We Glory in Tribulations Also? | May 13, 2026

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

And our text tonight will be verses one through 6, Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, verses one through 6. Grateful that we can be here in

the middle of the week and be encouraged by one another and

helped and fed by God's Word. It's just what we need in the

middle of the week. A lot of things we're going

through, a lot of things we might need.

And so we just trust God's timing and His Providence when

with His Word because that's how it works.

How many times have you gone to the Bible and you open it up and

it you read just what you needed for that moment in your life?

That's God, friend, that's the Lord.

His word is alive and He knows exactly where you are.

He's not looking for you. He knows exactly where you're at

and His word is timely. So Romans chapter 5 is where

Romans 5 · chapter mention

we'll be tonight. Most of us have considered a

good church as one that, as many of us have said, is a gospel

preaching church. Many of you have probably used

that description of a good church before a gospel preaching

church. Well, let me ask this.

What exactly is a gospel preaching church?

What is a gospel preaching church?

What do we mean when we say that?

That would be a description of a good church?

Is it a church that does a good job at faithfully preaching the

gospel so sinners get saved? That's part of it, indeed, of

course. Is it a church where the gospel

is the only aspect of God's word that is preached?

How do you save people spiritually profit from their

gospel preaching church? I mean if it is just the gospel

to the to the lost being preached well, why do I do?

How can saved people profit from that kind of gospel preaching

church? Well, the gospel, which means

the good news of Jesus Christ, is not just for sinners, but

also for the Saints, which a St. is someone who is saved.

Someone who is in Christ is not someone who lived a pompous

moral life, if you will. It is a saved person.

If you're born again tonight, you're a St. according to the

Scriptures, you're a St. And so the gospel is not just

for sinners, but for us. And so you might think, well,

how we're saved, we need the gospel.

Still. A church must faithfully preach

the gospel of our Lord and Savior to its saved membership

because the gospel is to influence and change every

facet, every nook and cranny of our of our lives.

It is not just to take us from death unto life, but it's to

take us from death unto life into sanctification, into the

image of Jesus our Savior. Thus, churches who don't preach

how the gospel effects their lives are typically filled with

Saints living in carnality and defeats.

They're living in carnality, worldliness, fleshliness, and

therefore defeats in their born again life.

But churches like ours who do preach how the gospel effects

their lives can be seen to be filled with Saints living in the

glorious victory of our risen Savior.

So that's a gospel preaching church.

A a church that preaches the gospel to the lost, yes, but

preaches the gospel even to us to learn how to live in light of

the gospel or because of the gospel taking root in our lives.

The very letters of the whole, the very letters the Holy Spirit

inspired the the apostle Paul to write unto the churches they

contain how the gospel of Christ that saved them was to then

transform them. I mean, that's the majority of

what the Apostle Paul writes in his letters that we have here in

the New Testament is how the churches are to live because of

the gospel, how the gospel is a a typing of format or template

that they are to apply in every area of their.

And so such is the case with the letter known as the book of

Romans, where I believe God wants us to be tonight.

Romans teaches us that God is righteous in all that he does,

He's sovereign, He's just, he's right, He's holy in all that he

does. And Romans teaches us whom God

has justified, that we are to live the Christian life the same

way we got saved, by faith. We are to continue to live the

Christian life the same way we got saved, and that is by faith,

in other words, by faithful obedience to the Word.

That's how we're to live the Christian life.

And no, it's not about we cannot get saved again.

We're eternally secure. But as we obeyed the gospel, we

obey the God of the gospel, and that's called faith.

OK, so let me ask this. Does the gospel teach us

anything other than how to get saved?

Does the gospel teach us anything other than just how to

get saved? We understand that we should

glory and have joy in the fact that we are saved.

But can we still glory and celebrate victory in Jesus and

have joy and tribulations and in hardships, in difficulties and

afflictions also? Can we still glory in the gospel

the same way as when we got saved?

