If you have your Bible turned to Romans 5, 1 through 5, as we continue with our study in the Book of Romans, what a fabulous book. Do you know that I've never taught Romans before, and I've taught every other book in the Bible, but I've never taught Romans. Now, I've referred to Romans, and I've read Romans, and I've studied Romans, but I, as a young pastor, listened to Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse teaching Romans. And I decided if he had done it, nobody else needed to do it. But I decided for my own benefit that we were going to go through the Book of Romans on key life. And I, even if you're not getting anything out of it, I am. Romans 5, 1 through 5, but what we turned to that text, let's go before the throne. Father, we're glad that we belong to you, that you're called us, that you'll never let us go, and you promise to get us home. We praise you and worship you for all that you have done and all that you are. So we feel uncomfortable when we pray, because we know that you know, that you know the secrets of our heart. You read the bitterness and the anger and the lust, and you know the sin of our lives. And so, Father, we don't come before you with any pride. We don't come before you, because we're good. We come before you, because we're yours. You bought us and you paid for us with your blood. Father, we're glad for your grace, and we're glad also that we're better than we were, that we love more than we did, that we care more than we did, that we're more obedient than we were. Father, we give you all the praise for that, because we know what's in our heart. Father, we come before you also with our needs. You know the things that keep us awake at night, the things that make us afraid. You know the family problems. You know the young man who has aides. You know the wife who's going through a divorce, and it's about to kill her, Father. You know the son who's disappeared, and nobody knows where he is, and so, Father, we come with our needs, because you are our resource, and you are adequate. Father, meet us at the point of our needs as you define those needs. We would not presume to tell you what to do, but to trust you, help us to trust you more. Father, as we study your word this week on key life, as always, we ask forgiveness for the one who teaches that you would forgive in his sins. So they are many, we would see Jesus and Him only, and we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Now if you were listening last week, our text was Romans 4, 13 through 25, and we looked at the promises of God in the nature of a covenant, and we saw the two-sided nature of God's promise, our covenant, that we have to do our part due to our enemy 29. We noted the impossibility of our fulfilling our side of the covenant, or the promise, Romans 4, 14 through 15. We noted the imputation of righteousness by God to us through faith, Romans 4, 19, and 22, and we noted that faith is a gift of God, Romans 4, 20, and then finally we noted that faith is real faith when it persists against common sense and loss of hope, Romans 4, 18 through 20. Now we are ready to turn to our text for this week, Romans 5, 1 through 5, and if you are in a place where you can open a Bible, do that. All rights as follows therefore having been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint us because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Now before we turn to the main thrust of this text, how God de-use with problems in our lives, I want to go down three side roads. First I want you to note, if you will, the importance of the word there for, look at Romans 5, 1, there for having been justified, there for in other words Paul is saying, if one thing is true, then this is the implication of that particular truth. I tell my students that if you can't illustrate it in a sermon, don't teach it because it's either irrelevant or untrue. Now that doesn't mean that you have to illustrate every point, but if you can't, then don't teach it. We need to be streets, Mark Christians, and nothing in Scripture is given that we might know a lot. Knowledge that does not result in proper action isn't worth deep. The truth is that there are therefores, in other words if this is true, then this is what follows, what do you believe? And if you believe something, what difference does it make? You believe in eternal life, are you still afraid of death? You believe in God's love, why are you so afraid? You believe in Christ, the toning work, why do you feel so guilty? You believe in human sin, why don't you lock your doors? Implications are important to truth. Why are you memorizing Scripture that is just to have more knowledge and to impress your friends, that you're an navigator, then that in 25 cents will get you a cup of coffee. Somebody tells the story about a farmer who was hit by a motorist, later the farmer sued the motorist who hit him, and the defense attorney asked the farmer, is it not right, sir, that when you asked my client, or when my client asked you if you were okay, you said you were fine, the farmer said, yep, that's what I said, but let me explain. After your client hit my way, and he came up and looked at my lame horse, saw that the horse was crippled and shotting. If at my pig, and noticed my pig had some very bad cuts, and he shot my pig, then he asked me, how are you, and that's when I said I'm fine. The farmer looked at the implications, and we need to know exactly the same thing. If you can't illustrate it, then don't believe it, it's not