Hoping In Christ Together
Jeremy Bell
Romans 5:1-5
November 17, 2019
Sermon Audio
Main theme: Biblical hope is the confident expectation of what God has already promised!
I. Justification Delivers Unshakable Hope (verses 1-2)
- “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (verse 1)”
- By faith in Christ, the Christian has been justified and declared righteous.
- Justification is a legal term. When you are justified, your account is settled – it’s a sure and certain position – it is not ambiguous.
- By faith in Christ’s death on the cross, full atonement was made – our account of sin against God was permanently set right and settled
My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, HE is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am or shall be or feel… but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing for me. Hallelujah! — CH Spurgeon
- By faith in Christ, we have peace with God. This peace rests not on our ability but on the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, Christians need no longer live out of fear.
- Through these promises we can stand in grace, as Paul says in verse 2 and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
II. Suffering Produces Tested Hope (verses 3-4)
- The people of God not only put their hope in the future grace of God, but they can also rejoice in their present circumstances.
- Suffering produces gradual transformation that makes us more mature and more filled with hope.
- That’s why Paul says we can rejoice in our sufferings. We can rejoice in our sufferings because suffering has the kind of effect on us that causes us to be emptied of our own resources and look to Christ in our time of need.
- God’s hope is our GPS. Hope is what keeps us listening to the direction even when it seems like we’re headed the wrong direction.
- Hope set in God and in His promise keeps us on course, and on track, even in the most adverse conditions. He has designed His hope to shine, especially in the night, to guide us and strengthen us.
Hope itself is like a star – not seen in the sunshine of prosperity, only to be discovered in the nighttime of adversity — CH Spurgeon
- The nighttime of adversity will come. God will lead us, and the best is yet to come, but we must not lose hold of hope.
- We can hold on in the challenges we face, and even rejoice in our sufferings, because the end result of suffering produces hope.
III. God’s Love Provides Shameless Hope (verse 5)
- Have you ever been let down by hope? Maybe it wasn’t a biblical hope as we defined it earlier, but something you had really longed for to come to pass that did not happen.
- The hope of Christ – doesn’t let us down. It doesn’t put us to shame. Our hope is Jesus Christ Himself.
- Hope in anything in this world is dangerous. Its dangerous if the object of our hope is flimsy and uncertain.
- We celebrate this morning that the object of our hope is not flimsy. The object of our hope is Jesus Christ, God’s Perfect Son. He Himself is the source of our hope. He will not put us to shame. He will fulfill His promises. He will bring us home to glory.
Questions For Discussion / Application:
- Re-read the text, Romans 5:1-5. What initial observations and insights do you have from reading this text?
- In what alternative sources of hope do we as believers tend at times to locate our trust?
- Why do we struggle to put our hope in Christ?
- What is a biblical definition of hope?
- Re-read verse 1. What does it mean that believer’s have “peace with God.” How does this give us hope for today and looking ahead to the future as well?
- In moments where you you don’t feel hope, what promises of God do you cling to?
- In what area of your life are you struggling to have hope? Consider taking time to pray for those who are struggling with a lack of hope.