Can we still glory and still have the same spirit in

tribulations, in the drama, in your life, in afflictions and in

hardship also? Well, if so, how?

So? How does the gospel teach us to

glory in tribulations? The gospel does not just teach

us how to get saved, it teaches us more than that as well.

So let's look at our text, verses one through 6 of Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. Paul writes here and we'll see

the word therefore beginning in verse one.

And he's referring back to the doctrine of justification by

faith that he just laid out for us in chapter 4.

OK, so in light of all that, in verse 1, he says therefore the

being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to rush through

that. I mean, that's amazing.

We have peace with God. We're justified because of the

Lord Jesus Christ by whom? The same Lord Jesus Christ also,

we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and

rejoice in hope of of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that

tribulations do this. Tribulations worketh patience

and patience, experience and experience hope and hope maketh

not ashamed or disappointed, because the love of God is shed

abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ

died for the ungodly. Want to preach a message

entitled We Glory and Tribulations?

Also, yes, it's a title. That's a question for editing

purposes. OK, there's a question mark

there. Or for your notes.

We Glory and Tribulations also is the title.

Tonight. Let's pray one more time.

God, thank you for your word. God, I pray that you just take

it now and help us tonight. God, you know what we're going

through, what we've been through, and the storm that's

ahead. And so, God, I pray you'd use

this for our edification in Christ's name, Amen.

We see in verses 1 and 2 that we glory in the gospel of Christ

because we've been placed in right standing with God by

faith. And I think that's easy to

understand. We glory and we we celebrate the

victory that's in Jesus because Jesus Christ has placed us in

right standing with the God of all of eternity.

And we have come into right standing by faith.

We have believed the gospel. We were drawn by the gospel and

we gave into the gospel. OK, so we placed our faith in

Jesus Christ. So we have been justified.

The gospel teaches us that we have been justified because of

Christ. And as was just mentioned,

Romans chapter 4 is where Paul really gets into dealing with

Romans 4 · chapter mention

the doctrine of justification. And so we're not in Romans 4

tonight, but what is the doctrine of justification?

What does it mean, church, to be justified?

And so this is what happened to us the moment we got saved.

This is what happened to us. The doctrine of justification is

the act of God whereby he declares the believing Sinner

righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ

on the cross. It's nothing we've done.

That was all God's work, a work that would have been impossible

for us to do. Let me read that again.

Justification is the act of God whereby he declares the

believing Sinner righteous, guiltless if you will, nothing

held against you by God, because we're in Christ, and it's all

happened because of the finished work of Christ on the cross, Him

taking your punishment. God declares us righteous.

We're justified. Some have summarized the

definition of justification or being justified as God the

Father viewing me just as if I'd never sinned.

That's amazing. It's hard for us to see people

that way, and so that's hard for us to really fathom and

understand. God really views me just as if I

had never sinned. The justification of our souls

absolutely could not have occurred apart from Christ the

Son of God, living a sinless life and dying the sinner's

death. Justification is not something

we work for or that we grow into.

It's not something where God says, OK, you'll be justified as

you as you continue to come along and, and, and to obey me.

No, it's, it's something that we could have never done brought

about on our own. It's something that

instantaneously takes place when we get saved.

It's something nothing we grow into.

It's instantaneous upon our faith in Christ alone.

The gospel also teaches us that we have peace with God.

We see here in our verses verse #2 by whom also we have access

by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope and

the glory of God. We have access and we have peace

with God. The gospel also teaches us that

Christ allows us to have peace with God.

The Bible teaches in verse 10 of this same chapter, Romans 5,

Romans 5:10

verse 10. For if when we were enemies we

were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, the Bible

teaches that prior to justification we were enemies of

God. The Bible also says this in

chapter 8 of the same book, verse 7.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is

not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be so,

this meant that we were completely separated from God.

