Working in a city where the defense industry is very large and huntsville, that means for some of you, you had to obtain a security clearance in order to work for your employer. That clearance gave you access or gives you access to classified information and restricted areas for which otherwise you would be denied access. For a couple of you, I even participated in your background check when I got a call asking me about you, things like your character, questions related to your loyalty to the United States, your honesty, your reliability, your discretion, sound judgment, things of that nature. Once you obtain a security clearance, you gain access, you're given the liberty to go in and retrieve certain information, to be in certain buildings and locations for which the rest of the public has no access. In Romans chapter 5, Paul is going to speak about another kind of access for which you need a security clearance. This clearance is not based on your character. It's not based on your honesty. It's not based on your reliability because we learned in Romans 3, you have none to offer. Nobody's good, not one. This access was for centuries denied. It was denied in the Garden of Eden with flaming swords of fire which Adam and Eve could never again gain access. It was denied at Mount Sinai with boundaries at the nether mount for as much as even a beast that would try to access the mount would be thrust through immediately with a spear and terminated on the spot. This access was denied by symbolism in the tabernacle, by the curtains which veiled the holiest of holies. And again in the temple, Solomon's temple, this access was denied by a thick veil which separated the holiest of holies from the rest of the people. Herod's temple, there was a court of the Gentiles for which a sign, a placard was posted, you go past this point and you will be terminated and killed. But now in chapter 5, We learn in verse 2, by whom also we have access. My title this morning is, By Whom We Have Access. Beloved, we have been granted access by and through the merit, the blood, the blood of of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now as Paul makes a transition here with the word therefore in verse 1, he's going to begin moving from the glorious doctrine we've been looking at, justification, imputed righteousness into sanctification. Gradually in chapter 5 and then chapter 6, he plunges us deeply into sanctification. In this transition, he's going to still talk about the grace of God as it relates to justification, summarizing it as it relates to Adam and what he did that passed upon all men. and what Christ did to His family, and that righteousness being imputed to us as well. In this transition, again in the first two verses, He's going to speak to us about the loftiness of this access, and then in verse three, He's going to transition to another kind of glory and rejoicing we're to do in light of this access, which is a bit puzzling on the surface, But we'll look more about glory and tribulation also. The word glory means exaltation. It's the same word in verse 2 for rejoicing. In other words, this access means we too should rejoice, exult. triumphantly in tribulations also. So let's look, first of all, we have access, according to Paul, by faith into this grace. We have access only by faith. Now he once again says we're justified by faith. We access Christ's righteousness by faith, we access the grace of God for which we could not access otherwise by grace through faith alone. Not by works, not by laws, we saw in chapter 3 and 4. Now think of this reality and the importance of this reality in terms of net worth. If you've ever had that experience where you had to fill out a financial document which they ask you your net worth, and you don't need a calculator to determine it, and it takes only a few seconds, and you sort of hide the paper in case someone's looking, and then you ask the person, are my privacy rights in order here? I don't want anybody to see this. Net worth is a key measurement of your worth. It's a key measurement of your worth. When you have certain assets that exceed your liabilities, your assets increase, your net worth increases. If your liabilities rise and your assets go down, your net worth decreases. And when the Bible speaks about the net worth of God, it says eternal riches, eternal glory. He's only in the asset column. No liabilities. His assets do not rise and they do not fall. He's infinitely, eternally glorious, beautiful, gracious, and all that God is. His net worth is always at the max. Now, if you try to approach God and gain a righteousness by a contribution to His net worth called works, It is highly insulting to God. This is why it is by faith alone, because any other system is going to try to contribute to the net worth of God and raise His assets and try to lower some of those liabilities that we may think He has. This is treasonous, treacherous, and why no man can access the holiest of holies by works, by law, by human effort, or by anything, only by faith. This is why Paul is so zealous in this book to talk about faith alone, faith alone, faith alone, which is all by the grace of God. Because anything else you are Suicidally trying to contribute to the net worth of God. That's an impossibility. That's why God arranged it by faith alone. You don't get into the holiest of holies unless you have faith in Christ. Because any other system is trying to make a contribution. Now this is what faith does. God giving faith and accessing grace. Faith, first of all, looks at itself and says, zero net worth. I don't have any. Nothing in me can I contribute. There is nothing about me, no works, no goodness that's there. It comes to that realization. Secondly, faith then sees the net worth of Christ on the cross. Fullness of glory. Fullness of love. Fullness of mercy. Fullness of grace. It's just fullness. It's all there. It's complete. But then faith does something else. Faith