Just Because - Part 1

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I want us to go this morning to Romans 5 – you can go ahead and open in your Bibles to that passage. Several months before Sheila and I were to be married, her mom went in search of the perfect mom's dress for the wedding – now, men, we don't understand how important that is, but you ladies, you understand that that's a very important aspect of the wedding. Well, she was really excited when she found the perfect dress, but I think what excited her more – and this is something I and most men will never understand – was the fact that it was on sale. And she purchased the dress, and the clerk took her money and finished the transaction, wrapped the garment in a dark plastic bag that was the trademark of that company, and tied it at the bottom so it couldn't fall out and be damaged in any way on the way home – and she left the store glad to have one more item checked off of the wedding list. Well, when she arrived home, she just took the draped dress and hung it in the closet. Several days went by, and Sheila's father happened to go into the closet, and he saw it hanging there, and he'd heard about this dress that had been billed as the mother of all bargains – and so, he decided he should have a look. So, he slipped the plastic away, and when he saw what was inside the bag, he immediately became deeply concerned and troubled about his wife. So, he waited until that evening, when she arrived home from another event, and he took her into the bedroom and into the closet, and he pulled the plastic away – when she saw what was in the bag, she nearly fainted, because instead of the moderately priced aqua-green dress that she had purchased as the perfect mom's dress for the wedding, instead, inside this bag was a full-length genuine mink coat worth several thousand dollars. Sheila's father, not one to miss an opportunity, I'm sure, quipped something like, "You know, it's nice, but it's a bit showy for an afternoon wedding." We could say that Sheila's mom got more than she bargained for – we normally use that expression in a negative sense, but there are times when we really do, in a very positive and exciting way, get much more than we bargained for – there are times when the outcome of what we receive exceeds our wildest expectations, and unlike the mink coat, we actually get to enjoy the benefits.

The last several times I've had an opportunity to preach at Grace Church, I've been going through the Book of Romans, and recently I came to Romans 5 – it's one of my favorite passages in the Book of Romans. Paul has been dealing with the great doctrine of justification, but when you come to Romans 5, Paul begins to explain, instead of justification, the results of our justification. Essentially, he tells us that in justification, we get much more than we bargained for. Paul begins chapter 5 with these words: "Therefore, having been justified by faith." In that phrase, Paul sums up everything he's taught, beginning in chapter 1, verse 18 through the end of chapter 4 – he's been dealing with justification, with the good news, with the gospel, the reality that sinners can be declared forever right in God's sight, can receive a right standing before God, as a gift by His grace. This gift is received by faith alone and is based solely on the cross work of Jesus Christ. You see, every sin you and I commit deserves the wrath and curse of God – I'd mentioned in the first hour that my wife and I have been teaching our daughters the catechism, and in the flow of that catechism, one of the questions is, what does every sin deserve? And the answer is the wrath and curse of God. One day, my wife and our daughters were at the store, and they were approaching the cash register, and one of my daughters – I'll leave her name out to protect the guilty here – one of my daughters had not behaved the best that day. And as they approached the register, she saw something that she wanted – you know how they put those things there just to appeal to children – she expressed that to my wife, and my wife said, no, honey, I'm not going to get that for you, and besides that, you don't really deserve that, do you? And my daughter dropped her head, and she said no, Mom, I deserve the wrath and curse of God. Well, that's exactly right – that's the point, that's what Paul establishes in Romans 1:18 through 3:20, is the reality that all of us, left to ourselves, deserve the wrath and curse of God. But God has promised, as a result of His grace, to justify believing sinners. The word justify simply means to declare righteous – it describes a legal decision by God as Judge. It's not something subjective that happens inside of you – it's something objective that happens in the courtroom of heaven. At a moment in time, God declares the believing sinner to forever have a right standing before Him - theologians call that decision of God justification.

