WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:31.519 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:20.879 Let's just bow our heads in prayer for a moment. Father, you have made many very precious promises 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:28.079 and guarantees to us. And we confess before you, Father, that we keep forgetting your promises, 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:34.000 and we don't take you at your word. And so, Father, we know that you know our condition, 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:40.640 and we thank you for once again reminding us of these promises. We ask that your Holy Spirit would 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:46.719 bind these promises and these truths to our heart, that we might live out of them in our day-to-day lives. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:53.039 And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:05.280 So I have bad news for you today as a congregation. The scripture text that I'm going to be looking at 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:14.079 today is very, very, very abstract and like sort of an internal theological discussion that's really 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:20.080 very boring to most people because we're going to talk about suffering and how to have hope and 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:25.439 suffering. That was supposed to be a joke. Nobody laughed. There you go. We had one person laugh. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:31.840 There you go. So that's what the text is about today. It's about suffering. It's not the only thing 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:38.400 that the Bible says about suffering and about having hope, but it is an important thing that the Bible 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:45.120 says. It's part of a series of biblical teaching. So we're going to look at one part of how the Bible 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:51.520 helps us to understand suffering and how to live in the midst of suffering with hope. So if you have 00:02:51.520 --> 00:03:00.640 your Bibles, please turn with me to Romans chapter 5, verses 1 to 5. Romans chapter 5, verses 1 to 5. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:08.399 And it begins like this. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith. I could just pause here. 00:03:08.399 --> 00:03:15.919 Okay. Sorry. I know there's a handful of grammar nerds here. So this is for you. I think it's really 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:21.039 neat that this is like a double therefore. Like therefore and since are sort of the same thing 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:28.000 grammatically, very similar. So it's as if it says therefore, therefore. I chuckle at it. I don't know. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.280 I'm the only one. My wife often doesn't understand why I chuckle at things, but I chuckle at that. It's 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:37.159 just sort of neat, like a therefore, therefore. It also means it's pretty important, actually, 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:41.979 with the therefore since or therefore, therefore. Anyway, say it again. Therefore, since we have been 00:03:41.979 --> 00:03:47.840 justified by faith. So he's now saying we have been justified by faith sort of summarizes what's 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:54.060 been going on in the previous chapters. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:59.319 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's not going to jump right into suffering. It's going to 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:07.599 come up in a moment. And this is how he begins. And so what on earth does he mean by this? What does 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:15.120 it mean by justified and by faith and all of that? Well, here's what's sort of going on. It's been a 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:22.220 truism in certain sectors of Christianity for the last 50, 60, 70 years to make a simple statement 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:28.420 about how Jesus and following Jesus and being a Christian is completely different than all other 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:36.240 ways. So, for instance, Buddha teaches the way. He teaches the four noble paths that he's got as a 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:43.860 process of his illumination and meditation, etc., etc. Muhammad got his message. Believe it or not, 00:04:43.980 --> 00:04:49.940 the Quran teaches that Muhammad got his message from jinn and angels. Like jinn are like demons. 00:04:49.939 --> 00:04:56.040 But Muhammad doesn't get his message directly from God. That's what the Quran teaches, but from jinn and 00:04:56.040 --> 00:05:01.660 angels. And Muhammad points to the way in terms of how you're to live if you want to be made right 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:06.120 with God. And the prayers and the, you know, the Kabbalah and, I mean, you know, the circling around 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:12.420 the thing and all of that stuff. But Jesus and all of the different spiritualities and religions of 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:17.920 the world all involve saying, this is the way. Look over there. I know the way. It's over there 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:24.020 that way. And Jesus is completely and utterly unique. He doesn't say that. He says, I am the way. 00:05:25.580 --> 00:05:31.120 Every other way points to the way. Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:37.879 to the Father but by me. John chapter 14, verse 6. So, Jesus is the way. We have to be in Jesus 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:45.520 to actually be on the way, to actually make our way to God. And so, when it says here, 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:51.019 therefore, since we have been justified by faith, and we've been looking at this the previous weeks, 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:59.299 what this means is that we trust ourselves into union with Christ. We take Christ at his word. We 00:05:59.299 --> 00:06:04.819 believe and trust that God, when he says certain things, when Christ says certain things, we take 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:11.060 him at his word. We trust him. And it's a personal type of trust in the person and his message that he's 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:17.879 trustworthy. And it's just like all relationships of deep trust, that you not only, in a sense, 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:24.780 open yourself up to the other person, but the other person opens themselves up to you. And that 00:06:24.780 --> 00:06:30.939 is a tiny little bit of an image or a picture of what happens to us with God, that when we trust God 00:06:30.939 --> 00:06:36.899 at his word, trust Jesus at his message, trust this message that if we trust him, that Jesus will, 00:06:36.899 --> 00:06:42.560 has done everything that needs to be done for us to be made right with God, we enter into union with 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:50.659 him, enter into him, and he enters into us. And so, in a sense, in a very, very real sense, a mystical 00:06:50.659 --> 00:06:57.259 sense, but a true sense, not just mystical in terms of woo-woo-woo, but like, you know, it's reasonable, 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:05.479 but at the limits of our reason, that we now enter into him. So, the death he dies, he dies our death. 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:10.400 The punishment he takes is our punishment. His resurrection becomes our resurrection, 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:16.780 and it's because he is the way, and we have faith in and into him and his words. 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:23.300 And it says here, but therefore, since we have been justified by faith, and I haven't talked about 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:30.259 this very much, and justified sounds a bit weird. And, you know, some of you who know from other church 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:35.060 traditions, they always talk about the justified bit and never the righteousness bit. But here's the 00:07:35.060 --> 00:07:39.980 thing. All the way through the book of Romans, when you see the word justified or righteousness or 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:45.680 made right, it's the same word in the original language. And what the different translations are 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:52.340 trying to get at are two different important aspects of this singular idea. And maybe to get at it would 00:07:52.340 --> 00:08:01.579 be to describe that, like a coin. And if Jesus is the coin of great price, and I, passing on the 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:06.979 message of who Jesus is, I give you the coin. And that's not just me giving it, it's the Holy Spirit 00:08:06.979 --> 00:08:11.859 giving you the coin, and you receive this coin. And if you look on one side of the coin, it said, 00:08:12.099 --> 00:08:17.860 made right with God. And if you look on the other side, it says, justified. So, what are these two 00:08:17.860 --> 00:08:22.759 ideas getting at? These two ideas are getting at this. The fundamental idea is that you're now made 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:30.439 right with God, right? So, it's as if you're in, you know, problems with an organization or whatever, 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:34.240 and you go and you deal with it. At the end of the day, okay, things are all, they're right now, 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:40.319 it's all right. Things are settled. It's all right. It's right. And that's what it's saying, 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:47.419 is what God does for us in the person of Jesus is what makes us right with God. And the word 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:54.759 justified implies an official proclamation and declaration. Another way to put it would be that 00:08:54.759 --> 00:09:01.120 that, so that's on one side of the coin, George is now right with God. And you look at the other 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:06.459 side of the coin, and it says that George is justified, which means that there has been a 00:09:06.459 --> 00:09:13.639 formal declaration, proclamation, and guarantee from God himself that you are right with him 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:22.039 and are his forever. It's a formal public proclamation, declaration from God himself, 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:30.179 guarantee from God himself that George is right with him, Daniel is right with him, Deborah, 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:37.299 Jono, Andrew, they are right with him forever. And you use a type of picture language to make it like 00:09:37.299 --> 00:09:43.340 a bit of a story. It will be as if when I finally appear before God face to face in heaven, 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:48.620 and I go in heaven, and there's a big, big sign. And on that big sign, it says, 00:09:49.060 --> 00:09:58.019 on November 5th, 1972, I, God, proclaim and declare that George, and guarantee that George is right 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:06.379 with me from all eternity. And we all go there. And I can go with Laurier and Andrea, and Andrea can, 00:10:06.420 --> 00:10:09.940 hey, look, there's my sign over there. And Laurier can, hey, look, there's my sign over there, 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:16.660 you know? And I look, and there's my sign over there. And that's, it's a formal public guarantee 00:10:16.660 --> 00:10:21.240 and proclamation. And so sometimes when the Romans is translating the word as justified, 00:10:21.900 --> 00:10:28.480 it could also be translated as righteousness-fied, or righteousness-fied, which of course doesn't exist 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.080 as a word. But it's always the same word. It's just trying to capture these two different elements 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:41.879 of the same reality and precious truth, that that is what God has done. When I put my faith and trust 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:48.480 in Christ, I take God at his word, and it's not just believing him, but believing into him, and he 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:56.100 comes into me, and this union with Christ occurs, and that is now this new reality that I am in, 00:10:56.100 --> 00:11:03.040 that you are in, when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. So it's a formal public 00:11:03.040 --> 00:11:12.399 declaration and guarantee from God himself that you are right with him for all eternity. And so that's 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:19.399 this profound, profound truth. And now what Paul is going to say is, if this is true, listen to it 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:24.320 again, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, he's now going to paint three different 