What unbelievable truth that is to be able to sing together with the saints. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin not in part but the whole. All of it was nailed to the cross and my friends we bear it no more. Only the believer, the follower of Christ can truly sing those words, it is well with my soul.
I think that song really sums up everything that we have examined over the course of the month of July. As we come to the end of our s not our series the end of July we are we we're done with hope not in that sense but this is the last week that we're going to examine in faith hope and love and then next week we pick it up and we examine for the month of August love we have spent the last number of weeks weeks looking at hope.
And so coming to this week, what you're going to hear from our text and from the pulpit is you're going to hear some of the same things overlapping. You're like, "Oh, I remember when Pastor Matt preached on that a couple weeks ago or Pastor Joe last week. There's a lot of similarities which if you're like me and I and I know that I am, you need a lot of reminding. I need to be reminded all the time to do certain things and to remember certain things.
And so, yeah, this might sound very similar to what you've heard in the past, but my prayer this morning, and as we've led up to this sermon, this text, is that you would be strengthened and reminded again of hope, of a hope that endures. You see, there is a tree that thrives in the Kalahari desert in South Africa.
This tree endures almost not quite year round. But in the hottest months, it endures north of 40° Celsius weather all the time. Now, like Pastor Joe, he would thrive in that. Me. I like minus 15 and snow. That's my jam. But this tree provides shelter for all the animals that wander through the desert. It provides food and sustenance. The leaves of this tree of the shepherd tree provide tons of vitamins for not only the tribes that are there but also the animals that are walking around there.
It is can be its roots can be used as a woody flavored type of coffee. So I support that wholeheartedly. It maintains its leaves even when in the winter months when it does cool down. It maintains its leaves 12 months out of the year. Year around it provides sustenance for the people for the animals and so that life can actually survive in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. So my question was well how does it do that? The roots of this tree system are the deepest roots of any tree that they've ever discovered.
The root system goes straight down roughly 230 to 250 ft in the ground. It just grows straight down. So, it gets water all the time, but it's got to go 230 ft down to get it. It is so deeply rooted that it can survive what's going on on top. My friends, my prayer leading up to this morning is that we would be so deeply rooted in the hope that we have in the finished work of Christ that regardless of our life circumstances, regardless of our sufferings, regardless of our afflictions, we would be so deeply rooted that we may bend, we may sway, but my friend, if you are a believer, you will not break.
And that's the prayer that we have this morning. So, I'm going to invite you to grab your Bibles and turn with me to Romans chapter 5, picking it up in verse one, here's what Paul writes. He says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. 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.
That is our text this morning. And Paul writing to the Roman church. Now the Roman church was very well acquainted. I think we are familiar. The Roman church was well acquainted with suffering, well acquainted with affliction. They're there at the height of Rome. Rome does not love Christians. Rome is filled with debauchery, filled with sexual immorality, filled with all kinds of wickedness. And Paul addresses that to the church in the first parts of the book of Romans.
We're familiar with that. Chapter 3, obviously a an ugly depiction of of mankind, of the the sin that we are so enthralled with. It says that our our throat is like an open grave. No one does good. No, not one. No one searches for God. That's a a picture of the natural heart of man. And yet, even in these first early pages of the book of Romans, though it's hard, though it is sinful, we get to Romans chapter 4.
And if you're familiar with Romans chapter 4, it's a beautiful depiction of justification by faith. We spent the first month of June looking at faith. So go back there if you want a refresher. But Paul writes about Abraham. He writes about the fact that Abraham was was justified by faith in his life. And so then he comes into chapter 5 and he says, "Therefore," connecting what he's just read or just written to what we're about to read now based on justification by faith, he writes this.
Since we writing to the church have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we also have also obtained access by faith into this grace which we stand. And I want to pause there for a moment. We have been justified by faith. We have to understand this beautiful truth that our hope we have as believers is predicated on justification. Without justification, you and I have no salvation.
And if you and I have no salvation, you and I have no hope. Remember the hope that we're discussing, it's only for those who have been justified by faith. That word justification meaning to be declared not guilty. That's the word justification. We are we are stand before a holy God marked as not guilty because of what his son did on the cross. Since we have been justified, declared not guilty by faith, we have now peace with God.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not justified by faith, that statement is not for you. You are no, you do not have peace with God. In fact, you are at war with God. You're at enmity with God. You are waging war against a holy God because you've not been justified by faith. Our hope is predicated on our justification, our being declared not guilty before a holy God. Ephesians chapter 2 tells us this, remembering that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers of the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world.
