1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,640 In any walk of life, there will be times of great blessing and there will be times of 2 00:00:07,640 –> 00:00:09,800 great difficulty. 3 00:00:09,800 –> 00:00:16,639 There are going to be times in your life that are full of joy and there may well be times 4 00:00:16,639 –> 00:00:22,280 in your life when you really feel quite desperate. 5 00:00:22,280 –> 00:00:28,520 And we have seen that the book of Romans is written against the background of darkening 6 00:00:29,080 –> 00:00:32,240 skies for Christian believers in Rome. 7 00:00:32,240 –> 00:00:33,939 Nero had come to power. 8 00:00:33,939 –> 00:00:36,799 No Christian in their right mind would ever have voted for Nero. 9 00:00:36,799 –> 00:00:40,220 They didn’t get the vote, but they didn’t like who they got when the result came. 10 00:00:40,220 –> 00:00:45,340 They had Nero, imagine that for your emperor. 11 00:00:45,340 –> 00:00:49,139 And evil was on the rise. 12 00:00:49,139 –> 00:00:56,840 And Paul says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 13 00:00:56,840 –> 00:00:58,540 But the question of course then is, how? 14 00:00:58,540 –> 00:01:05,160 How in the world are we to overcome the increasing darkness of evil that we see, and how are 15 00:01:05,160 –> 00:01:06,779 we to overcome it with good? 16 00:01:06,779 –> 00:01:11,660 And we have been tracing this through Romans 12 beginning at verse 9. 17 00:01:11,660 –> 00:01:17,980 And we saw that the place to begin has to be love, that God’s people manifest love, 18 00:01:17,980 –> 00:01:22,540 that we begin with loving each other, and then that it overflows beyond the boundaries 19 00:01:22,559 –> 00:01:28,379 as it were of the gathered church, and it must be genuine then we saw secondly that 20 00:01:28,379 –> 00:01:35,099 God calls us to engage energetically in the work of ministry, do not be slothful and zeal, 21 00:01:35,099 –> 00:01:38,919 be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 22 00:01:39,820 –> 00:01:48,459 And today we come to the third thing which is that God calls us to a steady tenacity. 23 00:01:48,459 –> 00:01:56,800 That God calls us in difficult days to stick at it, to persevere, to push through and to 24 00:01:56,800 –> 00:01:59,900 stay at it over the long haul. 25 00:01:59,900 –> 00:02:04,500 And so we look at verse 12 that tells us how to do this. 26 00:02:04,500 –> 00:02:07,300 Rejoice in hope. 27 00:02:07,300 –> 00:02:10,779 Be patient in tribulation. 28 00:02:10,779 –> 00:02:13,559 And be constant in prayer. 29 00:02:13,559 –> 00:02:18,839 Central commentators quote a paraphrase that gives the sense of the meaning of this very 30 00:02:18,839 –> 00:02:20,020 important verse. 31 00:02:20,020 –> 00:02:24,539 In so far as we have cause to hope, let us be joyful. 32 00:02:24,539 –> 00:02:29,520 In so far as we have cause of pain, let us hold out or hold on. 33 00:02:29,520 –> 00:02:35,419 In so far as the door of prayer has been open to us, let us continue to use it. 34 00:02:35,419 –> 00:02:39,020 Well, these three things are before us this morning and they’re very simple. 35 00:02:39,020 –> 00:02:44,720 I want to simply apply them to our lives for our encouragement. 36 00:02:44,720 –> 00:02:47,460 The first then is rejoice in hope. 37 00:02:47,460 –> 00:02:49,059 Here’s how to persevere. 38 00:02:49,059 –> 00:02:57,100 Rejoice in hope in so far as we have cause to hope says the paraphrase, let us be joyful. 39 00:02:57,100 –> 00:03:01,160 Rejoice in hope. 40 00:03:01,160 –> 00:03:05,619 Now to settle the meaning of what Paul is saying here in our minds, remember that he 41 00:03:05,660 –> 00:03:12,839 is writing to Christians in Rome, who within a very few years, less than a decade of receiving 42 00:03:12,839 –> 00:03:21,360 this letter would be in a position in which some of them would be thrown to lions in circuses 43 00:03:21,360 –> 00:03:26,580 and others of them would be burned in Nero’s garden. 44 00:03:26,580 –> 00:03:35,279 So when Paul speaks here about hope he is not talking about an optimistic feeling that 45 00:03:35,279 –> 00:03:39,699 the world’s going to get better in the coming days. 46 00:03:39,699 –> 00:03:42,679 Paul was not naive. 47 00:03:42,679 –> 00:03:47,300 Paul did not hold to an evolutionary view of human nature. 