All right, Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5. Our text will be found in verse
3. We'll read the first couple of
verses again, 3 through 5 anyway. The apostle says, therefore being
justified by faith we have, what? Peace with God. means through
our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom? By Christ. We have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so. That's not all we rejoice in. Notice these next words. but
we glory in tribulation. The word there, glory, is the
same word as in the previous verse, rejoice. Not only do we rejoice in peace
with God, not only do we rejoice in access to God, not only to
rejoice in the hope of heaven and the glory of God, what do
we rejoice in? We also rejoice in tribulation. Why? Knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. And patience, experience. Experience, hope, and that hope
makes us not ashamed. Why? Because the love of God
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given
unto us. I've entitled this message, The
Golden Chain of Tribulation. The Golden Chain of Tribulation. By way of introduction, I want
to ask a question. It's not a simple question. I've
battled with this question for a long time. What is the greatest attainment
that a believer could have in this life? When you think of the things
that God gives a believer in this life, what is the greatest
attainment that we can hope to have in this life? Some would
say, well, to be established in the doctrine. That's a great
attainment, isn't it? To be established in the truth
so that whenever you're able, you can answer any man's question
concerning the gospel with such clarity and plain. I like that. As a pastor, that's something
I really desire. Some may think of this, the enjoyment
of His presence. Is that not the greatest thing
you could attain? To feel His presence? Isn't that what Newton
wrote? He said, a palace would a toy, but a toy
would appear if Jesus were always thus not. In prison would palaces
prove. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it
was always his manifest, his presence every single day we
were with him? That'd be a glorious attainment. Others may say, well, the greatest
attainment of the believer is to abstain from sin. Wouldn't
that be glorious to be desired to abstain and your conscience
would be so tender that any sin would cause you grief and that
you would long to be holy in the presence of Christ? That
seems like a great attainment. And when I thought about these
things, these are things that I wanted. These are things that
I want. And I thought these would be
great. Every believer desires these
things. And there's nothing wrong with
these things. They're wonderful glories. I long for His presence. I long
to live without sin. I long to understand the gospel. But what the apostle says here,
and I struggle with this, because when I read that question, it
was J.C. Philpott who asked the question, and when he gave the
answer, I didn't like it. I didn't like the answer. It
didn't feel as good as those other things. But the more I
struggled with it, the more I understood it was right. The greatest attainment
that any believer can have is this, to glory in tribulation. To be able to glory or rejoice
in the very teeth of your troubles. Because that signifies maturity. A young believer wants all those
other things, but a mature believer understands this, that in order
to have those other things, tribulation is the only way. I can understand these doctrines
in my head, but I'm not going to get them in my heart without
this, tribulation. The presence of Christ. I can
have the presence of Christ, but I tell you what, I would
not appreciate it Without what? Tribulation. I'm not going to understand the
consequence of sin, the vileness of sin, unless I do what? Experience the pain of it. So
what's the greatest attainment? To be able to rejoice in tribulation. To be thankful for the afflictions. Can anybody say they've done
that? When you're afflicted, do you give thanks? No. I'm speaking for myself. Yet this would be a glorious
attainment if God would grant this to us. And so the apostle here expressing
the benefits of justification includes this one. among the
glorious things, peace with God. Is there anything greater than
that? We're being justified. We have peace with God. We have
access to God constantly, perpetually, access to God instantly. You
have access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the merits
of Christ. And we have the hope of the glory of God.
