I don't have any introduction for you this morning. I just want to get right to it.
So let's begin here in Romans 5, verse 1. It begins, therefore... Now, in the chapter before this,
the Apostle Paul had stated and fully prove that the justification
of a sinner is not by works which we have performed, not by any
righteousness worked out by the sinner, but through faith in
Christ Jesus the Lord." If you'll look back up there, the Lord
gave Abraham quite a trial. Really, quite a trial. He said
to him in Romans 4.18, who against hope believed in hope, against
hope he believed in hope, that he might become the father of
many nations according to that which was spoken or promised
him when God said, so shall thy seed be. Thy seed, Abraham, God,
the Father said, is going to be the Father of many nations. First of all, it was amazing
to Abraham to hear this, that he was going to have a child.
Because Abraham was 100 years old, as the next verse tells
us, and Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing. Her womb
was dead. It was an amazing thing, a promise,
an amazing promise for Abraham to hear beyond that. Because
what God said to Abraham and what Abraham heard God say was,
thy child that's coming through your genealogy, down through
your family tree, way, way, way, way down there from now is going
to be my son. He's coming through you. And
he's going to be the father of many nations. In that seed, he's
going to be the father of many nations. Not only was it amazing
to Abraham that he's 100 years old, and Sarah's womb is dead,
and they're going to have a son named Isaac. It's amazing to
him that God tells him, but I'm looking way down yonder, Abraham,
when I'm talking about a seed. And you can read this, and I
don't have time to turn to it now, but in Galatians 3.16, Paul
says, and that seed is Christ. That's who He said. He's going
to be the one. He's coming through your lineage,
Abraham. So Abraham's been told this, but listen to what we read.
And being not weak in faith, He considered not his own body
now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief." All he had from God was a promise.
That's all. But he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. How did he glorify God? What
is faith? Verse 21. being fully persuaded
that what God had promised, God was able also to perform. You see, salvation is by promise. God says, I'm going to save you,
Abraham. And it's believing God's able
to do it. I fully believe God's able to do what he said he's
going to do. Well, and it says, and therefore he believed God.
God charged him righteous therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness
It was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to
him But for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead do you believe
God's promise that he shall save and you in His Son. Do you believe that? Do you believe
He's fully, are you fully persuaded He's able to perform that work? If you believe it, God says,
you've been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. What's
the evidence that Christ justified me? What's the evidence that
I'm righteous before God Almighty? I believe Him. Believe he said
he justified me. I believe he said he will save
me fully completely freely finally forever And I believe he's able
to do it and I'm looking to him lock stock and barrel to bring
it to pass If that's your case God said you're righteous my
son died for you. He made you righteous now Who
was delivered for our offenses? For our sins for our trespasses
against God and was raised again for our justification Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. What is it to have peace with
God? What is it? Peace with God is the opposite
of being at war with God. If you don't believe God right
now, you are at war against God. You don't believe that God, you
don't believe God's Word, you don't believe His promise, and
you don't believe He's able to perform what He says in this
book, He shall perform, and He alone shall perform, and He alone
shall receive all the glory for it. You think that you can somehow
aid Him in what He said He alone shall do. And you're at odds
with God. You're trying to make God a liar,
and you don't believe Him. You are fighting to deny the
very being and the very perfection of God. You're fighting to deny
that justification is accomplished by Christ Jesus the Lord alone
and not by something you do. You remember being at war with
God? You who know Him and trust Him,
you remember being at war with God? Sometimes you try to deny
there is a God. Sometimes you wish there was
no God. And sometimes, most of the time,
you tried to imagine that God is really no greater than you. Didn't you? And you thought,
well, I've done some good things. Surely He will just sort of look
over my bad things I've done. And you compared yourself to
somebody else. and said, I'm not as bad as them.