In justification, God does three very simple things, and this is what Paul really teaches us in Romans 3:21-24. These three things that God does – it actually continues into chapter 4 as he develops the examples of Abraham and David – but in the reality of justification, these three things are these: Number one, God credits our sin to Jesus Christ – that's why the writer of Isaiah, the prophet, can say that He was wounded, that is, Christ was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, because God treated Jesus as if He had lived our sinful life. He credited our sin to Christ, and He treated Christ on the cross as if He had lived our lives. The second thing God does in justification is He credits Christ's perfect righteousness to us – for 33 years, Christ lived on our earth, and He never thought a sinful thought, He never acted in a sinful way, He never said a sinful word; everything was in perfect conformity to the law of God. He loved God perfectly every moment of His life, and He loved His neighbor as Himself His entire life – and that perfect righteousness, and His death, God credits to us in justification. The third thing God does in justification is, because He's credited our sin to Christ, and because He's credited Christ's perfect righteousness to us, He forgives our sins, and the moment we believe, He declares us to forever have a right standing before Him – we will never stand before God in judgment for our sins again; they've been judged on His own son. That's the wonderful reality of justification.

But when we come to chapter 5, Paul has concluded his explanation of justification, and that's why he begins with the word therefore. He now intends to show us the benefits, or the blessings, that flow from this new change in the believer's standing, that he's now righteous before God. You see, justification is not an end in and of itself – God intends, in justification, to bring the sinner into a new relationship with Him. It's interesting – as you notice this passage, the first eleven verses of chapter 5, Paul often uses the plural pronouns we and us; he includes himself. As one writer puts it, "Paul invites us to join with him in celebrating the marvelous benefits conferred upon the justified believer." So, this morning and tonight, I want us to carefully examine chapter 5, verses 1-11, and in these incredibly rich verses, I want us to understand what Paul identifies as the seven amazing benefits of justification, the seven amazing blessings that are ours because God has declared us to be right in His sight. If you are in Christ, then these blessings are for you – God intends that these wonderful benefits be a source of comfort to you, be a source of confidence to you, be a source of great security to your soul. In fact, chapter 5 is sort of the first stanza in a wonderful hymn of security that reaches its crescendo in those last verses of chapter 8 – what can separate us from the love of God? I want us to look together at these seven amazing benefits that are ours because God has declared us to be righteous.

The first one is found in verse 1. Paul begins, "Therefore, having been justified by faith" – that's in the past, that's already occurred, we have believed in Christ, and as a result of that, we've enjoyed this wonderful gift of God's grace, a right standing before Him. "Therefore, having been justified" – because that's a reality – "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The first great benefit of our justification is, we have peace with God. Now, before we can appreciate the wonderful reality of this comment of Paul, we have to understand what it doesn't mean – this is not talking about the peace of God, the peace that God gives and puts into our hearts. In Philippians 4:7, Paul writes, "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." You see, when we're in the middle of trials, when we're in the middle of difficulty and trouble, often we cry out to God for the peace that He gives that can calm our hearts, that can still our hearts in the midst of trouble – and that's a wonderful thing, that's something subjective that happens inside of us, this peace that calms our hearts. As wonderful as that is, that is not what Paul is talking about in Romans 5:1. He's talking not about the peace of God, but we have peace with God – literally, peace toward God or in regards to God. It's describing a peace that is external to us, an objective reality – there is now peace between the justified sinner and God.

Now, when you think about that statement, it can be deeply troubling, because if now there's peace between me and God, that means before I was justified, there was a state of war – as rebellious sinners, we were hostile toward God, we put other gods in God's place, we made ourselves His enemies. James says that "whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." Romans 8:7 says "the mind set on the flesh" – and that's an unbeliever, that's describing an unbeliever – "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God" – so, man is clearly hostile toward God. But, by far, the most overwhelming problem is not that we are hostile to God, but that God is hostile to us. We sometimes speak of countries being at war – but before that can happen, several things have to happen. Normally what happens is, one of the countries will withdraw its embassy personnel and close all its diplomatic relations with that other country – the tensions will begin to mount, but they're still not technically at war. Something else has to happen before they're at war, and that is, one of the countries has to declare war on the other country – that is the situation in which man finds himself; God has formally declared war against us.

Now, Paul points this out in different language, even here in the Book of Romans – turn for a moment to Romans 1:18. In verse 18, he writes, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" – God is at war with those who suppress the truth, and that's a description of all mankind. Notice chapter 2, verse 5 – Paul says, "Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself" – that's a powerful expression; you're stockpiling wrath for yourself – "in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." God has declared war, and someday, there will be one final, decisive battle in which God will destroy His enemies. Isaiah 42:13 puts it this way, in the language of war – it says, "The Lord will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse his zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry, He will prevail against His enemies." That's why the seeker-sensitive movement is so wrong, because it presents the gospel as a kind of fix for man's felt needs – come to Jesus and He'll scratch you where you itch – but in reality, God is at war with every unbeliever.

