Rejoicing in the Midst of Disappointment

all right open with me in your bibles this morning to romans chapter 5 and we're going to look at the first five verses here looking at the topic of rejoicing in the midst of disappointments there have been plenty of disappointments lately and i want to address those this morning with you romans 5 verses 1 through 5. let's just read this text first paul says here therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god and not only that but we also glory and which is the same greek word for rejoice we rejoice in tribulations how why knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope now hope does not disappoint i say that again now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us you know disappointment is a fact of life in every single one of our our homes our individual lives where does disappointment come from it comes when your expectations clash with reality think about that you have an expectation that this is what's going to take place and the reality is anything but and obviously you're going to be disappointed so disappointment is a fact of life i think it's interesting here that paul uses that word disappoint in verse five which i i think he chose very specifically he chose it with intent because he wants us to learn how to deal with disappointments how to deal with trials tribulation now 2020 has been a a year of many disappointments i think that all of us know we watched thousands and thousands of people die of cover 19. mean think of each one of those families that address that issue in their lives i mean you look at the disappointments of the people who have lost their jobs or lost their businesses i mean we've probably all seen the the interviews of people on television you know being interviewed about how they they can't really make their bills they can't feed their families and their business is going under and i'll tell you you just your heart just weeps with them tremendous disappointments families lost contact with their elderly parents in nursing homes that has taken place right here in this body very disappointing but not only that i mean governmentally we lost hope in our in our fbi in our justice department this past year we lost hope and faith and trust in social media and the mainstream media and news outlets you just you kind of shake your head and go why and then ultimately we lost faith and trust in our electoral system and what really makes you kind of go crazy is because half of the people in our in our in the united states don't think anything's even wrong and so you lose faith in the just the common sense of people as they look at what's going on now that's a lot of disappointment and all i can say to you is you need to put it all in perspective and i hope that i'll be able to do that for you this morning put it all in perspective first put it in the perspective of christians around the world that are persecuted today in nigeria this past year 24 000 christians were murdered 24 000 that's all the people in arroyo grande and all the people in grover beach in one year in one country i mean scores of you know because i i get the emails i i read the news concerning these issues and in india i mean hundreds of people have had their homes burned to the ground because they're christians churches burn to the ground people found left at the side of the road dead because they won't yield and they they have faith in christ and that's just two of the countries now none of us here were murdered this year so put it in perspective you know none of us here lost our homes like one and a half to two million syrian or iraqi christians did that are living in refugee camps at the present moment think about that you know you need to put it all into perspective it's essential and then look at the scripture that i've just read to you this morning what this verse of scripture teaches is basically encouraging you to rejoice in the midst of these kinds of trials and testing now how could paul do that how could he say that well you have to remember he was put in jail for four years of his life for doing basically nothing that was unfair and he writes those prison epistles giving us insight into how he dealt with that in his own heart and his own mind and this man was persecuted unmercifully i mean driven from city to city stoned several times beaten with rods i mean this guy went through difficult times and yet he's still teaching us here and many other places in his epistles to rejoice so how in the world do you do that well these five verses here give you five points that i want to make with you this morning that i think are so clear notice the first one he says therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ now this is the only way you have peace with god is through our lord jesus christ is through what he did on the cross and it's because i believe that i have peace with god you see the rest of the world is at war with god but if you are a christian here this morning you have peace with god which then enables you to have the peace of god and there's a difference you can't experience the peace of god unless you have peace with god you have to address the sin issue between you and him one on one by faith believing in what he did for you then and only then can you experience the peace of god paul said in philippians one of his prison epistles in chapter four verses six through seven he says be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through christ jesus now what does he say here he's saying simply you've got to bow your knee you've got to pray you've got to yield up whatever is going on in your life and you've got to yield it to him and he will give you peace inside it surpasses all understanding you can't figure it out he then gives you that peace the peace of god that guards your heart and your mind now that is something that you definitely need in these days your mind and your heart need to be guarded now secondly you can rejoice because you have access to him through prayer