The Live of Faith: Described (Romans 5:1-5)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:10.869 Give your attention now to God's word in Romans, Chapter Five, Romans Five, 2 00:00:10.910 --> 00:00:21.780 verses one through five. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 3 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:27.500 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, 4 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:32.659 we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, 5 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:38.609 and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. More than that, 6 00:00:38.969 --> 00:00:44.450 we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance 7 00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:50.159 produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to 8 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:55.320 shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, 9 00:00:55.799 --> 00:01:00.320 who has been given to us the God blesses word to us. Please 10 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:19.379 be seated. Having proved that Paul's a Paul's thesis, the justification is received 11 00:01:19.620 --> 00:01:26.019 by faith alone in Jesus, Paul now tells us that that justification, which 12 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:30.500 he has been talking about for quite some time and will continue to bring up 13 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:36.730 and focus on in various ways. He now tells us that that justification comes 14 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:42.969 with certain particular benefits in the Christian life. One, for example, is 15 00:01:44.049 --> 00:01:49.439 that we have peace with God. Another is that we have hope in God. 16 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.200 These are things that he brings up and points our attention to here in 17 00:01:53.239 --> 00:02:00.280 these verses. Notice the connection. Since we have been justified by faith, 18 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:05.829 we have peace with God because this has happened. Something else has happened, 19 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:10.870 because X. Therefore, why we have been justified by faith and now, 20 00:02:12.389 --> 00:02:19.460 instead of having enmity with God, we have peace with God. It's not 21 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:23.819 so much that we are peaceful, but that we have a state of peace. 22 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:29.060 Of course that peace, that that peaceful state, will produce a sort 23 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:34.050 of peacefulness inwardly, but it's sort of the difference between war and peace. 24 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:38.090 We have peace with God. We're not at war with him any longer. 25 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:44.560 We're not his enemies when we are forgiven of our sins and justified in Christ. 26 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.360 But these benefits that he we have peace with God whole open the glory 27 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:54.840 of God. They're not a couple things that sort of sit on the shelf 28 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:00.550 at home, our salvation shelf. People come into our home sometimes and we 29 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:05.150 have little places of things that were proud of, things that we like to 30 00:03:05.270 --> 00:03:07.509 show, things that are special to us and we say, Hey, took 31 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:15.060 a look at this, my airplane collection or metals or whatever it may be. 32 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:20.340 These gifts that God has given to us are not like that. They 33 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:24.219 don't sit on our salvation shelf. Know, these gifts are the kinds of 34 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:34.409 things that bring about change life, change inward change. To compare to a 35 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:38.009 worldly thing. Imagine that you have, or imagine that you find out that 36 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:42.840 you have, a rich and doting uncle who comes to you one day and 37 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.479 says, I've missed you all these years, this relationship that we could have 38 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.960 had, and I want to help you. I simply want the best for 39 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.560 you. So here's my bank card. You just take care of whatever you 40 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:59.110 need. With access to these kinds of funds, all of a sudden you 41 00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:02.949 can do all kinds of things that you never thought were possible. There's a 42 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:09.069 sense of security that you now have, a kind of peace about the way 43 00:04:09.189 --> 00:04:13.939 that you are going to live your life because you have access to these funds. 