There was no relationship, there was no peace before we were

justified by the power of God. But Christ has allowed it to be

so that we are brought back into a peaceful relationship with

God. Therefore, because we were

enemies of God, we didn't belong to Him, and therefore we

couldn't obey Him, we couldn't love Him, we couldn't follow

Him. Sin literally stood between US

and knowing God. Because we were enemies, we were

at enmity with God, but upon our faith in the finished work of

Christ on the cross, we have peace with God through Christ

alone. Peace with God.

Here's a basic definition for having peace with God.

I am in good standing with God the Father because of Christ his

Son. I am in right standing with God

the Father, not because of me, not because of some religion,

not because of some degree of morality, but because of the

perfect life of the Son of God, and the death that satisfied the

wrath of God. Jesus says in John 14, six, I am

the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father. Christ says, but by me it is

good to be in good standing with God.

I mean, if there's anybody you want to be right with and all of

your life and all of the universe, it is God.

And if you're here tonight and you're lost and you're dead in

your trespasses and sins, God has positioned you and he's

giving you an opportunity even this hour to be drawn to Christ

and be saved because the gospel is being preached.

The book of Romans makes it very clear that the gospel preached

is how God draws lost sinners to himself.

So if you're here tonight, this message is also for you, so stay

tuned. So the gospel not only teaches

us that we have peace with God because of Christ, but the

gospel further teaches us that we have access to God's grace

because of Christ. The very shedding of the blood

and and death of Jesus Christ has granted all who are saved

unlimited access to the Father. When Christ died, he tore the

veil into through which the Jews could only get a glimpse of God.

And when Christ died, he tore down the wall through which no

Gentile could even get a glimpse of God.

Having access into God's grace means, according to a gentleman

by the name of Rain Hummel, who runs a Christian camp in New

England. Here he says this, this is, this

is what having access to God's grace means.

You can be as close to God as you want to be, but you have to

be in Christ. You have to be in Christ and you

can draw as close to God. You can become as intimate and

close knitted to God in a relationship as you choose to

be. God wants to draw you ever

closer. But it is US who also must step

toward God in our daily relationship and lifelong

obedience. That's what it means to have

access to God's grace. You can get as close to God as

you want to be because of Christ.

Because of Christ, thus we believe we are eternally secure

in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit uses the word

hope in verse 2 where He says wherein we stand.

We stand in this grace and rejoice in hope of the glory of

God. The word hope is used multiple

times in the book of Romans. As you read Romans, I think

you'll find it at least 6 to 12 times just in this one book, The

word hope. Hope is a theme of Romans.

Hope is a theme of the gospel. The world has a definition for

hope that is different than God's definition.

And so the world's definition for hope would be maybe

something like this, simply desiring something to be true.

When you ask maybe a Catholic, if they know for sure that

they're right with God and that they'll go to heaven when they

die, often their answer is, well, I hope so.

I, I hope so. You ask a child if we're having

pizza for dinner tonight, they say, well, I hope so.

They're desiring something to be true.

And the answer's no, we're not because we already ate.

I would love for that to be true.

But anyway, desiring something to be true.

This is the kind of hope as I mentioned, a religious person

has. I hope so.

But the biblical definition church catch this night.

The biblical definition of hope is this, possessing A secured

assurance in which we currently live and our promise to further

inherit hereafter. It is a secured assurance that

we have right now. It's not a maybe.

It's not I wish. It is a secured assurance we

have right here in this moment as we sit and gather in this

place tonight in which we currently live and our promise

to further inherit and experience even more when this

life is done and we get to heaven.

That is what hope is. It is a is, it is a confidence

and a risen Savior and he's already alive.

We don't have to hope. He's alive, He's alive.

He's seated on the right hand of the throne of God in heaven.

So Jesus Christ literally is our hope right this moment and shall

also be in our death. This is why we glory in the

gospel of Christ, because he has placed us in right standing with

the Father. And so therefore we glory in

this. What does it mean to glory?

Glory it is it is living in celebration of the victory that

is in Christ. We are in victory.