Writing to the Ephesians, he's reminding them of who they once were. Remember at one point before you came to faith, you were against Christ ultimately having no hope. Once again, justification is predicated on or pardon me, hope is predicated on being declared not guilty by a holy God. And that only comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it.
Not all roads lead to Rome. You've heard us say that how many times in this church. You don't sprinkle a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of Buddha and a little bit of any anything else and then hopefully one of these things is going to pan out. That's not that's not biblical truth. Biblical truth is being having your knee bowed before the lordship of Jesus Christ, laying everything at his feet, acknowledging your wickedness, and I am a sinner in need of salvation.
And then you come to Christ and you say, "Lord, would you save me?" My friends, if you are not justified, you are not saved. And if you're not saved, you have no hope. We're going to talk about that a little bit more. But if you are justified, my friends, listen to this beautiful truth. We have peace with God. We have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Now listen to what he says at the end of verse two. And we rejoice.
We have joy in hope of the glory of God. It's an interesting phrase. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. I listened to Pastor Matt's sermon from like four weeks ago, the introduction to this sermon, and he says, "As believers, we are anticipating or we live in in hope that we will get to see the glory of God, to see the glory of God fully on display. What unbelievable hope that is."
And I'm going to argue that not only that, but this text, the way this is phrased is we will we pardon me, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God is we will at one point, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you will partake or put on the glory of Christ. Let me let's go to a few texts. We will be like him. We will partake in the glory of Christ.
That is what Romans 8 would talk about. That we will be glorified. Okay. Romans 8 talks about that. Join me in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. I'm going to pick it up in verse 20 and read verses 20 and 21. So, as you're turning there, so a little bit of context. Paul in writing to the Philippians, he's talking about the world and and the the folly of following the world. He says their end or the world's end, they are enemies of the Christ. Their end is destruction.
Their god is their belly and they glory in their shame with mindset set on earthly things. But he says verse 20, a significant transition. That's the world. That's them. They're enemies of the cross. They're still at enmity with God. They're still waring against God. But our citizenship, he says, is in heaven. And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Therefore, my brothers, 4:1, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. But notice what he says here in verse 21. Who Christ will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. We will partake or put on an aspect of the glory of Christ. What beautiful truth. Let's go to First John chapter 3. >> >> Once again, here's John and he's writing and he says this, "See what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called children of God."
And so we are. And I want to pause there. I wonder how many people are immediately thinking of that song, Behold what manner of love the father has given unto us. Anyone? Anyone? No. A few of you. Yeah. Excellent. Okay, keep going. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Because there is coming a time, my friends, that if you are justified by faith, you have hope that you will be able to gaze upon the glory of God Almighty, having been cleansed, having been purified, having been saved by Christ in his death and in his resurrection.
And connected to that, we will embrace putting on an aspect of the glory of God. Now, I can't fully comprehend what that looks like, what that means fully. And I'd love to, time doesn't permit. We could go to Colossians 3:1. I think all these are going to pop up on the screen. Colossians 3:1, Romans 8, John 17, 1 Corinthians 15. All talk about putting putting off this this old and putting on this new. Putting on the that which is imperishable, being like Christ, embracing, putting on and partaking in the glory of Christ.
My friends, what beautiful hope that is. If you don't know this hope, it's because you're not saved. Once again, this hope that we're talking about is predicated on repentance. It's predicated on being justified by faith in the finished work of Christ alone.
And because we've been justified, we can rejoice. We can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. John MacArthur put it this way in in talking about this verse. He says, "Salvation is also anchored in the future because God gives every one of his ch children the unchangeable promise that one day they will be clothed with the glory of his own son. It's anchored. It's sure.
It's steadfast that we will be clothed in the glory of Christ. And because all of that is true, my friends, you and I can endure suffering. Take a look at verse three. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, knowing that there is coming a time when we will put on the glory that awaits us. Not only that, but as if that wasn't enough, essentially is what Paul is saying.
Not only that, he's saying that should be enough to get you through knowing that you're going to put on the glory of God. Not only that, we rejoice at that. We also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces character. Pardon me. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. And character produces hope. I love this text. If you have another translation, the LSB in particular, it translates it this way.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our or in all our affliction. It uses the word affliction and not sufferings. Now, we've looked at what does it mean to have hope in suffering? What does it mean to have hope in pastor Joe did tribul like in tribulation? And we often think that, well, when I'm at my darkest, lowest point, then I need hope. I need hope to get me through the terminal illness or that that massive cancer diagnosis that it's it's going to take my loved one.
