Romans 5:1-5 - ”Real Hope” - Advent Series

The Old Testament reading is found in

the book of Psalms. Psalm 33.

Shout for joy in the Lord, oh you

righteous. Praise benefits the upright.

Give thanks to the Lord with the liar,

and make melody to him with the harp of

10 strings. Sing to him a new song and

play skillfully on the strings with loud

shouts. For the word of the Lord is

upright and all his work is done in

faithfulness. He loves righteous and

justice. The earth is full of steadfast

love for the Lord. By the word of the

Lord, the heavens were made, and by the

breath of his mouth, all their host. He

gathers the water of the sea as a heap.

He puts the deeps in the storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all

the inhabitants of the world stand in

awe of him. For he spoke and it came to

be. He commanded and it stood firm. The

Lord brings the council of the nations

to nothing. He frustrates the plans of

the peoples. The council of the Lord

stands forever. The plans of his heart

to all generations.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the

Lord, the people whom he has chosen as

his heritage. The Lord looks down from

heaven. He sees all the children of man.

From where he sits enthroned, he looks

out on all the inhabitants of earth. He

who fashions the hearts of them all and

observes all their deeds. The king is

not saved by his great armory. A warrior

is not delivered by his great strength.

The warhorse is a false hope for

salvation, and by its great might it

cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the

Lord is on those who fear him, on those

who hope in his steadfast love, that he

may deliver their soul from death and

keep them alive in famine. Our soul

waits for the Lord. He is our help and

our shield. For our heart is glad in him

because we trust in his holy name. Let

your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us

even as we hope in you.

The New Testament reading comes from the

book of Romans 5:1 to5. Therefore, since

Romans 5:1–5

we have been justified by faith, we have

peace with God through our Lord Jesus

Christ. Through him we have also

obtained access by faith faith into his

grace in which we stand and we rejoice

in hope of the glory of the God. Not

only that but we rejoice in our

sufferings knowing that suffering

produces endurance and endurance

produces character and character

produces hope and hope does not put us

to shame because God's love has been

poured into our hearts through the Holy

Spirit who has been given to us. This is

the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

So, how many of you people have had your

hopes dashed?

Yeah. So, a lot of Connect fans in here.

Yeah.

Too soon. Okay.

H shouldn't have said that. My wife just

reminded me I'm a Detroit Lions fan, so

that doesn't help either. Um,

all seriousness, it sucks to have your

hopes dashed, especially when you

really, really, really believe. My wife

and I were watching the Blue Jays this

year, and um, it got such to the point

that she had become convinced that if I

did, if I got up off a chair

that we were going to lose.

I'm not saying she's into something

weird, but that sounds weird to me. So,

the game was close and I had to go to

the bathroom and she said, "I'll get you

a diaper."

But how many of us That was a joke. She

never did. And I did go to the bathroom.

But how many of us got so wrapped up in

that and then that crushing defeat,

right? You feel that hope dragged away.

We know what that feels like. But can

you imagine for a minute living in a

world where every day you woke up and

you had to work 18 hours a day, you

haven't seen your family and you get

paid and you get fed one bowl of rice a

day.

Could you imagine that? And you're doing

the same work again and again and again.

How would you ever survive?

Well, that was the question at the end

of World War II that the American

Psychological Association wanted to ask.

So, they took these gentlemen who have

recently been rescued and they were the

uh PS in the Japanese camps and these

ones in particular had built that awful

railway. Have you remember that story

about the railway where basically it

could never be built but it was built

because they didn't care about people

losing their lives?

Thousands upon thousands died. But the

the psychological association wanted to

know the more important question. Why

did some of them live?

Right? Like how could you have lived

this? So they they did background

studies on constitution. Was it

something physiological where these some

of these guys just were supermen inside

and could fight the bugs and all of

that? Others saw thought maybe it was a

really healthy home life that they

taught determination

and that and so they started to do the

background checks of each one of these

men and they couldn't find a difference

from those who died and those who lived.

So finally they went to the guys

themselves and they said it's very

mysterious because many of you came in

with the guys that died and somehow

you're standing in front of us and

they're not. Were their behavior worse?

No.

So what was it?

And every one of those gentlemen said

the exact same thing.

I knew that if I lost hope, I would be

dead the next day.

The one thing they all said was they

knew somebody was going to die as soon

as they had lost hope that somehow

they'd get out of there.

