Reading out of the ESV, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for this morning. We pray, Father, that Your Word would have its effect on us, that we would be more than just listeners, but we would be eager to apply all that You give.

Give us enlightenment, Lord God, as You open our eyes and soften our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. As we've been going through the book of Romans, and again, just reemphasizing as what Paul emphasized, setting the foundation for our faith. The question that I have for you this morning is, "What do you remember when you first met Christ?" Take a minute to think about that.

I know some of you guys don't know exactly when you met Christ. A lot of your testimonies are, you heard the Gospel when you were young, you're not exactly sure when you made a commitment, sometime in your high school, sometime in college, maybe in your 20s or your 30s, but you can't exactly pinpoint when it happened.

But whether you can pinpoint when it happened, or whether it was a period of time, what do you first remember when you became a Christian? Just think for a minute. What do you value about your salvation? When was the last time that that has affected you? So when you think of salvation today, what is the most tangible thing that you think of as a benefit of salvation, other than security when you die?

Again, I ask you to take some time to think about all of this stuff, because what salvation has accomplished in us, if this does not have tangible applications in our daily life, all it is, is a security blanket. All it becomes is a security blanket that if I die, I have security that I'm not going to go to hell.

But it doesn't affect the way we live. It doesn't affect the way we think. It doesn't affect our relationship. Our life doesn't look any different than anybody else. That's why Apostle Paul, when he's writing the Book of Romans, the goal of the Book of Romans is not so that after you read it and after you study it, if somebody asks you what the Gospel is, you say, "Oh, I've taken a class in the Book of Romans, so now I can tell you what the Gospel is." The purpose of why Paul wrote this Gospel, or the Book of Romans, is to set a proper foundation upon which Christianity, our whole walk with God, is based upon.

Again, it's not simply for your information. It's for transformation. The first few verses that we looked at in the last couple of weeks, we find that the benefit of justification by faith, by our salvation, first of all, he says, "We have peace with God." We have peace with God.

Now, we don't normally think too much about the fact that the wrath of God is no longer on us, because I don't know how many of us really felt the effect of the wrath of God. So when the Bible says that His wrath was taken away from us, it's kind of like, "Okay, now we have this access." Secondly, he says, "We have peace with God, but we have access to this God." Access.

Again, how often do we think about the gift that we've been given to be able to access our God? How excited do you get when you meet a movie star? And I know a few of you who have met Kobe Bryant because he lives in this area, whether it was at Jamba Juice or Irvine Spectrum, because it's on your Facebook.

I've seen it. Because you get excited if you somehow have some kind of encounter with him, or some movie star at some restaurant, snap, snap. It's on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, whatever else is out there. Because you're excited. And if he somehow, or that person somehow, makes eye contact with you, then it's a huge deal.

It's on Facebook. Look at me. And then you take a picture with them. And all it was was just a chance passing by, and you were able to take a picture with somebody that this world considers significant. And it's a big deal. But consider what the Bible says, that because of what Christ has done, we have access to this God.

Not simply that we have to pray, but that you are able to pray. That you're able to speak to the living God who created us. The very reason why you and I are able to exist today. That we have access to this God that mankind did not have because of what Christ has done on the cross.

But because we have this access to God, that we have joy for the hope that we have in the glory of the coming Christ. So that was what he laid out last week. Now that in and of itself should get us excited. That in and of itself should awe us and cause us to be worshiping God.

But if you look at verse 3, he says, "Above that, more than that, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance." Now what I just told you was spectacular, but he says, he begins the next phase of what he's about to say, is that all of that is great, it is fantastic, but what I'm about to tell you is even beyond that.

It's more than that. So what is he possibly going to say? What is he possibly going to say that he's trying to bring attention, like, "I know these things are fantastic, but here's something more than what I just told you." And he begins by saying that the suffering, even in suffering, you rejoice.

See, previously he said, "We rejoice because of the hope that is coming in the glory of God." But even more than what I just told you, "We rejoice not only for the hope of the glory, but even in suffering." Let me take a step back and let's be real.