does make one contribution, not a contribution of works, a contribution that must be made in order to connect yourself with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that contribution that you must make in order to get to the holies of holies is this, you contribute your need to God. You contribute your emptiness to God. You contribute your neediness, Jesus says, because they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Go and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice, because I have come to call not the righteous, not the whole, not those that have no need, but the needy sinner to repentance. Because your need that comes from faith in the glory of Christ magnifies and exalts the sufficiency and the net worth of God alone, and that is what God is after. any other way, any other contribution other than neediness, and you'll never enter into the Holies of Holies, because you don't need to go there. You're okay. You've got your works. You've got yourself. And so, beloved, this glorious access we have by God-given faith is accessing God's net worth by seeing, I need it, I don't have it, I glory in it, I treasure it, I love it. And so God is glorified by our salvation through faith alone. But furthermore, faith also gives us access to peace with God. Verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, faith receives that righteousness, the net worth of Christ. Faith gains access into grace, but following righteousness in verse 1, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what you need to know about this peace, it's not subjective. It's objective. There are times when we don't have peace because worry floods our soul. Anxiety pushes it out. And it's based on a subjective kind of how we're doing at the moment. This is not peace from God. This is peace with God. It's a possession of peace that does not change because it's outside of us. Something happens so decisively that our position with God was changed from opposition and enmity to reconciliation forever. It's forever, it doesn't change. You have the possession of peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now note it does not say you have peace with the devil, or peace with sin, or peace with the flesh, or even peace in some of your relationships. It says you have peace with God. What happened that was so decisive to bring us into the possession of peace that does not change? Isaiah 32 verse 17. Of course, it says the Lord Jesus Christ here. Looking back in Isaiah, here are the words, and the work of righteousness shall be peace. Peace always follows righteousness in the Bible. It's always connected with righteousness. In other words, if righteousness comes, it produces peace with God. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Now what needed to be quieted? in order for the work of righteousness to produce peace. The word quiet is, as you might think, silence, rest, ease, stillness, but it also means appeasement. You know, the word appeasement has all those elements in it. When someone is appeased, what follows is ease, stillness, quietness, contentment. Beloved, you did not need to be appeased. It was God. In Christ, the wrath of God has been spent. It has been exhausted. There's none left on behalf of those who are in Christ. It's totally evacuated. It's gone forever. There's no wrath left in God for you if you're in Christ Jesus. It's reserved for those that are outside of Christ, and there's much of that for them. But for you as a believer, his wrath is spent, done, gone, satisfied, decisive. What's the work of righteousness? Peace with God. He won't fill up the tank of wrath again, He doesn't move wrathful out of wrath with you, He's forever content, appeased, spent, satisfied as it relates to His wrath. That peace can never ever change. He will never change that position. with you. And so often the peace that we struggle for subjectively within our souls, the peace that guards our souls is rooted in the fact there's a peace in God that doesn't change. So we direct our thoughts to that peace, the satisfaction of God in Christ that helps us with the peace that we struggle with day to day. You have access to the possession of peace by the blood of Jesus Christ. And just like your justification doesn't change, peace never changes, that relationship of peace because decisively His wrath is over for you. It's finished. Your father can be displeased with you. Your father can chasten you. But your father can never be in another kind of relationship with you forever except for peace. You have access to that permanent peace. Furthermore, it's a permanent standing and a permanent access with God. When Paul says we have access, access is perfect tense and stand is perfect tense. Now you remember the perfect tense means a completed past action that never needs to be repeated. with continuing results. You have a permanent access that is decisive and finished, and you have a permanent standing that's over with and never to be changed or to be repeated. The continued results is you keep having access to God, but through the Lord Jesus Christ by whom you have access, you've obtained it. Past is done. There's never a time where God says, denied access. He will not revoke your clearance. He will not change your clearance. He will not lose your security clearance because it is, perfect tense, done forever, forever. That's a wonderful access. Think of it like a boat moored to a dock. The status of the boat changes with the waves, status meaning condition, progress, like the status of a project is moving, where is it? The boat can be moving. The boat needs to be renewed, repaired, remodeled, cleaned, waxed. Oil changed, all that status is moving. But the boat is forever moored to the dock of the rock-solid righteousness of Christ. It never moves. So Paul's not saying, look, today you stand in this grace, but tomorrow, I don't know where you're going to stand. I mean, you may have to stand