44 00:04:15.019 --> 00:04:19.540 Well, Jesus does something for us like that, only, of course, 45 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:24.139 much, much better. I know you don't believe me about that, 46 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:29.170 but it really is better. That's what God says in his word. Remember 47 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:32.329 this. Instead of giving US access to money, which can be lost, 48 00:04:32.370 --> 00:04:39.920 stolen, wastefully spent, he gives us access to the grace of God. 49 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:48.639 Peace with God. You remember what justification is, right. It's this act 50 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:54.670 by God's of God's grace, where he cleanses us from our sin, he 51 00:04:54.870 --> 00:05:00.069 declares US righteousness, he pardons us of all the things that we've done, 52 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:05.389 money wise, physical, tangible money, bank account money. When you die, 53 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:12.540 it doesn't go with you, it has zero effect on you anymore. 54 00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:17.980 However much you have or don't have, God will not require you to pay 55 00:05:18.019 --> 00:05:25.689 back a single dollar. But the debt of sin, however, the debts 56 00:05:25.730 --> 00:05:30.250 that you owe to God in that way must be paid back. And the 57 00:05:30.370 --> 00:05:36.160 thing is they can't be paid back. He requires to us any any eternal 58 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:43.519 death, a life forever of everlasting punish meant to pay for the debts that 59 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:48.399 are eternally owed when we sin against God. It's not just a little bit 60 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:53.230 in our bank accounts that are owed, a sort of sin or righteousness bank 61 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:57.230 account that just goes a little bit in debt. With every sin, the 62 00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:00.350 Bible says we offend our most holy God in such a way that it is 63 00:06:02.389 --> 00:06:10.860 that it is eternally damnable. That is, of course, unless you find 64 00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:18.009 grace, unless God provides forgiveness, which says I clear these debts, I 65 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:25.009 take away these things from you that you owe. In that case, you 66 00:06:25.209 --> 00:06:30.209 stand as one forgiven. You enter into eternal life, not as one who 67 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:35.199 will experience it in all of its pains and wrath and sorrow, but who 68 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:46.040 experience eternal life in blessing and holiness and riches and glory. Life. This 69 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.949 is what Jesus gives to us. He doesn't give us a temporary thing for 70 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:56.709 the here and now. He gives us any eternal thing that will last forever 71 00:06:56.870 --> 00:07:01.899 and ever. But it's similar. I make the analogy in this way and 72 00:07:02.019 --> 00:07:09.379 that it changes your life. To put it another way, being justified by 73 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:14.060 God not only brings you the right to eternal life, it also brings the 74 00:07:14.259 --> 00:07:23.170 experience here and now of blessing. He gives us a blessed life here and 75 00:07:23.329 --> 00:07:29.529 now because of the forgiveness that we have in Jesus on the Cross. Paul 76 00:07:29.569 --> 00:07:33.360 will say at the end of this chapter that we reign in life through Jesus. 77 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:40.560 Reign in life are EI GN like a king, reigning, powerful, 78 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:45.990 strong, glorious, filled with blessing and honor. That's how we live our 79 00:07:46.029 --> 00:07:51.149 lives. We Reign in life through Jesus Christ, and that's God's message to 80 00:07:51.189 --> 00:07:58.550 us. This morning. Those who have been justified by God in Christ find 81 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:03.139 that not only is there afterlife taken care of, but also their current life 82 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:09.220 is taken care of. They don't just reign in eternity, but they reign 83 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:16.009 here and now. They experience the blessed life of God here and now. 84 00:08:16.050 --> 00:08:22.970 Now. I don't know about you, but when I hear about experiencing the 85 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:28.519 blessed life here and now, I can't help but think of certain preachers who 86 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:33.960 have a very earthly kind of blessing in mind. When someone says to me, 87 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:37.679 when I say to myself, when I hear it in the Bible, 88 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.110 you will reign in life. It's so easy to think in these kind of 89 00:08:41.230 --> 00:08:46.950 temporal terms, partly because there are many people claiming to be preachers of the 90 00:08:46.990 --> 00:08:52.710 word of God who speak in these terms, who say that if you come 91 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:58.659 to Jesus, money will pour in, you will have a rich and doting 92 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:03.980 uncle