The Golden Chain of Tribulation and Love

Next Part The Golden Chain of Tribulation and Love 2

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing, that tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope--and hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." Romans 5:3-5

What, would you say, was the greatest attainment in religion? If this question were put to different people, even among those who know and fear God, the answer might be different. One might say, "It is to be well established in the doctrines of the gospel; to be no longer a child tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but to be rooted and grounded in the truth as it is in Jesus." Another might answer, "It is to have much enjoyment of the Spirit, grace and presence of God in the soul; to have clear and blessed views of our interest in Jesus; and to experience a continual sense of that 'perfect love' which 'casts out fear,' and of that peace which passes all understanding." Another might reply, "It is to have a conscience very tender and alive to the evil of sin, to walk very humbly with God, to be kept very close at His footstool, and to be watchful and prayerful all the day long." Another might say, "It consists in having the mind and will of Christ stamped on the soul, in walking with the strictest regard to all the precepts of the gospel, and in having heart, lip and life perfectly conformed to the image and example of the Lord Jesus."

Now I do not say that all or any of these answers would be wrong; but I do say that none of them would precisely hit the mark. "Well, then," it may be asked, "what do you think to be the greatest attainment in religion?" I answer, "To glory in tribulations." That was certainly the mind of the Apostle Paul, as I think I shall in a few moments be able to show you.

Having, in the preceding chapters, established the doctrine of justification, he proceeds to mention, in the opening of this, some of the fruits which spring out of it. The first is, "Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;" the second, "Access by faith into this grace wherein we stand;" and the third, "Rejoicing in hope of the glory of God." Look at these three blessed fruits of being freely justified by faith. Can anything surpass them? Peace with God, access into a gracious standing before His presence, and a rejoicing in hope of future glory. Yet the fourth fruit of justification surpasses these three rich and ripe clusters. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also;" clearly implying that to glory in tribulation is a greater attainment than to enjoy peace with God, or to have access by faith into a state of grace, or to rejoice in hope of eternal glory.

But it may be asked, "How can this be?" The answer is embodied in our text, which I shall, therefore, as the Lord may enable me, endeavor to open up this evening.

I find in our text a golden chain, wreathed by the hand of God round the soul; and in this golden chain I find certain blessed links. What is this chain? and what are these links? The chain is that which, let down from heaven to earth, binds the soul to the throne of God. The separate links are–
I. Tribulation.
II. Patience.
III. Experience.
IV. Hope
V. The love of God.

And when the first is connected with the last, when "tribulation" is welded on to "the love of God" the chain is complete.

With God's blessing, therefore, I shall endeavor to take up this chain, and, viewing severally its separate links, to show their connection with each other as well as their mutual dependence and beautiful harmony.

I. TRIBULATION. The first link in this heavenly chain is a very heavy one, so heavy that it would weigh down them all, if it were not sustained by the last. And observe that this is the first. We are not at liberty to choose which link we shall lay hold of first, or we would probably begin where we should leave off, and grasp "the love of God" before "tribulation;" seize the crown before the cross, and shout "Victory!" before the battle started. God's order must be followed, not ours; for if we begin at the wrong end we shall never make a complete chain. The first link, then, of this heavenly chain is "tribulation;" and this is a very heavy link, because many afflictions are often welded together to make it stout and strong, and give it weight and substance.

The word "tribulation," in the original, means literally a being pressed down; and it is remarkable that the English word "tribulation" has somewhat of a similar meaning, for it is derived from a Latin word, which signifies literally a threshing of corn, according to the ancient way of driving a machine over it. Nothing, then, deserves the name of "tribulation" which does not press down the soul and thresh out the chaff. Little troubles that come and go, passing vexations, transient trials of a day or hour, the varied annoyances which test the temper or mortify pride, unexpected disappointments in business, and a hundred other circumstances which are sufficiently harassing for the time, all fall short of what is meant by the weighty word "tribulation." They are not heavy enough to form a link in the heavenly chain. The Lord's people, however, have many "tribulations," for it stands written in large letters on the arch of the strait gate, "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." These, then, are, or should be, the first words which salute the pilgrim's eye, and show him beforehand the character of the road.

As earth is but a valley of tears, the Christian has many tribulations in common with the world. Family troubles were the lot of Job, Abraham, Jacob and David; sickness befell Hezekiah, Trophimus and Epaphroditus; reverses and losses fell upon Job and upon the son of the prophet whose widow Elisha miraculously relieved from debt; poverty and famine drove Naomi into the land of Moab. Trouble, then, is in itself no sign of grace; for it inevitably flows from and is necessarily connected with, man's fallen state.