Remember, your salvation is tied to the glory of God. God swore
to save you, and if He doesn't save you, then His glory is diminished. So my salvation is tied to the
glory of God. How great is that? So I'll never
lose it. It'll never fail. But He says
this, not only so, Don't just glory in those things, yes, glory
in them, rejoice in them, give thanks for them, but also this,
we also glory in tribulation. Now then the question then is
this, how is this a blessing? How is tribulation a blessing? I want to show you this morning
by the power and grace of the Spirit as to why tribulation
is to be counted a blessing and why we must glory in it, rejoice
in it, even because, listen, it is the first link in a chain. It is a golden chain. There are five links in this
chain, and the first one is tribulation. We're going to glory in this
because without this one, the chain is broken. Without this
one, the chain is broken. And I want you to understand
that this chain is not fashioned by man. It's not fashioned by
our reasoning. Our reasoning would have never
come up with this way. We'd have done it totally different. This is fashioned by the hand
of God. So let us see the links of this
golden chain that bind our souls to God. First is this. I'm going
to give you five of them. Here they are. Tribulation. Then what? Patience. Experience. Hope. And the love of God shed abroad
in your hearts. The first link in this chain
is tribulation, and it is a very heavy link. I know it is the vain wish of
every believer to skip every link in this chain and go right
to the love of God shed abroad in your heart. That's what you
want. I was talking to Kevin Thacker yesterday, and he said,
You mean download it. It's like we want God to plug
in a little USB port and download the love of God into our hearts
immediately. That's what Newton wanted. He said, I ask the Lord
that I might grow in love and grace, faith in every grace,
that he might more of his mercy show. And he said this, I hope that
some favored hour at once he'd answer my request. And by love's
constraining power, subdue my sins and give me rest. That's
what I want. Lord, give me this, and I expect
you to do it this way. And God said, I don't do it that
way. So it is nothing more than a
vain wish to skip tribulation. Stop it. It's an empty hope, and it produces
nothing. Tribulation does something. It is a necessary link. And if
you desire faith, if you desire love to God, if you desire to
serve God, this is the only way God gives it. Tribulation's first. Now the word tribulation means
to be pressed down. To be pressed down, to be oppressed. It means to be trodden underfoot. It's like you're being in a big
crowd and you fall to the ground and everybody's trampling on
top of you. That's what it is to be pressed down. This surely was the promise of
Christ, wasn't it? You that believe, was this not
His promise to you? In this world you shall suffer
persecution. You shall have tribulation. The apostle in Acts chapter 14,
the scripture says he was confirming the souls of the disciples Why must we constantly hear this
message? To confirm it. Confirm it to
our minds and our hearts. We forget. We're like broken
cisterns. It just slips out. And if we
don't hear it constantly, we begin to doubt and fear and have
troubles. This is affirming. When I preach
Christ to you, it affirms my salvation. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. That's affirming. I need
to hear that constantly. Why? So that I should continue
in the faith. That's what he was doing. He
was exhorting the believers to continue in the faith. Why would
he need to do that? Because trouble was all around
them. These believers at that time,
at any moment, soldiers could kick down the door, take him
out, and kill him. At any moment. So what was he doing? He was
confirming it's all right. And he says this, that we He said that we should, that
we must, Acts chapter 14 verse 20, that we must, through much
tribulation, enter the kingdom of God. This is not, shouldn't
be surprising. It is. I'm surprised every time. I'm just, I'm as dumb as a box
of rocks. Because every time I get in trouble,
I'm surprised by it. Why? Because I forget. that tribulation
is necessary. Necessary. Tribulation. Tribulations to the believer
are vast and they are many. To believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, this world to us is nothing but a valley of tears. That's
what this world is to us. God does give us joys and comforts
and peace and good things. We've had good things in our
life. Family's a good thing and you rejoice in it. I'll tell
you this, family's trouble. It's joy, but it's also heartache,
isn't it? It's also pain. Tribulations
to the believer in this world are many. Consider those that
have gone before us. Consider Abraham and his tribulation. David and we think of Job. All of these men, all of these
men were loved of God. All of these men believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. David was a man after God's own
heart and you look at his life and it is full of pain and heartache
and trouble, one right after the other, right after the other,
and he just gets out of one and goes right into a greater one.
I don't know about you, believer, but it seems like that I've never
regressed in tribulation. I've never had a lighter one.