I know we're doing Bible study and a lot of times I say things up here because it's in the Bible, but let's be real. When was the last time you suffered and you rejoiced? When was the last time, I mean, you could say that, "Oh, I rejoiced because of what the Bible said." That's what a good Christian has to say.

But when there's suffering in your life, how many of you really rejoice? Is this one of those theological things that you just say because you're a Christian? You're supposed to, but really it's not the reality. What does he mean here? I think when we start to dissect and really take a close look at what Paul is saying here, I think it's going to make a lot more sense.

And sometimes we read this passage in particular, and we think that what it's saying is that God brings suffering in our lives, and then if you endure through these sufferings, that God's going to make you a man of character. And if you have this character, that it is a source of hope.

And if you have this hope, you have joy. So the point of suffering is to make you a better Christian. And if you're a better Christian, there's better hope for you. And that's what's causing joy. Now, don't raise your hand. But how many of you read that passage that way?

I told you not to raise your hand, so don't raise your hand. Just think about how many of you have thought of this passage thinking like that's the application. I want to take a closer look at it. And again, when we interpret a passage, what's the most important part of interpreting a passage?

I've got to learn how to interpret whispers, because that's usually the kind of answers I get. Context. Right? That's what you said. That's what everybody said, but that's what I heard. Context. Right? The most important part of understanding the text is context. What was he saying before? What was he saying after?

And how does this passage fit into that? You're not supposed to take a passage and just pluck it out. Just like if you're reading a love letter, you don't read one sentence in the middle and say, "Oh, I get it. I get his heart." You have to read the whole thing.

You have to read it in the context. So I want to take a look at the context of what he is saying and see if that's what he's saying. That that's the source of rejoicing is when God brings suffering in your life, is to make you a better Christian.

So if you're a better Christian, you have greater hope and greater joy. Right? First of all, what does he mean by suffering? The word suffering, literally in the Greek concordance, is to crush, to press, to compress, or to squeeze. So the idea behind this word suffering is to be squeezed.

Right? It's to be squeezed. Now, the early church, suffering was equated with Christianity. Today, suffering, it depends on where you live. I mean, today, Christianity in Orange County, when you think of Christian, you don't think of suffering. Right? But the first 300 years of Christianity, immediately, Christianity was equated with suffering.

Because Jesus himself said, "If you want to follow me, you have to pick up your cross." Suffering. His first disciples who followed Jesus, they all, majority of them, with the exception of one, they all ended up being martyred. Not only the disciples, but almost every person that we see in the scripture.

Barnabas, Mark, Luke, all of these guys that we know in scripture, it's not mentioned in the Bible, but in church history, we know that they were also martyred with the apostles. Right? So we're not just simply talking about hard life, we're talking about all the people that we know written in scripture.

Majority of them were also martyred. Apostle Paul, the one writing this letter, he's writing this letter in between being beaten, going to prison in and out, suffering, being denied, people questioning his apostleship. So in the midst of much suffering, he writes this letter. So it's understandable that Apostle Paul is telling them, is telling a group of people who is under this intense pressure, that even in suffering, we rejoice because it produces endurance.

Endurance produces character, and character gives us hope. But, again, let me re-understand what this passage means, okay? And hopefully you'll be able to follow along, so at the end of the service, like, "What did he say?" I need you to follow along with the logic and the context, so that we can, hopefully I can convince you that I don't think that that's what this passage means.

Or else you're going to hate me at the end. You're going to say, "What is this guy talking about?" Right? The word "suffering" here is talking about being pressed and compressed and to be squeezed. But the word is not limited to persecution. It's not just talking about people who are living in difficult areas, who are being persecuted.

Anything that causes you to be squeezed, to feel pressure. Now, most of you, including myself, are not experiencing persecution. Maybe some of you, right? Maybe at work, people, your friends are laughing at you, or, you know, or maybe co-workers. Maybe your boss, because you're a Christian, won't give you a raise, whatever that may be.

But the majority of us, on a day-to-day basis, do not experience persecution as suffering. But the word here, "suffering," is talking about anything that squeezes you. Now, I'll bet you, based upon that definition, that there's a whole lot of you, even today, who's being squeezed. Some of you are squeezed because you have some people in your life that you just cannot stand.