I need hope when my spouse passes or my child passes. And yes, hear me, you need hope in those moments. But I think sometimes we forget we need hope in those moments and in the minor sufferings or the minor afflictions that we navigate day after day after day. See this word suffering I would argue better translated affliction.
Now, we can go back and forth on that because the word is an all-encompassing any affliction you may face. Not just for the big things. It's the daybyday affliction that we face that we need to be brought through. It really means any affliction, physical, mental, social, economic. It literally means any form of affliction you face, you can rejoice in because you have hope. This is what Paul is getting at. Not just the big things.
Yes, the big things, but those minor afflictions that you're like that are inconvenient. Every affliction we can rejoice in. Physically broken or battling some sicknesses. Not not major sicknesses, not terminal sicknesses, but that ongoing sickness, man. Cling to hope. Hope endures. Mentally struggling with some small anxieties, small worries, some things are coming up and while you're not falling into a deep pit of despair, but you're you're having a hard time and it feels like the you're buffering.
It feels like the wheel is spinning a little bit through the mental struggles that we face. Hope endures. Maybe you're socially ostracized and feeling left out at work. It's a frustrating thing. It's not the end of the world, but it's a minor affliction that can just continue to pile on. Hope endures a few bigger expenses from the bank account you didn't anticipate coming. You know, you're going to be okay. You you know you trust the Lord, but man, this is frustrating and hard.
Hope endures. In other words, what Paul is getting at here, we must cling to the hope of Christ every single day. In every minor affliction, major affliction, we must hold to the hope that one day because we've been justified, one day we will put on the glory of Christ in his presence and gaze upon him for all eternity.
We need that truth in the minor stuff and in the major stuff. Job 13, though he slay me, I will hope in him. Now, we know Job's suffering was not minor. We know that Job's suffering was significant. And yet, what did Job do? Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. If you read the rest, he says, "Yet I will argue my ways to his face."
In other words, I'm not going to hide it. I'm not going to hide my affliction. I'm going to go to the Lord. I'm going to tell him of my affliction. I'm going to be brutally honest. Yet, I'm going to hold fast to the hope because I've been justified. And because our hope does not disintegrate, it doesn't break down. Because our God is eternal, our God is good. You and I can rejoice or some translations use the word boast, brag about my suffering, my affliction.
I can boast. I can rejoice in my suffering. Why? Only the Christian, my friends, I need you to hear this. Only a biblebelieving holding fast to the word of God. Only that person can say I will rejoice in suffering. No other belief system can make that statement. No other system, no other belief, no other religion has a right answer for suffering.
But the Christian Bible has an answer for suffering. Why? Why can I rejoice in my affliction? Well, because I know that my affliction or my suffering produces endurance. Endurance being the ability to withstand more weight. That's really what it's talking about. So, you put on a backpack. Put on a backpack with the three or four pounds, right? And you do a five mile hike with that pack.
You get home, you're like, I can endure that. I think I can endure a little bit more. So, you put another 5 lbs in that backpack. You do that same five mile hike. You're like, yep, right. I can I can do this. If you were to just jump to 150 lbs in that backpack, you would crumble under the weight. You could not do it. But you increment, you increment a little bit of weight and a little bit of weight and you're like, "Yeah, I have confidence to endure this because I've built I've been built up."
Essentially, that's what he's saying. When you walk through any affliction and you cling to hope, you realize, hm, when I cling to Christ and not my earthly circumstance, I can endure more. I can endure this. Not because I'm so strong, but the God in whom I hope is strong. Therefore, I can endure. My affliction, my suffering produces that kind of endurance. And then when I endure through those things, what am I building? Character.
I'm building my character. This character is is proof that I do in fact cling to the lordship of Jesus Christ. I'm showing that I am clinging to the Lord. Turn with me to James chapter 1. Picking it up in verse 12.
Here's what James tells. He says, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial." That that building of endurance and that building of character, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. He has shown himself to be able to endure affliction by clinging to Christ. And the more you go through, the more you can cling to the Lord, the more steadfast you are, proving that one day when you stand face to face and receive the crown of life, you will show yourself to have clung to him.
