Faith Lesson 19
Mike Doyle · Nov 8, 2015
Faith, No. 43
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492652025707

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, we were going to start on 19, but I thought the one question we didn't answer, which we'll see how smart you are, was the last question on last week's class. Let's see if you can pick up on it. The next two classes, we're going to spend a lot of time in Romans 5, 1 through 5.

But the question was in Romans 5, 4, it says that the result of patience is proven character. What Greek word do you think translates the word proven character? You only have two choices. Remember we talked about the two Greek words? Yes. Do you guys remember the two Greek words we talked about for testing? Documento. And what was the other one? Parasmas.

Which one is which? About what? Which one is which? In terms of... One of them is failure and documento is... Okay, so what do you think this word is? This is the second one. Why don't you tell us how to spell these things? We can write them down. In English? Well, if I gave you the Greek alphabet, you wouldn't know. I'm not going to give it to you anyway, but I'll know it. Okay, here it is. D-A-K-E. M-A-D-Z-O. Dakimazo. D-A-K-E. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O. M-A-D-Z-O.

You don't have to be a Greek geek to tell, but if you have an inner literary or any place where you can see, when you see the word there, it will give you a whole understanding of what that tried or proven character is. See that? It's kind of cool. Is that the one that's usually called trial? No, it's usually the word proof or proven. So let's jump to Lesson 19.

I know as we go through this over the next little bit, it will seem repetitious, but I think it's really important because how long did it take us to change the mindset when we talked about how do you define faith? so that we would think about it and define it without our input, without it being about us, without it being about personal faith, that the essence of faith in Hebrews 11.1 did not have anything to do with how you felt about it or your involvement in it. It was just what it is. So it took a couple of months to kind of get that frame of reference.

And I've noticed that to teach a class in which we talk about trials and suffering and that the purposes of trials and suffering are totally different than what we have always thought they were, it takes a while to get the idea that, wait a minute, the trial and suffering as a believer, my frame of reference has really got to be different here because Why do I have a trial?

Why is this thing showing up in my life? So, question one, in His grace, as we walk by faith in Him, we learn that Christ is our life. Do you think Christ is at home and comfortable in trials? What do you think? Well, you see, his life had one after another after another, so I would say he's sounding it. Okay. Would you think he's comfortable in your trials today? Sure. Why? You can't just say sure. What?

You've got to be able to explain. I think he knows what the results are going to be. He knows the end game, and he knows every step of the game, and he knows what the outcome is going to be. And he tells us in Romans 5, 1-5, he tells us exactly what they're for and what they're going to do. The problem that we have is that we read it and we think, no, that can't be right. But it is right. That's how it goes. Question 2 in verse 4, 5-4.

It says that perseverance or patience brings out what? My verse says, and perseverance brings out proven character. Patience works experience. The word works is not really there in the Greek. But what I'm after is that as we go through these trials and circumstances, if the Lord Jesus is comfortable in trials, And we have already had the debate about whose character are all these things? Question, whose character? Whose proven character? Is it to prove that your character is is up to snuff?

I think it's quite. Do you? Well, let's say, I'll give you an example. J.D. I know is into CrossFit. So you work out. I was reading something about it last night. It was really kind of cool. There's something in the paper about it. I think around where you guys live there's a CrossFit set up down there somewhere. And how it goes and how it works. And then at the end of the day, And my friend Calvin Tang is in CrossFit.

When you get to the end game there, whose fitness is it? It's yours, right? Isn't it your fitness? But when you start to get to the end of the game in this environment, who is it? Is it you? Have become so spiritual that you adopt and look and act and are a mirror image of who Christ is? Don't all answer at once. What's that?

I think it's him in us, in and through. Right. He's the source. He's the source. And so is he teaching you to be imitative? No. What is he teaching you? I think he's changing who we are. Who we are. Could you say he's teaching us to allow him to be the source? What do you mean by allow?

