In 'Patience, Experience, Hope – Part 2,' Pastor Steve Hopkins continues his reflection on Romans 5:1-5, emphasizing the transformative power of tribulations in developing patience, experience, and hope for Christians. He discusses how tribulations are not just challenges to endure but opportunities for spiritual growth, leading to a deeper understanding of God's love through the Holy Spirit. The sermon highlights that God's purposes are often beyond our understanding but are ultimately for our good and His glory. By drawing upon historical and personal testimonies, including Tom Landry's experience and the trials of the Apostle Paul, Pastor Hopkins illustrates how tribulations can lead to a profound sense of hope and assurance in God's promises. Christians are encouraged to glory in their tribulations, recognizing them as a divine design that yields spiritual benefits and proves their union with Christ. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the unchanging love of God and the assurance of a future inheritance with Christ.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Good morning. If you would, open your Bibles once again to the letter of Paul to the Romans, chapter 5, and we'll be reading, once again, verses 1 through 5. Our last time that we'll be reading and looking at these five verses before we move on to verse 6.

So if you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord. Let's read together. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation 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. Let's pray.

Father, we know that you know all things and you know Lord what is needed by every member of your congregation, every member of your body, and every member of this congregation. You know, Lord, us inside and out. You know us better than we know ourselves. Father, we are asking that you would meet every need here today through the riches that we have in your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is truth. We ask, Lord, that you would renew our minds by your word.

And Lord, that you would comfort those who need comfort this morning. Give peace Lord that passes understanding to those who are not at peace. Give instruction to all of us through your word because we all need the instruction of your word. Give encouragement to those who are discouraged. And Lord, build up your church for the sake of your son, our Lord Jesus, who suffered and died for our sins, for the sins of your people, and rose again the third day.

Open up the understanding of our hearts now, Lord, to receive from your Word, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Let's be seated. Yesterday I was watching a testimonial. I love testimonials. I love to hear how it is that someone, what the means were that God used to bring a certain person to saving faith.

It's always so amazing the different ways that God does that. And you look at all these great ministers from history and you say, how did they come to saving faith? Men like Spurgeon, who's, you know, walking out in the cold and drawn into a Methodist church is where he hears of the gospel which he'd heard so many times and comes to saving faith. But I love testimonials because I love to see how it is that God affects the souls of those whom he has determined to bring the saving faith. And yesterday, as I said, I was watching a testimonial by a man named Tom Landry, anyone know who that is?

Who is the former Dallas Cowboys coach. And Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys from their inception in 1960 through their 29th year in his Testimonial he recounted how God had opened His eyes while He was attending a Bible study as a young man and as a passage was read from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. As I said earlier, He was approached by this man on several occasions. He had kind of rejected his counsel, rejected him, and then finally he kind of gave in. The man was, in Landry's words, persistent, and he went to this Bible study.

And as he sat at this table where they were reading from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, he said at that moment his eyes and ears were opened, quote, the Bible tells us that God shuts men's eyes and their ears. Only He can open our eyes and ears to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And at that moment, He opened my eyes and my ears. And I wasn't planning really on saying anything this morning about that testimonial of Tom Landry or his testimony at all until I heard the end of Landry's talk that he was giving at this church when he brought in the very passage that we've been looking at for the past couple of weeks, Romans 5 verses 3 through 5. And he began to talk about tribulations and troubles of this life and adversity experienced by their family.

And he spoke specifically of a time back in 1991 when their family had gone through a time of great trial. And his daughter, Landry's daughter, who was 33 years old at the time, had given the family the happy news that she was with child and the family was rejoicing. But early on in the pregnancy, his daughter became ill and the doctors gave the family the sad news that his daughter had developed a rare form of cancer. A few months later, Landry's daughter delivered a baby girl by cesarean section, but it was now too late for chemotherapy because the cancer had spread. His daughter's only hope for survival at this point was a liver transplant.

