so at the uh outset of a little series on hope running up to Easter um we're in Romans 5 and the second part of verse two and that's kind of important to think there's a message here for rural Wales today because on my travels round and about and I've mentioned this in the Word for the Week video this week my travels round about I'm finding a real crisis of hope in our rural communities all sorts of things are going on around us in the world around us the circumstances there are situations and so on and people are really their chins are down and they're short on hope well what's happening in in Romans 5 is this Paul's laid bare the essence of the Christian faith in Romans 1 to 3 and he started unpacking answers to objections that some particularly Jewish believers or very Jewish inclined believers in Jesus seem to have had in Rome and what's the background to that? well there'd come a point where the Roman emperor Claudius had got fed up with or felt threatened by ongoing Jewish resentment of Roman rule so he'd expelled the Jews from the capital city of Rome so we read in Act 18 when Paul had finished up finished up his preaching mission in Athens
Acts 18:1 -4 Paul left Athens and went to Corinth and there he met a Jew named Aquila a native of Pontus who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome and Paul went to see them he stayed with them and so on and he he's reasoned every every Sabbath in the synagogue trying to persuade Jews and Greeks now we're struggling a bit to put a definitive date on Claudius's decree from secular sources but if as seems likely the decree was around 49 to 52 AD and Romans was written 56-57 the expulsion the Jews lasted about five years well, Paul was apparently writing ahead of an impending visit en route to Spain to a Christian community that had been lately gentile for about five years whilst the Jewish believers were away because of Claudius's decree and the strong suggestion in Romans is that the church in Rome had moved on significantly in a Gentile direction during that five year period so when the Jews all came back there was a whole stack of friction between Jewish and Gentile believers there and that's the reason Paul wrote to the Romans and after addressing the fundamental theological objections in chapters 1 to 4 Paul tries to bring their hearts and minds together on what should be the shared basis of this single shared great characteristic life change in the experience of all true believers what is that? What is that characteristic? Romans 5 second part of verse 2 through Him we've also obtained access by faith into this Grace in which we stand and we rejoice the hope of the glory of God see there's what's happened you got access by faith into Grace free Grace that covers Jew and Gentile the same you know we're all all ground is level at the foot of the cross all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and put right with God again by his Grace through the gospel it came through Jesus Christ we stand in that and the effect of that shared again because the basis of that thing is is shared we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God we've got a shared gospel so we've got a shared experience rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God Now I'm using the English Standard Version there because it does a better job of the underlying Greek verb καυχάομαι (kauchaomai)'to boast' it can be used in a good and a bad way but here the context is clearly of the pure hearted rejoicing in the sheer mercy and goodness that's exposed in God's saving Grace and we exult, we rejoice we exult we glory in the hope of God's glory coming now you can tell a great deal about a person by what they delight in, can't you? great deal by what they delight in and Paul says the believer whatever their experience banished from Rome or from Jerusalem or remaining in Jerusalem or their background Jewish heritage or Gentile heritage what characterizes the believer across the whole gamut of the Kingdom of God the believer rejoices in the hope of the glory of God on the basis of having Romans 5:2 obtained access by faith into this Grace in which we stand that's where we stand and this is the effect of it on us we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God Grace by faith alone Romans 1-3 gives rise to this shared hope and it should be that shared hope that in the face of all sorts of pressure that would be holding them together in their conduct that was their experience here's the fruit it produces rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, all of us together because that is the transcendent truth that gives perspective to the things that were driving them apart and by laying hold of it they should all be rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God over against the chaos that not doing so had brought into their church experience and into their world and this hope is very singular very special because it's a hope that does not leave them disappointed now we hope for many things sometimes they work out sometimes they don't this is a hope, writes Paul that will not leave you disappointed because it's as sure as the foundation on which it's built the gospel itself now for a thing for a hope not to disappoint it needs to be true. Well ... there's the historic basis of the Christian faith and it needs to deliver what it promises ... well, do you know we have the indwelling Spirit of God at work within us the down payment on what's to come and it needs to be for something that will last, for hope not to disappoint it needs to be true it needs to deliver what it promises and it needs to be something that will last and the Christian hope was a joyful expectation of the future based on true events in the past which changes everything for me now in my experience of the present now of course and we've got to be sensible and practical under pressure we might well be tempted to look at our current circumstances there's a problem Paul's saying we rejoice in hope the glory of God not the impact of our current circumstances you look at your circumstances and you might say things like things are getting worse in the world our lives used to be better than they are it looks as if things will not get better I've been in prayer meetings that sound like that it's hopeless and it's transcended by what Paul says here in Romans 5 you might say things are just getting worse and worse or you might say things are getting better human beings are getting better or making progress in things like politics and technology and in medicine - it's not as realistic and is transcended by what Paul is saying here or you may say things go around in a big circle of life but again that isn't it all that hopeful it's also transcended by the historically rooted things Paul has got to say it or you make it people who take the view that things are just in chaos it's all a massive accident history is governed by random events humans are on their own in the world as thin-walled bags of water containing chemical elements responding to electrical impulses the whole thing is uncontrollable unpredictable - is a mess and that gets transcended too very hopefully by what Paul refers to as happening here so what brings consistent Christian believers together in their experience of what others may see as declining or improving or circular or chaotic experience of life is rejoicing and hoping in the glory of God because He's taken us to Glory we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God You say, well how does that transform the hard but real experience of life in this world?