in the kind of way that I've first presented it, that you will 93 00:09:03.019 --> 00:09:09.730 have cars of all kinds, wealth and riches beyond your wildest imagination, and 94 00:09:09.769 --> 00:09:13.570 if you don't, it's simply because you don't believe enough, you're not trying 95 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:20.809 hard enough, you're not obeying enough, and so, as a preacher myself, 96 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:26.799 I find myself somewhat hesitants sometimes to even say scriptural things like reigning in 97 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:31.080 life. You Reign in life, or you have a blessed life or will 98 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.799 have a blessed life here and now if you believe in Jesus, because I 99 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:41.190 feel that you're going to hear me in the way that we so often hear 100 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:46.990 this, but that's not what the Bible says. I want you to know 101 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:52.860 that when God speaks about the blessed life, speaks about US living and reigning 102 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:56.899 in an eternal kind of sense here and now because of our justice sification. 103 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:03.379 He means it in a much better way, in a much better way than 104 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:09.090 prosperity preachers will tell you, these people that try to scam you into thinking 105 00:10:09.169 --> 00:10:18.450 that this life that we live is all about money, diamonds, plans and 106 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:28.480 all the rest. Paul does not have these things in mind for two reasons. 107 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.960 We can know it for two reasons. First is the kind of life 108 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.950 that he's talking about, and the second is the reality of trials that he 109 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:43.549 also talks about. Notice what he talks about, the kind of life that 110 00:10:43.629 --> 00:10:46.750 he has in mind. Notice what he says. He says that we have 111 00:10:46.870 --> 00:10:52.259 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He says we rejoice in the 112 00:10:52.539 --> 00:10:58.379 hope of the glory of God. Later on in this chapter he's going to 113 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:01.500 be talked. He's going to talk about the kind of life that we receive 114 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:07.090 through Jesus is not like the death that we receive through Adam. Of course, 115 00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:11.529 Adam didn't just die a physical death, but all those who have the 116 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:16.610 sin of Adam I promised an eternals death, a spiritual one as well as 117 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:22.240 a physical one. The life, however, that we receive in Jesus is 118 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.799 this kind kind of asclidological life. It's a life connected with the world to 119 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:33.950 come, eternal life, completely blessed life, life without sin, a life 120 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:37.950 that lives past death, the life of Christ, the life of the spirit 121 00:11:37.990 --> 00:11:45.190 of God who verse five says has been poured into our hearts, God himself 122 00:11:45.830 --> 00:11:54.659 being spread richly in us. The Life Paul is talking about here, that 123 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:58.820 we have in Jesus, is not sitting pretty on a pile of cash. 124 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:07.850 It's being seated with Jesus in the Throne Room of God, in the heavenly 125 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:13.450 places where we have been raised. You See, when Jesus says that he 126 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:18.480 will bless us in our justification, in this grace that we have received. 127 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:24.879 He's not talking about something that's less than what the prosperity preachers promise. He's 128 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:33.509 talking about something that's much more. They are taking away from you. They 129 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:39.830 promise something less than what God has given. You see this particularly in the 130 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:45.139 second thing that Paul has in mind. In our reigning in this life, 131 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:52.500 it includes suffering. It's very clear about this. He says through him we 132 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:56.779 have also obtained access through faith or by faith, into this grace in which 133 00:12:56.779 --> 00:13:00.330 we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 134 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:07.450 Verse Three. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings. Paul doesn't 135 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:11.649 say that sufferings are going to go away, that you could skirt around them 136 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:18.240 or move around them or don't have them. He says in them you find 137 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:24.080 hope. In your sufferings you find blessing and glory, and that's why you 138 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:33.509 rejoice. The Prosperity Gospel, as it is sometimes called, completely disregards the 139 00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:37.230 reality of trials in the Christian life and even more, we can say it 140 00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:43.539 stronger, it takes away the blessing of trials that God has promised to us. 141 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:46.980 This is why I say this sort of earthly view of reigning in life, 142 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:54.700 a kind of temporary financial view, very limited, takes away a blessing 143 00:13:54.860 --> 00:14:01.809 that God has promised. Notice what he says. We rejoice in our sufferings, 144 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:11.960 knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope, 145 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:20.559 and hope does not put us to shame. Sometimes we hope in things that 146 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:24.549 don't work out and it does put us to shame. Going back to the 147 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:28.429 money example, maybe you've invested in something or in someone or a business or 148 00:14:28.470 --> 00:14:31.669 something that you thought this is going to be good, this is going to 149 00:14:31.710 --> 00:14:35.710 make things right, this is going to improve things, and your hope ended 150 00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:41.179 up embarrassing you. You lost money, you got connected with a scam, 151 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:46.860 all kinds of things. God here promises the opposite. He says the hope 152 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:52.259 that you're hoping in will not put you to shame. It does not put 153 00:14:52.340 --> 00:14:58.690 us to shame. Here's something for us to remember about this chain that he 154 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:07.049 lays out here, this kind of circular progression of suffering leading back around to 155 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:13.919 hope in which we rejoice. It's that the sanctification that accompanies our justification. 156 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:20.080 It's a blessing to be enjoyed. We forget this, don't we? It's 157 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:24.470 easy to sort of think about sanctification is something that we merely endure and have 158 00:15:24.629 --> 00:15:31.230 to get it over with. Sanctification is something that we you know, sometimes 159 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:35.179 I hear us saying, well, I guess God is sanctifying me, I 160 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:41.460 guess this is sanctifying. But where's the joy in that? Isn't there a 161 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:46.860 sense? Isn't God saying that there's a sense, a real sense, a 162 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:50.370 true sense, in which the Christian life has lived out in rejoicing in our 163 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:56.490 sanctification, that when we receive the sufferings of God, it's not merely something 164 00:15:56.529 --> 00:16:00.370 we endure and maybe there's a blessing attached to it somewhere, but that it 165 00:16:00.529 --> 00:16:06.039 is entirely meant for blessing, that that in itself is the gift that has 166 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:10.759 been given. The Prosperity Gospel, of course, ignores all this and it 167 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:17.399 takes it away from us. It takes away the sanctifying work that God promises 168 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:25.509 to do in our lives. We don't in merely endure suffering. We rejoice 169 00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:34.940 in our suffering, we rejoice in it because it produces endurance and endurance produces 170 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:40.299 a character, which it means to say it sort of shows that it's genuine. 171 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:45.500 You you, you, you test, let's say, an object to 172 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:48.490 make sure it's strong and at the end of that testing period, if it's 173 00:16:48.730 --> 00:16:53.490 endured, if it's done, it's proven itself is genuine, it has good 174 00:16:55.129 --> 00:17:02.559 character. There's a an elder at the church the OPC in Phoenix, at 175 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:07.960 Calvin OPC, who makes bolow ties. Takes these, you know, pretty 176 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:12.559 rocks and will shape them and do various things and then turn them into well, 177 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:17.829 our state Necktie, I guess. But before he does that process, 178 00:17:17.950 --> 00:17:21.109 but the first thing he does is he chooses the kind of rock he wants, 179 00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:23.150 the the really pretty one, the one that's going to look nice and 