Let's turn together again tonight to the 12th chapter of Romans. I thought when we first entered the 12th chapter, we would get through quite quickly, and it's not been that way thus far. I've met pastors who preach through books and actually outlined their sermon for six months at the time. I don't know how they can do that so far ahead of time. I'm certainly not that organized. I can't seem to go from one week to the next and know exactly at all times what I'm going to preach. But we're in Romans chapter 12. We'll be looking at verse 12 tonight. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. New converts are often temporarily set back as they begin their new walk with the Lord Jesus and they encounter various difficulties. And often these young believers are a little troubled for they thought that things would be better in their lives since they have Christ as their Savior. Believers sometime in general are confused because of the harsh treatment that is afforded them and the church by the world. Don't they know that we love them? Don't they know that all we want to do is to help them and we mean them no harm and we want them converted and we just want to serve God. But yet, it seems the world, in spite of all of that, in spite of all of our good intentions, the world seems to be against us. Now what is the answer to these two difficulties? And hopefully we can see something of that tonight as we look at our text. In context, Paul is giving instructions in the book to believers in Rome, having in the first chapter set forth a marvelous explanation of the gospel, Now he comes to give instructions as to how the gospel believer is to live. God does not leave men to their own imaginations as to how we are to serve Him. And Paul is the least bit shy, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to tell his readers then, and even you and I tonight, how God expects us to respond in life to having come under the influence of the Gospel. Having made us, God certainly has rights to us, but having redeemed us by His blood, certainly, He has every right to demand of us as to how we are to live. As we opened verse 12 last week, we saw that first phrase, rejoicing in hope. And we said that believers certainly have a lot to rejoice in. As we look back, we can rejoice in sins forgiven. As we look forward, we can rejoice in hope. And I tried to point out to you that the great central thought of our hope would be that we would be able to be with the Lord Jesus, we would be with Him, the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the blessed hope. We should be the happiest people in all the world. Not the happiness that sometimes we get from the impression received by listening to some television evangelist, but joy unspeakable and full of glory, happiness in the depth of our soul. Tonight's text I want us to continue on in verse 12 and look at the second phrase, patient in tribulation. When we talk about rejoicing in hope, the apostle encourages us to look forward. But now, in the second phrase, we are instructed to look at the present world that we are in, rejoicing or being patient in tribulation. There is much in this world that would rob us of our joy that we have as we rejoice in hope. There was much that will rob us according to the realities of life in this matter of tribulation. Now the word tribulation is used a good bit in the scriptures. What do we mean by it? And there are several different ways that King James translates that Greek word in the New Testament. Affliction. anguish, another place persecution, trouble, and then in one place it translates it burdened. All different uses of the same word that is the word tribulation in our text. Literally it means that which puts pressure upon its object. That which puts pressure upon its object. And we're told that in ancient Greek times they had a tool called a tribulum that was used to crush the grain and bring flour from it. And this is the word that we get the word tribulation from. Now I'm not going to be talking to you tonight about the Great Tribulation. This is not the source of my intention tonight. We're not even going to even try to deal with something like that. We're talking about simply the tribulation that saints experience. First of all, let me say that every believer should expect to be subjected to spiritual tribulation. I'll give you three witnesses. The first one is the most reliable witness of all. the witness of Christ himself. Notice what he says about tribulation. He says it's essential. In several places it's mentioned in the Gospels, Jesus said, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. That phrase, take up his cross, has within it the connotations that the Christian life is a life that's often fraught with troubles and tribulation. It's a direct promise in another statement from our Savior when he said, in this world you shall have tribulation. He didn't say some of you Some of you might, or it's possible. It is a promise. When we think of all the great promises of our God, many of them wonderful promises. This also is a promise that we have to embrace. In this world, you shall have tribulation. And then Jesus said to his disciples there on the night he was betrayed, if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also. So we have this witness of Christ. And then we have the witness of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 14. He and Barnabas had gone through several