The Joy of Tributation
Romans 5:3-5 · Mike Doyle · Jul 9, 2023
Romans (2022-25), No. 031
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261931584754

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

This morning, obviously, really great verses, and Jim's right. I could have spent three Sundays on just these five verses. They're just so, because they deal with a subject that we would rather avoid if we could. We don't like to be involved in suffering. But the Word of God has a different viewpoint on what suffering is all about.

And it starts with the fact that we have a sovereign God who controls everything, especially for believers. So last week we talked about, in verses 1 and 2, that therefore, and the therefore refers to everything that worked, we learned from probably 119 to here, Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exalt in the hope of the glory of God.

And Roger noted last week that declared righteous or justified is not a present tense participle. like being declared righteous, but rather it's an eris participle. And what, you know, greeky geeky, it means having been declared. It's already done. Already done. We're not working to get declared. We're already declared.

So the difference is is that if you say being declared righteous, it looks at a condition that you might be in. But our righteousness is a positional truth. may or may not be a conditional truth. Having been declared righteous looks back to the fact that it did happen, that God already took care of this.

The very moment that you and I believed in the person and work of Christ, we were declared righteous, with God never changing his mind, he never will. We saw that David said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. That just wasn't a point in time. Blessed is the man who God won't reckon sin to. And therefore, as a believer, I can stand before God and you can stand before God and say, having been declared righteous on the principle of faith, I have a standing. Okay, so, might as well use this thing, can't.

So, slide two, now, the Epistle of the Romans takes on a new aspect of understanding in each chapter that we've talked about. In chapter three, we talked about Christ set forth as a propitiation for our sins, or satisfaction for our sins. He's totally satisfied about our sins. In chapter 4 we talked about Christ was raised for our justification. We need proof. Proof is the resurrection.

In chapter 5 now we have peace with God through Christ and it's a position that we have in grace. can't ever be altered. And we have a hope of the coming glory with the Lord Jesus. So having said that, I would say that there are three blessings that come to us in the first part of this chapter. First is peace with God and looking back to Calvary where Christ made peace by his blood.

That's how it happened. Two, I would say a present standing position in grace in unlimited favor. I think we as believers don't realize how favored we are from God's perspective. And the reason is is because we're always trying to judge our favorability based on what's going on with us conditionally.

And lastly, a hope of the glory of God, being glorified with Christ when He comes. Can you imagine what that's gonna be like? That when Christ comes, we'll be glorified with Him, the sum total of God's intrinsic attributes will be manifested not only to us, but through us. That's just the thought that, it's hard to get your mind around. So the glorious results of justification being declared righteous by faith.

And this chapter falls in two parts. There's the first part that we've been talking about and we'll talk about, dealing with the sinners and sins and trials and sufferings. And the second part is from 512 on, There's a paradigm shift in what the teaching is going to be in terms of sins as opposed to sin. Adam is the head of the human race. Christ is the head of a new race. And that whole doctrine of the two men begins in 512.

So when we get there, it will probably even slow down more. So our first verse is, and not only this, but also, exalt in our tribulation. Everybody in this church that exalts in their tribulation, raise your hand. I didn't see any go up, how come? Knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope, now. If you look at 511 and some other verses, you're gonna see this little phrase, and not only this.

It reminds me, I kind of have maybe a dozen old movies in my head that I really like, and one of them is my cousin Vinny, right? And Vinny's a lawyer. And he's got his girlfriend, who's the expert on the stand, and she's testifying about an automobile that was in an accident. And she starts out, and he starts getting really proud.

And he kept saying, there's more. And there's more. And not only this, there's more. And that's what God is saying here. There's more. There's a lot more. He says this phrase in, when we get to 5.11, he'll say, and not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, et cetera.

In 8.23 he says, and not only this, but also we ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit, et cetera.

Romans 9.10, and not only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. So you're going to see this phrase as we go along, like in 2 Corinthians 8 and other places. It's like the Lord likes to pile on. He likes to keep adding to the grace more and more and more.