But we should fix our eye on two things, as especially marking the temporal afflictions of the Lord's family–
1. That they are all weighed out and timed by special appointment; for though "man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards," yet "affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground." Job 5:6
2. That they are specially sanctified, and made to "work together for good" to those who love God.

But besides such afflictions as ill-health, family troubles, or straitened circumstances, which the church has in common with the world, she has tribulations peculiar to herself. Some of these are outward--as persecution, oppression, scorn, contempt, ridicule--these result from her very position in the world, as a witness for Christ--she suffers them as one with her suffering Head. "If the world hates you," said He, "you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:18,19

But her chief troubles are inward, and arise from the assaults of Satan, powerful temptations, the guilt of sin laid on the conscience, doubts and fears about an interest in Christ, distressing suggestions, and a daily, hourly conflict with a nature ever lusting to evil. I cannot dwell upon this part of the subject so long as it deserves, because I wish rather to trace out its particular connection with the other links of this chain.

II. PATIENCE. We read that "tribulation works patience." "Patience" here is not to be understood in its usual acceptation, as signifying meekness and quietness of disposition. The spiritual meaning of the word, here and elsewhere, is endurance. There are two different words in the original translated "patience;" one means a quiet, suffering disposition, as in Jas 5:7,8, "Be patient, therefore, brethren;" the other word, which is used here, means endurance, as in Jas 5:11--"Behold, we count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job;" properly, "the endurance of Job," the two words being the same. It is necessary to make this distinction, for the two words mean quite different things. It is not true that "tribulation works patience," in the usual sense of the term. Job's tribulations certainly did not, for he was peevish and fretful; but they wrought endurance. He was assailed on every hand, bereft of family and property, stripped to the very bone, harassed by Satan, and tempted by his own partner to "curse God and die." But amid all this Job was not free from the surges and billows of rebellion; for he cursed the day wherein he was born, and vented the most poignant complaints. But he endured; he bared his head to the pitiless storm; he bore what God laid upon him, held fast his faith in his Maker, and did not give way to the tempter's suggestion to "curse God and die;" and he bore up and lived through all his trials, as a strong swimmer swims for his life amid the foaming billows, and so safely reaches shore. This is "patience," that is, endurance in the sense of the word as used in the text.

But how does tribulation work patience? A figure may explain this. A horse unbroken cannot bear the slightest load on his back; but to teach him to carry them they are laid on, and the carrying of them at length teaches him to endure them. Or we may take another comparison. A man inured to severe bodily labor will work at it ten or twelve hours a day; I could not work one. Whence the difference? Labor has wrought in him endurance, and he submits to toil through use. So does "tribulation work patience."

But there is something further still. Endurance, in the scriptural sense, implies submission to the will of God. Until the soul is brought to endure in silence and resignation the afflicting strokes of God's hand, "tribulation" has not done its proper work; it has not wrought "patience." The first link of the chain is not welded on to the second. "Tribulation workspatience." This implies a process, a something going on, a something gradually produced and eventually brought forth. It is not often thus at first. When the storm comes on we see no bright sun behind the dark cloud; no, in a fit of unbelief or peevish rebellion, we are often determined to see no good couched in or likely to spring out of the trial. The first blow knocks down and stuns the soul, and it is often some time before it recovers itself sufficiently to see whence the blow comes, or why it is inflicted. So dark is the mind, so bewildered the judgment, through the pressure of the trial and Satan's suggestions, that we cannot see the hand of God behind the cloud, nor believe that it is sent by Him to work a special work in the soul. While this tumult is going on patience is not produced; the trial that should work patience works only rebellion. The first step, then, towards patience is to see in the trial the hand of God. "I cannot bear it, I will not bear it," says the soul, until then; but when a ray of light comes to show that the trial is from God, that produces at once submission. Here is "tribulation" working, like yeast in the dough, gradually leavening and changing the whole mass; sour indeed and bitter in itself, but eventually producing bread for solid food.

Coupled with this will be a sense of having procured the trial for ourselves. "Have you not procured this for yourself?" asks the prophet. "Yes," answers the soul, "indeed, indeed I have." Now comes endurance. "This trial," says the soul, "is of God; it has not come upon me by chance; I deserve it all; and had I ten thousand heavier strokes than I now suffer, I must still confess that I have merited them all. I put my mouth in the dust; I acknowledge that I deserve these heavy strokes; I submit to the rod; and O that it may deeply and lastingly profit me!" How beautifully was this exemplified in David, under God's chastening hand; first, when the child was afflicted with sickness and death, and then when he fled from Absalom! How "tribulation" wrought "patience" when he endured Shimei's cursing, and uttered that beautiful speech to Zadok--"Carry back the ark of God into the city; if I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again, and show me both it and His habitation; but if He thus say, I have no delight in you; behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seems good unto Him." 2Sa 15:25,26 This is what James means when he says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing." Jas 1:2-4 Temptations or trials test faith; and, "the trying of faith works patience"--the precise expression of Paul, but "patience" must have its perfect work; that is, must be completely wrought out in the soul, and brought out in its real character. This is welding on the link. "Tribulation" thus "works patience," sustains it, and is united to it.