It seems like the next one is always harder than the first
one. And so we go from trial to trial,
trouble to trouble, even so it is with us. Every son of God
must go through this link, this chain, This is the first link,
it is necessary that you suffer. You know what Peter said, if
needs be, you through manifold troubles. Listen, if you are
going through a trial, it is necessary, necessary. For this alone is the only way
that God manifests his love by experience. Now, you can have
all the knowledge of the love of God in your head, but you're
not going to know it until you experience it. And the only way you get there
is you've got to start here. You've got to start here. And
so if you're in tribulation, there's two things you should
know about this. First of all, it is measured and appointed
by the hand of God. I thought of, Don wrote a thing
a long time ago about a pharmacist. He said, you know, you take one
compound and by itself it'll kill you. You take that compound,
it'll kill you. But when the pharmacist would
mix it with another compound and put it together, it becomes
medicinal. Our Lord has measured out exactly the trouble you need along with the good that you
need so that it's not destructive but a medicine. So it's necessary in your trial
to understand it is by the hand of God you have this. Our God is in the heavens and
what is he doing? What is he doing? Whatsoever
he pleases. That's what he's doing with you.
That's what he's doing with me. Whatsoever he pleased. Now why
is this comforting? Because of his motive. He's doing this so that it should
work together for your good. All things, what? Work together. Individually,
no. Doesn't seem that way. But don't
worry, it's all working together. And the product is what you keep
your eye on. It's your good. God has your
good in mind at all times. You don't. You think this would
be good and it'd kill you. You think this would be good,
it'd destroy you. God says, no, that's not good for you. And
he withholds it and you hold your breath like a child and
you become He said, I'm going to hold my breath until I'm blue
in the face. So what? God's not going to give it to
you. It's not good. He knows what's good for you. He said,
I know my thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace
and not of evil, saith the Lord. So this tribulation, we must
know that it is intended and applied by the hand of God only
for your good. I don't understand how that's
gonna... It doesn't matter what you understand. When you have
small children, do you really care what they think when they're
about to go hurt themselves? No, you move them into a safe
place. Regardless if they cry, regardless
if they feel hurt. You love them and you... How
much more does God love you? Y'all love that grandbaby? Does
he have any hair? You know how many? No. You don't
love him as much as God loves you. Isn't that astounding? I looked at my sink this morning.
I shaved and I managed hair all over the place. You know, God
knows how many I lost. Knows everything about you. Knows
exactly what you're going through. He put you there. Why? Because this link is necessary
to get to His love. So the second thing is this.
Tribulation does something. We must have tribulation because
it works something. It works patience. Patience. Now the word here does not mean
a quiet waiting and meekness of spirit. I think I read a message
I preached a long time ago, and I was talking about being patient,
and I used words like meekness, and calmness, and quietness,
and I thought, like most people, that, you know, we're going to
get to a place where we're just going to be content, and everything's
going to be alright. That's not what this word means.
Not what it means. It means endurance. Look at James
chapter 5. This is the same word. James chapter 5 and look at verse
11. I hope I got this right. Okay, yes. Behold, we count them
happy which endure. You have heard, I'm sorry, you
have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of
the Lord. The Lord is very pitiful. and
of tender mercy." You've heard of the patience of Job. Same
word, patience. Job, in his tribulation, lost
his whole family, except his wife. All of his sons died one
time, one day. He lost all of his possessions
he had. He had nothing. He lost his health. He was sick and full of sorrow
and pain down to the very bone. The wife and love of his youth
said, curse God and die. Let me ask you this, if you've
read the book of Job, was Job quiet? Was he sitting in a corner
patiently waiting for God? You read Job and you hear his
pain. You hear him struggling with
this trouble, with this tribulation as to why he's got it. He said,
didn't I do everything right? Haven't I served God all my life?
Haven't I done this? Haven't I done that? Why has
God brought this on me? Sound familiar? Yet, What is the link in this
chain? What did this produce in Job? It produced this, submission. When God showed up and asked
those questions, He said, where were you when I created the world?
