Sermon: "Not Only Peace: Romans Part 16" - Pastor Brian Fuller

Hi, and welcome to the Sermon Podcast of First Baptist

Church Woodlawn in Woodlawn, Illinois. I'm Senior Pastor Brian Fuller,

and it is our desire to impact the world with

the Gospel of Jesus. We do so through small group ministry,

personal testimony, as well as corporate gatherings. You can find

us on Facebook, YouTube, and our website Fbcwoodlawn dot org.

Join us now as we hear from God's word. How

many of you know that before before a preacher can

preach a message to his church, he has to live

it out first. And sometimes it sneaks up on you.

You know, it's not what I It's so often it's

not what I expect because I'm following along next the

normal pattern of what what God is doing right through

the Book of Romans. So I'm gonna teach him. I'm

gonna preach and you guys are gonna get so much

from it and and we'll move on to next week.

But so often is the case that before I preach something,

God does it in me first, and and that can be,

it can be inconvenient, it can be uh, it can

be troublesome. Sometimes I have to work through things that

I preach about. And it starts, it starts with me.

And so I'm grateful for that because this message is

about it's it's about God's character and what God is

doing in you and me, And how many of you

know that's a lifelong process. That is that is that

takes our entire life to have under standing and to

grow and to become more and more like Christ. And

that means to fail, That means to hurt, that means

to just mess up. And so I so today I

hope you will again that you'll have ears to hear,

to listen to what God is saying in your life

that you can that you can say, God, Okay, these

are things that are going on in my life. And

they hurt, they don't they're not great. It's making me uncomfortable.

And so Lord, what are you doing that I need

to pay attention? Okay, So Romans, if you're keeping score

Part sixteen of Romans, and today we're going to be

in Romans chapter five. We're gonna look at verses three

through five, and it's a it's a continuation from where

we were last week and Romans Romans five three through five.

If you have your Bibles and you were there. If not,

you can follow along verse three. Not only that, and

we'll get to not only that pretty soon. Not only that,

but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope

does not put us to shame, because God's love has

been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who

has been given to us. And we say, yes, Lord,

have your way in this message today, in me and

through me, that the name of Jesus would be glorified.

In his name. Amen. Well, some of you will remember

the original version of the TV game show Let's Make

a Deal Monte Hall, Carol Merrill and j Stewart. What

a what a great, good old sixties and seventies TV

game show that was. And and as you if you're

familiar with it, you know that the contestants would dress

in silly costumes and and they'd be pulled from the

studio audience and hoping that they could win some money.

Maybe they might win a nice vacation, new appliances, and

maybe even a new car. And they were always given

the choice between door number one, door number two, or

door number three, or what's behind the curtain that Carol

Merrill is in front of, and they would win whatever

was behind the door or curtain that they would choose,

And sometimes it was one of those great prizes, but

sometimes it was a clunker, right, it was a dead

Sometimes it was a pet donkey. You know. Whether they

took the donkey home with or not, I don't know,

but that's what they won. And then Monty might say,

how would you like to trade that for what's under

the box that Jay is bringing out? Right, And there

was always a chance or an opportunity to trade in

hopes that it would be a trade up for something

really nice. Cousin Eddie might say, but sometimes, as you know,

if you've seen the show, what they ended up with

was not what they helped for, right, And most every time, though,

no matter what was the prize that they ended up with,

they wouldn't say how much fun they had on the show,

doesn't matter what I want. We had such a great

time on the show, and it's a great opportunity, so

we're very thankful even if they walked away with nothing.

That might be kind of a loose example, but many

times in our lives as followers of Jesus. Life isn't

always rosy. Sometimes what's behind door number one is not

a new car, but car repairs. And sometimes what's behind

door number two is not a vacation package, but it's

where is the next meal coming from? And that's reality

for a lot of people today, Christians included. And Paul

is intentional to not paint a rosy picture for the

lifestyle of the Christian I would say the same for Peter,

for John and Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew sixteen, verses

twenty four and twenty five, this is the hard to

swallow message that Jesus gives. And he said, then Jesus

told his disciples less you and me, You and me.

So listen, if anyone would come after me, let him

deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it. But

whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

And he says pretty much the same thing he says

in Matthew ten, verse thirty eight. He says, and whoever

does not take his cross and follow me is not

worthy of me. Wow to take up the cross us.

What does that mean. It means it means death, death

to self or self denial. It means to be willing.

It means to be willing to be uncomfortable. It means

to be willing to be unsafe for the sake of

the Gospel. So, Brian, what you're saying is that unless

I put to death my selfish desires, I can't be

a Christian. No, I didn't say that. Jesus said that

his words carry all the weight, not mine. So back

to Paul in Romans five last week. In verses one

and two, Paul says that since we are justified by

faith alone in Christ, that we have peace with God.

Right now that we have been forgiven, our sins are forgiven,

the curse of sin has been destroyed. We have peace.