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:30.040 pictures, or another way to understand it as three different metaphors, or another way to understand 00:11:30.040 --> 00:11:36.940 it as three different narratives, or stories that we tell that flow from this profound truth, 00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:43.800 part of the benefits or new reality that we live in when we put our faith and trust in Christ in such 00:11:43.800 --> 00:11:49.580 a way for saving faith. You know, sometimes you use the word metaphor, and people might not know what 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:53.860 that is, but the fact is that we tell ourselves stories all the time, right? So, you know, 00:11:53.860 --> 00:12:00.419 somebody ignores us at the coffee shop, and we tell ourselves a story. Oh, they ignored us because 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:04.960 they don't like us, right? We're always telling narratives about things that go on. Or, you know, 00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:10.720 that person's, you know, smiled at me, oh, that means this. Or, you know, my boss emailed others 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:15.759 and didn't email me, and we have narratives about it. So it's what Paul is going to do now is there's 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:22.779 this profound truth, put your faith into Christ, Jesus is the way, and you are now made right with 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:29.019 him. And just so you know, in heaven, there was a formal public proclamation declaration that you 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:34.639 are right with God forever, all eternity, because you have put your faith into Christ. And there's 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:39.559 sort of three different narratives or metaphors that help you to understand a little bit more what 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:46.240 that means in terms of the richness of what Christ has accomplished. So let's just read this in verses 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:51.240 one and two. We'll read verses one and two. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:58.279 here's the first one, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the second 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:05.940 one. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And here's 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:12.659 the third one. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The three sort of different narratives 00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:19.299 or metaphors as to this, that part of this big reality, right? Justified by faith, it's a tiny 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:26.319 word, but it's a huge reality. And so, you know, Romans is going to help keep stretching our minds 00:13:26.319 --> 00:13:32.980 and stretching our hearts and stretching our knowledge and our imagination with these, you know, 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:40.039 profound truths. And so the first one is this, right, is that we have peace with God through our Lord 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:45.879 Jesus Christ. And what you need to understand about that is this peace with God is objective, 00:13:46.539 --> 00:13:57.059 not subjective, but it has subjective consequences. The peace with God is objective, not subjective, 00:13:57.819 --> 00:14:07.599 but it has subjective consequences. This is such a beautiful idea. Like so much of the advice that we 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:12.779 give each other and secular advice, and there's a lot of secular advice, which is very, very helpful. 00:14:12.920 --> 00:14:20.120 I learn lots by reading novels and stuff like that, and reading different, you know, columnists and op-ed 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:27.000 people and bloggers and sub-stack people. I learn lots from lots of different people. And it's all very 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:32.399 precious. But a lot of it is at a very superficial surface type of level. And this is something very, 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:40.799 very profound. God cares about surfaces. He gave me one. He gave you one to the outside of your body. 00:14:40.959 --> 00:14:46.939 But he cares for all of you, all the way into your very, very, very, very depths. And so what this is 00:14:46.939 --> 00:14:53.199 saying is that, you know, when you have peace with God, when I say that peace with God is objective, 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:59.360 not subjective, this is really opening up to a very profound truth. Because the Bible teaches, 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:06.200 like our world basically teaches that the way to understand things is that life is one dang thing 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:10.080 after another. They wouldn't say dang, they'd say another word, but I can't say that in church. 00:15:10.779 --> 00:15:15.860 And I shouldn't say it generally, by the way. Life is one dang thing after another, and then you die. 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:20.240 Right? But the Bible says that's not the right way. That's not the real world. 00:15:21.340 --> 00:15:26.800 If you think the world is one dang thing after another, then you die, you're the one living in 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:33.000 unreality. Because that's not the real world. The real world, there is a creator who's created all 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:38.279 things. You know, it's very, very interesting. A lot of meditation techniques that are designed, 00:15:38.479 --> 00:15:43.740 like a sort of a lot of, if you were to Google how to have peace, what you get is a lot of, 00:15:43.859 --> 00:15:48.799 I guess one way to put it is secular Buddhist thought, a bit of some aspects of Buddhism with 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:55.039 some therapeutic stuff, and maybe a little odd Christian idea sprinkled all into something. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:00.219 But one of the things about it is that they all emphasize, and the new interest in Stoicism, 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:05.799 they're all emphasizing that you deal with the givenness of the world in different ways. 