Romans 5:3-5

"Assurance in Suffering"

Romans 5:3-5, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our

sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out
his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given
us" (NIV). "Romans 5:3-5, "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” (KJV).

Introduction

“Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5 as we

continue to look at reasons for assurance. Reasons for assurance
in Romans chapter 5. Last week we saw that we have assurance of
salvation. If we have believed in Christ [Yeshua haMeschiach for
our Messianic Jewish believers], and have been born again by the
power of his Holy Spirit, we will go to heaven [be in the 1st
Resurrection to immortality, cf. 1 Cor. 15:49-54]. And we have that
assurance, verse 1 says, because we've been saved, we have peace
with God. We're not at war with God, and God's not at war with us
anymore, we have peace with God. We have made our peace with
God, we don't have to wait till the day we die. It's been done at the
cross. Amen? And then secondly, verse 2 says, that we have access
to God. Whereas before, God was, there were many barriers
separating man from God. Now Jesus Christ has made the access
for us, through the blood that he shed, and we now can come to the
Father at any time. And thirdly, we have hope, we have the hope of
heaven [ or as some believe the Scripture says: "entering the
Kingdom of Heaven, which will be established on earth at Jesus 2nd
coming, the same period of time when the righteous dead will be
raised as immortal beings"]. We have the assurance that we're going
to heaven, and really, heaven has begun already. There's a change
that has begun in our lives that God never begins without
completing. And so, we have assurance for those three reasons.

