The best is yet to come Mark Stephens

Just over three months ago, it was New Year's Eve.

And on that night, you, because you're cool, would probably be doing all sorts of things.

If you're anything like me, you might have been asleep.

Because that's what I like to do on New Year's Eve, because my kids get up at 6.30 no matter what day of the year it is.

And so I need my beauty sleep.

But assuming your life isn't as tragically boring as mine, you might have been at something exciting like a New Year's party.

And at a New Year's party, it's an interesting kind of thing, because you start those parties by finishing off the year.

And you finish off those parties by starting the year.

And it's kind of like, what is the New Year's party about?

Is it actually about the year that's gone past?

Or is it about the year that's coming?

And I guess that kind of depends on the year you've had or the year you're looking forward to.

But most of the time, it's a transitional moment in your life.

You kind of go from one to the other and you're kind of like, hey, it started 2015 and now it's 2016.

And the text we're looking at today is a transition point in the book of Romans.

Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

And it's a chapter that both looks back and looks forward.

And it looks back because it nicely rounds off a bunch of themes that have been going on in Romans throughout chapters 1 to 4.

In those chapters, Paul has been outlining for us how God brings sinners back to himself.

But Romans also looks forward in chapter 5 because it prepares us for what happens in chapters 6 to 8.

And in chapters 6 to 8, it's all about how to live life once you've come to Christ.

Because here's the beautiful thing about Jesus.

Jesus didn't just come to fix up your mess and wipe your slate clean.

He came to do that and to give you new life in order to live for him.

And so my sermon today is going to try and do both of those things.

It's going to try and show you the glory of Jesus by demonstrating how he deals with your past, how he secures your future, but also how he transforms your present.

So let's start with our past by looking backwards.

Take a look with me at verse 1 of chapter 5.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith.

Now, what does Paul mean by this word justified here?

In the simplest terms possible, it means that God has declared us to be not guilty before him.

See, the wonder of justification is that the future verdict you might fear has already been given in the present.

If you are in Christ, there is now no longer any condemnation, both now and into the future.

You have been justified.

It is a settled fact in Christ.

And that verdict will not change because Christ will not change.

And what he's done on the cross and through the resurrection will not change.

If you are in Christ, the verdict on your acceptance has already been given.

No matter what you've done, no matter what you've become, Christ can make you right with God.

And everything that Paul will say from this point onwards about the Christian life assumes you already know that fact.

It assumes you know that you're already justified.

Because if you don't start there and you start thinking about how to live the Christian life,

but you're unsure that you are a Christian, you're going to end up in all sorts of wrong places.

And friends, I need to ask you before we kind of embark on the journey, do you live with that assumption?

Do you live with the assumption?

It's easy enough to say or sing the words, I have been forgiven.

Christ loves me.

I've been justified.

But our actions and our attitudes so often tell a different story.

Do the anxieties of your spiritual life, and I get it, we've all got anxieties in our spiritual life,

but do your anxieties say that you're worried what God's verdict will be in the future?

Are you a hard worker in this church?

And every church has them.

People who basically make the place run.

Are you a hard worker partly because you're not actually sure whether God has really accepted you?

And you're trying to work your way back.

The text says, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But note also that Paul uses other metaphors to describe salvation.

To describe what Christ has accomplished for us.

So in verses 10 and 11, Paul talks about being reconciled to God.

So justification is, if you like, a metaphor from the law court.

It's, whereas reconciliation is a relational metaphor.

Now one of the dangers for the metaphors we use to describe salvation is if you just focus on one,

you can actually end up distorting the gospel.

You can reduce it.

So if you only ever talk about justification, that means you tend to see God only as your judge,

whose job is either to declare us guilty or not guilty.

Which is true enough, but a judge is not necessarily someone you have a relationship with.

I don't know how many times you've been to court.

But like, when you go to court and the judge kind of goes, not guilty.

It's not like after that you sit there and great, we should have coffee sometime.