true. If there are no therefores in your life, then you've got a serious problem, don't memorize Scripture because it's nice to know a lot of Scripture. Don't give a theology book and work on it so you can know a lot of theology and impress your friends, if there's no therefore, then forget about it. It isn't worth anything. And then secondly, by way of side observation, I want you to know if you will the importance of the Holy Spirit and the life of the believer, Romans 5-5-B, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts, here it comes, by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. These of us who are not Pentecostal or charismatic overreact at Pentecostal when charismatic teaching on the Holy Spirit, and Pentecostal and charismatic Christians have a tendency to miss the importance of the third person of the Trinity in the daily life of the Christian. We lost two stations on the key life network a couple of years ago when I answered a question about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I said, and this will make everybody mad that I didn't believe that there was a second working of grace unless you saw that there was a third and fourth. On the other hand, I said, I couldn't find anything in Scripture that said that any gift had ceased. I said, that I didn't think that most people who spoke in tongues really did, but that God was not as upset as many of us who don't speak in tongues are, and that God probably says that's not exactly what I meant, but if it makes you feel better, it's okay with me. And I know I was being a little bit flippant. But something like that, I sort of agree with, I believe the gift of tongues is still excellent. I don't have it. But those of you who are charismatic in Pentecostal, sometimes so focused on the supernatural gifts that you miss the power of God's Spirit in everyday life. And those of us who are not charismatic are Pentecostal in our effort to throw rocks and people we disagree with, we miss the importance of the Holy Spirit in everyday life. God didn't give us the doctrine of the Holy Spirit so we could fight about it. He gave us His Spirit so we could live the Christian life. The proof is that before the Azusa Street Revival, that's where modern Pentecostalism started. In the early part of the century, very few significant books have been written on the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity. You remember when you were witnessing and you didn't have the right words and you were stammering and then something happened and all of a sudden you said just right thing, that is our Lord, the Holy Spirit. You remember when you thought you were going to die but somehow you made it and there was this strange comfort you couldn't explain, that's our Lord, the Holy Spirit. You remember when you were reading the Bible and just going along with kind of dull, you didn't remember what you were reading and all of a sudden the verse jumped out, slapped you in the face and said this is for you, that is our Lord, the Holy Spirit. You remember when you were dealing with a problem and a verse of scripture that was quite relevant jumped into your mind, that was our Lord, the Holy Spirit. One time when Jennifer, our younger daughter was very small and she's always had a wonderful heart for God, both of our daughters have as a matter of fact. She came to me and she said, Daddy, how does God speak? You're always talking about God speaking. You say you hear Him, how can I hear Him? In a rare burst of wisdom in my life, I asked her if she remembered the new girl at school and she told me about this new girl and Jennifer had befriended this new girl. I said, you remember when you thought she looked so lonely and she needed a friend and you went over to the new girl and you talked to her? She said, yes, Daddy, I remember. And I said, who told you she was lonely and who told you to go over and talk to her? And then there was, I'll never forget, there was this long silence. And then this big ran and she said, oh, that was Him. Well, Jennifer wasn't at the age where I would teach her systematic theology. That wasn't her cup of tea, but the truth was, it was Him. It was our Lord, the Holy Spirit. I remember in the systematic theology classes at Boston University where I went to seminary, Dr. Harold DeWolf, who was a liberal who knew Christ. He was just this side of whoopi liberal and a good man. I could tell you stories about Dr. DeWolf. He went to Wesley Seminary in Washington after that, but early when he was a young man, he had a baby and the baby died in his wife's arms and his wife died of a broken heart over a year. And when he would let you're on the Holy Spirit, he would say, this, I watched our child die and that almost killed me. And then he said, I watched my wife die over a long period of time. And that almost killed me. And then he would smile. And he would say, but gentlemen, there was a power there and I can't explain it. There was something there that held me up. There was something that said to me, you can get through this. I'm here. I love you. And then he would pause and he would say, that gentleman is the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we miss that. Both is charismatic and tenacostal and mainline Christians, orthodox evangelical Christians. We get arguing about the Holy Spirit rather than living by the Holy Spirit. And then side road number three, before we turn to the main thrust of this particular text, how God deals with problems in our lives, note by way of side road, if you will, that justification is restoration of a right relationship with God. It is peace with God, Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith here, it comes. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we don't think about that very often. Religious Christians, we think that justification means that we're forgiven for our sins so that we can be happier. Now that is a side result, but that's not what it's all about. Sometimes we think that justification means that we can live forever, and that's true. Once you are saved by faith in Christ alone, you do live forever, nothing wrong with that, but that's not what it's all about. That's a side benefit of what it's all about. Sometimes we think that justification by faith means that all of a sudden I can be at peace inside, that I can have meaning in my life, that there's a reason for living, and that's true. But that's not what it's all about. That's a side benefit of the main thrust of what Romans 5.1 says. Justification means you're being justified with God. Billy Graham wrote peace with God instead of how to get peace because he understood what the Christian faith was all about. It's about reconciliation between God and man. Most people misdiagnose their problems. They think that if they can get the right psychological counselor, have enough money, get a different wife or husband to live in a different place, then things will be okay, nay, nay, nay. The truth is that we really work created for God, and the truth is our hearts really are restless until they find their rest in Him. There's a song sung by a country music singer, Reba McIntyre, about a woman who has AIDS and she's dying. Threatened incidentally by Sandy Knox and Steve Rosen, the title is, she thinks his name is John, and she had this chance sexual encounter with this man, and she's not even sure what his name is. And the lyrics are like this, a chance meeting, a part, a few years back, broad shoulders, blue eyes, his air was so black, he was a friend of a friend, you could say, and she let his smile just sweep her away. I think his name is John. Now each day is one day that's left of her life, she won't know love, have a marriage, or sing lullaby, she lays all alone and cries herself to sleep because she let a stranger kill her hopes and her dreams, she thinks his name is John. And because everything she sees is defined in terms of this life, she has missed it. But she's not the only one, guys, we all do that. Let me tell you the most important thing that can happen to you is that you can be in a right relationship with God. You can't be in a right relationship with God because He's holy and you're not. He's righteous and you're not. He's infinite and you're finite, and something has to bridge the gap, and that's what the cross is all about. Listen, and by the way, this is for you, dear friend, dying of AIDS. His name isn't John, it's Jesus, and he died to reconcile you to the God of the universe. And that's the base of self-definition, and even if you die, it never stops. During my ministry, people come to me with a variety of problems. I usually started by, I used to start by talking about their problem. And then when I found Christ, I started talking to them about God. I would say, you know, you need to know God. And they would say, that's nice, but I want to tell you about my problem. I would say, but don't you see that is your problem. That is your problem. I think it was Voltaire who, when he was dying, was asked by his maid if he had made peace with God. I never knew that we had quarreled. That's a nice flip and answer, Voltaire, but you're a twit. The truth is that we are at enmity with God. In fact, you're an enemy with God if you haven't been reconciled by Christ. Christ reconciled us to Him by His sacrifice. When we get that right, then everything else gets right to. Now, I want to talk to you the rest of the week on key life about problems, and you say that's great. I've got a lot of those. Those of you who don't have any were lied about other things. Now, let me tell you something. We live in a fallen world, and that means that it won't be right, and you won't get it right until you get home. It means there are going to be flies at picnics. It means that if you get 51 percent, you file it under success. It means those people who are arrogant, and their peacock feathers fly in the breeze, and all they do is talk about judgment and hell, and how you've got to be pure the way they're pure, they, those people just don't understand. We live in a fallen world, perfection is impossible. You're not perfectable, and I'm not perfectable. Your wife's not perfectable, and your husband's not perfectable, and your preacher's not perfectable, and your priest is not perfectable, and your church is not perfectable. Let me tell you something. If you want to find something to criticize somebody about, you can find it because everybody's got a lot of stuff about which we can be critical. A lot of stuff about which we can be critical. Why is that? Because we live in a fallen world, and that means that it won't be right, and you won't get it right until you get home. The psychologist, Ellis, who said, by the way, a lot of stupid things, said some good things. He names the eleven irrational ideas by which most people live. Two are relevant to our discussion about problems. The first is this. For every problem there is a solution. That's not the truth. The truth is there are problems that simply have no solutions. Another