well in Romans 5:2-11 Paul unpacks some of the things that can bring people to despair and applies aspects of the history that undergirds a Christian hope to bear up and these are the big three drivers of despair he wants to highlight and address to us from within the content content of the Christians glorious hope there's such an ocean of Grace here that inflames hope so much so that we'll have to skim across its surface for lack a time today let's see if we can't just catch some of the spray that comes off the speeding prow as we skim across the ocean surface Paul writes in verses 3 to 5 he says "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" then he unpacks it as it applies to the area of suffering hope to rejoice in when we are suffering he says verses 3 to 5 rejoicing in sufferings beginning of verse verse 3 "Not only so but we also glory in our sufferings" glory in the hope of the glory of God, right but glory in our sufferings? the very things that people will be saying these are the things that drag us down Paul's written elsewhere of glorying in his weakness it's it's 2 Corinthians 5 9 to 10 very famously Paul writesof actually physical suffering it appears in that case and and he's he's prayed to the Lord to take this weakness his physical weakness from him and he said to me the Lord said to Paul he says "my Grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness" therefore says Paul I'll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me that's why for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses in insults in hardships and persecutions in difficulties for when I'm weak then I'm strong he says when I get these things that come upon me it just throws me back on God and I get stronger in him and that's where the source of all my strength comes from when I'm weak throws me back then I'm strong hope to rejoice in when we are suffering verse 3 second part of verse 3 and in verse 4 appreciating suffering's benefits we know that suffering produces perseverance perseverance character character hope he says and in that experience verse 5 we're sustained by the comfort of hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who's been given to us that verb 'to put to shame' is καταισχύνω (kataischunō) to dishonour it's about being dishonored by being let down and frustrated I hope isn't gonna be frustrated leaving us dishonored and we know this because we've the down payment of the presence of God the deposit on his presence with us in glory the indwelling Holy Spirit of God Whom the Lord sent to be with us when He Himself returned to be with the Father that feeds our hope because we've got his presence alongside us in our circumstances, our Comforter and that's a powerful factor inspiring our rejoicing in the glory of God so there we go hope to rejoice in when we're suffering versus 1 to 5 ish and then hope to rejoice in when we are powerless and we sense our powerlessness in the big things versus 6 to eight Paul points back to the the gospel to the Grace of God in the gospel to build our hope because our hope as Christians is the experience that arises out of the gospel on which we stand he says first of all verse 6 Christ died for the helpless it can be so depressing so killing of our joy and our hope when our struggles with sin lead to failure how can we rejoice in the aftermath of the sense of helplessness that comes in that experience well Paul doesn't seem to have the same despondent response pattern to this as we do you see at just the right time when we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly verse six I have something to rejoice about the glory of God seen in his Grace shown to the helpless well I'm helpless it's better than that He didn't just sacrifice his all for the helpless versus 7 and 8 He sacrifices all for the unworthy and our experience says Paul very rare that anybody's gonna be willing to die for a righteous person a good person someone might possibly dare to die but God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us there's hope in that sacrifices all for unworthy me and yet it wasn't just that He didn't do it not out of some sense of duty that he should do it but because of His love for us verse 8 God demonstrates His own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us the glory of this Grace is that He didn't wait while we were still sinners the glory of this Grace is that He didn't depend on us for anything because not of our love for him because of his love for us and all this gives us hope because god is for us none of it depends on us who are hopeless because we well it's hopeful because we're morally and materily powerless utterly and lovely but overwhelmingly loved oh yeah and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of such a God as that so committed to us so clear that He's taking us into His rest hope to rejoice in when we're suffering hope to rejoice in when we're powerless hope to rejoice in when we face broken community and broken relationships verses 9 to 11 you know what it is that breaks human relationships it almost always if not always always in my experience is some aspect of human unrighteousness might be your unrighteousness might be theirs but it's always in there when community breaks down as appears to be the case with the divided Roman church after the return of exiled Jewish members or some sort of a relationship is lost it comes back to things like these here and it is that unrighteous conduct behavior attitude that needs to be put right so here that gets