"The God of Hope" - The True Reason to Keep on Preaching the Word

before we open up the scriptures just two things one thank you thank you for letting me serve you thank you for coming we all thank the Timothy trust for Gathering us together for the sacred purpose of church revitalization through expositional biblical preaching of Christ the Bible says we should not neglect meeting together getting together but encourage one another which is very interesting the way it says that rather than saying do not neglect meeting together but be sure Faithfully to get together it says don't neglect getting together but encourage one another hmm because whenever we meet and gather and get together what happens is encouragement we're a community of encouragement we get together sort of pool our resources our spiritual resources and and the Lord puts his hand on that and encouragement starts exploding New Testament Christianity creates environments of encouragement in a world of despair and we all thank the Timothy trust for helping us get there secondly I want to back up and affirm something Aleister has said to us from the book of Jude and the question he raised is such a good one is Jude's warning necessary or is it just cranky and we here today with all our shortcomings we have to say we do not respect fashionable maybeism even fashionable maybe ISM that quotes the Bible that betrayal denies Christ that betrayal Dooms Eternal souls to hell and that betrayal undermines integrity dignity and faithfulness at every level not only in our churches but also in our homes and schools and businesses and governments and universities and everywhere when the gospel dies in the church the church betrays the world when the gospel lives in our churches the churches stand out on the social landscape as lifeboats that drowning people can swim to and we reach out help them in and they can live again and live forever we who are pastors can remain true to Jesus and life-giving to the world simply by are relaxed willingness to suffer here in a world that opposes the Lord fashionable maybeism comes from cowardice steady fruitful faithfulness is not a matter of willpower it's just being okay with suffering um okay the Rolling Stones I think 1969 their song You Can't Always Get What You Want yeah there's a great line in there so I went down to the demonstration to get my fair share of abuse I love that line you and I don't want to get left out of those who suffer for Christ he is near the Brokenhearted we're following the crucified and he said I have overcome the world and he didn't overcome the world by taking the world's self-exalting strategies and improving them and making them even better he overcame the World by going to the cross so now we know and actually when we go through intense hardship I think that two thoughts enter our minds initially our thought is cheat with I don't deserve this I'm getting hammered I'm being pounded I don't deserve this then we think about it some more and the Lord is so kind so patient and gives us deeper understanding and then our second thought is wow I really don't deserve this following Jesus what am I doing here I'm an idiot I get to follow Jesus wherever he goes Revelation 14 who are the authentic Christians they follow the lamb wherever he goes and so we're all thinking well that's scary but sign me up and with that in our hearts we will prevail and by God's grace for his glory alone we will help some people along the way as many as we possibly can so let's open our Bibles now to Romans chapter 15. verse 13 Romans 15 13 one of my favorite verses in the Bible Romans 15 13. now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the holy spirit this is God's word Romans 15 13 illustrates the power of context as we study teach and preach what gives this verse its nuclear power this is not just another verse along the way the context shows this is a landmark verse this is a flag planting verse because Romans 15 13 finally explains the primary takeaway at a practical level after all the great Theology of Romans a presbyterian friend of mine in Nashville calls Romans the Guerrilla of the New Testament we all understand that after 14 plus chapters of robust thinking about God and by the way I forget who the author was of this article pointed something out I'd never noticed before after you you peel off looking at word counts and statistics peel off the filler words like the and and those obvious ones the most frequently used word in Romans is God occurring 153 times Paul keeps thinking his way up high to God now how does that lofty glorious thinking help us down here the whole point of all this substantial Rich theology it funnels down to a new community here in this world gospel Doctrine does not hang in midair as a naked abstraction gospel Doctrine creates gospel culture that's what it's there for this is why Francis Schaefer used to speak of the two orthodoxies Orthodoxy of Doctrine and Orthodoxy of community with the same Authority gravitas and urgency as Orthodoxy of Doctrine and one unmistakable evidence that the doctrine is getting traction Among Us is a Spirit of Hope resting upon us all we see it right here in verse 13. a radiant Spirit of Hope covering a church setting the tone of a church this is how we live as Christians in a world of Despair a community of Hope is living proof that the gospel is both true and beautiful and who wouldn't love to be in a community a church like that so here in Romans 15 13 we find a striking Mark of gospel culture a community of Hope in a world of Rage as I listen to different voices in my own country about the the USA and these dark days I I keep hearing words like angry divided hyper