WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.620 Good morning, Church. 00:00:01.620 --> 00:00:02.439 Good morning. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:11.640 The reading is taken from Romans chapter 5, reading from verses 1 to 11. 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:13.640 ! 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.000 And it says this, 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:23.440 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:29.060 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.679 Which we now stand. 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:36.679 And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:41.840 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings. 00:00:42.420 --> 00:00:45.980 Because we know that suffering produces perseverance. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:48.939 Perseverance, character. 00:00:49.620 --> 00:00:51.179 And character, hope. 00:00:52.179 --> 00:00:54.600 And hope does not put us to shame. 00:00:54.600 --> 00:01:03.240 Because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:13.079 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Jesus died for the ungodly. 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:18.159 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:24.959 Though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:30.659 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. 00:01:32.039 --> 00:01:35.159 While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:46.959 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:55.299 For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, 00:01:55.299 --> 00:02:02.939 how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:10.960 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:02:11.579 --> 00:02:14.719 through whom we have now received reconciliation. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:16.599 Amen. 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:20.400 Thank you so much, Yvonne, for reading for us. 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:23.439 We are in a series in the Book of Romans. 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:26.120 If you're here visiting, that's probably useful for you to know. 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:29.579 So it will be a help to you if you've got a Bible in front of you, 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:32.400 so you can follow on as we walk through those verses. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:36.139 I'm going to pray and ask the Lord for his help as we look at this passage together. 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:36.599 Let's pray. 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:44.819 Father, we do want to ask that you would be at work this morning by your Spirit. 00:02:44.819 --> 00:02:52.159 We thank you that the words that we are looking at are your words to us, for us this morning. 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:57.479 So we pray that you'd help us to think clearly, that you'd help us to have tender hearts, 00:02:57.579 --> 00:03:00.519 that you would put away distractions from us, 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:04.919 that we might hear your voice and respond in obedience and faith, 00:03:05.519 --> 00:03:06.840 as we ask in Jesus' name. 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:07.859 Amen. 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.599 Now, if you've been with us over recent weeks, 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.400 as we've been working our way up to Romans chapter 5, 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:20.139 you'll know that we've been thinking about justification by faith. 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:21.680 Justification by faith. 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:25.859 Justification by faith is at the heart of the Christian gospel. 00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:33.340 It is the declaration by God that an individual is in the right with him. 00:03:33.939 --> 00:03:37.219 That individual, they are justified. 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:39.800 They have nothing to fear before me. 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:41.520 They are not guilty. 00:03:41.740 --> 00:03:44.439 They are righteous in my sight, says God. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:49.599 Now, we found over recent weeks that God makes that declaration about an individual 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.400 not on the basis of their works, not on the basis of what they have done. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.800 Now, Paul's been really clear with us over and over again 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:02.500 that nobody is declared righteous on the basis of what they have done or not done. 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:09.599 What we have done and not done is enough to declare us unrighteous, unjustified. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:14.539 Instead, we've discovered that the works of justification are done not by us, 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.839 but are done by Jesus on the cross. 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:23.699 It is the cross of Jesus Christ where the justifying power of God comes, 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:29.139 as God in Christ stands in our place, the innocent one in the place of the guilty. 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:35.300 It is as if the father looks at the son on the cross and sees his sacrifice there. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:45.319 Your sin counted on him and looks at you and declares you righteous in his sight, justified by faith. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:50.779 We've then heard that this declaration of not guilty is received not through religious works. 00:04:51.419 --> 00:04:55.099 We don't receive justification by intellectual pursuit. 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:58.560 It's not that we reason it out and think it out for ourselves. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.579 We don't receive it by an emotional experience either. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:07.019 No, we receive justification by faith. 00:05:07.579 --> 00:05:11.939 Faith which is an empty hand that's turned from its self-confidence 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:15.500 and places its confidence in Christ alone and says, 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:16.879 there's nothing I can do. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:21.480 I trust in you alone to declare me not guilty before God 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:24.699 and receives the benefits of his work on their behalf. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:26.199 That's justification by faith. 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:28.420 That's the center of the Christian message. 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:31.979 And what we find as we come to chapter five is that Paul is still talking about it. 00:05:32.379 --> 00:05:33.420 Look down at the passage. 00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:38.159 Verse one, we have been justified through faith, he says. 00:05:38.719 --> 00:05:43.379 Verse two, we have gained access by faith into this grace. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:49.439 Verse nine, we have now been justified by his blood. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:53.800 So justification by faith is still the center of this passage. 00:05:53.939 --> 00:05:58.740 But instead of explaining it to us, which we've already done and he's already done, 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:04.620 instead what he's going to do now is show you how this doctrine, this truth works out in real life. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:10.040 He's going to, if you like, road test it, giving it a shakedown to see if it really works. 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:16.379 This week on my day off, I went to the motorbike show at the NEC in Birmingham. 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:21.800 And I was on the Royal Enfield stand looking at this new bike that they just released for the show. 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:24.360 And I was talking to a guy about it. 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:26.040 It was a brand new electric bike. 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:28.920 And he was telling me all sorts of amazing things about this bike. 00:06:29.060 --> 00:06:33.400 So you can, before you go out on your ride, you can on your mobile phone, 00:06:33.520 --> 00:06:36.720 set the settings of the ABS and the suspension so that you can just, 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:39.900 you know, dial in your ride even before you've gotten on the bike. 00:06:40.420 --> 00:06:41.580 And it was amazing. 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:43.740 You unlock the bike with your phone. 00:06:44.340 --> 00:06:47.640 And so if you don't have your phone with you, you know, you can't ride the bike. 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:49.660 No one can ride the bike without you. 00:06:50.020 --> 00:06:54.440 And then it notifies you if the bike's moving and someone's trying to stick it in the back of a van or something. 00:06:54.940 --> 00:06:56.260 I was, I mean, I was blown away. 00:06:56.320 --> 00:06:56.880 It's incredible. 00:06:57.140 --> 00:07:00.080 This sounds unbelievably brilliant. 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:05.100 And so then we were looking at the bike and then it comes out, he has to put a pin number in, right? 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:08.240 And he puts a pin number in and nothing happens. 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:11.439 And then he puts a pin number in again and nothing happens. 00:07:11.820 --> 00:07:13.879 And you could see the guy starting to get a little flustered. 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:17.780 You know, I've told you how amazing this bike is and it won't boot up. 00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:18.980 And so it didn't. 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:19.600 So there you go. 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:21.800 And it was a little embarrassing for him. 00:07:22.580 --> 00:07:25.780 Now, in a sense, what's going on in Romans chapter 5 is Paul said, 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:29.220 listen, I've told you how brilliant justification by faith is. 00:07:29.760 --> 00:07:31.340 Justification by faith is incredible. 00:07:31.640 --> 00:07:32.700 You know, who wouldn't want that? 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:37.819 Who wouldn't want to stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, 00:07:37.899 --> 00:07:43.079 the God who made us, and to be declared by him righteous, justified, 00:07:43.479 --> 00:07:46.800 through nothing that you've done yourself, but only as a gift received by faith? 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:47.459 Who wouldn't want that? 00:07:48.019 --> 00:07:48.719 Who wouldn't want that? 00:07:49.159 --> 00:07:53.579 But now, if you like, he's putting his pin number in and he's road testing this. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:55.120 Does it really work? 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:56.240 Does it really work? 00:07:56.259 --> 00:07:57.839 And he gives you three tests. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:07:59.159 The first one is this. 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:00.419 Guilt. 00:08:01.299 --> 00:08:01.659 Guilt. 00:08:02.919 --> 00:08:05.299 This has been a big issue right from the off in Romans. 00:08:05.479 --> 00:08:07.259 Guilt is something we know all about. 00:08:07.359 --> 00:08:09.060 I don't need to explain it to you, do I? 00:08:10.219 --> 00:08:12.560 We feel it even when we're on our own at home. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.819 You know, we ponder the things that we've done, the places that we've been, 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:17.979 the things that we've seen, the words that we've said. 00:08:18.419 --> 00:08:20.120 You know, guilt can keep us awake at night. 00:08:20.219 --> 00:08:23.559 It can make us avoid contact with people, hide in the shadows. 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:26.399 You don't have to be a Christian to experience it. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.759 It's experienced by young people and old people alike. 00:08:30.540 --> 00:08:34.259 And Paul's point in Romans has been in chapter 2, 15, for example, 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:41.740 that an internal sense of guilt really is a reflection or an echo of God's verdict on us. 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:45.220 It's our standing before him echoed internally. 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:50.580 So we feel guilty internally because we are, before God, guilty externally. 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:54.639 But notice how justification by faith meets that challenge. 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:55.580 Look at verse 1. 00:08:55.660 --> 00:08:56.320 What does he say? 00:08:56.860 --> 00:09:00.580 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:05.680 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:07.660 Notice what he says. 00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:12.320 Justification by faith means we have peace with God. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.900 Notice it doesn't mean that we can have peace with God 00:09:16.899 --> 00:09:22.000 or we might at some point in the future have peace with God. 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:27.559 Rather, he says, no, right now, having been justified by faith, 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.039 you have peace with God. 00:09:31.319 --> 00:09:34.079 There is no problem between you and God. 00:09:34.459 --> 00:09:36.840 Verse 2 explains it as being standing in grace. 00:09:36.939 --> 00:09:41.840 It's as if our feet are in a circle that is labeled mercy and forgiveness and grace. 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:45.840 Nothing is held against the people who stand in this circle, he says. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.259 These are the people I have no problem with. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:49.540 We are at peace, he says. 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:54.379 I'm sure that, like me, you don't have to think very hard 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:56.399 before you can find something to feel guilty of. 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.820 Maybe it was a missed opportunity to witness to somebody. 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.680 Maybe it was a word you spoke in anger that you can't take back. 00:10:05.560 --> 00:10:08.460 Maybe it's a lifestyle that's damaged those around you. 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:12.540 Perhaps it's a pattern of behaving that felt irresistible at the time, 00:10:12.539 --> 00:10:15.659 but now is just a great burden that you carry. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:20.139 And Paul says, no, justification by faith meets that challenge 00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:23.379 by bringing you in the present right now peace, 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:26.279 standing in a circle of God's forgiving grace. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:29.360 How does that work, right? 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:35.779 You need to acknowledge, don't you, that no other relationship you have is like that. 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:41.860 If you get angry with a friend, if you falsely accuse them, 00:10:41.940 --> 00:10:45.879 if you withdraw from them, you are unlikely to have peace with that person. 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:49.200 If you steal money from your parents, 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:52.120 you are unlikely to be at peace with your parents. 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:54.500 Because each offence needs to be worked through, 00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:55.720 each conflict's resolved. 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:59.320 When you offend somebody, they're shocked, aren't they? 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.580 I didn't know you had that in you. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:03.940 I didn't know you were capable of that. 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:06.019 You're worse than I thought. 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:09.620 But it's not like that with God, is it? 