Assurance In Suffering
But We Don’t Have Immunity From Trouble

Now Paul says, ‘Now it's just not all assurance in the by-and-by,
there's some real assurance you can have right now, meeting
the troubles and suffering that everyday life brings.’ And he
says, 'We have reasons to rejoice because of our assurances of
salvation, we have reasons to rejoice in even our sufferings and our
troubles.' We'll look at that in a minute. Well, let's read verses 3,
4, and 5 right now. “And not only this, we also exalt in our
tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about
perseverance (or endurance), and perseverance proven
character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not
disappoint because of the love of God which has been poured
out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to
us.” When you talk about suffering, we need to understand that
Christians are not immune from suffering. Sometimes listening to
the people on TV [he means the "Sunday Morning Comedy Hour" or
some televangelists] and some of the people on the radio, you begin
to get the idea that Christians have been guaranteed some kind of
immunity from trouble and suffering and poverty, if they will just
give enough, if they'll just believe enough, and if they'll just say
enough times what they want, that's what they'll get. [“Positive
Confession” we talked about in Romans 4:17-25, pp. 12-14] I've
picked that up, listening to TV preachers, listening to some of the
people on the radio. I've picked it up looking at certain books you
can buy in the Christian bookstore. There's a big problem with that,
it's not true. Christians are nowhere guaranteed immunity from
life's storms. Christians are nowhere guaranteed freedom from
trouble. Nowhere have we been guaranteed success and freedom
from poverty. I'm sorry, it's not what God's Word teaches. Jesus
said speaking to his followers in John 16, I'll just read it to you,
“These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have
peace” -- because, boy you're going to need it because of the next
thing I'm gonna tell you. And he goes on to say -- “in the world
you'll have tribulation, but be of good courage" he said "I have
overcome the world.” Jesus said, ‘You're going to need my
peace, followers, because in this world, you're going to have
trouble. You're going to have tribulation. You're going to have
hard times, you're going to have trials. In this world you're
going to need my peace -- because I haven't guaranteed you
immunity from life's hurts.’ The apostle Paul says something very
illuminating in Acts chapter 14. Turn there with me, just go to the
left one book, Acts chapter 14. For some of you this may be your
life verse, Acts chapter 14, verse 22, and you'll see what I mean in
a minute. Let me give you, as you're looking, a little bit of
background for the verse. Paul had been preaching in a city where
they thought he was God and he just declared, ‘I'm just a man with
a message.’ They rioted, they stoned him, throwing rocks on him
until he died, he actually died, because verse 20 says that while the
disciples were standing around him, it looked as though he'd been
left for dead, and he actually did die, it said “He arose” and that
word in Greek is the word that's always used for a resurrection from
the dead. He died, and he actually was brought back to life by God,
and he went back into the city and began to preach again. Well,
these early disciples realized right away, that just because you're a
great apostle doesn't mean you have immunity from the flying
rocks of this world. They may score a hit, they may knock you
down, but the neat thing, if God isn't finished with you, he'll pick
you right back up and stand you on your feet and away you go.
Right? God was in control. But the apostle Paul didn't want them
to lose heart. So it goes on now in verse 22, it says that he stayed
there awhile, and he strengthened the souls of the disciples. And
this is what he did to strengthen them. “Encouraging them to
hang in there, to continue in the faith, and saying” -- and this is
a life verse for some of you -- “through many tribulations we must
enter the kingdom of God.” Is that your life verse? I think it's
mine. Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of
God. Now why did he say that? Did he not have enough faith? Was
he making a negative confession? Of course he had plenty of faith.
You're talking about the guy who wrote the Word that saved you.
Yes, he had faith, but he did not have immunity from trouble.
And he's saying, ‘Look, in this world you're going to have
tribulation. In this world, you're going to have trouble.’ ‘But
be of good courage’, as Jesus said, ‘I've overcome the world.’
“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of
heaven.” Paul told Timothy, his buddy, in 2nd Timothy 3:12, he
said “All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
We could probably just say, ‘All who live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer.’ Now you can't erase these verses from the Bible. And
I'm concerned for some of you who have been taught wrong things
about pain and suffering and trouble and trials. I'm concerned,
because I understand that bad theology can turn your life sour and
bitter towards God. Nowhere in the Bible are you promised
immunity from hurt, pain or suffering. I'm sorry, but it's not
there. And I never told you that you were immune from that. You
look at the Bible, and look through every book of the Bible, all 66 of
them, and you will see that in every one of those books there is some
kind of talk about suffering and pain. The book of Psalms, for
instance, has 150 Psalms, and of those 150 Psalms, 90 of them talk
about trials, talk about pain and hurt. There's no believer in the
Bible that I can think of, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses,
David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, James, the early church--I can't think
any of them that we have any real information on their life that didn't
suffer, that didn't have some kind of trouble. And it wasn't the result
of sin in their life. It was the result, many times, of their opposition
to sin that they got into trouble. Our response to suffering is
determined by our understanding of God. Why do people get mad
at God when bad things hit? It's because they don't know God. They
don't really know the living God. See, the basis, the foundation for
talking about suffering is you gotta know the character of God.
You've got to understand that God is love, and that God loves you.
Someone says, ‘Well, if God loves me, then why doesn't he answer
my prayers?’ Well, you're probably praying prayers, ‘Give me this
goody, get me out of this jam, Lord protect me from this jam, Lord I
need money here, I need money there,’ and it doesn't happen, and
you're saying, ‘Well, he doesn't answer my prayers.’ -- because it's
his will for you now to be in trouble. You say ‘What!?, what are you
saying?’ I said it's his will right now for you to be in trouble. 'Well,
then I don't like him.' You see, that's so immature. That is like, I
mean it really is, it's like my little kids, you know. Especially my
three and a half year old, you know, she's at the age right now where
she's beginning to reason I think, and she's beginning to talk back,
and she'll argue with me, and I'll ask her to go to bed for her nap,
and oh man, you'd think I'm the meanest guy on earth, she doesn't
like me for awhile, she rejects me for awhile, she gets mad. You ask
her to eat certain vegetables on her plate, you know, and there's this
big deal and you're such a scoundrel, but see I know vegetables are
good for you. I know that she'd better take a nap, because she needs
that rest. And she doesn't see things from a mature perspective yet.
And many times when we're shaking our little fists at God, and we're
kicking and screaming in trouble, we don't understand that the
trouble in our life works something into our life that nothing else
can do. Believe me, God loves you so much that if some other way
could work what trouble works into your life, God would use it. If
there were something besides trouble he could use, he would.
Remember Jesus (Yeshua), God's beloved Son, right? He's praying
in the garden, he says “Father, if possible, take this cup”, the cup
of death, “take it from me. But not my will, but your will be
done.” You better believe that if there was a possibility that God
could have done the work in some other way, he would have done
it. But it necessitated the death of his Son. And you can believe
that God loves you so much, that if there was any way that he could
spare you an ounce, a drop of trouble, he would. He loves you, and
he has withheld so much trouble from you. But that which he does
allow is working a work that nothing else can do in your life as a
Christian. It doesn't apply to you if you're not a Christian. [But God
does know and care that people in the world do suffer. He even
made a remark by Paul or one of the other apostles which shows
people in the world are suffering as we do. He goes as far as to call
them “our brothers in the world.”] But if you're a Christian that's
true. There is meaning to your suffering and to your troubles.
[Comment: And in the overall plan of God, there will be meaning for
the suffering of the whole world, throughout it's long suffering
history. Don't forget a clear biblical fact, one ignored by most
Christian teachers, that God created and placed on this earth Adam
and Eve, mankind--a planet infested with evil demons and Satan
himself. This is Satan's evil world right now. Responsibility for all
six thousand years of human suffering will some day be placed on
Satan's head, as he and his demons are banished from earth and
the presence of mankind forever (cf. Leviticus 16, whole chapter,
Rev. 20:1-3, 7-10; Genesis 3:1-6; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-
17). God had to have a very good reason for placing mankind that
he created on a planet infested with demons, with Satan as their evil
ruler. Remember, nothing in the angelic or demonic world gets done
without God's approval, it's his universe, he created it and rules over
all of it. God must have a plan that goes far beyond our limited
human vision, a plan that encompasses the whole numbers of
human lives he was responsible for the creation of. Don't forget, it
is God who is responsible for creating man on a planet infested with
demons, with Satan as their evil ruler. The buck stops on God's
desk, not ours, not Satan's. Just keep this in the back of your mind
when you think of trouble and that this whole world is a world of
trouble, pain and suffering. We live in an evil world right now, it's
not God's world right now--Satan and his demons hold unseen
authority over all life on the planet right now--except for those God
has specifically called out of this world. God has a purpose worked
out, and mainstream Christianity hasn't focused on that whole
purpose yet. Christian teachers currently have just focused on the
specific plan of salvation for the individual believer--the gospel of
salvation in Jesus Christ. You can be sure more on this theme about
God's overall plan and purpose will be revealed after Jesus returns,
things he hasn't' revealed to us yet. The Old Testament is filled with
more prophecies about the actual physical coming of God's kingdom
on earth than anywhere else in the Bible. But very strangely, pain
and suffering seem to be banished from those living in that
Millennial Kingdom of God. Christians who have lived and died
during the Church age (30AD to the 2nd Coming) must be a special
leadership cast, as Revelation 20:4,6 brings out. Our reward for
suffering and building the resultant Christian character into our
lives through suffering must bring us a huge reward, in comparison
to those yet to be born-again after Jesus Christ's 2nd coming. During
that time, Satan and his demons will be banished, the evil societies
of man will be gone, a thing of the past.]