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:10.980 Right? Mindfulness is trying to separate yourself from your experience in your life and being able 00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:16.240 to view things and see the givenness of things so you can live in the present. But here's the 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:24.179 problem with all secular, Buddhistic type of thought. They emphasize givenness, not realizing that if you 00:16:24.179 --> 00:16:34.519 have givenness, you have a giver. You can't have givenness without a giver. And they want to just 00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:43.059 have the givenness without ever talking about the giver. This is deep in that it says you have objective 00:16:43.059 --> 00:16:50.000 peace with God because you have peace with the giver, the creator and sustainer and redeemer. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:01.220 So the peace you have with God is eternal and transcendent and imminent because it is with the giver 00:17:01.220 --> 00:17:08.279 and it's objective. Now it's going to have hopefully part of growing in Christ, and we're going to talk 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:13.579 about this in a moment. It starts to have some types of subjective consequences in terms of how you feel. 00:17:13.579 --> 00:17:21.139 But it's not actually talking about feeling peace. It's actually being at peace with God because of 00:17:21.139 --> 00:17:26.699 the fact that you are justified by faith into Christ. And then the second thing, and this is 00:17:26.699 --> 00:17:33.879 important, it's in all of the ideas. It's in the idea of justified. It's in the idea of peace. It's in 00:17:33.879 --> 00:17:41.779 the next two ideas. And it's really, really important. You know, I've talked to several people over the last 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:47.639 year or two, and it gets to the point about me talking about Christianity, and they come up and they just say, 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:57.039 you know what, I could never do that. I'm not like you. I couldn't do this. Like, I can't have that type of faith, 00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:03.759 and I can't have these things happen to me. I just can't accomplish them. It's a very, very common reaction to 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:10.039 hearing about the Christian faith and this message. But the message here, and it's seen in the original 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:16.680 language of this next phrase, that it's always a matter not of me climbing, but of God carrying me. 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:24.279 If my relationship with God was connected to me being able to climb up towards him, 00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:36.319 boy, am I in trouble. I would fail every day, and I'd start, I'd fail even trying. Like, I'm in big 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:43.099 trouble. But if it's being carried, that's a completely different truth. And what you need to 00:18:43.099 --> 00:18:46.099 understand, it's going to be very important when you get into the suffering thing as well, 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:52.480 is that at the end of the day, the primary way to understand the world is that God is the giver that 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.539 we're receiving gifts from him. That's what we talked about a lot in Ecclesiastes. It's the pattern 00:18:56.539 --> 00:19:02.380 of salvation as well. And it's not a matter of me climbing or accomplishing. If it's a matter of me 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:08.420 climbing and accomplishing, I can look down my nose at other people, and I can feel superior. But if it's 00:19:08.420 --> 00:19:17.319 in fact that I can only be carried, and that every single person can only be carried, I have absolutely 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:27.619 no grounds to ever boast in anything about myself. And I can be like in Spurgeon's image that all I am 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:34.839 is one beggar telling another beggar where to find free bread or to change the image. I am one hopeless, 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:42.720 failed beggar telling other hopeless, failed beggars where you can go to have God carry you into his 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:52.980 presence. That's all we can do. He carries. I don't climb. And we see that in this next little bit. It's 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:59.420 more in the original language. It's not here in the English. It goes like this. Verse 2, through him, 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:07.059 or in him, or by him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. 00:20:07.059 --> 00:20:14.779 So you are carried by God himself into the presence of God himself to stand without fear 00:20:14.779 --> 00:20:23.079 of him and with full access to him. This is a very profound truth. By the way, just as an aside, 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:28.980 it's one of the reasons why most of the early church and Protestants don't believe that you should pray to 00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:35.539 saints. Like in heaven, I'm going to be standing beside Mary and Paul and John. 00:20:35.539 --> 00:20:46.019 equally standing beside them. And this is profound, profound truth. You get to stand. When you are 00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:53.619 justified with Christ, you actually now, as far as God is concerned, you can come into his presence and 00:20:53.619 --> 00:20:59.539 you can stand. And you don't stand on your own accomplishments. You stand in grace. And you have 00:20:59.539 --> 00:21:07.920 full access to him to pour out your heart in your troubles, in your sorrows, pour out your heart 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:13.940 about his glory. There's nothing too small. I didn't tell you that. You know, I mentioned how when I went 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:19.559 to Tucson, I had all this terrible experience. And rather than getting there at 11, you know, 15 in the 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:25.859 afternoon, I got there 11, 15 p.m. And I called in advance because I'm going to a retreat center. And I 00:21:25.859 --> 00:21:30.419 wasn't sure if they'd even have the doors open for me. And so they said they'd leave the door open for 00:21:30.419 --> 00:21:36.659 me with my keys. And it's like a retreat compound. So that, you know, accommodation is scattered all 00:21:36.659 --> 00:21:45.699 over. And everything is dark. And I pull up. I've never been there before in my entire life. Everything 00:21:45.700 --> 00:21:55.340 is dark. And it's like 1130 at night, quarter to 12. Everything is dark. I get my key and my map to 00:21:55.340 --> 00:22:04.059 my room. And I go outside. And everything's dark. I can't see where anything is. And I'm worried about 00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:10.400 rattlesnakes because I'm a wimp, okay? But they have rattlesnakes there. So, and I'm wandering around. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:14.660 I'm trying this. I'm trying that. I couldn't figure out what to do. And like, I'm just, I'm dumb in two 00:22:14.660 --> 00:22:20.400 senses. I'm just sharing with you in case any of you are dumb. I said, God, I need your help for this 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:26.980 to find the room. That's what I, I literally said, God, I need your help. And then almost instantly, 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:32.120 it was as if God said, look at the map. And I looked at the map. And there's a north sign. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:40.519 And then I think, my phone has a compass. I get out my compass. I realize that all of my attempt to 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:48.099 look was completely backwards. And I look, and then I see outlined by the stars, a tiny shape of a roof. 00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:54.920 And I find my building. You have access to faith for the most trivial things. 00:22:56.259 --> 00:23:00.940 And for the really, really, really big things in life. And it's a little bit like, you know, 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.920 for Louise and me, when our grandchildren come to visit us, and not just our grandchildren, 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:12.200 but our children, it's like, we're so glad you're here. Like, we're so glad you're here. 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:17.460 And that's what God is like with us. When you're justified by faith in Christ, 00:23:17.700 --> 00:23:22.620 you have full access. He brings you into his presence, and you stand on grace. 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:27.000 And he's so delighted you're there to pour out your heart to him and to praise him. 00:23:28.100 --> 00:23:31.600 Like, isn't that, isn't that so beautiful? Like, I just think it's so beautiful. Like, 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:37.359 we don't know that and believe that enough. And then the next thing, the third thing is this. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:43.299 So we'll read verse 2 again. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace which 00:23:43.299 --> 00:23:49.839 we stand. And that's the second thing. And the third thing is, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 00:23:51.199 --> 00:23:57.779 And this is something which Protestants don't think about enough, is that, in a sense, 00:23:57.779 --> 00:24:06.119 you were made to glory in his glory and glory into his glory. You were made, I don't have the points 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:10.339 up because I just got my points sort of sorted out this morning. I didn't have time to email them. 00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:16.299 Maybe I'll put them up for those who are interested. But you were made to glory in his glory and glory 00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:21.559 into his glory. Like, you see, all three tenses of salvation here. You're made right with God 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:27.619 when you put your faith and trust into Christ. When you have peace with God and access to God and 00:24:27.619 --> 00:24:32.679 rejoice in him, that means you're becoming more like Christ, sanctification and glorification. 00:24:33.579 --> 00:24:41.299 We were made to glory in his glory and glory into his glory, to be filled with his glory, 00:24:41.859 --> 00:24:47.720 and to be in the glory of the triune God without embarrassment. And that's what we're made for. 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:54.319 That's what heaven will be like. And it's just to picture this, the glory of God and the glory of 00:24:54.319 --> 00:25:01.799 the new creation. And we see him and glory in him. And that glory fills us, shapes us, directs us. 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:07.740 It is the narrative of our lives. And that is for all eternity. And there is no end to the beauty 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:17.299 and splendor and glory of the triune God. Amen. Isn't that just fantastic? 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:23.700 Now, there's probably lots of questions you've had about all of this. But one obvious question 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:28.620 would be, and I can just think of one of the people that I've shared the gospel with several 00:25:28.620 --> 00:25:33.519 times, and I know what his response would be with this, would be this. Okay, George, 00:25:35.120 --> 00:25:40.160 I mean, if that's true, why the heck have you suffered the way you've suffered different times? 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:45.040 And why is it that I know a couple of Christians and they've suffered? And why is it that I saw a 00:25:45.040 --> 00:25:49.740 news report? They must have been looking at a U.S. news report because Canada hardly talks about the 00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:54.700 number, the hundreds of Christians that were killed in Nigeria, northern Nigeria over Easter, 00:25:55.140 --> 00:25:59.519 being ignored by the world. But it's a terrible thing going on there. Why does that happen to 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:00.700 Christians if all that's true? 00:26:00.700 --> 00:26:09.340 That's a great question. In fact, the Bible now is going to go to it. Look at what Paul does next 00:26:09.340 --> 00:26:21.200 with verses 3 to 5. So, 3 to 5, not only that, what he's just talked about, but we rejoice in our 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:27.860 sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, 00:26:27.859 --> 00:26:35.519 and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:41.299 into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. I'll read it again. 