Character

Romans, chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, and then Romans, chapter 8, verses 28 to 30. Romans, chapter 5, verse 1, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.

We glory in tribulation because we belong to the Lord. Why is there so much suffering and injustice in this world today? We have been looking at this question and searching the word of God for some answers. One answer we have discovered is creation.

All of creation is groaning and travailing in pain, and we are living in a world that is in bondage to sin, and this accounts for a good deal of human suffering. A second answer is conflict. We are living on a battlefield.

Satan is the enemy, the adversary, and he's fighting us. But there's a third answer to this question of suffering in the world, and that answer is character. God is using the sufferings of this world to build into our lives that marvelous thing called Christian character.

It's unfortunate that so little is said about this these days. We preach a great deal about Christian conduct, and conduct is important, but conduct depends upon character. If the tree is good, the fruit is going to be good.

You can go through your hymnal, and we have one of the finest available, and you'll find that many hymns never mention Christian character. They mention the conflict that we are in, Rise up, O men of God. They talk about this creation that we are in that is travailing in pain, but for some reason our songwriters have not seemed fit to say a great deal about Christian character, and the greatest need in our churches today is for us to be men and women of Christian character.

Mr. Moody once said, character is what a man is in the dark. He was making a distinction between character and reputation. He said, if I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.

I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said that character is the tree, reputation is the shadow of the tree on the ground. Or if you want to change the image, character is the soil, personality is that which comes out from the soil, reputation is what people think comes out. Character has to do with what we are.

Character doesn't grow out of the mind. Many, many people who are intellectually brilliant have no character. Character is the result of what the heart loves and what the will decides.

The decision of the will and the love of the heart, these are the two hammers that pound away at this raw material God has given us, and they build character. One reason why our Lord has permitted us to stay in a world that is suffering is that he might build character. Someone asked J.P. Morgan, the great financier, what is the greatest collateral a man can give you, and his word was character.

Now, how do we go about building character? How can the young people listening to me just now direct their lives into Christian character? How can those of us who are a bit older even see changes in our character for the better? Does anyone dare say, I have arrived? Does anyone dare to say, I don't need any help? Does anyone dare to say, my character is all that it ought to be? No one would dare to say that. God wants us to grow in Christian character, and God wants to help us build Christian character, and this is one reason why he permits suffering. Now, suffering of and by itself never produces character.

I have visited people in hospitals who have gone through tremendous suffering, and they are bitter against God, and they're bitter against the doctors, and they're bitter against the world. Suffering did not make them better. Suffering made them bitter.

Why? Because some ingredients were missing. There have been Christians who have gone through intense disappointment, heart-breaking experiences, and they've come through these experiences angry at God and critical of the church. Why? Because something was missing.

Of itself, suffering never produces character, but when you add what God can do, then the result is Christian character. If you and I are going to develop Christian character in the sufferings of life, there are three conditions that we have to meet. Condition number one, we must cooperate with the process by which God builds character.

Now, God doesn't do things the way you and I do them, helter-skelter, no plan, no process. God knows what he's doing. When God made the world, he built into the world certain laws that help to keep things going.

When God saved you, he put you into a new creation, and in that new creation are certain laws, certain principles that help to keep us going. There is a process by which God builds character through tribulation. Now, he gives it to us here in Romans chapter 5, verses 3 and 4. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.

Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. Here are the four wheels that are turning in this process of building character. God takes the raw material of our lives.

He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. And he takes this raw material and he puts it through tribulation.

And tribulation, if we're cooperating with God, produces patience. And patience, if we're cooperating with God, produces experience. And that word experience means tested character.

And experience produces hope. Now, that's the process. If you and I are going to build Christian character, we have to cooperate with that process.

That means we don't run away from tribulation. That means we don't resist in the midst of tribulation and rebel. It means that we cooperate with God.

Now, the first wheel in this process of building character is tribulation. Our English word tribulation comes from an old Latin word that every one of these Roman readers knew. If Paul had come to the church at Rome and used the word tribulum, they would have known what he was talking about.

A tribulum was a huge piece of wood into which they had driven spikes. And during the harvest season, the oxen would draw this huge plank over the grain. And as this huge piece of wood went over the grain, as the spikes dug down into it, it separated the wheat from the rest.

We use the word tribulation. You know what it means? It means that God permits the circumstances of life to go over us, the heavy weight of the beam and the sharp points of the spikes, and we hurt. But God says, just cooperate with me.

I'm separating the wheat from the chaff. I'm separating that waste from the real thing. And when I'm through with you, you're going to have character.