And you tried to justify, and it was a constant warfare, and
it was never, there was never any peace there, because you
knew that you were at war with God. You knew it. You knew you
were at war with God. No matter how you try to convince
yourself and others, you knew you were at war with God. But
God be thanked, He wouldn't take no for an answer. You know why? Because He put you in Christ
before the world began and He gave His only begotten Son and
His only begotten Son came to where we are and He was nailed
to a cross for your offenses. And he was raised again for your
justification and God would not take no from you for an answer
because he's going to bring you to know what his son has done,
what he's promised in his son and what his son is able and
has and shall yet perform for you. He would have you to know
that and he wouldn't take no for an answer. And when God comes
with that kind of news, And it's called a revelation of Jesus
Christ. The gospel is the good news. I sit here and say it to you
week in and week out. Some of you sit here with your
hands crossed, dilly-dallying with your fingers, looking down
at the floor, looking up at the ceiling, doing anything but not
opening this book. And if you die thinking about
God, what you think about God right now, what Scott just read,
You deserve to be cursed by God, and you shall. But when Christ
comes in power and in grace and He says, first of all, He makes
you to understand that this book, His law, says of you, you are
a sinner. Desperately wicked sinner. That's
the first thing. He's gonna make you He's gonna
make you to hear the law you read this book right now, and
it's sort of like a puzzle It's all out of it's not put together
the pieces don't go together And you latch on to one little
thing and then it kind of fades away, and you don't understand
it But he comes to you and for the first time he'll make this
law Ring true, and he'll make you hear it, and he'll make you
realize I am a sinner lost and undone and then he says No, no,
no, no, no, no, you are perfectly righteous Everything that I require
of you I myself have provided in the person of my son and every
promise I have to you is Not maybe and what if if you do sir,
it's yes and amen in Christ Jesus the Lord my son Have you ever
seen anybody receive news that they won the lottery and fight
the person and try to deny that they won the lottery? Not a person,
have you? Because you can't deny that kind
of good news. You can't fight against that
kind of news. You get that kind of news and your heart just overflows
and you say, all right, I'll take it. That's what happens
when he comes and reveals Christ has put away your sin forever
and you're perfectly accepted in the Beloved. You can't fight
against that kind of news. I don't care who you are. I don't
care how bad you hate God. You can't fight against that
kind of good news. That's the dynamite. That's the
gospel. That's what He has to make effectual
and reveal to you in the heart by His Spirit. Well, what happens
when He does that? We have peace with God. The work
of righteousness shall be peace, Isaiah said, and the effect of
righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. You say, he saved me. He did
this for me. I'm at peace with God. I'm not
fighting him anymore. I'm at peace with him. Well,
we have that. The Scripture says, through faith
in Christ. Now I believe God's promise to
me. I'm fully persuaded He's able
to perform what He has promised in Christ. Now, verse 2, Romans
5, 2. By whom also? By Christ. There's even more than peace
with God. Peace is a particular Spiritual
blessing that God gives in the heart that he's made to receive
Christ That's a particular spiritual blessing, but there's more than
peace even more than that look we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand and by him also we rejoice in the
hope in hope of the glory of God and Not only is there peace
between us and God because of what Christ has done for us,
but through Christ we are in a constant state of God's grace. We realize that we have come
into a constant state, a constant state of being, something that
can never be revoked, never be taken away, never be changed,
never be done away, no matter what I do, no matter how I sin
in my flesh, no matter how self-righteous I act in my flesh, no matter
what I do in my flesh, I'm in a constant state of free favor
with God Almighty. Do you know, in Scripture, a
lot of times you'll read at the beginning of a letter, like 1
Corinthians 1-3, grace be unto you and peace. Two different
things. Grace and peace. Peace is that
thing we have where we realize now, I'm not fighting against
God. The warfare is accomplished.