Where were you? When there's a goat on a hill
fixing to give birth, where are you? And you know what Job says? He
said, I just put my hand over my mouth and I won't say another
word. What was that? Submission. So
what does tribulation produce? This. Submission. Submission. Yes, during the tribulation we
kick. But this tribulation has a purpose
that you should be able to endure it. that you should be strengthened
by the trouble. I don't know anything much about
horses, but I read this. He said, when a horse is unbroken,
the slightest weight causes him to kick. Isn't that with us? The slightest wind, the slightest
trouble, we begin to kick. But when he is broken, he can
carry a whole lot of weight. Another illustration, you see
a man, he's working 12 hours. Works 12 long, hard hours. He didn't start out that way.
He probably started out by just working one. And then what? He built up endurance to that. You see what God's doing with
your faith? He's building endurance by it. And the end result of
every trial is what? Submission. This is the purpose,
that you submit to the will and sovereign power of God in your
trouble. This is His purpose. We don't
always begin that way, but this is how we end. He's very patient
about it. I remember the Psalm 107, I preached
this to you before, the mariner. It says there's a sailor and
he desires to do business in great waters. Isn't this us? Salvation. Great. The love of
God, the grace of God, the power of God, we desire to know these
things. These are great waters we're out in. And so what do
we do? By faith we set sail into these
things, hoping and trusting God to give us passage to heaven. We're leaning on Him constantly
to bring us through the sea of troubles and trials to our safe
haven. But you remember what happened?
It says God lifted up the waves to the heavens and cast that
little ship to the depths. Isn't this what He does to us?
He lifts us up to the heavens. I'll tell you, I've had some
wonderful experiences like that. God's been gracious to give me
the experience of His presence, and boy, you feel like as though,
whoo, it's so glorious, and then what, you know what, however
high you go up, guess what, that's how far you go down. And God brought me to the depths,
I knew it was the depths. And just like this mariner, you
see that old, that sailor, he's a professional sailor, he's out
there, and that storm, he's trying to tie every knot he possibly
can know. Everything he can do, he's trimming
the sails, he's doing everything to keep that ship afloat. And you know God didn't stop
the storm. God kept going until he had no more knots to tie,
no more sails to trim, and the scripture says, and he fell down
being at his wits end. Now you want to know the end
of tribulation? That's it. When we are at our wits end. When we've got no other hope.
When we've got no other crutch. God kicks out every crutch, pulls
out every rug until there is no more rugs and there are no
more crutches. See the purpose of tribulation? To fall down at His feet in His
death. Having no hope. Scripture says about that sailor,
then he cried unto the Lord. Isn't this a horrible thing about
us? As long as we got someplace else
to go, we'll go. As long as we got something else
to lean on, we'll lean on it. And so God uses tribulation so
that we have nothing to lean on but Him. Nothing to trust,
but Him. He brings us to our wit's end,
and we cry to Him. This is what He did by David,
isn't it? Using the illustration of David. When David had sinned,
you remember, everything was all well, everything was well.
He thought he'd hid the sin well, thought everything was fine,
and then what? Got killed his son. And that
great sorrow and that great pain, God still gave him hope. He said,
yeah, I'll go be with him. He's not going to come to me,
but I'm going to go be with him. What did God do the next thing? God
made his other son to kill another son. Then God made that son to
try to usurp his throne and kicked him out of his own kingdom and
he was running. God caused one of his servants to curse him. What was he doing? David wasn't
at his wits end. You know, finally in 2 Samuel,
I think, I can't remember, 15 or something like that, he's
talking about bringing the ark of the Lord back to Jerusalem. And he tells the high priest,
he said, you're going to take it back. You're going to take the ark
back to the city. And if God will, He'll bring
me to it and to His habitation. But if He says this, I have no
delight in you. Behold, here I am. Let Him do
to me as seems good to Him. That's a man who has patience. That's a man who has patience.