00:26:42.740 --> 00:26:49.819 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 00:26:50.740 --> 00:26:57.619 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, 00:26:57.859 --> 00:27:03.339 because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:10.740 So, what's going on here? So, the first thing is the word suffering is a good word. Some of you who 00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:15.379 like the King James Version of the Bible will notice that it's translated as tribulation. They're both 00:27:15.379 --> 00:27:20.279 good words. And in fact, in some ways, you need both words to understand the idea in the original 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:25.539 language. The problem with just using the word tribulation is it can make people feel like 00:27:25.539 --> 00:27:30.319 Christians are like Superman, and as long as there's no kryptonite, everything just bounces off of you, 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:38.920 you know? And suffering can be problematic because it makes it look like just purely a personal thing 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:44.399 that doesn't have anything going on with your life. So, that's the two ideas together here in the 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:52.019 particular word. And what it's saying is that Christians do have times when they have huge financial 00:27:52.019 --> 00:28:00.080 setbacks. They sometimes have to deal with famine, persecution, and war. They have to deal with the 00:28:00.080 --> 00:28:06.280 breakup of marriages. They have to deal with their kids getting sick or their spouse getting very, 00:28:06.360 --> 00:28:13.580 very sick. They have to deal with unemployment. They have to deal with running into debt and financial 00:28:13.579 --> 00:28:19.500 problems. I don't have to go on. I can go on if you want, but those things all happen to Christians. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:27.619 And it's not then that verses 1 and 2 of Romans are false because those bad things happen. I'm going 00:28:27.619 --> 00:28:32.559 to talk about it more in the weeks to come, but all the way through this, the Bible has this idea of 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:40.919 the already not yet. And the already not yet means it is already the case that God has put a sign in 00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:48.580 heaven publicly declaring that George is right with him and he publicly proclaims it and he's 00:28:48.580 --> 00:28:54.980 guaranteeing that this will be true of me for all eternity. And it's already, in fact, completely and 00:28:54.980 --> 00:29:00.300 utterly true in the heavens and in reality that I, because of that, have access to God to pour out my 00:29:00.300 --> 00:29:06.940 heart to him. These things are all completely true. But God has not made me like Jesus yet. 00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:17.940 It's already true, but it's not yet true. I still have to deal with the sin and problems and hard 00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:23.840 times in my life. Why is that the case? The only quick answer that I have is that I think that if 00:29:23.840 --> 00:29:28.460 God, the second you gave your life to Jesus, God just instantly raptured you up to heaven, 00:29:30.019 --> 00:29:34.980 like that was to happen, then two types of things would happen. A whole pile of people would want to 00:29:34.980 --> 00:29:40.099 say the right words so they get out of this mess into heaven, not because they want God or they 00:29:40.099 --> 00:29:45.720 know their unworthiness, but just merely to get the goodies. You know, it'd be as almost as if, 00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.680 if you find out that somebody's a billionaire and you want to divorce your current spouse to marry 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:53.380 that person, not because you love that person, but because you'd like to have a billion dollars 00:29:53.380 --> 00:29:59.620 and you don't actually care about that person. The other type of thing is that salvation would be 00:29:59.619 --> 00:30:06.159 reduced to like the right code or buzzwords or spell, and we'd be spending our time trying to say the 00:30:06.159 --> 00:30:14.739 right words. Was it, no, grace, then faith, then no, no, it's grace, then no, no, right? And maybe that's 00:30:14.739 --> 00:30:23.379 why. We'll find out in heaven why. But that's the case. And so when it says here, not only that, 00:30:23.380 --> 00:30:29.740 but we rejoice in our sufferings, it's not calling us to be thankful for the sufferings that we're 00:30:29.740 --> 00:30:36.900 having, the tribulation that we have. We shouldn't say, oh God, I am so, so, so thankful that they laid 00:30:36.900 --> 00:30:45.080 me off at work and that my dog died and my car broke and my wife is thinking of leaving me. 00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:53.460 No, you don't say thank you to God for those things. That's not what it is. And rejoice as well, 00:30:53.679 --> 00:31:01.500 it's not a command to feel a particular emotion. It's not God saying, okay, feel joyful. It's not 00:31:01.500 --> 00:31:08.240 that at all. Rejoice, another word for rejoice is boast and it's to glory. And it's a type of speech. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:16.700 It's an internal speech or an external speech, which emphasizes the promises and the glory of God. 00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:22.000 In a sense, what it's saying is that all of what I described for the most part of this sermon in 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:29.039 Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, you do that when times are really good. It's important to do it when 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:34.740 times are really good because it will ground you. It will make you have an attitude of gratitude about 00:31:34.740 --> 00:31:39.940 what's going on. It will help to make you more humble and not have you be completely and utterly 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:45.660 full of yourself and obnoxious. But it's also important when things are going really, really, 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:54.240 really hard. Like, gosh, if you think about it, when on earth do you really need to understand that 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:59.460 you can stand in the presence of God with full access to him to pour out your heart than when you 00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:08.120 are in deep trouble. That's when you really need to do it. I mean, you need to do it 24-7, 365 days a 00:32:08.120 --> 00:32:13.240 year. But how do you face these things without knowing that you have a Father in heaven who loves 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:20.120 you, who when you come to him in prayer, it's like grandchildren coming to our house to see Louise 00:32:20.120 --> 00:32:26.220 during the day and she has the biggest smile in the world. She's so delighted. And that's God with you 00:32:26.220 --> 00:32:33.299 and me when we come into his presence to pray. We need it even more. We always need it. And we don't 00:32:33.299 --> 00:32:39.039 spend our time thanking God for the terrible things that are going on with us. We have full eyes. We 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:47.140 look at them. And this isn't a recipe to get numbed to things or to ignore things, but it's in fact 00:32:47.140 --> 00:32:55.240 how you frame the world and get the grit. You see that word encouragement? Another way to understand 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:59.920 those of you who like the two versions of the movie, true grit, you know when it says here, 00:33:00.460 --> 00:33:04.480 verse 3, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:09.380 and endurance produces character and character produces hope. Those two words, endurance and 00:33:09.380 --> 00:33:15.740 character, that's just like that young girl in those movies saying, I'm looking for a man with true grit. 00:33:17.620 --> 00:33:21.519 True grit. Who wouldn't want to have true grit? 