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:12.960 Justification by faith through the cross of Jesus Christ 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.160 brings a permanent peace because God is not learning about your sin. 00:11:18.060 --> 00:11:19.460 He's not learning about your sin. 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:23.740 He knew it all along and has paid in full the moral debt on the cross. 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:26.039 You and I are shocked by our sin, aren't you? 00:11:26.460 --> 00:11:29.340 I'm shocked at my seeming inability to obey God, 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:32.039 to walk faithfully with him, to think rightly, 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:33.759 to behave in a way that's right. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.940 But God is not shocked because he's not learning about me. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:39.360 He knows me. 00:11:39.980 --> 00:11:42.560 And he's paid already for my sin, even ahead of time, 00:11:42.779 --> 00:11:45.279 while I was still a sinner, verse 8. 00:11:48.659 --> 00:11:50.799 Perhaps it was like this when you were little. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:53.639 Maybe you went to the beach with your mum, right? 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:55.579 You went to the beach with your mum. 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:57.939 You had absolutely no intention of going into the sea. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:11:59.359 I'm not going to go into the sea. 00:11:59.419 --> 00:11:59.979 The sea is cold. 00:12:00.099 --> 00:12:01.639 I'm not interested in going into the sea. 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:04.319 And so then when you get to the beach, 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.579 you decide, well, I'm just going to play at the edge of the sea, right? 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:10.479 I'm going to run away from the waves as they ripple in across the shore. 00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:12.240 And I'll be able to dart away. 00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:12.699 It'll be fine. 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:13.799 I'm not going to get in the sea. 00:12:13.859 --> 00:12:14.419 I'm not going to get wet. 00:12:14.659 --> 00:12:17.799 And, you know, before long, right, your shoes are wet. 00:12:18.439 --> 00:12:22.259 And then before much longer, your trousers are wet as well. 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:24.459 And the sun's gone down. 00:12:24.599 --> 00:12:26.319 It's no longer fun playing in the sea. 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.039 And you walk up to your mum and you're crying. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:30.219 I'm cold. 00:12:30.979 --> 00:12:32.699 I said I wouldn't go in and I've gone in. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:34.839 And I'm soaking wet and I'm miserable. 00:12:35.839 --> 00:12:36.860 What does your mum say? 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:39.740 I guarantee she would say something like this. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.940 I knew this would happen. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.039 Here's a towel that I had in my bag. 00:12:46.680 --> 00:12:49.180 Here's a spare pair of trousers that I had in my bag. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:51.060 Here's a spare pair of socks. 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:52.039 I brought them. 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:53.659 Here's a pair of shoes. 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:54.700 I brought those too. 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:58.759 And you look at your mum and you say, how did you know? 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.720 And she goes, I just knew. 00:13:02.180 --> 00:13:03.440 I knew this would happen. 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:07.820 And then there's a sense in which in Romans 5, it's exactly like that with the Lord. 00:13:08.640 --> 00:13:10.280 We are shocked by our sin. 00:13:10.920 --> 00:13:12.640 I had no intention of doing that. 00:13:12.920 --> 00:13:14.560 I had no intention of going there. 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:17.540 Oh, I knew you would. 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:21.640 And I've paid in full for all of that. 00:13:22.140 --> 00:13:23.400 You're at peace with me. 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.400 You stand in my grace and my mercy. 00:13:26.400 --> 00:13:27.680 I know you completely. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:37.659 And so if you're a Christian today, if you have received by faith justification from the Lord Jesus by trusting in him, then you can't disappoint God. 00:13:38.599 --> 00:13:44.519 Not because you're sinlessly perfect, but because when he called you to himself, he knew all about you already. 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:58.299 And for reasons known only to himself and only explicable by his love, he has chosen to stand you in grace so that you have and will have and do have now peace with him. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:00.019 Come, he says. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:01.139 I knew this would happen. 00:14:01.939 --> 00:14:03.519 Remember my grace in which you stand. 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:04.419 Leave all that behind. 00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:08.079 I don't know everybody's situation. 