It's over. God has rewarded me double for
all my sins. I'm at peace with God. But then
from then on, We have a constant state. We're in a constant place
of grace before God, of favor before God. Well, but to stand
in God's grace is to be blessed with all spiritual blessings,
is to have all spiritual blessings in Christ free to us by God. That's grace. But there's more
than that. We have access to the fountain of grace. We stand
with access, continual access, to God Himself. We can come into His presence,
into His very throne room, into the holiest of holies, not made
with hands, into God's presence, by faith, by what Christ has
done, because He's entered in for us, and we have access to
the very fountain of all grace. And Scripture tells us, therefore,
brethren, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus and having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Well, knowing that we have peace
with God and knowing that we are in a perpetual, continual
favor of God and we have access to the very throne and fountainhead
of God's grace, God Himself, we rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. This is by Christ too. This is
through faith as well. Because what it means is the
glory of God here means that everlasting glory and happiness
which God has prepared for His people, which He has promised
to you who know Him, We believe, we rejoice in the hope of one
day entering into that glorious bliss of being with our Heavenly
Father forever. That's our hope. And it's a good
hope. We've got a good foundation to
hope for that. It says, Peter said, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively, a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That means
we have an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and
that fadeth not away, that is reserved in heaven for us. And we're going to be kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation. And it's going
to be revealed in His time. And we're going to come into
the glory of God. We have that. We have that. Well, verse 3. And not only this,
we've got something else. We've got something else. We
glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope will
never make us ashamed, will never be confounded, will never be
embarrassed at all. Why do we have all this? Because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. Now, I want to look at these
things right here. From the first hour that we enter
into these great blessings, these great blessings that are in Christ,
we're justified before God. Atonement's been made, we've
been reconciled to God, we're at peace with God. We are in
a perpetual state of grace before God. We have access to His throne
room. We rejoice in hope that knowing
one day we will enter in and see God as He is, face to face,
and be received of Him with open arms, gladly. And we rejoice
in trials. Well, trials are painful. And really and truly from the
first hour that the believer enters into this peace with God.
Before he was at war with God and he was really at peace with
the world. He liked where he was at in the
world. But now he's at peace with God. But he's at war with
the world. He's at war with his flesh and
with the world now. Something has changed. Totally different.
Something has happened. So he's been in a trial ever
since he came into this faith as far as the world is concerned,
as far as the flesh is concerned, as far as everything this world
and our old carnal flesh has to offer. We're at war against
it. But then we come to some severe trials. We come to some
severe suffering. And it says we rejoice in these
things. We rejoice in these things because
we know that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience
and experience hope. Now these are the fruits produced
by the Holy Spirit. We can't work these in ourselves. We can't make ourselves have
patience and experience and hope. He does this. He gives this to
us. Just as He did the first hour
we believed, He grows us in those fruits. He grows us in it. And
God says He does it through trial. That's how He does it. There's
been some folks who've suffered greatly. who endured great trial,
who were tortured, who were captives of war and what have you, and
endured some harsh, harsh trials, and they didn't break under all
the severe torture they went through. They endured it, and
yet never knew God, never trusted God, never... That was just a
pride and a hardness that they just would not give in. This
is different. This is altogether different.
This is a work of God's grace in the heart. Now let's look
at these individually. Verse 3, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. What is patience? Well, it's
the opposite of covetousness. It's the opposite of complaining.
It's the opposite of hastiness, of wanting something to be over.
Patience is submission to the will of God. Patience is content
in whatsoever state I am in. Patience waits upon the Lord,
and patience includes both our attitude toward God and our attitude
toward those around us while we're in the trial. Paul told
the Philippians, I have learned, I didn't just pop out being born
again, have this. I have learned, he said, that
in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. And he tells us
right here how he learned it. Through tribulation. Through
trial. And he told the Hebrews, in Hebrews
13, 5, let your conversation, your thoughts, your words, your
deeds, everything about you be without covetousness and be content
with such things as ye have." Does that just mean the blessings
I have or does that mean the trial I'm into? It means both. Be content with such things as
you have. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that you may boldly say with
full assurance, you may say, the Lord is my helper. I will
not fear what man shall do unto me. So, the Lord teaches us this
through trials, through severe trials, that He'll never leave
us, He'll never forsake us. And this leads to something else. This leads to another blessing.