That's a good, that's a really good question. Because, okay, so if we're not walking in Christ, then we're walking in our flesh, right? Yeah, there's only two choices you got. Yeah, so what, well, I want to make sure I'm understood. So, I don't know what the right word to use is, I think you're supposed to use yield, you're not supposed to use whatever, but you have to yield or let go of the flesh And then I don't know how you want to say, engage the Christ-like in you. There's another way to put that. You have another way to do that. So is that? Now I forgot the question.

Let's just stay on the principle that we're on right now. In these verses we're not talking about yielding or presenting. What we're talking about is a process that we go through so that we can learn something. And what did we learn? My son loves this question. He always says to me, Dad, what did we learn? I'm kidding. That's because I used to say that to him. We're learning that Christ's life is our life. Christ's life is our life. And here's the other thing we're learning. We're learning that only his life is capable of dealing with trials and suffering. It's not me that can deal with him, it's him. Well, isn't that the same as saying, I'm not going to yield to the flesh, I'm going to yield to the spirit? How is that different?

The first issue is the understanding of what the process is about. If you look at the, as you come down through here, it says, now watch how this goes. We've been introduced to grace, we understand, we have access, and we are exalted in the hope of the glory of God. The end game is here, right here or right here. So he has this process in play in which he's going to manifest his glory, he's going to glorify himself and he's going to glorify himself through us. That's what he's going to do. So he says, and we exalt in tribulations, oh really? You wouldn't unless you understood, he says, knowing what tribulation does. What does tribulation do according to verse 3? It brings about perseverance.

And so you begin to think, now wait a minute, whose perseverance is it? It's got to be his. It has to be his. See that? Because if I were to equate this with, say, CrossFit, it would mean that if I wasn't continually working out spiritually, I would lose all this. Trust me, when JD gets to be my age, it's going to be a lot harder. Whatever. Yeah, when you're his age, you're clear-eyed and unafraid.

So what's the learning process? The learning process here is that I have been ordained by God to be involved in this trial. And I'm beginning to understand that this trial is beyond my capacity, but it is producing something in and through me by the Spirit of God, and I'm learning about it. I'm not only learning about the trial, but I'm also learning about, oh my goodness, here comes this thing, perseverance.

Isn't there something in Revelation either addressing one of the churches or crowns that has to do with standing fast, which would be perseverance? Perseverance, yeah. So it goes clear to that. As a body of believers, as a church, yeah. But here it's individual.

But if you don't have individuals who have been conformed, you don't have a body that's been conformed either. If you're honest with the Lord, you have to say, I'm not too excited about this. Did you have a question? Yeah, I was wondering, as we're talking through this, about how do you factor in before you die and your life is hid with Christ and God? You have to factor it in.

Right. And notice where it is. If you study the Book of Romans, It's the greatest expose of the overview of what Christianity is. Where does identification come in in the Book of Romans? Chapter 6, and we're in 5, right? So it's really interesting, I think, how the Holy Spirit is beginning to set this up through these verses to show us that, wait a minute, there's something else going on here rather than just making me a solid Christian who isn't going to waver, that there is another life. And then in about 20 verses, he's going to explain how that happened. He's going to explain at the end of five about the two men, Adam and Christ. And then he's going to say when we get to six, here's the deal. through that cross of Christ, I took you out of Adam and I positioned you in Christ. And that goes a long way to explain what he said in 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5. You see how that has to all go together?

Isn't this all by faith? You know none of this unless you believe in it. None of this. If you don't just take him at his word and rest in what he tells you, you never get there. And just take him simply how he lays it out. And don't feed stuff into it. Let him teach you. He isn't interested in you going in there and teaching him. You let him teach you.

Can you see these pretty well or are they kind of... Yeah, that's what I thought. I wish we had that white board up here because we could... Let me explain. This is a cone of spiritual growth. You start with new birth and the idea is ultimately the image of Christ, which would manifest His glory through you. And we start down here and we start with a trial. And this sequence happens and we go through the approval process which sets us up for the next trial and the next trial and the next trial because we know what's happening ultimately to get us to here. And we're expanding our capacity as believers as we go and we'll spend more time on that.