00:14:08.219 --> 00:14:11.759 Well, I know some of them, but I'm sure there are people in this room who need to hear that. 00:14:12.899 --> 00:14:16.319 Perhaps you're crushed, feeling like you've let God down. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:18.439 Maybe you think you're a terrible Christian. 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:21.879 Maybe you think that the best solution is just to hide in the shadows. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:23.099 I'm going to arrive late at church. 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:23.839 I'm going to leave early. 00:14:24.199 --> 00:14:25.659 I just hope nobody talks to me. 00:14:26.339 --> 00:14:28.219 Nobody asks me what I've been doing this week. 00:14:29.079 --> 00:14:33.500 Well, justification by faith says that trusting in Christ, you have peace with God. 00:14:34.419 --> 00:14:35.519 Through the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:39.599 And it cannot be taken away by your works because you did not receive it through them. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:41.879 That's the first challenge. 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:44.059 Second challenge, suffering. 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:46.039 Look down where we left it off in verse two. 00:14:46.839 --> 00:14:50.740 And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 00:14:51.339 --> 00:14:55.099 Not only so, but we glory in our sufferings. 00:14:55.219 --> 00:15:00.860 Because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. 00:15:00.860 --> 00:15:09.620 And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 00:15:10.659 --> 00:15:15.500 Now, I'm going to ask you to work hard just for a few moments, just to think carefully about how these sentences work. 00:15:16.300 --> 00:15:18.440 The first sentence there is a summary. 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:21.700 We boast in the hope of the glory of God, he says. 00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:23.220 Look at what's going on, right? 00:15:23.259 --> 00:15:24.600 This is a rejoicing. 00:15:24.680 --> 00:15:27.300 This is an expressed confidence in future hope. 00:15:27.680 --> 00:15:29.080 The future is amazing. 00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:30.840 Look at where I'm going. 00:15:31.280 --> 00:15:32.680 Look at what's before me. 00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:35.879 I'm boasting in the hope of the glory of God. 00:15:36.280 --> 00:15:38.660 Look, God's greatness and glory. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:39.940 That's my destiny. 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:41.040 That's where I'm going. 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:43.980 That's my hope and my confident expectation. 00:15:45.180 --> 00:15:48.740 And what you need to see next then is that Paul essentially repeats that same idea. 00:15:49.060 --> 00:15:51.820 He repeats the word boast in the next sentence in verse three. 00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:57.420 The NIV translators, for reasons best understood by themselves, I don't know, they have translated the word glory. 00:15:57.419 --> 00:15:58.899 But it's really the same word. 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:01.000 It's boasting here, too. 00:16:01.459 --> 00:16:03.459 But notice it's not boasting in hope. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:04.059 What is it? 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:06.539 Boasting in suffering. 00:16:07.419 --> 00:16:09.799 We glory in our sufferings, he says. 00:16:09.939 --> 00:16:11.039 Now, that's strange, isn't it? 00:16:11.899 --> 00:16:13.120 Hey, look. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.639 Look at all these terrible things that are happening to me. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:16.360 Isn't it brilliant? 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:19.399 Well, why is he suggesting that? 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:21.419 Well, notice how it works. 00:16:21.500 --> 00:16:28.579 It's because in his mind, boasting in suffering is essentially exactly the same as boasting in hope. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:29.439 How so? 00:16:29.659 --> 00:16:30.379 Well, read on. 00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:38.519 Because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. 00:16:39.220 --> 00:16:42.039 You see, this isn't boasting despite suffering. 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:43.419 You might understand that, mightn't you, right? 00:16:43.439 --> 00:16:44.159 People can do that. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:48.139 You know, life's pretty hard now, but I've got some things to look forward to. 00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:49.759 So I'm going to ignore the pain. 00:16:49.839 --> 00:16:50.759 I'm just going to get on with things. 00:16:50.839 --> 00:16:51.579 It's not that. 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:57.919 More than that, it's that suffering itself is such a factory of hope. 00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:01.299 Suffering is a hope producer, if you like. 00:17:01.299 --> 00:17:03.719 And the production line goes, what? 00:17:04.019 --> 00:17:07.759 Suffering, perseverance, character, hope. 00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:08.819 That's how it works. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:11.680 Now, you know that, don't you? 00:17:12.579 --> 00:17:17.539 Suffering builds hope by forcing us into this prayerful reliance on God. 00:17:17.899 --> 00:17:23.419 A reliance which perseveres because it shreds itself of any self-confidence and has put its hope in God alone. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.379 You know, when life is very hard, when you can't go on, 00:17:26.380 --> 00:17:32.260 when the pain, be it physical or emotional, is completely overwhelming, you collapse into God, don't you? 00:17:32.840 --> 00:17:35.700 And that kind of perseverance produces character. 00:17:36.120 --> 00:17:38.060 Not as in godly characteristics. 00:17:38.380 --> 00:17:42.540 It's not so much here that suffering is teaching you life lessons, right? 00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:43.900 Making you a better person. 00:17:44.380 --> 00:17:46.300 Suffering does do that, doesn't it? 00:17:46.320 --> 00:17:48.640 But that's not Paul's point here, I don't think. 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:52.480 Rather, the word here, character, means a kind of provenness. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:58.019 It means a proof that it's real, that you are the good soil of Jesus' parable. 00:17:58.120 --> 00:18:00.960 You are tried and tested and proven. 00:18:01.860 --> 00:18:04.660 And that provenness, he says, produces hope. 00:18:04.860 --> 00:18:07.420 Because it shows you that you are not what you were. 00:18:07.940 --> 00:18:09.019 You've been changed. 00:18:09.559 --> 00:18:12.019 Justification by faith has made a difference to me. 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:13.779 And this is the key to this. 00:18:13.860 --> 00:18:14.779 Look down at verse 5. 00:18:14.860 --> 00:18:15.460 Why is that? 00:18:15.460 --> 00:18:22.180 Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 00:18:23.339 --> 00:18:24.420 In other words, right? 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:33.059 Suffering produces perseverance, character, and a certain hope because we're not on our own in the suffering. 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:40.539 But because through justification by faith, God the Spirit comes to dwell in us as a taste of what's to come. 00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:46.259 Let me try and give you an illustration so that we can all catch up a little bit. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:47.839 Imagine it like this with me. 00:18:48.639 --> 00:18:50.720 Imagine that you're a soldier on the front line. 00:18:51.179 --> 00:18:52.720 And you're fighting in the trenches. 00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:55.139 Your bombs are raining down. 00:18:55.619 --> 00:18:56.679 Mud is stuck to your boots. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:58.139 You're constantly cold. 00:18:58.259 --> 00:18:59.259 You're perpetually hungry. 00:18:59.819 --> 00:19:04.139 But in your pocket is a picture of your beloved girlfriend. 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:10.740 And written on the back of the picture are the words, we will marry when you come home. 00:19:12.300 --> 00:19:16.700 And as you look at it, you realize, don't you, this is what I long for. 00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:22.120 And the more that the bombs fall, the more you look at the picture. 00:19:22.780 --> 00:19:27.060 The colder it gets, the more you long for the warmth of her embrace. 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:29.200 And that's it here. 00:19:29.879 --> 00:19:32.519 We don't have a picture in our pockets of God, do we? 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:36.200 But we have God by his Spirit dwelling in our hearts. 00:19:36.639 --> 00:19:44.359 And even as we suffer, as the bombs and tirades and coldness of suffering and pain and emotional difficulty 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:50.240 and relational breakdown and fights and quarrels and struggles, as they rain down on us, 00:19:51.819 --> 00:19:55.240 well, we take the picture out of our pocket and go, this is what I long for. 00:19:55.939 --> 00:19:57.339 This is who I long for. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:03.279 I realize that the blessings of health or wealth or success, those aren't real treasure. 00:20:03.339 --> 00:20:04.379 Those are flimsy delights. 00:20:04.439 --> 00:20:05.740 There's another one gone blowing up. 00:20:06.439 --> 00:20:08.099 Treasure with God is what it is. 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.839 Being with God, the God who is with me now by his Spirit, 00:20:11.959 --> 00:20:14.279 is a taster of the glorious treasure that will be mine. 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:22.759 It's perhaps worth pointing out just at this point that actually this is a Bible theme. 00:20:23.379 --> 00:20:28.459 The idea that we can rejoice in the midst of suffering because of what it teaches us about who God is 00:20:28.459 --> 00:20:32.039 and how it makes us long for glory is something Jesus says as well. 00:20:33.159 --> 00:20:34.699 He says this in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:20:34.959 --> 00:20:39.119 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.779 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 00:20:42.779 --> 00:20:46.200 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 00:20:46.879 --> 00:20:50.079 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 00:20:50.859 --> 00:20:53.359 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown merciful. 00:20:54.019 --> 00:20:56.119 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:59.079 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. 00:20:59.639 --> 00:21:03.579 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:21:03.579 --> 00:21:10.539 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 00:21:11.539 --> 00:21:17.119 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:28.119 I am sure that the frequency of these reminders in scriptures mean that our tendency is to forget this, right? 