Knowing that suffering or affliction produces endurance and endurance produces character, proof of our godly character. It's an affirmation that when you come out the other side of suffering, you have increase in your godliness and your godly character. See, I don't know about you, I've had the opportunity, and I think I've used this illustration a few times, but there's a lot of new faces.
So, my wife and I, we've had the opportunity to do a lot of great things. We, we've been able to be in Mexico for a time on the beach. We've spent two anniversaries in Greece on a mission trip, but still two anniversaries in Greece. And I'll tell you, those are wonderful times, great times, relaxing times, and those are good.
But nothing anchored my soul and her soul to the finished work of Christ on the cross. And when we went through multiple miscarriages, man, when you walk through hardships, you want to talk about anchoring your soul to something, everything else leaves you abandoned. The only thing that remains is the finished work of Christ. Those who have been justified by faith And notice what he says.
What does your character produce? Hope. Enduring hope. Hope that brings you through any affliction, great or small, clinging to hope. My character, when I come out the other end of suffering, I know that I can endure more. I know that my character is proven that I trust the Lord. And when all of that is there, I know that my only anchor is the hope of Christ and nothing else in this world.
Because through the suffering, through the affliction, through the endurance, everything everything has fallen away except for one, Christ alone. It's a beautiful truth. Character produces hope. Now, I love what Paul does here. He doubles down on the truth of hope. It's like he really wants the reader here to zero in on on something. He wants the reader.
So, notice twice. Verse two, he says, "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Verse four, character produces hope. Verse five, and hope does not put us to shame. Pause here for a moment. Just we often ask people, we often ask you to to to meditate on God's word. And we ought to meditate to sit in and to dwell and to think on not emptying your mind.
Worldly meditation is is empty your mind. Godly biblical meditation is fill your mind with the truth of God's word. Right? That's that's a good godly and he says and hope godly hope. Those who have been justified have a hope that one day they will see Christ. They will look at his glory. They will partake and put on the glory of Christ. And that hope does not put us to shame. I want you to think about that for a moment.
I don't know if you I don't know if you're a a Bible highlighter or a starer or an under I don't know what you do or a notetaker. Memorize this. Godly hope endures through every affliction and does not put you to shame. Every other hope will bring you to shame. The word literally means humiliation. Worldly hope will humiliate you. Worldly hope will abandon you.
Worldly hope will put you to shame. Worldly hope will bring you nothing. Absolutely nothing. Godly hope endures through all the muck, endures through all the mire, and stands strong at the end. It will not humiliate us. It will not put us to shame. Is there any worldly hope that can do that? Think about it for a moment.
Does the hope of a full bank account endure a terminal illness diagnosis? No. Oh, my my spouse is dying at maybe a young age. Oh, but at least I got $4.5 million in the bank account, so we're good, right? The hope of a full bank account does not endure terminal illness.
Or what about what about the hope that we often put in maybe a a marriage or or a new relationship? Does that endure the deep dark pit of depression and anxieties that we often face? You're in the lowest of low, weeping, weeping on your pillow because you don't know what to do. You don't know what's coming. You don't know how you're GOING TO GET THROUGH.
OH, but if I get this marriage or this relationship, then then all is good. Like it doesn't it doesn't calc it doesn't make sense if we're intellectually honest with ourselves, right? It doesn't make sense if we think that way. And yet, how often how often do we immediately go there rather than holding fast to the anchor that is Christ and the hope that he brings? Now let me ask you, your loved one gets diagnosed with a terminal illness and though it is awful, can the hope of Christ endure you through that knowing that I can't get through this, but there is coming a day when I will see the glory of God and put on the glory of Christ and my loved one may be there with me.
For the an for the believer, I'm going to argue that the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. The hope of Christ gets me through any and every affliction, suffering. It endures through all of those things because it's predicated not not on my worldly circumstances. It's predicated on a holy God who keeps his commands, who keeps his promises. That's what it is predicated on. And hope, my friends, verse 5, does not put us to shame.
Calvin read for us Psalm 119. On a side note, Calvin can read scripture anytime he wants. Can I get an amen? Absolutely. The psalmist in that enemies all around, evildoers are abounding. We read that in that psalm. But what does he say in verse 116? Let me not be put to shame in my hope. In other words, his hope is not in the evildoer being gone.
His hope is in the goodness of God. And that will not put him to shame. Hebrews chapter 6, picking it up in verse 17. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.
