Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans chapter five. Romans chapter
five. I will read the first five verses. Romans chapter five. 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 wherein we stand. and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, or you could
say not only this, either of those words or a few others would
fit there. You could see the so is in italics, but it's what
it's saying. And not only so, not just this,
but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. Now notice the change. We glory
in tribulations, plural. The reason is, there's going
to be more than one tribulation. But it doesn't take more than
one to work patience. Note just that little caveat
there. There's going to be more than one tribulation. But each
and every singular tribulation that we go through is working
patience. The reason is, God says so. Not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope, and we could
say, we could put that word worketh in between all of those. 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. Now let
us clearly note, being justified by faith. I have not only heard, but probably
been in the middle of the debates as to where and if a comma should
be there. Where should the comma be? Well,
just take the comma out because it's all true. There are not
differing kinds of justification, but there are different facets
to justification. Just like there's only one true
righteousness, and that's God's righteousness, there is only
one justification. And we're justified by grace,
by blood, by faith. James says we're justified by
works. Does he or does he not? But it's all still the same justification. So I'm not gonna sit and squabble
over where the comma should be, let's look at what the words
say. Here's what it's telling us. Imputation and justification
go hand in hand. Imputed righteousness by faith
equals God's inventory of this faith as right. Justification
by faith equals God's declaration of faith as right. This faith
brings peace with God to the believer. God is already at peace
with us. In His eternal purpose and sovereign
compassion, He was at peace with us before the world began. But
in God's decree, because of the fall of Adam, we would not be
at peace with God. Even the elect of God would not
be at peace with God when they came into this world. So therefore
we read, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God. But even then, it is only what? Through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Even faith, apart from the personal
work of Jesus Christ, has no peace-giving ability. Faith does
not take care of our sins. Christ took care of our sins.
Faith receives Christ who took care of our sins. As Spurgeon
told the account of the elderly lady in his church, or in God's
church that he pastored, and she invited him over for tea.
And she was quite poor, so he was a young pastor, and young
pastors suppose a whole lot, and he decided, well, since she's
so poor, I'll take some cookies with me. They call it biscuits,
it's what we call a cookie. So he went to have tea with the
lady. She invited him to tea. He says,
England, that's what they do, tea and cookies, tea and biscuits.
So as she went to the kitchen to make the tea, he pulled out
his cookies out of his napkin and stacked his cookies up on
the table. Well, when she had the tea done,
she returned with her platter with the little teapot and the
cups and the cookies. And she looks down and sees his
cookies on the table. And she reaches down and brushes
them off into the floor. And she said, I didn't invite
you to bring tea, I invited you to tea. God doesn't invite us to bring
tea. He supplied the tea and the cookies. He just invites
us to tea. Believe him. Receive it. Take it, like with this, look. Like you do that. But it's only,
only through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, peace is experienced
by us. Peace is experienced by believers
only because we believe Christ made peace. You don't come up
with faith to make peace, you believe Jesus Christ who has
made peace, who is our peace. And that may seem like nothing
but just re-filtering words, but it's the difference between
a lie and the truth. It's the reason why God's people,
at least at times, when God enables us to believe Christ, we have
some peace with God. And yet the religious world that
professes to be Christians are in constant turmoil in their
souls, wondering whether this is all real or not. I know my
Lord is real, even if I am as fake as a $3 bill. And my Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty, sovereign over all, even if I'm the worst hypocrite
that ever walked. And if he says to me one day,
depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you, he
still will be just and right. And even that's lovely about
him, Joe. I didn't see that at one time as lovely, but I see
it as lovely now, why? Because that's who he is. That's
who he is. Colossians 1 and 20 says he made
peace. Ephesians 2, Paul says, 13 through
16, he made, I'm sorry, yes, Ephesians 2, he made peace and
he preached peace. Again, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, remember what it says? Therefore, the believer is declared
to be right. As a matter of fact, the word
right, righteous, and justified are basically the same Greek
word. And you've probably heard this before, but maybe God will
use it to drive this truth home to you. You've seen on TV when,
and we see a lot about this lately, and there's a lot of debate about
it, but I'm not here to debate, but you see on TV when a police
officer has to shoot an assailant, That assailant truly is going
after that police officer's life. And that police officer draws
his service revolver and shoots the person to death. Legally,
it cannot be called murder. Legally, it is called a justified
homicide. Why? Because the police officer
was right to draw his gun. Right to point his gun. Right
to pull the trigger. and right to take the life of
that assailant. Now that is but an illustration
of what God says about us in spite of what we are by nature,
we are justified by faith. If you believe him this morning,
you are justified. And you're justified in God's
sight, even if you're not in mine. Even if you're not in mine. Now, this faith, now let's get
ready to jump a creek here, as old L.R. Shelton used to say,
hold on to the saddle horn, because we're going to jump a creek.
