When our hope is in the Lord, we can stand as David did and watch God defeat Goliath. The tribulations work experience and patience and hope that rests in the love that the Spirit puts in our hearts. It does us good to be in a bit of trouble every now and then. (Romans 5:1-4)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller
Sermon 11911
6:30 PM on 6/28/2020

P. Schaller –

We had a great weekend, fantastic week and month of June. God answered a lot of prayers and ministered to a
lot of people. Look at our new pulpit. Isn’t it nice? Beautiful. Before we preach tonight, what a
great worship time. I love it. It’s so awesome to be together and worship and love Jesus. Even
when I don’t see that he’s working. That’s what I want to speak about tonight. That line goes
along with the message. Even when I don’t feel that he’s working. Even when I don’t see that
he’s working. That’s awesome. Before we do, we’ll have a little Body fellowship by having some
prayer together. Make a little group and turn to your neighbor and have a prayer. Let’s pray for
the churches in the United States.

Let’s pray for our affiliation, for our country and our Convention coming up in August, and whatever God leads you to pray for. Feel free. You can move around if you want to and have a few minutes of prayer together. I would like to repeat the message this morning. It was a relevant message, Romans 5. Part 2. I need you to pay attention
and focus in. There is a key principle. Events. People filled with events and even lower, gossip.
Events. Not the same as gossip but then there are people. Just people. They just talk about
people. Events and all this. This is how people live. They live with events in their hearts and
minds and they watch the news. News is all events. What happened in Minneapolis or Farmer
John’s goat got across Route 83 the other night! Events.

It can leave us perplexed, troubled, and just now we have the COVID19 pandemic and we also have the restlessness in our country, statues pulled down and some cases of violence and the politics. What’s going on? Because you have God, so we’ll put here, “God.” You are a student, a disciple. You are listening. Your ear is in
tune not to the loud voice of Goliath, but you are in tune to the still small voice of the Spirit.
What does the Spirit say to you? The second thing you are a student of is human nature. You
learn about people from the Bible. You know what is in people. John 2:24 Christ did not commit
himself to people because he knew what was in them. They can have a good day, bad day. They
can be your friend; they can be your enemy. They can applaud you and they can throw you
away. People are in many ways awesome, the greatest thing going but they are also potentially
very dangerous, and we learn about that in our Bible.

Man is a sinner and he needs salvation. He needs God. If you or I – we are just people looking at Goliath and listening to him with his loud mouth defying God and defying the people of God. The army didn’t have leadership and the army is afraid. 1 Samuel 17. Events can make you upset. Events can trouble you and I. Of
course, we know this. When they went to the tomb in Luke 24:4, the stone was rolled away and
it says they were perplexed. The Greek word means they didn’t know where to go. They were
troubled, confused. They didn’t know what to do. The same thing happened to King Herod after
he killed John the Baptist. Jesus comes and he thought maybe Jesus was John the Baptist come
back to life. It says Herod was perplexed, troubled.

Believers can be. We all can be troubled because of what happens, but we have found, and we are learning what it means to live by faith. How much God is able to give to us the peace and the wisdom and lead us like David
before Goliath. You could say Goliath is a monster. He’s 9 feet tall. David could say I don’t deny
it, but I have an education, this one here. I have an education. You’re not living in the real
world. Don’t you know. He could say, I know he’s a giant. I can see that, but that’s not the end
of the story. That’s what we want to talk about tonight. Romans 5:1, this morning we had these

words and the first one was: 1)Justified. It’s a great word, 100% righteous. 100% without sin.
It’s as if you have never in the mind of God because he has forgiven, he has forgotten, he has
justified you. It’s as if you have never not even once sinned. Never in the mind of God. That’s
amazing! That’s incredible because I have a lot sinned. But you are justified. Romans 3:24-25, by
the blood, what’s my job? Believe. I believe one moment in time and I am justified, declared
righteous. This is the starting point. It means you are now in the family. You are accepted in the
beloved. To be accepted in the beloved is very profound. I’m not thrown out on the street the
way I feel, and I don’t have a family. I don’t have a heavenly Father.

He’s not happy with me. I’m not what I should be. I’m out here. God wants us to know this. You are in the family. You
are justified. God is your Father. He sealed you with the Spirit. You are not your sin. This is
subjective. Subjectively we say I’m not what I should be. I don’t pray enough. I’m not what I
should be. I don’t read the Bible. I’m not like him or I’m not like her. It’s all subjective. That’s
not what this is saying. This is not about your subjective self and what you are thinking and
feeling. This is objective reality. This is what God is saying. I have accepted you. You are justified
and made righteous. Your name is in the Book of Life. I am for you. I am not against you. I’m not
like other gods. I am God. I want you to know me, who I am.