00:21:28.719 --> 00:21:30.659 That's why it's written over and over again. 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:34.979 Good theology in many ways is preparation for suffering, isn't it? 00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:38.860 And so perhaps for you this morning, maybe you need to hear this especially. 00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:48.079 That the grief, the loss, the abuse, the poor health, the emotional trauma, the neglect, the poverty, the persecution, the relational hurt that you've experienced. 00:21:48.740 --> 00:21:54.059 All of those, because of justification by faith, comes with the presence of the Spirit. 00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:57.339 All of those things are a factory of hope. 00:21:57.339 --> 00:22:02.599 And so perhaps this morning, maybe you just need to take the picture out of your pocket again. 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:05.720 Just have another look at what's set before you. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:08.500 I'm going to be with the Lord. 00:22:09.879 --> 00:22:13.819 I'm going to be with him who dwells in me now by his Spirit. 00:22:15.159 --> 00:22:16.519 There's nothing better than that. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:22.639 I stand in grace, and I will be with my Lord, even as he's with me now. 00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:25.720 So that's the second test, suffering. 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:29.460 Guilt, suffering, third test, death, death. 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:33.259 There's no doubt, is there, that death is a scary prospect. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.759 I don't think we'd be thinking straight if we didn't think so. 00:22:37.299 --> 00:22:43.360 Everything in us as humans is repelled by the idea why so many efforts are put into avoiding it. 00:22:43.940 --> 00:22:45.980 But in the Bible, death is not the end of life. 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:47.299 It is the beginning of eternity. 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:53.079 Eternity is set in the human heart so that the Bible says that everyone who ever lived will live eternally, 00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:59.119 either in the joyful presence of the God who made them or excluded from his gracious presence. 00:22:59.740 --> 00:23:03.419 And that eternal fate, we're told, is sealed at death. 00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:05.119 No second chances. 00:23:05.659 --> 00:23:06.419 No purgatory. 00:23:07.899 --> 00:23:15.220 Now, we've seen in Romans so far that justification by faith is the verdict of the day when we stand before God, 00:23:15.659 --> 00:23:17.759 received now, ahead of time. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:25.160 So justification by faith is us receiving the not guilty verdict of judgment day, even ahead of that day, 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:28.519 so that we might know today that we're going to be safe then. 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.799 But in the end of the section, Paul basically asks, how can you be sure? 00:23:32.379 --> 00:23:34.200 How can you be really sure? 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:38.799 How can you know that justification by faith is solid enough to last you on that day? 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.519 Listen to Paul's answer, verse 6. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:24:11.500 He says, 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:12.200 We were his enemies. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:15.259 We were joining him with a crowd shouting, crucify, crucify. 00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:16.859 Who would die for wicked people like that? 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:19.119 Nobody, says verse 7. 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:28.099 If you saw a small child fall into the canal, you might risk your own life and jump in after them to drag them out and put them on the side. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.019 You might do that. 00:24:30.420 --> 00:24:36.220 If you saw a man stab a child and then fall into the canal, you would certainly let him drown. 00:24:36.220 --> 00:24:44.180 But God's love is seen in the cost of justification against the backdrop of our wickedness. 00:24:44.180 --> 00:24:50.380 God dived into our sinful world to give his life for undeserving sinners like us. 00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:54.000 The highest cost paid for the least deserving. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:06.960 Now, if that's what God did for us, this side of eternity, if he reconciled us to himself like that, if he did that while we were sinners, so now that we're friends, don't you think that now we're his friends, he'll bring us into glory? 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:07.720 Verse 9. 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:16.720 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath, this future judgment, through him? 00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:25.500 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? 00:25:26.259 --> 00:25:29.000 This is the greater to lesser argument that we were looking at with the kids. 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:32.059 If you can lift a sack of potatoes, you can lift a potato. 00:25:32.059 --> 00:25:38.319 If you died for sinners, don't you think you can bring friends to glory? 