Proving Restores God's Character — Duane Troyer

May the grace be with you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's been good to be here and I appreciate both the thoughts and verses that were shared in the opening. Rob said they're reminders and I just agree with that a lot.

A lot of what we talk about is reminding each other and I don't have anything different today than to remind us of things that we already know. But we have to do that. That's what we gather together for, to remind us.

To remind us what we're here for, to remind us what's essential, to remind us that life is short, to remind us that there's a judgment, and the list goes on and on. Let's stand for prayer. Oh God in heaven we thank you and praise you for your goodness, your mercies, and all your love to us.

We thank you for the sunshine. We thank you for all the rain we've been getting. We thank you for this day and this place and these people to gather with. We pray for your blessing on this meeting and on this message.

I pray for sound thoughts in your spirit. I pray that we all could have ears to hear and hearts to understand. I pray that your kingdom would come and your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

Justification by Faith Brings Peace with God

In Jesus' name, amen. The text that I have that has inspired most of what I, or was the beginning of the inspirations I'd like to share today is in Romans chapter 5. I had a, years ago I heard an old preacher once say that he thinks Romans 5 verses 1 to 5 have in them, in them is the nutshell, in that nutshell, in those five verses in a nutshell is, I can't remember if he said the plan of salvation or the message of salvation.

And I think there's at least some truth to that. I've come across those little passages in both the Old and the New Testament where the prophet or the apostle or somebody just kind of, just kind of puts down a few thoughts and if you really think on just those few thoughts you're like, wow, right there.

Right there in a little nutshell. There's one in Jeremiah I gave a message on one time. But here's another one. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exult in the hope of the glory of God.

Tribulation Produces Perseverance, Character, and Hope

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Ever since sin entered into the world, there's been a conflict between God and man. There's been something that was had before, before the fall, before sin, that got severed. And ever since that, between God and man, there's some kind of discord, there's some kind of variance.

It's what makes man do a lot of what he does. It's what made Adam and Eve sow themselves fig leaves and go into hiding. There was some kind of conflict between them and God. And I think it is also why there is within all men some kind of deep yearning for something.

I think men sense a void and a yearning for something, and it's why they do a lot of what they do. Whether they recognize it or not, I think that yearning that they have is to be at peace with God. I think I would maybe have a hard time putting into words what this feeling is like.

A loneliness, perhaps, but something deeper than just loneliness. But that's maybe the best I can do. Some kind of loneliness that has a real deep yearning for something. And I think out of every culture, and out of every tribe, and language, and lands, and even in those cultures and tribes, out of every class of people, from the poor to the rich, from the smart to the not so smart, in all of these people there is something.

There is something, some kind of emptiness, some kind of loneliness. And some people ignore it, some people sear it, some people fulfill it in other ways besides getting peace with God. But there is that something there.

It's what drives men to try to find the purpose in life. It's what drives people to try to figure out our existence, to try to find out what's truth. It's what makes people philosophize. It's what drives people to find something better.

There's something in us that longs to have that peace with God restored. Many people may not realize that that's what it is, but I think that's what it is. A lot of what people do stem from that longing for that peace with God.

Humanity Created in the Image of God's Character

You know, Adam was created in the image of God. Now that might raise a whole bunch of questions. God is a spirit. He has no visible form. How do we say he was made in the image of God? God is omnipotent.

That means he has all power. Adam wasn't created that way. He didn't have all power. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere, always. He's at all times everywhere. Adam wasn't created that way. God doesn't grow old.

God doesn't mature. God doesn't develop. God doesn't increase in understanding. Adam wasn't created that way. So what do we think he means when he says that Adam was created in God's image? I think he was created with the character of God.

I think he had the things that man can have that God has, and that is the character of God. He had the characteristics of God. He was kind. He was caring. If you could have seen Adam before the fall, you would have seen the expression of God.

If you would have seen how he took care of Eve, you would have seen how God would take care of a woman. If you would have seen how he takes care of the animals, you would have seen how God takes care of animals.

If you would have seen how he takes care of the plants, you would have seen how God takes care of the plants. You would have seen an expression of God's character. I think that's what it means. But that all changed.

When sin came, when they sinned, when they went against God, that full harmony between God and man was lost, and instead this conflict came. This harmony that had been there was severed, and now there's this conflict.

And I think ever since that, God's plea is, Adam, where are you? I want to be back with you. I want that peace restored, and we know that there's something missing. Or there is something missing, we can feel it, whether we know it or recognize it or not.

It's that peace with God that has been lost. And here in Romans 5, in the first verse, it says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Habakkuk had already said that the just shall live by faith, and the apostles quote this.

The just shall live by faith. We are justified by faith, and this peace of God can be restored. It is the beginning of this thing that was lost, and this emptiness that is within us to be restored again and filled up.

Grace as the Means of Salvation

In verse 2, it goes on to say,. Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exalt in hope of the glory of God. Grace is our means for salvation.

For by grace are ye saved through faith. And I know we all know how a lot of these words have been hijacked of their true meanings. But still, we know this. If it were not for the grace of God, we could not be saved.