And she was given approximately two months, the doctor said, to live without it. By the grace of God, his daughter was able to get the transplant, and a new miracle drug that had just come out that was still in its experimental phase, thank you, had just come out, and she was able to get that, and it helped her body not reject the transplant. But as in so many cases, within a few years the cancer returned and his daughter died at the age of 37. Tom Landry went on to talk about adversity and how trying it can be, but he concluded his testimonial talking about hope, which is what we are talking about, or will be talking about this morning, the hope of the Christian. Adversity can be tough, he said, but our hope is in Jesus Christ.

In a moment, we're going to be talking about hope, the hope that is ours now, and the comfort that we experience even in the most trying times of our lives, knowing that God loves us and knowing the Holy Spirit who indwells us communicates the love of God to our hearts and minds even in the most difficult times of our lives. Our text once again says, tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. I think a review of patience and experience would be helpful as we're leading into hope. For the past couple of weeks, we've been focusing on how God uses tribulations, how God uses trials and tests of faith in the life of the Christian for our good and for His glory. And we've been talking about how tribulations and trials of faith come with the territory for the people of God.

And we quoted from Acts chapter 1422 where we read, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And where Jesus said, in the world you shall have tribulation. And as I was thinking about this truth related to Christian life last night, it occurred to me why it is that all the false teachers and false prophets who masquerade as Christian preachers and teachers throughout history tend to avoid these passages Passages like we must be much tribulation entered the kingdom of God Think about it. We must through much Tribulation enter into the kingdom of God is not the best marketing strategy for false teachers and who want to gain followers. Come to Jesus and all your troubles will disappear.

Works better for them. But rather than being surprised by tribulations, as I quoted from Martin Lloyd-Jones last week, we should expect them and even be prepared for them, understanding that the trials of this life experienced by the Christian are God's work. That He is the one who has ordained all things whatsoever come to pass, including every trial of faith the Christian must endure. And by understanding that God has a purpose in the sufferings endured by His people. He has a purpose, a purpose that He may not reveal to us at the time, but even so a purpose that is ultimately for our good and for His glory, though we may not understand it at the time.

In our last two sessions, we found that not only can the Christian glory in the midst of tribulations, we can. We can glory in the midst of tribulations because we've been justified by faith in Christ, and therefore we know what awaits us when this life is over. But that the Christian may also glory in the tribulations themselves. Not only in the midst of tribulations, but also in the tribulations themselves. And that's what the text says, we glory in tribulations.

Not only can we rejoice in the midst of our sufferings, because nothing we suffer on earth can compare to the joy set before us Seeing will one day be in the presence of Christ beholding his unveiled glory forever But we can also rejoice in the sufferings themselves knowing that God is by them and through them producing things in us in us for our good and for His glory in the here and now. So the Christian may rejoice not only in the midst of tribulations but also in those trials themselves, understanding that God is producing something in us for our good. He knows what we need, and He knows what's for our good and what is best for us, and also for His glory. But listen, in the process, in the very process of our suffering itself. We may not only glory in the midst of tribulation, knowing that Christ is with us, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but we may also glory in the dark valley itself, knowing that God is working something in us in the process as we walk.

We are to come to the place where we understand that our experiences are yielding spiritual benefits by design, by divine design. And they are yielding spiritual benefits by design within us in the process of our sufferings. In short, we who follow in the footsteps of Christ come to understand that our pain has a purpose on earth. Our pain, our trials, our tribulations have a purpose on earth, and that ultimately the things we suffer in this life are God's doing and that God knows what He's doing. Everything God does with us has a purpose, though we may not understand His purpose at the time or even in our lifetime.

God knows and God knows what He's doing. Many of you know Scott Brown, the president of Church and Family Life. If you were at the Forge Conference this year, you would have heard him say this year that those words were the last words of his father before he died. Scott was heading off to work, and right before he went out of the house, his father looked at him, sitting in his wheelchair in his 90s, and said, son, God knows what he's doing. And then when he was at work he got the news that his father had passed away.