48 00:03:47,300 –> 00:03:55,139 In fact he says in Second Timothy in chapter 3 that evil men will go from bad to worse. 49 00:03:55,139 –> 00:03:59,179 That’s not an evolutionary view of human nature, by the way. 50 00:03:59,179 –> 00:04:03,679 So the hope that Paul speaks about here when he’s writing to Christians in Rome, who within 51 00:04:03,759 –> 00:04:09,520 a few years would undergo this awful persecution at the hands of Nero. 52 00:04:09,520 –> 00:04:12,600 Paul’s not saying, hey, be optimistic, it’s going to get better. 53 00:04:12,600 –> 00:04:18,700 No, when he talks about hope here, he’s talking about what the New Testament describes as 54 00:04:18,700 –> 00:04:25,100 the hope, the great and glorious hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. 55 00:04:25,100 –> 00:04:31,760 What he describes in Titus in chapter two in verse 13 as our blessed hope, which is 56 00:04:31,980 –> 00:04:38,260 the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. 57 00:04:38,260 –> 00:04:43,100 He says to believers under pressure now you rejoice in this. 58 00:04:43,100 –> 00:04:44,320 Rejoice in hope. 59 00:04:44,320 –> 00:04:50,899 Rejoice in all that lies ahead of you that is in the hand of Jesus Christ and that he 60 00:04:50,899 –> 00:04:53,179 has stored up, ready to give. 61 00:04:53,179 –> 00:04:56,179 He’s spoken about this already, of course, in the book of Romans. 62 00:04:56,179 –> 00:05:02,059 Rejoice, chapter five and verse two, in the hope of the glory of God. 63 00:05:02,059 –> 00:05:04,019 Then in chapter eight he speaks about it. 64 00:05:04,019 –> 00:05:10,260 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will 65 00:05:10,260 –> 00:05:15,179 be revealed, speaking of the time when Jesus Christ comes again and then he speaks about 66 00:05:15,179 –> 00:05:17,880 the redemption of our bodies. 67 00:05:17,880 –> 00:05:22,779 That is the transformation even of our bodies, the gift of the resurrection body and he says 68 00:05:22,779 –> 00:05:25,540 in this hope we are saved. 69 00:05:25,920 –> 00:05:29,980 So when he comes in chapter twelve to say rejoice in hope, it is very clear what he 70 00:05:29,980 –> 00:05:36,220 means by hope, we are to rejoice in the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. 71 00:05:36,220 –> 00:05:38,980 Now here is the question, how are we to do that? 72 00:05:38,980 –> 00:05:43,679 How are we to live in this world in such a way that we find our joy in the great hope 73 00:05:43,679 –> 00:05:46,459 that is ours in Jesus Christ? 74 00:05:46,459 –> 00:05:53,000 Let me just say three things about that, the first is this, in order to rejoice in this 75 00:05:53,140 –> 00:05:59,579 hope that is a means of persevering, stop indulging in false hopes. 76 00:05:59,579 –> 00:06:04,799 Stop indulging in false hopes, you are going to embrace the true hope, you are going to 77 00:06:04,799 –> 00:06:06,859 stop indulging in false hopes. 78 00:06:06,859 –> 00:06:13,220 There is a verse in Proverbs, hope deferred makes the heart sick. 79 00:06:13,220 –> 00:06:17,320 That is Proverbs chapter thirteen and verse twelve. 80 00:06:17,980 –> 00:06:24,459 In other words, God in His wisdom says to us, if you keep thinking that something good 81 00:06:24,459 –> 00:06:30,859 is going to happen just around the corner and you set your heart upon that and it doesn’t 82 00:06:30,859 –> 00:06:39,519 happen, the result is that you feel sick, you feel so let down, it breaks your heart. 83 00:06:39,519 –> 00:06:43,459 So in life, don’t put yourself in that position. 84 00:06:43,459 –> 00:06:47,579 Don’t set yourself up for being disappointed. 85 00:06:47,579 –> 00:06:52,779 Now, let’s expand that beyond the personal because we all can relate to that in terms 86 00:06:52,779 –> 00:06:57,220 of things we hope might happen and it’s easy to set our hearts upon them, and then it makes 87 00:06:57,220 –> 00:06:59,579 the heart sick if it doesn’t happen. 88 00:06:59,579 –> 00:07:04,540 But think about that more broadly in regards to the history of the whole world. 89 00:07:04,540 –> 00:07:12,220 The last hundred years, the end of the 19th century, there was probably unprecedented 90 00:07:12,220 –> 00:07:15,100 in human history this optimism. 