But Paul says, in chapter 5 verse 1, "Having been justified … we have peace with God." The justified person is no longer tormented by the question of his standing before God – even though he was and still is a sinner, God is no longer angry with him; the war is over, the sword of divine justice has been sheathed. Paul tells us that this peace with God, notice verse 1 again, comes through and only through "our Lord Jesus Christ." You see, if you think you know God, or if you think you're enjoying God's blessing, but you've never embraced His Son, then you've terribly deceived yourself, because peace with God only comes through our Lord Jesus Christ – it's only through Him we can enjoy this reality. Paul's point is that every spiritual blessing flows to us through Christ – you see that in Ephesians 1; he constantly says all of these things we enjoy are in Him, they're in Christ. Every blessing we enjoy from God, it comes to us through Christ, and it begins with the wonderful reality that the war is over – it's through Christ we enjoy peace with God.

Now, what is the application of this great truth to us? As a result of this objective peace we have with God, we can also have peace of heart as well. Turn for a moment to Hebrews 10:1 – the writer of Hebrews is writing about the law and its ineffectiveness, and he says this in verse 1. "For the Law, because it is only a shadow … can never, by the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered?" But notice the end of the verse – he says, "because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins;" that is, if the Old Testament sacrificial system had truly brought cleansing, they wouldn't have needed to be offered over and over again, and a worshipper, once fully confident that he had been cleansed, would no longer feel the guilt of his sin; his conscience would no longer prick and convict and make him miserable. You see, you have to understand what conscience does – Hodge writes, and I love this definition of conscience; listen carefully – "Conscience is only the reflection of God's countenance; the echo, often feeble and indistinct, often terribly clear and unmistakable, of His coming judgment." You see, every time our conscience convicts us and brings guilt, it is an echo, a reminder of God's coming judgment. But once we have the confidence that our sins have been finally dealt with, once we know the war is over, once we have been truly cleansed, once we are no longer conscious of anything between us and God, then our consciences can find peace – because we have peace with God, we can have peace from the guilt of a stinging conscience.

Unfortunately, many believers fail to understand this – they fall into sin, and they immediately begin to question their salvation, they begin to doubt their justification. Because of one sin, they go back and begin to doubt their standing with God. If you're tempted to do that, that means, at that moment, that you don't really understand justification – if you have been justified, you have, as a continuing reality, an objective peace with God; the war is over. Now, that doesn't mean, as a believer, there won't be times of doubt; in fact, there will be – faith, I think, can best be described as a compass. A compass, the needle points toward magnetic north – but if you take a compass and you shake that compass, the needle can swing wildly back and forth off of magnetic north; if you bring a magnet nearby, the needle will be pulled toward that magnet. But when you remove those outer circumstances, the needle will again point to true north. Faith is like that – there are times of doubt that are created by circumstances and even by our own sin, but then, as true believers, our faith centers again in God.

Sadly, there's also such a thing as false peace; that is, thinking you have peace with God, when in reality God is still at war with you. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his excellent commentary on Romans, identifies the characteristics of this false peace – how can we know if the peace we think we have is false? He lists these; I think they're excellent: "You may have a false peace; that is, a false confidence that you're at peace with God, if you think faith means simply believing certain facts about Christ and the gospel." James tells us, "the demons believe, and tremble." "If you're resting on your own faith, rather than on Christ and His finished work, then you may have false peace." Here's an interesting one – "If you're never troubled by doubts, you may have false peace." You see, the true believer has come to understand the reality and the depth of his own depravity, and of his own sin, and therefore, when he sins, he is tempted to doubt, he is tempted for his heart to be drawn away and to think, I can't believe God would set His love upon me because of the kind of person I am – but if you're the kind of person who drifts through life, and you never have any doubts, then you don't understand your sinfulness, and in fact, you may have a false peace. Lloyd-Jones goes on – "If you're only interested in God's forgiveness and not in personal righteousness or holiness, you may have a false peace." If you bought into the deal to get insurance from God's eternal wrath, but you don't really care about pursuing holiness and being in the image of Christ, then you may have a false peace, a false confidence that you have peace with God. "If you take your sin lightly," Lloyd-Jones says – in other words, it's okay, God will forgive me. I was shocked last year to be watching the morning news, and I saw an interview with the woman who won last year's Survivor television program – she claimed to be a Christian. And, in this interview, she freely admitted to lying to win the million dollars, and then she said this, she said, "But, you know, it's okay, that's the wonderful thing about being a Christian – God will forgive me." If that's how you consider forgiveness, then you may not be a Christian at all. Lloyd-Jones says, and I agree with him, that if those statements describe you, then you probably have a false peace – but, for those of us who have been truly justified, the wonderful reality is that we have a true peace with God; the war is over, it's done! For the first great benefit of our justification is, we have peace with God.

