1. Who really likes all the trials & testings?
a. I don’t know too many people that would jump and say, “I do Pastor Ed. I love them. Give me more!”
b. After all, they are often irritating times of sorrow & sadness, & difficult times of problems & pain.
c. But whether we like them or not, trials and testings will come to us in this world. You can count on it!
John 16:33 (NKJV) 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
NOTE: WAIT A MINUTE. DID YOU SAY THAT I COULD COUNT ON IT?
• Nobody told me that when I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
• But suffering is a part of life… it is a part of the Christian’s life.
• Let’s look at a few passages to lay a foundation.
• Matthew 7:24ff – storms come to both houses.
• John 16:31ff – Jesus warns of coming tribulations.
• James 1:2-4 – James encourages us to count it all joy!
The Golden Gate Bridge is an engineering marvel. Built right on the San Andreas Earthquate faultline, it’s engineered to sway some 20 feet at it’s center. With deep land anchor piers and a flexible cable system… it a wonderful picture piece of human ingenuity.
Engineers had to take into account 3 different kinds of LOADS or stresses when designing that bridge… the dead load, live load, and wind load.
The dead load is the weight of the bridge itself. The live load is the weight of the daily traffic that the bridge must carry. The wind load is the pressure of the storms that beat on the bridge. The designer plans for bracings that will enable the bridge to bear all these loads.
In our lives, too, we need bracings which make it possible to carry the dead load of self, the live load of daily living, and the wind load of emergencies. When we place our trust in Jesus Christ, He gives us the strength we need to withstand these various stresses. He thus gives our lives usefulness, stability, and durability.
NOW… anytime we talk about trials & testings, it’s easy for those of you in the midst of one to simply dismiss such a Bible Study.
• Oh NO, you don’t know what it’s like. You don’t understand.
• But that would be a mistake friends. Because our time together isn’t about ME & YOU, it’s about YOU & GOD.
• He understands. He knows. He sees. And He loves.
1 Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV) 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Remember in the first few verses we learned of some of the blessed benefits of being a believer…
• PEACE WITH GOD – The war is over. HE is our friend!
• ACCESS TO GOD BY GRACE – We can rush into Him anytime!
• HOPE IN THE GLORY OF GOD – Jesus Christ is coming again!
• STAND IN GRACE – A new foundation for our lives!
• Today: TRIALS – A means to bring about maturity & trust!
THE TRUTH IS, GOD USES TRIALS in our lives to bring about great maturity, strength, and trust. Paul tells us Trials Produce!
“It’s been said that ‘smooth seas do not make skillful sailors’” – It’s true.
I. (5:3-5) TRIALS PRODUCE…
1. (1) Therefore.
• And Not only that… This connects us back to the beauty of being saved… not only do we have peace, access, hope, and grace, but we also have trials.
• Now before we move on into what trials produce, we have to ask the question.
• DOES PAUL KNOW WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT?
NOTE: I MEAN REALLY, if he’s going to be talking to me about trials, does he even know what one is? “I’m glad you asked.”
• Let’s flip over to 2 Corinthians 11:21ff
• Paul, he speaks to us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the practicality of his personal experience.
BY THE WAY, that’s one of the unseen benefits when you and I go through a trial… pass through a testing.
• It infuses compassion and mercy into the core of who we are.
• Flip back to 2 Corinthians 1:2ff
OK BACK… to Romans 5:3…
• Paul says that we glory in our TRIBULATIONS.
• Literally it means “crushings” … reminds us of the olive press.
• They would pour olives into a vat & crush them continually with rocks in order to extract the oil.
• Yes, we rejoice in who we are in Jesus Christ positionally.
• But also, in the tribulations that come to us constantly!
WHY SHOULD WE GLORY IN THAT? Because it’s in those times that we realize we can do nothing. Our lives our out of our hands.
• You see if I can get out of it. If I can work it out & wiggle away.
• I’ll try it. My flesh so wants to be free from pains.
• But when trials come that I can’t do a thing. When a crushing blow comes my way, where I can do nothing… then I cry out.
• It’s interesting because its here that Paul’s life becomes an example to us again.
• Turn over to 2 Corinthians 12:7ff
• Did you hear that answer? MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!
WE GLORY v3 again, because we know that tribulation produces.
NOTE: IT would be so much easier if God would just eliminate trials & tribulations altogether right?
• I mean, just take the devil and banish him now.
