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Father, we just are thrilled to be here on such a beautiful Sunday morning, to have the opportunity to come and to reflect on your goodness to us. Not just in terms of what you have given us physically, not in terms of the weather, not in terms of anything else, Lord, other than who you are and what you have accomplished on behalf of your people.
Father, would you make this a time of just rejoicing, of worship? Would you turn our hearts toward you? And Father, we'll just give you all the praise in Christ's name, Amen. Well, again, good morning.
Some things have been really on my mind and my heart lately, and just a number of circumstances have come up. I was talking to someone several weeks ago who had a very difficult life story, and I thought one of the things I said to him was, I said, on top of giving him the gospel because I don't know if the man was saved or not, I said, well, let's say your life goes on for another 40 years.
And I said, do you think that if you've been in heaven for 50 ,000 years, you're going to scratch your head and just go, you know, those last 40 years on earth, those were really tough? And he just kind of laughed.
He goes, no, that's ridiculous. And I go, why would that be? He goes, because I've been there in heaven 50 ,000 years, and I've still got all of eternity to go. And 40 years is nothing. And I go, so why are you so depressed?
And isn't that really the question? Why do we get so bogged down in what's going on here when we have so much in front of us? Let me ask you a few questions. You just got fired. For some of you, that's impossible because you're retired.
But let's say you just got fired. You lost your job. You got laid off. Are you rejoicing? Do you leave the office skipping? Probably not. Your car was just hit by someone without insurance. Or let's say I'll just pick a random scenario out.
Let's say you were in a parking lot and you got hit and nobody left a note. I don't know if that's happened to anybody in this room. Do you have peace about that? Are you happy about that? Someone near to you, someone very dear to you, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Do you have hope? What's your response? There was another situation here recently. My niece, who is either four about to turn five or just turned five, she was sick for 10 days. And they took her to the doctor three times during that 10-day period because she had a temperature of upwards of 104.
And each time the doctor gave her some antibiotics and sent her home. So on the 10th day, they took her to a different hospital and eventually she was admitted. And let's see, what was wrong with her?
I mean, at a respiration rate of 62, she had a collapsed lung. She had an infection inside of her lung. She had pneumonia, although they diagnosed this all later. But there were a lot of really bad possibilities.
So it was interesting because I was trying as much as I could to buffer things for my brother and talk to my folks. My mom lives in Colorado, my dad in California. And to just talk to them and kind of keep everybody from hounding my brother and sister-in-law all the time for information.
But it's interesting because I'm calling my brother, my brother and sister-in-law believers. It's interesting to call them to hear what they're doing. And my sister-in-law's at the hospital, my brother's home with their other four kids.
And he says, well, he says, you know, I had this planned. And my brother is not only an electric engineer, but as a hobby, he's adding on about 50 to their house, which has been going on for quite some time and other things.
So he had all these projects lined up for doing the electrical in the house and all this stuff. But he says, obviously, God wanted me to spend more time with my kids this weekend. So we're going to go out and buy some board games and spend our time doing that.
And when I talked to my mom and my dad, and they're just like, oh, you know, that poor girl, Roger and Therese must be worried, sick. My brother says, I'm just trusting the Lord. I know that he'll do whatever's best.
That's the way you want to be? Have you ever been on an airplane? Somebody confesses that they're terrified of airplanes. They grab the, I mean, when that thing takes off and when it lands, they're grabbing those things, you know, the armrest for all their worth.
You ever wonder what good that's going to do, really? You know, if it lands at like 500 miles an hour, do you think really holding tight on the armrest is going to help? I don't think so. But they just, they're terrified.
Why? Because they don't know. They have no confidence. They have no hope. Each year, a few statistics for you, each year, approximately 23 million Americans claim to suffer anxiety disorder. 23 million.
17 .5 million struggle with clinical depression. 530 ,000, and this was in America, so this doesn't count Guantanamo. 530 ,000 actually attempt suicide and countless others endure daily feelings of fear and hopelessness.
This is a depressed society that we live in. This is a society without hope. And note this, 62 of evangelical Christians in America are concerned about the future. And this is an amazing statistic. 20 of evangelical Christians in America are searching for meaning and purpose in life.
So where do you think believers turn to for comfort? Where do they turn, not where should they turn, but where do they turn for comfort? What are some of the things that believers might do, might go to, to make themselves feel better?
They might go to a psychologist. I'm here to testify that is not a good place to go, because they'll tell you whatever it takes to get you back in the office next week. Where else might they go for help?