Now the Greek people who were listening to the book of Romans being read knew what this word meant. The word Paul uses in the Greek language means pressure. It's the same word that our Lord used when he talked about the narrow way.

It means to be pressured, to be confined, to be pushed against. And you've experienced that. The pressures of life have come against you, home and business and work, and just living in a big city like Chicago.

And there are pressures against us, and we cry out and say, oh God, I can't take any more pressure. And God says, I know what I'm doing. Because this pressure against you is going to mold you and make you.

The word character, our English word character, comes letter for letter from a Greek word that means an engraving tool by which the artist engraved in the metal. You're going to manufacture a beautiful picture. And so he takes the metal, and he takes his engraving tool, and he marks in the metal.

That's the word character. And sometimes God uses his engraving tool on us in tribulation. And God says, don't be discouraged, don't give up, I'm not punishing you, I'm making you.

I'm engraving my image in you. Tribulation. It means pressure, it means weight, it means cutting.

That's the first wheel in the machinery of God's process. I do not like to be in the water, but I love to be by the water. I can enjoy sitting on a rock and watching the ocean, sitting on a park bench watching the lake.

It's a marvelous thing. Have you ever walked along the ocean and noticed that where the stones and the rocks are sheltered from the waves, they are ugly and jagged, but where they are exposed to the constant beating of the waves, they're polished and beautiful. That's life, tribulation.

Now tribulation worketh patience. If we let it. Peter talks about this and James talks about this.

James says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various testings knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and mature, wanting nothing. Now, patience in the Bible never means giving up. I've watched people in airline terminals these last many years and the flight's been canceled and they throw up their hands and say, well, we'll just sit here, be patient, but they aren't patient.

They pace the floor and they complain to the agent. In the Bible, patience means brave, courageous endurance. Patience is not someone sitting in the rocking chair just waiting complacently.

Patience in the Bible is a soldier out on the battlefield, keeping on going when the going is tough. Patience. Now how in the world can tribulation generate patience? We are thrown into the arms of the Lord.

When the great pressure comes upon us, when that heavy beam is drawn over us, when the engraving tool is working on us, we have to throw ourselves into the hands and the arms of the Lord and wait upon Him. Now you leave the Lord out of your life and tribulation will work impatience, but you make the Lord a part of it. Let Jesus Christ be right there with you and tribulation works patience.

Then patience works experience. Now that word experience means tested character. It's a beautiful word.

The first picture it gives us is that of gold that's gone through the fire, gold that's been tested. Wasn't it Job who was going through all of this difficulty and he looked up and said, when he has tried me, I will come forth as gold. Isn't it good to know that when you are in the crucible of tribulation, God keeps His hands on the thermostat and knows just how much heat we can take.

And the beautiful thing about the crucible is it separates the gold from that which is ugly and defiling. And the dross is just skimmed right off and the goldsmith looks down into the crucible and he sees his own image reflected in that pure, beautiful gold. That's what God wants to do, experience, tried and proven character.

This word also is used for a soldier proved in battle. Oh, there have been soldiers who have not been proved. They've quit.

They've gone A.W.O.L. There are Christians who have gone A.W.O.L. The battle's been tough and they said, I'm through with the Bible, I'm through with the church. If this is the way God treats us, I'm through. And they miss so much.

But there are those who say, dear God, you're the captain of my salvation and the battle is the Lord's and I'm going to keep on going by your grace. That's what this word means, proven character, gold tested in the fire, a soldier proved in the battle. And the result of all this is hope.

You see, character and hope go together. I'll tell you why. When the Lord is building Christian character, we're becoming more like Jesus Christ.

And the more we become like Jesus Christ, the more we want to see Jesus Christ and have him finish the job. For we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And as tribulation produces patient endurance and as endurance produces character, character produces hope because there's a confidence down inside.

God has proved himself to us and we have proved ourselves to God. And we don't have to be afraid of the future. There's a growing hope and courage and confidence about tomorrow.

And so the first condition we have to meet if God's going to build character in our lives out of suffering, we must cooperate with the process by which God builds character. How do we cooperate? We don't resist tribulation. We don't run away from tribulation.

We exult in tribulation. We're able to praise God in tribulation because tribulation is not working against us, it is working for us. That's what he said, all things are working together for good.

But there's a second condition we have to meet. Not only must we cooperate with the process by which God builds character, but we must draw upon the provisions that God has made for our character. Now there are four of them.

Paul gives us in Romans chapter 5, four wonderful spiritual provisions that keep you going in the tribulations of life. What are they? Well, verse 1, peace with God, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. I want you to know something, my friend.