III. But what does patience work? It is not inoperative; it has a work to perform. Patience works EXPERIENCE. What is the meaning of the word "experience" here? It does not mean experience in the usual sense of the term; that is, the whole work of God in the soul. It has here a more limited signification, and means a special experience of the power, wisdom and grace of God in and under tribulation. The word "experience" means literally "proof," and therefore signifies the proof that the soul has of the goodness of God in and under trial and affliction. See the process. Tribulation works endurance and submission; as the soul endures and submits, it gains an experience and proof of the power and goodness of God. This experience is two-fold– a proof of what GOD is, and a proof of what WE are; light direct and light reflected.

When the surges of rebellion are calmed, we can see what a danger was escaped of making shipwreck on the lee-shore of despair, and an experience is gained of our own weakness, helplessness, sinfulness, rebelliousness and inability to do anything good or godly. It is in the furnace that the dross and scum of nature are brought to light; it is in the path of tribulation that there are such deep discoveries of self in its baseness and blackness, filth and vileness.

But is this the only experience we gain in tribulation's path? No; there is also an experience of who and what GOD is. But why should patience work out this? Because, until patience has had its perfect work, we do not see God's hand in the trial. God does not reveal Himself in His mercy, love and grace to the soul while in a state of rebellion; when it is brought down into meekness, humility and submission, then, sooner or later, He manifests Himself. Thus patience or endurance of His afflicting hand works an experience of His dealings in a way of grace.

1. The first thing usually experienced is an inward proof or approbation of the wisdom of God in choosing the trial; for, be it ever borne in mind, it is the Lord who chooses our trials; we have no command over them, to bid them come or go; no selection of their nature, degree; or duration. The patient is not allowed to choose his own medicines. The trial, whatever it may be, is chosen in infinite wisdom by the Disposer of all things. If it be sickness, it is His choice; if an affliction in the family, it is His choice; if a trial in circumstances, it is His choice; persecution, opposition, contempt, ridicule, all are His choice. Did Jacob choose to lose his Rachel by death, and his Joseph by treachery? Did Job choose his hearth to be desolated at a stroke, his flocks and herds driven away and burnt, and his body smitten with boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown? An unseen, but an unerring bow aimed the arrows, which quivered in his heart. "The arrows of the Almighty are within me," he cried out in his distress, "why have You set me as a mark?"

Now, until patience has its perfect work in the soul, and we can submit to the trial as coming from God, His wisdom in selecting and determining the peculiar form of trial is not seen. But when we begin to feel a measure of benefit springing out of the tribulation, and see what good effects it is working in our soul, such as separating us from the world, bringing us near to God, winnowing away the chaff, cleansing the dross and conforming us more to the image of Christ, then we gain an experience of the wisdom of God in sending us that particular trial; and then comes the humble acknowledgment, "It is indeed the very trial that I needed; no other would have done for me what this has done. The blow struck me, it is true, in the tenderest part, and yet in the very spot where it was most needful for me to be wounded. I see Your wisdom in it. What evil it has kept me from! What good it has wrought in my soul! What lessons, what blessed lessons, have I learned in this trial!" Now, do you not see how "patience works experience?" Until patient, the mind is too confused to see this. In the calm depths of resignation alone does the wisdom of God pass before the believing eye of the soul.

2. But that is not the only experience we get. We get next an experience of the power of God in supporting the soul under the trial. Ah, what is nature, poor fallen nature, when tribulation comes! Can nature bear up against it? Can nature submit to it? Can nature bless God for sending it? All that nature can do is to vent itself in rebellion against the sovereign majesty of the Most High. No kissing the rod, no receiving it as from the hand of the Lord, no acknowledging the wisdom of God, no submission to the will of God, is there naturally in the heart of man. But if under the trial we are supported, and experience the strength of Christ made perfect in our weakness, this gives us an experience of God'spower. What but the power of God supported Job? The everlasting arms were underneath; scarcely felt, perhaps, but still there. The endurance of the trial gives an experience of the power that has wrought that endurance. And thus patience works experience.

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