The Christian can rejoice in tribulations when he understands that God is the one who is orchestrating every event in his life. It's God who's the orchestrating these events in our lives. And then in our last session, we looked at not only what glorying in tribulations means, but also in what glorying in tribulations does not mean. Glorying or rejoicing in tribulations does not mean that the Christian looks forward to circumstances or situations of suffering. Glorifying in or rejoicing in tribulations does not mean that we invite tribulation into our lives.

Or even that Christians have some blunted response to suffering, like the Stoics of old, who showed no emotion when they were suffering or grieving. No, when we go through trials and tribulations, we feel real pain. And when we do, we cry real tears. But as we go through these things, and sometimes long after we have gone through them we see that the hand of God was working by them and through them for his good purposes and for our good. Our text says tribulations work.

By the grace of God, tribulations work patience and patience experience and experience hope. God has a purpose in the tribulations and the trials His people endure. In our last two sessions, we learned that one of those is the production of the Christian virtue of patience in God's people. As Christians, we believe in the sovereignty of a sovereign God. And we believe that our sovereign Lord has decreed not only every happy circumstance we enjoy in life, but also for His good purposes, every faith-trying experience we go through.

When we experience tribulations, or tribulation, or trouble, or trial, or adversity, or affliction, or even persecution, when we are enduring the intense pressure, remember that word tribulation, The root of that word tribulation is pressure. In the Greek word, it's pressure. When we're enduring the intense pressure of pain, or sorrow, or loss, or affliction, or persecution, we not only know that it has an end and a good end, that it has a good end, we also know that we are learning something in the process as we go through it. God is doing something in us as we go through trials and tribulations. There are things that are being produced in us, our text says, patience, experience, Hope.

We focused on patience and experience in our last two sessions, and I noted how patience is more than endurance. Some of the Bible translations translate the word endurance, some like the NIV translated perseverance. But patience is more than endurance, and it's more than perseverance. Patience involves more than merely persevering through or enduring trials and afflictions. The definition of endurance is bearing or suffering pain or distress without resistance or sinking.

But patience does more than that. Patience endures and perseveres without murmuring or complaining against God or becoming discontent with His providences. And then in our last session, we learned that patience is something we learn. It's something the Christian learns. We looked at an example of this in the life of the apostle Paul, who wrote to the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11, I have learned.

He says, I have learned. I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I've learned contentment in whatsoever state God has put me in. Contentment in whatever state we may find ourselves is a good definition of what it means to have learned patience." And the apostle Paul learned patience through the many trials that he endured. That passage from Philippians says he had to learn to be content.

If you're a Christian here this morning, you're also learning. We are all learning patience and contentment, and it can be very difficult. The tribulations and trials of life we endure are by God's design and by God's grace teaching us the virtue of patience. Charles Spurgeon, commenting on this passage, said, the more trial you have, the more spiritual education you have. The more trial you have, the more spiritual education you have.

He says, you cannot learn the virtue of patience without tribulation, Any more than a man can learn to be a sailor if he stops on the shore He goes on to say a man who never suffers does not know what patience means close quote Learning patience in God's school is a grace that is given to the people of God, the children of God. And in his school, in God's school, we learn to look to Christ for strength to endure patiently. Paul says in Philippians 4.13 that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me, he said. But what does that mean?

He was saying that he could bear all the things that he had to bear without a despairing or without succumbing to discontentedness with God, and he could even rejoice in those things through the grace and the strength given him through Christ. We looked in our last session at the 11th and 12th chapters of the book of 2nd Corinthians, where we heard the Apostle Paul recount many of the things that he suffered and what his conclusion was after having suffered so many things The first of which he suffered was persecution 195 lashings you may remember from last week with the whip by the Jewish authorities 195 lashings Five times he received the 39 lashes. And how he had been beaten by the Jews three times with rods. And how he had been stoned once. And how he had been shipwrecked three times.