91 00:07:15,100 –> 00:07:18,059 The end of the 19th century, the 20th century. 92 00:07:18,059 –> 00:07:22,019 Oh, it’s going to be the Golden Age of Humanity. 93 00:07:22,019 –> 00:07:27,320 Of course, all this came from people embracing Darwin and the evolutionary view of human 94 00:07:27,320 –> 00:07:28,320 nature. 95 00:07:28,320 –> 00:07:31,739 We’re getting better and better, and the world’s going to be the most marvelous place 96 00:07:31,739 –> 00:07:33,260 in the 20th century. 97 00:07:33,260 –> 00:07:37,899 It’s going to be the Golden Age of Humanity. 98 00:07:37,940 –> 00:07:41,880 You got 14 years into the 20th century and what did we get? 99 00:07:41,880 –> 00:07:43,700 First world war. 100 00:07:43,700 –> 00:07:45,000 What did people say? 101 00:07:45,000 –> 00:07:46,000 First world war. 102 00:07:46,000 –> 00:07:47,000 This is terrible. 103 00:07:47,000 –> 00:07:51,260 But, it is the war to end all wars. 104 00:07:51,260 –> 00:07:52,260 This is it. 105 00:07:52,260 –> 00:07:54,140 This is just the last calamity. 106 00:07:54,140 –> 00:07:57,220 Once we’re past this, everything’s going to be just fine. 107 00:07:57,220 –> 00:08:00,660 That’s what people believed. 108 00:08:00,660 –> 00:08:04,540 You have 20 years after the end of the First World War, what do you get? 109 00:08:04,540 –> 00:08:07,420 You get the Second World War. 110 00:08:07,480 –> 00:08:09,440 You get the end of the Second World War. 111 00:08:09,440 –> 00:08:10,440 What you get after that? 112 00:08:10,440 –> 00:08:14,320 You get 50 years of the Cold War. 113 00:08:14,320 –> 00:08:20,299 Then at the end of the 20th century, we get this return of super optimism. 114 00:08:20,299 –> 00:08:21,980 The Berlin Wall comes down. 115 00:08:21,980 –> 00:08:25,600 The collapse of communism across Europe. 116 00:08:25,600 –> 00:08:31,519 And, boy, those who were reading news papers in those days you remember how often the phrase 117 00:08:31,519 –> 00:08:34,219 new world order was being used. 118 00:08:34,219 –> 00:08:37,340 It’s going to be a new world order. 119 00:08:37,380 –> 00:08:40,919 Then we no longer have all of this tension that comes from these 120 00:08:40,919 –> 00:08:44,599 two superpowers looking at each other. 121 00:08:44,599 –> 00:08:49,260 That has been ended and it’s been decided and one has prevailed. 122 00:08:49,260 –> 00:08:53,119 Now we’re going into the 21st century. 123 00:08:53,119 –> 00:08:56,940 The 21st century, it’s going to be a new kind of an order all together. 124 00:08:56,940 –> 00:09:00,940 We got one year into the 21st century. 125 00:09:00,940 –> 00:09:02,859 One year. 126 00:09:02,859 –> 00:09:05,739 September the 11th. 127 00:09:05,739 –> 00:09:09,719 Ever since then we’re being told that we are now engaged in a new kind of a war. 128 00:09:09,719 –> 00:09:14,239 It’s a war on terror, it’s a war that’s never been fought before and has to be fought anew 129 00:09:14,239 –> 00:09:16,659 in different ways and so it goes on. 130 00:09:16,659 –> 00:09:22,640 What happens you see as history rolls on is people begin to see, hope deferred makes the 131 00:09:22,640 –> 00:09:28,200 heart sick, people begin to say when are we going to see the kind of world we’d hoped 132 00:09:28,200 –> 00:09:30,359 for? 133 00:09:30,359 –> 00:09:33,859 When are we going to see the kind of world of peace and joy and love that we have longed 134 00:09:34,000 –> 00:09:37,299 for in our hearts? 135 00:09:37,299 –> 00:09:40,520 Friends if you read and believe the Bible the answer is this. 136 00:09:40,520 –> 00:09:43,960 We ain’t going to see it here. 137 00:09:43,960 –> 00:09:47,239 We’re not going to see it here! 138 00:09:47,239 –> 00:09:55,619 All visions of utopia are doomed to failure whether they be Marxist, capitalist, or Islamic 139 00:09:55,619 –> 00:09:57,659 state. 140 00:09:57,659 –> 00:10:02,080 So stop indulging false hopes. 141 00:10:02,080 –> 00:10:07,659 Stop thinking there is someone who has the key to the problem of the human heart! 142 00:10:07,659 –> 00:10:12,299 There’s only one who has that key and that is Jesus Christ. 143 00:10:12,299 –> 00:10:18,179 Second, if you are going to rejoice in that which is true hope and not only do you have 144 00:10:18,179 –> 00:10:25,640 to stop indulging false hopes but you have to recognize short-term uncertainty. 