From patience then, verse 4 says, and patience works experience. Now, this word experience means
proof. It proves something. As we endure trials, I'll tell
you what is really proven. It's proven to us that God's
grace is sufficient. That's what's proven to us, that
God's grace is sufficient. That's the perfect work that
James spoke about when he said, but let patience have her perfect
work. Wait Endure. Don't be hasty until God has
brought you to fully understand the sufficiency of His grace. So that through this, we're taught
humility. We're taught what true thankfulness
is, and we're taught to just resign ourselves, no matter what,
to the will of God. The only way you and I will be
brought down, the only way you and I will be brought to be thankful,
the only way that you and I will be brought to resign our will
to God in whatsoever state we're in, and I'm telling you, I'm
sitting here telling you this, knowing fully, completely what
I am in my flesh and knowing that with the next severe trial
that comes upon me, I'll prove the opposite of everything this
text is teaching us. And that's what God is teaching
us. You don't have the power or the strength in yourself to
do anything. God's promise is that in Christ
I will perform the work. And He's going to make us to
understand He's able to do the work. And He's going to perform
it. That's what grace is. Alright? And then it says here,
it says here that Wait, I've got to show you something. This
is important for us to understand. Look with me, 2 Corinthians 12.
2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. Now Paul, this is a very familiar
passage. Now I want you to look at this
and consider some things with me. Paul said, 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7, And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me. It was given to me It was given
to me by God. Just as the revelations were
given to him. This was given to him by God.
Lest I should be exalted above measure. And he says, for this
thing, because of this thing, I besought the Lord thrice. Three times. That it, the thing,
The trial, the messenger of Satan which buffeted me. I prayed that
it might depart from me. I wanted this thing gone, Paul
said. We all hate trial. We all hate
it. And we understand how Paul could
ask the Lord for this thing to depart from him. I understand
that fully. I understand how he could say,
Lord, take this thing away from me. Spare me from it. Save me
from it. Get me away from it. I suppose
he could have done that by taking you out of this world in the
first place. But the Lord prayed the Father
and said, I pray not that you take them out of the world, but
keep them from it. That's why we're left in it.
That's why the trial was given to Paul, lest he should be exalted
to the point where he didn't feel like, because of his abundant
revelation, that he needed God. That he could do the work that
God said, I'm going to perform. And so God gave him this to bring
him down to see he'll do the work. And Paul said, I prayed
three times for this thing to leave me. And how did the Lord
reply? Verse 9. And he said unto me,
my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. My strength is proven. When you
experience your own weakness, be patient. It leads to experience. It proves God's grace is sufficient. If we're going to come to this
experience to know and to trust the faithfulness of God's all-sufficient
grace, the strength of God to sustain us as he has promised,
if we would be persuaded that he is able, it won't come by
the trial being removed. By his grace which enables us
to sufficiently bear it even though it has not been removed. And only then do we come to experience
that as He has promised, so He is able to perform. And He says there then in verse
9, Most gladly therefore will I rather, that's a key word here,
Paul was not rejoicing in his infirmities when he was asking
for God to remove the trial. But because God's grace made
him patiently endure and proved to him that God's grace is sufficient
without the thing being removed, he came to experience he came
to to prove to be proven to him that God's grace is sufficient
and he said most gladly therefore instead of praying for God to
remove it I won't ask him for that anymore that's not what
I'm asking him for anymore most gladly therefore I will rather
glory in my infirmities I'll rejoice in the trial that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I'm weak, then I'm strong.
Now, if I said that to you, if I said, oh, I'll rejoice in trial,
I'll rejoice in persecution, I'll rejoice in being without
food and water and clothing, you'd say, yeah, right. But this
is the Apostle Paul who was beaten, who was left for dead, who went
without food, who was shipwrecked, who endured every kind of trial
that could be endured, who had some infirmity in his flesh. And he said, I thank God for
those things now. I'm not asking for them to be
removed anymore. Why? Because I know God is able. I'm fully persuaded He's able.