So, and I thought going through this, I might sort of define some words, and then after the definition, then we'll do some application. The first word I wanna talk about is the word, not only this, we also exalt, but what does that word mean? It really means boast, or brag, or glory in. And it's a word that when you think about, and not only this, we also, are boasting or bragging about what?

About tribulation. Okay, show of hands. Have you ever boasted about your tribulation? Gee, no hands go up. We got a lot to learn here. This knowing tribulations, or the word tribulation means, it's a Greek word, thaliptos, and you'll see it a lot. It means anguish. It means distress. It means being hunted down. It means all kinds of trouble of every kind. So, and then the next word that I want to talk about is the word no. The word no comes from the word oya, but it really is a derivative of that. It's oyas, and it means to know by perception. or to perceive or attend to.

In other words, I know this is true because I've been down that road. I perceive that this is the way it is, okay. And some English words there for that word would be it appeared that way, I beheld it that way, I became aware, I looked at it. And it's not something that somebody told me about. this knowing, here it's a word of conscious knowledge. I'm aware because I know when I've been there, I've seen that, I've been through it. It suggests the ability in the soul to take account of how things work experientially. That's really what this is about. I know about this because I've experienced it. So if I were to paraphrase or expand the translation, I might do it this way.

Not only have we been justified by faith and have peace with God, plus an introduction into the permanent grace, and we brag about the coming glory of God, but let us also take pride in all sorts of tribulations. Why? Because we have certainly seen and know and are aware that suffering works In us, which Chester McCauley loves this term, load carrying ability.

We can carry the load. Perseverance. When you're, those of you who've been in the military, when you go through recruit training, boot camp, what you're really learning how to do is carry the load. Might be the guy standing next to you, it might be 60 pound pack, it might be whatever, but you're learning to carry the load. You know what it is and you know how it's done.

Charles Coates, let me go back. Charles Coates says here, and not only that, we also boast in tribulation. He says, maturing believers realize that pressure that the pressure course of things is not marked by righteousness or peace. It's not under an administration of our Lord Jesus and hence we expect to find pressure. The point is is that we always are praying and always hoping that what God is gonna do is relieve the pressure. He's gonna take the pain and suffering away when in fact he's the author of it. He's the one that sent it. And what these verses tell us and teach us, well why does he do that? Why did he do it?

Principles of God in the world, we seek to be in agreement with them. We like to be in agreement. When we find that this means pressure here, and it's marked by suffering. And there isn't a person, if I said, do you have pressure in your life today, raise your hand, everybody would raise their hand. Because there's something going on in your life that's applying pressure. It could be physical, emotional, financial, it could be a ton of things.

Everybody, and believers have them. The difference is, how do you view them? Is it, If you're under a law system, you view them that you've done something wrong and you're being punished by God or something. But if you're under grace, you don't hesitate for a minute.

Paul says in Acts 14.23, through many tribulations, many, we may enter the kingdom of God. And the Lord tells his disciples in the world you're going to have tribulation in John 16, 23.

So there are expected things. We can expect tribulation. We can't expect what I have a jar in my kitchen that says warm fuzzies. I don't get the warm fuzzies. I get tribulation and so do you. So, now, the word perseverance, when he says that, and perseverance, perseverance is this word dhakame. Now you remember we've talked a lot about dhakimasu and parazo, those two words that have to do, mean testing. If I say to you, you're under a parasmas, it means that you're being tested to fail. you're not gonna make it. But if I say, dakimasu, or in this case, dakimai, then you're under pressure to be approved.

You're gonna come out on the other end better than you went into it. This pressure, this persecution, this trial that you're in is designed specifically for you to be dakime. for you to come out on the other end approved of God, that you made it through the trial, you graduated, you went through it and you're done.

And it was a plus in your life, not a negative. You didn't lose something you had before. It's an experience that I had, I now have something in my character that wasn't there before. It wasn't there. So without tribulation, you can never acquire an endurance.