So is that old man, new man? In the book of Romans we haven't gotten to old man, new man in terms of what Romans teaches us. What we're finding out though here is that he just says to us, look, we can be joyful in our sufferings or in our trials because we know where we're going with them. That's what he's telling us.

We don't know about two men yet, if you're coming down to the book of Romans. We don't know about that yet, because we haven't dealt yet. We've dealt with sins, but we haven't dealt with the sin nature. And what we're finding out in five is that there's another life and a character within us that produces this glory that we can't do.

Maybe just to step back a little bit, you mentioned Romans, well you talked about death and how that plays in. And then just the word yielding and activating. In Romans 6.11 it talks about considering. Reckoning. Yeah, the reckoning concept. So you've got a situation where you're faced with a trial.

You know that you need to walk by faith. That's what the Lord has set before us. And so what's the first action that you take in this process of faith? And I think that if you're going to put a word to it that is very close to faith, it's that word consider. Because all of a sudden, the moment you start to reckon something that is not of yourself, but is true of who you are in Christ, which is namely in this verse, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to Christ Jesus, that process of faith is now personal and it's focused on what the Lord did and not what you were doing. And so I like that word for, I mean if you're going to put some action concept to faith as a process, I mean there's that. And I agree with you.

Look how much information is communicated to the believer from Romans 5.1 to 6.11. And the interesting thing about Romans 6, one of the cool things William Newell said is that 6.1 through 6.10 the Lord asks you not to do anything but just listen. Just take in what I'm saying and once you've taken it in then I'll tell you what I want you to do which is to consider, to reckon.

And here he's saying, look, you have been introduced into this grace. You have an access. You're in it. And involved in this grace and this life that you're going to live are these things called trials and tribulations. But he's teaching us specifically what they're designed to produce and whose character they are designed to produce in us. So, you're right.

As you go down and go through this, how do you react to this information? You just trust him. We are Americans, so we always are asking God, what do you want me to do? And his answer is always the same. You know what it is? Consider, believe me, reckon, trust me. It's always there. It just never asks you to do anything to accomplish or implement. He'll do it all. Our job is to believe Him.

So you get to rest. At what point do we arrive at that glory of Christ? Oh, that's a great question. Positionally you already have it. Conditionally is when you see Him face to face. You know what's cool about this? This is a process that's ongoing in your life.

As we get into the next lesson, we're going to talk about 2 Corinthians 3.18 and some of those verses.

How does the world know that the Father sent the Son? How does the world know? How has God manifest His glory through you as believers? How does He do it? You're just hoping you wake up one morning and you've got a bright, shiny light coming out of your forehead.

So, if your Bible has experience, that means tried or proven character. So, I think it's important for us to recognize that that proven character is going to be the Lord Jesus Christ, but you can't separate yourself from him. You see that? He doesn't say, well I'm going to make Ralph, I'm going to put some of this character in Ralph and give it to him so he can go around and show it off. No. It's Christ himself. See that? Fold three. Whose character is it? Obviously it's the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's another thing that's happening here that hasn't been mentioned yet in these verses but is coming. you begin to sort of suspect that there's more to it than just information. You understand what I mean by that? In other words, if there's got to be, this just isn't, you know, I'm just not going through a workout every day with the Lord. There's got to be more to it than my just knowing the process. What do you think it is? The walking? Like letting it out? The walking as a result of what I'm after. What is it?

It's intimacy with him. It's intimacy with him. And you know, I think we've talked about that intimacy thing. for years. It's the hardest thing for me as a believer to just settle down and trust the Lord about. This is part of that process of developing that intimacy that each individual believer is privileged to have with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That it isn't that we know about him, which we do, but we know him personally.

Do you see that? It's really an important issue. Yeah. Okay. I think that's sort of what I've been going through or something. And then I started reading those green letters about knowing him. I think, why don't you teach the green letters sometime? You know, actually you mentioned that we've been talking about where we're going next year. Because we're kind of getting to that point, you know. What are we going to teach next year? And the Deuteronomy was out. And the Chronicles of Narnia were out. So we're talking, we're thinking about, you know, where we're going to go, but we're honing in on Not necessarily the green letters, but some portion of it.