The second is found in the beginning of verse 2 – Paul writes, "through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand." The second benefit, or blessing, we enjoy as a result of justification is, we stand in God's grace. We stand in God's grace – that's a very interesting expression, and one we need to take apart carefully. Literally translated, verse 2 says "through whom we have had our introduction" – in other words, at some point in the past, we were introduced, and the results of that introduction continue. The word translated "introduction" carries the idea of being introduced to someone who is really important – it was used in secular Greek of introductions to kings, of being presented at court. When I was in college, a friend of a friend headed the General Services Administration at the White House, and he agreed, and got a few of us in for a very private, exclusive tour of the White House, and we got to go places that most people don't get to go, including the Oval Office – and it was one of the highlights of my life. But suppose you wanted to go and visit with President Bush – you couldn't just pull up to the front gate of the White House and tell the agent on duty there that you'd like to meet with President Bush. Well, I suppose you could, but it probably wouldn't go too well, and if you persisted at it, you'd get one of those neat little white coats that ties in the back. You see, you need an introduction, and Paul says we have had our introduction.

But what he says next is surprising, because we expect him to say that we've been introduced to God – but what he says is, we have had our introduction "into this grace" – what does he mean, we have been introduced into this grace? Well, remember that justification is God's legal declaration, at a moment in time, that we are forgiven, and that we have a new status, or a new standing before God – but what is the exact nature of this new status or standing? Paul says we stand in grace. You see, before justification, we all had the same standing before God – Romans 3:22 says "there is no distinction." What he means is, listen, there's no difference, every man is the same, we all had the same standing before God, and that was, when God saw us, He saw us as those who had sinned – that was the pattern of our lives, that was what we were known by – and that we were constantly coming short of the glory of God; that was our standing before God. Now, Paul says, we stand in grace. To stand in grace is to be firmly fixed in grace, it means grace is the new spiritual atmosphere in which we live – grace is the very air we breathe. We live in a realm, or a kingdom, where, according to verse 21 of chapter 5, "grace reigns," or in the recent vernacular, grace rules. That means that God constantly overwhelms us with kindness we don't deserve – He not only accepts us, but He delights to accept us, He delights to receive us, He delights to bless us. Before, we stood under God's wrath and curse; now, we stand before God not as God's enemies, not even as pardoned criminals, but we stand before God as His own adopted children, as His sons and His daughters. Who was it that introduced us into this grace in which we stand? Well, the answer is obvious, but Paul doesn't want us to ever forget it, so he includes it again – he begins verse 2 "through whom;" that is, through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has introduced us into this new standing in grace.

As a believer, are you ever tempted to think that because you've done something good, God owes you? Are you ever tempted to think that because you keep God's commands, that you're somehow accumulating these divine brownie points, and that someday, God is going to mete those back to you in blessings because of what you've done? Or perhaps you're tempted to think the other way – when you sin, you immediately think, oh, I've forfeited God's blessing, and the only reason I was receiving God's blessing was because I was obeying Him, and now I've forfeited that? Then you're misunderstanding the reality that you stand in grace – you see, grace, by definition, means that God treats you without regard to what you deserve. Now, this isn't an excuse for sin – Paul's going to deal with that when he gets to Romans 6, he's going to say, listen, we don't sin so that grace may abound; no true Christian thinks like that. But if you're a believer, and you're seeking to obey God, and you fail, you don't forfeit God's blessing – you stand, as a way of life, in God's grace; you love that God never, never, never gives us what we deserve. Instead, He overwhelms us with absolutely undeserved kindness. We stand in God's grace.