Our Response To Suffering Is Determined By Our

Understanding Of God

Our response to suffering is determined by our understanding

of God. What we think about God will determine how we
respond to the trials. When we shake our fist at God [we prove]
that we don't know him--we don't know him well enough to trust
him for what we don't know. We need to learn to live above the level
that we can see, I call it the "see level". Too many Christians are
living at "see-level", "see" you know, and they live by sight and not
by faith. And when you step into trouble, it's a big lesson in living
above "see-level". You've got to get your sight on things above.
You've got to get your sight on the things of faith and the things that
God's Word says, and not just on what you can see. We need to
understand that God is in control of our trials and our suffering. [i.e.
in spite of seeing that this is really Satan's world we live in right
now-God even in these awful circumstances, is still in control.]
Satan is not in control of them. For awhile, as I was coming into
Christianity and the things of the Lord, there's so many winds of
teaching, so different things, and I would buy the popular books and
read them. For awhile, I had the view that a lot of people have that
when God's busy over here with John Doe, and got his back on me,
Satan comes running in and does some mean thing to me, and God
turns around -- ‘Hey, hey, hey! Get away, get away! That's my son,
you know.’ And as long as God's watching me I'm OK, but then
when--it's like Satan can sneak up on God and do things to us. And
I remember telling people ‘God is not in control of suffering. God
never wills that you should suffer or be in pain, it's not God's will that
you be in pain and suffer.’ And that would effect the way I would
pray and everything I would [teach], I would try to rebuke everything
bad in someone's life [i.e. “Positive Confession” baloney]. Well, that's
a bunch of baloney. God is in control of the suffering that we go
through. It is not just by chance, nor is it the devil coming in and
doing things that God doesn't know about. [Good case in point, read
the whole book of Job. See in the beginning, God has a hedge set
about Job, but for Job's own good, God let's Satan trouble Job. But
you have to read the whole story. God does use the evil that he's
allowed to remain on this planet, and he uses it for our good, for our
spiritual development, and yes, for the spiritual development of the
entire world later after Jesus' return.] Satan is not some kind of a
semi-god or a little demi-god. Satan is just a big created being with
a lot of power. He's like an elephant, you know. I mean, to me, an
elephant is a lot stronger than me. I don't want to get one [mad at
me]. Elephants are mighty creatures, I don't want to mess around
with them, or a polar bear [where everything a polar bear sees is
food to them!], or a lion [and Peter refers to Satan as being a roaring
lion] or anything like that. I acknowledge their authority, their
power, but they're not God, and Satan is just a created being, he's
not God. And anything he does is just because God allows him to
do it.

Is There Anything In Christianity That Helps

Somebody Face Trouble?