Those things or not the issue. The issue is, do I understand
His grace is able? So he says, now, I don't pray
for those things anymore. Now, I'll show you this. Hebrews 4.15. How did he come
to know this? How did Paul come to understand
this and be taught this? Hebrews 4.15. Hebrews 4.15 says, Let me get there myself. For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Now, how was it that we're justified? By Christ. How was it that we
have access to the throne of God's grace? by Christ. How is
it that we rejoice in the hope of one day seeing the glory of
God? By Christ. How is it we can be
made to rejoice in these trials? By Christ. Now look here. because
we have a high priest who's been touched with the feeling of our
infirmities and was in all points tempted like as we are and he
never sinned. And he says, therefore, let us
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may ask for this
thing to be taken away from us. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That we may ask for mercy and
find grace to help. not the thing taken away. Grace
to help in time of need. Now, Matthew 26, 38. Matthew 26, 38. What happened in the greatest trial that our
high priest endured. When he was touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, what happened? What did he do? When
Paul came into this, he prayed to God three times to remove
it from him. What did our high priest do when
he entered into the greatest trial that he suffered without
sin? Verse 38, Matthew 26, 38, Then
saith he unto them, My soul. My innermost being. My soul. The life within me. My soul. Where did I tell you
to turn to? I know I told you the wrong verse,
didn't I? Is it the right place there?
All right. I want to make sure you're there
Matthew 26 38 He said my soul is exceeding sorrowful to the
point I'm about to die That's how much sorrow he was under
I'm about to die under this sorrow. He's been touched with the feeling
of our infirmities more than me and you have been touched
with. And he said, I'm about to die. And he said, tarry ye
here, he's talking to his apostles, and watch with me. And he went
a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying,
O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He asked for it to be taken away,
didn't He? Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Look down at verse 42. He went
again the second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this
cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be
done. Look down at verse 44. And he
left them and went away again and prayed the third time saying
the same words. He knew exactly what Paul felt
when Paul came to him and prayed three times to have that cup,
that messenger of Satan that buffeted him, taken away from
him. Paul didn't say that I prayed for it to be taken away from
me, and I said, but nevertheless, your will be done. Paul said,
I just came and said, take this away from me, Lord. Please take
it away from me. Three times. Our Lord prayed
it three times without sin and said, nevertheless, Father, thy
will be done. But he was touched with exactly what Paul was touched
with so that he knew it better than Paul knew it. Well, did the Father take away
the bitter cup of agony which our Redeemer was suffering? Think
about this now. If He had, you and I would have
no hope of salvation whatsoever. That tells me that whatever trial
you are in and whatever trial I am in is more important than
anything else that's happening to us right now. You see how
important this trial was? This trial meant the putting
away of the sin of His people. This trial meant the justifying
of His people. This trial meant declaring God
just and justifier of all those who believe. This trial meant
Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believeth. If God had taken away the cup,
we would have no salvation, no Savior, nothing. That tells me
that whatever trial I'm in right now is to bring me to this place
to see it's necessary. It's absolutely necessary. Now, what did the father do?
Luke 22. Turn to Luke 22. Luke 22. I want you to see this. I've
never joined this together, but you have got to see this. Luke
22. Luke 22, 43. Now listen, they
give us, the Gospels give us different wording on each of
this, but everything they give us is something different. It's
something added to the account so that we know, put them all
together, we get the fullness of what happened here. Look here,
now this is not redundant. This is what happened after he
prayed this the third time. Verse 43, there appeared an angel
unto him from heaven, strengthening him. He knows the sufficiency of God's
grace. He knows even the infirmities
of our flesh, but he knows the joy of the sufficiency of God's
grace. Now look at the next line. and
his agony being taken away. No, no, no, no, no, no. And being
in an agony still. The suffering wasn't removed.