Like you don't, you don't hang out with your judge.

His job is just to basically say you're either in or you're out.

And that's why we need metaphors like reconciliation.

Because God is not merely our judge, he's our father.

And he wants you as his child.

You are estranged from God by your sin, but he has brought you back.

And as Tim Keller says, God doesn't want to be a concept, he wants to be a friend.

And so we need all the metaphors of the good news that we can find,

because without all the metaphors, you don't see the full richness of the gospel.

I remember once being in Rome.

I've only ever been to Rome once.

That makes it sound like I go all the time.

I remember the one time I was in Rome.

And all you do in Rome, as far as I'm concerned, is you go and see old monuments and eat gelato.

That's basically all you need to do in Rome.

That's enough.

And I went to a gelato store, and I'll never forget it.

It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life,

because I went into a gelato store that had 130 flavours of gelato.

It had 11 different types of chocolate.

I wanted to die and live there forever.

And I tried to eat as many different types of gelato from that store,

but I couldn't manage to get around to all 130 flavours.

But I left thinking I've not experienced the full glory of this store,

until I've had 100.

129 won't do.

In a little way, that's kind of like what it is to hold all the metaphors of Scripture about salvation.

Because Jesus doesn't just bring justification.

He brings reconciliation.

At other points, it talks about that he brings liberation.

All of those things are true, and we need to hear all of them.

So the foundation stone of Romans 5 is that your past has been forgiven,

and you are at peace with God.

Whether you feel like that right now,

it is objectively true that in Christ you have peace with God.

And so having dealt with our past,

towards the end of verse 2,

Paul starts looking forward.

He says,

Through Christ, we now rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

It's one of those phrases,

I don't know if you've ever heard it,

but I don't know if you ever do this in Bible study group.

It's one of those phrases that people used to say to me,

and it was a nod and smile moment,

which is where you don't have any idea what people are saying,

but you know you're meant to know,

and say, oh yes, amen.

We rejoice in the hope of the glory.

That's fantastic.

I have no idea what you're saying.

And let's be honest,

we sometimes do that in the Christian church.

I didn't actually know what that meant.

Because it's got all the right terms to be a Christian quote, doesn't it?

It's got God, glory, hope, rejoicing.

Who doesn't want that for a poster?

Facebook status, ready to go.

But what does it actually mean?

Well, on the one hand,

many people would interpret it,

and they'd be fair enough in doing so,

as being the hope that we have for seeing God's glory at the end of time.

The hope that we have of being in his presence for eternity.

And that is a perfectly reasonable idea,

and perhaps is what is going on here.

But I think something else might be going on here,

because a little earlier in Romans,

Paul referred to the glory of God,

and he made this point in chapter 3.

He said,

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That's his statement about human beings in Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

Now, what's he meaning there?

Well, in Psalm 8 verse 5,

Psalms 8:5

it says that human beings have been crowned with glory and honour.

And we're crowned with glory because we're made in the image of God,

made to know him and to show him,

made to be his representatives as we cultivate his creation.

And so we're called to this glorious task of imaging God

and reflecting his goodness to the world.

And the fundamental fact about human beings

is that we've all failed at that task.

We've all failed to live up to be the people that we were created to be.

We've all failed to live up to the glory for which we were intended.

And so what I think Romans 5, 2 might well be saying

is that through Christ,

God is going to restore us to the glory for which we were designed.

Not as our own achievement, but as Christ's achievement.

On that final day, you will not only be forgiven,

you will be everything that God intended you to be from the very beginning.

Because what Paul is saying in verse 2

is that we rejoice in the hope that we will be fully conformed

to the image we were meant to have from the start.

A little later in Romans 8, 18, Paul says,

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing

with the glory that will be revealed in us.

But note carefully, this glory is something that I don't have yet.

It's a hope.

It's a sure and certain hope,

but we don't yet have at least not in full measure.