partisan exhausted and so forth and we can take all those words add many many more and Romans 15 13 is perfect for all of us in times like these when our Earthly hopes grow dim Our Gospel hope shines the more brightly Jesus said I am the light of the world why did he say that because we're always living in a dark age he also said you were the light of the world why did he say that because Christianity is not for people with pretty good lives already who'd like to upgrade from six to seven maybe eight on a scale of one to ten Christianity is Christ the light shining into our deep Darkness so that we actually begin to reflect something of him and our Lord above does not need favorable social trends here below for his light to get through our Lord above has all authority on on in heaven and on Earth everything is going his way and we belong to him right here right now this is our moment Romans 15 13 Paints the picture of a church flourishing as their World falls apart flourishing because a higher world is coming down Among Us improbably and undeniably now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit which means we Face life as it is and we put one foot in front of the other and we keep going and we keep going and we keep going and after we've done that we keep going with some sparkle in her eye and spring in our step and stealing our spine because we belong to the one who has overcome this world and everything is going to be amazing we've got this because he's got this the pronoun you and the verse is plural so as I noted the other day in Nashville we'd have to say now may the god of fulfill all y'all with this joy and peace this is a shared hope this is a community of hope this is not this this glorious power coming down on this individual over here and then that end of it no this is covering an entire church a community with the hope that only God can give and you and I want that we want our hearts not freaking out but strong with hope in God we're not going to church and we're not preaching the gospel for a mere lifestyle upgrade for religious consumers we want nothing less than Christian salvation getting real to us and to many others Jesus becoming real to us all of us together is one and Romans 15 13 is in the Bible to guide us there to help us get there to help us dare to believe this can be ours this is not a museum piece to admire this is an Open Door to walk through so let's think through together appreciating that Romans 15 13 illustrates how one verse in a sermon can in a theologically responsible way create an entire message that the people will find satisfying convincing and uplifting three points they're right there in the text one who God is two what God does and three how God does that all right so one who God is now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace what has Romans already taught us about God chapter 4. this is this is amazing you know this let me check this out he gives life to the Dead and calls into existence things that do not exist how do you stop somebody like that chapter six the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord who needs to deserve him serious sinners can approach this God oh this is amazing chapter eight he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you Epictetus never would have said that the stoics what they thought was okay we're basically made of two parts we have these wretched icky bodies and we have these you know god-like Immortal Souls and minds and our whole problem is we just keep pandering to these bodies and we don't pay attention to and cultivate our thoughts and our higher minds and our aspirations and so we're getting dragged down into the dirt by these bodies when all you know we can connect with the gods blah blah blah that is not the Christian gospel the Christian Gospel is about the salvation of our souls it is also about the salvation of our bodies the humblest part of us we know that from the resurrection of Christ himself he'll give life to our mortal bodies so I mean that's when a sort of courageous Defiance enters our hearts and we say to Satan Take Your Best Shot that's all you got I follow the Risen Christ you loser again in Romans 8 if God is for us who can be against us I love the relaxed but sort of gently Fierce Defiance in that y'all We're Not Afraid and when we are we call that what it is sin so what are we doing there let's get back over here if God is for us who can be against us chapter 8 again will he not graciously give us all things guys we want to be faithful but you know the one thing we are not is like heroic oh aren't we wonderful we're sacrificing so much we're giving up so much we're following Jesus but it's the right thing to do no wrong answer he will give us all things we are so ridiculously privileged forever it is God who justifies who is to condemn I would readily condemn myself I don't even have the right to am I above God it is God who justifies who shall separate us from the love of Christ make my day give me a list at every point the god of Hope and he just changes the subject and he wants to be to every one of us the god of Hope so we can we can lay aside any anxiety that a morally serious person like God couldn't possibly be my hope surely he'll get tired of me surely there's a line I might cross where he'll just throw up his hands and walk away no the atoning blood of his son Jesus Christ on the cross declares that you can receive and have and enjoy forever the grace of God even with your weaknesses and shortcomings what else can it mean that he is the god of Hope isn't that the whole point the Bible also calls him the God of Peace the father of mercies and the God of All Comfort the God of all