We have victory in Jesus. He's conquered sin, death, hell

and the grave and we celebrate this, I mean this also through

our souls that we don't have to maybe guess if we're right with

God or heaven is our home. Christ has placed you in right

standing with God. There's nothing else you need to

do to get more saved. Christ gets you all the way in

by your faith. We celebrate this.

We glory in Christ. Amen.

And so. But the Christian life isn't

always an ocean of calm waters, is it?

The Christian life isn't always a smooth, glassy sea.

In fact, the Christian life can be filled with various

tribulations and storms. Christ said in this life you

will have much tribulation, but fear not I have overcome the

world, so how can we still glory?

When people we love, admire, or trust break our hearts, how can

we still glory? When the Doctor gives us

troubling news? How can we still glory when we

are tempted to hate ourselves because of sinful choices we've

made? To be bitter against yourself.

How can we still glory when we don't know how our finances are

going to make it or how far they're going to bring us?

How can we glory in the midst of legitimate persecution for

believing the gospel? How can we glory in tribulations

also? How does the gospel teach us to

glory in tribulations is the question tonight.

And so secondly, we'll see in verses 3 through 5 that we can

also glory in tribulations by faith because we are anchored by

the gospel of Christ no matter what.

Let me say that again, we can also glory in tribulations by

faith because we are anchored by the gospel of Christ no matter

what. Notice verses 3 through 5.

And so we it says in verse 2 that we glory in the hope that

is in salvation in Jesus Christ. And verse 3, and not only so,

but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations

worketh patience and patience, experience and experience hope.

And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed

abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

So let's look at these 3 verses. Brother Anthony's going to put

on the screen here in a moment a picture.

And how many of you know what that is?

The whole picture. What is this?

Well, there's just one here who knows what that is.

You guys don't know your state flags.

You don't sit at home looking at these all day.

OK, This is the Rhode Island state flag.

My my native land. OK, All right.

And so on this photo here of the Rhode Island state flag, we have

an anchor, an anchor in underneath it.

It has the word hope. And so this is just a visual.

I'm not preaching on the state of Rhode Island.

I'm not complimenting the state of a Rhode Island.

I'm not saying anything like that.

It just gives you the perfect picture of what I what I believe

this passage is speaking about tonight.

Hope is common, commonly symbolized by an anchor.

OK, so I want you to think of an anchor.

I want you to try real hard to visualize a gold anchor.

OK, OK, so an anchor. Let's define an anchor, shall

we? Class.

Just in case you're wondering what it is, an anchor is a

massive double sided hook made out of corrosion resistant

metals such as stainless steel, galvanized steel, or high

tensile steel. An anchor provides water vessels

with stability, security, and hope, while the intent is for

the vessel to remain relatively stationary upon the water's

surface. So when an anchor is deployed

into the water and sinks down into the sea bed, the hooks will

penetrate into the seabed of the of the seabed and drag until the

thickness builds up sufficient resistance there on the seabed.

It could be muck and mire and sand and dirt.

It can it can take grip of a solid rock of a stone there at

the seabed. Whatever it is, it'll pull all

of that along until there's sufficient resistance built up

within the seabed. So in order for resistance to

build up enough on the seabed to make the vessel relatively

stationary, the vessel the the the boat or the water on top of

the on on the surface, there needs to be pointed into the

wind that might be blowing above the water surface in order for

the anchor to do its job, to dig into the seabed or the lake bed

or what what have you. In order for the anchor to do

its job, wind needs to have some influence on the water vessel.

That ship needs to be pointed toward the wind and maybe those

sails or or or what have you there are gently being blown to

tug that anchor beneath the surface for it to get its grip

and to do its job. In order for Christ, our anchor,

to do His job in your life, He uses the winds of tribulations

blowing against your life for you to discover further that He

truly provides stability, security, and hope.

That you further find out that that not only is He the

salvation of your soul, but He is the guardian of your life.