Prescriptions? Yep. Anything other than medical professional help? They might read The Purpose Driven Life. I have that down under entertainment. Well, actually, that's just one of my categories. What do you do?
You know, some believers, and I think, you know, all of us could do this sometimes, just kind of like, I just want to forget about all my problems. So I'm going to go to the movies. I'm going to shop.
When the tough, wait, how does that go? When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Saw a woman yesterday, one of those HGTV things. I was kind of icing my knees, and she had a house. Literally, there were two people in this house, and she had the entire house full of clothes.
And I just thought, and she was bringing out some of these things. And the lady was saying, well, they might come back in style. You know, I'm like, sure. Those peach bridesmaids outfits, you never know.
They might sweep back into fashion. What else? What else do Christians turn to for comfort? The Bible. That's where they should go. I don't know that we go there as often as we should. How about friendships?
Talking on the phone with somebody might make you feel better. And we talked about shopping. Well, what is that? Stuff, possessions, all those kind of things. How about just taking that kind of nervous energy and just pouring it into your career, your aspirations, work harder.
Forget your trouble by just, you know what, if you're at the job 80 hours a week, maybe you don't have time to think about that. Now, while we would all certainly agree that believers should not believe or not behave in ways that unbelievers do, sometimes we do.
Sometimes believers, if you looked at their lives, the way they respond to things, you'd go, I don't see any difference between the way Christians act and un-Christians, non-Christians, un-Christians, whatever that is.
But overall, I think there are basically three typical responses that come into play when believers have tough times, when bad things happen to good people. First is pride. How does that manifest itself?
Self-reliance. I'm just going to buckle down, cinch it up. I'm going to he-man this thing. I'm right through it. The second one is maybe a protest. Why do these things always happen? Why me? Third one is profound depression.
They just go into a funk. Now, it's interesting because I love word processors. I'm a gadget guy and I kind of try to restrain myself, you know, in what I, otherwise I'd probably drive my wife crazy. But do you know what the thesaurus, and I love Microsoft Word because I could just right-click now and I get the thesaurus.
So I can go to thesaurus online and all that kind of stuff. But you know what the synonym is or a synonym is for depression? Hopelessness. Hopelessness. And I thought, that's good. Because if that's how you respond to things, that's really not biblical.
What are the believers' responses to difficult circumstances? I've got a few and I pulled them out of Romans 15, 13, which is what we're going to be looking at. But I've got a bunch of other scriptures.
But what are we to do when difficult circumstances come into our lives? Well, we're to respond, and I'll get to Romans 15, 13, but we're to respond with joy. James 1, 2. And, you know, can I just say, again, more opening stuff, but can I just say that when we think about the Bible, we can think about a lot of things.
It is God's self-revelation to us. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. He told us that. From beginning to end, it tells us about Jesus Christ. But you know what else this book is? It is remarkable.
If you look at the circumstances of this book over and over and over again, what you find is people in hopeless circumstances. And what do they do? They throw in the towel, they bag it, they roll over and play dead.
No, they don't. They trust in God, they have hope in him. This is a book filled with hope, hope, whatever your situation is. We have a God that is greater than your situation. James 1, 2 says, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.
And you've heard this many, many times. But when suggests that the trials are coming. They are going to come over and over and over again. If you expected secular life, Christian life, whatever, if you expected the trials to stop, the troubles to stop, you're sadly disappointed.
Because James tells Christians that when these trials come and they will come, that they need to consider it all joy. Is that what we do? I got fired. That's great. That's another opportunity to look for the Lord to prove his faithfulness.
I just found out that so and so has got, you know, whatever. That's great. That's another opportunity for me to prove God's faithfulness through this circumstance. Maybe I'll get to witness. Who knows how God's going to use this?
But I know that God is going to use this for good for someone. How else should we respond? How about with peace? With peace. Philippians 470, you know, again, you know this well in the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How is that? Is that do we have peace when things are going well? I think I do. If things are smooth, I'm pretty happy. I'm pretty peaceful. What about when they're not? I have a peace that surpasses all comprehension.
Why? Because I'm in Christ Jesus. We also need to respond with hope. First Peter 113 says, therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Hope we're to look forward. I might think, you know, Steve, easy for you to pontificate. You're up there. You don't know how difficult my situation is. You have no idea. Maybe I don't right at this moment, but I think it's again, I think it falls into kind of a prideful category to think that your situation is something no one's ever gone through before.