This faith brings access into the grace of our peace with God. You have heard us preach, Earl,
other men, myself, Joe, Paul, you've heard us preach that God
must give you grace in order for you to have faith, and that
is absolutely true. Right? Grace from God must come
first before any individual has this kind of faith, this Abrahamic
kind of faith, this justifying God-declared-as-righteous faith.
That grace must come first, but as I have told you over and over
and over again, when God, when thus saith the Lord is here,
when this is true, do not suppose that that must be true. Do not
think in your own mind, well that, and do not think that that
cannot be true if it's a thus saith the Lord. Because we by
that very same faith, but notice it is still by whom. Not by which. Because the foundation of all
this is not the faith. Faith is just the receptor. You
understand what I'm saying? Faith is just the receptor. The
foundation of all this is a whom. Therefore, read it again, look
at it with me. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Do you see it? So grace still flows, but it
will flow through faith. See, by whom we have access,
or by what? Faith. In other words, you don't
believe God just one time, and then everything's okay for the
rest of your life. Now let me tell you something. Sadly, that
is what many people out there are being taught. You come forward,
you pray the prayer, you be sincere, tell God you're a sinner, mean
you're a sinner, mean you're a real sinner, and beg God to
save you through Jesus Christ and believe on him. Well, then
you get grace and then you're fixed up. You just go on about
your life and go to church when you can and maybe give a dollar
or two when you can and serve the Lord when you can, but that's
not it. That's not it. As Todd Nyberg
said yesterday at Millsite Baptist Church, Peter said, to whom? Coming. Coming. If you've ever really come to
him the first time, you're gonna keep coming back to him. If you
ever quit coming to him, the coming weren't worth spit. Now
Todd didn't say that, but I just said that. This faith brings
access into the grace of our peace with God. The reason I
ever find myself not at peace with God is because I am not
believing God. Christ made peace. Now just believe
it, no matter how you feel. Because you're not always gonna
feel good. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We haven't seen and experienced that glory as it really is yet.
What was it? Three disciples got a little
glimpse of that on the Mount of Transfiguration. A little
glimpse of it. And even then they couldn't comprehend
it. Peter was wanting to build a tabernacle for everybody. The
father said, no, here's my son. I've been well pleased with him,
you listen to him. But look, and not only so, but
we glory in. Fabulous. So again, this faith brings access
into the grace of our peace with God, and it brings a rejoicing
in hope, a confident expectation because God's promise. Christ
said, I pray, Father, that those you gave me will be with me where
I am. Now bless God that's going to
happen. And if I'm one of them people, I will be with him one
day. Literally, physically, in a glorified
body. And Paul calls it, as we will
see later, God willing, it's gonna be a glory revealed, not
just to us, that's going to be true, but it's gonna be a glory
revealed in us. I can't even describe that. Can't
even describe that. By whom, but remember again,
it's by whom. but faith access is more than
just this hope. See, it's not just, well, you
believe in God and all of a sudden, boy, you're just walking around
with great confidence and expectation. There might be a little taste
of that when you first start out. When God first converts
you, everything just wow. The scriptures begin to open
up to you. You begin to see what you are.
Now, that don't help you a whole lot. but it forces you to run
to Jesus Christ and God begins to let you see a little bit about
Joe, his perfections and his beauty. And you're just filled
with hope, but that ain't the way it continues. Now again, I say, I remember that hope, that joy,
that zeal, but I can't relate to it anymore. I'm just, listen
to me, I remember it, but I can't relate to it anymore. That first
time conversion experience is over. You don't have two first
time conversion experiences. Now is anybody, I mean, most
of you graduated high school, didn't you? You didn't have two
first time conversion experiences. But we do have many conversion
experiences. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But do not ever see it as just a one-time thing. It's a way
of walk, it's a way of life. Believing God is a way of living
in this world. It's not just a little spurt
every once in a while when we get in trouble. It's the very
fact that we're believing God's why we're gonna be brought to
trouble. Why? Not only do we rejoice in
hope of the glory of God, not only that, but we glory in tribulations
also. Now you all know the phrase.