I am God. This is huge. This is not men. This is God. Wow! God, can you make a sinful man a righteous man? Yes, I can. How do you do it? I gave my Son. I could never had given anything more precious. I gave my Son. I gave
you something you could not even think or imagine what it is, Ephesians 3:20. “Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding above all that we ask or think.” This is ours. This is amazing. Point number
one of this. I could repeat that over and over. I know you know it intellectually. I’d love for this
to resonate in your heart and for you to realize what this means. This is amazing. I am
righteous. I have to tell myself. I have to relate to this truth. I want to receive it, embrace it and
live on the basis of it. It’s a whole new thing. It’s a game changer.

God gave his Son so we would be made, declared righteous by God our Father. Then the next part is – this is all building up to what I want to say. 2) Peace, Romans 5:1 This is objective. It doesn’t matter what you think or feel.
You have peace with God. I’m an enemy to myself. I’m an enemy to my friend. I’m an enemy to
my boss. I don’t have peace with my wife. I don’t have peace with my children. This can all be
the case with people, but it doesn’t change the fact that in God’s mind, he has peace with you.
You were an enemy but now he is your friend. Yeah, but I don’t feel like I’m a friend to God.
That’s exactly the point. You don’t feel so great. That’s not our point. Our point is that God has
peace with you. He has reconciled you to himself. We have peace with God through Jesus
Christ. It’s objective. It’s the reality.

There is no condemnation in him. There is nothing where you would be rejected by him. There is nothing where it would be permanently. It’s over. God’s relationship with me is over like permanently. It’s ended. It’s over. It’s done. It’s finished. Can’t happen. So what is the status? I’ve been made righteous and I have peace with God. That’s all. I
think this is why David can go out against Goliath. He had roots in these doctrines. He had
understanding of his identity. He knew God was for him and he had peace with God. In other
cases, when people live by feelings, they are hoping their life would be without trouble. If they
can skate through the trouble and make it safely through life, that’s their goal.

This changes that. We don’t think about skating through life avoiding trouble. We have found a relationship where God is saying you got all you need because I am for you. I want to lead you and teach
you. Follow the words with me. There are five of them. What comes next after peace? Vs. 2. 3)
Access. We are introduced, brought before God, having access. In the ancient world and today,
you can’t go to Queen Elizabeth in the U.K. and just have an appointment with her. You cannot
do it. You have to be accepted. You have to be introduced. You have to be brought before the
queen. You cannot go just before God. All human beings should be encouraged to pray to God
and believe in God and walk before God. All people everywhere.

God is pleading with them. But he is not a man. He is God and have access to God. That’s our privilege now. We are introduced to God through Jesus Christ and we have a status with him as God. Someone said, I forget who
it was, Spurgeon maybe. Our theology is filled with personal pronouns. Me. Possessive
pronouns. Mine. This is, belongs, this is ours. My God. This isn’t just God. Our Father. This is
God and he is ours. This is not possible without Christ. Christ gave us access to God. He gave us
a connection with God. He sent the Holy Spirit into the world so we could be in worship with
the living God and subject to him in faith. Look at the next word. Vs. 2. 4) Grace. Please learn
the word grace. Grace. Huge word. Grace. Gift. I read about an oyster. How many pearls are in
an oyster? Anyone know? There can be more than one pearl in one oyster.

Sometimes there are black pearls. There is a black pearl and white pearl. The world record, – there was an oyster
with 660 pearls in the oyster. Isn’t that cool? Grace. What’s grace. It’s a gift. What have you
received all your life? Gifts. We have gifts everywhere. Gifts from God everywhere. The earth is
filled with his goodness. How many gifts have you received from God every day? They are
packed full. There are gifts everywhere. You didn’t earn them. One time we preached here a
couple years ago and a man from Afghanistan was here. I went out to lunch with him. I said,
what did you get out of the message? He said, I heard about grace. I said what does that mean
to you? He gave a great answer. He’s a Muslim.

He’s from Afghanistan. He’s open to God. He said it’s like your eyes. You don’t pay for them. They’re a gift. That’s cool. Wow. Gifts. What’s it mean? All of this from God and so now we stand. 5) Stand. The word for that is standing steadfastly, immovable. Standing. That’s what’s needed in this world. Have you noticed the
devil with a loud mouth on television lately? Have you noticed the devil with a loud mouth on
social media? Have you noticed a friend that you thought was a friend may not be a friend
anymore? Have you noticed how human nature can change? You can go from the pedestal to
the pit in one day? Have you noticed that? You should. I thank God for the last four months or
so. I feel it’s a good wake-up call for human beings.