verse 2. notice he says through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and so this access you have to god is because you have peace with god you have access to him to enable you to experience grace for whatever you have need of to strengthen your heart when everything looks like it's going the opposite direction in ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through 16 there paul says for this reason i bow my knees to the father of our lord jesus christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through the through his spirit in the inner man you see prayer is that access that gives you his might his strength his enabling when everything is going south in your life now why do you need this because everybody gets disappointed and some days some weeks are are even worse but you're going to be disappointed with your employees if you're a business owner you're going to be disappointed with your boss sometimes if you're an employee you're going to be disappointed with your spouse you're going to be disappointed with your kids you're going to get disappointed with the government you're going to get disappointed with you name it fill in the blank simply because you live in a fallen world and it's never going to be anything different than that until the day you meet jesus face to face and so get used to it that's the reality now if you've never experienced his power in the midst of disappointment in your personal life you're in big trouble that's all i can say because you have to have that personal relationship you have to have cried out to god in the midst of your disappointment your struggle your trial your tribulation whatever the case may be and experience the infilling of the holy spirit lifting you up and if you've never experienced that you're you're in trouble because the worst is yet to come why do i say that because that's what paul said in second timothy 3 13. he said but evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived you see people only deceive because they are deceived you see that's why paul puts that together and you can get angry you get upset at what you see taking place when somebody is trying to deceive but it only means they are deceived and that is what enables you to understand and why it will get worse and worse because man's nature uncontrolled by the spirit of god has only one direction to go and that's down and that's the reality of life i mean just look at your own life before you came to christ it's a slow process you're just going further and further deeper into the hole you're digging and until you say you know what i don't want to dig anymore i want out there's got to be some solution i haven't yet seen and that's what brings someone to christ and so it's it's going to get worse notice that paul didn't say evil men and imposters might grow worse and worse now he said it will they will grow worse and worse so get ready because that's what's going to take place and if you have not had that personal experience of being lifted out of the midst of small disappointments big disappointments and i guarantee you when the big one comes you will be wiped out if you're not founded on the rock you will be washed away i guarantee you because you have to have a real personal relationship with him thirdly you can rejoice right at the end of verse 2 there notice he says through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of god so this is where paul found his ability to rejoice he said he had hope in the glory of god of being in heaven of being with the lord and this is where he focused his attention so rejoice and rejoicing is clearly the intent that he is trying to get across here he uses this word rejoice three times in this chapter once here then also in verse three the word glory and then down in verse 11. so he uses this word because he means it this is what will enable you to rejoice you first have peace with god you have accessed him and his grace in your personal life which then enables you to fix your eyes on the glory of god and your ultimate home because this is not our home now i believe that we are living in the days of jeremiah jeremiah was the last prophet that prophesied before the destruction of the nation israel and i would really encourage you read the book of jeremiah it would be really well worth your you're doing because what it does is it lays out for you exactly i mean you can see the parallels of what's going on in our country today and the world it's it's truly amazing a chapter 7 of of jeremiah is probably one of the most powerful chapters because the lord tells jeremiah he says i want you to go and stand at the gate of the city and he says this is what i want you to say and i would encourage you to read it because it's quite a lengthy portion of scripture but it's exactly what you need to preach as well and he just gives him he lays out for for jeremiah the the struggle that's going on and you as you read this book you read the ruling class the governmental officials are corrupt in israel with the wicked are prospering wickedness is increasing corruption is overflowing in the the country and and then the lord lists right at the end of chapter 7 the thing that bothered him the most and that was the killing of innocent children being offered in sacrifice to the god but all and he said this has never come into my mind or ever i've ever thought this is what i would want and so he he just pleads you know jeremiah could still rejoice why because his eyes were focused on the end result now jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because he he just he wept over and over again in the scripture you see him weeping you he he writes about his weeping and because he's weeping for what he sees going on in his country and we should weep as well you can weep and rejoice at the same time because that's what jeremiah did so i know it is possible in jeremiah 31 verses 11 through 14 this is what the lord said to jeremiah and why he should rejoice he said for the lord has redeemed jacob