Rejoicing in a Sovereign Hope
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Intro
Intro
Matt- rock calvary chapel in punta gorda
The title of my sermon is Our Hope is in a Sovereign God
bibles Romans Ch 5 .
(Intro story)
Wish everyone a happy Mothers day
mothers day is difficult- death of mom , or child, infertility
reminds some of us of our suffering
Story of type pregnancy
this mothers day is a difficult one for me and my family
recently my wife had a high risk pregnancy
5 fetal surgeries
parked car and cried to God
I was having trouble breathing
Hope will not put you to shame
knew it was in the bible and looked it up
And it brought me to Romans Ch 5
This brings us to our first point
Always Rejoice in the gospel
Always Rejoice in the gospel
.
We are in the book of romans
written by the apostle paul to the church in Rome
Chapters 1-4 detail that everyone is guilty of Sin
Now in Ch 5 Paul opens up some of the blessings of this justification.
Therefore, since 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 into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Being Justified- Act of God where He declares a sinner righteous.
declared righteous by faith in Christ alone.
Q. one may ask- how does this work.
Story. religious upbringing never understanding how it worked.
the reality is that when you
turn from sin and
believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin,
- and you make that decision to follow him… something supernatural happens.
theological term - great exchange
explain great exchange
This is the Gospel.
This good news ------- peace with God.
This cant be overlooked.
One of the chief blessings of the Gospel is not simply that we get to go to heaven
But it is that we have peace with God.
Through the Gospel we die to ourselves and are given a new life
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Rejoice in the gospel!!
we Have gained Christ who is our living hope..
Q. Do you know what this means for the christian?
We will see the glory of God!
He is our hope.
This rejoicing is super easy to get behind.
verse 3 is not so easy to get behind
because God tells us to rejoice in our suffering
This brings us to our next point
Learn to rejoice in your suffering
Learn to rejoice in your suffering
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.
I want to make a quick point
God is in control over your suffering
not afflicting you
but He has authority over it
This is what it means to be sovereign
Sovereign - means that God has all power and authority over everything
After reading Romans 5 in my car ,
I was weeping perfusely and
Thank you for my suffering.
experienced the presence of God
Ava fought about 16 more days in the womb and at
35 weeks our daughter was born
Roughly 9 hours later she died in nicu
literally watched her take her last breath.
Q. Imediate questions pop into your head?
They all circle around why ?
Realized why God gave me Romans 5 in the first place.
Hope in Him no matter what.
you see- we need to ask God What are you doing through this
in verse 3 Paul writes to rejoice in suffering,
Suffering- experiencing harm, sorrow or distress
suffering comes in many forms- of persecution, physical illness, mental illness, natural disaster, abuse …and you can keep going down the line.
Suffering entered the world by adam and eves sin in the garden.
When sin was brought forth into the world, so was suffering.
story- drs in nicu - God is NOT DOING THIS to these babies
Q. So how can we rejoice in something so terrible.
lets see the example of Christ
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus endured the suffering of the cross for the joy set before Him
Q. So how is it that we rejoice in suffering?
A. We must know that God is soverign and that
He has purpose in permiting your suffering.
His purpose is to
Make you more like His son
Give you more of himself
bring glory to his name by displaying his attributes
Q. Let me ask you this Do you draw closer to God in the
good times or in the hard times?
In verse 3 we also see that your suffering produces endurance
Endurance - idea of
steadfastness
and perseverance.
perseverance - building and establish your faith.
Genuine faith always perseveres.
James 5:11 says this of Job
Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
We see the endurance of Job
through His suffering
and we see the purpose of the Lord to show his compassion and mercy.
displaying his attributes
oh how sweet it is to lean on the Lord in times of trouble.
continuing in vs 3
Through suffering , endurance is produced.
and through endurance, Character is produced.
The greek word used for character has the implication of
being tested and approved.
Q. How do you pass the test of christian character?
by faith.
When you face the trial And your faith remains
you can have assurance of salvation.
At the end of Pauls production line is Hope
Character produces hope.
hope is not like the worlds hope
The world crosses their fingers and says I really hope this will happen with little expectation.
This hope is complimented by faith
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Our hope has an expectation and assurance
we have an expectation that God is who he says He is
and assurence that His promises are true.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Q.Do you believe that your citizenship is not of this world.
Get your eyes off of this world and
cast them on eternity.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Understand that Gods purposes have eternal value.
we fix our gaze on Jesus and the hope of glory
but the enemy is going to tell you that
God is not good because of your suffering.
Satan will lie and tell you God is not there.
And do his best to drag you into unbelief.
But When you understand
Gods has purpose in your suffering you will have victory.
Heard a pastor say :trials and tribulations are not an elective class in the christian life, but a required course.
Not to say you will not grieve -
No the suffering is still very real
were going to struggle, weep, question
but the christian will persevere.
Because we see that God is working even in the suffering.
Q. How many of you could see Gods work through lifes most diffficult trials.
Q. How many of you were saved through major suffering?
It should not take us by suprise
Jesus told us we would suffer in this world
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
.
Therefore we can look in the face of the worst kind of suffering
and still say GOD IS GOOD.
He is Good because through suffering He brings forth hope
And hope will not put us to shame because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit.
in regards to my daughter,
we still grieve
but we do it with the hope of the glory of God
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
We know that Ava is in the arms of Jesus.
I can testify that through this suffering
God has produced in us a more genuine faith.
S. of dannys depression
whether we face persecution,
cancer, death, miscarriage,
abandonment, verbal abuse, mental illness....
And we still Say I Love You Lord
Its a testimony to the world of our hope
Our hope is in God himself
So When we are faced with the suffering we can rejoice
can look to psalm 57:1 for advice
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
lets pray
GOSPEL -