• Take our flesh and just crucify it once and for all!
• Just give us our new bodies, take us out of this body of death!
• God why did you even bother to let those things in the world anyway. They are so painful, so difficult.
• It gets just plain hard to live in all of these tough times!
GUYS… here’s a truth to hang on to, to hold on to.
• If you want to make it, you’re going to make it!
• If you don’t want to make it, you won’t.
• When it comes to standing strong before the Lord, God has promised you that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able… and ALWAYS provides a way out.
1 Cor. 10.13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
NOTE: There is definitely value in our trials.
• God allows them to come into our lives for a purpose.
• Trials will have one of 2 effects in our lives.
• They will either break our backs OR bend our knees.
• Trials are a way to check our hearts to really see what’s inside.
• Trials are also God’s mean of producing in our lives.
• He uses them to GROW US UP IN GRACE.
• 3 things are mentioned here…
• Perseverance, Character, and Hope.
#1 – PERSEVERANCE. The word here is more than mere patience, it’s the steadfast commitment to not give up!
• HUPOMONE… to bear up under, endurance toward things or circumstances.
• This isn’t a word that refers to people, but things.
• Trials help develop an attitude of not quitting, not giving up!
#2 – CHARACTER. – KJV this is translated experience.
• The NASB translates it PROVEN CHARACTER.
• You see, trials work for the believer, not against us.
• It develops into our very being the nature of Jesus Christ.
• He too, experienced great trial & sorrows.
Isaiah 53:3 (NKJV) 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
NOTE: Here’s a problem I see around us in the church today.
And may the Lord God guard us from such things.
IN SOME CIRCLES OF CHRISTIANITY TODAY we are taught that whenever tough times come just rebuke the devil.
• I rebuke you trial in the name of Jesus, leave my home.
• But listen… what if it’s not from the devil but from God?
• And as you’re rebuking the trial, the answer from heaven is:
• “Don’t rebuke it, it’s from Me! I’m using it to minister to you and change you and grow you and develop you son.”
NOTE: The best example of this in all Bible is with our brother Job.
• Remember when Satan came and asked for him?
• God set limits & boundaries around him to protect him.
• Job, although he didn’t see into the spiritual realm, he knew that God was on His side… and that he could trust him.
• Now his wife was a whole different package!
Job 2.9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" THANKS HONEY!
Job 1.22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
AND SO AS A PASTOR, I may have someone come up and tell me about their financial problems… Well do you tithe? Are a faithful steward? What exactly is God trying to teach you with your money?
OR Someone with marital problems? Are you loving you wife like Christ loved the church? Are you submitting to your husband?
• What is God trying to show you & develop within you?
WELL, that doesn’t sound very compassionate or loving Pastor Ed!
• But listen, maybe those answers come in tears, or pain myself.
• Maybe I cry over the sins in our church, the brokenness sin has created…
• But the biblical response is still, God’s working in you guys.
• He’s growing us up, reducing our flesh & increasing our faith!
• WELL, I don’t like it! I know, sometimes I don’t either.
#3 - HOPE: Perseverance, Character, Hope…
• You see, as hope is developed in my life, the next time a trial comes my way, I can look back and rejoice.
• God came thru for me then! God will come thru for me now!
#4 – ENCOURAGEMENT – Hope does not disappoint because we are connected to a loving, caring, purposeful God.
TRIALS DON’T ALLOW us to stay at the same place spiritually.
• They move us.
• That was the problem with Moab… look at Jeremiah 48:11ff
God’s goal for us is SPIRITUAL MATURITY & GROWTH IN GRACE.
• He wants us to grow up.
• He’s not satisfied w/ doing things half way or letting things go unfinished.
• He wants us PERFECT & COMPLETE, or lit. FULLY DEVELOPED.
• It’s all a part of His will in saving us…
Phil. 1.6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
God is developing our lives guys…
• He’s building character within us day by day.
• Trials, Temptations, Pains, Problems, Sorrows, Sadness.
• They are all part of package!
• And as we seek to be used of Him, there is always preparation.
I thank God for bitter things;
They’ve been a “friend to grace”;
They’ve driven me from paths of ease
To storm the secret place.
I Thank Him for the friends who failed
To fill my heart’s deep need;
They’ve driven me to the Savior’s feet,
Upon His love to feed.
I’m grateful too, through all life’s way
No one could satisfy,
And so I’ve found in God alone
My rich, my full supply! By Florence Willett