by works, you may have to stand by the law. You're forever standing in a position of grace and the boat doesn't move from that standing ever, ever. Your sin can't change it, your attitude can't change it, your emotional state today cannot change the mooring of the boat. It is forever tied to the blood of Jesus Christ. Permanent. Done. Forever. What subjective peace that can give you, the peace that we struggle with to know that tomorrow you don't have to wake up and God loose the cord on the dock. Tomorrow you have to wake up and you don't know where you stand with God. You always stand by faith in Christ and this standing is permanent. This access is always permanent. It never changes. So are you experiencing the continued result of the perfect tense which is You're accessing it. See, the status is changing because you can keep moving in. You can keep drawing near. You can access God. You can go into the holiest of holies. Right? Hebrews chapter 10 verse 20 or 21, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. by a new and living way that He hath consecrated for us through the veil," that is to say His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near, let us gain access, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. You know what that text is saying? God goes on record to say, I want you to be confident in your approach. Do not try to come before me trying to contribute your works to my glory. You will have no confidence in that. I want you to have confidence because you have a high priest. He paved the way. You can have a confidence and a boldness to come right into the holiest of holies, a place where no one can enter except that high priest once a year and not without blood. Through the blood of Jesus, you have a permanent access. You can go to God every day. You know, no limitations. You know, if you got a meeting with some people today and you went in once and you walked out and said, can I come back and talk to you some more, and you did that over and over, he would probably get frustrated. But God says, you can come to Me all day. Anytime you can think of Me, you can gain access. Every command that God gives in Scripture is a command that's rooted in drawing near to Him. That's what He's after, drawing near by faith. Hebrews 7, verse 19. For the law could make nothing perfect, but a bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw nigh or near to God." Jesus is the better hope brought in a perfection by which, a hope by which we can and should draw near to God. Your Father says, come to me. Your Father says, draw near to me. Your Father says, bring your troubles to me. Your Father says, you have permanent access. to me. And so we should be seeking to experience the ongoing result of a permanent reality for which the portal of God's grace, the access of God's grace will never shrink, it will never close up, it will never be denied. because of the value, we could say the net worth of the blood of Jesus Christ. But furthermore, this permanent access is into this grace, he says in verse 2, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace. What is this grace? Surely it's the grace of justification that he's been talking about, the grace of peace with God. the grace of this permanent access, but this grace here contextually is not the grace that's like a potion that God may pour out that we...like some magical thing. It's not the grace of a power, or a principle, or a practice, the grace here is the grace is referring to the glory of God in the latter part of verse 2. In other words, the word access means to gain admission into the presence of someone. That's the exact meaning of the word. So it's not gaining access to some thing that God does, necessarily. It means you have gained access to God Himself, as we just said, drawing near to God. God has made His glory accessible, and the aim of the gospel is for you and I to have hope in God, to have faith in God, and to have access to God Himself. That's part of the language when we hear in Scripture about hoping in the glory of God, hoping in the final presentation where God would say in Colossians chapter 1 through Paul, He would say, and you who were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled...there's peace...through the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. in His presence. Or Jude 24, now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory. Which means what? That's the aim of God. You have access into this grace which is the glory of God to see it, to know it, to taste it today. But then as Paul says, rejoicing in that future glory is one day the prayer of Christ in John 17, 24 will be fulfilled on your behalf. Father, I will also that they which Thou hast given me, the ones You gave to me, that they be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Jesus is saying, by my death and resurrection for which I will have power over all flesh and give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Me, those that you've given Me, I will by my death and resurrection request of God the Father that He allows those people that you've given to Him to see His glory, which means they'll need to be resurrected, which means God is going to fulfill that prayer one day. And so all this that Paul is talking about in justification and peace and access and standing into this grace is moving triumphantly, the word rejoice has the nuance of victory and triumph, exaltingly in a confident expectation of a guaranteed result that will bring us pleasure forever. It's the glory of God the Father. That's what you have been securely cleared to have forever. And that's glorious. But then now there's something else. Here's a transition at Paul. Paul, he sort of summarizes now, therefore, that all that he's been talking about in chapters 3 and 4 about the grace of God and what it's done for us for sinners who are ungodly, now almost effortlessly He says in verse 3, not only so, not only