Brethren, turn with me to Romans
chapter 5. Our text is in verses 3 through
5, but I want to begin in 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 the grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now here's
our text, and not only so but we glory in tribulations also
knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience
and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. So this morning I want to speak
to you about the tribulation of the just, the tribulation
of the justified. Now last week we were here looking
at the gift of faith which is given to us by our God in Christ
and faith is eternal life. The manifestation of faith in
you, the revelation of faith in you testifies that you have
life in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. And
so this faith is laid upon the foundation of Christ and it serves
as a foundation for us. This faith serves as a foundation
for us and our God is going to prove, He's going to prove the
faith which He has given. And the way that He proves that
the faith that we have is genuine, Spirit-wrought faith. is through
tribulation. The Lord gives tribulation. And
so He's proving our faith for His glory. It glorifies Him. And He's proving our faith for
our benefit. Because through the proving of
that faith through tribulation, we see, we learn the Father. We learn of His love for us. He establishes faith, hope, and
love in His people. It's fruit born of the Spirit
in us, and so by this we are led of the spirit and walk by
faith in him. It's by tribulation. And so I have three points about
this. First is, what is tribulation? What are we talking about when
we speak of tribulation? Second, who gives tribulation? And then third, what does tribulation
accomplish in us? What fruit does it bear in us?
So what do the scriptures reveal to us about tribulation, this
word tribulation? Well, I looked it up. I have
what's called a Greek lexicon, and there's a few good ones out
there. But a lexicon, it's sort of like
a dictionary for the Greek language, and it'll give you other words
associated with that word, which I was looking up tribulation,
so it gives other words to help us understand what does it mean? What does tribulation mean? Well, in the lexicon, it describes
it as a pressing, a pressing together. It describes it as
pressure. The way you would squeeze a grape,
it describes it as a pressure, the application of pressure. Other words I saw associated
with this word tribulation in the scriptures is oppression. or affliction, or distress, or
to be in straits, meaning to be in a tight spot, in a spot
that's closing in upon you. It's a distressing place to be. And the King James Bible translates
this word tribulation, which is spoken of here in Romans five,
verse three, not only so, but we glory in tribulations. That word, it's sometimes, well,
most often translated tribulation. The second most, it's translated
affliction. And then, several times, it's
translated as trouble. And then it's translated in one
place as anguish. And then in another place, it's
translated as persecution. And in another place, it's translated
as burdened. And so by these words, you could
see how this applies pressure. on you that are going through
tribulation. You're being pressed. You're
being squeezed. You're being put into a tight
spot, which is getting tighter and tighter upon you. That's
tribulation. Now, if we go to a place like
2 Corinthians, let's go to 2 Corinthians 12, Paul is describing there,
he's saying that he was given a thorn in the flesh. He was given a thorn in the flesh
because he had been receiving visions and he was seeing things
and hearing things that are not lawful for man to even describe. And so he said that the Lord
gave him a thorn in the flesh to humble him, right? Because the natural man, the
flesh experiences things and says, hey, I can do this. Well,
you should be able to do this. And we start judging others.
