How to Pass Through Your Problems
I. By Understanding the Problem with Problems and Afflictions
- A. They can disturb our peace with God - Rom. 5:1 (cf. 2 Cor. 7:4-6;
1 Thess. 3:3)
- B. They can produce a sense of shame - Rom. 5:5 (cf. Phil. 1:17, 20)
- C. They can make us fear that God disapproves of us - Rom. 5:9
(cf. 2 Thess. 1:4-7; Rev. 2:10)
- D. They can cause you to lose heart in going on - Rom. 5:3 (cf. 2
Cor. 4:8-18)
- E. They can produce a feeling of being too weak and unworthy to be
loved by God
- Rom. 5:6-8 (cf. Rom. 8:31-39)
II. By Understanding How God Really Feels About You
- A. Justification is a term that tells me how God feels about me -
Rom. 4:25-5:1
- 1. God has declared me righteous because of the blood and death
of Christ
- Rom. 4:25; 5:1,9-10
- 2. The resurrection is our proof that we are justified - Rom. 4:25
- 3. God has put me into a state of grace - Rom. 5:2; Gal. 5:2-6
- 4. God's demonstrated love on the cross has now been poured out
into my heart as a permanent possession - Rom. 5:5
- 5. God has placed me into a state of reconciliation with Himself,
that is, a state where all problems and hindrances for intimate fellowship
are over - Rom. 5:10-11;
2 Cor. 5:18-21
- 6. God has put the life of His Son into us to be our daily salvation
- Rom. 5:10
III. By Understanding What God Is Doing in Your Life
- A. Knowing the meaning of our problems/afflictions in the light of
God's purpose in our lives - Rom. 5:3-4; James 1:2-3 (cf. Rom. 8:28-29)
- B. Discovering that despite our pressures, we still possess faith
and love in our hearts. This discovery of faith and love is "approvedness,"
and produces hope in our daily life that God will finish what He has begun
in us - Rom. 5:3-5
- C. Understanding the meaning of "approvedness"
- 1. The state of the thing proved - Rom. 5:4
- 2. The means of the proof (tribulation) - James 1:3
- 3. The faith in the believers being proved - 1 Pet. 1:7