Everyone here has probably heard it. People hearing me live stream
this morning has probably heard it. People say it, preachers
say it, I've said it. Well, I used to pray for patience
until I realized that tribulation worked with patience, so I quit
praying for patience. I understand that sentiment.
I really do, believe you me. But you're going to be patient
because God's gonna bring you tribulation. Whether you pray
for it or not, bless God, it's coming. Christ said, in this
world ye shall have what? Tribulation. So it's gonna come
and whether you pray so, that's us talking fluff. I'm not trying
to be mean. I've done it, you've done it,
we've heard others. That's us talking fluff. Because
you can say, God, don't give me patience. He's still gonna
give you patience. But he's only gonna work it through tribulation.
So quit praying for it and just brace yourself. Because it's coming. So again, but faith accesses
more. Faith causes the believer to
glory in very tight spots. That's what that word tribulation
means. Or tribulations. Very tight spots, the pressures,
the anguishes that the believer undergoes, that's the word tribulation. Isn't that what it says? And
not only this, but we glory in tribulations also, but remember,
This is not, okay, I'll go to glory and tribulations, and therefore
I'll be set and ready when they come. You ain't gonna be ready
when they come. God gonna bring them out of left field. That's
just this book. He don't say all that here, but
that's what this book teaches. It's not, all right, God says
tribulations coming, get there, get your Bible out, start praying,
start believing, and get ready. That ain't the way it works,
is it? You've just been going about your everyday life trying
to believe God, trying to live right, trying to serve him, trying
to love your brother and sister in Christ, trying to be an honest,
decent person. Next thing you know, bang, a
tight spot hits. Anguish hits. The believer undergoes
these tribulations, but listen to me now. This is not out of
a, we don't glory in tribulations out of a morbid delight in anguish. Because if you morbidly delight
in anguish, you got a problem. You got a problem. And it's nor
is it out of a victim mentality. Oh, this poor old me. You know,
poor old me. Now I'm not saying those things
don't exist in us, but that's not what Paul's talking about
here. So again, I was gonna give you a thought. Pressures, anguishes,
tight spots, they will come. they'll only come in light of
the wise purpose and providence of God-designed lessons which
teaches us God's true love for his people and our love for him. I can look back through all of
the tribulation I've been through, and while it was going on, I
may not have seen it then, but I can look back at it now, all
of this happens. Tribulation works patience, patience
works experience, experience works hope, and hope makes not
a shame because I know God loves me. Now, I've just interpreted
that for you. People's even argued about because
the love of God is shared abroad in our hearts. Well, it's immediate.
For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Verse eight, but God commended
his love toward us. Now yes, God's people love him.
Do not get me wrong. They do love him because faith
is energized. It works by love. This kind of
faith loves Christ. It doesn't accept him as personal
savior so you get out of hell. It loves Christ. But what does
God shed or brought in our hearts? His love for us. He has taken care of me even
when I was in rebellion against Him. I didn't see it then, but
later I can see God Almighty protected me. Even when my mouth
and my heart was in great rebellion against Him. And then He saves
me. Mackey, give me a little bit of love for Christ. and enable
me to believe Christ and I try to serve Christ. You think he
loves me less now than he did then? So again, this is not out of,
our glory is not out of some morbid delight and anguish, nor
out of some victim mentality, but it's in light of the wise
purpose and providence of God-designed lessons which teach to us God's
love for his people and our love for him. Listen to me. I had a tight spot
yesterday evening. and I'm not gonna get into all
the detail. I hope you get a little chuckle out of this. Maybe if
you ain't got a sense of humor, you won't get nothing out of
it, probably. Penny and I decided to go get her a pair of shoes.