For whatever the reason, they're annoying you. Right? Some of you are being squeezed because you're at work, and you're overworked, and you're tired. And there's a threat of maybe being let go. Some of you are being pressured because of just business and life. Some of you just had kids.

Second, third, fourth, fifth, six kids. And you're just trying to survive. So, this word for "suffering" here, "to be squeezed," is anything that causes you to be tempted away from God. Anything that's happening in your life that causes you to be tempted away from God. That could be inside the church, or outside the church.

That could be at work. It could be social. It could be emotional. It could be financial. It could be physical. Whatever it is that God allows in your life to put a squeeze in your life. Now, he says, "We rejoice in the suffering because the suffering produces endurance." Now, here's another word that we need to understand.

The word "endurance," in other translations, is translated "perseverance," or in another translation, "patience." The word literally, "hupomeno," basically means "to remain under." So, what he's saying is, "Suffering, being squeezed, causes you to remain under." Okay, you get the picture? So, basically what he's saying, what God is saying is, "We rejoice because God puts a compressor in your life to squeeze you, and when you're being squeezed, it forces you to stay and remain under this pressure." That's why we rejoice.

No, that's not why we rejoice. How many of you rejoice because you're under pressure, and then God's making you stay there? Right? He said, "If our understanding of suffering is God squeezing you, and he don't want you to move, like, that's a good thing for you." Right? That's not what he's saying, because if that's where our understanding of suffering stops, of course it's going to cause bitterness.

Because life is hard. You know, life is hard as it is. If somebody is wronging you, I mean, it's very satisfying to slap them back. It's very frustrating to not to slap them back. And then to turn the other cheek. Are you kidding? Have you ever seen anybody turn the other cheek?

You know how excruciatingly painful it is to not to retaliate? If our understanding of suffering is God's going to squeeze you, and you remain under, you stay put. And sometimes a lot of Christians, that's the way they understand suffering. It's like, "Oh, you know, God's doing it to me.

I've got to just stay put." Right? "I can't retaliate. I can't do anything. I've just got to stay put." And then after, what is the fruit of that? Bitterness. Anger. Right? Bad memories. And people just, you know, there's a lot of bitterness. The longer you've been a Christian, the longer you've been at church, the more bitter you are in your heart.

Because you've been just sucking it up and taking it. Right? But that's not what he's talking about. What he's saying is, suffering, squeezing, causes you to remain under this pressure. Because when you remain under this pressure, what does it produce? Character. Right? Now, here's the turning point of understanding this text.

Character, in English, we mean all kinds of stuff. When I say, "Oh, that guy's a character," I could mean, "That guy's a joker." Right? "That guy's always wearing a bow tie." You know what I mean? "He's cracking jokes. He's a character." Or, if I say, "He's a character," it's like, "He's kind of quirky.

He's a little bit different. He's a bit off. He's a character." Or we say, "He has character," meaning he has integrity. He's trustworthy. Right? So, the word "character" means all kinds of stuff in English. So, we need to properly understand, what does Paul mean when he says, "It produces character." Okay?

Now, if this passage means that when suffering comes, God puts you under pressure, and when you endure through that pressure, God causes character, and so once you begin to develop character in your life, you have hope. Because that hope doesn't disappoint, and that's the source of rejoicing. Is he saying that when you become a better Christian, there's greater hope for you?

Is that what he is saying in this text? Now, remember, in order to properly understand it, what do we need to understand? Context! Yes, thank you! Right? Context. Right? In the context, what has Paul been trying to establish? Justification by faith alone. For three plus chapters, his main point was, if you have the law, you will be condemned by the law.

If you don't have the law, you will be condemned without the law. If your idea of salvation is that if you try harder, if you work harder, and you have better character, better morality, better obedience, that you will have this hope because you have better access to God, he says, "There is no hope for you." Isn't that the point that he's been trying to make all this time?

Yes or no? Yes! That's the point that he's been trying. We've spent like five months talking about that, right? That's the point. Justification by faith. So, is he all of a sudden changing direction and saying, you know, we've been talking about justification by faith up to verse 2 of chapter 5, and then all of a sudden he says, you know, more than that, more than justification by faith, right?