Look at 1st Peter, chapter 4, verse 19, very important verse. 1st Peter
chapter 4, verse 19, Peter is talking about suffering. When we
were in the book of Peter years ago, there was a real precious brother
who was fellowshipping with us for a time, and finally he says “I'm
leaving here, I want to hear something positive. I'm tired of hearing
about suffering and trials. I'm going to go to a church where I don't
hear about those things.” You know, I've thought about that so many
times since then, I thought ‘He wants to go bury his head in the
sand.’ He's a superstitious Christian that thinks that if he talks
about trouble it's going to happen. No, trouble can happen whether
you talk about it or not. Right? And I don't have to go looking for
it, it finds me, knows my address very well. But talking about it,
gang, is what we ought to do. Instead of coming here with this
phony-baloney stuff, saying, ‘Oh, we who have real faith, why we're
not in financial troubles, and those of us who really believe, we're not
sick.’ Instead we wear these little line-masks, where instead we
ought to get real and get honest and say ‘Hey, look, we're all in
trouble. We've all got trials, we've all got suffering.’ Some of us have
marriage problems, some of us, money problems, some have kid
problems, some have other problems, we have sickness, some of us
have cancer. Now let's come to God's Word and see how we can get
through this! Is there anything in Christianity that helps somebody
face trouble? Listening to some of these people you would think
there isn't. And so we have to pretend that there's no such thing as
trouble. Hey, if you're in trouble, you're in pretty good company.
Jesus was known to be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Sorrow and grief come from trouble, don't they? 1st Peter 4:19 tells
us that God is in control of our suffering. And it is sometimes God's
will that we suffer. Verse 19, “Therefore let those also who
suffer” -- how? – “according to the will of God, entrust their
souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right.” I've heard
people tell me ‘Well, I don't believe that,’ and I say ‘Well, sorry but
this is the Bible, you know -- like ‘Are you a Christian?’ ‘Well, I don't
believe that.’ It says, “according to the will of God.” They're
suffering according to the will of God. ‘It's not God's will that I
suffer.’ Well, if you're into that, man, there's not much we can do
with you, because we swear allegiance to the Lord, and the Lord of
this book. And the book says it's God's will, sometimes that you
suffer. And he says, ‘What should you do?’ ‘Don't fight him, and
trust your soul to a faithful creator in doing what is right.’
When Jesus was suffering his greatest trial as he stood before Pilate
and was about to be crucified Pilate said to him, ‘Ooh, you're not
going to answer me?’ Pilate had asked him some questions, Jesus
just remained silent, fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would
stand dumb before his shearers. ‘You're not going to answer me,
huh?’ Pilate says, “Don't you know I have authority to release
you, and I have authority to crucify you?” And Jesus broke his
silence. He answered “You would have no authority over me,
unless it had been given you from above” John 19. What Jesus
is saying here is, ‘Look, my Father's in control of my suffering
right now. You think you're in control of me because you have
my hands tied, because your men have been spitting in my
face, because you've been bludgeoning me, because you've been
pulling out my beard by the roots, you think you have control
over me because you're going to deliver me over to be crucified,
but you're not in control, my Father's in control.’ And if that's
true of God's beloved Son, gang, it's true of the children of God too.
There's no authority over you right now that hasn't been allowed by
God. God is in control. Remember that last time before his death,
that Jesus had with Peter, there on the night of the last supper?
Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him. He said, “Simon,
Simon, behold Satan has demanded and has obtained by asking
permission to sift you like wheat”, Luke 22. What do you learn
there? You learn that Satan couldn't touch Peter without first
obtaining permission from God. He had to ask. He had to submit in
triplicate or quadruplicate his plan. It had to be reviewed by God
and God could say yes or no. It's so incredible, gang. The Bible
teaches us all the way through that God is in control of his children's
lives. Because you suffer doesn't mean God's on a vacation, God's
taken the day off, something slipped by him while his back was
turned. Not on your life. Look at the book of Job, think about it.
Remember Job in chapter 1? It's a day when the "sons of God", the
angels of God stand before the Lord, and Satan happens to come in
among them. God says to Satan, "Have you seen my servant Job
who serves me with integrity in his heart?" And Satan replies,
“Aagh, the only reason why Job serves you is because you have
put a hedge of protection around him. He's a rich man, he's a
healthy man, he's a happy man. Take away those things from
him, his money, take away his health, take away his happiness,
and he'll curse you to your face. No one loves you for who your
are. The only reason why anybody serves you is because you
give them things, you buy their love.” You can just imagine the
accusations behind all these things. God says, ‘OK, I'll give you
permission, I'll give you permission to take away his money.’
He had his first ‘stock market crashed’, Job's wealth was all in his
stock -- his cattle, crashed in one day. His house was destroyed.
His children, his happiness, they were taken away, they were
destroyed. His health, he became afflicted with severe pain. And
finally, his sweet wife turned into a nag. She said “Why don't your
curse God and die.” Such an encouragement, in time of need.
[laughter] Remember that, brothers and sisters, be encouragers to
one another. Well, did Job curse God? No, in spite of all that he
went through, Job served God. He said, “Though he slay me, yet
I'll trust in him.” ‘I just love him, I know he loves me. Those
things have fallen to me, I'm in severe pain.’ I'm sure he wasn't
saying it with a big smile on his face, but he's saying ‘Hey, I trust
him. I know him. I'll trust him.’ Part of the problem with
Christians is they really don't know God. They really don't know
God, the real God of the Bible, or you'd be able to trust him a little
bit more. And walking through the trouble are times when you
learn to trust him, because then you look back on past
experience – ‘Hey you got me through this’ I can trust him for
this one too.
We Understand That Everything That Happens To Us Has
First Passed Through The Loving Of God For Our Lives