Hope is an incredibly powerful thing.

One gentleman told a story about working

with a man who said, "I give up." And he

died in his sleep that night.

For there was no more hope.

Hope is one of the most powerful things

in the world.

It's the one thing we absolutely need.

And yet we underemphasize it.

We underemphasize that God's given us a

life of future. And a future means that

there has to be hope.

And how in the world can we have that

hope really in this world?

Well, thank God for the Lord Jesus

Christ.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

goodness.

We thank you that you loved us from

afar,

that you poured yourself upon us. We ask

you to give us eyes to see and ears to

hear so that we may

understand and embrace and have the hope

that you would have us have in Jesus'

name. Amen.

If you actually do a study of religions,

as I've had to do it, especially ancient

religions, you realize that they all

exist and there's one main purpose for

them existing and it is hope.

Hope is why religions exist.

The pagans themselves, they had created

their gods and they believe that they

could have a contract with this god. We

feed you god, you protect us. But it was

always with the hope that the land would

bear fruit.

The Buddhists themselves, they have hope

that everything we see and feel will

disappear and they will become one with

everything and no longer have conscience

as they do now.

Islam

famously has its hope that one day they

will stand before Allah who they will

walk across the sword and if they were

good enough they can go to their heaven.

I'm not saying they're all good, but

they're all driven by the concept of

hope. And Judaism that Paul, who's

writing today, grew up in also had a

hope structure. See, because in

everyone, they need hope because guess

what? We're not the first generation to

be in a world of evil.

Every group that has come before has

struggled with evil just as much as we

have, if not more.

And they all had to sal have some hope.

Well, no one got persecuted like the

Jews. You know that, right? Empire after

empire dominating dominating. And so

they had this hope, this one hope they

held to bunch everything else is that

God was going to send his man.

He'd look a little like David, a little

like Moses.

He might have a little Elijah in there.

Maybe that's what days of Elijah means.

I don't know. I still don't know what

that song means, by the way.

Sorry, little off topic.

They had this hope this guy would come

and they believed then that God had

given them these rules called tra. And

if they just obeyed them for seven days

as a nation, if they ate the right

foods, if they went to the right

festivals,

if they made sure they were

circumcision, all of those things, if we

just did it, then God would send his

man. And the hope was one day he would

come and he was known as the Messiah.

And this Messiah would come with a

mighty sword like King David and he

would wipe out Goliath or Rome.

And that's what they spent their time

doing. And as they're waiting and you

read these articles, these stories at

the beginning of Luke and Matthew, you

go, "Oh, wow. The Messiah's come." But

actually go read their words.

The words of Mary Magnificant

betrays the fact she wants a military,

social, economic deliverance.

And Jesus comes

and they knew they had their hope,

right? They knew they had their hope,

right? And the disciples followed Jesus

because he was going to be the man he

must be. He raises the dead.

I mean, he's a little bit quirky. He

takes on the people we should like, like

the Pharisees, and he hangs around with

some people, but clearly he fed the

5,000. They knew this must be the king.

and he walked into that on that donkey

into into Jerusalem and that was a sign

of kingship by the way and they thought

ah our Messiah's come and you could see

them warming up their swords cuz they

were going to be part of this

and what happened

every hope they had was dashed

because that Messiah hung on a tree

and in their world view if somebody got

hung on a tree. They were the most

cursed of all.

And so those hopes were dashed.

But of course, we know the rest of the

story, don't we?

And the guy I'm going to read about

today who writes this is a guy named

Paul. But he wasn't always Paul. He was

Saul.

And you see Saul believed that these

messianic

uh desires

of a militant deliver was everything a

Jew should believe in. Why was he out

trying going to try and kill Christians?

Cuz they were no longer obeying the law

like they should. And that was going to

stop the Messiah come. Saul was

convinced in the hope even though Jesus

clearly wasn't it. He believed there was

going to be a Messiah come and he's

walking that day on Damascus road,

right? And something's going to change

his whole world.

And in fact, it's going to change.

There's no story like this in the

ancient world.

He looks up and there is the resurrected

Jesus.

Now, why that was a problem for him is

it was said that in the day of the of

the coming of the Lord, all good Jews

would be resurrected.

Okay?

And now he's staring at a resurrected

Jew,

which he knows means this is a good Jew.

And his whole world was thrown apart. No

longer was it military messianic hopes.