Because we've had a class on positional truth, which I think is really critical. Because what do we really study in here? Position, aren't we? Isn't this who we are? And so, you know, you might talk to the Lord about where we should go and let us know.

Mike, I'm reading Position to Person right now, and that's pretty rich. Oh yeah, it is. I'm finding that that's really helpful. I mean, that's just me, but that's a suggestion. No, I agree. I agree. So I don't need to ask question four, right? You already know the answer. See how repetitious it is? I want it to be in your brains. Dakimadzo five.

In His grace, as we walk by faith in Him, we learn that Christ is our life. That's kind of cool. How is proven character revealed by trials? Well, it certainly tells you where you are, I think. I mean, you're in this trial and so... You're on the right track. So do I have faith or do I argue with God about it? I'll give you a personal example. When you come out of a kind of surgery like I had, in about a month, they put you on a treadmill.

And they want you to go as long as you can go, right? And you're barely holding on to this thing. But they time you, and they got you all wired up and that kind of thing. And then they send you off to cardiac rehab for 35 sessions, and then they come back and you do it again. And they want to know, have you made any progress? And it hurts just as bad the second time as it did the first time.

But you discover, wow, I made some progress. So here comes a trial, spiritually, and you're in the middle of it, and you're going through it, and you're learning, and you're praying, and you're trusting, and you're walking by faith. So I got through this one really good, and what happened in this? I learned just a little bit about the fact that that, wow, it was the Lord's character that got me through.

Now you're set up for the next one. Here comes the next one. You moved up a little bit. And now the next one is maybe a little more difficult. But what have you learned from the first one? So here you go. And so that character is proven out again, only now at a little higher level. And then what happens to you subjectively, you rest a little more, you trust him, and believe it or not, you begin to think, these trials are pretty cool, because look what God is doing. That's why we start down here.

But you do, I mean for Gary Harris to call me up yesterday and talk about, call Don and I up and then he said, I'm trusting God and I'm thankful. He didn't learn that Wednesday. If you know him, he's been through some trials and the Lord took his wife home and he's had a lot of trouble. But he's learned that God puts us through these circumstances to get us growing and moving.

Oh, I believe that. Just one real quick thought. I think this is helpful for us to understand what's going on. I think there's probably a tendency to think about where am I on this scale and to kind of almost get lost in the where instead of who I'm with. and the person. So I would just maybe encourage us to think about, like it's important to know that there is a process and that there is the glory that we will be conformed to. But where we fit on that scale is less important than who we're with and... I agree. And this cone could be, you know, clouds. You could get so paralysis by analysis with that stuff. You do. You can. Yeah. What happens is, if the process is working like it's designed to work, then you don't. Yeah, you don't. You understand.

It's interesting, there's the whole aspect of doctrine in the Christian life, and then there's this side of it. How does he implement? How does he do it? I've got all of this position over here that I've learned, but it's fine. But how does it translate into a life? And he's starting to show us in 5 some of the processes that he uses to transform us into the very image of his son. And notice how careful he uses all of this to do what? Whose character is it? It's his. And I know it is. See? I didn't know that before. That's kind of a cool thing. It's his. It's kind of cool that he would even go through the trouble or the effort to even do this.

Because if we lived under a legal system, how would it be? How would a legal system fit with this? We would be work, work, work, so that we could obtain more favor from God. Well, this starts out with favor. The favor is already there. But in a legal system also, if you're in the middle of a trial, you're looking at the pieces that caused the trial, or you're looking at what you could have done to have prevented the trial. You're not looking at the purposes.

Yeah, it's like Job's buddies and his wife, you know. His buddies told him if he could figure out what he did wrong to make God angry, he could fix it and he'd be okay. And his wife told him to curse God and die. Sounds like a bunch of friends I need.

You know, I think it goes back to almost what we were talking about last weekend. All these, if I've gone through and we, that we're talking for next year and things, you know, all these, all these, or so many of them, begin with the faith. And, you know, even the beginning of this, what is the first part of this?