And He does much more for you than just holding you eternally

secure in His salvation. You discover that He works, that

He's stable, that He's secure, that your hope truly is in the

right place. And so this is proven when the

anchor is dropped, we can glory in Tribulations Church because

the same Christ who saved our souls, justified us, gave us

peace with God, gave us access to all.

His grace is also working to strengthen our confidence in the

hope we already have in Him. This is the gospel.

This is the good news. Tribulations prove that our

hope, that our confidence is in the right person, it's in the

right foundation, and it is the gospel that teaches us this.

We are justified. He has given us peace with God.

He's given us all access into His grace.

God uses tribulations to strengthen a few things in your

life. The Bible says the end of verse

3. Knowing that tribulations

worketh patience and patience, experience and experience hope.

So let's consider patience for a moment.

God uses tribulations to strengthen our patience toward

Him. He uses tribulations to 'cause

that anchor to go deeper into your life and making your

patience more active in your life.

Patience represents our level of trust in God.

Patience is easier to come by when we trust something or

someone to do their job. Isn't that true?

Patience is easier to come by when we are completely trusting

in someone else or something else to do its job.

But we won't really know how much we trust God without

tribulations. We won't really know how well

that anchor holds and that chain holds without tribulations.

Tribulations, they actually expose where we don't trust God

so that he might prove that Christ is in fact an anchor that

can be trusted for matters that are actually smaller than

salvation, matters that are smaller than the work of

salvation. And so tribulations expose our

heart. They expose where we're at.

You can tell what's in a tea bag when it's dropped into hot

water. And God uses tribulations to

really show us what's really in our hearts.

God uses the strengthening of our patience or trust to provide

us with personal experience. Patience leads to experience and

to provide us with personal experience with the anchor.

I'm telling you, I wouldn't want to get on a ship where there's a

captain who's actually never tried out the anchor.

I wouldn't want to listen to him.

I don't want to want to stay on his ship if I asked him.

Have you ever used an anchor? Have you ever tested this

anchor? Well, no, I haven't, but I know

in theory that it should work, right?

And So what God is doing within tribulations is opening a door

of opportunity for you to grow in your own experience and

further experience with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our church is blessed to have several tradesmen in the

membership and even here tonight, electricians, plumbers,

welders, carpenters, etcetera. You know, you probably attest to

this. Tradesmen typically don't have a

lot of respect for inspectors who have no experience in their

trade. And typically the inspector,

he's been hired, he's maybe making it's an entry level job,

perhaps maybe there. And he's been trained to learn a

book, he's trained to learn a manual.

He's trained to know what what the codes are and where this

should be positioned and the angle that that actually needs

to be at. And all the work you did over

here that actually is not allowed to go into that room and

you need to bring it over here instead.

And he walks in, he has no experience doing what you did

and you have a lot more wisdom and knowledge about the work and

what actually is functioning properly.

But all he is doing, all this is to him, your electrical work,

your plumbing work, your welding work, all it is to him.

He understands it barely. Just in theory.

He knows enough to come in and tell you that the book says, OK,

this is OK, this is wrong, this needs to be better, right?

Is that true? Is that typically?

Do you guys love Inspection Day? Brother Jay, Brother John, can I

get a witness? They have little to no

experience in their trade. It's God's plan for every one of

His children to have first hand experience with Him so they can

be effectively used by Him and helping others.

God doesn't just want us to know about Him in theory.

He doesn't want us to just know in theory that yeah, that anchor

should work and that we understand biblical things just

from a textbook level. He wants us to have personal

experience knowing that He does in fact work when we glory in

our tribulations by faith. The one of the some of the the

worst Christians, if I might say, are the Christians who know

how to be critical. And they know how to be critical

because there's a lot of things about the Bible that they know

in theory, but they don't understand where you're coming

from. They don't have any experience

with God. It's all, it's all academic.