that as if we all are on board with Him, not only so but we glory in tribulation also. We glory. Now that word glory again is the same word for rejoicing. We rejoice, we glory, we boast in our tribulations. So before we even unpack what that means, the first thing we need to ask is, are you and I doing that? Are we exalting in tribulations? We need to know what tribulations are to begin to do that. That'll be the first question we ask. What are they? Secondly, we'll ask, why should we, Paul? Where are you coming from? Why should we do this? And then how does this happen? How does this happen? Paul is not saying that to glory in tribulation means you're rejoicing terminates with the tribulation. You know, there's a lot of words that follow here that's going to lead to an end, and that's what we're looking to, to rejoice. So it doesn't mean you have to now start today, I guess I haven't known this, I've got to now glory sort of in the tribulation as an end. That's not the end because he says glory is producing something, a tribulation rather. So he's moving to something, so he's not suggesting that we should glory and pain and suffering and all the word tribulation means. So first of all, what is tribulation? The Greek word is sclypsis which means to press, to compress. It comes from a root word, glibo which means to press together or crush, to squeeze. It was used of squeezing olives to extract oil, or squeezing grapes to extract juice. In ancient England, this word was used of criminals who refused to admit guilt when they were. They would place heavy weights on their chest to crush the life out of them. The literal word was thlipsis, same word for tribulation or pressure. Now I think Paul uses this word because with one word, he just took in every single pressure you have right now. He excluded no one here by such a vague, generic word. Whatever your pressure today, I can tell you by the authority of Scripture, God wants you to exult in it. If anybody would like to tell me a pressure you have that doesn't fit this word, please stand up and do so. See, from the most extreme crushing pressures to those small pressures that with me, you know, those seem to be the most difficult. They can knock me down the easiest. From the smallest to the greatest, tribulation is to be rejoiced in and exalted in. And so that...nobody's excluded here. Whatever your pressure is today, whatever it is last week or next week, this text, this Word is for you today. You should be glorying in some way in it. So what are some pressures that you may be experiencing? Financial pressures, marital pressures, parental pressures, school pressures, job pressures, disease pressures, sickness pressures, relational pressures, On and on and on we could go of the pressures that fall under the word tribulations. Whatever they are, because of Christ, God demands that by grace we start growing in exaltation in those pressures. So I think that's why Paul used the word, he just didn't leave anybody out here. Tribulations. Why should we do this, Paul? How does Paul just so effortlessly move into this tribulation as if everybody already knows this? I think because Paul's logic in verse 3 is connected with the latter part of verse 2. In other words, if we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, that's an easy one if you understand what I mean. Yes, I'm rejoicing in future glory. If we're to exult in that, then it stands to reason in Paul's logic, whatever increases my capacity for hope, I should then rejoice in it. Right? Where's tribulation going? Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope. Therefore, if tribulation is going to serve me in a way that it will increase my capacity to hope, it will thereby increase my capacity for rejoicing. Do you follow Paul's logic? You rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You have a confident expectation based on the death of Christ that the guaranteed result that he purchased for you is glory forever. If you're hoping in that glory, when tribulation comes and increases the capacity for hope, It should increase the capacity for exaltation and joy. That's his logic. That's why he just throws it out because he didn't stop with tribulation. He says, we're moving toward hope, we're moving toward hope. And if you get more hope in God, you just got more rejoicing in future glory. And that's the aim of God. That's why we should glory in where tribulation is going because it's going to more hope. Another reason we should glory in it is by the word knowing, knowing that tribulation is doing what? Working patience. So Paul says, we glory, we boast in tribulation, knowing that. So a key part of understanding what Paul is saying is this word knowing. Now, interestingly, the word knowing is also in the perfect tense. In some way, In the past, we've come to an awareness, an understanding, a recognition of this knowledge that has as a present tense form, it has an ongoing effect that we keep knowing it. We have to keep returning to this knowledge. What do we know about the gospel that reveals this reality about Tribulation? In other words, let me say it like this, the reason we glory in Tribulation The reason that tribulation is going to work towards hope, the reason the Holy Ghost in verse 5 is going to pour out the love of God in our hearts is because of verse 6, because when we were yet without strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Beloved, the gospel means, this is what we need to know about the gospel. is that God is going to use tribulation to serve your eternal good. That's the gospel message. That's inherent in the gospel. God's righteousness is satisfied, He's our God, and therefore because of the gospel, because of verse 6, because Christ died for us, God now is going to use every pressure Let me say it this way, every pressure you have is a blood-bought pressure to serve your eternal good. He purchased every pressure you will ever experience. Now