Do you have patience? Patience is a man who has no
hope in anything but God. But rejoice in tribulation that
works patience because of the next link. Listen. Experience. Every one of God's people who
have tribulation Everyone who have been brought down to nothing,
every one of them will experience the grace and power of God in
deliverance. See what tribulation does? You
don't have deliverance unless you're patient. You don't have
patience unless you have trouble. See, we glory in trouble because
it works submission. And submission works this, deliverance,
experience. Experience. This word here means
proof. Proof. When we are brought to patience
by our afflictions, when we are without strength, seeking only
grace and power to deliver us, it is then that God, what? Delivers
us. Isn't that what he said about
the mariner? When he was at his wit's end, he cried unto the
Lord, and what? And the Lord delivered him out
of his trouble. That's his experience. If you can look back at any measure
of time you've been a believer, isn't this always the way? How
do you know? I still believe. The trouble
that happened before me has always brought me to submission, and
when at submission, God has always instilled this truth that I believe. Proof. What's the proof of your
salvation? What was the proof that Job was
saved? Because he still believed. What
was the proof of David? That he was saved after all of
his trouble was over. What? He still believed. Why? Because God delivered him. Why is it that you still believe?
Why have you not been entangled in your troubles so much that
you leave? Why? Because of God's deliverance.
God delivered you out of your trouble. Kept you in the faith. So as we look upon the trial
and trouble and the afflictions, we are made to see our weakness,
our helplessness. Isn't that what we do? Don't
you see that about yourself? When you are brought down to
patience, when you don't have anything, you see that about
yourself. Now I knew that before, but now
I really know it. I said, oh yeah, I'm helpless,
I'm weak, all the while trusting in my strength. Until when? Until I didn't have any strength. And when I didn't have any strength,
it was at that moment he gave me strength. It was only at that moment he
gave me strength. And so what did I see about him?
I saw about him that he's strong. In my weakness, I saw what? I
saw his strength. Now I knew about his strength,
but I really didn't experience his strength till that time.
You want to experience his strength? Well, you've got to start where?
Tribulation. Then what? Then you've got to
find submission. And then what? Then he delivers you out of your
troubles. Look at Isaiah chapter 41. Thought of this verse as you
see one who is at the bottom Isaiah chapter 41, and look at
verse 10. Look at what God's Word is here. He's condemning
all the evil nations. He's going to bring wrath on
them, but what does He say to Israel? He says this, don't be
afraid. He brought them to the end of
themselves, and what did He say to them at that time? He said,
don't be afraid. Why? I'm with thee. There's a reason. This is the
experience. When God comes to you, this is the first thing
you realize. He's with me. There's strength in that when
God's with me. I have no strength, but if He
is my strength, I have all the strength I need. I am with you. I didn't feel that when I was
in the trouble. I didn't feel that even when
I was at the bottom when patience came. But when patience has had
her perfect work, what do I know? I know He's with me. Is he with you? Well, he said,
I've always been with you. I've always been with you. Look
what else he says. He said, be not dismayed, for
I am thy God. This is the experience of every
believer when he's delivered. I know this. Only God can deliver
me. And if I'm delivered, this is
it. He's my God. He's my God, not by any merit
of me. I'm down on the floor. I got
nothing to give. And yet God says this to those
who are laid out, I am your God. What else do I need? If God is
my God, then what do I need of anything else? I will strengthen thee. Yes, I will help thee. Isn't that what you're asking
for? In the bottom, you ask for help.
What does God always provide? I'll help you. I'll help you. Yes, I will uphold thee by the
right hand of my righteousness. What are you saying? I will hold
you up by Christ. The only reason you're not going
to perish is because of Christ. Isn't that strengthening? That's
the experience of deliverance. Now listen, he may not take away
the pain, but the deliverance is, he's my God. It's the understanding
that God is my strength, that God is my right, is upholding
me. That I'm not upholding myself.
I'm not keeping myself. God is keeping me. He's my God. And when He comes, He says, I
will strengthen, I will help thee, I will uphold thee by Christ. Is this not the proof that God
is our God, that we still believe in Christ? After all the trouble,
after all the pain, after all of the inability in ourselves,
what? I still believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I still believe on Him. Now there are many who profess
to believe. Have you not seen them? You that
have been around a while, you've seen them come in. And they are
like fire. Boy, they make me feel ashamed
of my faith. They came in and they were like
a burst of lightning. Man, they seemed to love the
Lord. They seemed to like to hear the Gospel. And I had to
look at my own self and I was ashamed. But what happened to them when
trouble came? Scripture said they were like
the stony ground here, they shot up. But because they had no root,
when afflictions came, when tribulation came, what happened? They went
away. When tribulation came to you, what happened to you? You
go away. God's people won't go away. The
cares of this life choke out others. cares of this life to
us when tribulation comes, we don't care about this life. We
only care about being found in Christ. Paul said, those things that
were gained to me in this world, I count but loss that I might
be found in Christ. That's what the believer, in
his trouble, in the teeth of his trouble, when he's laying
on the floor, that's all he needs. He needs to be found in Christ.