If you have peace with God, you don't have to worry about war with anybody else. If the circumstances of life are warring against you, you've got peace with God. If people are warring against you, you have peace with God.

If Satan himself is using every device he can to fight against you, you have peace with God. That's what counts. Now there was a time when we didn't have peace with God.

Romans 5.10 tells me there was a time I was an enemy of God. Why was I an enemy of God? Because I was living in sin. I had rejected his son.

I was walking in darkness and I was God's enemy. But while I was God's enemy, he came and he died for me. Peace with God.

The word justified simply means declared righteous. Justification is the gracious act of God whereby he declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ through the merits of the cross of Christ, his finished work. You know what that means? That means that you and I can stand before God accepted.

And so peace with God. When you find yourself going through the tribulations of life, don't give up. Say I'm standing on a solid rock.

That rock is the righteousness of God. I am justified by faith in Christ. Though all hell be assailed against me, though everything in creation should collapse, I am accepted by God because I have trusted Christ as my Savior.

Peace with God. That'll take you through anything, my friend. Now the second resource is in verse 2 of Romans 5, access to God.

The picture in Romans 5, too, is such a magnificent one, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We are standing in grace. We're not standing in law.

We're standing in grace. God's attitude toward us is one of grace. God's actions toward us are actions of grace.

And we have access. That word access is a beautiful word. You know what it means? An invitation to see the King.

That's what it means. It means that when the Lord picked you up out of the miry clay and put you on the rock of his righteousness and declared you righteous in God, he opened up a door into the palace. And he said, come in.

You have open, abundant access. What do you need? It's all here. Access into God's grace.

He's the God of all grace. He's the God of the manifold grace of God. His throne is a throne of grace.

And of His fullness of all we receive and grace upon grace. His book is the word of His grace. His Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace.

And my Bible says, He giveth more grace. My friend, when you find yourself in the tribulations of life, law is not going to help you. Moses is not going to help you.

Grace is going to help you. Draw upon the grace of God. You have access to God.

That means you can pray. From a hospital bed, you can pray. From a lonely little room, you can pray.

Anywhere, anytime, you have access. There's a third provision that He has made for us. Verse 2, the glory of God.

We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You see, God takes care of the past, the present, and the future. Justified by faith.

No past. It's all wiped away. I'm declared righteous.

Praise God. Access by faith into this grace. That's my present.

My future, the glory of God. Now, hope in the Bible is not hope so. It's not the little boy or girl at Christmas time or birthday time saying, Oh, I hope I get a bicycle.

It's not that at all. Hope in the Bible is assurance of the future. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Tribulation leads to glory. Our Lord Jesus talked with those two disappointed men on the road to Emmaus. And He said to them from the scriptures, Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer and then enter into His glory? That's what Peter writes about.

Suffering, glory. Suffering, glory. Paul says, I reckon, that means I've added it all up and evaluated it and I've come to this conclusion.

I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Paul also said, we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal.

The things which are not seen are eternal. Glory, the glory of God. My friend, we go through a few years when we have some suffering and some tribulation.

But what is that compared to an eternity of glory? I tell you, the most overwhelming thought is the thought of eternity. Everything that we hold dear, we hold dear because someday it won't be here. Parents will be gone.

Children will be gone. But in eternity, nothing is going to be gone. It's going to be there forever and ever and ever.

And for the Christian, this means glory. And so we have peace with God. And we have access to God.

And we have the glory of God. There's a fourth wonderful provision, verse 5, the love of God. He says that the love of God is poured out in our hearts in profusion.

God showed his love to us when Jesus died on the cross, verse 8. God proved his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But verse 5 is not talking about God's love to us. It's talking about God's love in us.

Now, those who are unsaved will not even understand what I'm talking about. Shallow Christians who have run away from difficulties will not know what I'm saying. But many of you will know what I'm talking about because you've experienced this.

You have been in the midst of tribulation. The pressure has been against you. The heavy beam is being drawn over you.

And yet you are experiencing in your heart the love of God in such profusion and in such wealth. You could not be bitter against him. Unsaved people don't understand this, but Christians understand it.

Tribulation makes us love him more because in tribulation he loves us more. He's talking here about that experience of the Holy Spirit in your heart where the love of God just fills you and builds you and molds you. And you know this love is never going to end.

Nothing is going to separate us from the love of God. In all of these things, Paul says we're really more than conquerors through him that loved us. Now, my friend, if you find yourself in tribulation and you're a Christian, cooperate with the process.

Don't fight it. And draw upon the provisions. Peace with God.