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:40.059 Of course you can. 00:25:40.179 --> 00:25:41.139 The work has been done. 00:25:41.740 --> 00:25:42.740 The effort has been made. 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:44.220 The big barrier has been jumped. 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:48.099 So the hymn writer can say, no guilt in life, no fear in death. 00:25:48.579 --> 00:25:50.159 This is the hope of Christ in me. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:52.139 So there it is, right? 00:25:52.379 --> 00:25:53.980 Justification by faith in the real world. 00:25:54.339 --> 00:25:55.980 You struggle with sin and guilt. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:58.819 We suffer and we die. 00:25:59.659 --> 00:26:01.460 Justification brings peace for the guilty. 00:26:02.779 --> 00:26:04.599 Suffering becomes a factory of hope. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.279 And we know we'll be safe when we die. 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:10.240 Because God has done the greater thing for us. 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:18.539 Let me just say as we close, one of the great concerns of the Bible is that you and I, left to our own devices, will forget that. 00:26:19.619 --> 00:26:21.480 We won't build our life around it. 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:26.680 But the danger is that you listen to a sermon like this and you think, do you know what, I've learned nothing this morning. 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:28.519 And that might well be true. 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:32.440 I don't purport to stand up here and tell you stuff you've not heard of before. 00:26:32.940 --> 00:26:37.940 Mostly, most of what I say, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you'll have heard many times before. 00:26:37.940 --> 00:26:42.779 But the danger is not that you don't know it. 00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:45.000 The danger is you forget it. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.180 So what in the passage is the activity that Christians are doing? 00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:51.720 They're doing it three times. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:56.920 I think, maybe there's one exception, but I think it's really the only action that we're doing in the passage. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:58.359 What is the action that we're doing? 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:02.319 Boasting, right? 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:04.240 We're boasting. 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:06.539 We're boasting in hope in verse 2. 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:08.679 We're boasting in suffering in verse 3. 00:27:08.899 --> 00:27:10.839 We're boasting in God in verse 11. 00:27:11.659 --> 00:27:14.939 This is what you are to do in the light of justification by faith. 00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:16.980 Shout about it. 00:27:17.179 --> 00:27:17.919 That's what you're to do. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:19.960 Shout about its benefits. 00:27:20.639 --> 00:27:22.819 Shout to yourself as much as you shout to anybody. 00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:25.720 I have hope. 00:27:26.339 --> 00:27:29.659 My suffering is proving my hope. 00:27:29.660 --> 00:27:33.640 I am at peace with God. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:35.779 I have nothing to fear before him. 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:37.900 You could perhaps put it this way. 00:27:38.019 --> 00:27:41.580 God wants you to preach to yourself every day these great truths of the gospel. 00:27:42.080 --> 00:27:47.400 So that you hear them not just from me on a Sunday in a brief slot, but all the time. 00:27:48.100 --> 00:27:49.480 I stand in grace. 00:27:50.100 --> 00:27:52.560 I have hope in life and death. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:54.120 I belong to God. 00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:55.279 He's my friend. 00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:57.300 I'm reconciled to him. 00:27:57.300 --> 00:27:58.720 I will meet him. 00:27:59.660 --> 00:28:01.940 And I'm to boast. 00:28:02.940 --> 00:28:07.540 Boast to myself and to others at what Christ has done. 00:28:08.340 --> 00:28:09.100 Let me pray. 00:28:09.600 --> 00:28:12.300 And then we'll stand and sing as we respond. 00:28:12.299 --> 00:28:23.359 We'll just take a moment to pray in our own hearts. 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:26.200 We to respond to something that you've heard. 00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:49.980 Heavenly Father, it is astoundingly brilliant that people like us can have peace with you because of what you've done for us. 00:28:49.980 --> 00:29:01.360 It's even perhaps more incredible that the suffering of our lives are not destroying us, but are factories of hope. 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:19.459 And we live and die with this great confidence that you, having done this great thing of sending your son to die for us in your great love and mercy to us while we were your enemies, that now as your friends we shall be safe eternally. 00:29:19.460 --> 00:29:23.039 Lord, I pray that you'd impress these things on our hearts. 00:29:23.819 --> 00:29:27.259 Pray, Lord, just especially, maybe someone's learning them for the first time today. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:34.980 We pray that you might open their eyes to put their trust in Jesus and receive these great blessings, even as we pray in his name. 00:29:34.980 --> 00:29:36.079 Amen. 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:36.259 Amen.