180 00:17:23.269 --> 00:17:27.190 do well for him, and he drops it on his work bench and it 181 00:17:27.390 --> 00:17:33.619 shatters into a bunch of pieces and he says, Nope, not going to 182 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:38.819 use that one. And they'll keep doing that with beautiful rock after beautiful rock 183 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:45.009 until he finds one that has character, one that endures the test, one 184 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:52.250 that has proven itself as genuine, and that one gets turned into a tie. 185 00:17:55.970 --> 00:18:02.839 This is something of what God does with us. He gives us tests, 186 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:08.440 he takes our sufferings and makes and and endures us so that at the 187 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:14.309 end of it we say, look at what God is doing. He's testing 188 00:18:14.470 --> 00:18:18.509 me, he caused me to endure and here I am not shattered in a 189 00:18:18.589 --> 00:18:22.869 thousand pieces. It was hard, maybe something, maybe the weak spots, 190 00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:29.859 got chipped off, and it didn't feel good as it was happening. But 191 00:18:29.980 --> 00:18:36.180 God has been good, God has been faithful, and I can have hope, 192 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:42.690 hope that God will use me for his purposes, that he is making 193 00:18:42.849 --> 00:18:49.450 me into the thing that he wants to make, something beautiful and purposeful and 194 00:18:49.609 --> 00:18:56.519 glorifying to him. The prosperity preachers want to take all that away from you, 195 00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:02.440 your sinful hearts that want to attach the glory of God to earthly things. 196 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:08.400 Wants to take all that away from you. God says there is real 197 00:19:10.190 --> 00:19:18.109 blessing, so much blessing that you can approach your sufferings with rejoicing, with 198 00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:26.579 real rejoicing. Now those sufferings may be very, very hard. There are 199 00:19:26.579 --> 00:19:33.940 Christians in this world who faced crucifixion, burning, imprisonment, beheading, rape, 200 00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:42.930 slavery for the name of Jesus. Paul experienced these kind of sufferings himself. 201 00:19:44.569 --> 00:19:47.849 He had skin in the game on this one. He's not merely talking 202 00:19:47.930 --> 00:19:51.690 as an outsiderer, saying yeah, you guys, this is a good thing, 203 00:19:51.809 --> 00:19:53.480 it'll work out for you. No, he knew it, he was 204 00:19:53.519 --> 00:20:02.720 a experiencing it, he believed it. Of course there's other kinds of sufferings. 205 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:10.789 Long term illnesses, broken relationships, lawsuits that won't end, rebellious children, 206 00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:15.109 abusive parents, job situations. The list goes on and on and on. 207 00:20:17.150 --> 00:20:22.660 There's even the little things that we deal with. There's so that Pale 208 00:20:22.779 --> 00:20:26.339 really in comparison to these things, and yet we still getting anxious over them 209 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:32.140 and frustrated and angry and don't deal with them very well. I forgot to 210 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:34.890 turn the Crock pot on before I went to church, locked the keys in 211 00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:40.690 the car, didn't buy enough bread the neighbors, leaves are falling in our 212 00:20:40.730 --> 00:20:45.170 yard, and yet we get all bent out of shape and all frustrated and 213 00:20:45.369 --> 00:20:52.119 angry at God for the things that he has the things that he has brought 214 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:57.119 into our lives. These sufferings, whether they be tiny, insignificant ones or 215 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:06.069 great, big life shattering ones, God says that he will use them to 216 00:21:06.190 --> 00:21:12.829 produce endurance and character and hope in our lives. But I have to remind 217 00:21:12.910 --> 00:21:22.140 you that this only happens, this sort of blessed circle, only happens when 218 00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:29.099 it's by faith. It only happens when we're trusting and believing that God will 219 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:36.970 do these things. It's not automatic. You don't experience suffering and automatically endure 220 00:21:36.970 --> 00:21:41.769 endurance. Depends on the thing that you're trusting in, on the one that 221 00:21:41.049 --> 00:21:49.039 you're trusting in. We will go to great lengths and do amazing things when 222 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:56.319 we trust that something, when we trust in something, whether that's a doctor 223 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:00.509 who will take care of us, or a broker who's managing our finances, 224 00:22:02.150 --> 00:22:07.470 or or a promise that's been given. I'm over the past few days and 225 00:22:07.869 --> 00:22:14.269 my house we've been listening to see US Louis has the silver chair. My 226 00:22:14.470 --> 00:22:18.579 favorite character, and probably everyone's favorite character, is puddle Glam. In that 227 00:22:19.099 --> 00:22:26.619 story. PUDDLE Glam is this down or sour faced guy who always is seeing 228 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:33.730 the worst in everything, but he has this sort of amazing faith, this 229 00:22:34.089 --> 00:22:40.769 trust that the word that he has been given from the great line as land 230 00:22:41.490 --> 00:22:45.519 is true. There's this amazing scene. Why, one of my favorite scenes 231 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:52.799 in the story at the end where there everything's about to go wrong and everything's 232 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:57.519 about to fall apart and his human companions, Pudal GLUMB is not human. 