churches, mainly Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, and they'd gone on to another church, and then the Bible says they returned to these churches. This was the reason as to why they returned. It says they were confirming the souls of the saints and exhorting them to continue in the faith and get this and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. He goes back to these churches. these newly founded churches, no doubt many new believers. And what's one of the first things he tells them? Because they are going to experience great tribulation. He says, this is essential. We must go through this before we enter into the kingdom of God. And writing to Timothy, evidently Timothy had gotten discouraged, and in the second letter of Timothy, in the first chapter, he says to Timothy, Be thou not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Paul was experiencing a display of tribulation. Paul was in prison. He said, Timothy, don't be upset, don't be alarmed, don't be ashamed about what's happening to me. But be prepared that you too may be partakers of the afflictions that are brought on by the gospel. Later on in that same letter, to encourage young Timothy, he says in chapter 3 and verse 12, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And indeed in Paul's own life, Certainly, as we read through the Book of Acts, we see how he was persecuted almost everywhere he went. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, there's a long listing of all or much of the tribulation that the apostle went through. He talked about being in prisons and being beaten and being in perils of water and perils of robbers and perils of his own countrymen and perils of the heathen and perils of false believers and on and on it went. Paul was an expert and the matter of tribulation. And so we see the witness of Christ, the witness of the Apostle Paul, and then there's the witness of Simon Peter. Simon says in his first letter in the second chapter, speaking to some who were in that particular church who were servants, he says, be subject to your masters with all fear. not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? Other words, if you do something that you need to be punished for, you should do it, you should take it patiently. He says, but if when you do well, and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. He's talking about spiritual tribulation. Then notice he goes on and says, for even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow in his steps. It should not come as a surprise to us, beloved, that The Bible testifies over and over and over again, either by direct word or certainly by example, that God's people, all of God's people, including God's Son, endured and will endure on this earth tribulation, if you please, great tribulation. And even in the book of Revelation, We see the saints of God persecuted chapter after chapter after chapter by the dragon as he pursues the seed of the woman, by the beast who makes war with the faithful witnesses, by the false prophet who gathers the world together in the battle of Armageddon. We should expect tribulation. Expect it. This tribulation which comes to us would be unbearable. We are no match for it in the strength of our flesh, but we have wonderful consolations from our Lord. We have, first of all, the presence, the promise of his presence, the promise of his presence. Now, I'm not talking about some kind of psychological mind game where we just sort of faith his, gotta have faith in, and not in the use of the way the world uses the word faith, not some way that we convince ourselves that somehow or another he is present. Like people often say when they talk about a dear departed one, you know, so and so was you sometimes see a football player or a sports player who says, you know, I was doing this for my departed father. I felt his presence. I felt his presence. We're not talking about that. We're not talking about that at all. But we're not talking about a feeling. We're talking about a fact. The fact of His presence with us. He's present here tonight. By His own promise, He's present. He said in Matthew 28 20 in the Great Commission, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world or the end of the age. Again, the writer of Hebrews quotes our Lord. In chapter 13 in verse 5, He says, our Lord said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. His presence. In the midst of all of our trouble, in the midst of all of our problems, we have the blessed consolation that our Lord is in fact, in spiritual reality, which is even more true than any other kind of reality, that He is present with us. He's with us. Paul, going to Corinth, and Corinth, as you probably know, is one of the most wicked cities in the world of that day and time. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, he reminds them, he says, I was with you in weakness and in fear much trembling. It was a difficult time. It was a time of tribulation for Paul when he went to Corinth and then later on we see something of his visit in Acts chapter 18. It says in verse 9 and 10, Then spake the Lord to Paul in a night vision. This is while he's in Corinth. Be not afraid but speak and hold not thy peace for I am with you. I am with you. Paul, don't worry, don't let this tribulation get you down. I am present. Christ is inseparably united with his people and he has promised to never leave us. Things that happen to us happen to him. He shares with us in all that we go through. We do not have to bear our cross alone for Christ is with us to help us. You remember in the latter part of Matthew when our Lord gave this wonderful dissertation on the matter of visiting the sick and those in prison and all of these things. And he said, in as much as you've done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. to me." You see, He's present with His people. He's sharing with His people the things that we experience. He said to Saul on the road to Tarsus, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? But he was only persecuting the people of God. But Jesus said, I am present with them. And what my people experience, I experience with them. I am present with them. Folks, that ought to be a comfort when we go through troubles and toils. If we know the Lord, we do not have to go it alone. For he has promised to be with us over and over. We have many places where this promise is brought forth to us. We do well to meditate. upon the fact of the ever presence of our Lord and our Savior. Did you get that Latin phrase this morning? I wrote it down. Coram Deo. Coram Deo. Everybody remember what it says? What it means? The face before the face of God. Before the face of God. You know, if Jesus were physically with us everywhere we went. Do you think it'd make a difference in the things we do? I think it'd make a difference in my life. Well, I don't have to. I know it would make a difference. But he's just as present. Really, he is. I remember as a little boy this time of year, My parents would expect they would do everything they could to get me to be a good boy. And they would encourage me that if you want to do well on December the 25th, you need to do well up until that time. And I would be as good as I could be for a month or so before the 25th, because they played it to the hills, you know, so and so is watching. And I don't put my brothers and sisters something seriously. someone seriously is with us, wherever we go, we have the promise of His presence, the promise of His presence. And in the time of our tribulation, we have, because of His presence, special fellowship with Him. Paul spoke in Philippians of the fellowship of His sufferings, and When we are going through tribulation, Christ is sweeter and closer and dearer to us than at any other time. Even when, Brother Granger, you said that you had a couple of days and you don't get sick often, but you were down a couple of days. I remember you said this morning, you don't appreciate your health until you get sick for a day or two. But I guarantee you, If you're like me and just about any other Christian, when you're laying on that sickbed, you sense something of the presence of the Lord, and you cry out unto God, and He's dearer to you, and you feel your need for Him even more, and He's sweeter to you. And so we have the wonderful consolation of His presence. But also with His presence, we have the promise of His peace. Wherever He goes, He brings peace. He is the prince of peace. The angels, as they announced his birth, said, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. In the midst of the storm, when the disciples thought that they were going to lose their lives at sea, where is Jesus? He's at peace with his father. He's asleep in the boat. My brothers and sisters, we also have the wonderful consolation In the midst of all of our troubles, we have the consolation of His peace. I'll make a confession to you. I have a tendency when things are not going smoothly and when things are just not working out and I can get rattled, Ms. Anderson can tell you that, distraught, and I can become anxious and unglued when things are not going right and not on schedule. That's a poor testimony, and that's a lack of faith. Perhaps when tribulation comes, it takes away your peace. It brings worry and anxiety. Perhaps for a while, you're filled with fear. Christ has come to bring peace. John 14, 18, he's preparing the apostles for them to, they're getting ready to go through a great tribulation like they never thought they would ever go through. And he says to them, I will not leave you comfortless, that means I'll not leave you as an orphan, but I will come to you. Later on in the chapter he says, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. None as the world giveth peace give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. The disciples were given the promise of peace. For Jesus said, I'll come and I'll bring peace. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God. You say, but Jesus didn't come, the Holy Spirit? There's only one God. Only one God. You say, but Jesus said He would be with Him, but yet the Holy Spirit? There's only one God. And I can't explain it to you. If I could explain the Godhead, I'd be something special. There's nobody ever been able to understand it, nor explain the Godhead. But Jesus said, I'll come to you. I remember Brother Keyes, our Old Testament professor, a godly man, from whom I learned a great deal and owe a great debt. He said, the Holy Spirit is the other self of Jesus. And that's not a good explanation, but he said it's the other self of Jesus. But when he says, when I come, I will bring peace. Now, the disciples didn't have peace in the upper room. Christ's death and ascension and they were left all alone. You remember they were filled with fear hiding in the upper room there in the first chapter of Acts and then in the second chapter Jesus came through the Holy