It's that simple. And here he's saying that faith is our introduction into this grace. Faith and to believe is to be introduced to this thing that the end of it is restoration with God. It's salvation for us.

It's that paradise lost to be paradise restored. That is the end of it and the beginning of it, the introduction of it, almost like the preface of a book that will tell you, okay, here's what you're going to find in this book.

That's like the preface. It's the introduction to the book. That's what faith is. It's the initial introduction into this thing where we can have salvation and be restored again with Christ, with God.

Faith Seen in Those Who Came to Jesus

While Jesus walked here, he was usually surrounded by a throng of people, people from all walks of life. Again, it was the poor and it was the rich. It was the smart and the not so smart. It was all classes of people thronged around to hear Jesus.

I want you to get this. I'll try to create this little picture of how I think it often was. Jesus walked through a town and there were throngs of people following him. Or he went up on the mount to teach and there were throngs of people.

Or he stood on the seashore and there were throngs of people. While the religious people and the intellectual people and the educated people, people who kind of had everything together in life, while they stood there scratching their heads and stroking their beards and figuring out if, can any good man come out of Nazareth?

Isn't this just the carpenter's son? Why is this man a friend to sinners? Can we really believe he is who he says he is? If he was who he claimed to be, he'd know these people he's hanging out with are so sinful.

While they stood around doubtful and skeptical and real careful not to give an ordinary looking man like this too much credit, the poor and the blind and the deaf and the lame and the cripples came shoving through the crowd.

They came pressing in. They came tearing off roofs to get there. If only they could make one little request of him. If they could touch him. If they could even touch the hem of his garment. That's how desperate they were.

That was faith, right? That was the beginning. It was the introduction, the beginning of them to get to a point where they can receive some kind of grace imparted from the Lord. The others, smart as they were, just couldn't get that.

They never received that thing that these men with this faith, maybe a poor reputation, but faith, got. So that's how the scene often looked. They believed. They had faith. Those poor and those blind and cripples.

It was their introduction and their beginning to receive grace and in return glorify God. And that's what this verse 2 says here in Romans 5. Now, we know at least some of how things went. When the lame got healed, they leapt around for joy.

They started kicking up their heels and skipping and jumping. What do you think that the blind man did when he got his sight back? Do you think he laid down on bed right away and went to sleep? I mean, he probably just looked and looked and looked.

There was so much to see. It was such a joyful thing. What do you think the deaf man did? He probably just kept listening and listening to all the sounds that he could hear. The mute man, when he got his voice back, probably for the next few days, he just made all kinds of sounds that he never could make before.

The thing that had been lost for them, the sight, the hearing, the sound, those things that had been lost were restored and they rejoiced with great joy. They were so exalted in this glory of God that these things had been restored.

And so it is when the peace of God gets restored to man. When that emptiness that we had felt, that loneliness, when that's restored and the peace of God is restored, it's really, really joyful. It brings us great joy.

And we exult, as it says, in the hope of the glory of God. But it doesn't end there. Verse 3 and 4 say this, And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope.

Trials Prove Character and Strengthen Hope

Exult in tribulation? So when we go through severe trials and temptations and persecutions, we do the same thing that the blind man does when he receives his sight, and the cripple when he gains his strength.

We just rejoice with all kinds of joy. And we're not talking about the things that happened 10 years ago that were trials and we can now look back with some kind of fond memory. No, the things that want to make us grumble, the things that want to make us complain and lash out and cuss and swear and retaliate and get depressed and anxious and fly off the handle and lose our temper, those things, the things that want to make us do that.

Can we be triumphantly joyful, exulting God for them? The Apostle Paul tells us here to exult in the tribulation because it has a purpose. At the end, it will prove our character, and proven character brings us hope.

I confess to you that I fail in this. If we could just remember, if we could always remember that that's actually what God is doing. And the things and the trials that we face, you know what He's doing?

He's proving our character. That's His purpose. He's testing to see what we're made of. You know, in 1 Thessalonians 5, 21, He says, Prove all things, and this is an instruction to us. He's telling us to like, the things that we hear or encounter, He says, prove all things.

Hold fast to that which is good. That's His instruction to us. But God Himself follows the same principle. He's proving us, and He's wanting to hold to those which are good, right? The Amplified Bible says, but test and prove all things until you recognize what is good.

Biblical Examples of God Proving His People

That's what God's doing with us. He's testing us and proving us until He figures out which ones are good, which ones are keepers, which ones fit into His kingdom. God's been doing this all along. In Deuteronomy 8, 2, Moses said, Remember how the Lord your God led...

This is to the children of Israel. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness these 40 years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character and to find out whether you would obey His commands.

Think about that. When the children of Israel went without water for three days, why? It was to prove their character. When God kept Moses up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and the children of Israel down there without Him, why?

He was testing their character. When He provided a double portion of man on the day before the Sabbath and none on the Sabbath, why? He was proving their character. When He sent an overabundance of quail, why?

To prove their character. When He revealed to them the giants and the strong cities and big walls of Canaan, why did He reveal that to them? To test their character. To prove them. To see what they're made of.