What are the benefits we enjoy as a result of our justification? We have peace with God, we stand in God's grace, and thirdly – notice the end of verse 2 – Paul writes, "we exult in hope of the glory of God." The third benefit we enjoy is, because we have been justified, is we hope in God's glory. Now, the word exult is not one that we use very often in English – the Greek simply means a triumphant, rejoicing confidence, or a joyful confidence; we could translate it rejoice, or glory, or boast. So, we rejoice, or we glory, in hope. Sadly, our English word terribly obscures the meaning of this word that's translated from Greek – the English word contains desire that something will happen, but it also contains a certain degree of doubt that it will happen. Perhaps, someday, Los Angeles will get a good football team, but until then, I have to watch teams that play elsewhere. Imagine, for a moment – and I know many of you love football as I do – imagine for a moment that your team is losing by one point with three seconds left in the game, and there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that your team has the ball and is in position to potentially kick a game-winning field goal with three seconds remaining. The bad news is that your field goal kicker will have to kick the longest field goal he's ever kicked in his professional career – so, the likelihood of your team winning is slim to none. But, as the team lines up on the line, and they begin to snap the ball, you sit on the edge of your couch, and what do you say? I hope he makes it. But the Greek word isn't like that at all; it's a word that contains two basic concepts – desire, and certainty. J.B. Phillips translates it "happy certainty." So, we rejoice with eagerness for what we know is certain – the glory of God. We rejoice with eagerness for what is certain, and that is the glory of God – now, what does Paul mean by the glory of God? He probably has two ideas in mind – first, he means our hope of seeing God's glory. Every Christian longs to see our great God in all of His glory – we want to have a first-hand view of God and all that makes Him impressive. It's what the saints have always desired – you remember Moses, who had a relationship with God that was unique, that none of us enjoy – but Moses said to God in Exodus 33, God, "show me Your glory!" Someday, that will be true for all of us. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face." So, Paul means that we rejoice in the certainty that we will see God in all His glory – isn't that a wonderful reality? You will see God – believer, you can be certain, you can rejoice and glory in the certainty that you will see God in all of His glory!

But I think Paul means something else here as well – not only our hope of seeing God's glory, but also our hope of sharing God's glory. This refers to our glorification – you see, man was made in the image of God, but when Adam sinned, that image of God in man was horribly marred. Oh, you can look around you, at the people around you who are unbelievers, and you can see faint vestiges of the image of God in them, but it's only in minute traces. But the scripture tells us that in regeneration, when someone comes to faith in Christ, then God makes him alive – at that moment, he begins to be renewed in the image of God. That process continues throughout this life – 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that the believer, every day, is being changed "from glory to glory;" there's a growth in the renewal of that image of God, but the consummation of it is still in the future. Paul describes it in Romans 8 – turn for a moment to Romans 8:17; at the end of the verse, Paul writes, "if indeed we suffer with Christ," we do it "so that we may also be glorified with Him." We can share His glory. Notice verse 21 – he says, "the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" – and perhaps most clearly put in verse 30, where, at the end of all that God is accomplishing on behalf of those whom He loves and whom He has chosen, he says at the end of verse 30, "and these whom He justified, He also glorified." He uses the tense of the verb that's past, and he's saying, this is as sure going to happen that I can describe it as already having happened – they are glorified. Someday, we will perfectly reflect God's glory again, and in a new and better way than Adam ever did – we will reflect the glory of God by sharing it.

Now, I want you to turn to 1 John 3, because in 1 John 3:2, the apostle includes the hope of both seeing and sharing God's glory in one verse. Notice 1 John 3:2 – he writes, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him" – they're sharing God's glory – "because we will see Him just as He is" – they're seeing God's glory. If you have been justified, you can rejoice with eagerness and absolute certainty that you will see God in all His glory, and when you see Him, you'll be like Him. This should greatly encourage us in our struggle with sin – sometimes, when we fail, when we sin, we're tempted to despair, but instead of looking at our present failure, we should look beyond, in joyful confidence, to the fact that we will one day be fully renewed in God's image – that should strengthen us in the battle day to day with sin. You see, it's our confidence that we will be like Jesus that compels us and constrains us to strive to be like Him now – we rejoice in hope of God's glory.