Anybody who exercises knows that what does exercise do for you? It gives you endurance. It makes you function physically better. Is it a trial? Yeah, it's a trial. I don't know anybody that goes and exercises unless there's something wrong with them. They think, oh, this is so fun. No, it's fun, yeah, but it's not, you know. I'd rather be doing something else. I'd rather be watching somebody else go through this sweaty thing than me.

So I can say I suppose every one of us have had occasion to witness a development of this quality in a lot of suffering saints. I think you can look around this room and see. It brings out the strength of the justified man, the strength which comes into the soul through the knowledge of the favor of God. So our Father intends for us to know and understand that he has already provided for us everything that we need. And he's done it in Christ who is our life. Everything required for the Christian life in both time and eternity. He's already done all of that. The problem is we don't know it. We don't own it.

So I wanted to read a thing from Miles Stanford. Miles Stanford was probably one of the most prolific authors on the issue of trials and sufferings. He really understood why you have trials and what they're for. He says in one of, he calls them tribulations school. Tribulation works patience, patience proven character. The father's school of tribulation is very distasteful to the natural heart. No kidding.

But his same wondrous love and grace, which has secured for us above an inalterably safe position, blessings ordained from eternity and secured for eternity, have also to carry on a work within us. It is to be here below in the school of tribulation. to enable us during our journey through this barren wilderness to realize those blessings and to put away everything around or within us that would hinder or prevent our enjoyment of them and our corresponding faithful witness and godly walk. I'll make a copy of this for you if you want later. But the part that got me was this, and it is to be here below in the school of tribulation, here's the reason, to enable us during our journey through this barren wilderness, and if you haven't figured out that we live in a barren wilderness yet, your turn's coming. To realize those blessings, and to put everything around us or within us that would hinder or prevent our enjoyment of them and our corresponding faithful witness to God and walk.

Many might be inclined to think perfect peace with God with regard to the past and unchanging divine favor as to the present and a secure hope of glory in the future for all eternity, What do I want more than that? Well, what do I want more than that? There is something more. It's like the guy in the movie said, there's more. Here's what's more.

The Father in his unsearchable wisdom and grace and love has something else in store for you. not up there, but down here in the wilderness. He's gonna teach us how to walk in this wilderness. Thus the endurance works experience. The saint is put to the proof, and having endured, you are approved of him. Certainly, It's something beautiful to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We all are looking forward to that.

But to rejoice in tribulation, that's a different thing. The Israelites sang a song of praise to Jehovah when he had led his people dry shod, I love that term, dry shod through the Red Sea. In other words, they walked through the Red Sea and their feet didn't get wet. or muddy, it was dry after the water was parted. They walked safely to the shore and they were able to stand there and watch their deliverance from their enemy as the waves came back and Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen were all drowned.

So it's a fine thing to rise above your circumstances in the power of faith. But it's quite another thing to bend in patience under them and to learn that Christian endurance, which can only be made for God's own in the Father's school of tribulation.

You know, we pray all the time. Oh, Lord, take this pain or this suffering, this trial off of so-and-so or whatever. We'd hardly ever pray that you would use this for your glory and for their being approved of you, that we know where the trial comes from. Because we all are fleshly and our flesh does not relish the crucible. We don't want to be there. It's like going to the dentist. Is there anything worse than driving up to the dentist and going in and getting in that chair? I hate that more than anything I have to do.

And to those who have not the peace of God, the tempter always will whisper in their ear, God is against you. He deals as a judge with you for your sins, which prove that your sins are unforgiven, and that you are not his child. That is only a foretaste of the eternal judgment awaiting you. If you should die with this illness, or if your heart should break under the crushing blow, God has inflicted upon you. That's what your flesh tells you. And that's why you think you've got to get out of there and why suffering isn't part of what the Christian life is all about.

Your reaction is to the tempter is none of what you tell me is true. I can say my father is for me and for this very reason he has sent me this trial. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, he child trains. For what son is he whom the father doesn't chasten? He's dealing with me as a father and not as a judge. So perseverance produces this thing called proven character and proven character hope.