Look at 1st Corinthians 10, verse 13. It's a verse, that man if it's not
highlighted in your Bible, you'd better get with it and highlight it.
You'd better underline it, put a star in the margin, or something!
How have you gotten by without this one? 1st Corinthians chapter
10, verse 13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is
common to man.” See, I told you, you're not immune. I'm not
immune from having my house blown off the map by a hurricane in
Florida! ‘Oh, I'm a Christian. Our tower is still standing, that means
we're better than everyone else!’ It's funny, in that same region,
that's what representatives from a certain Christian broadcasting
company said, ‘Everything's fine, our tower is still standing.’ But it's
interesting to me, another Christian radio ministry's tower was
destroyed. So what does that mean? It's funny, the one who
preaches the heresy is still standing. The one who's preaching the
truth, probably it fell, you know. Interesting to me. The thing is,
Christian people had their houses totaled. They had their cars
wiped out. Christian people lost lives. It's common to man, see,
we're not all of a sudden made immune to trouble when we become
Christians, no, not on your life. But I tell you, as a Christian -- you
say, ‘Well, why should I become a Christian?’ -- that's another point
I want to talk about. If, if the moment everyone walked down the
aisle, pray or do whatever, if the moment they were saved, if
everything went perfectly for them -- they became rich
overnight--healthy, wealthy, happy--who wouldn't
become a Christian! You would be out of your mind, not
to become a Christian, you'd be stupid, stupid, stupid. And so,
I mean, the whole world would serve God, or at least say they did.
But you see, no one would believe in the cross, no one would accept
Christ [Yeshua haMeschiach], and put their faith really in his gospel,
and put their whole life into his hands. You wouldn't have to, man,
you wouldn't have faith. You wouldn't need faith, everything's taken
care of. [And as my first pastor told us all (when I was a babe in
Christ), that is the real danger everyone living in the Millennial
Kingdom of God will face, ‘Why should I really accept Christ, and
Salvation through the cross? Everything’s perfect, coming up roses,
no war, peace, prosperity.’ He was a very perceptive pastor’] So it's
not that way. You accept Christ [Yeshua] because you love him.
Because you know you're a sinner, and you know he died for your
sins, and you accept the gift of salvation, and you're promised
eternal life with him, yes. And you're promised his presence with
you now in trouble, but you're not promised immunity from trouble
and suffering and hurt. “No temptation has taken you, but such
as is common to man. And God is faithful” -- don't forget that,
God is faithful in those times -- “who will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you're able” -- underline the word “allow”,
permit, whatever it says in your translation. I love that point,
because he's saying right here in this verse, that before you can be
tried or tested or tempted -- and the word for temptation there in the
first part of the verse can mean “tried, tested, or temptation” --
he says none of these things can come to you without God giving
permission first. He won't allow you, you see. It can't just happen
by chance. See, Christians have an inside track here.

Trouble In God’s Hands Produces Something

We understand that everything that happens to us, has first passed

through the loving will of God for our lives. You say it's the loving
will of God that some Christian gets cancer? Yes. That some become
crippled by arthritis? Yes. Talked to a man at the door in the first
service, broke down at the door weeping, visiting family from
Pennsylvania, precious man. He said his wife is there, she couldn't
come on the trip, she's so crippled with rheumatoid arthritis, she
can barely walk. And yet, he says, “I love God” and began to weep.
He said “she's such a testimony, such an encouragement to those who
are around her.” He says, “Sometimes I think God chooses people to
go through these things so that they can show the great power and
grace of God.” And we just hugged. It may be God's will that you
suffer.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.

And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what
you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide
a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
But our troubled times are not a waste, they're not meaningless.
You see, that's where the world, I mean, the world would just commit
suicide--'You know, forget it man.' 'Give me a lethal injection.' 'I've
just got more than I can bear, and I've made an appointment at the.'
You know, they'll think some wonderful name for it, The Exiting
Center or something, you know. But our troubled times are not
wasted, they're not fruitless. Trouble in the hands of Jesus, Yeshua,
produces in our lives--and that's what we're happy about. I'm not
happy about any trouble I'm in. But I'm happy about what it's doing,
it's not a waste in my life because I'm a child of God. Vance Havner
told a story of a small town in the south who's livelihood was based
entirely on cotton growing. These people grew cotton, picked cotton,
bailed cotton, and they were eecking out a living at it. They weren't
rich, but they were getting along. Then disaster struck the
community when the bollweaval's invaded. And they began to
destroy these little cotton plants. And they invaded the whole area,
and they infested the fields and threatened to destroy everything.
Financially, most of the people thought they'd be ruined. As it
turned out, though, the farmers by this disaster began switching
crops from cotton to other crops like peanuts and crops that weren't
vulnerable to the bollweaval. And these crops also that they had to
switch to, they discovered, yielded a much greater return on their
investment and their labor. Actually, what happened was these new
crops brought such an undreamed of prosperity to this town, that
to show their appreciation, they raised a monument to the
bollweaval. [laughter] And to this day, in that little southern town,
that monument with the bollweaval on it, is standing. As the people
said "Thank God that the bollweaval came to destroy our crops.
Because of this we planted in a new direction, and we have become
well-off." Trouble in God's hands produces something. Trials,
trouble and suffering can produce things in your life that nothing
else can produce. That's why God allows them. Now he does not
get a kick out of seeing you cry. He doesn't get a thrill out of seeing
you suffer. But he does get a thrill out of seeing that raw ore turn
into 24 karat gold. And that's what trouble does in our lives.