Well, the Lord, countered that by giving him a thorn in the
flesh to keep him humble. But in verse 8, he said, this
thing, this thorn, so 2 Corinthians 12, 8, this thorn, for this thorn
I besought the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, Paul says, most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities. I take pleasure in reproaches. in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong." And so Paul is describing a variety of tribulations, manifold
temptations and tribulations which he was experiencing. I don't want to say that we glory
necessarily in the tribulation itself, but we see the end benefit. We're looking at what the Lord
is doing for us. In the same way that Christ despised
the shame of the cross because he looked forward to that day. when we would sit with him in
his kingdom. He saw that which he was purchasing,
his bride, and he rejoiced in that. He was glad, and so he
was happy to go through the cross because it resulted in great
joy and blessing. It resulted in his inheritance
and our inheritance in him. And so, it's not so much that
we glory in the tribulation, but we see the effect. We learn what the Lord is doing
for us through the tribulation. And in that, we rejoice. We're
glad because the Lord has counted us worthy, as it were, to suffer
for Christ's sake. That's what it says of Peter
and John. They rejoiced because they were counted worthy. And
it's all to the praise and glory and honor of his name. And so
one of the effects that Paul spoke of here in 2 Corinthians
12 was that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He saw that
through tribulations, Christ's power rested upon him. Christ
kept him and made him strong. He added that these distresses
are for Christ's sake. Because in them, we discover
that Christ's strength is perfected. In our weaknesses, we are made
strong in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. So in that light, when
you read of tribulations, understand that there's a purpose for them. There's a purpose. This is why
James said in James chapter one, in verse two, he begins, my brethren,
count it all joy when ye suffer manifold temptations. When you
go through diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. And he says, let patience have
her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing. And so accept it as God's hand
for you. There's a purpose in it. And
that brings us to our second point. Who gives the tribulation? Who gives the tribulation? And
what we find is that the tribulation is given to us by our God according
to purpose. He has a purpose in it. And so our confidence through
these trials and tribulations is knowing that our God who is
sovereign, who is almighty, who can do all things, he has determined
to give us this tribulation. He's brought us into this tribulation
according as it pleases him for our good. It's for our good. In 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse
2 Paul tells the Thessalonians that we sent Timothy, our brother
and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel
of Christ, we sent him to you to establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith. All right, so this concerns your
faith. It just says tribulation, it
concerns your faith. Well, we sent Timothy to establish
you in the gospel, to comfort you in the gospel, concerning
your faith, given what's coming upon you. Verse three says that
no man should be moved by these afflictions. All right, the church
was being afflicted. They were being tried. They were
going through tribulation, various tribulations. things that would
move a person off their foundation, things that would trouble somebody,
and things that were difficult to bear. And so they sent Timothy
to establish them and to comfort them in the faith which God had
given to them, that no man should be moved by these afflictions,
for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. That's what
Paul said, not me. We are appointed unto these afflictions. And that word afflictions there
is a different word than the word tribulation in Romans 5.3.
It is a different word in the Greek, yet I looked it up and
it has the same exact meaning. It means to press, to give, to
add pressure. to put into a tight spot, to
press and apply pressure upon us. For verily, verse 4 says,
when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer
tribulation even as it came to pass, and ye know. We know we're gonna suffer persecution.
It's in the word that we're gonna suffer tribulation and afflictions
and hardships, things that press us and put us into straight places,
limiting places, things that get crowded. and could be suffocating
in that sense. And so we're pointed unto that,
and what I want us to know is that God, sovereign God, gives
these tribulations to his people according to purpose. We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are thee called according to purpose. Purpose. And so, we all know that verse,
but it's strengthening, it's encouraging, it's comforting
to know that your God is in control of everything. Not a speck of
dust flies through the air, but God has appointed it. If it causes
you to blink your eye and miss something, it's because God appointed
it. He kept you from seeing that. and he turned your head this
way or that way. God is in control. He's able
to bring us to see and to know that he is wonderful in all things,
in all things. He has a purpose in what he does. And so it's working for your
good, brethren. Now, another example is in Hebrews
chapter 12. In Hebrews chapter 12 and in
verse nine, Paul says, furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh,
which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not
much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits? What we're reminded of here is
that we need correction. We do need correction. You mean
me as an adult, I need correction? Yes. Yes, absolutely. I need to be corrected and taught
of the Lord and it makes perfect sense to me knowing what I am
in this flesh and the weakness of this flesh. I'm thankful for
the correction that the Father gives me and doesn't just let
me go off believing some lie or doing folly, but the Lord
corrects His people. And so this flesh is prone to
sin, I need correction. And we've seen when we were in
Romans 9 and as we'll see in Romans 10, the Lord is constantly
correcting and instructing and teaching his disciples to know
how to serve and minister the gospel in his kingdom. Those
chapters serve as like a little school, if you will, where he's
teaching his disciples and correcting us so that we would serve and
minister the gospel to the Lord's people as he would have us to
serve and minister the gospel. And it's contrary to this flesh,
and so he's going to correct us and teach us and instruct
us in the way that we should go. Now, why does the Lord correct
us? In Hebrews 12 there, verse 10,
for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure. They did what they thought was
right and necessary for our learning as their children, but he for
our profit It's not just because he delights in in correcting
us He has a purpose in it for our profit that we might be partakers
of his holiness And we saw that I think it was last Tuesday where
the Lord tells us in first Peter 1 16 Be holy for I am holy and we don't make ourselves holy,
He separates us, He sanctifies us, and He's revealing to us,
this is my will and purpose for you, that ye be holy, and so
we understand He's chastening me, He brings me through tribulations,
because His purpose and will is that I be holy and separated
unto Him, not unto this world, but unto Him. And so he gives
the chastening, he gives the tribulation, he sends the affliction
to turn us to the Lord, to keep us looking to the Lord, to keep
us seeking the Lord for his grace, to keep us hungering and thirsting
for his righteousness and not having a confidence in this flesh
and what we think is right. Now he says, no chastening for
the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby. And so we see that the tribulation
is the Lord's means of pruning us, that we would be more fruitful. It's the means of his correcting
us and keeping us. So he sends tribulation for our
good, for our good. and where it says that we may
glory in tribulations. what we glory in is knowing that
it shall accomplish the intended effect in his people. So Isaiah
55, 8 through 11 says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh
down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, But
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. And so God's word
is that we would be taught and instructed. And he's going to
give tribulation. He's going to bring afflictions
upon us for our good, for our profit. And that brings us to
our third point, which is what does tribulation accomplish in
us? What is the Lord doing here?