Grace so I'm thinking this the Bible is so repeated and insistent I this is not looking to me like a 5149 calculation on God's part when he's having a good day this this is just who God is at the deepest substratum of his being the god of Hope of Peace of mercies Comfort Grace and who God is matters more to us than Who We Are right we never know what tomorrow is going to bring we always know who God is he declared himself clearly in Christ so now we know even for the undeserving he is the god of hope that is the whole point I love the way Marcus Dodds helps us appreciate how big and how glorious our Lord is when the Lord says to Abraham he seals these promises with this simple declaration I am almighty God in Genesis chapter 17 Marcus Dodds select double click here's what comes up on the screen I am almighty God able to fulfill your highest hopes and accomplish for you the brightest ideal that my words ever set before you there is no need to pair my promise down until it squares with human probabilities no need to relinquish one hope it has begotten no need to adopt some interpretation of it which may make it seem easier to fulfill and no need to strive to fulfill my promise in any second-rate way all possibility lies in this I am almighty God so he's not pushing against any door that won't open he's not nervously working on Plan B nothing can ever defeat his purpose of Grace and glory for everyone who receives his son Jesus with the empty Hands of Faith and we can dare to announce that to ourselves every day the god of Hope is a God we can be sure of come with me the god of hope that's who he is secondly what God does now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit what then does God do through the ministry of the Gospel he fills us all he fills us with all joy and peace so that we abound in hope now obviously we all know God is not promising that every moment will be a zippity-doo-dah joyride the Bible's the most realistic book in the world Jesus our lord himself said blessed are those who mourn the Psalms include many laments as part of worship but this word abound means in all the losses and sorrows and buffetings of this life we keep bouncing back we get beaten up along the way but a buoyant hope that this world did didn't give to us this world can't take from us the all-in commitment of Jesus wonderfully makes us resilient I'm really struck by the Bold wording in this verse all joy and peace do you guys have 31 flavors ice cream up here do you know what I mean Baskin Robbins this is all 31 Flavors of joy and peace for all moments in life all conditions all situations all needs so that we abound in hope that is we keep to our own surprise we keep getting back up again because that down there with the Brokenhearted that's where the Lord is and this Romans 15 13 is not idealism I hate idealism in a world of weakness and impasse idealism is mockery that's not Romans 15 13. this is mainstream battle tested non-weird Christianity and God has given this sacred gift to Millions before us and now it's our turn to receive this sacred gift and make a prophetic statement to our generation in our churches as Corey ten Boom said there is no pit so deep but Christ is deeper still so yes this world breaks our hearts but our joy and peace will dance on the grave of every heartache not because we gain final control but because the Risen Christ gets the final say about human history and every single one of us he's got this the gospel won't let us tell ourselves because this is what I would say joy and peace hope I mean come on I'm just not like that right who of us is who of us is intuitively geared toward authentic Christianity we're talking about a miracle here an ongoing miracle remember Romans is about what only God can do he is the topic of conversation and when the god of Hope gets involved as he wonderfully does in our anguish our capacities are no longer the point his capacities are the point God's God wants to make that socially obvious and unmistakable on the social Horizon of our cities that's why we suffer God is giving us the privilege of serving as living proof that he can get anyone through anything and our suffering world needs to see that in US they deserve to see that in US and the time is now let's not wait for better conditions why would we do that that's not the point at all right now the conditions are ideal the weather conditions so to speak are ideal today for Romans 15 13. I read a fascinating book about ancient Rome by an Italian archaeologist I had I had never realized this before he said the apartment buildings of Rome most people lived in these big apartment buildings they were so shoddily built of course they had no codes so cynically wretchedly built that he said the buildings were often collapsing and he said quote the city was constantly filled with the noise of buildings collapsing and the tenants of an apartment lived in constant expectation of its coming down on their heads so if we could get in the time machine and go back to ancient Rome and stand on the sidewalk and listen there's a good chance we could hear the low Roar of one of these horrible buildings collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence that's where the Christians lived that's where everybody except the highest Elite lived that's where they raise their families that's where they had their house churches ancient Rome was not gleaming marble and flowing togas and Sumptuous Banquets it was horrible especially at night but God gave to them then and God gives to us today a sacred power to overcome the world and that is not a future pardon me not a present but a future together forever that nothing in this world can destroy it