of these irrational ideas is this circumstances, i.e. problems, determine our happiness. That's a lie. The truth is that what goes on in the inside determines what we feel and how we react on the outside. And so, dear friend, the rest of the time we're going to talk about problems or a biblical perspective on problems. As you listen, think of the places where you're having problems, the places where it hurts and where it hurts really bad, and everything that I'm going to say the rest of the week on key life is for you, so listen very carefully. Now the first thing. I want you to note from the text that I read to you is the necessity of problem solving. Why did Paul write this particular passage? Listen to it one more time, therefore having been justified by faith. We have peace with God throughout Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. When the Supreme Court just as martial retired, somebody said, why are you retiring? And he said, because I'm old, I can't you see? That's why. Why does Paul talk about problems? Because we've got problems, that's why, can't you see, the very fact that this text gives suggestion to the state of you being a human being, to wit, that this is a place of problem. Somebody said, like us hardened, then you die. You're about the young man who went to a fortune teller, and she said to him, young man, looking into her crystal ball, you will suffer from loneliness and deprivation and guilt until you are thirty-five years of age, and he said, man, what happens after that? She replied, then you'll get used to it. When I was a young bastard, I did something for which I still feel guilty. I saw you wake up. I mean, you were drifting till I said that, you thought it was going to be confession time. Let me tell you what it was. There was a lady in a little cake-god search where I served, and she was terminally ill, and the doctor said reverend, you know, doctors sometimes think they're God. Sometimes they don't. Well, this one did, and he missed it a long way. The doctor said reverend. She can't take the truth. She only reads novels with happy endings, and she doesn't think about anything unpleasant, so we must not tell her that she's dying. I'll never forget, propping that elderly lady up, so she could sign the power of attorney papers, and I had to guide her hand so that the nurses could be paid when she went into her final coma. I remember avoiding the subject of how seriously ill she was, and we tell you something. I feel dirty every time I think about that. I felt that way every time I visited her. We talked about flowers and the birds and the beautiful day, and different. She was dying. I wanted to tell the doctor, and now that I'm an old codger, I do on occasion, that he was a twit, and if I told her the truth, and it killed her, she was going to die anyway. I determined that I would never do that again, tell someone things were fine when they weren't fine. Now she was a Christian. So she saved, but she needed to get something straight, and she didn't do it because I didn't tell her the truth. Let me tell you something. False-expect patience about the world is going to kill you. This is not heaven. People get sick. Businesses fail. You're going to mess up. You will do stupid things. There is pain and loss and fear. You're not home yet. Try it to remember that. You're not home yet. Don't expect more from the world than what has been promised from the world. You'll be a lot better off. I don't know where we get this idea that Christians don't have. I get questioned all the time. Can a Christian have an emotional problem? Are you crazy? Of course, a Christian can have an emotional problem. You stick you with the pain. You're going to bleed just like everybody else. So Christians have problems, and I believe we have problems, so that when pagans have problems, they can see the difference. I want you to remember what Jesus said in this world you're going to have tribulations. Now he also said, be a good cheer. I have overcome the world. The problem is that we can't hear the second part of that until you hear the first part of it. Are you having some family problems? That surprised you. You're having some physical problems. Is that really surprised you keep on trucking? Things aren't working out the way you thought they'd work out. Does that really surprise you? Keep on trucking. I had lunch with Cory Tinboom once in our hotel room. Now she was an elderly lady, and nobody would talk about that. And let me tell you something. She lives up to her public relations. She was something else. What a godly, wonderful, delightful woman. At any rate, she said, she knew of places, she told me on that occasion, in the world where people were right now going through more tribulations than anything that was described in the book of Revelation. And I looked at her kind of surprise. She said, don't you believe the Bible? I'm not going to keep talking about this, but we had an awful time in the last couple of years. You know, Hurricane, my mother died, we lost our house, all kinds of bad stuff. And I said, Lord, what are you doing to me? He said, child, there are people who go through life, a lot more problems than this. And you can't even stand two years. This is the way the world really is. Now secondly, and we're going to get to some more uplifting material now. Secondly, I want you to see not only the necessity of problem solving, I want you to see the asset of problem solving. I want you to look at a very strange statement