So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become a high priest forever after the order of Melkchisedc.
Listen to what he says. So that verse 18 by two unchangeable things. Two unchangeable things. Number one, it is impossible for God to lie. There are things mind-blowing God cannot do. He cannot lie. He cannot go against his character. That's who he is. And so if he says he cannot lie and then he says, "Wait, the hope that you have won't put you to shame." That means that if you are justified by faith, you have a hope that will never fade.
You have a hope that cannot be taken away because it is set in the finished work of Christ. It endures through all of that. We who have fled refuge. How strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us. And then he says this, we have a, this is the second thing, we have a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. We have a steadfast anchor of the soul to the very core of who we are.
We can lay everything on this truth. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain into the holy of holies into the very presence of the father. One day once again seeing his glory putting on the glory of Christ. Why? Cuz Jesus went before us. We don't just walk in. We don't have that kind of ability.
Our sin renders us not allowed. But if you've been clothed by the righteousness of Christ. You've repented and believed. You are justified by faith. My friends, you have access to the Father because of Christ. And my friends, what hope that is. That is a hope that endures through all affliction. How? Back in our text, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
God's love has been poured into our hearts. If you jump down a few verses, we know Romans 5:8. We're well acquainted with that text. God shows his love for us, love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You have hope because God loves you. That's why you have a hope. Consider Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, if I can find Titus. Titus chapter 3, picking up in verse four.
>> >> But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out. There's that language again. He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our savior so that being justified by his grace, we might become hes according to the hope of eternal life.
My friends, this is the most unbelievable news you could hear. That God in his love saved you. Not by your righteous works. Says right in the text, not by your works, not by your goodness, not by your righteousness, not by mine, but according to his what? Mercy. He held back what we rightly deserved, mercy.
And he renewed us. He washed us. He renewed us by the Holy Spirit which he poured out. Imagine a a cup and a picture, right? That that's the that's the imagery. He just Here's us empty and dead. Here's the spirit by the love of God just pouring out the love of himself through the spirit in the finished work of Christ. So that being justified, what does that mean?
Being declared not guilty, being justified by his grace, we become hes according to the hope of eternal life. Hope endures all things, all affliction. It is the magnificent love of God that has been poured out on you that leads you to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, being justified by faith. And that, my friends, is a guaranteed hope once again that will not put you to shame. It will endure to the end. Martin Luther once said this. If we consider the greatness and the glory of the life we shall have when we have risen from the dead, it would not be difficult for us to bear the concerns of this world.
If I believe the word, I shall on the last day after the sentence has been pronounced, not only gladly have suffered ordinary temptations, insults, and imprisonments, but I shall also say, "Oh, that I did not throw myself under the feet of all the godless for the sake of the great glory of the great glory which I now see revealed and which has come to me through the merit of Christ believer. One day when you gaze upon the glory of Christ, when you're clothed in his righteousness and in his glory, you would look back, Martin Luther says, and you say, "I will endure all things that I can get a taste of what I'm seeing now."
And oh, how glad we are that we did not bow the knee to the temporal temporal worldliness to forsake that which I see now. My friends, there is a hope that we cannot even begin to fathom. As we draw our time to a close, I want to read Galatians 4. >> >> I'm going to read verses 4 1-7.
I mean that the heir as long as he is a child is no different from a slave though he is the owner of everything but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also when we were children were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, poured out into our hearts, crying, "Abba, father." So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God. What beautiful truth that we have a we can cry aba father because the spirit has been poured into our hearts. Hopelessness abounds in this world.
We're familiar with that. We're all familiar. We all have maybe loved ones, maybe maybe co-workers who are caught in this river of despair, not having or not knowing which way to get off. Would we be people who bring them to the hope of Christ? Afflictions are close. My prayer is that we would be strengthened by an enduring hope through all trial, through all of our affliction, through all of our tribulation.
And my friends, would we live day after day with this anticipation of seeing the glory of God and putting on the glory of Christ for all eternity. That is a hope that endures through all afflictions. Let's pray. Father in heaven, sovereign God, you are worthy of all of our worship.
You are worthy of all of our praise. Before, when we were enemies of you, we had no hope. But in the mighty act of love by sending your son, you made a way that we could have an eternal enduring hope through all affliction, through all pain, through all tribulation. And Lord, would you teach us to cling to that truth today and forever more? It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