will not collapse we don't live in the present out of the present we live in the present out of the future what we have to look forward to is if God in his wonderful way takes the Continuum of History sort of tilts it up and something of the future slides back into our experience right now resurrection power so the Risen Jesus himself right now above at this moment as we are here he is not tired and he's not tired of you and he has plenty of joy and peace and hope to share with every one of us all the way to the end and on into eternity my dad told me amazing story he was pastoring there in Pasadena back in the days of phone books and there was a family visiting Pasadena and their their patriarchal figure among them became ill they took him to the hospital he was dying they opened the phone book found Reverend Ray ortlin called my dad he jumped in the car drove over there and he was standing there at the this dear man's bedside he was dying and his lips were moving dad couldn't quite hear what he was saying dad bent over and and listened you know what the man was saying true story praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord I'm thinking he was a Christian maybe there's a chance so how does this actually happen how does that wondrous Gospel Power get traction inside us creating a community of hope that's point three how God does it now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the holy spirit so there are two parts to the how question first there's our part in believing second there's God's part by the power of the Holy Spirit let's look at our part now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing what does that mean it means we treat God's promises as true and relevant actually addressing the things we so deeply care about true and relevant and and of course as Bonhoeffer in life together pointed out so wonderfully we can help one another believe when the faith in my heart is weak the faith in your heart might well be strong and vice verses so we we pool our faith we lean together and we keep stumbling forward again this is for for a whole church there was a precious Saint in my Boyhood church named Alfred Dixon Irish immigrant such a lovely accent and when the church faced difficulty he said without any tone of smugness it was just so endearing and convincing he would say now we have the privilege of seeing what only God can do in believing together in isolation we lose heart but looking to Jesus together we make surprising progress the Bible says cast all your cares on him for he cares for you if it matters to you it matters to him my son Gavin a pastor in California told me about an older Saint there who has not had an easy life and she said to him about her own griefs God never says get over it what he says is give it to me and those two words in believing are talking about that it's us saying to him I'm perplexed I don't understand I'm scared I'm weak and I give that mess to you I'm a mess but I'm your mess thank you for the privilege help me I pray and then we put one foot in front of the other we go do the next right thing by God's grace for his glory which leads us to God's part what then does God do but he says the power of the Holy Spirit we are an ongoing miracle the church shouldn't exist by now it should have lasted about 15 minutes here we are why the power of the Holy Spirit and whoever doesn't need ongoing endless Miracle deep within we are so not made of titanium and whoever hasn't experienced joy and peace and hope that we can't account for in any other way except God did not let us go by the power of the Holy Spirit we got back up again again I wish we had time to to just come to the mic and tell stories about how the Lord has gotten us through on just unimaginable difficulty against the odds the Lord's been so good to us and now we know now we know our lives are more than our failures more than our successes our successes can even get in the way how we flourish is the holy spirit entering into our need Moment by moment as we stay open and just keep going and keep going and we therefore right now emphatically reject every false hope and we set our hearts on what only God can do you are not crazy to dare to long to see in your Generation The Mighty power of the Holy Spirit never apologize for that never give it up that's the most wonderful thing living inside you that longing that openness that prayer true story to conclude in 1851 a group of British missionaries were on board a ship on their way to the mission field they were at the very southern tip of South America Tierra del Fuego not far from Antarctica they were waiting there for the supply ship that was to Rendezvous at that point the supply ship arrived too late they all died of cold and starvation one of them a Methodist lay preacher named Richard Williams kept a journal and at one point he wrote in his journal poor and weak though we are our Abode is a very Bethel to our souls and God we feel and know is here and then a few days before he died this was another entry in his journal should anything prevent my ever adding to this let all my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy beyond all expression the night I wrote these lines and would not have changed situations with any man living wow that's Christianity it shouldn't happen in a world like this but it does happen it keeps happening now it's our turn because the god of Hope is with us for his glory all the way to the second coming now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit amen

Channel: The Timothy Trust

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Length: 39min 10sec (2350 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2023