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:29.400 And so the Bible isn't saying there's this naturalistic process that happens automatically 00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:34.079 with suffering. It's saying that when you are in suffering, all that's been described in verses 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:39.920 1 and 2 are still the way that you are to carry yourself. It is to remember what Christ has done 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:44.680 for you on the cross. It's to remember that you have a Father in heaven who loves you. It is to pour 00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:50.379 out your heart in prayer about the small details and the big details. It's about being honest with him 00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:56.440 about what you've contributed to your troubles and repent and ask for amendment of life. It is for 00:33:56.440 --> 00:34:01.860 him to help you in these things. It is to remember that the end of your story is not going to be that 00:34:01.860 --> 00:34:09.660 you are a failure, but that you in fact are going to be in his glory and into his glory, and that's the 00:34:09.660 --> 00:34:16.240 final word about you. I mean, one of the terrible things that the devil does to Christians is say to 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:21.759 them, George, I mean, this can happen to me, by the way, not because I'm George, but because I have to 00:34:21.759 --> 00:34:27.259 come to church. Like, I'm the pastor. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I can't call in to Josiah and say, 00:34:27.659 --> 00:34:31.819 Josiah, I've been really, really bad this week, and I'm really screwed up and depressed, so I'm going to 00:34:31.819 --> 00:34:38.519 give church a pass for a while until I've—I'm sort of stuck, right? I have to come. But I understand 00:34:38.519 --> 00:34:44.579 the feeling, by the way, let me tell you. But it's, you know, one of the things that the devil does to 00:34:44.579 --> 00:34:49.940 people is that he says to them, oh, gosh, you know what? You can't go to church. Boy, you can't go to 00:34:49.940 --> 00:34:53.599 church. Look at the state of your marriage. Look at the state of your finances. Look at the—look at 00:34:53.599 --> 00:35:00.820 this. Look at this. Like, you are screwed up. You're a screw-up. And he might even say another word, 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:06.880 you know, about it. You're a screw-up. But that's—that's not church. We should have a big—when we get a 00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:13.200 church building, maybe we should have a big sign that said, a place for screw-ups, losers, rejected, 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:24.920 abandoned, completely hopeless. This is your place. Come join us. Because, you see, here's one of the 00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:33.280 things that we can pray about as a church. It's like we come to God pouring out our hearts in these 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:37.920 times of great tribulation. And we'll be honest. You know, when you're having a real hard time like 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:42.400 that, it can sometimes be, if you're at all like me when I've had hard times like this, you can hardly 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:47.960 put three words together in a prayer. And that's one of the things that we can pray that we will be 00:35:47.960 --> 00:35:52.140 the type of church where you can come on a Sunday morning during coffee, you say to a person, 00:35:52.139 --> 00:35:59.219 I am so screwed up and I am so down, I can hardly put two words together in a prayer. 00:36:00.299 --> 00:36:01.699 Could you pray for me? 00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:08.179 You know, there's that image in the Old Testament of there's a battle and Moses, when he has the 00:36:08.179 --> 00:36:13.500 staff above his head, the Israelites are winning and when it falls, they lose. And so Joshua, and I 00:36:13.500 --> 00:36:18.099 can't remember the other fellow, come and prop up his arms. That should be a picture of what our 00:36:18.099 --> 00:36:25.380 church should be like. We should pray that we can be the type of church, not that people screw up and 00:36:25.380 --> 00:36:30.039 then they don't think they can come until they're unscrewed up. And by the way, good luck with that. 00:36:32.500 --> 00:36:36.599 The fact of the matter is, everybody's way more screwed up than you realize, right? 00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:40.739 Everyone looks normal until you get to normal. Everybody looks unscrewed up until you get to 00:36:40.739 --> 00:36:45.719 know them. Then you realize, boy, they're screwed up in some areas, right? I mean, that's just true, 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:50.879 right? I know that some people say churches should never say things like that, but then that's just 00:36:50.879 --> 00:36:55.619 churches telling you not to walk in the real world rather than just being, this is telling us we're 00:36:55.619 --> 00:37:00.359 having trouble. And you come to church and you say things like that and we pray that we're the type 00:37:00.359 --> 00:37:05.739 of church where we'll say, I would love to lift your arms when you can't pray. I will pray for you. 00:37:06.219 --> 00:37:12.719 You don't have to tell them the details. You don't have to use prayer requests as a form of gossiping. 