And that highlights for us a persistent tension

that underlies so much of the New Testament,

which is that throughout the New Testament,

you have this constant tension between

we are already experiencing salvation now,

and yet we're still awaiting the completion of salvation

at the end of time.

We live between the two comings of Christ.

The first coming of Christ achieves and secures our salvation,

but it's only at the second coming

that you get the full benefit of the blessings.

And so the Christian always has to look at their life

as a mixture of the two,

of the now and the not yet.

So now we are already justified.

Now we are already reconciled.

But at the same time,

there are things we are waiting for.

And the tension between the now and the not yet

helps explain what might look initially weird to us

in verses 9 and 10.

I don't know if you saw that language in verses 9 and 10.

It says in verse 9,

having been justified,

how much more will we be saved?

Verse 10,

having been reconciled,

how much more will we be saved?

And when you first read that,

you're probably thinking,

aren't they the same thing?

Like if I'm justified,

aren't I already saved?

If I'm reconciled,

aren't I already saved?

Was I lying before

when I said that God's final verdict

has been given already in the present?

Was that just a kind of, you know,

a fake move to get on your side to begin with?

No, Paul is not getting you

to question your salvation.

What Paul is trying to tell you is

there is a sense in which

you have not yet been saved.

Because this morning when I checked,

I still didn't have a resurrection body.

To be quite honest,

when I looked in the mirror,

it looked more like a body of death.

There's a lagging indicator.

It's called my body.

And last time I asked my wife,

she confirmed to me,

Mark, your life still falls short

of the glory of God.

She's good at letting me know

that my life falls short

of the glory of God.

It always,

as in my body,

my holiness,

there's so much of my life

that doesn't yet have

the touch of God's salvation on it.

It will be touched one day.

I will be raised

with a body like his.

I will eventually be perfected in Christ.

But there are some things

that are not yet.

And this is why the New Testament

refers to salvation sometimes

as a future possession.

Not to get you to question

whether you're saved or not,

but to get you to understand

you don't yet have it all.

You are an heir of salvation,

but you haven't yet received

all the inheritance.

And so far from trying

to make us discouraged,

Paul is actually trying

to encourage us here,

because what he is saying

in Romans 5, 1 to 11

is that God who began

a good work in you

is going to carry it to completion.

The God who has started with you

is going to finish with you.

If you have been justified,

you will be saved.

God is going to get you home

because the problem is

we can get discouraged

living between the first

and second coming of Christ

because what if something happens?

What if something happens

between when I profess faith

in Christ and the day of the Lord?

One of the things

that really shakes us up

is suffering.

We really get ruined

sometimes by suffering

and Paul zeroes in on suffering

for us in verses 3 to 5

and teaches us to see our suffering

in a different perspective.

He says,

not only so,

but we also rejoice

in our sufferings

because we know that suffering

produces perseverance,

perseverance character,

and character hope.

And hope does not disappoint us

because God has poured out

his love into our hearts

by the Holy Spirit

whom he has given us.

Now for most of us

who are Christians

for any length of time,

the experience of suffering,

big, intense, chaotic,

absurd suffering,

is going to mess with us.

In fact,

it's going to sometimes

make you feel like

you're never going to make

the finish line.

You started the Christian life

so well,

things were so happy

and then it hit.

And it can make you feel

uncertain about the future.

Will I make it?

And part of,

let's be honest,

what fuels the despair

is sometimes

the thought

lodges in your brain.

This isn't meant

to be happening to me.

I'm God's child.

I'm his justified,

forgiven sinner.

We're done with that,

aren't we, God?

Why am I still suffering?

It must be that

there's something wrong

with me.

And Paul's answer is,

no, it doesn't mean

there's anything wrong

with you.

This is where understanding

that salvation

is both now

and not yet

is so helpful

because

Paul actually

assumes that

suffering of all sorts

is going to hit

Christians

if they live long enough.

And that's because

we live this side

of the second coming

and the end of suffering

is not yet.