Spirit of God and peace and bravery flooded their souls. Their hearts have been gripped with fear and now they are filled with peace and they're ready to die for Him. We need to consider the testimony in the Scriptures of the saints of God facing great tribulation and how in the midst of persecution and tribulation they had peace. Think of Stephen, the first martyr. Stephen didn't cry, oh have mercy on me, save me from this death. Stephen simply committed himself into the hands of God. I submit to you that Stephen, even while he was stoned, was not afraid but he had peace the Bible says that James was martyred and immediately after that Simon Peter was taken a prisoner and they put him in jail and there in the middle of the night as the church prayed for Peter Peter is asleep James had just been martyred What do you think they planned to do with Simon Peter? No doubt, martyr him as well. He had to have that on his mind. But he knew something of the presence of the Lord. And that presence brought peace. And he's asleep. And it's almost humorous when the angel came, he had to smote him, he had to shake him, he had to hit him to wake him up. A man who might be sleeping his last night in this world and ready to die a horrible death. ready to face great tribulation. But he had the consolation of the presence of God, which brings the peace of God. The Apostle Paul, near the end of his life, spoke of peace, even in the face of death. A familiar passage, he said, for I'm ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. That doesn't sound like a man that's about to die, does it? That's afraid to die. A man who was facing the greatest tribulation that we'll ever face in this world. The tribulation of death. And he had peace. Earlier, he would be able to say to the Corinthian church, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? In Revelation, those overcomers of the dragon the devil himself. It says they loved not their lives unto death. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11. What does that mean? A modern paraphrase puts it this way, and I think it probably catches the spirit of what is meant. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. And so we see marvelous consolations from the Word of God in the midst of tribulation. We have His presence, We have the peace that His presence brings, and we have the knowledge that that which comes into our life is a part of God's plan. It's not that tribulations come upon us just in the course of the worldly things, and the Lord says, I see that you've got a rough road to travel, and I'm going to be there with you, and I'm going to help you through it. It's more than that. That would be good, that would be great, but it's far greater than that. He actually sends those tribulations our way. He ordains the tribulation. Romans chapter 11, the very last verse, it says, for of Him, And through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Powerful examples of this, too, in the Old Testament. We think of Joseph. Joseph talking to his brothers, he says, concerning all that they had done to him. And Joseph went through great tribulation, wouldn't you agree? He says, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And you look up the Hebrew that's translated meant there and it means ordained or planned. God ordained it for good. All that Joseph went through was part of the plan of God. Job was certainly a man who went through tribulation. But do you realize that Job's tribulation actually came from God? He used Satan as his weapon Satan couldn't touch him. Satan couldn't do anything. And Satan got permission from God. And God instructed him as to what he could not do and what he could do. So ultimately, God is the one who planned it all out. In the New Testament, we think of Simon Peter. The Lord said to Simon Peter, He said, Simon, Satan has desire to have you that he might sift you as wheat. But I prayed for you. I'm going to let Satan do some things to you. I'm going to let him sift you. I'm going to let him work on you. I'm going to let him bring tribulation. But I prayed for you. And when you're converted, when you go through all of this, strengthen the brethren, our tribulation is the plan of God. I'm so glad it is. You say, what kind of God would do that? I'm glad that God's in charge of our tribulation. I'm glad it's not left up to Satan. I'm glad it's not left up to man, but it's left up to a merciful, kind, and wise, and loving God. Joseph, when he numbered foolishly and sinfully, not Joseph, but Daniel, David, when he numbered the people, and it was a sinful thing, then the seer came to him and Can't think of the seer's name now. He gave him three choices as to what his punishment would be. And David said this, he said, let, and I'll just put it in my own words, let me fall into the hands of God and not into the hands of man. For the Lord, for his mercies are great. Psalm 103. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knoweth our frame that we are dust. In the New Testament he says, with every temptation he will make a way of escape. There are wonderful consolations in the midst of our tribulation. The consolation of his presence, The consolation of the peace that comes with His presence. The consolation that all that happens to us is a plan of God. That God has ordained it. God has designed it for us. And then there's the consolation that we are given as we look at the scriptures, some insight into the many purposes of God in sending this our way. And I'll quickly cover these and we'll be out of here pretty soon. First of all, certainly, We understand that tribulation causes us to be homesick for heaven. The Apostle Paul, having gone through all that he went through on several occasions, mentioned his great desire to go home. Are you homesick for heaven? Oh, that we would be more homesick for the things of eternity, for the great hope that we have Tribulation makes us to be homesick for heaven. Tribulation gives us a right perspective of this world, a fallen world, a world that's no friend of grace, a world that is an enemy of God and an enemy of God's people. We asked, why in the world does the world hate Christians? Boy, why in America? You know, you can run Christians down, you can slam them, but you can't say anything negative about Islam. Why is it that way? We are just naturally hated by the devil and all the devil's followers. Tribulation gives us the proper appraisal of this world. Tribulation, I've already alluded to it, we have intimate fellowship with our Savior. Tribulation is a means by which God sanctifies us and helps us to grow in grace. In Psalms 119 verse 67 it says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now have I kept thy word. Later on, in the same psalm, it says, it was good that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Some of you know Roger Seaman. Most of you probably do not. Jesse, you would know him. He taught in our school two or three years. Roger is a dear, dear soul and a believer. I believe Roger's just as saved as he can be. But Roger, about a year ago, came down with a very, very serious, serious disease. And when he came by the house and told me about it, I thought to myself, he won't live long. And he was by the house about two weeks ago, and he looks bad. And we had a long conversation, all about the Lord. And Roger told me this, he said, you know, I thank God for my affliction. I thank God for my affliction. He says, I'm closer to the Lord than I've ever been in my life. I didn't know I could be so close. He said, I have opportunities to witness to others like I've never had before. He said, and I generally, Brother Anderson, I thank God for my affliction. It is good, the psalmist said, that I was afflicted. My brothers and sisters, we think about the benefits and the purposes of our tribulation there'll be a glorious entrance into heaven. I don't have time to read the whole passage and I thought about the possibility of you looking it up but it says in 1st Peter chapter 1 that the trial of your faith being more precious than that of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. The trial of your faith will produce praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. A glorious entrance into heaven. No one wants to go to heaven through the back door. There's no back door to heaven. We all must suffer Tribulation. Tribulation, sixthly, is a confirmation of our true identity. Hebrews chapter 12, the writer of Hebrews says, My son, despise thou not the chastening of the Lord. Now that word chastening is a very broad word. We think of it as, can think of it as punishment and certainly it could be that. But also, it's the word that's admonition. Bring your child up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. So, it's a broad encompassing word. It would include, obviously, the chastisement we receive for doing wrong, but also it includes tribulation and all those others. It's, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thy heart rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Every son. Again, the emphasis that none of us can escape this matter of the tribulation of the saints of God. And he goes on later on and says, if you do not undergo this chastening of the Lord, then you are illegitimate. You are not God's child. We're talking about the purposes of our tribulation and the greatest purpose of all is that it comes to us ultimately for the glory of God. For the glory of God. Tribulation is not an exciting thought. It's much more exciting to think about the blessed hope that awaits us to see Jesus in all that's before us. But we cannot live just on that. We have to face reality. And the Bible teaches that we all, through much tribulation, must enter in the kingdom of heaven. Now, two or three closing thoughts, and then we'll go home. We must not confuse one's natural abilities to handle adversity with this gift of God given to all of his children to be patient in tribulation. Some people have a marvelous natural ability to just roll with the punches, whatever Life throws to them, they're able to handle it. And there's an old saying, if you give me lemons, I'll make lemonade. And there are people who have natural abilities to do that. We see them on television all the time. Maybe there's someone who has a child that's born with a deficiency and they just seem to be happy and they just roll with it. And we are not talking about that. We're not talking about those who have personal sickness, personal tragedies, financial losses. But we're talking about a special gift of God. He gives us these things that bring tribulation. He brings them into our life. And as they come, He gives us the gift to overcome them, gives us the help. How do we know the difference? How do we know that we're not just those people who, well, we can roll with the punches, we can always see the glass half full, we always are positive, and so that doesn't necessarily