Sermon Tone Analysis

Faith In The Fire or Joy In The Traffic Jam

All of the scripture this morning is predicated upon the righteousness of one man, Abraham- that righteousness was given to him because of his faith.... the previous chapters are summed up in the passage, “Abraham believed God and righteousness was imputed to him.”

Abraham’s faith was the evidence for God to place his grace and righteousness upon Abraham.

Our own reconciliation to God, our own faith in God, is now predicated upon the righteousness of one- not ourselves- but the righteousnessof Jesus Christ.

and His actions upon the cross, when we believe in them and in Him, that righteousness becomes ours and it overcomes the power of sin in our lives and death in our lives.

But we are not exempt from sin and death in this life- this part of our lives.

No, much like the warrior on the battlefield, while the battle is ours the war is blazing all around us and the insurgency of sin and death is everywhere even in the victory that we know is ours.

Bill Liming… son Ethan.

Faith In The Fire or Joy In The Traffic Jam

Our Sinful nature has brought condemnation to us.

This condemnation is God’s declaration of war against us, because of our sin....

But Justification is God’s declaration of peace with us.

When we are justified by faith, we are reconciled to God, and that brings peace to us..... because of our faith in Christ, Christ is the one who justifies us, makes us righteous, and declares us at peace with God the Father.

Jews were kept from the presence of God by a veil in the temple.

Gentiles were kept from the temple by a sign that said they would be killed if they entered.

But when Christ died on the cross, the veil in the temple tore in two.

And that real event symbolized the work that Christ did on the Christ in breaking down every barrier that keeps us from Him.

When we accept Christ, believing Jews and Gentiles have access to god.

“Access”- means “entrance to the king through the favor of another.”

Look closely at this verse for a minute....

Peace with God covers our past.

Access takes care of the present

Hope of the glory of God takes care of the future.

Just because we become a Christian, we do not escape trials and tribulations.

Jesus said, in John 16.33

but those trials produce positives… they work for the believer, not against the believer.

Christian character is built in the kiln of suffering.

When suffering comes, when trials come, why do so many people ask the question, “Where is God?”

When Job suffered immensely, his wife told him to curse God and die… but Job had a deeper understanding, and i believe relationship, with God.

People ask the question “Where is God?” because theyve never known God… they’ve never understood the grace that kept them from suffering in the past,a nd they surely will not get it when suffering does come.

But for the Christian, suffering works far differently.

Look at Romans 8.35-39

Stop for a moment and see the order of suffering for the believer...

suffering or tribulation

patience

character

hope

How tragic if we never found hope in suffering… if we are hopeless!! How sad if there was no redemption, no relief, no respite from tragedy....

But Paul has told us there is… remember the order of suffering for the believer:

suffering or tribulation

patience

character

hope

So, look at the next verse- and the final verse we will look at this morning.

Remember verse 1… we had peace in tribulation… remember verse 2… we had joy in tribulation...

now Paul says we have love … in tribulation.

The first 3 fruits of the spirit are experienced in the life of the believer in time of trial....

and so we find that, in time of tribulation, God pours into our hearts his love… look at this verse in the message:

Faith In The Fire or Joy In The Traffic Jam

Paul has said that when life gets difficult, when trials come, when life seems bleak as it can… God is still at work.

In a multitude of ways, so much so that we can’t gather enough containers to hold the blessings he provides in trial for the Christian.

But what maintains that blessing or holds that blessing of God in place?

It is our faith.

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego went into the fiery furnace, there were 4 seen in the fire.

When Gideon went to fight the enemy army, God pared his army down by 2/3.

And Gideon overcame the enemy with their own swords.

When Elisha found himself surrounded by an enemy in Dothan, he prayed- and when he awoke in the morning, there was an army of angels surrounding the city .

How God pours out his blessing is God’s choice, but one thing is certain- for the believer in Christ God always pours out His blessing.

All of that is about us.

getting through.

Getting by.

Surviving and thriving.

Right?

How gracious of God that he not only calls off the war, signs the peace treaty, fills us with joy, and then lavishes His love upon us so that we can survive the fire or be joyous in the jam.

But hold on there.

Look at the next three verses.

While we were yet sinners, while we were still at war, while we were nothing of faith or forgiveness- Christ died for us.

As ugly as we could be, as wretched as we could be- Christ died for us to forgive us and bring us peace, joy, and hope.

That’s the seed of faith.

If all God ever said was, “When they get it right I will love them”, we’d be in dire trouble- eternal trouble- permanent torment.

But God didn’t say that or do that.

He said, I will love them first so they can know the peace the joy and the hope that comes from being loved.

He laid down his righteous wrath and picked up his eternal love.

This Brings me to our bottom line

The Love Of Christ Unleashes The Power Of Forgiveness

Who are you at war with?

If you are at war with Christ, know that He already signed the peace treaty.

You need only accept your copy.

But once you settled the war with Christ, why can’t you extend that same gift to others?

I think we love all the benefits of being a Christian.... remember what we talked about this morning.

The God who was at war with us loved us, extended his forgiveness, and continues to extend that grace and forgiveness- in spite of our anger, our failure to forgive, our hatred towards matters of life and people in life.

We will say that patience and endurance in times of suffering produce character, and what a blessing and a hope to be able to suffer knowing that our suffering is actually working for us?

And it all sounds good, doesn’t it?

But what about patterning our life after Jesus who know from the moment he set his nose towards the cross, his suffering would begin and it would bring no more character than he already possessed?

It woulod produce nomore hope, no more endurance, no more character- it would only bring pain.

suffering.

But he never turned back.

Friend, as a Christian, if Jesus has poured his love out on you.

Like, so much love, so much hope , so much forgiveness- that you can’t contain it.

Why aren’t you passing that out to others?

Who are you at war with?

Because if you signed the peace treaty with Christ, it is time to take a jar of that stuff and share it with someone else.

Probably those you are at war with.