And so if you understand

that we live

between the now

and the not yet,

you can use

your suffering

to galvanise

your hope.

So to rejoice

in our sufferings

doesn't mean

we do what some people

have tried to explain

to me sometimes,

as if we can reimagine

that our pain

isn't painful

or our hurt

isn't hurting

or persecution

is somehow fun.

No, no, no.

To rejoice

in our sufferings

is to rejoice

in the fact

that this moment

of suffering

is not the last word.

The better day

is coming

and not only that,

that God can even

use my suffering

to deepen my hope

and to form

my character.

But it's hope

that brings the joy,

not the suffering.

We rejoice

because Jesus

defeated death

and that I know

this suffering

will not be

the final chapter.

And so friend,

do not let

suffering

take away

your assurance.

God is going to

carry you

all the way

home.

And just at the

end of those verses

you have that

beautiful line

and hope

does not disappoint

us because

God has poured

out his love

into our hearts

by the Holy Spirit

whom he has

given us.

So Paul is saying

there that

part of our

assurance

derives from

the presence

of the Holy Spirit

within us.

Now we Anglicans

are good at

speaking about

the objective

facts of faith.

Christ died,

Christ is risen,

therefore we can

have hope

and that is true

but there is also

a subjective

dimension to

the experience.

When you come

to Christ

he fills you

with his Spirit

and the Spirit

it is said

pours out the

love of God

into our hearts.

In other passages

Paul talks about

the Spirit cries

Abba

Father

within the

forgiven sinner.

