through faith. So God extends His grace. Through whom also we have access into this grace in which we have stood.

What does the New American Statement say? In which we stand? In which you stand. How about King James? Is it the same way in which we stand? Okay. In which we have stood. The word here for stand is histamine. And it's often used as a military term. And so that when you think of the troops in Iraq, and you see the battles going on, you see these guys entrenched. Right? In trenches or behind walls. They're entrenched. They're dug in. And this word, histemi, in terms of stand, means exactly that. It's that you're entrenched. You're dug in.

We're entrenched and dug in into God's grace and never, never, never able to be taken out of God's grace. It's a perfect tense. It's accomplished. at a point in time in the past, when was that? The moment we believed, by faith, that we were entrenched into God's grace, never taken out. Hold it. Is that really true?

Turn to Galatians chapter 5. I thought I knew where it was. Let me see here. Ah, 5.4. Look at verse 4. Starting at verse 2. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. So the question is, can we fall in and out of grace?

I mean, Romans 5.2 says that we're entrenched in God's grace. And it's something that is accomplished in the past, has abiding results up into the present and into the future.

But Romans 5.4 says that we can fall from grace.

So how do we correlate Romans 5.2 with Galatians 5.4? If you fall out of grace, you fall into grace. Okay, Jack says if you fall out of grace, you fall into grace. Is it like getting a gift and then turning away? Okay. And so Autumn says, is it like getting a gift and then turning away from it? Ah. Oh. Oh. Position, condition. Oh. Is that where it's at? So then, what is 5-2? Position or condition? Okay, we've got two.

Oh, I'm sorry, Romans 5.2. Okay, everybody agree? This is position? Position. Okay, so we have stood or we stand in His grace, dug in, entrenched, never to be taken out. It's a positional truth.

Galatians 5.4 condition.

How can you think of an example of Galatians 5.2, the conditional falling out of grace?

Galatians 5.4, Galatians? Galatians. Okay.

So how would we fall, and notice what Galatians 5.4 says, we fall from It doesn't say we fall out of grace, we fall from grace.

But it's conditional. Here's our position, we're in grace, never to be taken out. But in our condition, we can fall from grace. So when we fall from grace, what do we fall to? If you fall from something, you've got to fall to something else. So they were falling here from grace and back into the law.

Back into the law, back into legalism, back into some legalist system. But they were still believers, and positionally they were still entrenched in God's grace. But in their condition, they weren't walking in grace, they were walking in legalism. These Galatians were believers. So it's conditional, okay? Is that okay? A couple of points I'd like to make here.

With respect to being standing in God's grace and being entrenched in God's grace, it underscores and emphasizes the place and permanency of our standing in grace. We need to understand that we're in a place and we're in it permanently. We're in God's grace. We don't and cannot fall out of God's grace positionally. We are entrenched, dug in, never, never, ever to be taken out. However, as we just saw, we can fall from God's grace conditionally into legalism.

As we go into Romans 5.2, the last part of Romans 5.2, it says, we are rejoicing, and both King James and New American Standards say, in hope.

Is that correct? In hope, as opposed to upon hope of the glory of God. The word rejoice can be translated to rejoice, to glory, to boast, to exalt. I think the New American Standard uses exalt, and I think the King James uses rejoice. Is that correct? You know, I think the better word is glory, in terms of translating this.

But it's our continuous rejoicing or glorying in something external to us. I wanted to ask you the question first. We're rejoicing upon the hope of the glory of God. The question is this. What's the source of this hope? We're rejoicing glory. What's the source of this? Is it our hope? Is it a source from us or is it a source from Him?

The word hope is an interesting word. It means a fixed or absolute certainty or confidence in the present time for something either unseen or yet to happen in the future. So I'd like to translate this. It's an absolute certainty. Is there any absolute certainty in us, or from us? Where does the absolute certainty lie? In Him. Right? In Him. In who He is.

So that, it says, we rest upon hope. So, here's hope, and the preposition is, we're upon hope, we're rejoicing or glorying upon hope. And all of you Greek students hear this preposition, epi, upon. It's resting upon something, hope. So, if I were to show you a picture of what that looks like, it looks like this. Here we are, we're rejoicing, we're glorifying, upon, or resting upon And we're resting upon hope.

And it's not our hope. The hope isn't coming internally from us. But the hope has a source. And the source is the glory of God. Because it says, upon hope of the glory of God. This is a genitive case, genitive of source. The source of the hope comes from the glory of God. So when we talk about the glory of God, we talked about this before, what do we mean when we talk about the glory of God? Okay, his essential essence, his attributes, his character, who he is. And his essence is what? Who he is? His love, his grace, his mercy, his truth, his righteousness.

Now here's the part of trials and sufferings, and not only do we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, but we are rejoicing, and there's a definite article in the Greek, in the tribulations, plural also, knowing that tribulation works patience. Now, here's the question for you next week. Why in the world should we be rejoicing in tribulations?

I mean, isn't that crazy? So the question is, I just lost all of my money in this dark market. Oh, I'm rejoicing about that. Is that what that means? Is that what that means to rejoice in tribulations? Oh, my child just got hit by a car. I'm rejoicing. Is that what that means? Tune in next week. We're going to find out. Okay, let's close.

Our Father, we are just so thankful as we look at just this passage of Scripture which reveals to us as to who we are in Christ. The fact that we're that were justified, that you declared us righteous, because we trusted in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result of that, we have peace with you. There's no enmity anymore. And not only did he establish that peace, but he led us into your grace.

And Father, how we thank you for that, that we are entrenched in your grace, never ever to be taken out. And we can rejoice in that. And Father, as you go on to say, that we can rejoice in our tribulations. And Father, we thank you for that fact, that we can rejoice. We pray, Father, that the Spirit of God will help us to understand this and what that means. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.