In Hebrews, it was called the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So under that umbrella, the peaceable
fruit of righteousness, what is the Lord accomplishing in
his people? In our text, in our text, we
begin in verse three. Let's look at verse three, Romans
five, verse three and four. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. So Paul describes
these three fruits, which are the fruit of the Spirit under
that umbrella of the peaceable fruit of righteousness that the
Lord is working in us. So let's look at each of these
three. So first, trials work patience in the people of God. And so this is a brick that the
Lord is laying upon the foundation of our faith. He's now laying
the brick of patience on us, upon that faith which he's given.
He's establishing patience in his people. And patience is really
a form of submission to the Lord's will. As we endure the tribulation,
as we go through the depressing trial, and through those things
that put us into straits and make us uncomfortable in ourselves,
The Lord is teaching us patience. He's giving us patience in Him.
And we know that. Sometimes trials go on for a
longer time than we were expecting or that we thought. We sometimes
think things are gonna wind up and go away quickly, but they
don't. They just go on and they drag
on for longer and longer and longer, and we learn through
the revealed will of God to patiently endure what God has given to
us, to bear it patiently in him. Through those trials, we bear
it. Paul said it this way when writing to the Philippians in
chapter 4. In the middle of verse 11, it
starts where he says, I have learned, I learned that in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed. I'm being taught, he's saying.
I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. And so through various trials
and tribulations, Paul learned these things. He was instructed
by God and he patiently bore them. If it was times of abundance,
he was happy and thankful for them. And then when things emptied
out and he was hungry and cold and in tough spots, he was patient
in them. He endured in them because God
had given him patience through the trials. Second, trials result
in experience in the people of God. That is, the Lord matures
us. in the Lord. I didn't have the
trials when I was younger. I didn't have the same trials
that I have now. They were much more quick. They
came in succession, one here, one there, and now the trials
seem to just build up on each other where there's several at
once and they last for a longer, longer time because the Lord
is teaching us from patience, He's given us experience in that,
so that we would endure and be confident that the Lord is doing,
working in us that which pleases Him. Now, trials don't give faith. You might think, well, I'm given
this trial that I might have faith. No, trials don't give
faith. Trials reveal the faith that
God has given to you. Trials reveal that which God
has wrought in you by His grace. For example, in 1 Peter 1, verse
6 and 7, Peter said, Ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations,
that the trial of your faith, see the faith is there, that
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found,
not produced, but found unto the praise, unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So faith is present. If faith is present in the one
who's going through the trial, it's going to be found. Now,
in my garden, at this time of year, I have a section where
I typically plant tomatoes and peppers, and they're in multiple
rows. And at this time of year, it's
all overgrown. They would go tall if I gave
them enough space. They would keep going up, but
I only go up about this high, and so they start to lean over,
and they're falling over, and just laying in there, and I can't
necessarily see what's behind the branches, but I know by experience
there's fruit in there. There's still fruit in there.
So when I go in there like a tribulation, like a trial, and I start moving
branches, and I take this thing up, and I put it over here, and
sometimes it snaps. Sometimes I rip things out and
throw them out of the way if I think they're sufficiently
dead. But I start moving things around. I start shaking it up.