145 00:10:25,640 –> 00:10:27,640 Recognize short-term uncertainty! 146 00:10:27,640 –> 00:10:30,599 Listen to what God says in the letter of James, 147 00:10:30,619 –> 00:10:38,979 come now you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend 148 00:10:38,979 –> 00:10:49,760 a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 149 00:10:49,760 –> 00:10:56,760 Now here is God addressing us in our planning and it is good and right and biblical to have 150 00:10:56,979 –> 00:11:06,700 plans. But here is what the Lord says to us in relation to our plans. You know you say 151 00:11:06,700 –> 00:11:12,679 here is what I want to do, we are going to go to this city and we are going to live here 152 00:11:12,679 –> 00:11:18,020 and we are going to do business there and we are going to make this deal and this partnership 153 00:11:18,020 –> 00:11:22,340 and so forth and so on, I am going to go to this college, I am going to pursue this career, 154 00:11:23,140 –> 00:11:29,219 we are going to marry, we are going to have children, we are going to plant a church. 155 00:11:30,700 –> 00:11:39,239 But here is what God says into our planning. remember, when you plan for the future you 156 00:11:39,239 –> 00:11:46,719 don’t even know if you are going to be here, because he says next, what is your life? Your 157 00:11:46,820 –> 00:11:55,359 life is a mist, it’s a vapor, it’s like steam. It appears for a little time and then it is 158 00:11:55,359 –> 00:12:05,479 gone. And so the more you set your heart on your plans the more anxious you become that 159 00:12:05,500 –> 00:12:10,640 your plans might not actually work out, because you know that just as a human being we all 160 00:12:10,840 –> 00:12:17,219 live with short term uncertainty. Everything that we hope to do in this life and in this 161 00:12:17,219 –> 00:12:23,719 world depends on God’s grace and on God’s strength. Therefore instead James says you 162 00:12:23,719 –> 00:12:32,299 should say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or we will do that. So this short life 163 00:12:32,299 –> 00:12:37,719 that we have is so very, very uncertain. God calls us to walk on a winding path in which 164 00:12:37,780 –> 00:12:41,780 not one of us can see around the next corner. And what may be around the next corner for 165 00:12:41,780 –> 00:12:48,559 you may be a great trial or it may be a great and unexpected joy. But whatever it is, we 166 00:12:48,559 –> 00:12:55,559 walk by faith and not by sight. And so here’s the thing. There isn’t a single one of us 167 00:12:56,460 –> 00:13:01,179 here today who knows for sure what is going to happen in our lives tomorrow, let alone 168 00:13:01,219 –> 00:13:04,820 next week, let alone next month, let alone next year. 169 00:13:04,820 –> 00:13:11,820 We live with short term uncertainty but here’s the great thing. I don’t know what will happen 170 00:13:12,599 –> 00:13:19,599 tomorrow but as a Christian believer I know for sure what the final outcome of my life 171 00:13:19,619 –> 00:13:26,619 will be. And you say that’s where the hope has to be, not in the uncertainty of the immediate 172 00:13:26,799 –> 00:13:33,799 but in the security of that which is in the hand of Jesus Christ that is already revealed 173 00:13:34,640 –> 00:13:41,640 and is promised to us by His grace and therefore recognizing short term uncertainty, the certainty 174 00:13:41,960 –> 00:13:48,080 of life in this world where we find our joy as Christian believers is in our long term 175 00:13:48,080 –> 00:13:54,260 security, in other words our blessed hope. Which is the appearing and the glory of our 176 00:13:54,340 –> 00:14:01,340 God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now there’s a piece that I like because it fires my imagination 177 00:14:05,780 –> 00:14:11,299 written by a poet and a journalist, Steve Turner, and I’ll quote it in part to you. 178 00:14:11,299 –> 00:14:18,299 I want us just to reflect on the joy that lies ahead of us in the presence of the Lord. 179 00:14:19,299 –> 00:14:26,299 Steve Turner says this. In heaven there will be no policeman because there will be no crime. 