Certainly God could have kept those ships from crashing into the rocks and coming apart. But he was shipwrecked three times. One of those occasions he spent a day and a night in the open sea floating on pieces of wreckage. He speaks of having faced danger constantly from his own countrymen, the Jews, and also danger from false brethren who were hiding out in the church. And he also spoke of going without sleep often and without food or even water and hunger and thirst often, he says, and at times being without enough clothing to keep him warm.

This is the apostle Paul. This is the apostle to the Gentiles. This is the hand-picked apostle, hand-picked by Christ and turned around on the road to Damascus from being a persecutor of Christians to being a lover of Christ who will die who will one day be beheaded by Nero for his love of Christ Who is weak he asks the Apostle Paul asked and I am not weak Once he had an entire garrison of soldiers in Damascus put on alert for by the civil authorities in an attempt to have him arrested. He had to be let down in a basket from a window in one of the outer walls of the city in order to escape death. This is the Apostle Paul.

And then we recounted in our last session how in order to keep him humble, because he had received so many revelations, that God gave him a thorn in the flesh. On top of everything else that he was enduring and suffering and going through, God gave him a thorn in the flesh. On top of everything else that he was enduring and suffering and going through, God gave him a thorn in the flesh. The scripture says a messenger of Satan to buffet him. Some scholars, as I said, think it was a physical ailment.

Others believe it was a demonic harassment. Whatever it was, three times the apostle begged God to take it away from him, and three times God's answer came back, no, rely on my grace. God, please remove this thing from me. Not once, but on three different occasions. He was so overcoming came to the place He was just crying out to God Oh Lord, really remove this thing from me remove this thing from me Oh my my grace is sufficient for you My grace is sufficient for you and brothers and sisters his grace is sufficient for you and for me.

Paul's conclusion was to gladly glory in his infirmities and his weaknesses and in his trials and not only in the midst of them, but in the tribulations themselves, that the power of Christ, he said, might rest on him. Paul learned patience. He learned to suffer patiently and to, quote, take pleasure in infirmities. He said, I have learned to take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake, saying, for when I am weak, then am I strong. When I am weak, then am I strong.

Paul didn't invite, again, distressing circumstances upon himself or look forward to those things. Those things were not pleasurable to him, but he approved of them. That's what the text means. He approved of them because he saw what God was producing in him through them. He comprehended the power of Christ working in him through his weaknesses.

For the Christian, that's how it goes. We have to be shown our weakness so many times before we sense and feel the reality of the power of Christ working in us through those weaknesses. We have to come to a place of where we see ourselves as weak and needy. As one pastor put it, beggars. For the Christian tribulations work patience and patience experience and experience hope.

It is on account of Christ and God's grace ministered to the people of God through Christ that we endure tribulation and learn patience and contentment, leaning on the Lord as His strength is manifested in our weakness. Graces are produced in us by God through tribulations, through the trials of this life, whether they're infirmities, weaknesses, illnesses, losses, needs, or persecutions. Christ's strength is manifested in our weakness. Christ's strength is manifested in our weakness. Again, I have a quote from Charles Spurgeon.

He said, if we can glory in tribulations, we can glory in anything. If we can glory in tribulations, we can glory in anything. End quote. This past week on my trip to Odessa, my sons, we had a tire blow out in the middle of the night. It wasn't a huge test by any means, but something I was thinking about is that, you know, we can learn patience even in the small trials of this life.

Don't have to be shipwrecked to learn patience. They don't have to be persecuted in a horrible way to learn patience. Maybe, but just the day-to-day trials of this life teach us patience. How many mothers are in here today? Children, yeah?

Your children teach you patience or what? Yeah, they teach us. Tribulation for the Christian-produced patience and patience experience. That word I noted, experience, in the Greek is translated literally, proof. So it doesn't matter what our translations say, whether it's experience or character or whatever it is, the word is proof.