it is what

John Wesley

called

his heart

being strangely

warmed

by the

gospel of

Christ

as the

Spirit

touched

him

and

there is

a part

of me

cold

rational

Mark

philosopher

historian

white

Australian

male

wants to

run a

thousand

miles

from her

feelings

and yet

God

actually

sometimes

wants to

use those

feelings

to remind

me of

his love

that I

will even

feel

his love

for me

and he

will stir

up strong

affections

within me

and that

experience

of the

Spirit

we have

is part

of our

assurance

it's not

the only

part

of course

but it's

part

of our

assurance

that our

hopes are

not in

vain

Paul talks

at later

points about

that the

Spirit of

God is like

the down

payment of

heaven

in Ephesians

1 he

talks about

he's a

deposit

guaranteeing

our

inheritance

it's like

you get

just a

little

foretaste

of heaven

by the

gift of

the Spirit

within

and he's

reminding

you you

are loved

you are

justified

and the

best is

yet to

come

don't

give up

so Romans

5 says

your past

has been

forgiven

it says

your future

has been

secured

and so we

rejoice in

the hope

of glory

but what

about my

present

what about

my present

if my

future

life

is to

be

new

in

Christ

restored

to

the

glory

I

was

made

for

what

should

I

expect

right

now

in

the

present

we

already

know

that it

can't

be

perfection

that is

something

which

hasn't

come

yet

and

won't

come

till

his

second

coming

but

ever

since

Adam

our

focus

has

actually

probably

been

more

on

failure

have

you

ever

noticed

how

our

language

talks

about

failure

and

humanity

quite

easily

to

err

is

human

when

you

make

a

mistake

and

screw

up

people

go

you're

only

human

because

humans

by

definition

are the

people

who

constantly

screw

up

at

things

and

that

is

also

the

testimony

of

scripture

that

no matter

how good

you are

you're

really

actually

not that

good

that

actually

we

all

have

gone

astray

but

what

Paul

wants

to

say

to

us

in

Romans

5

and

then

he

goes

on

to

keep

on

saying

it

in

Romans

is

that

Christ

not

only

deals

with

your

past

he

not

only

secures

your

future

he

transforms

your

present

life

and

in

Romans

5

the

way

Paul

illustrates

this

is

to

show

that

Jesus

is

our

new

Adam

that's

why

I got

the

passage

to

continue

to

be

read

Jesus

is

our

new

Adam

and

he

gives

us

power

right

now

to

live

a

different

kind

of

life

so

Paul

in

this

passage

and

verse

12

starts

with

the

bad

news

in

Romans

5

12

Paul

says

that

what

Adam

did

in

the

Garden

of

Eden

affected

every

human

being

however

that

process

of

transmission

happens

and that's

something

you can

go to

theological

college

to

discuss

however

it

happens

that

Adam's

act

influences

us

the

foundation

stone

for

Paul's

argument

is that

when

Adam

sinned

then

death

came

to

all

people

because

we

all

sinned

and

so

we

are

all

in

Adam

we

all

suffer

from

the

brokenness

that

he

gave

to

humanity

and

if

you

sorry

every

person

shares

in

the

beauty

and

brokenness

of

Adam

if

you

like

for

every

human

being

we

all

have

a

family

history

that

negatively

affects

us

now

I

know

that

some

of

you

almost

certainly

will

have

a

family

history

that's

much

more

local

that

affects

you

you

might

have

an

experience

in

your

family

of

grandparents

parents

and that

what

they

did

in

the

past

negatively

affects

you

right

now

and for

the people

who I've

known

who've

had that

experience

it crushes

them

it colors

everything

they see

they sit

there and

the lens

of the

past is

the lens

through which

they view

the world

and if

you like

every human

being has

family history

we have

family history

going all

the way

back to

Adam

we've

all

got a

past

and it

conditions

us

to

thinking

we'll

never

break

free

so

when

you

hear

the

Bible

storyline

ends

with

you

being

perfected

in

Christ

perhaps

your

response

is

well

God

at

the

end

of

time

is

just

going

to

have

to

do

a

demolition

job

because

there

is

nothing

going

on

in

me

I

don't

know

if

you've

ever

seen

those

real

estate

ads

where

they

kind

of

put

out

a

thing

and say

renovate

or

detonate

okay

well

I think

sometimes

we feel

like with

our life

it's just

detonate

there's

nothing

here to

renovate

God

but

Paul

thinks

something

different

is

happening

to us

in the

present

and in

517

he says

for if

by the

trespass

of the

one

man

death

reigned

through

that

one

man

how

much

more

will

those

who

receive

God's

abundant

provision

of grace

and of

the gift

of

righteousness

reign in

life

through

the

one

man

Jesus

Christ

so

in

Christ

God

not only

provides

us a

sacrifice

for our

sins

he

provides

us

a new

Adam

who

can

enable

us

to

reign

in

life

and so

where Adam

failed

Christ

triumphed

where Adam

gave in

the

temptation

Christ

did

not

and because

of his

perfect

life

Christ

not only

becomes

our

means

of

forgiveness

he

also

becomes

the

fountain

head

the

source

of a

whole

new

way

of

being

human

and

Jesus

represents

everything

a human

being

is meant

to be

and by

his

resurrection

power

and by

the gift

of his

spirit

he does