look what that's going to do for you. Tribulation work is endurance. When you know this. when you know this. You see, if our relationship to God has changed, our relationship to God is now He's our Father and we're at peace with God. And God as our Father rules over everything, then our relationship to everything has changed decisively. Because our Father rules over everything for our eternal good. That's the gospel. Jesus came to purchase for you every single tribulation that you will ever have no matter how deep how hard how crushing it may be in order to serve to work to produce in you an eternal good Romans 8 29. What is the eternal good? Why do you say eternal good as if somehow? Jesus hasn't already purchased for us something complete Romans 8 29 Moreover, whom He did predestinate, whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to conform to the image of His Son. When God uses tribulation to conform you to the image of His Son, He's doing you an eternal good because whatever conformity you have to Christ in this life will carry over into eternity. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Every tribulation you experience is a gift of the ascended Christ, so that God would use that tribulation to serve the purpose of conforming you to Christ, which will then be for your eternal good, because it will carry over. You know, a lot of things won't carry over. 1 Timothy 4, verse 10. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness, because bodily exercise profiteth little. But godliness, holiness, conformity to Christ, is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come." Bodily exercise, good, okay, temporary. Now, young men, when God resurrects your body, He's not going to look at you and say, well, those are some pretty good biceps. I think I could use those. I'll put that on that new body. No carryover. Zero. Whatever health you have here, no carryover. Exercise. Don't get too consumed with your body. That's vanity. That's pride. That's self-love. have good health, zero carryover. He's not gonna use whatever health you have and give it to the resurrection body, zero. But godliness is profitable to everything now. It'll impact every part of your life. Exercise won't impact every part of your life. Now it'll make you feel good and maybe help you work a little more, but there are certain relationships and things that have no value, just a little extent. But godliness impacts work, family, marriage, church, everything, having a pledge of what happens now and that which is to come." Carry over. Whatever godliness God blesses you to grow in today, after death He's not going to say, I'm not going to use that. It's the same. It's holiness, that's where we're going. So the point here is that Christ died so that your Father would bring to you pressures in life that are designed to conform you to Christ and work and serve your eternal good. You know what that means? That means if you have a pressure that will never lift, you have a pressure that will never go away. It's God's design to give you that pressure as a gift, a tribulation, a gift to serve your hope, to serve your conformity to Christ. How is it going to serve it? Knowing that tribulation produces patience. You're knowing this about the gospel. You receive it as from a father's hand. If you were to have a kind of poverty that you cannot escape, you've tried and you cannot escape it. One financial setback after the other. It is a pressure designed by your father for your good, bought by the blood of Christ in order to serve your eternal good, knowing that tribulation is working. Endurance. If you have a debilitating sickness that will not lift, if you have any condition called tribulation and pressure, And God is going to use it to serve your eternal good by bringing you into conformity with Christ when you know that tribulation, crushing pressures, serve, produce, work, bring about, patience, experience, hope. And you'll never be disappointed in verse 5 with the hope because God will not leave you empty. He will not leave you hopeless. He is your Father. This is what the songwriter captures. In the wonderful hymn we sing, day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here, trusting in my Father's wise bestowment. Bestowment of what? Tribulation. I have no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best. He deems it best. Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day the Lord Himself is near me." You have access. "...with a special mercy for each hour. All my cares He feigned would bear and cheer me, He whose name is Counselor and Power. The protection of His child and treasure is a charge that on Himself He laid. As thy days thy strength shall be in measure." This is the pledge to you He's made. Help me then in every tribulation, every pressure, so to trust Thy promises, O Lord, that I lose not faith. Sweet consolation, hope offered me within Thy holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting," so you've got tribulation, toil, trouble, meeting, "...ere to take as from a father's hand." One by one, the days, the moments fleeting till I reach the promised land. Knowing that your tribulations are blood-bought, are you going to receive them as from a gracious Father's hand? If you do, you'll exult in tribulation because it's your Father's good hand. It's the death of Christ that purchased it. And while there's pain and toil and tribulation meeting, and while it's hurtful and sorrowful, you're taking it as from a father's hand because you know the gospel means God is going to use it to serve your eternal good. So if you don't get a temporal good here, and there are a lot of things people don't get as Christians, it's by design. Don't fight it. Don't be frustrated with God. Don't be angry with God and bitter with God. For everybody, tribulation does not work patience. It works bitterness. It works frustration. It works wrath. But when you know that