that the Apostle Paul makes. Look at the third verse, we glory in tribulations. What are you crazy? We glory in tribulations. Let me ask you something. If you had sovereign power and could create a world for your children where there would be no pain, no problems, no difficulty, no trouble ever. Would you give that kind of world to your children? You say, oh, you better believe I would, I love my kids. Now wait a second, think about it a moment. Think about it a moment. Would you really want your children to live in a world that was perfect? I have a friend who says that many fathers go through unbelievable pain to get to success, so that their children won't have any pain. And the pain was the very thing that made the father successful. Listen without any pain, there is no gain. I'm sounding like Robert Chuler, and I don't mean to. Mary Tyler Moore said, if it doesn't hurt something, you're doing it wrong. When everything is going right in my life, I have either overlooked something or I'm doing it wrong. The truth is that without pain there really is no gain. I love the story about John Wesley, who was going through a very copacetic, peaceful time in his life. And as you know, John Wesley was persecuted a lot for his beliefs. And he thought, man, I'm doing something wrong. He knelt down, and he said, Lord, am I still in your will about the time of Ruffian through a walk? It Wesley on the side of the head. And he grimed and said, thank you, Lord. Now I can get back to work. Let me tell you something, dear friend. You can glory in your tribulations because that's a sign that God still loves you. And that's the way He's growing you up to maturity. That's what will make the difference in the life. Oh, no, no, no. You wouldn't have a world that was perfect for your kids because they would end up being jerks. It's only through tribulations that we grow. And that's why Paul could say in Romans 5, 3, we glory in tribulations. My friend Larry Polen talked about the toothpaste tube syndrome. When a pagan goes through problems and the world squeezes the toothpaste tube, because of the stuff on the inside and because it's so bad, it comes out bad. But when a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit finds the world squeezing, the Holy Spirit makes a great witness. Now I haven't reached the point where I could say with Paul that I glory in tribulations. Can we talk to be perfectly honest with him, not too happy about some of these tribulations? But I'm getting there. I'm finding out that this is the place where I grow, where I witness, and where I learn. Thirdly, I want you to know not only the necessity and the asset of problems solving and which you'll see the process of problems solving. Look at it. Romans 5, 2 through 5 a. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope, now hope does not disappoint. Somebody said that while it is true that Hollywood is overrun by liberals, one out of three conservatives becomes president of the United States, now why is that? Because when the climate is bad, the surviving flowers grow strong. Let me say that again. When the climate is bad, the surviving flowers grow strong. God works in process. And through the process he will make you strong. I think I told you. Let me brag a bit when they stole my car after the hurricane. I went out and my car was gone. And we'd gone through all this financial problems and to be truthful with you, my life, I ended up laughing more than we cried because we thought nothing else can happen bad to us and something else bad would happen. It was just one of those years and I went out and my car was gone. And I said, Lord, look what they did with your car. Not much, but it was yours. Had 127,000 miles on it, but it was your car and look what they did to your car. And then all of a sudden I realized I'm growing in Christ, what had happened. In the process God was doing things for me that made a difference. Let me give you a wonderful text. It's a gospel of Luke 22 chapter, Jesus going to Jerusalem to die, and Jesus tells about His death. Then He has a special message for Peter, Simon Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that He may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren right after that Peter denied Jesus three times. Let me tell you something, after Peter had denied Jesus and was going through the haura of guilt, he remembered those words and he said to himself, Jesus isn't through with me yet. Jesus isn't through with me yet. I heard a wonderful definition for friendship the other day. It said, a friend is a person who, when you make a fool out of yourself, doesn't think you've done a permanent job, I like that. The truth is you're in a process. And the process that begins with problems leads you to the image of being just like Christ. Not only that, glory and tribulation is knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. I'm persevering more than I did. Perseverance produces character. I've got more character than I had. And character produces hope and hope does not disappoint. It's the process of dealing with problems fourthly. I want you to see not only the necessity, the asset, and the process of problems often. I want you to note also the hope of problem solving. Look at Romans 5, 4 through 5 a, and Perseverance character and character whole hope. Now hope does not disappoint us. You know the most horrible thing that can happen to you. No, it isn't problems. It isn't death. It isn't taxes. It isn't a bad hair day. The most horrible