Oh, I wish to God we just got the shoes and went home. But
then we decided to go get a little something easy to eat, already
made at the deli at Walmart. Well, as you all know, yesterday
evening, it was raining. Sometimes it's raining and raining.
and everybody, I suppose, getting ready for Mother's Day, and I'm
not against Mother's Day, but everybody's getting ready, so
we pull up in front of Walmart, and I mean, it's pouring down,
and people are parked in the fire lane. I mean, parked, not
just letting people out, they're parked in the fire lane. Well,
Penny says, well, I'll just jump out, you go park, come on in
and meet me. I didn't get there right away. Here's the people illegally parked
in the fire zone, in the fire path, what do you call, fire
lane. I'm right up against them, traffic's, you know, you got
a spot here for traffic to come this way. Well, here's a person
waiting for a handicapped spot. But rather than staying over
here between the people illegally parked and the lane they're supposed
to be, they turn their car and get over and block both other
lanes and are waiting on a handicapped person to pull out so they can
pull into the handicapped spot. It felt like an eternity. Now,
it probably wasn't three minutes. And I could feel my impatience
growing. And finally the van, they pull
up so close to the van waiting to get out of the spot that the
van has to pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up. And it's like. But it's pouring down the rain.
The van finally starts to move off. The car gets ready to pull
in, the new car, different car, getting ready to pull, it's blocking
both lanes, gets ready to pull into the handicapped spot. Here
comes a lady and she pulls over and pulls right, the opposite
way, and pulls right up in front of my car and says, yeah, but
she, and I said. We were at an impasse. Again,
this felt like two eternities. Now I'm in another tight spot. I look in my mirrors and there
are cars lined up all the way behind me going up the side lanes. And the lady's still... I guess she supposed that the
people illegally parked, that was the lane to go. I don't know.
And I look and nobody's behind me. I put it in reverse and I'm
gonna back up. I'm gonna make a illegal move
and go around her in the left side, because she won't move.
She won't back up. Nobody behind her. She won't back up. When
I back up, I hear crunch. You know what I did, don't you?
I'm not even gonna put it on tape, but I did it. So I have
to get out in the rain and go back to the person who was in
the crunch. By God's grace, the crunch was not serious enough
and both of us said, don't worry about it. And finally, since
I had made my crunch, I had enough room to pull out. She said, don't
worry, just go on. I pulled around. She had to go over and was talking
to this lady, trying to get her out of the middle of the road.
She's still there. That was a tight spot, now that
was just a physical tight spot, but it wore on my psyche. It
drug me down spiritually. When I went inside, Penny was
asking, well what about this, you wanna get this? And I was
like, I don't wanna get home. Now I didn't tell her about this
till this morning. I didn't even wanna talk about
it. Let me tell you something, folks. We laugh, and I'm glad
you got a chuckle, but it didn't feel like laughing when it happened. Tribulation works patience. You
know what kind of patience it wrought on me? Me and Penny are
well-bodied individuals. We both have umbrellas. I'm not
driving in the middle of the rain right up in the middle of
Walmart again. I'm gonna park out there in the middle of the
open, and we'll walk in. Now, I hope you get a chuckle out
of that. You understand what I'm saying? And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also. And I think we really only know
this kind of after the fact. And God keeps teaching this to
us. Oh, because we are so impatient. No, we are so impatient. We are
absolutely impatient in the flesh. The flesh has no patience. The
flesh is me, me, me, now, now, now. No matter how spiritual
you are, the flesh is still me, me, me, now, now, now. But I
glory in this, because I know God's done it for me over and
over and over and over. So let me move on. Listen to
me. Tight spots, anguishing circumstances make us wait on God. They make us wait on God. It's not a tight spot comes,
a tribulation comes, and then after it's over, well, I'm just
so much greater patient person. You understand? It makes you
wait on God. Tribulations, knowing that tribulation,
and that's even, just one. Now there's gonna be more than
one, but even the one. He didn't have to pile a bunch
up. We are so impatient, we need them all the time. To work the
patience in us. Tight spots, anguishing circumstances
make us wait on God. God so fixes things that the
more we try to fix the trouble, the worse it gets. The more I
did yesterday evening, the worse it got. The worse it got. So then we're forced all the
way back to square one, wait on God. Wait on God. Think of what Job went through.
Remember James talks about the patience of Job? And he was so
patient. He was patient with God, he was
patient with himself, he was patient with his wife, he was
even patient with the devil. He didn't blame anybody, did
he? Until somebody started accusing him of doing wrong.