To be awake because this world is not a joke. It’s real. It’s a real battle for the souls of men. There are real lies being said by Goliath every day. He’s out in front the army of Israel mocking in. When he saw little David, he disdained him. It means he despised him. He hated him. I feel that sometimes the world doesn’t like me.
Maybe. They don’t appreciate our faith. They don’t appreciate what we have going on. There is
something spiritual about the world that maybe some people haven’t realized. I want to get to
my message. I haven’t gotten there yet. I got to get your build up in what these verses are
saying. When we go to the next part, it’s fantastic to see what these verses are saying here.
Check it out. Romans 5:2 David stood.

He ran at Goliath. He stood but it meant he’s not backing down. I’m not backing down. How about you? God is too good. I can feel God. I feel God my life. I can feel God in our hearts. I can feel God in our mission. I feel God – we knocked on doors and the lady came this morning and to the hamburgers yesterday. I don’t always get to see
when I knock on a door that the person actually comes to the church, but she did. I’d like to see
a salvation. I saw recently. That’s amazing. If you never led anybody to Christ, pray for that.
Many Christians have never led anybody to Christ. Pray for that. It’s an amazing experience
when someone comes to Christ. They lead them to Christ and have a prayer with them. They
meet them again and the person says this is exciting.

This is new to me. I don’t understand it but there is something going on. I am free. I have joy. I don’t know what is going on. Jesus is real to me. What is the last word here? It says “stand” and then “rejoice in hope.” Vs. 2. Like we
have been doing today here. Rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. The hope is a living hope. I
hope I’m going to see my brothers and sisters. I know. I think about it more and more. I have
that hope. I know that’s going to happen. I believe that’s going to happen when I go to heaven.
That will be a beautiful thing, but while I’m here on this earth, I’m rejoicing in this hope. You are
in the Father’s house and you are feeding from that banquet table. You are in the family and
Jesus is there. The Spirit of Jesus is with us and we are feeding on the lamb of God and there is
a hope we have for the future.

We have hope in our hearts, and also there is Goliath out in the field screaming and shouting with a big voice. He’s on CNN and all other Cable networks. He’s in university classrooms and he’s in the political realm and he’s mocking and shouting and yelling. He has a big voice in this world. He’s in the movies. The world is filled with this kind of spirit, mocking and shouting down the simple believer like David. That’s part of it. Now go to the next
part. Vs. 3. This is a segment. Notice here, this is a block. He says not only that. Do you get it. I
gave you all this good stuff but not only that. That’s awesome but there is more. This is where
we want to go and what we want to say tonight. It’s really cool. Vs. 3. I know what you are
thinking because “glory in tribulations.”

These are memory verses. We all know that we glory in our troubles. This is better than the way you normally read it. There is a meaning here. It isn’t that I glory in spite of my tribulation. It doesn’t mean I’m in the tribulation and I’m glorying in the tribulation in some weird way like I’m a masochist. I like pain. I like pain so I glory in the
trouble. It doesn’t mean. We are normal human beings. I don’t want to have trouble. How can I
glory in it? Not in spite of it but actually the meaning is because God and you and I are in his
family and we have this identity, when Goliath comes out yelling and shouting and mocking us,
you are led in and you see the contest. You actually glory in what it is that God has put you in
the tribulation. You have found Christ in it. You have found the growth. You have found the
change. You have found the maturity.

Another way of saying it, I grew up this way. Everybody did. It’s just natural. Your mom and dad go to bed at night praying, God, please keep us from any big problems. Please Lord, protect us. I say those prayers too. Don’t misunderstand me. We try to escape. Wow! We dodged a bullet. Man! That was a close call. Just hoping. Oh, we’re in the hospital emergency room. We got hit. What happened? Who messed up? Why did this bad
thing happen to us? What happened? Who sinned or how did this happen? That’s how the
natural man lives. I’m changing and growing in it. I think I’m seeing it. I hope you can follow it
with you. I honestly believe that the believer that has this kind of equipment – this one – that
he understands his access. He understands the peace he has in God. He stands in the grace. He rejoices in the hope. In this life, I don’t want to say he welcomes it but in a way it’s a good signal
to him.

When I have the trouble, it’s an evidence of Hebrews 12 that I’m a child of God. It’s an
evidence that the fiery trial of 1 Peter 4:12-14, – don’t be alarmed when that fiery trial happens.
Count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials. I think you’re shifting back to the Bible verses
you know. You got to follow this with me. When you and I get rooted and grounded of being
students of God and human nature, when we realize what we are in and apart of, the Apostle
Paul in 2 Cor 12:9 understood that he delighted in his weakness because then he found this
great wealth he had when he lived by faith. He would say man is born unto trouble in Job 5:7.
You enter into the kingdom of God by tribulation, meaning you grow up and mature in Acts
14:22.

