Heritage Reformed Baptist Mission
ROMANS
Sermon 50
Abounding Hope
Romans 15:7-13
Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
The early American statesman, Patrick Henry, is quoted as having said, I know of no way to judge the future but by the past. When we add to that the often proved saying, History repeats itself, we have the sum and substance of human hopelessness. The reason, of course, is human sinfulness. The Bible speaks loud and clear about that.
Listen to the words of 2 Timothy 3:1-5. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Nothing can be more hopeless than that.
However, in the face of human hopelessness, there is hope, abounding hope. It is not to be found in man or in anything man has devised. But it can be found in individual human beings. And it can influence everything they do and every situation in which they live.
The older I get, the closer I get to leaving this world and going to heaven, the longer I walk with the Lord, the more I come to understand and appreciate the fact Jesus Christ is necessary. (When I was preparing this, I hesitated for some time before deciding to use that word because it seems so inadequate. Even now I want to say more. But I just don't know how to say what I want to say with any greater emphasis.) Without Jesus, the word hope would have no meaning. Without Jesus, life would have absolutely no meaning whatsoever, to say nothing of death and what follows. Yes! Jesus is necessary.
It was necessary for Him to give up His right to eternal glory in heaven. It was necessary for Him to humble Himself, taking on the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was necessary for Him to be mocked, despised, rejected, beaten, and blasphemed. It was necessary for Him to take upon Himself the sins of the His people in the whole world. It was necessary for Him to bear those sins in His own body on a cruel cross. It was necessary for Him to be separated from His Father, suffering the pains of hell. It was necessary for Him to rise from the dead. And it was necessary for Him to be exalted above all, given a name that is above every name, and seated at the Father's right hand until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
In His humiliation, the Lord Jesus pleased others and not Himself. Such is not the human idea of the way to abounding hope. But, when we look at the results, it just cannot be denied. Jesus is the supreme example of abounding hope because He was willing to first be humiliated. Had He not done that, there would be no hope of any kind for you and me and the rest of the world.
That is a testimony to us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to do as He did; i.e., to humble ourselves in the body of Christ in order to please and serve the other members of His body. Jesus brought glory to God by doing that. And so will we.
There is abounding hope in Jesus Christ because He is the very expression of God's truth. He said of Himself in John 14:6 that He is the Truth. And in John 17:17, He declares the Word of God to be truth. He was the Truth of God made flesh as a servant to the Jews in order to confirm the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those promises are all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, though some of them have not yet been seen.
One of those promises was that Abraham's seed would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. And so, through and in Jesus, Gentiles are included in God's redemptive plan, receiving mercy instead of justice. For that, they then bring glory to God. These are the same people about whom Paul writes in Ephesians 2:12 that they were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. Then he adds in verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Hopeless people have little or nothing about which to rejoice. Though they may have pleasure in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, their rejoicing in that is at best temporary. The flesh can never be satisfied for long. That's the way it was with the Gentiles before Christ came. Even though Israel was severely disciplined for their oft rebellions against God, they still were the only people on earth who could rejoice in knowing the true and living God. But now, because of Christ, Gentiles may, if they will, join with Israel in songs of rejoicing and praise.
God has opened the door of salvation by grace through faith to the whole world. It would be good if you and I would meditate on that for awhile each day. Just think, if Jesus had only come into the world as the Savior of the Jews, we would still be without Christ, without hope, and without God in the world. But, Jesus did not come just for Jews. And we are not without Him, without hope, and without God. Isn't that cause for rejoicing in our hearts and for praise to God?! Surely you are compelled to say a hearty Amen.
And, may I elicit another Amen from you with these words from Ephesians 2:1-7. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Those verses add emphasis to the fact that abounding hope is the gift of God. It is not something we can conjure up in our minds. The world may try to do that. But, there is no hope outside of Almighty God. He is the God of hope, and proved it when He made Himself fully known in the Person of Jesus Christ. He is eternal, unchangeable, the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Abounding hope can only be experienced through faith. First of all must be faith that receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Among all of the other benefits of receiving Him is the gift of hope. Christ in the believer is "the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). But for that hope to abound, the believer must live a life of faith. As the Apostle John writes in 1 John 5:13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Believers do not just trust the Lord, whom they have not seen, for salvation, and then live in this world by sight. Trying to do it that way is the reason many Christians have no outward expressions of joy and peace. The circumstances of life just do not lend themselves to those kinds of expressions. But, trusting Jesus day-by-day no matter what the circumstances of life allows believers to experience the fullness of joy and peace it is possible for them to have because they are in Christ and Christ is in them.
Such a fullness overflows into the outward life. It cannot be contained. By the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we burst forth with words and songs of praise and thanksgiving, and with testimony of Jesus. That is surely most, if not all, of the meaning of these words from 1 Peter 3:15, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Who will ask a reason for our hope if they do not see it in our lives?
There is at least one other thing abounding hope will do. It will make doubts cease. No one who lives day-by-day with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can seriously doubt the salvation God has given them in Him.
The hope that is in Jesus Christ, the hope about which we have been studying, is not the hope of which the world speaks. That kind of hope is colored by circumstances. It is tainted by the innate hopelessness to which I referred at the beginning of this sermon. It is maybe. The hope that is in the Lord Jesus Christ is a certainty which nothing but the collapse of Almighty God can keep from coming to pass. Since that can never happen, future blessedness in heaven with all that includes is sure for all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That same blessedness may be experienced now within the hearts and minds of all who trust the Lord Jesus Christ and walk by faith, not by sight.
What is your status of hope? If it is not abounding, and if you are a believer, simply trust God to do as verse 13 of our text says. Let Him fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you are not a believer, you are without hope, without God and without Christ just as were the Gentiles of old who were not of the commonwealth of Israel. Perhaps you either dont care that is your situation or you had never thought much, if anything, about it. If you dont care, I pray God He would cause you to care before He must cast you into the place where hopelessness is eternal. If you are concerned that you are without God and do not want to continue in that condition, come to the Lord Jesus Christ confessing and repenting of your sin and trusting Him for forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. Scripture says, Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. Call upon Him now.