233 00:22:57.750 --> 00:23:03.349 His human companions say, but what if this doesn't work out? What if 234 00:23:03.470 --> 00:23:07.829 this what if we die? And PUDAL Glum says, well, we probably 235 00:23:07.950 --> 00:23:12.940 will, it probably will work out poorly, but it doesn't matter. We 236 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:17.500 have to trust in the sign, the word that we have been given. 237 00:23:18.339 --> 00:23:22.460 That is the only thing that we have. Are Now I'm putting words and 238 00:23:22.500 --> 00:23:27.769 Pudal GLUM's mouth. Our lives are not about making a kind of calculus about 239 00:23:27.849 --> 00:23:32.450 will I get this job, or will this relationship work out, or can 240 00:23:32.569 --> 00:23:36.369 I align x, Y and Z in order to get this thing that I 241 00:23:36.569 --> 00:23:41.049 want? Our lives are about trusting in the Lord, and that produces an 242 00:23:41.089 --> 00:23:48.559 amazing amount of Durance, endurance even through death. He was willing to face 243 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.759 death because he knew of the truthfulness of the one who had spoken to him. 244 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:56.950 And it's just like that for us with God. We believe what the 245 00:23:57.309 --> 00:24:03.430 Lord has done. He has done, that he has overcome death, that 246 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:07.109 he has overcome suffering and wrath and curse, to such an extent that we 247 00:24:07.190 --> 00:24:14.339 can endure through it and say I will be okay, the Lord will use 248 00:24:14.460 --> 00:24:18.180 this, the Lord will bless me. I may not be able to see 249 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:19.579 it, I may not be able to work at all out in my head, 250 00:24:21.660 --> 00:24:27.490 but I know that God is true. I know that God is true 251 00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:34.170 and he is true. Paul says at the end of this section that it's 252 00:24:34.289 --> 00:24:41.599 something that we experience. If you've been forgiven, if you know what it 253 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:45.079 means to be justified by Christ, if you've put your faith in him, 254 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:51.839 then the love of God, he says, has been poured into our hearts 255 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:57.509 by the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. It's sort of an argument 256 00:24:57.589 --> 00:25:03.789 from experience. You know the love of God, you know the ways in 257 00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:08.099 which he watches over you and takes care of you, the ways in which 258 00:25:08.099 --> 00:25:12.299 he has done that over and over again, even now, assuring you, 259 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:21.730 and that is coming by the Holy Spirit. Your pain may be very difficult, 260 00:25:22.049 --> 00:25:25.410 and that, I think, is a wonderful thing in the Bible. 261 00:25:26.250 --> 00:25:32.329 Many philosophies of this world overlook that, downplay it. The Bible never downplay 262 00:25:32.450 --> 00:25:34.960 suffering. It never says, well, that's not really true, it doesn't 263 00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:41.119 really exist it. It looks at it very openly and very honestly and says 264 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:47.640 it's there and God knows about it. But he says there is something more 265 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:53.470 powerful than the suffering that we face, and it is God himself, who 266 00:25:53.470 --> 00:25:57.869 has lived and died on our behalf, and that is why we believe in 267 00:25:59.029 --> 00:26:06.259 him. We trust in him, and when we do, we reign in 268 00:26:06.420 --> 00:26:11.900 life, even as he has reigned in life through suffering and through death. 269 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:17.059 We will have to suffer now, we will face trials, but God is 270 00:26:17.180 --> 00:26:22.490 using it for good and because of that, as a Christian, you can 271 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:30.009 rejoice, you can live your life with an attitude and a disposition of thankfulness 272 00:26:30.529 --> 00:26:37.839 and praise, even in the darkest times. This is not easy, because 273 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:44.079 we do doubt and we do lack faith, but remember what God has done 274 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:49.910 and remember who is in your heart, the Holy Spirit himself. So trust 275 00:26:51.029 --> 00:26:56.589 on him, lean on him, put your faith in God and he will 276 00:26:56.630 --> 00:26:59.789 not let you down. Let us pray