Why do you think God told Abraham to sacrifice his son? He was proving his character. Why do you think Job suffered all the loss that he did? God was proving his character. Why do you think Joseph went from being sold by his brothers to falsely accused by Potiphar's wife to being forgotten by the butler in jail?

Why? Why? God was proving his character. He was testing him. He was seeing what he is made of. Why do you think Moses spent 40 years caring for the sheep in the wilderness? God was proving his character.

You know, Moses had the reputation before that, long before that. Moses had the reputation of a man who could lead Israel out of Egypt. Moses was a powerful man in Egypt. And Scripture really doesn't...

If you've ever read Josephus, Josephus gives this a lot of detail about Moses in Egypt before he left that Scripture is silent about. He was powerful. He had an army behind him. And he fought wars, but you could kind of tell that he was always favoring Israel in some way or another.

In a lot of ways, he was fighting wars that would favor the Israelites more than the Egyptians. That's why he thought the Israelites knew, I'm for you guys. Once the time comes, we'll get out of here.

But God couldn't use him. He had a good reputation, but his character was not tested yet. His character was not proven yet. It was not until he had lost all of that, all his fame, all his power, all his political influence, he had no army to back him, not even a sword.

All he had was a staff in his hand and a flock of sheep and a recognition in himself that he was a very needy man. Then God could use him. He had tested his character and he had proven him. Why do you think David was hunted by Saul and hid in the caves and in the wilderness?

It was to prove his character. Why do you think David had multiple opportunities to easily kill Saul and end this ridiculous pursuit? It was to prove his character. So don't shun these trials. You know, as a husband, I wish my wife would never make things hard for me.

I wish she'd always be exactly what I'd want her to be. As a father, I wish my children would always behave. I wish they'd just get it and stop their foolishness always and just always do the right thing.

As a servant in the church, I wish the brothers and sisters would always get along. I wish they could always see and fix their own problems. I wish they could just always get a hold of the vision and never cause problems.

At work, I wish every customer was easy to work with. I wish my concrete would never dry too fast or too slow. If that would always happen, I'd probably have a really good reputation. But there's nothing sure that I would have good character.

Character Before Reputation

Character is the particular qualities of a person which distinguish him from others. And a reputation is the character by report, especially by the community or general public. And though they're similar, they're also very different because that report almost always is never completely accurate.

To put it simply, our character is how God sees us and our reputation is how man sees us. When our reputation is at stake, we tend to come out at it swinging. But Jesus didn't. He made himself of no reputation.

He opened not his mouth and thereby he proved his character. To have a good reputation is honorable, but to have good character is imperative. While David was fleeing from Saul, he mostly had a poor reputation.

I recently came across that account in 1 Samuel 20 or 22, where he fled from Saul in his pursuits and he went out to the cave of Adullam. And this is what it says. It says, everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was grieved and discontented gathered to him and he became captain over them.

What a pitiful, deplorable bunch of guys. Everybody that was just in miserable straits gathered themselves to David and he was their captain. Not a very reputable group of people. And even among those, there was a time or two when they wanted to kill David.

But David proved himself to have excellent character. One time, they had been staying in Ziglag, he and his men and their wives and children. And they had left. All the men had left for three days. And when they came back, the Amalekites had attacked Ziglag, taken all the goods, taken the wives and children and left.

And David and his men came back to Ziglag and saw what happened. And they just grieved and they mourned. It was just, they were at wit's end. And they thought of stoning David. But David strengthened himself and he said, we're going to pursue these men.

And they started pursuing them and it seemed, if I understand the account right, they didn't go very long when 200 of the men were too weary to go on. They said, we're not going. And so they stayed there and took care of the stuff and the other 400 men pursued the Amalekites and they overtook them and made a great victory.

Received every last woman and child back without harm and all the plunder. They basically set the Amalekites to flight and got everything back again. And now they come back. They start coming back and they meet these 200 men who had stayed with the stuff.

And they were coming back and David greeted them. He was joyful about the victory. But it says, the ill-disposed and worthless men who fought, who went with him, thought that we shouldn't give these 200 men any plunder because they didn't go with us.

And this is what David said, my brethren, this you shall not do with what the Lord has given us, for they are not inferior to you. Instead, they shall share alike, each according to the portion that went down to battle as being the same portion as him who stayed with the supplies.

Restoring God's Character Through Trials

That's proven character. It's God-like character. It can only be produced through hardships, through trials, through tribulations, and through temptations. The character of God. It's the image of God that we were created to be.

But it was lost. Let's not blame God when we go through these things. He's trying to restore us. He's trying to restore what was lost. If when God restores the sight of the blind and the voice of the mute and the strength of the lame, if that causes so much joy, how much more if he's trying to restore his own character into us?

That should cause us joy. And that's the purpose of anything and every trial that we go through is to prove our character. I'll just read verses three to five again and we'll close. And not only this, but we also exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven character and proven character hope.

And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Let's pray. Father, we ask you to help us to be able to see that all that your hand does to us is meant for good and to prove us, and we pray, Lord, that we can be found accepting these things with joy.