mean that we're God's children. Because, you know, tribulation comes to everybody. Everybody has trouble. Everybody has financial woes. Everybody has family problems. Everybody has sickness. We all have that. How can we tell that we are God's people with special help from God? Three questions. Does God receive the glory in the midst of our tribulation? And does it humble us? Are we proud of the way we handle adversity? And we want to broadcast what we've done. Does God get the glory out of it? Secondly, is there a deep-seated trust in the midst of our tribulation in the promises and in the presence of God? In other words, do we go through it in faith, in faith, in faith alone? For without faith it is impossible to please Him. And then thirdly, does this particular trial or tribulation draw us closer to the Lord? For there is a difference between those who have the natural ability to handle adversity and those who are supernaturally endowed to do it by the Spirit of God. The second thought I would share with you is simply this. It's a question. Are we experiencing any trials or tribulations as a result of our faith in Christ? Think about that. Are we experiencing, have we experienced in the last year, any particular trials, any particular tribulations That would not be the common lot of all people, but would have come upon us because of our faith in Christ. Could be in the workplace, could be in your family. Are we doing that? Are we experiencing any? It's promised that we're to have them. Can you think of some way that you have suffered because of your faith? your testimony in the Lord Jesus Christ? And if not, why not? Could it be because you compromised Bible principles? Could it be because you have failed to witness? Because when you began to assert the claims of Christ and to suggest to someone that if you have not Christ, you're going to go to hell, that does not fit well with a lot of people. Could it be because of our general lukewarmness? But this is the question, a question that begs to be answered even tonight. Are we experiencing any trials? any tribulation that are the direct result of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The third proposition I would share with you as we close is simply this. It is only natural to shrink from any tribulation that may come our way. We're not like those folks in the Middle East who are wanting to go out and get involved in some jihad and die for the faith and be martyrs and have glory. We are not to look for that. It is only natural for us to shrink from the problems and tribulations of life. Did our Lord do that? In the garden? Didn't He pray? If it be possible, let this tribulation, this cup pass from me." He said, how could he do that? That's proof that our God was a man. That was the proof that He was humanity as well as deity. And as a man, as He suffered in our place, He had to go through all the things that we would have gone through. And He said, Lord, if it be possible. And He shrank from it. He shrank from it. It's natural to shrink from these things. But we need to beware. Beware. And if we can avoid it, we need to. It's only natural. But we need to avoid unlawful ways of avoiding tribulation. Our Lord had the opportunity as he was tempted of Satan in the wilderness. You don't have to go to the cross. You remember the three temptations. Our Lord was tempted to avoid in an ungodly way, if you please, an unlawful way. He was tempted to avoid tribulation. When we have to make a hard decision, Should I do this or should I do that? This will bring glory to God, but this is what I really want to do and this will be much easier. Folks, we must always do that which brings glory to God. It is only natural to shrink from difficult decisions that will cause us stress and strain and tribulation, but we must not do it. In the midst of our tribulation, we are to be patient. The word patient in tribulation, the word patient means to endure. It's the same word that Jesus used when he said, He that endureth to the end shall be saved. It means to abide, to stay in your place. You remember when Jesus was just a child and they came to Jerusalem and he said, and Jesus abided still in Jerusalem as his mother and father went away and it was a day before they discovered he wasn't. That word abided still is the same word that's translated patient. We need to abide in Christ. We need to abide in our place. We don't need to run, we don't need to try to avoid it unnecessarily. We need to understand that we are to be patient in our tribulation and He will make our trial and our tribulation a blessing. One day we'll be able to look back and all of us can look back and see things that we went through and we can say, It was good that I was afflicted because I've learned to trust the Lord and it brought me closer, closer to the Lord. We need to be careful that we do not use our trial as an excuse and our tribulation as an excuse to neglect our biblical duties as a believer. There are tribulations that come to all of us. There are tribulations that come to us directly as a result of our faith in Christ. There are tribulations that come to us that come to all people, all people. We must be careful not to allow tribulation to be an excuse for not serving God. Let it to be an excuse for not being faithful in our attendance, not being faithful in our giving, not being faithful in our private devotions. We say, well, something came up, something came up, and there's times that