More than justification by faith. When God puts pressure in your life and you remain under it, and then it causes you to have character, then we have hope. Then it causes rejoicing. Is that the meaning? I hope you follow what I'm saying, right? Because typically that's how we understand this passage.

Typically that's how we interpret it, and that's how we apply this passage. But is that what he is saying? What's interesting is this word, again, for character, literal translation, in the Greek concordance, it means to be approved, to be tried, to prove to be genuine. To be proved to be genuine.

That same word is used this way in 2 Corinthians 13. Paul is talking to the Corinthians church, who is questioning his apostleship, and he says, "For in a severe test of..." Oh, sorry. "Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me, He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you." Proof.

Right? That same word that is translated "character" here, in 2 Corinthians 13.3, is translated "proof." Right? That you want proof that I'm an apostle, and here it is. 2 Corinthians 8.2, that same word again is translated "a test." The test that has brought affliction upon their life has proven for them, the Macedonians, that they were giving extremely, even in their midst of extreme poverty, that they were willing to give.

Now how did this happen? Because their faith was being tested. Hopefully you followed up to that point. Ok? If not, you are going to have to re-hear the sermon. Ok? Because this is really important. He has led you up to this point, and then I don't think he is changing direction, and all of a sudden he says, "You know, you have hope and justification by faith, not by your works." And I hear something more than that, that if God puts you under pressure, and it causes character, then you really have hope.

That, I do not think that is what he is saying. What he is saying is, that when God brings this pressure, whatever that pressure may be in your life, and you see this, and you persevere underneath it, you remain underneath, because you know that this is God doing it.

And when you remain underneath, it proves what? What does it prove? It proves the genuineness of your faith. It proves the genuineness of this faith. So what he is saying is not, your character, because you become a better Christian, that somehow that is giving you better hope. The better hope that he is talking about is the assurance that your faith is genuine.

The whole time that he has been talking about how our whole walk with God, our whole salvation, to be saved from condemnation from hell, all hinges upon this faith. See, I think the problem that you and I have in our culture is that we talk about salvation by faith, and you say, "Oh, really?

That is all it requires?" You just have to believe? And so we just kind of like, "Okay, I believe." Some of you came down aisles, some of you filled out papers, some of you guys just confessed it. And it was just, "Oh, really? That is it?" And whether you really, truly believed it or not, it was just, "Okay, I will take it.

Why not? What do I have to lose?" See, but what Paul is saying is, if peace with God, access to this God, and joy of His Second Coming all hinges upon this faith, then shouldn't this faith be genuine? If everything hinges upon this faith, then wouldn't we carefully examine to see if this faith is genuine?

Right now, we are working on our new building. And in the new building, because the occupancy is changing. Before it was a warehouse, and there was the plumbing thing going on, but now they know that a church is coming. So they have new regulations. Some of you guys who have been to the new church site, you know how we have these small poles because the building is smaller.

The building is much larger over there, so the poles are much bigger. So the city is requiring that we have to fortify whatever is holding up the building. Because they want to make sure. So the whole building, the safety of all the people that are going to go into this building, hinges upon the amount of weight that this building can hold.

So there are certain parts of the building that we need to re-fortify. So we need to get a structural engineer to do recalculation. So if we put an air conditioner on top of here, they have to make sure that whatever is holding that up is able to hold that up.

And so the more the consequence, the more carefully we need to examine to make sure that there's enough structure to be able to hold that up. So if our Christian faith, our salvation from condemnation, our ability to call Him our Abba Father, to have peace with Him, to have access to this God, that we are co-heirs with Christ, to all that the scripture promises, if it hinges upon this faith, then doesn't this faith have to be examined to see if it's true?

Not just wishful thinking. Not just church attendance. Not just raising of your hand. But if everything that God had promised, the Son of God, was given to us, and our access to this was by this faith, then shouldn't this be tested to see if it's genuine? See, that's what he's talking about.

That God allows the pressure to come into a life of a Christian, and when He remains underneath that, you have confidence that your faith is genuine. And when you recognize that your faith is genuine, then you have hope. And this hope does not disappoint. So it's not talking about your character necessarily.