That brings us to the fourth benefit of our justification, verse 3 – we rejoice in our tribulations. Notice verse 3: "And not only this" – now, that's Paul's familiar way of introducing his next point – "we also exult in our tribulations." Paul quickly turns away from our future hope to our present circumstances – as one commentator writes, "No sooner has the apostle pointed to the glory of God as the light shining afar, to cheer believers on His course, than he thinks of the contrast between that bright distance and the darkness around him here." Paul knew there would be critics – he knew there would be critics who would argue that if everything has changed, if our standing has changed, if we have peace with God, if we stand in God's grace, if we have a hope of glory, then why do Christians face illness and persecution and trials and troubles of every kind in this life? By the way, this points out a crucial difference between the false faith of the cults and the true faith that we hold that's taught in the scripture – you see, the cults and the false teachers always say, embrace what we teach and all your troubles will go away; God will make you happy and wealthy and fulfilled – that's almost always the message of false teachers, but it's never the message of the New Testament. The night before our Lord's crucifixion, in the upper room, He said to the disciples, "In the world, you will have tribulation." The word tribulation simply means pressure – it was used in the Greek culture to describe the pressure a sledge exerted on the grain as it threshed it; it was also used to describe the crushing of olives to extract the oil that was in them. In addition, it was used of the treading of grapes to press out the juice that was in the grapes. Paul uses it in the New Testament to refer to the persecution that he and the other apostles endured. But in most cases, this word is used in the New Testament to describe the external pressures that afflict the believer in this life – it refers not to minor inconveniences, missing the traffic light, but to real hardships, to the troubles and the difficulties and the trials of life. Paul says we exult in our pressures, we exult in our tribulations. By the way, the word exult is the same word used at the end of verse 2; we rejoice, we glory. You see, the benefit of justification isn't just for the sweet by and by, as we sang this morning, but it's for the nasty now and now – because we've been justified, even the troubles of this life take on new meaning.

Unfortunately, many Christians, when they come on trouble in this life, they mimic the world around us – the world around us really has two primary ways that they respond to suffering, and they're really ancient approaches to suffering. One of them is Stoicism – Stoicism; their answer to suffering was what the British called a stiff upper lip, or we would say just grin and bear it, just suck it up and go through it. James Montgomery Boice remembers a war movie in which he saw James Cagney. James Cagney played the part of an American pilot supporting the Allied invasion of Europe, and on one of the return trips out of the bombing run that they had had in Europe, the plane was severely damaged by fire. As they were over the English Channel, heading towards the cliffs of Dover in the distance, they realized that they weren't going to be able to gain the proper elevation to clear the cliffs, and so the crew began to jettison everything that wasn't tied down, to give the plane additional lift to clear the cliffs. As they tried that and found it unsuccessful, eventually the crew themselves jumped out, bailed out and left Cagney alone in the cockpit controlling the plane, and as he approached the cliffs, the looming cliffs of Dover, he realized he wasn't going to make it, and so at the last moment, the movie shows him leaning his head out of the window and spitting at the cliffs – then, a second or two later, the plane explodes in flames. That's the Stoic's approach to suffering – the second common approach to suffering today is Epicureanism. Epicurus taught that life is an inevitable mixture of good and bad experiences, and since you can't avoid the bad experiences, the way to respond is to load your life up with more pleasure than pain so that the bottom line is positive. That's how many in our culture live – when they face trouble, they just load themselves up with as many positive experiences as they can, with more stuff, with more good things, they spend more money than they have, to enjoy what they want, so that the pleasure outweighs the pain of life.

But the Christian's response is very different – Paul says we glory, or rejoice, in our tribulations. Notice he doesn't say we rejoice in spite of our tribulations – he doesn't even say we rejoice or glory in the midst of our tribulations – he says, we glory in them; we rejoice because of our tribulations. Now, Paul isn't encouraging some form of masochism – he doesn't mean that we're to be glad when trouble comes. Some of you may remember Peter Sellers and the famous role of Pink Panther – he dusts himself off after a terrible fall and he says, ahh, that felt good. That's not the proper approach, that's not what Paul's encouraging here – in fact, the writer of Hebrews says, in verse 11 of chapter 12, "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." That's what Paul means – while our initial reaction to tribulation is grief, we eventually come to glory in it, because we see that God is using it to sanctify us and to renew us in the image of Himself, and to prepare us for heaven. We're not supposed to like tribulation, we're supposed to glory in it.