They're, they understand deep theological truths, but they

have very little experience in going through hardship, trusting

God, having victory over addiction, seeing somebody

saved. They have little experience in

this. And so therefore they have no

empathy, they have no patience, they have no grace, they have no

understanding. They, they don't even know how

to bring you, you from point A to point B because of a lack of

experience. God, we need to glory and

tribulations because God is giving us a gift.

He's handing you experience. He's letting you experience that

He is a sure and steadfast anchor.

Understand that God's will for every Christian is for us to be

servants of Christ, that we are to represent him in ministry to

people. We cannot accurate accurately

represent Christ to others if we don't have much confidence or

experience with him. The greatest servants of Christ

are the ones who have experienced the faithfulness and

they've experienced the integrity in the security, the

hope of Christ. The anchor can can give in the

tribulations of life. Listen, tribulations.

They take believers from Bible theory to actual experience with

God, and tribulations provide a more superior education than

Bible seminary or Bible college does.

Tribulations provide superior preparation for ministry because

it is there in the tribulations of life where the Bible become

goes from theory to real, from theory to real.

We can glory in tribulations also, church, because God uses

all of it to reinforce the faith we placed in our anchor, Jesus

Christ on the day of our salvation.

He's reinforcing your faith. He's strengthening your faith.

He's trying to get to show you that that anger can go deeper.

It's not just there for show. It's there when you need a

crisis, there as you need him. And he's, he's on board the

ship. He's in your life, but he's not

just there to look pretty. He's there to be used in your

life and to help you become even more stable and have depth in

your life as a Christian. And it's tribulations where that

happens the most. Glory in tribulations, Be

thankful for tribulations. Rejoice in the Lord in

tribulations because this is what He's doing.

The good news of our tribulations is the same good

news of our salvation, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Tribulations, friend, of course they are the bad news, but

Christ is the good news. We can glory in tribulations

also because Christ is present and at work beneath the surface

of our lives. You see, you and I, we are

simply passengers on the secure ship of grace, sailing upon the

waters of life. And when we came aboard, we were

actually right to assume that everything on the ship of grace

functioned properly, including the anchor.

That was a right and safe assumption.

I haven't been on many ships. I haven't been on many boats,

but the ones that I have gotten aboard, I just assumed that

everything worked properly. It's called getting on by faith,

not understanding all the insurance and outs.

I'm not the captain of the ship, but I assume that everything

works properly, including the anchor.

Our Savior is the anchor that we deploy by faith into the water

to work beneath the surface. The faithful word of God is His

gospel. The faithful word of God of his

gospel is the foundation of the sea.

The sea bed produces when the anchor goes to work.

Christ wants to dig in further to the implications of the

gospel in your life, and the anchor uses the winds of your

tribulations blowing against the ship to prove that the reality

of the gospel will hold you secure no matter what.

The wind is used, the tribulation is used for your

advantage. That's only possible with God.

That's not too possible with the unsaved.

Yes, they can grow in maybe some some grit and maybe some

character in life for sure, but they can't come to know that

Christ holds them fast. They can't come and draw closer

to God in a love relationship with Him because they're at

enmity with God. Their tribulations can humble

them and get them to consider a greater purpose in life, like

coming to know the Lord. But this is how God takes the

tribulations of life and uses them to your advantage.

Tribulations don't change the fact that you're justified.

Satan wants you to think in the midst of your tribulation that

God has lost track of you. We're just watching.

I was watching a short documentary the other night,

the, the the Fitzgerald ship and the Anderson ship on Lake

Superior in Michigan. And many of you know about that.

I believe Cassandra's grandfather was on Anderson that

night. One of those ships there, the

one of course, that did not go down, the Fitzgerald went down.

And one of the things that was the first thing to go was the

radar system in the midst of that storm on Lake Superior.

God's radar system of you doesn't break.

He, he knows exactly where you are.

In fact, he's behind you. He's above you, He's beneath

you, He's before you. That is where the Lord is.

But Satan wants you to think that God has lost track of you

in the storm. And Satan also wants you to to

believe that God doesn't love you either.