Now, does that mean that what we do with our life doesn't matter? Of course not. Paul's going to spend 12 chapters talking about this justification by faith, and then when he gets to chapter 12, he's going to pound the imperatives. But the imperatives of our obedience is based upon assurance of faith.

So if there is shakiness of faith, if you're not assured of this faith, then your obedience is going to be nothing more than checking off the right and what I need to do. Just religiousness. See, that's what he means in James chapter 1 and 2. It says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your" what?

"Faith." Right? He says God allows various trials in our life so that your faith may be tested and produce steadfastness, and let steadfastness, perseverance, have its full effect. In other words, what God intended. That you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. Right? Will we ever be completely sanctified while we live here?

If you say yes, we need to talk to you after service because you don't understand your salvation. Paul says in Philippians 1.6, right? He says, "He who began a good work in you will carry it until the day of completion, until Christ." So, our sanctification, our struggle against sin, is going to continue until He comes.

But he says, he brings trials into our lives to test our faith and allow your perseverance, remaining under this pressure, so that it would have its full effect, that you may be perfect, "Helios," complete, whole, and not lacking anything. When he says to be complete and not lacking anything, is he talking about you?

Is he talking about me? He's talking about our faith. Because what was tested? Your faith. Now, why does he say that? Because he's going to pound in the book of James that faith without deeds is not true faith. Right? That's the whole theme of the book of James. Faith without deeds is not real faith.

So, he begins, before he gets into that argument, what is true faith? Faith, God will allow various trials in your life, that when you remain under this pressure, then you are assured that you have this faith, so that you may be complete, whole, not lacking anything, because when you have this genuine faith, it will produce works.

It will produce works. As Abraham was tested. As Hebrews chapter 11, he says, because of this genuine faith, that these people went out and did all these things. They were willing to risk their lives, risk possession, risk everything, because of this faith. Hebrews, 11 chapters, are preparing why Jesus Christ fulfills all righteousness.

And so, if you believe that, if that faith is genuine, then you will produce works. That was his whole point. See, the way God tests the genuineness of our faith is that He squeezes us. Sometimes that squeezing is really hard. It may be trials. It may be an illness.

It may be financial. It may even be relationship at home. Husband and wife. Maybe even with your children. Whatever that may be, there are trials that come into our life, where God will squeeze us, and sometimes He will squeeze us hard. And whatever comes out of that, is what we see what was in us.

You know what's interesting is, I see trials coming into people's lives, and the response is so varied. I've seen guys that I thought, "Wow, that guy just lost his father, and he wasn't a Christian. He'd been begging. He's such a young Christian." And then the response is just, "Wow, he was strengthened in his faith.

He loved Jesus even more." Beyond my logic. I was praying for him, because I thought that if God didn't answer this prayer, that he would walk away from his faith, because he was such a young Christian. But instead, his faith is even more strengthened, for whatever the reason. Beyond my logic.

And he's walking faithfully to God. And for whatever the reason, when he got squeezed, his love for the Lord was confirmed even more. And then I see people who are confessing Christians, maybe even leaders in the church, and they walk away from the faith, simply because they didn't get along with somebody.

"Oh, you know, I don't like these people. They're hypocrites." And that's enough. That's enough for them to fold. Or they come to church, and, "Oh, nobody reached out to me." That's enough. That's all it took for them to say, "Forget this." See, God says he brings trials into our lives to put pressure on us.

And when we remain under this pressure, it produces proof. Your perseverance in your walk with God is proof. What is it proof? Look with me in verse 4. Endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame. Meaning that if your faith is genuine, that this hope is on solid ground.

It is absolutely dependable. Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. What does it prove? When you're under pressure, and you remain under this pressure, and it proves the genuineness of your faith, and therefore you have this hope, and what does this hope do?

It proves, what? God's love. It proves God's love. Now let me explain to you what I mean by that. Those of you who have been Christians for a while, when I say a while, I'm not talking about 2-3 months. I'm talking about several years, or longer. How many times were you tempted to throw your hands up and quit?

How many times were you tempted to say, "I don't want to deal with people anymore." Like, "I don't want this anymore." How many times were you tempted to think that if I never met Christ, if God never preached the Gospel to me, my life would be easier. That because I met Christ, there's turmoil in my home.