One Key Thing Trouble Produces, Endurance

And so we're told now in Romans, going back to Romans, chapter 5.

And we'll look at verse 3, “and not only this, but we also exalt (or
rejoice) in our tribulations.” Is he out of his mind? Did he get hit
with one too many rocks? ‘We exalt in our tribulations?’ Well the
word in Greek is very powerful, it has the meaning of “shouting for
joy.” It has the meaning of “jubilation.” We might say “Joy to the
max!” How many of you rejoice that way? You call up your friends,
‘Hi, I'm so excited, I'm so thrilled about what's happened! The doctor
said I've got five weeks to live!’ ‘You invite your friends to come over
for a party’ -- what for? ‘We've lost everything!’ [laughter] ‘We're
broke. It's pot luck for that reason. We have nothing left. Wow, we're
so excited, we're just rejoicing in this!’ Call the men with the little
[white] jackets. But really, that's what the Bible says. “Count it all
joy my brethren when you encounter various trials” James 1
says, “knowing that these troubles produce in your life.” Peter
says the same thing. He says, ‘Hey, hang in there a little while
you're suffering, because God is working this gold ore into the
real 24 karat stuff.’ We rejoice in our sufferings because we know
what suffering and tribulation produces. It's not because we're a
bunch of sadists or masochists, and it hurts so good. I don't rejoice
in the pain, but I rejoice in the product. He says it produces, verse
3, tribulations produce perseverance, or as one translation says,
endurance. Or the King James Version says “patience.” The word
"endurance" here means "to stay under pressure." Oh, it was a
military term to begin with, that was a word for a soldier who
stayed in his spot in battle, no matter how heated the battle
became, he stayed in place. [Watch "The Band of Brothers", Part
7, "The Breaking Point" tape (about the battle of Foy), showing the
frozen fox-hole emplacements they held onto despite repeated
German barrages of 88's and 105's they had to endure, and "stay in
place -- holding the line." That describes this kind of endurance
that's being talked about, developed by our trials. It puts it into
flesh and blood perspective in graphic living color what this word
endurance, Greek for "holding the line", meant. And some of those
men are still alive, elderly vets who endured under extreme pressure
to pay for our present freedoms. Another military movie which
graphically shows this, a true WWI story, is titled "The Lost
Battalion". Men that physically endure and hold the line do develop
a special character that stays with them for their entire lives.
Tremendous spiritual types jump off the screen here. There's
tremendous physical character exhibited for us by the examples of
these soldiers. The type transfers directly over into our lives, by this
Greek word Paul used for endurance. We're all in a war-zone. We
all live on a planet infested with demons under Satan's command,
and they're all at war with God and all of us who are God's -- that's
us folks! We've been called -- every Christian who has been born-
again from above -- into a spiritual war-zone. Planet earth is a
spiritual war-zone. If you doubt me, just read the news closely for
a week. We are more literally soldiers of Jesus Christ than most
would want to admit, and we must develop the character of a good
soldier. I would highly recommend Brian Brodersen's booklet
Spiritual Warfare, but for some reason it’s been taken out of print
from the Calvary Chapel lineup of booklets, you might ask them why
these "Calvary Basics Series" booklets are no longer available.] And
when the pressures are on, and the troubles are coming at you, you
stand firm, endurance. It means "to stay under." It sounds to me
almost like what happens to a piece of coal, as it stays under
tremendous pressure and tremendous heat it turns into a
tremendously valuable gem [a diamond].

Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never,
Never, Never, Never

Near the end of his career Winston Churchill was invited to speak at
the commencement of his Alma Mater. The young graduates were
in hushed expectancy as this heroic giant of a statesman rose to
speak. Every eye in the auditorium was fastened on Churchill.
Though he was just a little over five feet tall, he was a giant in their
eyes, for he had led Great Britain triumphantly through one of her
greatest crisis. Everyone waited expectantly to hear what this man
after years of experience, years of knowledge, would say to these
young graduates. And I'll tell you what they heard, they'd never
heard anything like it before, and they'd never hear anything like it
again. And I'll give you his entire speech. “Young gentlemen” he
said, "Never give up, never give up. Never give up. Never, never,
never, never." And with that he sat down. God is saying the same
thing to us. Children, never give up. Hang in there. Let the trouble
work in your life what nothing else can do that works in the hanging-
in-there-ness. That doesn't happen when we're in the good times,
when there's some lovely person peeling grapes and popping them
into your mouth, fanning you with ostrich feathers--just doesn't
cause endurance in your life, it doesn't. But the hard times do. Real
Christian faith has never been destroyed by trouble. It is developed
by trouble. Do you understand that? Real Christian faith has
never been destroyed by trouble, it's developed by it. [You might
say here, to be more accurate, the faith the Lord places in us is
developed into, transformed into, battle-hardened endurance.]
Every piece of film to be developed, to have that image perfectly
reproduced-what happens to it?-it has to go into a "dark" room. We
call it that, a darkroom. And I tell you, for the image of Christ to be
reproduced in our lives, if you want to be more than a black & white,
upside down negative, you've got to go into dark times too. You've
got to go into God's developing room. And there, chemicals of God's
will, and God's permission will be applied to your life, and the result
will not be a disaster. It won't be an explosion, it will be the image
of Christ reproduced in your life. We won't ever be given more than
we can endure. Remember 1st Corinthians 10:13 said “No
temptation has overcome you, but such as is common to man,
and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond
what you are able to endure, but will with the temptation
provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure.”

Your Troubles Don’t Come To Trash You, They Come To

Burn Off The Things That Are Binding You

A week ago I was supposed to be on this little vacation, relaxing, and

I woke up in the beauty of Flagstaff with a migraine headache. I've
never awakened with one. The pain was so severe that as I got up
fighting nausea, not able to open my eyes and to move them, I felt
like someone had stakes in my eyes. I sat in that chair because I
couldn't lay my head down, Leslie was rubbing my head, it hurt to
rub my head, it hurt not to have her rub my head. And I told you,
“You know, I wish I could just pass out.” And I was thinking, ‘God, I
know you're in control, and I know you love me, I don't understand
why this has to be, but if you want me to pass out right now, it would
be really fine with me. You said you wouldn't give me more than I
could endure.’ A few moments later the medication I took began to
take effect. For six months I've been passing kidney stones. I mean,
if they were gold, or diamonds or rubies, I'd be independently
wealthy. I watch some of you go through your sufferings and trials,
I watch my wife go through her trials, I watch my kids with the
battles they have physically, and I can honestly say, I trust God.
You know, I'm not just talking as some guy who never had anything
bad happen to him. God's OK, and his work is good. And it hurts.
But you know, the only nice thing about all of the trouble is that,
hey, it's working something in all of our lives that we'd never have
before. And we need to know that we never get tested alone.
Hebrews 13:5 says “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And
I think of Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
there in Daniel chapter 3. They were very involved in the
government, and the king, out of his mind, basically, had
commanded a huge image be put up in the plain of Babylon [Dura],
and that all the people gather out there, the officials of the country,
and that they bow down when the music started playing, they all
bow down before his image and worship him. And you know,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were good men, they were godly
men, they weren't about to bow to an idol. They worshipped the
Living God. And it's interesting to me that that's what got them in
trouble. It wasn't sin in their life. It was just being a follower of
God. “All those who live godly in Christ Jesus [Yeshua
haMeschiach] shall suffer” the Bible says. You're gonna suffer.
And so they didn't bow the first time the music played, and the king
said, ‘Look, if you guys don't bow, you see this furnace over
there?’ ‘Yeah, I see it.’ ‘Well, we're heating it seven times
hotter than it's ever been heated, and that's where you're
going!’ ‘We're going to have roasted Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego if you don't bow.’ And they said, “Oh king, live forever,
you're very great, but we serve the Living God, and we can't bow
down to you, and our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
out of our hands and from the fiery furnace, but even if he
doesn't deliver us, we're not going to serve you and bow down
to you.” Well, the music played again, the king was so enraged the
Bible says that his countenance changed, his face changed he was
so mad, ‘Seize them! Throw them in!’ So they threw them into the
fiery furnace. It was so hot that flames leapt out of the fiery furnace
and killed the two men that threw them in. They bound them hand
and foot, threw them in fully clothed. And the king said ‘That's
what happens to people who don't bow to me.’ And that's sort
of the way the devil is, you know. God allows him to do things to
our lives, God allows it. God allowed that. And the king of this
world, Satan you know, the god of this world -- Jesus called him
that -- he thinks ‘I've triumphed now, they're in the flames now.’
“Wait, wait, wait, what's going on here? How many people did
we throw in the fiery furnace?” the king asked. “We threw three
in, your majesty.” “Then why do I see four, and the fourth one
looks like the Son of God!” I'll tell you why, because Christians,
God's children don't go through trouble alone. You can't enter into
the fiery trial without Jesus Christ, the Son of God standing right
there with you. And he said “Why do I see them lose and walking
about?!” Because I tell you, the fire for a Christian ain't as hot as
for a non-Christian. I'll tell you, when you're a Christian, God takes
your troubles, and rather than consuming you and burning you to
ashes, all that was consumed, when he called “Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, you come
out of there. Come here, I want to talk to you.” He didn't call
the fourth One, did he? [laughter] Interesting. ‘And you, the Son of
God, you stay there.’ They came out, and they were loosed and
walking. How were they thrown in, gang? Tied up. The people
looked at them, “Man, their clothing's not even singed, their hair
hasn't even been scorched. There's not even the smell of smoke
on them!” (I wish that could happen to me when I go into some
restaurants. Don't you?) “There's not even the smell of smoke
on them.” The only thing's that have been burned are the ropes
which had bound them. You see the purpose of trials, gang, is not
to destroy you, how stupid that would be of God. Why, he redeemed
you with his blood. He bankrupted heaven, so to speak, to purchase
your salvation. How silly to trash you. Your troubles don't come to
trash you. They come though to burn the things that are binding
you off. They come to loose you, to free you. Sometimes it's self
that's getting burned. Sometimes it's pride that needs to be burned.
Sometimes it's disobedience that needs to be burned. [Disobedience
to what? God's will is expressed in his law, the spiritual mirror we
are supposed to use to cleanse ourselves (cf. James 1:22-23), under
the power and help of the indwelling Holy Spirit.] Or some other
work of the flesh that needs to be burned out of our life. But I'll tell
you, God doesn't mean any of the trouble you're in right now to
destroy you. No way. It's really to make you into the purest of pure.