It was now I don't know what to believe.

Remember that sad case where his eyes

get covered with scales and you almost

feel bad and he's sitting in a room. His

whole world's been blown up and he has

to have another guy come pray for him.

But Paul filled with the spirit realized

we had to change our hope and that this

hope that we have is so much better. So

he went why did they believe in the

Messiah? Well, they went to the Old

Testament. And what did they believe?

Bloodline Abrahamic bloodline people

were the children who would get the

kingdom. So he went back to Abe

and he read the story and it stood out

and must have jumped out at him. And the

story talks about, you know, the part

where in in chapter 15, God says to

Abraham, you're going to have kids and

there's going to be a multiplicity more

than the stars in the sky.

And Abraham looks at him and he's 85

now. I haven't seen a lot of pregnant 85

year olds, but

um maybe they did back then more.

Sarah hears about it and laughs.

In other words, he gives them a promise

that's impossible

in our world.

And why did Abraham win?

Because he said, "I believe it." And he

Jesus said and then God said to Abraham,

you believed me that I do this promise.

Thus I am now in in imputing to you

righteousness.

So because he believed

this impossible promise,

a new hope as it were that this could

happen to a to two bodies that shouldn't

be able to do this. This is why he

became right with God.

Not because he did anything. I want you

to notice that God's going to do this.

But he believed in God's promise.

And Paul shockingly says, "Well, this

has never been about bloodline.

This has always been about believing God

who does the impossible."

Okay.

The reason I lay that all out is Romans

is a dense text, but that's what he's

argued so far. We are saved. Paul says

our Abraham was saved by faith through

grace because he believed an impossible

promise.

And now he can flip from chapter 4 to 5

and he talks to us the church.

Therefore he says since Abraham pulled

this off and since we have been

justified by faith now our faith is

different. He'll note Abraham's faith

was an impossible promise. Our faith is

also an impossible promise according to

the world. Remind yourself this. Your

faith is that God came down.

He came down. He taught. He carried the

cross. He died.

Okay? And in dying, he pays for the sins

of the world.

Then he goes in the ground. And then God

in his faithfulness raises God from the

dead. Does that sound like common sense?

And it gets even better. And then God

raises from this and he he ascends to be

with God, but they're all one God. And

then he says, God number three, who's

also part of the one in the Holy Spirit

for to make this happen to believe that

you need to have God open your eyes

because that's not common sense.

And we are justified in so much, my

friends, that we believe in the promise

God's given us through the cross and

resurrection.

That's really important. That's why

you're saved, that you've chosen to say

yes to the actions he did.

Therefore, since we have been justified

by our faith in this impossible thing.

In other words, God reckoned to us. We

didn't earn it. He reckoned to us. And

the only reason he reckoned it to us is

because we said, "Yeah, you can do this.

We have peace with God." This is this

enmity from the beginning of Genesis 3

has been cured because now we trust him

rather than trying to be gods ourselves.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have

now peace with God. My friends, I'm not

going to riff too much, but I've just

seen so many people who have bad days

who think God hates them. We have peace

with God in Jesus Christ because of what

he did,

not what you didn't do yesterday

or did.

Through him we have also obtained

access. This is this word of in the

ancient world when you would come into a

king's chamber. Okay? You had to have be

given a grace to come and that was

access to stand. He's clearly playing on

these pagans understanding of going to

see Caesar.

But for us it's God's kingship we are.

And through him through Jesus we have

already obtained access by faith into

the grace in which we stand. We're

already there. Paul says,

"Some days you might not feel it, but

for Paul, we're already there."

If you believe in Jesus Christ as your

Lord and Savior, guess what, folks?

You're standing on the solid ground.

If you believe Jesus Christ died for

your sins and rose from the dead, good

news.

You're a child of God.

no matter how much you might try to talk

yourself out of it

in this grace in which we stand. And

then he says, "And we rejoice." And you

know what? I'm going to take a moment

here to tell you why every commentary

is weak at times. You do realize these

are Bibles are all commentaries on the

original scrolls, right? And they all

make different decisions, right? They

give you the best they can,

but sometimes they make choices. My

problem with this word and we rejoice is

it doesn't mean rejoice in the Greek.

That's why your pastor should either

learn Greek or Hebrew. And if I go into

churches and I ask the minister right

away and he looks at me sideways and I

said, "Do you know Greek and Hebrew?"