and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he just exactly what god has done for you and for me he has ransomed us from one who has was stronger than we were and he says therefore they shall come and sing in the height of zion streaming no they had streaming services in those days too i couldn't resist streaming to the goodness of the lord for wheat and for new wine and for oil for the young of the flock and of the herd their souls shall be like a well-watered garden they shall sorrow no more at all then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old men together for i will turn their mourning to joy will comfort them and make them rejoice rather than sorrow i will make them rejoice rather than sorrow i will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness says the lord this is a prophecy basically concerning the kingdom age what is coming this is where god said jeremiah look at where you're going this is where your hope is this is why you can rejoice paul did the same thing in colossians chapter one verses three through five he says we give thanks to the god of our father of our lord jesus christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in christ jesus and your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven of which you have heard before the word of the truth of the gospel and so where was paul's hope where did he want the colossians to have their hope their hope was must be in heaven your hope cannot be in our government your hope cannot be in yourself your hope cannot be in other people your hope has to be in heaven because that's the only place you will never and i say never be disappointed so that's the key that that paul gives here and i believe it's essential now when you rejoice in the hope of glory it doesn't change your circumstances at all that's really an important truth to realize just because you rejoice in heaven and the hope of glory your circumstances are not going to change but you are going to be changed that's the difference you're going to be changed because your heart is in the right place you realize that this is not your home in second corinthians 5 2 notice there paul says for in this we groan groaning that doesn't sound like rejoicing remember you can groan and rejoice at the same time for this in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven so this is where we need to fix our attention where is your home your real own it's not here your real family is the body of christ that's what jesus said and you need to realize that do you realize that this is what enabled the early church to stand in an arena and be thrown to lions and leopards and bears i mean they had these arenas all over the roman empire there's one in bashan in uh israel just outside of the city and where that's what they did with christians they threw them to the lions so what enabled those individuals to stand there as as many historians wrote that they would stand and sing and worship god when this was taking place how did they do that because they knew this was not their home that their home was in heaven that's how they did it fourth you can rejoice because god is working in you to produce a godly character and a hope that will not disappoint notice he says here in verse 3 and not only that but we also glory or rejoice in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope now hope does not disappoint now this is really an important one because i believe that if you don't see what god is doing in you in the midst of disappointing times in the midst of tribulation or persecution if you don't understand what he's doing in you then many times i've seen christians just give their faith up i've seen him do it they just you know you they just disappear from church because they're angry at god they're resisting him fighting him instead of resisting their own sin and resisting the the unbelief in their own hearts that's what needs to take place if you don't allow the lord to do this work inside you that paul is talking about here then you're not going to grow you're not going to mature it's not going to happen james says in james one two through four he says my brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces that's the same greek word that's here in our text produces patience or endurance and but let patience have its perfect work that word let means that's your choice are you going to let god do this perfect work inside of you or are you going to resist it if you resist his perfect work none of this that he says is going to be produced will take place you will go the opposite direction you're not going to experience perseverance you're not going to experience true character being built in you you're not going to experience hope you're not going to be filled with the love of god it's not going to happen instead of running from god you need to run to him if you run to him then the work will be accomplished because you're going to cling to him that is how it takes place so he says here knowing that tribulation produces this is in the present tense this greek word means to generate it generates inside of you perseverance why how does it do that well because you run to him because you have access to him because you're at peace with him because you know he is your solution and answer not this world and when you do that that transformation takes place it's a powerful thing you cling to him and he will transform you now jacob thought that all things were against him in his personal life you remember the story you know jacob sent his sons down to egypt and they went down to buy food and the person in charge just happened to be joseph the the son the brother that they had sold into slavery and he was he was working him and he was dealing with them in their hearts he wanted to see where they were really at and whether they had changed at all and so he kept simeon his brother in prison and said you go back and you get brent benjamin and bring him down here and in genesis chapter 42 verse 36 you know what happened i mean