What a wonderful provision. Access to God's grace. The glory of God.

The love of God. I don't know what we can complain about. Before us, God's grace.

Beyond us, God's glory. Within us, God's love. Beneath us, God's righteousness.

What difference does it make if tribulation is around us when we have provisions like those? Somewhere we got the idea that if you're a good Christian, you don't suffer. And that idea is false. We suffer because God wants to make us good Christians.

There is a third condition that we must meet. And Paul deals with this in Romans 5, 6 through 11. We must cooperate with the process.

We must draw upon the provisions. Thirdly, we must appreciate the price that God paid for us. Oh, Lord, I'm suffering, but I suffered for you.

But Lord, they're crucifying me. Are they really? They crucified me. There's not a person listening to my voice who has yet suffered to the extent that Jesus suffered.

Now, if the Lord Jesus suffered this much for me, as undeserving as I am, can I not suffer just a little bit for him, as deserving as he is? Do you realize how much your suffering costs God? God could have left you in sin, and you would have suffered from sin. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

God says, I love you too much. I don't want you suffering for sin. I want you suffering for righteousness.

I don't want you suffering living for the devil. I want you suffering living for my son. And so I'm going to purchase you.

He purchased you that he might form you. He bought us that he might build us. He redeemed us that he might renew us.

Many shallow people have the idea that salvation is just simply a fire escape from hell. Well, it's much more than that. Salvation also means that God builds character, and he had to purchase you to do that.

God is not building the characters of unsaved people. For we are his workmanship. We Christians, says Ephesians chapter 2, created in Christ Jesus under good works.

We are God's workmanship. The Greek word is manufactured product. We are God's product.

God is making us. He's molding us. Now, if you're not a Christian, Satan's molding you.

Sin is molding you. Your character is being eroded, degraded, polluted, defiled, poisoned. But, oh, if you're a Christian, God paid a price for you.

He is not asking you to go through anything he hasn't gone through. When we were weak, he died for us. When we were wicked, he died for us.

When we were at war with God, he died for us. And when he died, he justified us. And when he died, he saved us from future wrath.

And when he died, he reconciled us. He brought us back together again. And now we are saved, not by his death, but by his life.

I have been saved from the penalty of sin by his death. I am being saved from the power of sin by his life. And Jesus Christ today wears on his body those wounds of calvary.

Not scars. Wounds. And whenever his hands get on you to polish you and to build you, they are wounded hands.

And we can never look at him and say, Dear Lord, this is costing too much. It hurts too much. Because he looks at us and says, Oh, how much did it cost me? Would you rather take the easy road, the broad road that leads to hell, or will you not walk with me on this narrow road, this confining road that leads to heaven, and let me build you and make a man out of you and make a woman out of you? You see, we're not worth it.

I could understand that he would reclaim angels, but he didn't. We're not worth it. But he loves us.

We're not worth it, but he died for us. What are we worth? He lives for us. And one of these days he's going to share with us his glory, and he's preparing us for that now.

Oh, why do we resist him? And why do we argue with him? And why do we run away? We ought to be saying, Dear Lord, do what you will with me. I'm going to cooperate with the process. Tribulation works patience and patience, character and character, hope.

And I'm going to draw upon the provisions, the peace of God, and access with God, and the glory of God, and that wonderful love of God down inside. And, Father, I'm not going to forget to appreciate the price that you paid for me, a piece of clay that you're trying to make into glory. Yes, we Christians rejoice in tribulation because we know that tribulation is working for us, not against us.

But you who don't know Jesus as your Savior cannot rejoice in tribulation because you are facing eternal tribulation. In a previous chapter in Romans, Paul says this, But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. Romans chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. Take your choice today, my friend.

Which tribulation do you want? Temporal tribulation as a Christian that leads to glory? Or eternal tribulation as an unbeliever that leads to endless night? Make your choice. Is God going to build character or is Satan going to wreck you? Make your choice. We Christians face tribulation trusting Jesus who said, In this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome.

And in Jesus Christ we are more than conquerors. Character. The one thing that we will take to heaven with us will be character.

Gracious Father, you are not through with us. You are building us, polishing us, equipping us, preparing us. We would cooperate.

We're thankful for the wonderful provisions you have made. And Father, we want that one day your purchased possession shall bring glory to your name. I pray speak to every heart here.

Speak to that Christian who's resisting. Speak to that unbeliever who is running away, needs to repent, come to Christ. Oh Lord, build Christian character into our lives.

Prove us in the battle. Purge us. Purify us.

And cause that your Son's image shall be seen in us.