00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:20.779 If a person really wants to know the details, just say, I think I'll have somebody else pray for me. 00:37:22.439 --> 00:37:26.839 You can just share, I'm really going through a hard time. Could you pray for me? 00:37:28.619 --> 00:37:33.539 And pray that we're the type of church that that can be shared and that we will pray for each other 00:37:33.539 --> 00:37:41.299 in such a place. You know, a lot of times in the world, I have to wrap this up, failure and being 00:37:41.300 --> 00:37:48.140 screwed up is treated as radioactive. You know, when I left the diocese, we had our legal struggles 00:37:48.140 --> 00:37:53.900 and left the diocese and all of that. And they didn't know, I think in the diocese, most people 00:37:53.900 --> 00:37:58.840 didn't know that the congregation walked with me, but they just knew that I was unemployed. That was 00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:03.760 from their point of view. And when you have that type of conflict and from their point of view, 00:38:03.820 --> 00:38:08.320 I was screwed up. I think I was actually the healthy one, but they would view me as screwed up. 00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:13.500 You know, out of the 100 and, you know, counting retired clergy, I don't know, 150, 200 clergy in 00:38:13.500 --> 00:38:19.059 the diocese, guess how many people contacted radioactive George? One. 00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:28.580 One person. And asked if he could bring me groceries. We all know that in life. 00:38:30.620 --> 00:38:34.500 You're not radioactive if you screw up. We want to be a place where you're not radioactive. 00:38:34.500 --> 00:38:41.199 And people, when they screw up, they think it's their fault. Or they look down, people look down 00:38:41.199 --> 00:38:47.940 their nose at you, they pity you, they jump on you, they laugh, they kick you, and all of those 00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:52.460 types of things. But the Bible here is saying something completely and utterly different. 00:38:53.019 --> 00:38:59.039 That as you try to embark and live a Romans 5, 1 and 2 life in the midst of your troubles, 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:04.719 look at the end of all of this in verse 5. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love 00:39:04.719 --> 00:39:10.059 has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. God is not thinking 00:39:10.059 --> 00:39:17.279 George is radioactive. God is not shaming me. God is not belittling me. God is not diminishing me. 00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:23.500 God is not calling me names. I come into God's presence and say, Lord, I need your help. 00:39:23.500 --> 00:39:30.159 And he helps me to stand. And he builds within me not something that I can do, but true grit. 00:39:30.579 --> 00:39:39.019 And his love is being poured into my heart and into yours. Not castigation and condemnation, 00:39:39.179 --> 00:39:42.000 but his love is poured into your hearts. 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:51.719 Isn't that just so beautiful? Like if you're here and you haven't given your life to Christ, 00:39:52.059 --> 00:39:59.420 like wouldn't you like that to be true? Wouldn't you like that to be the true story of the real world? 00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:07.300 And I have good news for you. This is the true story of the real world. Jesus really did live. 00:40:07.300 --> 00:40:13.640 He really did die. He really did rise from the dead. It's a constant shock to people when they 00:40:13.640 --> 00:40:18.680 look into the evidence, just how good the evidence is that he really did live, that he really did die 00:40:18.680 --> 00:40:26.000 and rise from the dead. It really is true. And nobody here is so passed over, so forgotten, 00:40:26.200 --> 00:40:33.980 so abandoned, so screwed up, so sinful, that me telling you this right now is not a message from God to you. 00:40:33.980 --> 00:40:37.940 Come to me. 00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:45.079 And I will accept you. Trust me at my word. 00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:48.639 I am completely dependable. 00:40:50.980 --> 00:40:52.039 Invite you to stand. 00:40:52.039 --> 00:41:04.960 Just before I pray, this week in my sermon, I've been saying either morning or evening prayer, 00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:12.880 the ancient morning and evening prayer thing, maybe five, four, five, six times a week for quite a few years now. 00:41:13.279 --> 00:41:19.860 And it dawned on me how morning prayer and evening prayer is structured around making this true. 00:41:19.860 --> 00:41:26.640 So you either, you know, you confess your sins or maybe do that in the morning, not the afternoon, 00:41:26.720 --> 00:41:30.900 but you go from the Lord's Prayer. And at the end of the Lord's Prayer, at the beginning of the service, 00:41:31.460 --> 00:41:33.059 you know, our Father who art in heaven, then it says, 00:41:33.059 --> 00:41:34.219 And then the next thing is, 00:41:34.219 --> 00:41:38.559 O Lord, open our lips, and our mouth shall show forth thy praise. 00:41:38.940 --> 00:41:42.619 O God, make speed to save us. O Lord, make haste to help us. 00:41:43.019 --> 00:41:47.119 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as was in the beginning, is now, 00:41:47.159 --> 00:41:52.179 and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Praise ye the Lord. The Lord's name be praised. 00:41:52.179 --> 00:41:59.739 This ancient liturgy developed as sort of synthesizing this ancient monastic tradition 00:41:59.739 --> 00:42:03.659 and bringing the gospel into it and making it that ordinary people like you and me, 00:42:04.480 --> 00:42:08.279 those guys writing that in 1500, they were smart. 00:42:09.879 --> 00:42:12.719 They structured it around the truths of this. 00:42:13.619 --> 00:42:14.279 Let's pray. 00:42:14.280 --> 00:42:20.980 Father, you know, some of us really need, all of us need this, Father, 00:42:21.100 --> 00:42:25.320 but you know some of us are maybe really going through a hard time with a bad health diagnosis 00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:29.420 or some terrible financial or employment news. 00:42:29.660 --> 00:42:36.080 And Father, we ask that you would turn all of our hearts to live out of the great truths of Romans 5, 1 and 2. 00:42:36.560 --> 00:42:40.740 And we ask, Father, that you would so work in us as a congregation 00:42:40.739 --> 00:42:47.359 that we, Father, are able to help each other in prayer 00:42:47.359 --> 00:42:49.939 and lift others up when they're going through hard times. 00:42:50.779 --> 00:42:55.099 That you help us, Father, to look at each other with, not with pity or superiority, 00:42:55.599 --> 00:42:57.719 but with eyes and hearts of compassion, 00:42:59.059 --> 00:43:01.539 that we might in compassion lift each other up. 00:43:02.259 --> 00:43:05.259 So, Father, we ask that you would do that wonderful work in our lives. 00:43:05.819 --> 00:43:08.899 And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. 00:43:08.900 --> 00:43:11.940 And all God's people said, Amen.