jacob he just cries out he said you have bereaved me joseph is no more simeon is no more and you want to take benjamin all these things are against me but were they no just the opposite everything was working for him ultimately all of jacob's family and all israel would be saved as a result of what took place all of them would be saved wow just the opposite of what he thought many times that's what people think well it's everything's working against me and it's not the lord is working he's for you he's not against you we sang that this morning in the song he is not against you he is for you and he is working to change you and transform you through this time in habakkuk chapter 1 verse 5. remember habakkuk he was upset with god as well he said god how can you let a more all these evil people be in control and and have this evil more evil nation come and destroy our nation and the lord said to him look out among the nations and watch be utterly astounded for i will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you habakkuk 1 5 powerful truth and i believe the lord would say the same thing to us today if you knew what i'm doing right now in this country behind the scenes and in the hearts of my people you wouldn't believe me if i told you god is always at work trust that believe that and he's going to always be at work inside of you so don't resist him let tribulation produce that perseverance inside your life and then perseverance produces character how does that take place what is character in fact well character are simply the spiritual and moral truths of a godly of godliness that's all they are it's the moral and spiritual characteristics of godliness in galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 it says the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control here is what godly character looks like and how you get it by the infilling of the holy spirit that's the only place godly character is produced and it's because you have run to him and you have clung to him in faith and that godliness that character produces hope now how does that take place well because you see god take you through every single trial and when you come to the next trial you have hope because you know if he took you through that he will take you through this so this is why you have to have a real personal relationship daily with him and if you don't i guarantee you this will not take place you can't change your circumstances you can't change the people around you you have to allow the lord to change you now fifth and last you can rejoice because of what he says in verse five now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us so this is a powerful truth because as you're drawn to him as you trust his sovereignty as you keep your eyes fixed on his on the hope of glory he's going to overflow you with the love of god he's going to overflow you with the holy spirit and that is the place where you will never be disappointed you're going to experience disappointment in life but in christ yielded to him being filled with his love is there any more satisfying experience that you could ever have in life i don't know of any this is how you trust the lord this is how you know you're trusting him it's because he's pouring out his holy spirit inside of you that only results when you're trusting him and that's what enables you to endure tribulation in first corinthians 13 7 there paul says this he says love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things that is what he does in a person's life you're enabled to bear it to endure it to believe to hope in the midst of it because his love produces that hope it's a powerful thing in first john 4 9 let me leave you with this it says in this the love of god was manifested toward us that god has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him now if there is anything that god has done to prove to you that he loves you and he's not playing games with your life and he's for you it's the fact that he sent his son to die in your place when you hated him when you rejected him and yet he still pursued you that is the proof if you are here today or you're watching by facebook today and you have not responded you have not received him i just want to encourage you do that today open your heart and allow him to come in ask him invite him he is a gentleman he will not force his way into your life you have to invite him in and you do that because you know you're a sinner and you believe that jesus died for your sins that's why you do that and so i encourage you if you have never made that commitment today and you're here you're sitting here you're i just encourage you make that decision you're the only one who can no one can force you to do it but he is pursuing you that's why you're listening to this message even now it's the reason why you're here it's the reason why you're you're viewing on facebook right now is because he's drawing you so respond to him receive his love and you will not be disappointed amen let's go to him in prayer father we just thank you today that you are a faithful god lord you keep your promises our politicians don't keep their promises friends don't keep their promises but lord you keep your every promise that you have made you mean what you say and you say what you mean and so father we we trust you today lord that you will come and just flood our hearts lord we just want to be the receptacles today that you might pour forth your love inside of us move i pray in our midst lord convince us that you love us and lord may we trust you for all that's coming down the pipe in the days ahead we trust you to do that make us lord witnesses as jeremiah was a witness he never gave up preaching your word and your truth lord make us bold witnesses and lord we believe you're going to do that we ask it in jesus name amen amen

Channel: Pastor Steve Carr

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Id: X1c8WD1-6Jc

Length: 38min 56sec (2336 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 18 2021