To think, Pastor Steve, Pastor Mike Lewis. Dave, none of us have ever experienced what you've experienced. No one's ever been depressed before. Before Christ, nothing bad ever happened in my life or in anybody else's life.
The bigger issue, though, is not whether I can identify with your situation. The bigger issue is, is God aware of your situation? Did God just kind of doze off for a while? Did he, he miss one? Was there a curve ball he didn't see coming?
When he inspired the Bible, maybe he just forgot about this little hole that you were going to fall into. Maybe he hadn't thought that far ahead. Romans 15, 13, let's read that. 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.
Are you abounding in hope? Are you overflowing with hope? When someone thinks about you, do they think that is a hopeful person? I don't care what you throw at that guy, hope. I don't care what you throw at that woman.
She has hope. Now, this is a kind of a prayer from Paul. But the question is, how can we be filled with all joy and peace by the God of hope? He is a God of hope. We can line up all of his attributes.
We can talk about them all, but we can't leave that one out. God has given us hope. One commentator says the description of God is the God of hope relates to hope mentioned in the preceding verses and to the promises of God recorded in the scripture, which give hope.
So let's look at the preceding verses. Romans 15, verses 8 through 12. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy.
As it is written, therefore, I will give praise to thee among the Gentiles and I will sing to thy name. And again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.
And again, Isaiah says, there shall come the root of Jesse and he who arises to rule over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles hope. We have in Christ a hope. We have in Christ God's promise. We can rely on him.
Same commentator says that joy in 1513 relates to the delight of anticipation in seeing one's hopes fulfilled. Well, now think about it. If your hopes are to be richer than Bill Gates, I've got to tell you something.
You're probably not going to make it. You might not have a whole lot of joy if that's what you've set your mind to. If your hopes are set in anything of this world, you are bound for disappointment. You are bound for depression.
You are bound to have a life filled with misery because you've tied yourself to the things of this world. Jesus, in Matthew 6, 19, says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth. He's talking about priorities.
Where are our priorities, he says, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If your heart is set on heaven, if your heart is fixed on the things above, what do you have? You have something that nobody can take away from you.
You have something that can never be damaged. Again, Romans 15, 13, the same passage, the same commentator says about the peace. Peace results from the assurance that God will fulfill those hopes, the hopes that he has given us in Christ.
We get peace from that tranquility. While it is God who provides the joy and peace, it is our continuing confidence and trust in God that enables him to bless us as he does. The joy and peace given by God results in an overflow of hope in the life of the believer.
Our role is to maintain a relationship of continuing trust in God. Everything else is in his hands and he never fails. Now, did you get that? We trust in God. We work on our relationship with God. It says again, 15, 13, now made the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
It's that action of believing that God, the Holy Spirit, works in our lives and gives us that that filling, that over abounding filling of joy and peace when we trust God, when we invest ourselves fully in him.
Then we have this joy and peace. Now, how can we do that? Well, first, we have to remember the person of God, the person of God. James 1, 17 says, every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
What's the great blessing there? The great confidence that we have, the immutability of God. Isn't it great to know that God doesn't change? He doesn't even change just a little bit. He doesn't even go from black to dark gray.
It's always the same. He is always the same and can be counted on. Malachi 3, 6 is the same thing in a different way. For I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore, you, oh, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
What was he referring to there? I mean, that kind of sounds like a backward kind of bit of hope there, right? Hey, good news for you guys. You're not going to be consumed. You're not going to be destroyed because I don't change.
What was he telling them? Because of the promises I previously made to your forefathers, I am not going to destroy you. God does not change his mind. If he has made promises to us, he will keep them. First Samuel 15, 29.
Also the glory of Israel and who is the glory of Israel? Help me. God. Christ will not lie or change his mind. For he is not a man that he should change his mind. How great is that? How thankful are you today that you are not God and that I am not God?
You ever think about that? What if God was like me? I've mentioned this before, this song that came out probably 10 years ago. What if God was one of us? And I'd hear that in the gym when I go out there and work, work out.
And I just think if God was like one of us, bag it, we're done. It's all over. Because he'll change his mind tomorrow. He'll get mad tomorrow. And then we're all, we're all done. But God is not like us.
He is constant. Hebrews 6 verses 17 to 20 puts it this way in the same way, God desiring even more to show the, to the errors of the promise, the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.
We who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope, both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us.