And they go, "Usually no." And I said,

"You better get a darn good interlinear

Bible and work hard on it because

sometimes the preaching changes when you

realize what the word means." This work,

this word rejoice is actually, and I'm

not going to say the Greek, but I know

what the heck. Quesith,

what? Yeah, we boast. It says not we

rejoice.

It says we boast. Now, why is that so

profound?

Because Paul has been saying against the

Jews in in Romans, he's going to speak

against himself that we shouldn't boast

in anything

because boasting makes us think we're

super spiritual, right? That we've

arrived. And yet, he says that same word

very intentionally here. We boast.

Anybody been around somebody boasting

about themselves? Is that fun?

I can't be the only one who like just

wants to

to to make fun of them at that point. I

grew up in a culture where if you uh

Prince George is a funny culture and we

called it taking the knees out and as

long as you were a normal bloke and you

lived kind of your normal life, we all

got along. But in my world, if somebody

drove a BMW,

I was pretty sure there was going to be

a keyed car at some point

because we couldn't stand people who

thought higher of themselves. That was

my culture.

But Paul's saying here is that we do

boast,

but not in ourselves. And that's the

key. We boast in the hope of the glory

of God. What is the glory of God? The

glory of God is that which was given in

creation.

And we boast in the hope that God is

going to set forth new creation. We

boast in the fact that this promise will

be fulfilled. We aren't shamed about it.

We'll tell anybody God's going to set

things to right and I we got an awesome

God. That's boasting, by the way.

We boast. He doesn't just say it once.

He says it again and again in the hope

of the glory of God. But not only that,

we

boast

in our sufferings.

Now, I had a cold a while back

and I've been accused of being a man

cold person.

Anybody else have a man cold husband or

friend?

Jeez.

Well, and I I have a theory that we just

um we just don't handle pain as well as

women.

But the idea of boasting when you're

suffering seems crazy.

Whining when you're suffering seems to

be much easier.

But what he's saying here is something

that's so counterintuitive to everything

we've been taught in this world, in all

religions. Everyone else says when you

suffer, there's something wrong. You've

done something wrong. God doesn't like

you. The gods don't like you. You're not

right with the universe. All of these

religions say the same thing. And yet,

here's the first time where you see a

guy who says, "I boast in my

sufferings. When things aren't going

good, I boast in it." Why would he say

that?

Why?

Because how did his king win?

He suffered.

How do we get free of the things of this

world that hold on to us? We suffer.

How do we

have our own idolatries exposed until we

suffer and realize this world is

garbage?

So, we boast in the hope of the glory,

but we also hope boast in our sufferings

because there's purpose to it. Have you

ever heard the saying that's going

around right now? Hard pe hard leaders

make weak lives or are

strong leaders make strong times. Weak

leaders make weak times. Feared that?

But here's what I think.

Or maybe it's hard times to make strong

leaders.

But the point being, we rejoice in this

because it has the fruit

so that we can be focused on the hope we

should have.

Not only this, but we rejoice in our

suffering knowing that suffering

produces endurance.

When we're suffering, we have to make it

through, don't we?

We have to, it's not like we're just

coasting through life. We have to stick

with it.

And what is that endurance if not faith?

And endurance produces character. Stick

with itness. Keeping your eyes on the

prize, the focus. This is something that

people in our this gen younger

generation, I pray for them because they

get things so quickly given to them.

But when you have to suffer and it it

takes endurance to make it through and

then you get character he says and

character then produces what? Hope.

Hope's the end. He boasts in his

suffering because it leads him to hope.

And what was that hope I said the hope

is in? It is in that Jesus Christ has

overcome everything.

that even though I'm under affliction of

some kind, it loosens the world from me.

If folks puts ideally my focus on Jesus

Christ, I stick with it. I act like

Christ and he starts to form himself in

me.

And in the end, why does it end in hope?

Because when you're under the stress and

strain of suffering, you have to look

somewhere beyond yourself,

right?

We hate suffering in our culture.

We think if someone's suffering, they've

done something terribly wrong.

In God's economy, when you're having a

suffering time, and I don't care if it's

a bad marriage or a bad business or

you've had someone lost in your life or

something else, that's what that all

means.

God's using that for his glory.

And you can boast,

you know what, that things aren't going

so good. Can you imagine going into a

prosperity gospel message and said,

"Hey, praise the Lord. I got cancer."