The source of the Christian life is what? What's the source of the Christian life? It's a person. It's a person. So if God is gonna produce any sort of character trait in us, it's really not gonna be my character trait originated in me. It's gonna be the life of the Lord Jesus in me. That's what he's doing. We know the source of the Christian life is a person. It's not necessarily a doctrine, it's a person.

And the growth of that life in us is a gradual process compared to a grain of wheat falling in the ground and dying. Or the branch in the vine, it all comes from him. If you think about it, there's the stem or the root, there's the branch which we are, and then there's the fruit out on the end of the branch.

Where are we supposed to be focused? On the source of life. But what do we continually do? We keep peeking at the fruit. How's it going? The Lord Jesus being our very life means that he should captivate all of our interests all the time, especially in trials and suffering.

We could maybe use the example of a person who has ancestors of three or four generations and all have been Christians. And that person might inherit their virtues, but although affecting their life for good, they do not count before God as righteousness. For they are not the fruit of a directly imparted divine life. A believer may inherit patience. And although he may be but a babe in Christ, he's seen to be more stable than a more advanced believer because whatever goes wrong, he seems to be unruffled.

Now imagine a person like that coming before a holy God who says, I'm gonna develop the character of my son in you. The first thing I'm gonna do is empty you. The Father puts him in circumstances where his natural patience fails. After repeated failures of his natural virtue of patience, he realizes that it's not enough to meet all of his trials and to carry him triumphantly through them all. And that point, he turns to the Father to give him his own unfailing patience. When you think about it, I should never ask God for patience. I should ask for more of Christ, because he's the one that's patient. See that? It's the person that matters. So. One more word thing.

And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's given to us. And this is an experiential expectation. In other words, hope, this word is translated 54 times and 53 times, it's hope. What hope is is that How do I say this? Hope is something that's absolutely certain, but I haven't experienced it yet. However, hope is one of those things that Peter could conclude, it is to be so manifestly characteristic in the saint that it causes people to ask him questions about, what's that hope in you? Why don't these circumstances just seem to bury you? Most important, that hope should be produced in the souls of believers. It brings a brightness of the coming day. Don't we all just look forward to the day of return of the Lord Jesus? I do. I do.

First Peter 3.15, Peter says, being prepared to give an answer to everyone that asks you to give an account of the hope that's in you.

Well, this suggests that there ought to be some kind of a brightness about the hope, the Christian hope, and we have to be accounted for to men in the world. How happy would it be if people saw such evidence of hope in us that they wanted to ask us about it? Hope makes what is still future a present reality with us. You know that? We get to behold the glory of the Lord now, reflectively, but we get to do it. And all that is connected with God's world as it is a public display is a matter of hope according to Charles Coates. Malloy used to talk about this a lot.

He would pray that we were such solid believers that we would demonstrate this invisible thing to non-believers, hope, and they would wanna know what is it about you? What is that thing in there that, boy, it's really attractive, but will you explain it to me?

So, notice that this hope doesn't make us ashamed. It's a word that translates ashamed, confused. or shamed, in other words, I'm not ashamed or I'm not dishonored or confounded by this hope that's in me. This word means to shame down or disgrace. Well, this verse says the hope does not shame down or disgrace or disappoint.

Why? Because the love of God is poured out within our hearts. Notice that the very first action in the book of Romans, the very first time the Holy Spirit is mentioned is right here. What's he doing? He's shedding abroad in our hearts the love of God. That's the very first thing he's doing. This is the first time. And he assures believers that God loves them. That's the first thing he's doing. Many believers are hindered by being occupied with their own feelings rather than the love of God.

Unmistakable mark of your having the Holy Spirit is that God is before your consciousness, awareness, that he's important to you, that you spend time, as much time as you can, with him. There's a bond with Christ, and that bond is the Holy Spirit himself, who pours out this love. Romans 8, 9, when we get there, we'll say, if anyone has not the Spirit of God, he's none of his. You and I have it. We have him.