It's amazing. Tribulations don't change the

fact that you're justified. Tribulations don't change the

fact that you have peace with God.

Tribulations don't change the fact that you have access into

God's grace. God uses tribulations to prove

to you even further that Christ has always been the correct

object of your faith and you can only come to find that out when

you let him use those tribulations to prove that.

In the same book, Romans chapter 8, we know these verses, verses

Romans 8 · chapter mention

35 through 39, the Holy Spirit says through Paul, who shall

separate us from the love of Christ?

Who hears Christ? But who?

Who shall separate you? God doesn't know him.

Whoever that is that you think can separate you from the love

of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or

famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for

thy sake. We are killed all the day long.

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

But nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through Him

that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither

death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor

things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor

any other creature, shall be able to separate you from the

love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Nothing can separate you, and it's the tribulations where

you've really, really come to realize that nothing can conquer

God's grace in your life. He brings you into a deeper

understanding of soteriology. People think I have a deep

understanding of soteriology because I study my Bible from

cover to cover. OK, but it's still theory.

You won't come to understand the depths of His eternal security

until you go through it. Verse 5 at the beginning helps

us understand something else as well.

The Bible says here, and hope maketh not ashamed.

Hope, hope maketh not ashamed. The anchor maketh not ashamed.

Brothers and sisters, tonight we will not be disappointed, which

is what the word ashamed means. We will not be disappointed by

the faithful integrity of the anchor.

Christ will work. Christ will work.

Christ our Savior will work in various tribulations.

It's not just certain ones, it's not just something to a certain

degree. He will work in any tribulation

in your life. The psalmist says in Psalm 119

Psalms 119:116

verses 116 and 117, he says, Uphold me according unto thy

word, that I may live, and let me not be ashamed.

There's the word again, or disappointed of my hope, which

was the word of God is hope. Hold thou me up and I shall be

saved. This is a resolve in the

psalmist heart. Hold on me up and I shall be

safe. I know I'll be safe if you hold

me up, God, and I will have respect unto thy statutes

continually. He's saying here that in the

difficulty of life, I believe you will hold me up, God, and I

know that on the other side of this, I will have a greater

respect for you in your word than I did on this side of the

tribulation. And that's what God wants in

your life, to have a deeper fear in reverence for Him, have a

deeper understanding of His ability in your life.

Is there any assurance to be had prior to any upcoming

tribulations That gives us confidence that God has our best

interest in mind. God has your best interest in

mind with what you're going through.

We're talking about God here. We're not talking about someone

who's unsure of themselves, someone like us who doesn't

always have the best interest of others in mind.

Is there anything we can be assured of before the storm

comes that he has our best interest in mind?

Listen friend, if you're not in a tribulation right now, there,

there's one coming because God wants to do this in your life.

It's nothing to be afraid of. It's not going to be oh man,

God's got 1 coming for me. Glory and tribulations.

Also, the definition of love is having someone else's best

interest in mind. God has already settled and

proven His love to us. It's already settled.

So that brings us to our last point tonight, verses 5 and 6.

The Bible says and hope maketh not ashamed.

We're not going to be disappointed with the anchor

because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy

Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without

strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

We see 3rd and lastly tonight that we can also glory in

tribulations because God's love for us was settled when Christ

died for us. God already proved He has our

best interest in mind when He sacrificed His only Son on the

cross for us. It's finished.

It's proven the love God has for us was settled on the cross

while we were still His enemies. We weren't like we we weren't

pleasing to God and He still died for us.

Christ was completely intentional in His choice to die

on our behalf. God knew what He was doing.

He laid Himself down on the cross.

I imagine this, if I may please, that as the soldiers in Christ

approached the cross, there was some sovereignty about the Lord

that the soldiers realized they should probably just let Jesus

go. And there's the cross.

They let Him go and he just put himself on it and crawled all

the way on it and got himself settled on that cross for us.