Now, how does that happen? It happens by right thinking – notice, "we exult in our tribulation, knowing." We can rejoice in the trials that come because of something we know – what is it specifically that we know? Notice verse 3 again – "knowing that tribulation brings about," or produces, "perseverance." Now, that isn't true for everyone – for many people, having to endure trials only makes them bitter and angry with God. You've seen this, undoubtedly, in the lives of people around you – perhaps you struggle with that yourself. One writer says, "Tribulation provokes a great part of mankind to murmur against God, even to curse Him." You see, for tribulation to have its positive effect, it must be mixed with knowledge and with a healthy dose of faith in God, the confidence in the attributes of God, in God's goodness and in God's wisdom and in God's sovereignty – and when the pressures of life are mixed with that kind of faith, they produce perseverance. James makes the same point in chapter 1 of his book, in those familiar verses, 2 and following – he writes, "Consider it all joy, my brethren." Sometimes we read over phrases – I wish you'd never heard it before – listen again. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing" – there's our word again; you have to know something to face trials and difficulties like this – "knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

The Greek word that is translated endurance in James and perseverance in Romans is a very interesting word – it's the Greek word hupomene; it literally means to remain or stay under. Perhaps you've seen, in the Summer Olympics, the weightlifting event – I say perhaps you've seen it because I don't think any of you actually purposefully tuned in to watch the event – but if you happen to cross it, it's really quite an impressive event. You have this massive man come out and approach a bar that has more weight on it than most of us will lift in our lifetimes, and there is such an unimaginable amount of weight that when he puts it above his head, the bar actually bends. But he comes out and he approaches the bar, and he gets up his confidence, then he leans over and picks the bar up and brings it to his waist, pauses for a moment and catches his breath, then he throws it up to his chest and drops to his knees to do that. Again, pausing for just a moment, he pushes his legs to their full extension until he has it at his chest, and he's standing. He takes another moment and then he thrusts that weight to the full length of his arms. But the rules say that to be a valid lift, he has to keep it above his head for a certain amount of time, and so, this man who's really nothing more than a massive muscle stands there with this weight over his head, and his whole body begins to violently shake under the load of that weight – and then, when the proper time has passed, he drops it to the floor. That's what the word perseverance means – it describes that moment when the weight is over the head and you're remaining under it, you're holding it over – that's perseverance. Tribulation produces the ability to remain under the load, to stay with it – in fact, perseverance grows even stronger in suffering. Notice, Paul adds, perseverance produces "proven character" – when you learn to remain under the trial, waiting on God to act in His time; you gain proven character. Now, the noun translated proven character is a difficult word to translate into English; it comes from a verb meaning to test – we could translate it as the quality of having stood the test or of being approved. As one writer describes it, it's "the temper of the veteran as opposed to the raw recruit." You see, trials produce the ability to remain under, to endure, and endurance produces a proven veteran – in other words, perseverance leads to proof that we are truly Christians.

Do you remember the parable of the sower, where Christ described the effect the Word would have on different human hearts, and He likened human hearts to different kinds of soils? And one of those soils was the rocky soil, with just a shallow amount of topsoil over bedrock, and the seed falls in that soil and it springs up and it looks like the real thing, it looks like it's going to produce a harvest – but instead, the sun comes out, and because it has no room for its root, it withers and dries up. And Christ said, there are people who respond to the gospel and seem to respond in faith – they look like the real thing; they spring up and everything looks right, but then, when trouble and persecution and trial comes, because they don't have any root, they wither, and they walk away; they repudiate the faith and walk away. You’ve seen people like this come into your church; they come, they look like the real thing, they're here for a while, they're at every event, they're involved – then one day, they're just not here anymore, and you find out that they've walked away from Christianity completely. You see, just as tribulation shows that that person's faith isn't real because they forsake it, when we persevere in trials, it shows that we are the real thing; we have proven character.