addressed in verse nine v. 9 unrighteousness addressed since now we have been justified by His blood what's justification it's addressing our unrighteousness Jesus achieves the declaration of righteousness for us from the God with whom our fundamental relationship was broken and when that's broken all the others follow suit as the experience of Adam and Eve in the garden and subsequently their offspring indicates when the relationship with God is broken that fundamental relationship is gone all the others go to pot with it we find that sometimes in our own experience if a primary relationship in our lives goes somehow we mess the others up as well because it's just a vicious circle yep okay we are in the situation where you know uh we've been declared righteous justified by his blood he achieves that declaration of righteousness from from the God with whom our fundamental relationship had been broken and now we're being mended again in relationship with Him that's addressed God's wrath is addressed how much more should we be saved from God's wrath through Him there's a righteous anger in God who runs a moral universe and will not have it spoiled and right is right then wrong is wrong and can't be let go. Well if we've been put right with God by the blood of Christ how much more than shall we be saved from God's wrath through him the price is paid oh we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and thirdly we're rescued by His resurrection for if while we were God's enemies we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through His life His ongoing life taking us into His life walking with god as Adam and Eve did in the garden day by day rescued back into that relationship back into that communion with the maker of the ends of the earth who loves us to this degree we rejoice says Paul in the hope of the glory of God and reconciled by our Redeemer reconciled by our Redeemer not only is this so but we also boast and that's that word again rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we have now received reconciliation He's bought us back reconciled us to God OK conclusion things happened in the past that impact our present and determine our future and it is for these practical reasons that we live because of this gospel as those who rejoice in the glory of the God Whose plan it is and was but it as we it is as we work those things into our thinking into our minds nurture them in our thoughts that our attitudes are shaped our thinking is repaired and as a result of that our hope is restored as we rejoice on the basis of these things in the glory that we taste now but will devour then in His presence these things are just so much bigger they address our deepest of needs beyond our circumstance display so much more unstoppable purpose something Paul points to in his very own experience
in 2 Corinthians 4:8 - 10 we're hard pressed on every side he says but we're not crushed we're perplexed but we're not in despair we are persecuted but not abandoned we're struck down but not destroyed we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus that hard hard experience that side of human life so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body but the key thing is that verse 14 there in 2 Corinthians 4 we know that the one Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself you see there's the transcendental hope of the believer on the basis of God's Grace in the gospel and Paul just rounds that out for the Corinthians at the end there of chapter 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16 to 18 therefore he says we don't lose heart therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day that's the Christian's experience and we rejoice in that if we can just get our minds get our eyes onto that not simply the circumstances of our daily life in this fallen and broken world oh yeah we're wasting away, yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us and eternal glory that far outweighs them all that's the one that's the one Paul's talking about rejoicing in back here in Romans so says Paul in 2 Christians 4 and verse 18 so here's the key to it here's the here's the secret if you like it's an open secret so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal here's a hope that's gonna last that sort of hope can cope with the reality of the most unpleasant features in Paul's experience and in ours rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God rejoice in it glory in it take pride in it it says here in this passage in Romans 5 rejoice in the hope of the glory of God verse 2 rejoice in our sufferings because of what they produce in us supremely hope verse four rejoice in our reconciliation to God verse 11 a foretaste of close fellowship with Him in His glory there is that conscious awareness of the things that we believe which bears this fruit in us as we mull it all over that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and here's the importance of Christian meditation on the gospel and the future that it brings us bringing that into our current experience we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God may God help you with that may God help us to walk in that way that consistent Christian way feeding our hearts and souls and minds on the truths that are clear, plain, historical eternal that will last and give us hope in the lives we live now on the basis of yes a foretaste in our current experience but very much of the glory that God ensures we have to come God bless you have a great week