Faith, Peace, and the Purpose of Tribulation

Let’s Pray

We just spent the past several weeks looking at saved by faith not works or law

Last week we really dove into faith in Jesus not faith in promises or results

Today we begin Chapter 5 and from here on out there are some very difficult concepts to grasp and if you are going to grasp them first you need the Holy Spirit leading you and teaching you....we will talk about the Holy Spirit in detail next week.....and you need to understand that as a Christian there are two realities

First as a Christian, through the power of Christ Jesus you are complete. You are declared righteous through your faith in Jesus. You are fully accepted by God because of Jesus’ blood applied to your sin debt

Second you are a work in progress. You are to grow more like Christ each and every day

That is done by the Holy Spirit through obedience and discipleship

Those two, seeming opposite parts are reality because God is in it. You have to see and realize both positions in order to grasp the Truth that God has in store for us as we continue our journey in Romans

Let’s dive into today

Romans 5:1

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Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”

Remember justified is more than just as if I never sinned.....it has a legal part to it meaning just or innocent....much more than being acquitted but being innocent....never done it

Peace comes from a Greek noun prosperity, one, quietness, rest, set as one again

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again right standing with God through Jesus

seems to be pretty important to God so it must be pretty important to you

I want to pause here for a minute and say this

Word origins and study are so very important in Bible study and walking in the newness of life as a Christian

so many times we see a word and assume that today’s meaning is the same as the original

that would be a horribly incorrect assumption most of the time

take peace here

dictionary.com defines peace as freedom from disturbance, state or period in which there is no war or war has ended, tranquility

Notice the Greek doesn’t mention anything at all about disturbance or war

no peace here is about relationship not absence of disturbance or war

Because you have faith in Jesus

Because He justified you with His blood

Because He paid your sin debt that stood between you and God

Because not only are you saved and forgiven and free but you have peace....oneness with God

Sin destroys relationships...both human and with God

This has nothing to do with emotions but everything to do with position and presence

your position as a child of God allows you to enter into His presences as one with Him

unity

your position as child of God allows you to enter into and rest in His presence

John 14:27

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John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

same Greek word for peace as in Romans

This is peace in spite of disruption

this is peace in spite of conflict

this is peace in spite of war

this is peace in spite of circumstances and situations

this is peace within the chaos

why

Because it doesn’t depend upon circumstances but relationship

you have peace with God because you have Jesus as Lord and Savior

it is all about faith not works

it is all about relationship not religion

Romans 5:2

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Romans 5:2 “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Grace Greek noun meaning acceptable, benefit, favor, gift

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In other words getting what you do not deserve

because of faith not works we have access to grace....getting what we do not deserve

because of our sin we deserve death

because of our sin we deserve hell

because of our sin we deserve eternal separation from God

but

because we put our faith in Jesus we get life

because we put our faith in Jesus we get heaven

because we put our faith in Jesus we get eternal relationship with God

Our faith brings us into peace

our faith brings us into oneness with God

We gain God’s grace

Because that is true we are also able to be bold in our relationship with God

Ephesians 3:12

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Ephesians 3:12 “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”

your faith in Jesus gives you boldness because you are delivered from your past

you are delivered from your past sins

you are delivered from your past beliefs

you are delivered from your past life

Bold because it is Jesus who delivers not you or your works

you have access to confidence by faith in Jesus

Confidence comes from Greek noun meaning reliance, trust

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again not of you but of Jesus

you can rely upon Him

you can trust Him fully in faith

He is your hope

Hope Greek noun meaning expectation, faith

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Your hope is not in heaven

your hope is not in church

your hope is not in your pastor

your hope is not in your works or ministry

your hope is in Jesus

that He is who He says He is and that God did what He said He did in raising Jesus from the dead

I Corinthians 15:14

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1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”

If God never raised Jesus from the dead this is all pointless......sin and death and grave and world and satan and your flesh have not been defeated if Jesus is still in that tomb and no matter what we do hell is our final destination

our faith is not in vain because God did raise Jesus from the dead....that is our hope!!!!!!