Having become a high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. What's the point of that whole passage besides God cannot lie. We have what as the anchor of our hope. What do we, the anchor of our soul, it says here, a hope, both sure and steadfast.
Christ is immovable. Christ does not change. Our hope does not budge. Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us. He intercedes on our behalf. We have great hope because of the person of God. If he will not change his mind, if he is at work interceding on our behalf and he is, we have great hope in the person of God.
We also have great hope in the promises of God. And as I was just looking through a passage that we've heard on numerous occasions, it just struck me again, God's promises, past, present, and future. If he is faithful to do what he said he would do in the past, if he is doing even now, what he has said that he will do, why would we not trust him for the future?
Ephesians chapter one is just packed, verses three through 14 are one of, it's one of the greatest passages in my mind and all of the Bible, because Paul is, he sits down to write a letter to the Ephesians and he doesn't even hardly get started.
And right away he's just, he starts just praising God. He bursts out in essentially 12 verses of praise. It is just a long prayer of praise to God. Ephesians one, verses four and five, he says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him.
In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. So we have God's past promise. What that he chose us before the foundation of the world, that he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the kind intention of his will.
In other words, because he wanted to, he chose us, he adopted us, he predestined us and he brought us to himself through Jesus Christ. God, God didn't have to do that. He chose to even now. Ephesians one, seven and eight would tell us in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.
Right now, every single Christian has redemption. What greater privilege, what greater promise is there than that to know that I have been redeemed, bought back out of my own sin, the penalty that I deserved, that I've been given forgiveness for my trespasses.
Why? Not because of anything I've done. It tells me right here, the riches of his grace and he poured it on me. He lavished it on me. Verse 11. Also, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined again, but that inheritance in first Peter, it talks about how it's, it cannot be defiled, how it is reserved for us.
Uh, I, I said it this way one time that God has kind of put it on his own credit card. In other words, his unlimited line of credit, he has reserved a place for us in heaven. So again, I ask, why do we worry?
Why do we struggle? Why do we get depressed? We have the greatest promises of God, past and present, even in the present, he is working all things after the counsel of his will. Now, if that doesn't give you comfort, I don't know what will.
God has decided in eternity past to save us. He has brought us to himself in the present and he's working all things just as he wants to. We also have his promises of the future in Ephesians one verses 13 and 14 in him.
You also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance.
God has given you the Holy Spirit has placed his spirit within you. What greater gift is that? What greater assurance is there than that? I think of all the sermons I've ever heard, one of the most remarkable was by John Blanchard.
He spoke at Grace Community Church and he said, one of the greatest promises ever is what I'm going to speak tonight in church. And he was right. He gave us a sermon from First John, chapter three, verses two and three.
Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. What a great promise that is.
We're going to be just like Christ and we are going to see him face to face. Verse three tells us what we do in response to that and everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself just as he referring back to Christ is pure.
It's a hope. It's a promise of God that is given to us so that we don't get stuck in the rut of this life, so that we're not bogged down by the crises that are constantly coming at us. Also talking about the future.
Think about heaven. Revelation 22, verses three to five, there will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and of the land will be in it. Talking about heaven and his bond servants will serve him.
They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and there will no longer be any night and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor of the light of the sun because the Lord God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever.
I think that's a pretty good promise talking about heaven and how we won't even need the sun. I listen to R .C. Sproul a few weeks ago and he said this. He said, the sun will not be, S-U-N, will not be in heaven.
He said, and even if it showed up, we wouldn't notice because we're going to be in the full effulgent glory of Jesus Christ. That is overwhelming to think about it. If the sun itself, the brightest thing that we know, showed up in heaven, it wouldn't even distract us for a second so we can have hope in the person, the promises, and also in the power of God.
Now, some of you might think, do we really need to be reminded of the sovereignty of God again, of the power of God again? And I think the answer is an overwhelming yes. We constantly need to be, have our memories refreshed on this to think about it.
Romans 8 .28. Now, here's an amazing thought. How many of you have read All Things for Good or whatever it's called nowadays? Isn't it interesting, after you die, they constantly change the name of your books and sell them over and over again?
And it was written by a Puritan. Now, can you imagine, they write a whole book about one verse in the Bible, one verse. Romans 8 .28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Now, I was kind of surprised to find out that maybe the word causes is kind of almost implied. The net translation says, and we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
So what does that mean? That means when bad situations, bad situations come into your life, you can rejoice. Why? Because God has a purpose for it. I can't see that purpose. How about a better way to look at it is, I don't want to see that purpose or I don't care what the purpose is.