There wasn't a get down there. It was let me do this and he

laid down. That's what I imagine the Bible

doesn't say or describe that. That's exactly how it happened.

But he laid himself down for, oh, he loves you.

He has your best interest in mind.

And God already proved He has our best interest in mind

because He poured out His love in our hearts.

When the Holy Spirit came in at salvation, He emptied it.

Nothing left. He poured it out into our

hearts. And This is why we have a love

for Him we didn't have before we were saved.

He poured it into us. He had to pour His love into us.

That's how sinful and enmity we were with Him.

He had to pour His love into our hearts.

One of the clearest signs, I remember asking this to a man

who just had gotten saved several years ago that we were

discipling. And I said, what's one thing you

think has changed since you got saved?

He said, I want to read the Bible.

I didn't have that desire before I believed on Christ.

I I love his word that didn't exist before the Holy Spirit

gave you a love for God. Christ poured out his innocent

blood for us with no intention to regather and take it away

from us. Christ literally died to not

only save our souls, but the Bible says here to make us

godly, to make us godly. And I'm almost through tonight.

This is the gospel to the Saints.

He died not just to take you to heaven, but to make you godly

even before you get there. And that work will be completed

in heaven and perfected. You see, tribulations are not a

retraction of God's love commitment, but a means to

reinforce and mature confidence in His love for us.

A godly Christian is one who has it settled in their heart that

the love of God is good enough for them, therefore, they don't

need to go looking for satisfaction by any other means.

Tribulations are a means through which God reinforces our

confidence and hope in Him and thus makes us godly and mature

believers who look like Jesus Himself.

Consider the words to this hymn called He Will Hold Me Fast.

When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast.

When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast.

I can never keep my hold through life's fearful path, for my love

is often cold. He must hold me fast.

Those He saves are His delight. Christ will hold me fast.

Precious in His holy sight, He will hold me fast.

He will not let my soul be lost. His promises shall last bought

by Him at such a cost. He will hold me fast, He will

hold me fast. He will hold me fast.

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast.

So how can you glory in tribulations also in the same

manner that you got saved by faith.

It was by faith you confessed you were a Sinner in need of

Christ. It was by faith you asked Christ

to save you and he did. Perhaps you're here tonight.

You're saying, I don't think there's ever been a time in my

life where I literally asked Christ to save my soul.

There's been times where I asked him to to save my body.

There's been times where I asked him to to heal me, different

times where I've been laid up in the hospital bed or at home.

I just and he did. He healed your body, but that

doesn't mean you're in right standing with God.

You need to ask Christ to come into your soul to heal you from

sin and he'll do so by faith. It is by this same exact faith,

the same exact faith faith that you can believe and assume that

God has your best interest in mind and tribulations also

because he does. What's God's best interest for

all of us You're wondering I'm closing here.

Forget this. What is God's best interest for

all of us? Christlikeness.

So that's it. That's pretty big.

That's pretty good. And we know that all things work

together for good to them that love God to them who are the

called according to his purpose. The good is Christ.

All things work together for your Christlikeness, so take

this home with you tonight. Christlikeness is the guaranteed

good news in the midst of the bad news of your tribulations.

It's about for prayer. If the Lord has spoken to you

tonight about how you're weathering the tribulations,

would you respond in prayer to Him?

We don't. We don't need a piano to talk to

the Lord, although it is nice and it might set the mood, but

just grab a hold of the Lord tonight in prayer.

Are you in the middle of a tribulation, In the middle of a

hard time? As we speak tonight, talk to

God, acknowledge that this is what He's doing in your life.

Patience, experience, hope, patience, experience, hope.

Maybe you're not at the moment in a tribulation, but if any

Christ like character is going to develop in you, there's a

storm coming. Yes, the Gospel teaches us more

than just how to get saved. We're justified, forgiven by

God. We're at peace with God.

We have access to His grace. Our hope is Christ no matter

what. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.