180 00:14:27,659 –> 00:14:31,820 There will be no soldiers because there will be no war. 181 00:14:33,179 –> 00:14:36,580 There will be – think about the implications of this – 182 00:14:36,580 –> 00:14:41,619 no doctors, no surgeons, no nurses. 183 00:14:42,500 –> 00:14:49,380 There will be no prison warders, security guards or undertakers, 184 00:14:49,380 –> 00:14:54,260 no insurance salesman – I like that because there’s no risk, you see – 185 00:14:54,260 –> 00:14:57,380 No judges, no watchmakers. 186 00:14:58,099 –> 00:15:01,219 There will be time but not the tyranny of time, none of this. 187 00:15:02,820 –> 00:15:05,859 No firefighters, evangelists, 188 00:15:06,900 –> 00:15:09,219 no gossip columnists – I like that one. 189 00:15:09,219 –> 00:15:14,340 No prostitutes and no ambulance drivers. 190 00:15:14,340 –> 00:15:19,780 Why – because that which gave rise to each of these no longer exists. 191 00:15:21,380 –> 00:15:22,179 Who will be there? 192 00:15:22,179 –> 00:15:27,140 Those who are redeemed in Jesus Christ, 193 00:15:27,140 –> 00:15:29,299 from every background and every profession. 194 00:15:31,539 –> 00:15:36,659 Think with me for a few moments about the glorious hope that lies ahead of us in Jesus Christ. 195 00:15:37,059 –> 00:15:40,979 In Heaven, sin will be no more, it will no longer be in you, 196 00:15:40,979 –> 00:15:46,179 it will no longer be around you, and never again will you ever grieve your Savior. 197 00:15:48,099 –> 00:15:53,859 You will be a joy to Him and He will be a joy to you – forever. 198 00:15:54,979 –> 00:15:58,580 You will serve the Lord as you always in this world wished you could. 199 00:16:00,419 –> 00:16:02,500 Without hindrance, without weariness. 200 00:16:03,619 –> 00:16:05,219 Without ever being discouraged. 201 00:16:07,140 –> 00:16:13,859 You will explore the joys of the new earth freed at last from the curse 202 00:16:13,859 –> 00:16:19,219 — a new earth with no floods or raging fires, no storms, no earthquakes, and no mudslides. 203 00:16:20,900 –> 00:16:27,940 You will enjoy the blessings of life in a world where every person truly loves every other person 204 00:16:27,940 –> 00:16:34,020 there. So no violence, no hatred, and no fear. 205 00:16:34,260 –> 00:16:41,859 Fear not. You will enjoy this life in a resurrection body in which 206 00:16:41,859 –> 00:16:48,020 no dark cloud of depression can ever cast its shadow over you — 207 00:16:48,020 –> 00:16:50,340 I know there are many in the congregation who say, 208 00:16:50,340 –> 00:16:52,820 Amen to that. Bring it on oh Lord. 209 00:16:54,340 –> 00:16:58,659 — no strong pool of temptation can ever rise from within you, 210 00:16:59,619 –> 00:17:04,579 and no sharp anguish of pain will ever torment you. 211 00:17:06,099 –> 00:17:09,060 You will be at home in this body, 212 00:17:10,020 –> 00:17:13,619 in a way, perhaps, that you have never felt completely at home in the body 213 00:17:13,619 –> 00:17:19,699 that you have right now. Right now the Scripture says we groan inwardly 214 00:17:19,699 –> 00:17:23,540 as we wait for the redemption of our bodies. 215 00:17:23,540 –> 00:17:27,140 Why does he say that? Because there are things that arise from life in the body 216 00:17:27,140 –> 00:17:31,619 that often cause us distress! But no longer then. 217 00:17:32,819 –> 00:17:36,900 And, says Paul, it is in this hope—the redemption of the body—that we are saved. 218 00:17:38,819 –> 00:17:43,780 When you are in heaven, old regrets that have haunted you will be gone forever. 219 00:17:45,060 –> 00:17:48,180 Old battles that have plagued you will never, ever 220 00:17:48,180 –> 00:17:51,380 be fought again. There will be no death. 221 00:17:51,380 –> 00:17:53,699 There will be no mourning. There will be no crying. 222 00:17:53,699 –> 00:17:55,859 And there will be no pain, and God Himself 223 00:17:55,859 –> 00:18:05,060 will wipe away every tear from your eyes. And then you will see the King in His beauty. 224 00:18:06,660 –> 00:18:08,900 You will behold His face, 225 00:18:10,739 –> 00:18:15,619 and you will enter into the pleasures that are at His right hand 226 00:18:16,500 –> 00:18:21,939 forevermore. Now, says the Apostle to believers who shortly 227 00:18:21,939 –> 00:18:28,180 would face some very difficult times, you rejoice in hope. That’s how you persevere. 