That's the literal word. Going through difficult situations proves our genuineness. If we are truly children of God, trials and tribulations yield proof of the fact. They also tend to expose false professors, right? Afflictions and adversity drive the true child of God to him, and the false professor is driven away from him through the same afflictions, tribulations, adversities.

The one runs into the arms of Christ, the other runs in the opposite direction. I've seen this in marriages where one spouse is a believer and the other is not and then they go through the crucible. How many of you know what a crucible is? Where the precious metals are heated up, the dross is burned off, and the gold and the silver are refined. One spouse is a believer, the other is not, and they go through the crucible, they go through the fire, and the heat drives one into the arms of Jesus and the other to despair.

I've seen it. Robert Haldane comments here from the 1600s trial, I'm sorry from the 1800s Trial may detect a hypocrite as well as a saint The proof referred to here is the proof the believer has of the reality of his union with the Savior and of the reality of his being filled with the fruits of the Spirit, which are produced solely by faith, but confirmed by the fruits of faith. When our faith is proved or put to the test, it manifests the reality of our union with Christ by faith. And the fruits of the Spirit are produced in us. For the child of God, affliction, trials, tribulation, and even chastening yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

And these like tests prove our faith and produce Christ-like character. Trials and tribulations test our faith, and when proven, having stood the test, Christian character is proven. But as I've said so many times, not perfectly, but progressively. The Christian sanctification is a progressive sanctification. We are a work in progress.

We fail many tests along the way, right? Anybody else or just me? Anybody fail some tests along the way? Yeah? Okay.

But over time, through various means, we are conformed more and more to the image of Christ. I ended our last session last week citing five benefits of tribulation for the Christian, and I've added one this week. One, number one, tribulations reveal to us our weakness and cause us to confess our weakness to God, looking to Christ for strength. They reveal to us our weakness. Matthew Henry comments here, when we are weak in ourselves, then we're strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When We see ourselves weak in ourselves, then we go out of ourselves to Christ. And then we're qualified to receive strength from him, end quote. And that's a good thing, as I said last week, that's a good thing. Tribulations number two, show us our need for Christ and they drive us to him. Again, they drive the unbeliever away from God, but they drive the believer to God.

Number three, tribulations humble us when we might have otherwise lived in a prideful state or gone on in a prideful state. The Lord humbled Paul in every way, and that in his defects, that in his defects, the glory of God might shine forth more resplendently." John Calvin, end quote. God resists the proud, Peter says, but gives grace into the humble. Number four, tribulations make us more fruitful for the service of God. How many remember that one?

Just like pruning a tree makes it more fruitful for the year to come. Number five, tribulations beckon us. They beckon us. They call to us to resign ourselves to the will of God. Come.

Resign yourself to the divine will. Resign yourself to God's will. Come, Say, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. And I said last week, resignation to the will of God is a pillow upon which the Christian may rest his head. Now I'll add a sixth benefit of tribulations number six tribulations tend to purify us I Mentioned the crucible furnace where precious metals are purified where the dross is consumed and the gold is refined.

David says in Psalm 1, 1967, before I was afflicted, I went astray. See, it's a good thing. Maybe God's keeping us through different trials and tribulations and things in our lives from going astray in some way. He said, but now I keep thy word. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

So we have these spiritual benefits of tribulations, patience, patient endurance, experience or proof of our union with Christ, through which having stood the test, Christian character is built and hope. Notice the apostle returns to hope. It was the third of the first three, right? Now we have, through our justification by faith, we have peace with God, we have access to God, we have hope of the glory to come. Now he's back to hope.

Now he's back to hope. Hope, the anchor of the Christian soul. There is an increase in hope in the believer who learns patience through suffering and who having stood the test gives proof of his union with Christ. Listen to this, getting close here to the end. But not on account of the sufferings themselves.

