From Trials to Triumph: A Story of Faith and Resilience

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

Friends, before I move to our study today, I have an urgent appeal, an urgent announcement to make. There are floods, but I know you may be thinking of Texas and those people there who are suffering so much, and we pray for them, certainly. But I’m talking about a flood in Ekiti, Nigeria. Ekiti is the state, and the capital of Ekiti is Ekiti itself, the town. And as you may know, this ministry supports a number of people across the world, but not so much now except this family, a poor family, just father and son. The mother died several years ago. The floods have been, the rain, torrential rain has been falling just about every day for the last month. You can look up on Google and the weather apps and see the enormous torrential rain that’s falling there. And that rain has finally done its darndest in regard to the condition of housing and the walls surrounding the houses, etc., Mark and his son Iomide, the food has been spoiled, rice particularly, and the school books, Iomide’s school books, he’s a 13-year-old, a 12-year-old boy, and the school books have been spoiled. In addition to that, the fence, rather they call it a fence, but it’s a wall. A wall has collapsed and that lets in more flooding into the compound area and into the house. They have to rebuild that wall requiring cement and sand and granite stone and blocks and the workmanship involved. In addition to that, they have to have at the top of the wall the electrical wiring restored, which calls for an electrician. That wall has protected this family for two years or more from burglaries or robberies. We had regular robberies there without that wall and without that electrical protection. and then they have to build gullies to siphon off the water. So I’m looking for emergency funds, and I’m shooting for $1,000, and I wonder if you could please help. And if you would send this money urgently, would you do it online at faithquestradio.com? You’ll see a donations button there. Faith Quest, that is F-A-I-T-H-Q-U-E-S-T, faithquestradio, all one word, .com. And if someone is out there who could even consider the $1,000 or $500, I would so much appreciate it. We need to get this money to them as soon as possible. We’re praying for the relief of the rain, and the sun came out this morning. to dry a little bit and there was very little rain, but of course it may continue because, and you know, when we talk about rain over there, we’re talking about torrential rains, incredible weather conditions in that part of Africa. So please help if you can, and if you cannot send online, please send your donation to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. That’s FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. But please, if possible… Send online because then I can take care of it almost immediately within a day. And that will help them to get food. And they will help their neighbors. Mark and his son are extremely kind to their neighbors. The neighbors try to work with one another. But I want to tell you this. There is no safety net for poor people in Africa. Thank God that the people in Texas will get help. from local authorities and the government, but not so in Nigeria. If you are poor, it’s too bad. You’re just going to have to survive the best way you can because there will be no government help. So please help and please pray for these people. I thank you so very much. So we’re looking at Romans chapter 9, and we are looking at—I’m sorry, we just started. I’m a little distracted with that financial appeal. We’re looking at chapter 10 now. Paul once again talks to his listeners, to his readers, about his desire for Israel. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And we talked last time about people who have a zeal for God, but don’t know the true gospel. There is nothing more hair-raising and nothing more, well, I won’t say dangerous, but such people can be dangerous who have a zeal for God but don’t know the gospel. If you have found religion and found Christianity but don’t know the gospel, It’s quite possible that you are a religious neurotic because you’ve seen the call of God to a holy life and obedience to him and surrender, but you don’t know that Christ has counted you righteous in his righteousness and has taken the judgment from you by means of his death. So when you don’t know that, you try to produce that righteousness yourself. And, of course, it creates terrible neurosis. When people try to create a righteousness that will make them acceptable to God and they will not feel God’s acceptance until they feel they have produced that righteousness, Then they are scary people to know, uncomfortable in their presence, you may be, because they’re always guarded and rather cold and often very judgmental. So Paul then says, Now that’s a full sentence, if ever there was one. They’re ignorant of God’s righteousness. You see, we’ve spent weeks and months talking about God’s righteousness. What is God’s righteousness? It is Christ. Christ is God’s gift of holiness and righteousness to the world. His righteousness is counted as if it were ours, so that we stand before God as if we had never sinned, as if we had always been good and righteous, standing in Christ’s righteousness who represents us and who substitutes for us. Now if you’re ignorant of that righteousness, then you will seek to establish your own. Let’s read it again. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness. So people who are religious but don’t know the gospel go around trying to tote their own righteousness. They try to look and present themselves as good and sanctimonious, and they try to be holier than thou. There’s a lot of pride among men and women who are religious but do not know the righteousness of Christ. So they’re always talking about their works, their standards, what we must do. It’s an endless emphasis on humanity. So what you find among Christians who do not know Christ’s righteousness is the emphasis on holy living. I’m not saying that there is not holy living for those who accept Christ as their righteousness. But that holiness comes about… as a result of their looking to Christ and always resting in God’s mercy. They don’t rest in their own performance. So for they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. And I want you to notice that. Look at that word submitted. To accept Christ’s righteousness is to surrender our life in faith to believing that he has received us, that he has loved us, that he has had mercy upon us, that he has accepted us, that he has clothed us with Christ’s righteousness, that he counts us as godly even while we are sinners. Paul says in Romans 4 verse 5, God justifies the ungodly, not the godly. He declares innocent the ungodly who trust in him. Now, trusting in Christ my righteousness instead of my own merits and my own achievements is a surrender. What is it surrendering? It’s surrendering my self-confidence. It’s surrendering my pride. It’s accepting Christ as my confidence. It’s accepting humility as a way of life. no longer endlessly defending myself and arguing for my cause, because Christ is my cause now. If I’m wrongly accused, if I’m defamed, maybe I can quietly let it go, because Christ is my fame. Christ is my self-honour and respect. Do you see how that goes? There’s an enormous amount of surrendering our dignity. Maybe somebody accuses us of wrongdoing and our reputation is ruined and we want to take out a lawsuit or we want to defend ourselves in the press or something. Well, I know you may do it, but it won’t really get you anywhere because the more you defend yourself, the more people doubt you. But if you say, Lord God, you are my defense. You are my rock. You are my honor. Christ, you suffered dishonor. You took blame upon yourself. You didn’t defend yourself. You didn’t go into battle on behalf of your own rights. You led your life before God and surrendered your dignity and your justification to him. That’s what we should do. That’s how we go forward. So, for they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Now remember, you may be struggling with addiction, you may be struggling with drugs or alcohol, but submit to the righteousness of God and you will find peace. If you hope that or wait, I should say, to overcome your addiction before accepting that you are righteous before God, you will never find peace. You will always be trying to overcome your problem in order to find peace. And that puts your problem between you and God. And that makes it a mountain. But let me tell you this. By faith, you can remove that mountain and say, Father, I thank you that my addiction and my struggles and my habits and problems do not stand between me and you. They are not a mountain. You have removed that mountain. And I thank you that through Christ, I am accepted as righteous in him. So, friends, if I may go back to this urgent appeal, they’re experiencing flooding in Nigeria. The wall has broken down by the house of this family that this ministry supports. Their food has been spoiled. They have to dig gullies to siphon off the water. They have to rebuild that wall and put electrical, repair the electrical wiring at the top of the wall. That needs about $1,000 of help. Please help me urgently. Could you send that via the website faithquestradio.com? faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.