You start to actually get a feeling that I can do this. You start to think maybe this is good
for me. Maybe it’s good for me that I have some trouble. Maybe it’s a check for me. We all
become arrogant. We all kind of get careless. We all kind of drift into independence. When I
realize, wait a minute, maybe God is going to show me something by my tribulation. Woe unto
you when men speak well of you, for so did they the false prophets, Matthew 5:10, 12. Rejoice when
you are persecuted. Persecution. There are Christians they don’t want any persecution. They
don’t want anybody saying bad things about them. We have a good testimony. Behave. Do the
right thing. We want the world to see God. If we want the world to see God seems to me he will
manifest himself by our maturity, and maturity is produced by tribulation. Look at Romans 5:3. A
word we really don’t want to use so much.

When a person is going through a trial, they say I need this fixed. Let’s pray about it for five years. Five years? I’m thinking five hours. Five years. Yeah, did that five years throw you off? That’s called patience. Patience. When we had our church split here years ago, we were in Chicago with our brothers and they were saying things
and we were trying to keep together. I said, give us time in Baltimore. Give us some time. I
don’t remember if I said one year. No, now. It’s got to be dealt with. One year we could be
together. We could have the same spirit. We could have patience. Can you wait? How about
raising teenagers? I said to my wife one time when we were raising our children, they are 16
years old now. What’s the end game?

The end game is when they are 22 or 25 years old, they want to sit down at the table with us and eat and be together and be with us. That’s the end game. I don’t want to lose them. I might lose them now, but I don’t want to lose them ultimately. We have to pray for them. We have to love them. We have to work with them,
exhort them, encourage them and guide them. I don’t want to lose my relationship with them.
They make their decisions and sometimes their decisions are not very good. But look at God
and us. We are students of God and human nature. How do you put up with us? How come you
are so patient? Why are you waiting so long? How much do you pray for me Jesus as the
intercessor in heaven? How much do you care for me?

How much of your blood did you spill that it would be a righteous man in your eyes. How about it? Tribulation, trouble works patience, vs. 4. Experience means that there is proof of the trial in your life. That the trial
proved who you are. Did you run away? Did you hide somewhere in the sense of David running
from Goliath and the army and being afraid and he could not stand. Yes, that’s my nature. We
are cowards by nature. Caleb had another spirit. We feed that spirit. We walk in that Spirit. We
are filled with that Spirit. We are not quenching the Spirit. We are not grieving the Spirit. But we are filled with the Spirit and we are drinking the same Spirit. Wow! Patience, experience.
After David killed Goliath, you could interview him. How are you doing? It’s pretty amazing. I’m
very excited.

What are you excited about? I’m excited bout God. What do you mean? I know
God did it. You mean God? I mean God. God did it. My whole life is about – God is here. God did
it. David, you are hero. Don’t confuse it. I happened to be there, and I stood. I did what God,
who I am in God because God is my teacher. As I went out in my walk of faith, I gained
experience. Raising my kids, keeping my marriage together, praying for my church, being a
servant in Baltimore city. Watching the news and realizing there is something – what did
Shakespeare say? There’s something rotten in Denmark like that really strong cheese. What’s
the name of the cheese? Limburger cheese.

My dad brought it home one day and the whole house smelled. Limburger cheese and he’s laughing about it. Something is rotten in Denmark? Have you watched it? Have you seen it? Have you seen the battle lines? Have you seen the enemy? We are called to be in it and experience God in our battle. Just to say thoughtfully the
battle with our sexual life. There is a battle. My heavenly Father has got to give me the
equipment I need. He has to give me what I need to deal with my battle. There is a battle with
our lust for money. Some people chase the money. They go after the money. You could be in
the battle with God. I will. I will. I’m chasing something over here. I got to get this done. Yeah,
but God is testing your heart. God is testing your heart.

He wants to test our hearts. Have you ever thought money isn’t really anything? When you don’t have it, it’s so important. I know that. It’s a great tool but actually life has got to be more than that. It’s got to be experience and
tribulation works patience. Patience, experience and then to the next word. Then it says, vs. 4.
Hope. It started with hope and now it ends with hope. Actually it goes to love, vs. 5. When
people go through trials with God, they gain treasure. When they go through trials with God,
they are gaining points. They are gaining treasure, character. There is something growing in
them. They are maturing. When they grow with God, I like it that we are not petty and bickering
about little things that I want. I want this in my church. I want this. Then you got to go to
another church. God’s got to deal with you.