228 00:18:30,500 –> 00:18:38,739 And here’s the second thing, be patient in tribulation. Insofar as we have cause of pain, 229 00:18:38,739 –> 00:18:46,180 let us hold out. Now, this word, tribulation, obviously isn’t a word that we use terribly 230 00:18:46,260 –> 00:18:52,979 often, these days. What does it mean? Very simply, it means to be crushed, pressed, squeezed, 231 00:18:53,619 –> 00:19:02,500 stressed, burdened, troubled. And think about this, if your hope in life is in this world, 232 00:19:03,780 –> 00:19:07,540 then when you are crushed, your hope would be crushed with you 233 00:19:07,540 –> 00:19:12,660 if your hope is in this world. But you see, when your hope is in another world, 234 00:19:12,660 –> 00:19:17,939 when your hope is as we described it from the Scripture, in Jesus Christ and what he holds in 235 00:19:17,939 –> 00:19:22,900 store, then when you are crushed in this world and your hope is in another world, you’re able 236 00:19:22,900 –> 00:19:28,420 to be patient. The one flows out of the other. You’ll be able to say with Abraham, I’m looking 237 00:19:28,420 –> 00:19:36,819 for a better city who’s builder and maker is God. It’s rejoicing in hope that makes it possible to 238 00:19:36,819 –> 00:19:40,020 be patient in tribulation. 239 00:19:40,859 –> 00:19:47,680 Now these words, be patient in tribulation, do remind us that there will be seasons in 240 00:19:47,680 –> 00:19:55,280 life that as a Christian you simply have to endure. And it’s important to understand this 241 00:19:55,280 –> 00:20:00,880 about life. It’s part of perseverance. Life is not always the same. Paul talks in Ephesians 6 242 00:20:00,880 –> 00:20:05,839 about the day of evil. There are some days that are darker than others, some days that are brighter 243 00:20:05,880 –> 00:20:13,199 than others, and in order to persevere, when the time of greatest difficulty comes, what do you 244 00:20:13,199 –> 00:20:22,260 need to do? One thing. Be patient. Try and take this in. What does God require of you at the most 245 00:20:22,260 –> 00:20:29,380 stressed, pressed, squeezed, crushing moment of your life? What does God require of you then? 246 00:20:30,099 –> 00:20:40,500 Be patient. Hang in there. Don’t give up. Hold steady. Stay the course. That’s what God requires 247 00:20:40,500 –> 00:20:46,739 of you. He does not say, when you’re crushed, he does not say, make sure you have a vibrant 248 00:20:46,739 –> 00:20:52,339 testimony of knowing what I’m doing in your life. He didn’t say, make sure you turn up at church 249 00:20:52,339 –> 00:20:56,500 every Sunday morning able to tell people that you’re doing just fine. He didn’t say that. 250 00:20:57,380 –> 00:21:02,260 He says, when you’re going through the time of greatest tribulation in your life, do one thing, 251 00:21:02,260 –> 00:21:08,660 just hang in there, stay the course, be patient and the way in which you’ll be able to do this 252 00:21:08,660 –> 00:21:15,380 is if your hope and your joy is in that which lies ahead in the hands of Jesus Christ. 253 00:21:15,380 –> 00:21:21,939 Of course, this is what Job did, isn’t it? Remember his awful crushing and how he lost 254 00:21:22,260 –> 00:21:31,619 only his wealth, but his business and his home and, more than that, he lost his own family, 255 00:21:31,619 –> 00:21:38,260 his own dear children in a terrible catastrophe in which a house collapsed on his children. 256 00:21:39,859 –> 00:21:48,260 And in the middle of that, his wife came to him and said, why don’t you just curse God and die? 257 00:21:48,500 –> 00:21:54,020 Why don’t you just give up on God and say your life is over? 258 00:21:56,260 –> 00:22:00,979 Job, in effect, said I’m not going to do that. What did he do? He wept, 259 00:22:03,140 –> 00:22:11,939 he prayed, he struggled and he endured. He was patient in tribulation. 260 00:22:12,900 –> 00:22:18,979 And at the end, as you know, the end of the book, it’s a wonderful book to read in the Bible, 261 00:22:20,420 –> 00:22:30,660 he says, I had heard, O God, of you with the hearing of my ear. But now my eye sees you. 262 00:22:30,660 –> 00:22:37,140 He had come to know God in a way he had never known Him before. Why? Because he was just 263 00:22:37,140 –> 00:22:43,939 patient in tribulation. He hung in there and pressed on. In the light of hope, 264 00:22:43,939 –> 00:22:49,459 in my flesh I will see God, he says. The worms destroy this body. There’s my hope. 265 00:22:50,660 –> 00:22:55,300 And he hung in there rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation. 