And I'm just coming there and messing everything up and disturbing
that which laid dormant. But eventually, I get to the
middle in there and I see, there it is, fruit. There's a tomato
in there still. There's still something in there
that I can get. Now, it wasn't my going in there
and disturbing things that caused the plant to produce the fruit.
The fruit was already there. and my disturbing of it, like
tribulation coming into the life, it produces, I'm sorry, it manifests
that which is there. It's found, it's found. And so
that's what the Lord's doing in the tribulations that he sends. He's disturbing things, he's
moving things out of their place, he's making us uncomfortable.
We were content in our sleep, but the Lord stirs it up, and
fruit is found. It's discovered there. It was
there, it's just now found and brought out. And the Lord does
this enough times and you begin to grow and experience. You know
the Lord's gonna have his fruit. He's the husbandman and he's
gonna have his fruit. He's going to bring forth His
fruit and He's going to have it in His people. He's going
to establish that peaceable fruit of righteousness in His people. And the psalmist says in Psalm
27, 14, Wait on the Lord, be of good courage. Be of good courage,
don't be discouraged. Be of good courage. And He shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. And so the experienced believer
knows this is true. And we trust him. We're made
to trust him. We're taught and instructed and
helped by his grace to trust him, to keep walking in faith
in the new man. And then third, trials result
in hope. Hope born in the people of God
through these experiences. We're given hope in our great
God and Savior. And our hope is taken away from
the things of this world. They're taken away from the confidences
that we would have in the flesh. And our hope is put upon Him,
where it should be. It rests upon the Lord, who we
see loves us, who's providing for us, who's pruning us and
instructing us the way a loving Father instructs us. He's keeping
us and teaching us. He bears with us in the trial
and he's growing us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. This is how he does it. And so
it says in Romans 5 verse 5, 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. And so these tribulations and
that faith which is proved, which is found in the tribulation,
it testifies of God's love for us. It speaks of what God has
promised us in his word to keep us and shows us that his strength
is perfected in our weakness because we're not trusting in
ourselves. We're not walking in the strength of the flesh.
We're walking by faith. believing Him who has given us
His word, knowing that His word shall come to pass. We are going
to see how He provides and does these very things according to
His word. The scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. You that trust Him,
believe Him, you will not be ashamed, you will not come short
of that which you seek of the Lord, of eternal life, of his
provision, of his appearing for you, you shall not be ashamed. It is his word of promise unto
you. Believe him. Trust him in the
trial. Believe him. He's sacrificed
his son for you. Believe him. He's testifying
of what he's done for you by grace, what we could not do for
ourselves through the Lord Jesus Christ. He does that. Now Romans
8.35 speaks of this glorious consummation of our God's work
in us and what he's done, the triumph we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't look at the tribulations
and think this is it. We have a triumph, a glorious
triumph in Christ himself. So Romans 8.35, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. These are all tribulations. These
are all afflictions. These are all things which come
against us. Is that going to destroy us and separate us from
Christ? Not if we're the Lord's. Not
if He's the one who's given us our faith and keeping us. We're
going to continue, as it's written, for thy sake we are killed all
the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So be encouraged, you that suffer
tribulations, you that are afflicted, be of good courage, because it
testifies, you learn through these things of God's love for
you, of his provision for you in Christ. You experience these
things in the Lord Jesus Christ, crying out to him, being brought
to your knees, being brought to see your need and your weakness,
that you might find your all in the Lord Jesus Christ. He sent these tribulations that
it would open your ear to hear the gospel, to desire to hear
the gospel, to rejoice to hear the gospel, that you would be
established and comforted concerning your faith through these things. And so, continue in Him. As you continue in Him, it's
a further testimony of His grace working His power in you. Now, those who suffer tribulation
and withdraw and are turned to the world to find comfort, there's
no comfort in that. I have no good word for those
who would look to this world to give them comfort and peace
and to help them. No, the people of God are turned
to Christ. They cry out to the Lord, have
mercy upon me. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. The people of God are turned
to Christ, they're turned to the Lord, they cry out to Him
for grace and mercy. And so, like David, we say, it's
good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn
thy statutes. He produces fruit in us, the
fruit of patience, the fruit of experience, the fruit of hope
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. So I pray that the tribulation
which he gives to you reveals Christ in you, the hope of glory. Amen.