thing that can happen to you is to be without hope. My friend Fred Smith lectured my classes at Reform Seminary where I teach not too long ago year in Orlando. And he was kidding about midlife crisis. He said that he had a friend who said she was going through midlife crisis. And then he smiled and said that of course meant that she wasn't going to die until she was 114 years of age. I used to think that I was going through midlife crisis until I realized that at 54 I'm passed midlife. I may be going through old age crisis, but that isn't so bad when one considers the alternative. Old age may be horrible. The alternative to death isn't very good either. You know, it's very easy at my age to think of the dreams that have never been fulfilled. I used to think I was going to be like Billy Graham. The hopes that have been dashed. I used to think I was going to be the pastor of a mega church. The things that I'm never going to accomplish. I had such an agenda and I'm just not going to get all those things. And then I remember the Bible, the hope. Hebrew says these all died in faith, not having received what was promised. Those of you who think that the Bible isn't very realistic, put that in your bite and smoke it. Man, that's the truth. And if you've lived very long, not very young, you don't know this. But if you're a little bit old or you know, these all died in faith, not having received what was promised. But let me give you the rest of the text. These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, therefore there's that word again. God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. While I was working on this particular teaching, I got a call from my friend Matt Heard. His daddy had just died. It was really a shock. I called, or I got the message, and then I called Matt and Grand Rapids, where he's the pastor at Sunshine Church there. We talked for a while, and I asked him if his father was a Christian, and he said, oh yes, he finished well. He got home before the dark. When we prayed on the phone, we thanked God for the hope that we have. Just a few years ago, my aunt Levina died a few weeks ago, as a matter of fact. She was the last of three sisters, and a brother. My mother's name was Leona, her two sisters Levina, and Lida. Only in the mountains of North Carolina, I was praying this morning, and I realized that the three sisters are together again, and what fun they're having around the room. I'm perhaps trying to straighten out God the way after in the joy of getting home. It may say something. When it's bad, you know that there must be something else. It is out of the pain that God gives you hope, and Paul says that hope, Christian hope, never ever disappoints you. Fifthly, I want you to see not only the necessity, the asset, the process, and the hope of problem solving. I want you also to note the love of problem solving, Romans 5.5. Now hope does not disappoint. Why? Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. Now I want you to pay particular attention to what Paul is saying here. In the middle of the process of pain, you sense God's love poured out in your heart. Now, remember the context of this text up until this point, Paul, has been telling us how bad we are. Then he points to the cross of Christ, reconciling us to God. Then he says, when it hurts, you will know the total unconditional love of God in your heart. How about that sports hands? You know what we do? Let me tell you. When we face problems, we think God's mad at us, and he's paying us back for all the bad things that we've done. Listen to me, dear friend, that's a lie. It comes from the pit of hell, smells like smoke. Don't you believe it for a second? Because if Christ God will never be angry at you again. Friend of mine gave me a book, a poem by Margaret Becker from the book, Immigrants Daughter. It's called Just Come In. Let me be part of it to you. What do I see you dragging up there? Is that for your atoning? I know you're sorry. I've seen your tears. You don't have to show me. What makes you think you must make it go away? I forgot when I forgave. I wish you would too, just come in. You think you've crossed some sacred line, and now I will ignore you. If you look, you will find my heart still towards you. Look at the sky, east to the west. That's where I threw this when you confessed. Let it go now. Just come in. Just come in. Just lay that right there. I don't care. That's what God says. Let me give you a principle. Human beings verbalize the love of God and direct proportion to how many problems they have. Let me give it to you again. Human beings verbalize the love of God and direct proportion to how many problems they have. Notice what Paul says. He says that your problems are God's way of showing you his love. You know something I just thought of? The word love is overused. So, you know, I find and words are my business. I find that if I use the word love, everybody says sure. So let me take something that I bet you haven't thought about. Let me put it this way. No matter what you're going through, God likes you. He isn't punishing you. He's not mad at you. Not too long ago, friend of mine, I saw him for lunch and I said, how are you doing? He said, I'm doing so good it scares me to death. I just know that God is storing up all the bad stuff and soon. On some horrible day, He is going to give me cancer and jungle rot and I'm going to lose my business and my wife is going to divorce me and my children are going to disown me. I know that God's storing