266 00:22:55,300 –> 00:22:59,140 Let me tell you another story, not from the Bible, but from Christian history, 267 00:22:59,859 –> 00:23:09,540 of patience in tribulation. This is the story of William Carey. Some of you will know this story. 268 00:23:09,540 –> 00:23:20,420 William Carey was a pastor in the late 1700s. He had a passion for mission and on one occasion 269 00:23:20,420 –> 00:23:24,900 he was addressing a group of ministers as a young pastor and speaking about the cause of 270 00:23:24,900 –> 00:23:32,339 overseas missions that Harley had developed at that time. And while he was speaking an 271 00:23:32,339 –> 00:23:37,939 older minister got up and interrupted him and said, sit down young man, you’re an enthusiast. 272 00:23:38,979 –> 00:23:43,380 If God wants to convert the heathen, he’ll do it without consulting either you or me. 273 00:23:44,739 –> 00:23:51,219 Well, William Carey wasn’t the kind to sit down. And he responded to that with writing a book in 274 00:23:51,219 –> 00:23:59,060 which he made the case for missions, it was called an Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians 275 00:23:59,060 –> 00:24:06,020 to use means for the conversion of the heathen. In other words, Christians have an obligation, 276 00:24:06,020 –> 00:24:11,780 he said, to do certain things that God has called us to do with regards to 277 00:24:12,579 –> 00:24:16,180 seeing people come to faith in Christ. And of course these included that we should pray, 278 00:24:16,260 –> 00:24:23,459 we should go and we should declare the gospel. And Cary then organized the missionary society, 279 00:24:24,260 –> 00:24:30,420 and at his very first meeting he gave a stirring address, in which a very famous line he said, 280 00:24:30,979 –> 00:24:35,939 expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. A line that’s gone 281 00:24:35,939 –> 00:24:41,140 down in Christian history and inspired many. Within a year he went and sailed to India, 282 00:24:41,459 –> 00:24:44,900 and he served the Lord there for over 30 years. 283 00:24:47,140 –> 00:24:52,260 He learned the Bengali language first and began translating the Bible and then here’s what 284 00:24:52,260 –> 00:25:05,300 happened. Very soon after he arrived, he contracted malaria. Some time later his five-year-old son 285 00:25:05,300 –> 00:25:15,060 died, and some time after that his wife became mentally ill. The reward for that lady 286 00:25:16,260 –> 00:25:24,579 will be very, very great in heaven. Kiri was patient in tribulation. 287 00:25:26,739 –> 00:25:35,060 He just kept going, and in the end with the folks he recruited as a team there in India 288 00:25:35,060 –> 00:25:42,020 where he had made his base he translated the Bible into India’s top six languages and 289 00:25:42,020 –> 00:25:49,939 parts of the Bible into 209 other Indian languages or dialects. He laid the foundation 290 00:25:49,939 –> 00:25:58,819 for the abolition of infanticide, the awful tradition of burning widows alive and assisted 291 00:25:58,819 –> 00:26:05,699 suicide. He also inspired, through his life and through his ministry, the next generation 292 00:26:05,699 –> 00:26:11,739 of missionaries who included, in the years that followed, David Livingstone, Adon Airin 293 00:26:11,739 –> 00:26:16,719 Judson, and Hudson Taylor. Now here’s the reason that I tell you this story 294 00:26:16,719 –> 00:26:26,939 Late in his life he sat down with his nephew, Eustace Carey, who ended up being his biographer, 295 00:26:27,280 –> 00:26:32,859 perhaps anticipating what his nephew would do. He said, and Eustace records this in the 296 00:26:32,859 –> 00:26:40,560 book, Camey says, If anyone should see fit to write my life story in the future, here’s 297 00:26:40,560 –> 00:26:46,479 the thing that’s important, and I now quote Carey, if he, that is any future biographer, 298 00:26:46,479 –> 00:26:56,800 if he gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond 299 00:26:56,800 –> 00:27:10,260 that will be too much. I can plod, I can persevere in any definite pursuit and to this, I owe 300 00:27:10,260 –> 00:27:14,339 everything. Isn’t that a remarkable statement? 