I have a hard time connecting with my kids. I've been having trouble at work. And the people at church are just disappointment after disappointment. Now you don't have to raise your hand, because I can tell you by my own confession how many times I struggle with that. But what caused you to persevere?

What caused you to remain? Were you more, did you have more willpower than an average person? Were you more determined? Were you more strong-willed? Were you smarter? Were you more educated? Did you have more talent than the other person? What caused you to be here today? Now I'm not saying that we were all successful, that we were all obedient, but in the context of this pressure, what caused you to continue to persevere?

Proving that the love of God is in you. Wasn't it your faith? Now I can't answer that for you, I'm just asking you. But what caused you to persevere? Wasn't it because you could not ignore the love of God? That God opened your eyes to the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and even if everything inside of me humanly says, "I don't want this," that you could not deny what God has shown you.

You could not deny the love of God. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't. He's opened your eyes, softened your heart. He's opened your ears, and you can never shut it. Even when you are tempted to shut it, you cannot. He said that's evidence that the Holy Spirit has been poured in you because He loves you.

And the reason why you and I are here today is because the evidence of His love in the Holy Spirit is sustaining us. The only reason why I stand here this morning is not because I am good. It's not because I'm a better preacher, I'm more talented. It's because God's been merciful.

And I am tempted. I am tempted when I'm under pressure. I am tempted when I'm criticized. I am tempted when I'm frustrated with people. I am tempted. But the love of Christ compels me. As it compels you. And so what Paul is saying, here's all that we have because of this faith.

And God will bring pressure in your life, but when you remain, and your faith is proven to be genuine, then you know that the love of Christ compels you. That's why you're here this morning. Not because you've done well. Not because you read your scripture. Not because you prayed more than other people.

Because the love of Christ compels you. He's drawing you. I mean, isn't there, can't you think of better things to do than listen to me every week? And pay offering. And pray with certain people that you don't get along with. You know, when we talk about these trials, this pressure that we feel, typically we think about persecution and all this stuff.

But I think that sometimes the biggest trials that you and I face, this pressure that we feel, that people oftentimes fall, is not under financial pressure, not even health. And definitely not persecution. Because persecution, we know for a fact that it strengthens the church. It's affluence. Affluence. Those of you who've been to ministry with us out in China, years ago, when we first used to go, there was a sense of fear that if they became a Christian, that they would lose their status.

Especially those who were very high-functioning. You know, they had good grades, and there was a possibility that the Communist Party may invite them to be a part of the Communist Party. So if they become a Christian, it's actually stated in their statement that you can't be a Christian. So either they have to hide it, or they have to denounce it.

So when somebody became a Christian, they thought through all the consequences. They counted the costs. And when they became a Christian, they were being baptized. It was very serious. But the problem that the underground church in China is facing today is not the persecution. As much as you hear about persecution today, in China, the biggest problem in China today is affluence.

Is that now they're being squeezed. They've been squeezed with persecution, and they were thriving. Now they're being squeezed with wealth. Very similar to what we're wrestling with. And I remember years ago, some of you guys may remember, because we were there together. We were running an English camp, and this guy came out, and his name was Lee Tao.

He was one of the local small group leaders. And his English was excellent. So we were talking to him, and he was such an encouragement to us. So I was excited to connect with him. We went out and had dinner. And in the context of dinner, he mentioned somebody's name that was very familiar to me.

He mentioned Kenneth Copeland. So some of you guys know who Kenneth Copeland is. He's associated with the health and wealth gospel. So obviously I was disturbed, and I asked him, "Is this the Kenneth Copeland that I'm thinking about? And does he teach the health and wealth?" And he says, he was kind of confused, "Yeah, that's what he teaches." I said, "How prominent is his teaching?" He said, "Everybody I know studies this." So I said, "Okay, I need to take some time to study the scripture with him." So right in the middle of dinner, we got the Bible out, and we started going through the scripture.

This is not what it says. This is not what Jesus said. This is not what Apostle Paul said. This is false gospel. And at the end of the dinner, I asked him, "So, Lee, what do you think about this?" And he said, "I can't deny what's in the scripture, because you showed it to me.