But that's what it sounds like he's

saying. Boast in your sufferings because

he's going to take that and make you

into him.

And hope does not put us to shame

because God's love has been poured into

our hearts through the Holy Spirit who

he has given us.

Have you guys noticed yet how

trinitarian this is? We have God and

then we got Jesus and then we got the

spirit. There's so much trinity in

Paul's writings. It's unbelievable. So

we have this hope of something more. Our

lives are not fixed on the things of

today. And now he says, "And it won't be

put to shame this hope because it's

going to happen. And in the end, God

himself is going to pour his love into

you, which is worth more than anything

you lose in this world

through the Holy Spirit,

and we will not be put to shame."

This is the ultimate hope. Then

it's not the hope that I'm going to have

a good life now.

You notice that hope doesn't come out of

that

hope comes from the fact the kind of

hope he's talking about that even though

the world is banged up and bruised and

harsh

we can make it through and we have a

hope that is something that can't be

taken so it will never be taken to

shame. Hope then is the essential thing

for most Christians.

If you don't have hope you're going to

die. So why do we not focus on hope

more?

Well, first hopelessness equals death.

I have been around now enough and done

enough grave uh bedside,

how do you say it? I don't want to not

graveside bedside counseling with people

who are going

and there are two things that I've

noticed is there's two types of deaths.

There is the Christian who is suffering

whose bones are aching

and they look at me very differently

and they don't scream I don't want to

die. They're worried about their

families.

But then and again then what they'll

look at me and say, "But I get to be

with Jesus.

Their hope is about to be fulfilled."

And then I go to other beds

where that was never part of their

story.

And it's a death that you can't

describe. But they had hoped in their

trip one day that retirement package,

having the right vehicle, seeing their

kids get married, blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah, whatever that hope was.

And when they sit there and stare at me

without this Jesus Christ, they look at

me like, "Can you please help me? I

don't want to die."

And they're hopeless.

And as one nurse said to me at a

what is those names of the places you go

to at the last stage?

>> Hospice. We were sitting there having

coffee. One of the gentlemen I was

visiting was staying for quite a while.

He he wasn't going to go. And she said,

"Emmyry,

I'm going to tell you,

unbelievers die so much worse

because they don't have it. And they're

already dead on the inside cuz

everything they hope for is now going to

be taken away."

Totally without hope, one cannot live.

To live without hope is to cease to

live.

I don't envy unbelievers

because not only did they mock us a

little bit for our beliefs, but I've

also seen that their beliefs also let

them down again and again and they don't

have something greater to believe.

If you're an unbeliever and you're going

to the end of your life, and all of us

will, I'm going to tell you this. It's

going to be a really sad day that day

because everything you trusted and built

on and hoped in will be taken from you.

I promise you that.

And in a twinkling of an eye.

And that's what makes this gospel so

incredible, right?

It's the ultimate hope.

It is the ultimate hope that there's

something beyond us and that God cares

for us.

We have a gospel that tells us that God

not only loves us, but he walked on the

world. He suffered. He took everything

we had that we could throw at him and he

ultimately gave his life

for our sins.

That's incredible.

And then he was raised from the dead and

new creation came and it meant all of

the sickness of this world had been

defeated. Do not let your hearts be

troubled for I have what? The world.

You can say it. I need Pentecostals in

here. Overcome. That's right. I love

Presbyterians when they call it

overcome. Um,

he came and he did it all himself and he

did it all for us. What a hope. And he

doesn't put it on us that if we go and

martyr ourselves so we can get the 72

virgins. He doesn't put it on us that if

we just empty ourselves become one with

the eternity. He doesn't put it on

ourselves that if if we follow Torah, we

can one day be part of whatever that

would look like.

What he says is just trust me.

I'm doing it.

That's incredible.

The great Carl Bart, and I want you to

read this closely. Listen closely, said,

"It is God first who is for man,

and then and for that reason, man can

become for God."

God proceeds. therefore and sets men in

the movement in which he follows. He

says yes to him when man says no and

thus silences the no of man and lays a

yes in his heart and on his lips. He

loves man even though he is an enemy and

thus makes him the friend who loves him

in return.

That's the gospel.

That's the promise.

Our God came into this world. He

initiated it. He finished it. He did the

whole thing. And all you have to do is

say yes

and believe. And you, my friends,

whether you believe it or not, are bound

for eternity. Think of that. In new

creation. Now, that's something to hope

in, right?