God’s More Concerned About What’s Happening

Inside You Than Outside Of You, Get An Eternal
View

It says, going on in chapter 5 of Romans, verse 3-4, "tribulation

brings about perseverance-endurance, and endurance brings
about proven character." The word proven character here
comes from a word that means "to smelt metal, to refine gold ore, or
metal ore." We could say ‘And perseverance brings about 24
karat character.’ ‘And 24 karat character brings about’ --
what? – “hope” in verse 5, “And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us.” God's whole purpose in our life is
that all these things will work together a greater glory for us. You
know, the process is to make us more like Christ. But God will
reward you for going through the process. Isn't that silly? I mean,
we ought to be like Christ anyway. But then God, when you go
through the troubles, he rewards you. And one last verse in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16-17, “Therefore we do not lose
heart.” So often that's about what you do, isn't it? -- just about lose
heart. “But though our outer man is decaying” -- when you hit
your 30s it starts, you begin decaying. Sort of a weird way to put it
Paul. Why did you have to say that? But you do begin, your hair
starts falling out, teeth start falling out, memory starts falling out,
stomach muscles start falling out [laughter], the chest sags, oh man
-- “though our outer man is decaying” -- we're all just sitting here
decaying! What a picture -- “yet our inner man is being renewed
day by day.” God's much more interested in what's happening
inside you than he is outside of you. OK? So if you don't get healed,
just remember, God's more concerned about what is happening
inside than outside. Sometimes the outside affliction that's affecting
the decaying body is having such a tremendous impact on the
inside, that God would be crazy to not allow it to continue. I mean,
it really is doing a work in your life -- and wait, don't turn me off! --
because when you stand before God, you see, you're going to get
rewarded for what God has been doing in your life through that
affliction. The next verse says that, look. “For our momentary
light affliction” -- now I know, that is offensive to some of you --
“How dare you call what I'm going through momentary [or light], I've
been going through this thing for 15 years! HOW CAN YOU CALL IT
LIGHT?! Have you been what I'm in?” We'll it is encouraging to know
that the guy who wrote this went through more than all of us
combined as far as trouble is concerned. But the reason he calls it
momentary and light affliction is because Paul is seeing things in
eternity's perspective. He's saying, ‘The problem with you guys is
you're seeing everything right now in the tunnel vision of the
here-and-now.’ He says, ‘Hey, look beyond see-level. Get your
eyes up and look at things that are seen by faith, and you'd
realize this stuff is all working for your glory to come, a
reward to come.’ Look, he says, “For our momentary light
affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far
beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which
are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things which
are seen are temporal” -- temporary -- “but the things which are
not seen are eternal.” Get an eternal view. And rejoice in your
troubles. Throw a party. Throw a ‘we're losing our house party’ and
invite us all over. I'm not kidding. We ought to, I told the last
service, I said “I think in a couple weeks, we're going to throw a
trouble party.” Oh, the superstitious won't come. They'll be afraid
if they come, trouble might happen. But I mean, would you go? I'd
go. I got things to celebrate. How about you? And we'll put balloons
in the place, and streamers, we'll deck out that fellowship hall over
there, inaugurate it with a "trouble party" and we'll rejoice. We'll give
our testimonies. And we'll just give God praise -- the praise that
really counts, because when things are falling apart and you praise
God, I tell you, that's awesome praise. Amen?"

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly

we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that
far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”
(2nd Corinthians 5:16-18)

[This is a transcript of a sermon given by Pastor J.

Mark Martin of Calvary Community Church, P.O. Box
39607, Phoenix, AZ 85069]