I need to have Him. And whether you deliver me from
this sickness or not, I need your strength to continue in
the faith. And what do we always find? We
find strength to continue. It's a miracle that I'm still
here. It is a proof of his power that
I'm still here. It's a proof of his power that
I still believe. after all we've been through,
after all I've been through, that I am still standing here
looking to Christ as my only hope is experience. It's proof. Don't you want the
proof? Make your calling and election
sure? What is it? Well, first you got to have tribulation.
Then you must submit, and then you'll know that you believe. And the next thing is this. This
proof this testifying of the gospel in our hearts. What does
it give us? It gives me hope. Tribulation,
work of patience, patience, experience. Experience what? Hope. Now what
is hope? I told you it's not a wish. It's
confidence. Confidence. Not in myself. That confidence is gone. When
patience has had its perfect work, confidence in self is gone. Where's my confidence lie? Christ. Christ is my hope. Christ is the anchor of my soul
in the storms of life. Christ. It means solid confidence. I know this. You and I would
like hope at the beginning. I'd like hope to be the first
link. I just want to have a sure confidence. Don't come that way. You see the necessity then of
what? Tribulation. You're not going to have hope,
confidence in Christ, without what? Tribulation. You're not
going to have hope without submission. You're not going to have hope
without the experience of God's grace and power to deliver you. But when you have that, what
do you have? I have confidence. Paul said,
I am persuaded that neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities
or powers or things right now or things that are in the future
nor height, nor depth, and any other creature. None of them
are able to separate me from the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus. This is the hope tribulation produces. Confidence in Christ. I am sure that His righteousness
is all my righteousness. I am sure that his blood is the
only thing that cleanses me from all my sin. I am sure that he
is seated on the right hand of God, working all things together
for my good. I am confident of that. Why?
I've experienced it. I've experienced it. So we have
hope. We have confidence in this. And
what does he say about this? Look back at your text. He says,
and hope does something. Hope does something. It makes
us not ashamed. When you're trusting in yourself,
it's easy to be ashamed. When you're leaning on your knowledge
and your understanding of the scripture, somebody come along
and twist them and make you, you know, man, I'm so ashamed
of what I said. I can't believe I said that.
I can't believe I said it like that. You lean on yourself. But when you have confidence
in Christ, you don't care what people think. You only care what God says.
You don't let outward influences or circumstances enter into it. We are not ashamed. That's what
Paul said. He's sitting there in that prison cell. right into
this church here. And he says, I'm ready to preach
the gospel to you because I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed. You know what made him that way?
Tribulation. He didn't get there by download. God just didn't put it in his
heart one day, just snapped his finger and put it in it. No.
Paul said this, I am content with whatsoever things. Where
do you, how do you get that? That starts with trouble and
submission and God experiencing the grace of God and delivering
you and the hope that you have in Christ that produces contentment
and confidence and you're not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of preaching
the sovereign election of God, not ashamed of it at all. I'm
not ashamed of preaching the depravity of man. I'm not ashamed
of preaching that Christ is a successful Savior. I'm not ashamed of that
at all. And if you preach anything different, you should be ashamed.
Why? Because I have hope. My confidence is in Him, and
that makes me not ashamed of it. I know everything in this world
is going against hope. confidence. It seems as though
God's promised us so much that's good, and our experience in this
life seems so contrary to what God promised. But I don't care what it seems.
Hope testifies regardless of what it appears to be. I know this, that God's going
to save His people from their sins. I'm confident of that. I'm confident that Christ's blood
was sufficient for all that He died for. And I know this, I'm not ashamed to praise Him. Now what made that tribulation?