Romans 5:3-5

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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.”

I want to make sure you get this

not in a catchy t-shirt type of way

but in a change your perspective and life type of way

We Glory comes from Greek verb meaning to boast , joy, rejoice

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Tribulations comes from a Greek noun meaning pressure, afflicted, anguish, burdened, persecution, trouble

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you are to boast in your pressures

you are to boast in your affliction

you are to boast in your anguish

you are to boast in your burdens

you are to boast in your persecution

you are to boast in your trouble

God doesn’t want you to be miserable

no you and I do not boast in the pain or the tragedy but in the process

so many people see this list

pressure

affliction

anguish

burdens

persecution

trouble

and see nothing but negative.....you need to change your perspective

you should see things that will require you to endure and will be painful but things that God will use to grow you

all of these things work patience

Patience comes from Greek noun meaning cheerful endurance, constancy, patiently waiting

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Every day....many times a day you have your patience tried

rejoice because God is working on you

so many times you and I get caught up in the emotions and therefore we miss the process

God doesn’t enjoy seeing you suffer

God didn’t enjoy seeing Jesus suffer

No He loves you so much that He refuses to allow your suffering to go to waste

When you face tribulation...again tribulations are usually caused on purpose to harm you

when you face tribulations and rely upon God it builds patience as well as faith

so many times when you face patience you don’t look to cheerfully endure

no you grumble

you complain

your gripe

you look for a way to make it stop

and when you do those things you miss out on the work God is trying to do to you

why

because your faith is again in situations and circumstances and you not in Jesus

If your faith is in Jesus you see tribulation as a good thing

God is building patience through the tribulation

cheerful endurance

that cheerful endurance then builds experience

Experience comes from Greek noun meaning trustiness, proof

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When you cheerfully endure you see God working and that builds your trust

proves your faith in Him to be true

This is one of the most important reasons God calls us to testify

Revelation 12:11

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Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

you and I overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb.....Jesus and the word of our testimony

Humans have a sinful nature

humans by nature are rebellious

humans by nature have a hard time trusting without proof

we are so arrogant here in missouri we made it our state motto...the show me state....how dare we.....

testimony is one of the ways God gives others proof

people want to know if things are real

when you go online to buy a product you should if you don’t go to the reviews

what are reviews....testimonies about the product

I always start at the 1 star reviews and work my way up

people want to know how it worked for others before buying into it on their own

You have a story

You have experience

you have a past life

you are not proud of that past life and you do not brag about that past life

but it is important to talk about that past life so people can see that God is real

that God really does do what He says He does and changes people

that is why you testify

you give people your experience that God has given you

that experience then leads to hope

Hope comes from Greek noun meaning expectation, confidence, faith, hope

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That hope

expectation

confidence

faith

makes you unashamed of Jesus

makes you unashamed of God

makes you unashamed of Holy Spirit

because you know His great love for you

you know that Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did on the cross

you know Holy Spirit because He lives inside of you

because of that you are unashamed

you must live your life unashamed of God

speaking about Him

speaking about His Truth all day everyday

what do you do when you are faced with standing for God and His Truth or pleasing man?

do you compromise?

do you go quiet?

do you become ashamed

Do you see it

faith is so much more than belief

it is truly trusting in who God is and what He does

it is dying to self and living from Christ

Your hope is not heaven

your hope is Jesus truly came to this earth

your hope is Jesus lived a perfect life

your hope is Jesus willingly was beaten for you

your hope is Jesus became the sins of this world

your hope is Jesus died for those sins willingly

your hope is God raised Him from the dead and He is no longer in that grave

Jesus is your hope

that Hope is build by experience and that experience is built by patience and that patience is built by tribulations

Church we must stand on truth and quit being full and anxiety and worry and fear and see the process and trust the process because we have full faith in the one behind the process.......God Himself!

What situation

what circumstance

what relationship did God bring to your mind during the message today

what is He asking you to cheerfully endure so He can grow you

now is the time to talk to Him

Invitation