something unforeseeable could come up. We understand that. But it is wrong and it is wicked to allow tribulation and anguish and problems to interfere with our godly duties. And so this is a marvelous promise that we are to be patient in tribulation. And God will help us. He will help us. He's with us. He'll give us peace. He'll never allow us to be tempted or tried above anything that we can stand. And in time, may the Lord help us to be able to rejoice in these things. James writes, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers, and he uses the word temptation there, but again, that word temptation can have a broad, certainly we're not, we don't count it joy when we're tempted to sin, but it's a matter of trials and tribulations, count it all joy. For see, that confirms who we are. This is God's ordained it for us, it's going to make us better. We're going to be stronger when it's over with. And besides all of that, God will be near us in those times. And then let me say, and I planned in case we had some unconverted, I hope I don't have anyone unconverted here tonight, unknowingly unconverted, but let me say that this is a promise that is not for the unbeliever, patient in tribulation. For the unbeliever, the troubles of this world will only grow worse when you leave this world. It just came to my mind as we were coming into the church tonight before prayer meeting, and there was an old pop song. I don't know who sung it, but the implication was that, well, the song says, I won't live in a world without love. I won't live in the world. What you're going to do? You're going to kill yourself, I guess. I won't live in a world without love. And I got to think it. I have a great brain working, you know. You know, my friend, if you say, well, I'm not going to live in this world because there's no love in this world. I'm just going to leave this world. You go to a world where there's sure no love. Sure no love. My brothers and sisters, the promises that we find in Romans 12 are glorious promises. to you and I because we are children of God. But there is no promise in this chapter for anyone who is not God's child. We need to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh how we need to pray and we need to begin even in this season of the year to encourage others to come. We come tonight I challenge you to go home tonight and think of somebody who could have been here and call them and say, I missed you tonight. The Bible says we are to provoke one another to good work. Call somebody. And some people are sick. We know that they're sick. But whenever a member is not here, you know what? As small as that church is, we all ought to call and say, I missed you. Missed you at the table tonight. If you were to go, had a family and you were to go home and have supper or to go to lunch at the church and you looked around and your son wasn't there or daughter wasn't there, you'd wonder where they're at. We're all a part of God's family. And so we urge you to let's provoke one another to good works. And also during the season of the year when people are thinking, of the coming of Christ and even have something of a thankful spirit at the end of November. Let's encourage our neighbors and our friends to come to the house of God. Let's go out into the highways and the hedges, compel them to come and hear the gospel of our Savior. God's word needs a better hearing than what we have tonight. Needs a better hearing than what we had this morning. This place ought to be filled in the morning services. Tremendous messages. Tremendous messages. And nobody's here to hear them. And we can sit here and say, oh, they're missing. And they're wrong. People are wrong not to be here. But folks, we are just as wrong not to urge people to come. I put myself, I asked myself this question. You asked it yourself. Who, this week, did you invite to church? Me. That many. That's how many I invited this week. How many did you invite to come worship God with you this week? To come hear the glorious news of how you could have eternal life and receive the greatest gift, free. Did anybody invite anybody? I didn't do it. Boy, they ought to be here. That's true. But I ought to tell them. I'm ashamed. I ought to tell them. I ought to invite them to come. And you ought to as well. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for being at work in our life. We don't understand, Lord, all that You're doing. And Lord, sometimes when You send tribulation because of our weakness of faith, because of our inability, Lord, to understand, And sometimes, Lord, because you just want to keep us in the dark so we'll not know what's happening, we doubt you. We, Lord, get upset. We get anxious. We become wearied. Lord, we thank you that you have ordained the trials and every single problem to come into our life for a reason, to increase our faith, Bring glory to yourself. Oh, Father, help us to learn to embrace the cross. Help us, Lord, to realize that as we bear the cross, Lord, we are identifying with the one who bore it for us long, long ago. May we learn, Lord, may I learn to come to the place where Roger had come to when he says, I thank God for my cancer. Oh, God, I don't think I could say something like that right now. Help us, Lord, to be a more help me to be more of a person of faith that we could glory in tribulation. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for your promises. These things we asked in the name of our Savior. Amen. you