The trial wasn't taken away. The cup wasn't taken away. But
this proving not only proves God's grace to be sufficient,
but it's going to prove through His sufficient grace that my
faith is unfanged faith. It can't be turned from Him.
And look what He did. He's still in agony, but he's
been strengthened now by grace, and he prayed more earnestly. Is he still praying for the cup
to be taken away? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no. What happens when you're strengthened
by the grace of God? What happened the first hour
grace came to you and revealed the sufficiency of God's grace
in the face of Christ to you? What happened? You fell on your
face and said, God, thank you. Were you taken out of your agony?
Were you taken out of your sin? Were you taken out of your trial?
Were you taken out of your flesh? Were you taken out of the world?
Right there where you were, right in the middle of it, you said,
thank you, Lord. Thank you for what you've done
to me. Thank you for what you've brought me through. Thank you
for this trial." He prayed the more earnestly. And his sweat
was still. As it were, great drops of blood
falling down to the ground. God didn't take him out of the
agony. God didn't remove the cup from him. He gave him grace
to bear it. And that's the salvation that
we have. Do you see how sufficient God's
grace is? It carried Christ Jesus, our
Redeemer, to the cross where He saved us from ourselves and
from our sins. And that's what He reveals in
us every time He brings us into the severest trials and makes
us to behold His grace is all sufficient. Not by taking that
trial away from us. Let me ask you a question. What's
the greatest trial you're going to face? Death. He's not going to take that away
from you. You're going to go through it. You're going to suffer
it. It's appointed. You got an appointment
and you're going to keep that one. It's appointed. But he's
going to give you grace to go right through it. Right through
it. Just like he give you grace to
go through this one right now. So back there in our text, and
we'll finish. Romans 5, verse 3. With glory in tribulations, knowing
that tribulation worketh patience, and patience proves the sufficiency
of God's grace. And when the sufficiency of God's
grace is proven to us over and over and over, what do we grow
in? Hope. Hope. We grow in hope. And hope is never confounded,
never brought to shame, never made to make you feel like you
were foolish for ever putting your confidence in saying, I'm
fully persuaded he's April. Hope maketh not of shame. Now
why does all this come to us? not just the trial. Why did we
discover we were justified by faith in Christ? How did we discover
that we have access by faith by Christ Jesus Lord to the perpetual
grace of God to come to His throne of grace? How did we come into
this hope wherein we rejoice that one day we'll glory, we'll
see the glory of God? How did we How are we brought
to glory in these trials? How are we brought to have this
patience? How is this patience grown so
that we prove that we see that God's grace is sufficient and
our faith is proven to be genuine faith and this hope is grown? How is all of this, every bit
of this, how does it come to us? Look at the next one. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. How do I enter into this grace? How is this grace given to me?
How do I know that Christ did something for me and all these
wonderful things that He's now doing for me and that He shall
fully accomplish that which He's promised me? The Holy Ghost enters
in. and the love of God fills up
my heart. The first hour, every hour since,
in every trial, the Holy Ghost enters in and He's given to us
for the purpose of shedding abroad in our hearts the love of God
that we might understand. I'll never leave Thee. I'll never
forsake Thee. So that you can say with full
confidence and assurance, The Lord has taken my part. He's
my helper. I won't fear anymore. I won't
fear anymore. He has done it. He's taken it.
Now, we read this the other day, but
let me read this again to you. Luke 11, verse 11. Read this
passage. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father. Will you give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will you
for a fish give him a snake instead? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
you offer him a scorpion instead of an egg? If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, How much
more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him? How am I going to enter into
this grace? Through the love of God should
have brought in my heart. How am I going to have the love
of God should have brought in my heart so that I see this grace
is all sufficient through the Holy Spirit that's given to me.