We are not perfect, but we can’t be controlled by a thousand different people. “I like Mexican food. Why doesn’t the café have Mexican food?” “I like opera music. When we are going to sing opera in the church. I want opera, okay? Opera.” What is the end ? Many voices. We got to get serious with God. There’s no opera. Eat it.
Humble yourself before God. Go through some trails. Go through some tribulation. We need
Christ formed in us. Our trials are an important part of our maturity because we cannot be
babies as Christians because sister and brother this world is exploding. Have you noticed? How
far away are we from serious trouble? Could they shut down a church in one day? Could the
government shut down a church in one day? Could they just say it’s over. Done. We arrest the
pastor if you even try.

You’re in jail with a five thousand dollar fine. It’s over. Done. It’s happened in other countries. I’m not suggesting it’s going to happen here, but I am suggesting that it could happen here. Did I just say both things? I think I did! How do you know what your future holds? How do you know what you will go thorough? How do you know what your trials
will be? How do you know how your marriage will turn out? How do you know how your kids
will be born? How do you know what’s going to happen in the education of your children? How do you know what bad or good decisions people will make? How do you know you will keep
your job? How do you know the government will be stable? How do you know what will be
happening in our future? I don’t know. But it says, “boast not yourself of tomorrow because
you don’t know what a day will bring forth.”

But I do know this that if these things that we are talking about are true, and if got this and we get our roots in there and you’re be standing up and maybe our country needs people to stand for righteousness. They do. Maybe our neighbor needs us to disagree with them. I’ve been a neighbor of yours for 15 years and you know how
much I love you. We share Christmas presents and I bring you cookies at Halloween and the
whole thing. I’m a good neighbor and even mow your lawn once in a while. I want you to know I
fully disagree with that thing. I love you but I got to say. I hope you don’t say that to your
neighbor, second thought! You know what I’m trying to say. On the university campus, it’s got
to be Christians with some salt and light. In the political world, it’s got to be some believers
with some roots that are in Christ and are up for the tribulations of life.

In a church, it’s got to be pastors and leaders and body members saying, listen. We’re not looking for a fight, but if
you knock on our door, you’ll get one if you knock on it the wrong way. If you say you are
shutting us down, it can’t happen. We’re going to assemble in the prison. We’re going to be
believers learning and growing and maturing. When it happened to Joseph in Egypt, he became
a prime minister and a king. Same thing happens in this world. Those are the people that have
the character that people need for their kids and families and keep it going. All this other – you
know I’m getting a habit of swearing in the pulpit! All this other malarkey! Thank you P. Barry!
All this other malarkey that is going on in the world we are living in. Let’s get real. A little girl Is
not a little boy. You got that. Don’t play games with me.

I’m a real person, okay? I’m a real guy. I don’t talk like that. That’s not going to happen. That’s a lie. That’s demonic. I’m not for that. I’m against that. Believers that are backing down and don’t have any conviction and don’t have
any message. They need to do what we are saying tonight. Rejoice in the tribulation and get in a
little bit of good trouble because God is with you in it. Stand up and believe and be who you are
in Christ. The problem, P. Mati said this years ago, the American people don’t have a mission.
The American people don’t have a mission. That stuck in me. What do you mean? You don’t
have a mission. We talked a little. I don’t remember what he said but this is what I am saying
tonight. I have a mission to go to Walmart and buy a new patio furniture.

I have a mission to buy a house. I have a mission to have a family. I have a mission to be happy. I have a mission to
be entertained. I have a mission to stay healthy. I want to be in good health, and eat my
vitamins. I have a mission. I’m going to eat olives at night. I’m going to eat sauerkraut at night. I
want to be healthy. I ride my bicycle. I’m on a mission. I want to have good friends. I want to be
in a bar room drinking beer and having a good time. That’s my mission. You know it isn’t. You
know you hurt inside. I don’t have a mission that’s anything more than a stick ball. I said that
word, so I don’t swear! Let’s rap up the message. We have a mission and it’s for our kids, our
generation, our neighborhood. We have a mission for the world.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with patio furniture or a house or a family. You know that. I’m not saying that. I have to get life without any troubles. I don’t want any troubles. I’m one of those. On the other hand,
what we are saying tonight is graduation time. You can say I glory in trouble. I don’t like it. I’m no looking for pain or trouble. I’m not rejoicing in spite of it. I’m engaged in understanding that
God sent this to me and I’m walking with God in it and I’m finding God’s grace. I’m finding his
peace and I believe there is something good in it. That’s all. In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.