And finally, Paul says in verse 4, "proven character" produces "hope." As we experience firsthand what God does for us and in us in the trials and troubles of life, it stirs up our hope in God and in our great future. Douglas Moo writes, "If met with doubt in God's goodness and promise, or bitterness toward others, or despair and even resignation, these sufferings can bring spiritual defeat to the believer. But if met with an attitude of confidence and rejoicing that Paul encourages here, sufferings will produce these valuable spiritual qualities, including hope." And according to verse 5, notice, this hope, this confidence – remember, the word means happy certainty – our confidence in God and in our future "will not disappoint" us; it will not put us to shame. Our hope never puts us to shame because it's the real thing; it's been proven. This expression, our hope doesn't disappoint, is similar to our English expression, it won't let you down – that's what Paul's saying; your hope won't let you down.

But in the end, what is it that allows us to benefit from life's troubles, and even to rejoice in them? It really rests on one foundation, and that is, we are confident of God's love for us. Notice verse 5: He says, because – this hope doesn't disappoint us, this hope doesn't let us down – "because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Our knowledge of God's love for us is certain in our hearts. In other words – here's what Paul is saying – I can glory in the pressures of this life because I know that God will use them to build endurance, which will in turn prove my character, prove me to be a Christian, which will only strengthen my hope, and that hope will never let me down. And all of that is true, because I know that the tribulations and troubles I face are not given to me from the hand of cruel fate, but they are dispatched from the throne of God, who has set His love upon me.

Paul concludes this section of Romans by driving home this important point: Essentially, Romans 5, the first few verses, and the end of Romans 8 are bookends to this hymn of security. Turn for a moment to Romans 8, and notice what he writes in verse 18. Paul says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time" – the pressures, the tribulations – they "are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the whole creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it"[SR1] – now, notice how he begins the end of verse 20 – "in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." He says, listen, all that we're going through now isn't worth to be compared with what's going to come. Verse 22: "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Now, notice verse 24: "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." We face the troubles and the pressures of this life, knowing that God is going to use them, and in the end, we will have our hope fulfilled – but until that hope is realized, we live in the confidence that God is using everything here for our benefit. Notice that familiar verse 28: "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." God is in charge, the tribulations we face come from Him, and He is using them for good – we rejoice in our tribulations. Believer, you have been declared righteous, you have a new standing before God, forever right. God treated Jesus on the cross as if He had lived your life, so that forever He could treat you as if you had lived Jesus' perfect life – and with that wonderful reality, with that declaration comes amazing benefits. You have, unquestionably, gotten much more than you bargained for – you have peace with God, you stand in God's grace, you rejoice in hope, the certainty of seeing and sharing God's glory, and you can rejoice in tribulation.

Tonight, we'll look at the final three that are outlined in these eleven verses – let me just give them to you now. We are confident of God's love, verses 5-8; we will be saved from God's wrath, verses 9 and 10; and we rejoice in God's person, verse 11. Those are the benefits you enjoy, believer – God intends them to be a great source of confidence, a great source of comfort, and a great source of security to your heart. But perhaps you're here this morning, and as we've outlined the benefits that believers in Christ enjoy, you've realized that your standing with God is still one of a sinner, coming short of God's glory – you've never enjoyed any of these benefits. Maybe you've realized that God is still at war with you. This morning, if you will lay down your arms, you will submit yourself to God, you will acknowledge your sin, and you will embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God has promised that He will, in a moment in time, declare you forever right before Him. If you will turn and become a follower of Jesus Christ, you too can enjoy these benefits – and it's all because of what God's Son did on the cross two thousand years ago. Let's pray together.

Father, we are overwhelmed with Your grace and goodness – how could we ever give a return to You for what You have so freely given to us? Lord, thank You that those of us who know You are confident that You have given us a new standing, that You have declared us to be forever right in Your sight, that we have peace with You, the war is done, that we're now Your adopted sons and daughters, that we stand in Your grace, that we hope in the wonderful reality of seeing and sharing Your glory, and that we can even face the troubles and pressures and trials of this life with rejoicing, we can glory in them, because we know You are in charge, and we know that You are causing all of these things to work together for our good, and for Your glory – Lord, thank You for this. And yet, Lord, our hearts go out this morning to someone here, perhaps, who is still at war with You and with whom You are still at war – I pray this morning that they would lay down their arms and submit themselves to You, that they would humble themselves, seek Your forgiveness, and embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Thank You for all that is ours in Him, and it's in His name that we pray. Amen.

[SR1]Romans 8:19-20a.