tribulation, because of the gospel, produces endurance, when the tribulation comes, you endure. Because you know that your Father is caring for you and loving you and giving you exactly what He deems best for your case at a specific time in a specific place. So that's Paul's logic. That's why he just throws it in there based on the context and based on what he says later in Romans chapter 8 of what the gospel means. Do you know the gospel this way? Do you know the depths of the gospel in such a way that you, by the grace of God, can at a time of tribulation, with all the pressures and pain it brings, with tears flowing down your eyes perhaps, say, God is doing this for my eternal good. That's what Paul wants to remind us. Now, how does this work? That's why we should glory in it. That's where this is going. How does this happen? Well, he says, tribulation works patience. The word patience is not the kind of patience we think about. It means to endure. It means to remain under the pressure. Stay there under the pressure. Abide. Under-abide is the literal meaning of the word. Okay, knowing this helps us to abide under it because we're going to receive this as from a father's hand, we're going to receive this gospel blessing, this blood-bought blessing is going to be this tribulation that God is working in our lives and that tribulation, we know this serves endurance. It serves it. Now we said that everyone that encounters a tribulation is not being served. In other words, it doesn't serve for their good. It produces bitterness for which we would have to admit we struggle with. But this word endurance is not just, let's get through this, let's cope with it, let's just sort of sit around and wait until this pain really passes away and then we'll get to living. No, it's part of living with Christ. It's part of the plan. And so how much do we miss if we think, I've just got to get through this and when I get on the other side of this, then I'll be back to the plan of really the happy life where all this tribulation is just nothing but worthless, wasted pressures. By the gospel, it's not. It has value. So the word patience means not just getting through it, it also means staying on the pathway of holiness. If you were to look up this word hupomone, abiding under, most of the time it's in the context of doing well. See, God's grace for which you have access into is magnified in the pressures of life when you know this and you're able to do well by grace. Hebrews 1039, for you have need of patience, same word. You need to endure. Why? Why do I need to endure? after you have done the will of God. Note that. You might receive the promise. So you're on the pathway of holiness, pressure comes, persecution comes, tribulation comes, and you just want to stop. You want to quit. I don't want to do this will of God anymore. Oh, you need endurance. What's the nuance of endurance? You need to keep doing the will of God. God expects me just to keep going and obeying Him under these pressures? Yes. How? Grace. For which you have access to God Himself. Every day the Lord Himself is near me. power, with a help, with a strength to meet your need that magnifies His fullness for which He's displayed in your pressures to all around you. I know that that's not natural for that man or that woman to act that way because I know what those pressures are like. What on earth is happening? You know the gospel. You know the good news. You know that God is not against you, He's for you. You know that the tribulation is aimed at God to produce endurance, and that endurance means He wants you to do well. Not an external conformity where you're smiling and kicking your heels and saying, I'm doing well. That's a worldly kind of well. It's a real kind of wellness in doing the will of God when you have crushing pressures. The grace of God is sustaining you. Peter would write in 1 Peter 4.19, Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their soul to Him in well doing. Tribulation, Peter. Suffering, Peter. Persecution, Peter. And you want what? Keep doing well. How? The grace of God. The grace of God. Commit the keeping of your soul to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. Oh, He's faithful. He will be faithful to you to the end, even when you're not. He will be. When you fail, He will not fail you. And therefore, this word patience has the connotation of continuing on the pathway of holiness because you know what? What does tribulation have the temptation to do? Leave the pathway. How many people have you heard of that fit the mold of Matthew 13, 20 and 21? Stony ground hearers. The Word of God came, it fell on the stony ground. Jesus interprets the parable and says, they hear the Word of God and receive it. You know what that is? That's faith. That's faith. That's a profession of faith. They said, I have faith and joy received it. but having no root in themselves." Now, you and I can't see the root. I don't know if there's a root there or not. But Jesus said, having no root in themselves, for a while they have patience, for a while they endureth. But when tribulation comes, it's really familiar, isn't it? Tribulation produces endurance. They received the Word by faith, but when tribulation come, because they had no root, they endured for a while, and then tribulation and persecution produced apostasy. I will not serve that God again. All these pressures, all the pain, all... I'm leaving. They apostatized. Why? Because they lost something? They didn't have it. They didn't have it. There was no endurance. They didn't continue to do well, and it was a permanent departure. Key word, permanent departure. Faith wasn't real, which brings us to the next point. What endurance gives way to as an experience of something that's real? See, tribulation worked with patience. Patience, experience. These are all together. This is what endurance now and doing well is going to then give way to serve. Tribulation is going to serve you