There's an increase in hope in the believer who learns patience through suffering and who has, having stood the test, gives proof of his union with Christ, but not on account of the sufferings themselves. It's not on account of the sufferings themselves that our hope is increased, is what I'm saying, But on account of the love of God. It's on account of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts that He that He that God put within us by the Holy Spirit and which love he pours into us continually as we go through the trials of this life. John Gill comments here, tribulations enlarge the saints stock, or what we might call stockpile. You want to get a bigger stockpile?

Of something okay says tribulations enlarge the Saints stockpile and fund of experience of the love of God and the grace of God Communicated to us in such seasons Veteran sufferers among God's people You ever met a veteran sufferer Veteran sufferers of God's people among God's people will tell you that in the course of their lives, they experienced more of the outpouring of the love of God upon them in the bad times than they did in the good. Trials produced patience in them as a sense of God's love and affection filled their hearts in their darkest hours. And patience produced a greater proof of their sonship through experience as the love of God was lavished upon them in the midst of their trials. And hope, the certain expectation of all that God has promised his people in glory was increased. Brothers and sisters, in this sense, looking backward, we look forward.

Looking back at all that God has brought us through and sensing the love of God continually shed abroad in our hearts through it all. The fragrance of God's love filling our lives even as we suffered. We are comforted regarding what lies ahead. And the promise of God to us, that we the children of God have of the security of our future inheritance with Christ in glory. In the midst of our worst suffering, His love was poured out within us, was put into us and lavished upon us.

We know, we are certain, because of the love of God for us, because of the love that God, the Holy Spirit, put inside us, that our future inheritance with Christ and glory is sure. And we can be confident that we will never be disappointed or put to shame. It's a hope that that maketh not ashamed. It doesn't disappoint. All our hope and expectation and comfort must be fixed upon God's love for us, and never our love for Him, which rises and wanes, which goes from cold to hot and lukewarm to cool.

God loves his children with an immutable love. It changes never because he never changes. Our hope will never be a cause for shame because it will never be disappointed. It's a hope that does not disappoint because it cannot disappoint. It is sure and steadfast and an anchor for our souls.

Our hope is grounded in God's love for us and communicated to us by the Holy Spirit. And it is manifested to us ultimately in the death of Christ for us, which is what we'll be looking at next week in our next session. So as we close, verses 1 through 5, just look over at verses 1 through 5 again of chapter 5, and what do we see? We see the fruits of our justification, of our having been declared just in God's sight through faith in Christ. We see the fruits of God's saving grace.

We have peace with God. We have access to God. We have a rejoicing in the hope of the future glory in the presence of God, and thus we have a cause for rejoicing both in the midst of the tribulations of this life and even in the trials themselves, understanding that they produce in us the fruits of the Spirit, patient endurance and proof of our union with Christ, and a hope that will never disappoint us, because the love of God has been and is continually being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to every one of us who believes in Jesus. Amen. Let's pray.

Father, we know that as your children, Even if everything in this life is taken from us, our finances, our health, loss of family members, everything, we know that our Lord Jesus can never be taken from us and we thank you God. We understand God no matter how difficult our trials may be on earth, we will one day be in your presence, beholding your glory in the face of Christ forever. And we thank you. God, we thank you that even if we suffer for our entire lifetime, that it will one day come to an end and we will be with Jesus forever. Or we thank you that the sting of death is gone, that it's gone.

Oh death, where is thy sting? And we thank you God that looking back on all that we've already experienced in our lives and sensing the love, God, you have poured out upon us and within us through all of our experiences that we can look forward in hope with a hope that will never, never disappoint us. Christ is with us now and forever in the midst of the dark tunnel of this life, and he's the light at the end of it. We thank you God. Our hope will never disappoint us because it's grounded in Christ and his love for us.

Christ who suffered and died for us and rose again. It's in his name we pray, amen.