This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, How to Have a Rock-Solid Faith.
When God saves you, what does God give you as the byproduct of that salvation? Is it peace, or is it tribulation? The answer is yes.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. Romans 5:1, 3
When God is going to increase your faith, He will mix in some tribulation. This is for your welfare.
Romans 5:1-2 is talking about conversion, “Being justified by faith”—peace with God. Praise God! We like that. Now move into verse 3: “We also glory in tribulations.”
Tribulation literally means “pressure.” The same word is used in the Bible for crushing grapes to get wine. God will bring pressure into your life to grow your faith because, without pressure, He cannot make you a strong saint.
The words “luck” and “fate” do not belong in a Christian’s vocabulary. When you are in pain, heartache, and disappointment, God is over it all, even though you may not be able to understand it.
Where reason cannot wade, there faith must swim. — Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity
When you come to Jesus, you will come into conflict. It may come from Satan or from God, but God is over it all. Satan brings conflict to cause you to stumble. God brings conflict to cause you to stand and to increase your faith.
The minute you come to Jesus, this world will try to squeeze you into its mold. You will feel that every day: in entertainment, business, politics, and the social world. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
Once you get saved, you receive a new nature. But the proclivity to sin is still there. You never get beyond it. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:17).
You never understand the power of Satan until you get saved. If you don’t have difficulty with Satan, it’s because you and he are traveling in the same direction. Turn around and you will collide. When you get saved, Satan will level all the artillery of Hell against you.
God Himself will bring tribulation and pressure. “For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). God is not trying to make you happy; He is making you holy. Do you want to know how to have solid faith? Your faith will grow during temptation, testing and trials. It is a false gospel that says, “If you come to Christ there will be no adversity, persecution, or pain.”
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance…
The King James Version says “tribulation worketh patience.” Patience means constancy and endurance. When the pressure comes, it does not make you anything; it reveals what you are made of.
How many want strength, victory, prosperity, contentment? You will never have these without patience. You will never learn anything worth learning without constancy, endurance, and patience. If you want to build character, persevere. There is no instant maturity. Salvation brings tribulation, and that is meant to teach perseverance.
Some people just retreat.. Either physically or emotionally, they get a plane ticket, turn up a bottle, or take a pill. They run from conflict.
Others resent conflict. They say, “I got baptized, I went to Sunday school, I started tithing, and now look what has happened to me.” They pout and get a grudge with God. They become cynical.
Others resign. They lie down on the field, surrender their shields, and give in to despondency.
God’s plan is for you to resolve by faith that you will follow Him. Faith is not about receiving the things you want, as much as it is accepting from God what He gives. Tribulation works patience. Don’t try to wiggle out of what God is doing in you.
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character…
God wants to build character into you. God wants to increase faith in you—rock solid, biblical faith. Reputation is what others think about you. Character is what God knows about you.
God will put you in the fire of affliction, to increase your faith, to test you. The faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.
That is how you will learn how much dross needs to be burned out of your life—the sludge in the gold ore. The times when you will grow the most, and increase faith the most, are not when everything’s fine. Faith increases in the times when you are going through pressure and sorrow.
God did not take away evil. He transforms it. God did not stop the crucifixion—He gave us Easter. God took Paul’s weakness and transformed it into strength. (See 2 Corinthians 12:9.) Job said, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
We don’t want to stay in the fire. But the refiner knows the gold is pure when he can see his face reflected in it. God is looking for His character, His likeness, reflected in our lives.
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Character will give confident hope. When the Bible says “hope,” it doesn’t mean “maybe.” Hope means faith in God.
Hope comes when you have been through the fire and you know God has not failed you. You know He has kept His Word.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is biblical faith. Hope is faith in the future tense.
When your feet touch the chilly waters of death, your anchor will hold. You will have solid faith. Aren’t you glad there is a hope?
Romans 5:1,3, 8:38-39, 12:2; Galatians 5:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Job 23:10
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?...Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.
Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed”.…When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