In 1 Corinthians 13, 16, Paul says, don't you know that you're a temple of God? And that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Really, the gospel is that God has cleared everything away from His side of the ledger. Everything that would keep Him from you, He cleared away. And He's received us on the basis of somebody else, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the man of his pleasure. With us, it's either Adam or Christ. And the problem with Adam is that in Adam all die.

But the hope that doesn't make us ashamed, the hope that men entertain as the future of things in the world that we live in makes them ashamed. Why? Because they're doomed to disappointment. I'm of an age where I have a lot of peers who have retired, and if they're not believers, the number one thing they're worried about is they've not made enough money. I had a person say to us on vacation, wouldn't it be nice to win the lottery so that you had a kind of a backup in case you didn't make enough money in your life?

I mean, that's fleshly thinking, disappointment. I want all my family to love me. I want to do this, that. They're all dreams. They're not biblical hope. You could say a person can have tangible evidence of his life of God's favor. He can share unseen things. He can be a really gracious man, but nothing compares materially to the hope that's in us. So what's the proof that we, the believer, what's the proof that we believe in Christ risen? The proof is, is that you believe in Christ risen, is that you have received the Holy Spirit.

He who is joined to the Spirit, is joined to the Lord, is one Spirit. And that's my responsibility and my faith is to believe Him. In whom also after you believed, you were sealed. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee, the seal of our future glory. He's the link. The living water that is Christ's answer to the faith in him, he said, whoever drinks of this water, and what's the water? It's the Holy Spirit. Which I will give shall never thirst, but the water which I will give shall become a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life. That's the Holy Spirit, and that's what he does.

He works the life of the Lord Jesus in us, and it can't be contained in us. His life has to come out. So the present character of the body of Christ involves tribulation and endurance. But because of the Holy Spirit, we have companionship in that. Anybody. Any Christian who is set for Christ, and set, I mean, serious about Christ, is gonna participate in tribulation. So what is the attitude of the souls towards tribulation? Naturally, we shrink from them. We would avoid them if possible. We would wish to be relieved of the pressure, but spiritually, we boast in the tribulations.

And maybe if I asked you to raise your hand now you would because you want to be on the winning team. The believer who has peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ and who is standing in the blessed sense of how favorable God is to him has an inward conviction that tribulation is a spiritual advantage. It works endurance. It works load-carrying ability. I don't think that anyone will boast in tribulations until he's found in them a spiritual advantage. Tribulation or pressure gone through with God has the effect of developing a precious, the quality of Christ in the saints, Charles Coates. In regard to the present condition, endurance is the most valuable quality. It is said that the Lord Jesus endured the cross, having despised the shame. He wasn't ashamed of it. And he endured so great a contradiction from sinners against himself. So this quality of endurance is now being worked out in you and worked out in me and worked out in all the saints.

It fills up this interval between the time that you're saved, the time you first see the light, and the public manifestation of the Savior. It's now a question of being steadily in the light of the Lord Jesus. These tribulations bring to us the staying power of the Christian life. That is resonant in the one who has peace towards God and who stands in divine favor. Even as to the Lord in view of the joy set before him.

So lastly, I want to quote from Charles Coates. I thought this summarized everything I had to say in one paragraph. What an amazing fruit of God's grace and of redemption. I think it's in the handout. Can I put it in there? What's an amazing fruit of God's grace and of redemption accomplished? The Holy Spirit has been given to us.

This is far too great a gift to be the result of anything less than the love of God. and the infinite value of the death of Christ. And this gift is given that the love of God may be shed abroad in our hearts. It does not satisfy the blessed God that we should know his righteousness, know his grace, his power. He would have us to know the very spring of it all in his own heart. And this could only be in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. being given to us. Only a divine person could pour out into the hearts of believers the love of God. God would be known in his love in the hearts of men. Nothing could be greater than this.

Let's close. Father how thankful we are for trials and tribulations and suffering in our lives because we're learning and we do know that through that process we are going to be made steadfast. We are going to be approved. The character of the Lord Jesus Christ will be manifested through us but it's through this process of trial and suffering and the spirit pouring out the love of God in our hearts. We're so thankful for you and the way you do things and we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.