But this is not going to be very popular." And he's just being honest. He said, "This is not going to be popular. Not many Chinese Christians are going to accept what you said." The problem that the Chinese church now has, is that now they're tempted with finance. When they were persecuted, the church was strengthened.

Now they're being tempted and squeezed with wealth. And it is diluting the church. See, you and I, we don't know that you are being squeezed right now. Not because of work, not because of relationship, but you and I are being squeezed right now because of wealth. Because of affluence.

Because of freedom, because of money, because of distraction. Not realizing that all of this is a form of squeezing. And it's a form of testing. To see how much of our faith is real. How much of this faith in Orange County is real. And it is in this squeezing that at the end of it, God is looking for genuine faith.

Genuine faith. Because when Jesus came, that's all he was looking for. People who had genuine faith. So genuine faith, in the context of where you and I are, is not simply like, "Oh, you know, when I was in China, or when I was in India, or when I was poor, when I was sick." Everybody seeks God when they're desperate.

The problem with the nation of Israel wasn't when the Assyrians and the Babylonians were coming, because when they were coming, they were clinging to God. The constant cycle of Israel's sin was that when God answered their prayer because they were desperate, they thanked God, worshipped Him for a period, and when everything went back to normal, they forgot God, and then they began to play around with idolatry.

See, the greatest struggle and the testing for us, is that in the midst of affluence, will you still serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Is our faith genuine? So if God reveals the genuineness of our faith through the pressure and to remain under, what happens to a church that a knee-jerk reaction to any conflict is to find the easiest path?

What happens to a faith, or group of people, or generation, where our knee-jerk reaction is always find the easiest path? Then your faith is never confirmed. Because assurance, the proving of our faith, comes through pressure. But if we avoid pressure with every possible energy that I have, then what does it create?

It creates a generation of people who are not assured of their faith. And they're always worshipping God with the hint of doubt. Because they continue to get out under pressure. "This person I don't like? I go over here." "I don't fit in around here? I go over here." And every decision we make is to make our life easier.

Now God didn't call us to make it difficult, but God did tell us the greatest gift that He has given us is faith. And what causes the greatest joy and greatest hope is when we know that that faith is true. When our faith is genuine, we go back. We have access to God.

We have hope, no matter what happens in this earth. Think of the most tragic thing that could possibly happen in your life. At the end of all of that? Glory. Glory. Whatever you could possibly imagine could be the worst possible thing happen in your life, at the end result of that, because of justification by faith, is glory.

It's not suffering. It's not hell. It's not condemnation. It's not judgment. That no matter what happens, it ends in glory. That's why He squeezes us. So that you and I may be assured that we have this access with God. That's why Paul, that's why Paul is squeezing us. That's why God is squeezing us.

Some of you guys are under a lot of pressure, but He's squeezing you for a purpose. Some of you are under pressure because of your children. Some of you are under pressure because of work. Some of you are under pressure because of church. But when we remain, we have hope.

I want to lead us into the time of communion. Remind us again, this faithful hymn that reminds us of what we have in Christ. And if you can put up the slide so that we can see the lyrics. I'm going to read it through, all the way through verse 4.

Then I'm going to have the praise team come up and we'll sing it together. And after that I'm going to open up the communion table. So when we open up the communion table, again I want to invite you guys to think about what it is that we exactly have in Christ.

This doesn't earn your salvation. You don't come here because you deserve it. We come because He's given it to us. The fact that you and I are here, the fact that you even understand what I'm saying is evidence of the love of God in your life. So to come and really celebrate, that no matter where you are in life, to really praise God.

So I want to read the lyrics to you because it pretty much summarizes what we've been talking about. "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant and blood support me in the whelming flood. When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found. Clothed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Amen, amen, amen.

What else makes you happy? I mean, really, what possible thing can we be entangled in that makes you more happier than this? Our eternity is secure in His hands. And you're here, and you persevere. God brought you here through all your trials, through all the temptations, through all the disappointments.

God brought you here because He loves you. So let's celebrate this this morning as we have the communion table.