How am I going to have the Holy Spirit given to me when I fall
into this trial and I look at my flesh and I begin to want
the trial to be removed so I can go back to being self-sufficient
again? I'm going to ask God, Lord, give me your spirit. Give
me a double portion of your Spirit. Give me grace. Grow me in the experience of
your love that I might know that you'll never leave me or forsake
me. And then, look what James said. James 1, 2. This is that perfect work. You've
got to see this. I think this is saying the same
thing. My brethren, verse 2, James 1, 2. My brethren, count
it all joy when you fall in to different temptations, knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let
patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing, that you may... My strength is made perfect in
weakness. that you may come to the end
of your rope so that you're not trusting in anything, so that
you might truly see the strength of God's grace and His power
to keep you. And if any of you lack wisdom, I think this is saying, do you
lack wisdom? Do you lack the understanding
of God's grace? Do you lack the understanding
of the full sufficiency of His grace? Ask Him. If that's what
you want, ask Him. And He gives to all His children
liberally. And He won't upbraid you for
asking Him for more grace. He won't. It'll be given to you. But make sure that's what you
want. He said, ask in faith, nothing wavering. Do you just
want to be delivered from the suffering? Do you just want to
be delivered from the trial so you can feel comfortable enough
in whatever it is we were trusting in before we came into that trial?
Or do we want the trial to continue so that we might learn to be
patient, that we might learn that He will never leave us or
forsake us? If that's what I want to learn,
I'm going to stop praying for the trial to be removed and start
praying for God's all-sufficient grace brought to me, shed abroad
in my heart by the love of God through the Holy Spirit, which
he said, if you'll ask me for that, I won't upbraid you. I'll give it to you abundantly. And Paul said, that's how I came
to now rejoice in my infirmities, to rejoice in this messenger
of Satan that buffets me. And if you'll read out the rest
of this in Romans 5, Romans 5, you read out the rest of this
and hear what it says and you'll understand this. Romans 5, 6.
For when we were yet without strength, when you were still
warring against God, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, verse 8, look down. God
commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more than. Much more than. Being now justified by His blood. Being now made the righteousness
of God in him, if he did that for you when you were ungodly
and an enemy and fighting against him with every fiber of your
being, now that he's made you know you're justified in him,
what does he say? We shall be saved from wrath
through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we'll
be saved by his life. That's the whole point of the
trial. That's the whole point of bringing
us to joy is to see Our strength's not in us. Our strength's not
in my bank account, or it's not in the food I have on the table.
It's not in my health. It's not in those things at all. Those things are going to perish.
They're perishing things of clay, born for one brief day. They
don't profit. They won't profit me anything.
If God doesn't sanctify that bread to my body, it won't even
do me any good to eat that bread. Have you ever seen somebody that
eat and eat and lose weight and lose weight until they just die? That's not my strength. My strength
is Christ. And if He did everything for
me when I was yet a sinner and didn't know Him, now that He's
risen and seated on His throne in glory and has been touched
with the feeling of my infirmities and knows what it is to come
and say, Lord, just take this trial off of me. Don't you think
that if you come and say, Lord, just do with me what you will,
pour out your spirit upon me. He said, I'll save you. I'll
bear you up on the wings of eagles. You'll still pass through the
water. You'll still pass through the trial. You'll still pass
through the fire, but it won't burn you. You won't be overtaken.
You won't drown. And you'll be made to see how
He loved you from everlasting and will yet continue to love
you. Now I got one more scripture,
John 16, 33. That is exactly, exactly, I said
all that, how long I been preaching? I've been preaching for 45 minutes.
Let me show you how wise and preeminently wise our Savior
is. He said all that, what I just
said, in one sentence. Listen to this. John 16, 33. These things I have
spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But I've said this to you, that
in me, you might have peace. In the world, in that flesh, in the workplace, in the community,
around all the people of this world, you're going to have tribulation.
But in me, you got peace. But be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. And so have you and him. So he
says, don't look anywhere else. Don't look anywhere else. Just
look to me. Look to me.