the most

remarkable

thing

he starts

transforming

us

now

to be

like

himself

and so

the whole

comparison

between

Adam

and Christ

raises

an identity

issue

for us

as Christians

how do

you see

yourself

as a

Christian

do you

see yourself

as primarily

still in

Adam

that you

are forgiven

yes but

basically doomed

to failure

or do you

see yourself

in Christ

not perfect

forgiven

yes but

on your

way

to be

to be

like

him

because

in

Romans

5

12

to 21

Paul

wants

to

use

this

Adam

Christ

comparison

to proclaim

that you

are no

longer in

Adam

you are

in Christ

and therefore

when you

come to

Christ

you aren't

just

wiped

clean

you are

made a

new

creation

because

of Jesus

there's a

whole new

way of

being

human

to reign

in life

as it

states

in verse

17

is to

actually

start to

be

transformed

in Christ

even

now

and so

as the

book of

Romans

moves forward

into chapter

6

it assumes

you can

be transformed

it assumes

you can

really change

friends because

of Jesus

you are no

longer defined

by your

past

so many

of us

perhaps

all of us

define our

life

in terms

of our

past

our identity

is based

on our

past

if I ask

you who

you are

you'll tell

me what

happened

to you

in the

past

and sometimes

our Christian

life is

defined by

our past

I just

can't

be holy

I just

cannot

change

Mark

you don't

know my

story

I'm a

screw up

that's

what I

do

I'm just

like Adam

yeah you

are

but because

of Jesus

your story

no longer

has to be

just about

your past

because with

him a

different story

has begun

where your

sins have

been forgiven

and you

are on the

journey towards

Christ likeness

and in Christ

we find a new

beginning which

means you are

not what you

were

you are in

Christ now

and your hope

and destiny

is to be like

him

now please do

not hear me

saying anything

that might smack

of triumphalism

as if your life

from now on

is going to

be one

long

victory march

not a

victory march

no no no

you are not

in some

victory march

that is the

life to come

but we are

in our way

this is

who you

really are

who you

really are

is not your

past

it's not even

your present

it's your

future

who you

really are

is what

you will

become in

Christ

on that

final day

your future

in Christ

is what

defines you

I love the

phrase Tom

Wright uses

he says

we are but

shadows of our

future selves

because that

is who I am

what I'm

becoming

in Christ

that's what

the Holy

Spirit does

to us

he brings

the life

of the future

into our

life in the

present

as we are

transformed

into the

image of

Christ

sometimes

when I

summarise for

people what

should you

really expect

from a

Christian

because there

are so many

people out

there who

expect that

Christians will

be perfect

and they're

thoroughly

disappointed

when they're

not

and then I

meet other

people who

expect that

there will be

no change

at all in

the Christian

life that

we're all

going to be

horrible until

the day of

the second

coming and

when somebody

does actually

have holiness

break into

their life

it's kind of

like wow

that's weird

and so how

do we capture

this tension

between the

now and the

not yet

I sometimes

like to say

that all

Christians should

have a little

tag on them

saying work

in progress

you know when

you go past a

building site and

it says work

in progress

when you see

that sign you

know that what

you see isn't

the finished

work

but you

also know

that something

has been

begun

because you

know that if

somebody puts

up a work

in progress

sign but

nothing has

been begun

you're kind

of like sitting

there going

I'm not sure

you should put

the sign

up

there's a

little saying

that I have

to try and

describe all

this

at every point

we should be

able to say

this about our

Christian life

I'm not

what I was

I'm not yet

what I will

be

I'm not

what I was

I'm not yet

what I will

be

I thought I

was so awesome

when I coined

that quote

I thought that's

a zinger

people are going

to put that up

on Facebook

for years

people are going

to copyright

I'm going to

make a lot of

money out of

this

that's a bang

on quote

and then I

realised about

200-300 years

ago John

Newton had said

something and

said it even

better

and so I'll

quote you

John Newton

he said I

am not what

I ought to

be

I'm not

what I

want to

be

I'm not

what I

hope to

be in

another

world

but still

I am

not what

I once

used to

be

and by

the grace

of God

I am

what I

am

let's

pray

Heavenly

Father you

are so good

to us

because when

you send

your son

you don't

just send

an atonement

for sin

you send

someone who

can enable

us to

become the

people you

always intended

us to be

that you

take away

our guilt

that you

justify us

completely

and then you

actually set

us free

to be more

like your

son

Heavenly

Father if we

are struggling

with our past

tonight

help us to

see that the

future you have

given us in

Christ is

what defines

us now

that we

are not to

be enslaved

with what

we've done

or even

what we're

failing to

do in the

present

but that we

are to look

forward with

great anticipation

straining

towards what

is ahead

because of

what Christ

Jesus has

won for us

we thank you

for your

rich and

overwhelming

gift of

salvation

salvation

in Jesus

name we

pray

amen