Therefore, okay, why? Having been justified by what? Faith. It always goes back to faith. And then here's the process. But the faith is what I was trying to say last week. That's the undergirding or the underpinning of all this, is the faith. And the underpinning of the faith is knowing and trusting. How about this word? Yeah, certainty. The certainty. And I think what I was trying to get at last week, Gary is a great example.

He could choose to be just distraught But he has the peace. We can choose to either be defeated or we trust him. That he's brought this trial and we can, no matter what goes on, it's not that he's jumping around for joy that he broke his arm. But he has that underpinning of faith that God's in control of this. But you know what, Courtney, I don't think we can choose to trust him. until he starts putting us through this process. But that's the whole process. That's the grace. I guess my question is, and this is myself, how long do I want to fight this? Well, it depends on how stubborn you are. Exactly. But I can keep fighting him and saying, or I can rest and trust him.

Or, I'll give you another scenario. You're taught that this system isn't what Christianity is all about, so you don't enter into this, or it's taught and you don't believe it. Right, but what is believing? You think that trials and suffering are specifically because God's mad, or He's putting me through some sort of thing because I'm really upset, or any other reason other than...

Now think about this. When you go through the first one, or second, or third, or the 55th one of these, And this tribe character starts to come out. Don't you get an idea there how important it is to the Lord that you know Him? See that? It's right here.

Another thing I think gets blamed for the trial or accounted to the trial is Satan. Oh yeah, I forgot about him. He would have you convince you that it's anything other than what the Lord is doing. So, question six, back to the thing we argued about two weeks ago.

Verse 4 says, experience or tried character produces hope. Explain whose hope it is. So whose hope is it? Is it yours? Are you convinced? It's his hope. Why is it so important that it's his hope? Let's do this. It's a good time for this. It's fail safe, most of all. So we start out right here rejoicing maybe. And we move around through the trial. We're supposed to still be rejoicing. Our faith is in what we know we're headed towards the glory of God.

We move through the patience and we find out that this patience to endure all this is Him. It's His patience which produces this tried character and we end up back up here at hope. And it has to be his hope. And why is it his hope? It's a really simple answer. Remember the diagram, and I probably shouldn't have erased it.

Remember the diagram of Hebrews 11.1? That faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Do you remember what that word hope meant there?

Evidence of things, absolute certain things of God. You see that? So it develops his hope in your heart that God is absolutely certain about him and what he's doing. It's his hope. And you get to abide in it. And that strengthens your faith because it's part of the definition of the essence of faith.

You see how that works? The essence of things hoped for. So I'm learning and the substance are the absolute proof of the things of God. Did you have a question? So it's his hope. And hope just means an absolute certainty. Absolute certainty of God's things. Because who is more certain about God's things than God? It sure isn't you guys. It's him. It has to be him. So then faith is developed. And he began to just rest in what he says and what he tells you.

But if you're like me, which you're not because you won't wear green, I look to the Lord a lot of times and say, what are you doing? I'm the king of the why me. And as I understand, And he's very careful and very patient to show us, every one of us, well here's what I'm doing, here's how it goes. Then the focus begins to go off of me and on him, where it belongs.

Does that make sense? So that we can live and walk by faith every day, every minute. Because we know what he's doing, we're not ignorant about it. I see doubters out there. Okay, so Courtney this is going to be a record. In our lives we have trial after trial after trial.

Does God want us going around in circles like this over and over and over again or like this over and over and over again? Does he? Let me ask you this. Are there trials after trials after trials after trials in your life? If you say no, you have to go to the nursery. The answer is yes, there is. I knew that a long time ago. Is there suffering after suffering after suffering after suffering?

Well, you're getting kind of old. So are we just spinning our wheels? Is that what we're doing? Are we just going around in circles? If you start out here, using this graph, and you start here, and you start on this process, if you're ignorant, It is trial after trial after trial. It does seem like I'm just spinning my wheels, I'm not getting anywhere.