by producing experience which is one of a family of Greek words that involve testing metals. The word here is dokome, there's dokomos, there's dokomazo, just to show you the familiarity of the sound of the word. They're all in this family of testing. But this word is not the test itself, it is the result of the test. In English words we would say, tested and approved. It's the approved part that this word is referring to. Tested and approved. Or the metal goes into the fire, it's tested but it comes out genuine, authentic, and real. The Matthew 13 faith was tested in the crucible of tribulation and it came out false, not real, not genuine. So one experience that God aims for you to have in tribulation is that your faith emerges real. You know it's real. Have you ever wondered? You read all this stuff. I don't know how it would do. The word doesn't mean that there's no failure or that there was no sin there whatsoever. It means through the tribulation, you emerge a believer. You're still believing. Matthew 13, they didn't emerge that way. The tribulation did not produce endurance and there was no experience or discovery of genuineness and authentication of something real. You see, tribulation does not produce the faith, it tests it and proves it. The word could be said, prove it. It's proven in the crucible of tribulation. The gold that goes into the fire is ore. The fire does not produce the gold. It's already there. The fire, analogous to tribulation, proves it by separation. Fire melts the dross and the impurities and it liquefies the slag, but the metal of gold does not consume. It's already there. The experience, the discovery of the gold is that it's shown to be gold. It's shown to be faith. God aims for you to have a deeper experience of Him in the tribulation and the crucible of suffering by discovering you are real as a Christian because faith perseveres. It cannot die because your God will not allow it to die. You ever had an experience? Say, I don't even know how I came out of that. I mean, there's so many problems. I had so much sin going on. I'm still here. I'm still trusting you. Tribulation produces endurance, produces experience, a genuineness that you are a real Christian because the Bible emphatically says, many are not. And the fire proves it. It's gonna prove it. And so God is even after your deep assurance in the tribulation. So that's one experience we have, like the experience of an exam or a pop test. Now I know some of you are headed to that direction this time of year. The exam does not produce knowledge. It doesn't give you one smackling, if I could use that word, of knowledge. It only proves it. Proves it to your parents too, doesn't it? What's the proof that you already had knowledge? Oh, I made an A. What's the proof that something's lacking? I made a D or whatever your standard is. C, maybe I should go with C, in case some of you parents' standards are different there. See, the next thing we experience and discover in the Tribulation is what is lacking. It's already there. Gold is already there. The knowledge is already there. But the fire tested and shows you what is lacking in your faith, 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Paul says, I'm trying to get to you that I may perfect that which is lacking in your faith. They were in tribulation, chapter 3. This phrase is similar, the statement in verse 3, is similar to what James says. You remember James chapter 1 verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Paul says, tribulation worketh patience, which means the trying of your faith is the tribulation. That's the test. That's how James and Paul agree. The trying of your faith that produces patience is the pressures that's going to produce the endurance. Now James says, but let patience have her perfect work. Paul says, patience produces experience, which means, I'll give you a second to work through all that, I know I'm talking kind of fast, the experience that Paul talks about is what James says when he says, let patience have her perfect work. That's the work of discovery. Now watch this, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing, which means what? The tribulation is going to show you what is lacking so that you won't lack it. That's what we discover. The fire shows me things about myself as God is serving my eternal good, what is lacking in my conformity to Christ, what is lacking in my attitude, what is lacking in my love, what is lacking in all those graces of the Spirit, which are many, isn't it amazing that the pressures blow it out, squeezes it, that's the word, just kind of start squeezing on you Boy, it comes out. And I've said many times, you're thinking, I wonder where that came from? Was that your fault? Oh no, it's already there. Let patience have her perfect work. In other words, keep enduring, keep staying under the pressure because the pressure and the fire is going to test you to show that your faith is genuine and you're going to discover...excuse me, discover something about your faith, still trusting Jesus, but something there that is lacking, something lacking. Now if we had time to go around the room and we had the boldness to stand up at the many times we've been under pressure and just tell about some of the things that came out that was truly lacking. And usually what's lacking in the pathway of holiness is what holiness essentially is, it's love. I lack love for you. I don't lack any love, friend, for myself. Nothing lacking there, just full of it. You don't lack any love for yourself. What you lack is a love for God and you lack a love for others, right? Isn't that the greatest commandment? Love God, love your neighbor. The pressures reveal to you your self-centered love and mine. And quitting is just one of those reality checks that can be very easy. I'm not enduring this anymore. Or things we say. That was really unloving. What drew that out? Pressure. You got so angry. Pressure started to