it up. So when I do really good, it really scares me. Let me tell you something. I'll tell you what I told him. I told him he was neurotic. I told him the Bible didn't teach that. I told him that God needed out to him exactly what he needed and that if he had bad things that happened to him, that was what was supposed to happen and if good things happened, that was two. You see, we think that when bad things happen, God is punishing us. If God punished you for all the bad stuff you've done, you'd be dead now. Let me tell you something. The opposite of that is true. When good things happen, that isn't because you're wonderful because you read your Bible this morning. That's not the Christian faith. That's superstition. I know people that are afraid not to have their devotions in the morning if they don't and something bad will happen to them during the day. Listen dear friend, that's the American folk religion. That's superstition. It's not true. You have your devotions in the morning because you want to be with the one who will love you even when you don't have your devotions in the morning. Then I've got a new point. I want you to note also the grace of problem solving. Look at Romans 5 too. The Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access my faith, into what? This grace in which we stand, listen to a problem. God puts His people into hold so deep that they can't get out unless God gets them out. God puts His people into hold so deep that they can't get out unless God gets them out. What's grace? It is God's unmerited favor. How do you experience grace? You sin big enough, you hurt deep enough, or you fall hard enough. Listen, you experience God's grace only when you sin big enough and you hurt deep enough and you fall hard enough. Let me tell you something that I learned from Larry Krab. And this is what he said. Most of us, because of previous pain, have killed that place where we feel pain. That's the place where we know God. That's why we must find God through pain. Keep looking beneath the problem until you find something that only Christ can handle. Don't you love that? Keep looking beneath the problem until you find something that only Christ can handle. And listen to me, He will handle it, and thereby you will know grace. Most of us think that grace is what we get when we come to know Christ. We're forgiven by grace, but we think we live by hustle. That's not true. Puzzle John said this. As you receive Christ, so walk in Him. In other words, His grace is available to you right now, no matter what the problem, no matter what the sin, no matter what you've done, no matter how badly it hurts, grace is the operative principle of the life of the Christian. Seventh and finally, I want you to see the joy of problem solving. Romans 5 to the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith, into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The end of the process of problems is joy. It's rejoicing about that sportsman. I'm so tired of sour negative, critical, mean-spirited Christians I can scream. I mean, I am sour and negative, and critical of mean-spirited Christians, that means I'm just like him. Sour judgmental and angry Christians haven't had enough problems, and enough sins. When you go through that, there's a sense that God loves you, and He has promised to get you home, and that it's okay, and then there is a strange joy. You look at some Christians, and you realize that they have their shorts on to die. Now listen up. When was the last time you just giggled? Because you knew that Jesus loved you. Martin Luther used to say to my length, and my length was his colleague, and he was a perfection. His name was always confessing little popcorn sin. When I'm Luther, he said, my length didn't go out in sin, so you have something really to confess. My length didn't understand. The absolute adequacy, sufficiency, greatness of God's grace, Charlie and Ruth Jones peculiar people. They're a little bit peculiar, but that's what they call the ministry peculiar people. Charlie and Ruth worked with key life. They do born-free seminars with us around the country. We love them more than I can tell you. If you ever want to draw a ministry in your church that will absolutely blow the people of your church out of the saddle, just give us a call, a key life, and we'll tell you how you can reach them anyway. They have a sketch, a dramatic sketch called Billy. It's the first one they ever did back in the early days when they started their ministry. That's a little boy who's always trying to earn his father's love. Billy is adopted, and he thinks that when he gets punished, it's because his father doesn't love him. Or when his father's love is apparent, it's because he cleaned up his room, or he did something really good. In the end, toward the end of the sketch, Billy is giggling. His father asked him, why? Billy says, well, that's because the other boys called me squirt in other bad names, and his father says, then why are you giggling? Why are you laughing? Because Billy said, I remembered that when I was a baby, you picked me out from all the other kids. And that you took me home and you loved me. And then his father said, his, oh, Billy, I do love you. I don't know what you're going through right now, but remember his love. Remember that he picked you out, that he fed you, that he held you, that he'll never let you go and then for God's sake. And I say that in all seriousness, for God's sake, whiteen up. Don't think about that, I know.