Patience. experience, hope. That makes
us not ashamed. And you're not going to get there
without the others. And lastly, the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts. This is always the result of
tribulation. When our souls in humility bow,
confessing our sins, when God comes in grace and power and
moves our eyes from the world to lay the behold on Christ,
to behold his face who loved us and gave himself for us, to
behold him who daily pleads our cause, by whom we are accepted,
by whom we are redeemed, called in love and grace and kept. Tribulation
takes our eyes off of everything but Him. And when you see Him in the beauty of His person,
in the glory of His work, it is then the love of God is stirred
in our hearts. You know, one way you're never
going to see the love of God is by looking at your love for
God. Your love for God is weak. Feeble. Our love is not worthy to be
mentioned. But I really want to see His
love. I want to... Paul said that, that I may know
Him. Now, anybody know the Lord Jesus Christ like the Apostle
Paul? And yet what was his desire? He said, that I may know Him. That's what I want to know. I
want to know Him. I want to see Him. I want to see Christ. How
do you get there? Tribulation. Patience. Spirit. Hope. Then you see Him. And the love of God is stirred
in your hearts. You behold the love of God. And
that's what Paul's going to talk about in the next portion of
this chapter. He's going to talk about the
love of God concerning the death of Lord Jesus. How do I know
God loved me? Look at Christ. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Anybody have any love like that?
He said, pervention for a good man, some would dare to die.
But there are no good men. And yet Christ died while I was
a sinner. He didn't wait for me to get
better. Is there any greater love than that? And so we see his love, his electing
love, his redeeming love, his saving love, his keeping love. And so then we see then the purpose
of tribulation. You see the necessity of it.
He said, we glory also in tribulation what? Knowing. Listen, now you
know. Now you know. That tribulation
does something towards patience, and patience experience proof. Experience hope, and hope makes
us not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts. I'll tell you one passage more.
Look, I know. One passage more. Second Corinthians,
chapter 12. The apostle, I told you he experienced
this. This is not something that he got all at once. This is something
that he dealt with himself, and he expresses this. He was, in
chapter 12, He's talking about his experience
of being lifted up to heaven. None of us had this. None of
us knows what this is like. But it was obviously glorious,
wonderful. But then the Lord gave him something,
a thorn in the flesh, tribulation. And he asked the Lord three times
as to delivering him from this. And notice what the Lord said
to him in response. He said in verse 9, is sufficient
for thee. Now why is this? For my strength
is made perfect, where? Weakness. How are you going to
know my strength except your weakness? You're not going to
know it. But in your weakness what do
you know? You know my strength. So what does he say? Most gladly
therefore I would rather glory in my infirmities. Why? That the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. What are you suffering for? For
Christ's sake. For then, when I am weak, then
am I strong. That's not the way reason has
it, is it? That's not the way your mind works, is it? That's God's golden chain, and
it won't break. It won't change for you. It's
vain to kick against it. This is how God causes you to
grow. You asked for it, didn't you?
Didn't you say, give me faith? You want faith? What about patience? You asked for that? Do you want to serve God? Do
you ask that? Lord, help me that I might serve you. Help me that
I might honor you. That I might worship you. We
prayed that today. Well, how's that going to happen? Tribulation. Submission. Proof. By His power, He's going
to deliver you, and you have hope. You that have been delivered
before, don't you have hope that you'll do it again? And then
what does that do? That stirs up the love of God,
and that is the constraining power against sin, isn't it?
It's the love of Christ that constrains us from sin. So where
does it start? Tribulation. See where it starts?
Now you know why. Now you know why. May God give
us grace to submit, and then deliver us. Give us hope. Stir
up His love. I pray God bless us. This stand
be dismissed. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy and pour out your Spirit upon us. Please. We are weak. We are children
of dust. Remember our frame. Be merciful
and compassionate to us in our time of trouble. Deliver us as
you please. Cause us to submit to thy will.
Give us hope and love in Christ. We beg you for this in Christ's
name.