squeeze and squeeze. And so God is not doing us harm in the testing. shows our genuineness, He wants you to discover what is lacking so that you would be whole. We're moving to wholeness. Conforming to Christ would be wholeness, wellness, completeness. And on the pathway to glory is a pathway of holiness which is essentially defined as love which I am often lacking. How many times does the Bible tell us, love one another? Everything we do is to be designed to love one another. And when I lack love for you, which I do often, it means I'm lacking in my relationship to God. And because God has given us access into His grace, He's giving us access to glory and tribulation also, because by that grace, He's giving us greater access to conformity to Christ. So rejoice in it. How would you know you had the attitude of rejoicing when He showed you what is lacking? When you repent of it. A thankful heart does not defend it. A thankful heart does not excuse it. A thankful heart says, well, that's really your fault. You squeezed on me. A thankful heart recognizes the gospel and says, Lord, thank You. I thank You in everything. And now I repent, I turn. And that's something we keep doing, not a one-time thing. So tribulation is working patience, patient experience. The third experience, the third of discovery, not only that you're genuine, which means approved, we're accepted in the Beloved, that's already done. But we're shown to be genuine because we endure the trial by grace, we're shown what is lacking, and now we're shown something about God. That's the aim, isn't it? See, if we're hoping in the glory of God, we're hoping in what we know about God's glory, the pressures are designed to reveal something about God that you can only know in the pressure. You can't know it any other way. That's what the gospel is purchased for you. It's purchased for you, God on your side, God coming to you in ways that you can only discover in Tribulation. Now if you knew that whatever pressures you're going to face this week, no matter how difficult, how painful, how difficult that will affect you emotionally, physically, They may cause you to weep. They may cause you to be sorrowful, which is valid in the Bible. That is acceptable. It is okay. We're not talking about a peace that's from the world or a kind of joy that's from the world that only when everything's good, then can you feel that way or have that kind of experience. If you knew that all these pressures were going to work to reveal more of the glory of God to you, and you know to see that, It gives you overflowing hope and joy. Could you not then face them with endurance and patience and ask God to give you the experience and the discovery of more of who He is? See, that's how this rejoicing happens. It's not in the pain. It's not in the pressure. It's something beyond that on the other side. And then finally, what's the upshot? This experience leads us back where? to more hope. So we start with hope because if you don't have hope already, tribulation does not serve you. It just creates bitterness. It creates a waste of time. It creates a situation which all men go through pressures. It's just got to get through this, hate it, get out of it at all costs, don't stay under it, run as fast as you can, waste of time. If you don't have hope, that's where tribulation is going. But when you start with hope, you end with hope, and what does this hope do? It never makes you ashamed. The word can be translated disappointed. Because the love of God is shed abroad, it's poured out in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. See, if you bank your hope in something, which means you put all your hope in it, I expect this to happen. I put my money in it, I'm putting my resources, my time, my family, my job, everything is going into the basket of hope in one thing and it's going to happen in one year. And you tell everybody about it. I mean, you can't keep, one year, my load, it's gonna happen. It's gonna be wonderful. I want you to be there and see it. And you get to that one year mark and all of a sudden, it doesn't happen. And everybody's standing around kind of going, trying to look around, it's awkward. Or you open the treasure chest of whatever you were hoping in and it's just like, that's it? That's all? You're filled with shame. Beloved, hope in creation is gonna give you shame. Without faith in Christ, it'll last forever. You mean I put all of my life in that object, in that pursuit, in that activity, and where did it get me? Zero. Young people, what are you putting your hope in? What are you expecting to be a delivery vehicle on your joy? That's your hope. If it's creation, you're gonna be ashamed. That's what sin does to you. Sin makes you ashamed because you were fulfilling the lust of your own idols. But hope in God, God goes on record because the Holy Spirit is with you and He says, you will not be disappointed because I will never leave you empty. The love of God is going to, I think that's God's love for us. You experience more of the love of God, more of the faithfulness of His promises, more of the faithfulness of His person, more of the gospel, more of what the Bible says, and you are not disappointed. There's pain there, there's trial, but you're not disappointed. Beloved, will you put your faith and hope in Christ and experience the promise that God gives through the gospel? Never be ashamed. Whosoever believeth in Jesus shall never be ashamed, ever. Men may shame you, we experience shame in that way, but in Christ you will never be disappointed at the end of the road and say, you know, this glory thing, I don't know what it's cracked up to be. You will be amazed. It will be breathtaking glory. And you'll look back and say, not disappointed for serving Christ, not disappointed for banking my hope in Christ, not disappointed for spending time in church, not disappointed for loving others, not disappointed in the grace of God. Let's pray.