We have peace with God, and we also have obtained

access by faith into His grace of God, this unmerited

favor that we have with Christ. We have access free

eternally into the grace of God. And we rejoice in

the hope of His glory. And if you were to

choose what was behind door number one, this would be

the big deal of the day, the grandest prize of

them all, and you wouldn't want to trade it for anything.

Peace with God, access to his grace, and the eternal

hope of his glory. And guess what Door number one

belongs to every single follower of Jesus. It's yours in Christ.

But guess what by default, Door number two is yours

as well? Verse number three. Let's look at it. Not

only that, Paul says, not only what, not only peace

with God, not only access to his grace, and not

only the eternal hope of his glory. Not only that,

but he says, but we rejoice in our sufferings. Yay?

Can I trade door number two for more door number one?

It doesn't work that way, does it. That would be

like a marathon runner training a marathon runner twenty six

point two miles marathon. That'd be like running a few

wind sprints and thinking that you're ready for a marathon.

A distance runner's body must be tested and prepared for endurance.

How by putting his body through miles and miles and

miles of training to properly prepare for the race. Training

properly helps them finish the race. So Paul says, we

rejoice in our sufferings. Why we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces endurance. The Christian life, it's a marathon,

it's not a sprint. It's a lifelong journey. It's not

a sprint across the street. As you know probably know,

the Summer Olympics are going on now, and I won't

get involved in a conversation about all the political garbage

that's going on with the Olympics. The Olympics were supposed

to be about athletes and athletic competition, and so that's

where I'll stay. But there are over ten thousand athletes

in Paris, France who have not just trained over the

last few months to be an Olympian, but they have

sacrificed a normal existence for most of their lives for

a life of competition at the highest level. You don't

just wake up one morning and decide to be an

elite athlete. It takes years years of extreme physical and

mental preparation and suffering. Even how many athletes have you

heard the story where their bodies and their minds didn't

suffer for the sake of their cause, of their race

of war. What they do even to qualify for an

event such as the Olympics just to qualify take suffering

the spiritual conditioning in the life of a follower of

Jesus is no difference. We learn to rejoice in our suffering.

I want to say that again. We learn to rejoice

in our suffering as a follower of Jesus because of

what it produces. A marathon runner, a boxer, a swimmer,

a gymnast willingly, willingly puts his body, willingly allows his

mind to be stretched to the very limits in daily training,

not just a once a week thing, because it produces

endurance and strength to finish what they're doing, to endure

to the end. Then you and me, as followers of Jesus,

we should expect suffering. We don't have to like suffering,

but we should welcome it because it gives us endurance

to run the race and to finish the race that

God has set before us. So what does suffering in

the life of a Christian look like? Well, I could

get the microphone I say what the suffering will like

in your life, and you would all have a story.

It might look like you not getting your way and

having to submit to another way of thinking. It might

look like having to start a project all over because

you thought you knew a shortcut, but then you have

to start all over by following the directions to do

it right. It might mean being put in your place

at work in front of coworkers. It looks like setbacks

in your life, physical setbacks, emotional setbacks, spiritual setbacks, and

sometimes it means losing to learn how to be a

better winner. The athlete never learns how to lose. What

kind of winter are they going to be? The King

James version calls them tribulations. The amplified version calls them troubles.

And I like that because that's what we face, right,

we face troubles. The amplified version of verse three says

it like this, I love this, and moreover, let us

also be full of joy. Now let us exalt, and

exalt means to be elated. So let us be elated

and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings.

Knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produced patient and

unswerving endurance, that's pretty good. It's not easy, it's not

supposed to be easy, and it's actually hard, and it's

a process. It's a process of learning and growing and

becoming stronger in our faith, and verse four says this,

and endurance produces character. And we'll get to what character

produces in a minute. But endurance produces character the marks

of the follower of Jesus. I'm here to tell you,

if you walk with Jesus and people are looking at

your life, they should see endurance, they should see character,

and they should see hope, the marks of one who

follows Jesus. Can you tell difference in someone's character from

the time they receive Christ, after they've endured some stuff

in their life. You better believe it. I hope. So.

I hope that what people observing it in my life

is maturity from when I walked with God as an

eighteen year old. Come on, I hope. So. Character is

defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an

individuals as a as a manager, you know, you go

through and interview process to hire people, and what are

you looking for. You're looking for somebody with certain mental

and moral qualities, right, someone who will work hard and

work honestly when they're being supervised and when they're not

being supervised. That's character. That's what you look for. In

a church. Church is looking to set someone in a

leadership position. They don't want not only look for the

mental and moral qualities, but also the spiritual maturity as well.

Character someone who's been tested by the trials of life,

someone who has endured and developed godly character. He might

even call that an approved faith. That's what I want.