You tell me what in this world is worth

hoping to even close to that. Feeling

a bit Billy Grahamish up here today.

And the thing is the giving of this hope

is such grace because we don't deserve

it. The prince of preachers, Mr. Charles

Spurgeon, we speak out, we speak of our

hope which is laid for us in heaven as a

very marvelous hope. And it is so if we

only consider that it is a great act of

grace that sinners should have a hope at

all.

How good is our God that he took a bunch

of people that rejected him and he loved

them so much he gave them something to

hope in that was tangible

after we had rejected him. The fact that

we can even hope in this is God's

ultimate grace to us.

I know there's probably some really

spiritual people here,

but let me tell you,

you're not spiritual enough to deserve

that going there.

We

don't have it in ourselves

to be good enough.

And he's come in and he said yes to you.

And he's saying all you have to do to be

good enough is believe. Think of that.

So you say, why are you preaching this

on Advent? Because I think Advent is

ultimately

a waiting for a Messiah, except the

Messiah. We understand we're waiting in

hope with the same hope

that they have, but our waiting

transcends it because we're waiting for

the resurrection and the life to come.

So yeah, you preach these verses during

Easter.

Ji Packer, the Christian message is that

there is hope for a ruined humanity,

hope of pardon, hope of peace with God,

hope of glory, because at the father's

will, Jesus became poor and was born in

a stable so that 30 years later he might

hang on a cross.

You must allow the whole story of Jesus

from the birth to the resurrection all

to be wrapped in. And it's all based on

hope.

But here's the problem. And it is a

problem.

Hope is the belief in something you

can't see.

Right?

Paul in Romans, for in this hope we were

saved. Now hope that is seen is not

hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

But if we hope for it, for what we do

not seek, we wait for it with patience.

Here's the problem, folks. God's

kingdom, though it's come, it has not

fully come.

And I don't know if you guys have turned

on the TV and watched any news or on

social media or whatever. Have you

noticed that things aren't so great for

people?

It's a good thing suffering end today.

We have this incredible hope and yet

we're still living in this world.

So, how do we do that? How do we live in

a world of suffering?

You know, this is the saddest one for me

and it probably is the most important

thing I do in ministry is have to debunk

people's view that because something bad

happened to them, God doesn't like them.

or the other side because they had

enough faith, they got to buy a BMW,

which I'd warned them not to drive in

Prince George

cuz that's how we instinctually think.

If good things happen, it's cuz I've

done great things.

If bad things happen, I've done bad

things. Right?

There's truth in that.

But if you actually think about it, the

Bible says, "Ah, you're not that good.

For all have fallen short of the glory

of God, right?"

And so, we all live in suffering because

we in part carry it in.

And we experience suffering as a

believer

because we live in a broken world. But

here's the truth. We have overcome the

world. And when you are set right with

God, when suffering happens to you or

someone else, you are no longer allowed

to say, "Well, it's because you're not

doing very good or God hates me."

Because the God of heaven and earth

overcame the world through suffering.

How can you say it's a bad thing for

you?

How can you look at your neighbor and

apply works religion to them when

they're having a bad day and say, "Well,

if they had enough faith." Have you

heard that?

The good news, folks, is the reality of

this hope means that we live in a world

of suffering. But we don't suffer like

those without hope. We suffer like those

who are children of the king who

suffered to defeat the world.

James Dunn for Paul such suffering is

not an antithesis to the believer's

experience of acceptance by God rather

its compliment.

Such suffering does not contradict or

prevent their standing in the grace of

God but rather is the condition in which

that grace is experienced in its

greatest strength.

Believe it or not, suffering

leads people back to God.

I've seen it again and again. Let me

give you a quick story. Sweet lady came

to my church. Went there as a kid. I

hadn't seen her for years. Next thing

you know, she has stage four stage four

cancer. Hasn't been in church in years.

And all of a sudden, she came down and

she started to listen because she was

suffering.

And guess what, my friends?

She became a believer.

She went through an incredible

transformation. Pretty soon she's

hosting home groups at her house.

It's a little irritating cuz all she

wanted to talk to me about was with

Jesus. And it's after a while it's like,

"Okay, how how's your car?" Um

because she was so into it because the

worst thing that happened and she said

this was the best thing that ever

happened to me. How is that possible

folks?