My suffering is too great for now. Trust God. He is molding and fashioning every single Christian into the image of his son. And he brings unpleasant things from our perspective into our lives, not to hurt us, not to harm us.
But for our good, it doesn't matter whether we understand that. It doesn't matter that we don't get the idea that, you know what, I can't possibly see how this is going to be for my good. What matters is that we trust God.
If God says he's working it out for our good, then we need to trust him. We need to believe him. The worst possible response that we could ever do is to doubt God. Why? Because when we do that, what's the difference between somebody, a Christian who doesn't trust God and an unbeliever in the way they respond?
There is no difference. And if you're in the habit of constantly doubting God, I would encourage you to get out of that habit and to ask yourself why you're like that. I found this story and I found this rather remarkable.
Charles Fuller, who founded Fuller Seminary, but don't hold that against him, he was a fundamentalist. He was on the radio and taught the gospel. But he said one Sunday he announced that the following Sunday he would be preaching on heaven.
And during that week, he got a letter from an old man who was very ill and the following is part of that letter. He says, next Sunday, you are talking about heaven. I am interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over 55 years.
I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price, but the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I'm not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable.
It is not a vacant lot. Termites can never undermine its foundations, for they rest on the rock of ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks nor bolts will ever be placed upon its doors for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands now almost completed and almost ready for me to enter and abide in peace forever.
There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home without passing through this dark valley of shadows, but I am not afraid because the best friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long ago and drove away all its gloom.
He has stuck by me through thick and thin since we first became acquainted 55 years ago, and I hold his promise in printed form never to forsake me or leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows and I shall not lose my way when he is with me.
I hope to hear your sermon on heaven next Sunday from my home in Los Angeles, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey, no return coupon and no permit for baggage.
Yes, I am all ready to go. And I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday evening, but I shall meet you there someday. You can pick theological nits, but it's that focus, that heavenly focus.
That's where we all need to be. We don't know what is going to come into our lives tomorrow. We don't know what kind of trial, what kind of trouble, what kind of problems, what kind of. Things may be even tangentially involved.
It may not be directly on us, may just be somebody that we care deeply about. But our hope is not in things. Our hope is not in our money, in the things that we've accumulated, the things that we can accumulate.
It's not in our circumstances, be they good or not so good. It's not in people. It's not in anything on this earth. Our hope is in the person promises and power of God. Now, let me read Romans 15, 13 again.
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. God freely gives hope to those who are his and respond rightly to their circumstances.
How do we respond rightly to circumstances? How do we respond rightly to these trials, these problems that come into our lives? We respond rightly by thinking rightly about God to not do so is a sin. It's not just, you know, I'm kind of struggling right now.
I'm in sin if I'm not thinking rightly about God. We don't want to respond to our circumstances just like someone who doesn't know Christ at all would. We have God's promise, not just that he will never change, but that he is taking everything that comes in our life, using it for our benefit, conforming us into the image of his dear son.
We have the promise of heaven. We have a promise that he has prepared a place for us, that he is reserving for us, that he is keeping for us, that cannot be defiled, that nothing can go wrong with and that we will go to one day.
And in spite of this, we struggle. We take our eyes off of Christ. We focus on ourselves. Why do we do that? I don't know. Sometimes I think sometimes we just if if life was going too well, we wouldn't have anything to do.
If we didn't have anything to complain about, we wouldn't have anything to talk about. Instead, I would urge you to say, look, this is what God is doing in my life. Sometimes I don't always understand it, but I know one thing.
The God who was faithful to save me, the God who has been faithful to me so many times, more times than I can recount, is still faithful. I don't have to understand everything perfectly, but I know one thing.
I know God and God will do what is right. God will do what he has promised. And that's all I need to know. Let's close in prayer. Our great God, in whom we trust. Father, we thank you for your word, for the promises you have given us, for the glimpses you've given us into your person, into your character.
Father, for your faithfulness, for your immutability. Lord, for your promises to us to keep us, that you have drawn us, that you said you will keep us, that you will use all things for good in our lives.
Father, let us keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ, our redemption, our hope. Lord, not on the things of this world, be they good or evil. Father, let us not even, just because things are going well in a worldly sense, even still, let us not lose focus on you.
Lord, would you just cause us to more deeply trust you and walk with you daily, that we that you have promised to those who abide in faithfulness with you, the God of hope. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.