I want my life to represent and approved faith. Going

through the stuff of life enough to where you know,

I've learned some things. I'm strengthened. I don't I don't

fall for the same things that I fell for when

I was eighteen or twenty five, or thirty or forty

or fifty or size approved faith? Did Jesus? Did Jesus

have to prove himself through enduring trials and suffering. It's

a good question to ask, did Jesus have to prove himself? Yes,

Jesus had to prove himself before his three years of

earthly ministry. Matthew chapter three says that Jesus was baptized

by John the Baptist right as an example for each

one of us. And then chapter four, verse one, this

is what Matthew says, Then Jesus was led up by

the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus had to endure stuff. Jesus endured hunger, He endured

various temptations by the devil. For what purpose? To prove

that his character, that he his makeup, that his emotional

and spiritual strength was up to the task of carrying

the mantle of being the Messiah. Now did he have

to prove that to God. No, he didn't have to

prove that to God the Father. But he had to

prove to mankind. Mankind had to see in Jesus that

this guy is who he says he is. He went

through all of that, and guess what, without sin, he

was up to the task, perfectly worthy of being the Messiah.

And if we look at Hebrews four fifteen, for we

do not have a high priest who is unable to

sympathize with our weakness, but one whom in every respect

has been tempted as we are, yet without sin, tempted

in every way as we are. Every temptation, every trial,

every suffering, everything that you have endured that you think

nobody has a clue what you're going through. Jesus went

through it. Every went through every temptation, every struggle. Jesus

came through it with the character of God for all

to see. Without sin, A baby is not born with character.

A newborn baby has not any spiritual, mental, or moral

qualities formed in them at that time. It's time and

it's experiences and reactions to the stuff of life that

builds and creates that character in us. And it's the

same for a newborn in Christ. Christ's likeness develops as

we endure. Christ's likeness or God's character develops as we

respond to hardships, and how we respond to bad news,

how we deal with conflict, and that comes with time,

It comes with obedience. The more you put things off

in your life with Jesus, the longer it takes for

character to be built in you. Obedience has so much

to do with the character that God builds in us.

And that's what sanctification is, the process of developing Christ

likeness in us. And I refer you once again to

James Chapter one. I guess I call it my life verse.

It applies almost every day in my life. Count and

all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness,

and steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you

may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So endurance

produces God's character in you. It produces Christ's likeness in you.

And the second part of verse four says this, and

character produces hope, the spiritual, the moral, the mental quality

that is developed in us. It produces a deeper confidence

in our eternal salvation. You get that you walk with

the Lord. And somebody can walk with God for fifty

or sixty years and not get this, but somebody who

who is younger in the Lord, that grows in faith

and understands that these these things it produces. It produces

a confidence in our eternal salvation. That's what hope is

a confidence in the eternal promises of God. That's hope

we possess that as followers of Jesus. And the longer

we walk with God, the more we grow, the more

that we allow ourselves to be strengthened through the trials

of life, are confidence and His promises is strengthened in us.

So how many younger Christians when I say younger, I

mean young in their faith journey. So a young Christian

can be older. How many younger Christians do you know,

they can't wait to get to heaven. I don't know

very many. I don't know very many that are young

in their faith that have a yearning for home, a

yearning for heaven, because it's it's not their focus. Yet

they still have life to live right. On the other hand,

how many older saints? Do you know? How many older

saints that have walked with God for so many years

and they can't wait to get to heaven. Most that

I know have a real yearning for Heaven, for their

eternal home. They lived the stuff of life, right, They've

endured the stuff of life. Some of the things that

they endured have strengthened them in their faith. But at

the same time, some of the stuff that they have

endured have made them weary in their faith. Ready for home.

They're ready for their life, their life of trusting, and

their life of faith in the in the unseen to

finally be seen. Let me tell you, I'm getting to

that point in my life. I'm getting closer to that

point in my life. I just want to see Jesus.

I know that what I'm walking through makes me stronger,

but there are days that it just makes me weary.

And the only benefit for me to stay on this

earth and in this body that fails me more and

more every day. The only benefit is to fulfill God's

purpose in me until he calls me home. And Paul

said it best and Philippians won twenty one through twenty four.

He says, for me, to live is Christ and to

die is Gain. If I am to live in the flesh,

that means fruitful labor for me. Your what shall I choose?

I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two.

If you come to that point. Yet, are you hard

pressed between the two? Between staying and going? My desire

is to depart and be with Christ, for that is

far better. But to remain in the flesh is more

necessary on your account. Were up to me, if it

were all about me, I'd be looking for a way

to go home. But God has called me from this

season of my life, in this place to be here

for your benefit, whatever that looks like, and I want

to fulfill that. I don't want to fail in that

mission of fruitful labors. There is the saying you can

be so heavily minded that you know worth we good. Well, okay, maybe,

but there reaches a point in your life where I'm

heavily minded. That is my home and I'm ready. Thank

you for tuning in to today's broadcast. We hope you

are encouraged and challenged by the preaching of God's word.

You can reach us by phone at six one eight

three nine zero ten forty six, contact us via Facebook

or our website FBC Woodlawn dot org. It's our prayer

that you answer the call of God on your life

to follow him and share your faith story with others.

Goodbye for now, and God bless you.