We can't imagine it's the best thing

that's happened to us because we've been

told we should think that's the worst

thing that happens to you.

I can tell you as someone who has

suffered in recently, it is the craziest

thing how much it's draws you to God.

Doesn't draw me away from God and how

much his real presence becomes there.

Jesus Christ did not promise us a life

without suffering.

In fact, he says, "You are going to

follow me."

Jesus Christ did not suffer so that you

would not suffer, says Keller. He

suffered so that when you suffer, you

become more like him. The gospel does

not promise you better life

circumstances. It promises you a better

life. That's a quote to take home.

So, we have this hope, this incredible

hope that saves us, this incredible

truth because because he was born then

and we're waiting for him to return in

this hope. But what do we do now?

Boasting in the Lord.

Canadians don't like to do this.

We're multicultural society, you know.

We don't want to offend anyone with a

different belief system,

right?

Well, we want to be good Canadians and

God just wants us to be nice, polite.

Sorry. Sorry. Hey, sorry.

As if that's what Jesus said for us to

do.

And some of us are worried about

boasting in the Lord because frankly,

you've met people in churches who boast

in themselves, right? Anybody else? I

know. You can do the Presbyterian on

man. Mhm. You can nod. At least nod.

Man, I got to get some Pentecostals in

here.

But we must remind ourselves, they've

always known that that the church would

have that. But the difference between

those people and

what Paul's talking about is they're

boasting in themselves.

The great Matthew Henry

back in the 17th century said, "It is

common for those that are farthest from

God to boast themselves most they're

being near the church."

The biggest thing I'm warning you is if

you're with a pastor or a leader and

they're boasting about how spiritual

they are, run the other way, please.

If you see a pastor like say posting

quotes of himself with his picture on

Facebook,

that's a bad sign.

So there is false boasting, but that's

not what Paul's talking about. Paul says

we should boast and boast

in him.

As for me, God forbid that I should

boast about anything except the cross of

our Lord Jesus Christ.

But it tells us now you go and boast

about that God and that's what you can

do.

Now somebody's going to say to you, well

you just think you're better than me

because I've had that happen when I'm

boasting in the Lord and I say no

actually I don't. I know I'm not but I

have a better God.

We have the one true God and he says you

can boast in me because of what I did

deserves to be boasted.

You should if you want to go and share

this gospel but don't make it about you

but boast in this God because it changed

the Roman world.

Again James Dunn no doubt it was such a

surging pride in God which invigorated

early Christian witness and emboldened

its witness because they were so

emboldened and boasting. They turned the

Roman world on its head because their

god was so much better. And the more

they boasted, the people looked and

said, "Our gods stink."

It's true.

And all of them got together and said,

"Can you believe there's a God who

forgave my sins and I don't have to do

anything, but now I want to because a

spirit's in me."

That's the gospel. And they turn the

Roman world around. And I just want to

end on this. I want you to remember who

Paul's writing to here. The church in

Roma.

Do you know who the emperor was when he

wrote this?

Nero.

What does Nero do with the church in

Rome after the fires?

He blames them and he kills them all.

Does that make Paul's words,

irrelevant,

wrong?

Or maybe when Paul wrote them this, they

were able to stand because there's

incredible stories how they stood and

took it

because they realized that their hope

was in something greater, that their

suffering was not a judgment of death,

but they were being set free to eternal

life.

and right to the end. According to

everything we know, they boasted in the

Lord.

This Christmas,

I want you to do one moment

and stare at that nativity scene and

think about what that meant and who he

was.

Think about what that means for you

believer

and why you can have hope.

such hope cuz he did it. He finished it

and you are going to live with him

forever.

And then if you happen to go out and see

somebody else,

say, "Have you heard about this awesome

God

and boast away?"

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

amazing grace. We thank you that you

have poured yourself upon us.

We thank you that you are the King of

Kings and the Lord of Lords, that we can

boast in you because you've set things

to rights. We thank you

that you have saved us.

And we thank you that we put on our

heart, you put on our hearts to say yes

to the crazy story of your crucifixion

and resurrection.

We thank you that you help us believe

that our sins are forgiven by your blood

and that we will be with you for

eternity.

Help us face this world with courage and

help us to have an upside down view of

when we suffer.

Make us a people that go out of this

place and boast. And may mountain view

know be known as those who boast in the

Lord.

In Jesus name. Amen.