But if you're informed, if you understand what he's doing, Romans 5, 1-5, look what you learn just in those five verses of what God is doing. So it is trial after trial, but there's a specific purpose. I've had people tell me, You know, things are pretty good now. I don't have any trials. I'm really kind of worried. If you're from the world system or from subjective Christianity, you think that person is nuts. But they know, they absolutely understand this process. What about the non-believer, you know, that continually has trials? They would, I think, are in a circle. Yeah. With the non-believer, you know what you do with this? You turn it upside down.

Because he starts knowing who God is. rejects him, and he lives in a sinful, fallen, dying world, what sort of choice does he have? He doesn't have one. But God will use this system sometimes to bring somebody to Christ. He did it in my life. You guys that have been Christians since you can't remember, but if you were saved somewhere in your adult life, you recognize that that's what he does. He brings you to the point where I have nowhere else to go. And somehow the gospel is presented and you take Him at His word.

I'm trying to think if I met anybody who didn't come to Christ, and from their subjective viewpoint in a crisis situation, I think we all do. Because you're not going to go to Him unless you need Him. You're not going to reach out for a Savior unless you know you're lost. So, maybe I'll ask it this way.

Did this rejoicing happen the very first time? In other words, let's say you're 18 years old, you come to Christ, you go through that sort of warm, fuzzy two-year process, everything's great, you pray and God answers and it's just wonderful. And then that scream you hear is that new Christian going off the cliff, right? Because this process begins. Do you think he or she is rejoicing from the beginning? No. Not until they figure out, through the work of the Spirit, what's really happening. And then you rejoice. Because you know. You gotta know. See that?

So that controls how we voice our prayers? I think it totally changes your prayer life. I think. I think it totally does. Not only about yourself, but about others. Because if this process is true, and it is, then you recognize, boy, God is really busy in all of my Christian brothers and sisters' lives. They all have trials. They all have circumstances. They all have stuff going on. And God is doing this. This is what he's doing.

So we're not rejoicing in the trial. We're rejoicing in him because we know the outcome. Is that what you mean? Well, not only the outcome, but we know the process. Yes. And we're fine with it. So rejoicing is just being fine with it? Is that what you're saying? Because you have a tendency to attach it to an emotion, which it's not, right? So could you explain a little bit more about rejoicing? Is rejoicing an emotion?

Yeah, I think it is. I think it is. But it's based on what somebody else is doing on your behalf. What God is up to. And the veracity of it isn't My rejoicing doesn't make it real or not. Rejoicing is a result of what he's doing and what I've learned. So the trial is like a proof of his working in you. Yeah, I mean it gets to the point where you realize that, wow, all of these things that have come into my life and continue to come, they're ordained of him. Every single one of them.

And I thought he'd forgotten about me. I thought that I was going to get a week off. I get to go on vacation. No. He never stops because he loves us. He gives us time off because we have to process what's happened. Well, it's interesting. Through the time off, the process is still going on.

Well, I understand that, but it's in looking back sometimes, after you come through the trial, it's in looking back that you really catch what happened. That's what I'm saying about that. Yeah, that's right. That's true. But I'm of a mind that the trials are always ongoing. As a matter of fact, there's probably more than one going on all the time. So the trial comes and initially and often times the response is negative, but it begins to change as you grow spiritually. But we learn the negative response is coming from who?

The old man, right? So we do what J.D. was talking about. We reckon ourselves dead to sin and we start to walk by faith. We trust him. So whatever happens or comes into your life, your viewpoint, your approach to it is different than it used to be. Because you know. You're now informed.

So what is God's purpose to have you go through all of this? I erased the... What does God do everything for? Why does he do everything he does? To glorify himself. So this process is to accomplish what purpose? To glorify himself, right? But you know what's cool about it? He's now going to start doing it through you. because he's preparing you through this process to be the one who can share his glory. You're going to have to finish up at nine next week. So that's the second buzzer, right? That's your favorite verse, too. I know. You get to try it on. Let's close.

Father, how we thank you for yourself and your process. We thank you that how you work things together for us to grow in the knowledge and grace of your son, to behold him. And the fact that you've determined that we are to share your glory and you're about doing that all the time. So that we may grow to the point where we recognize and we rejoice in the trials that come in our life. Father, we thank you. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen. you