301 00:27:14,339 –> 00:27:24,900 I mean, here’s a man who had super linguistic gifts, extraordinary leadership ability, but 302 00:27:24,900 –> 00:27:32,260 when he looks back on his life he says you know the one thing that I look back on and 303 00:27:32,839 –> 00:27:42,780 God for more than any other is that he put into me the ability to applaud. Not very glamorous 304 00:27:42,780 –> 00:27:51,079 but somehow Katie says I had the ability when it was so tough just to keep putting one foot 305 00:27:51,079 –> 00:27:56,339 in front of another. What is that? That is to be patient in tribulation. That is to hang 306 00:27:56,339 –> 00:28:05,119 in there to stay steady just to keep on at it. You do that as you are joyful in hope. 307 00:28:05,119 –> 00:28:11,439 Not joyful in what’s around you but joyful in what is ahead of you. 308 00:28:11,439 –> 00:28:19,819 Now there’s one more thing. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in affliction. Be constant in prayer. 309 00:28:20,540 –> 00:28:26,500 Insofar as the door of prayer is open to us let us continue to use it and of 310 00:28:26,500 –> 00:28:31,400 course this is more than praying once in a while this is build prayer into your 311 00:28:31,400 –> 00:28:38,500 life if you’re going to persevere as a habit as a pattern as the very drawing 312 00:28:38,500 –> 00:28:45,280 of life and of strength from the hand of God who offers this to you and here’s 313 00:28:45,280 –> 00:28:48,920 the great principle remember that everything in Romans 12 is in the light 314 00:28:48,920 –> 00:28:55,459 of verse 1 in the light of the mercies of God and the more you are convinced of 315 00:28:55,459 –> 00:29:02,079 the mercy of God the more you will be drawn to seek his face in prayer it’s 316 00:29:02,079 –> 00:29:07,760 the sense that God somehow is frowning upon us that keeps us from the place of 317 00:29:07,760 –> 00:29:11,260 prayer but the more convinced you are of the mercy of God 318 00:29:11,260 –> 00:29:16,699 His compassion, His sympathy, His being for you, the more convinced you are of the 319 00:29:16,699 –> 00:29:20,260 mercy of God the more you will draw near to a man in prayer that’s the great 320 00:29:20,260 –> 00:29:26,040 argument of Hebrews chapter 4. It’s because we have a merciful High Priest 321 00:29:26,040 –> 00:29:31,939 it’s because we have a High Priest Jesus who sympathizes with our weaknesses 322 00:29:31,939 –> 00:29:36,780 because our Savior knows what it’s like to go through it that’s why Christian 323 00:29:36,780 –> 00:29:41,900 believers can come boldly to the throne of grace and find mercy and grace 324 00:29:41,979 –> 00:29:50,640 strength to help us in our time of need. Now I want to end today these last 325 00:29:50,640 –> 00:29:56,500 couple of minutes very simply with a question a challenge and an invitation 326 00:29:56,500 –> 00:30:03,140 first the question do you have what it takes to live in this world do you have 327 00:30:03,140 –> 00:30:08,300 what it takes to live in this world in other words do you have today a hope in 328 00:30:08,359 –> 00:30:13,680 which you can rejoice do you have today patience with which you can endure do 329 00:30:13,680 –> 00:30:19,420 you know the help of God today the God on whom you can call because this all 330 00:30:19,420 –> 00:30:25,400 this God offers to you in Jesus Christ that’s the question do you have what it 331 00:30:25,400 –> 00:30:33,319 takes to live in this world here is the challenge your way of life will show 332 00:30:33,520 –> 00:30:39,180 where your hope lies your way of life will clearly show whether your hope is 333 00:30:39,180 –> 00:30:42,739 mainly in this world or mainly in the world to come your way of life will show 334 00:30:42,739 –> 00:30:50,780 that earlier this week I set myself the task of answering this question what 335 00:30:50,780 –> 00:30:56,760 would I do if my hope was mainly in this world 336 00:30:56,800 –> 00:31:04,800 if my hope was mainly in this world what would I do different in the future what 337 00:31:04,800 –> 00:31:09,599 changes would I make to my life I came up with four answers I’ll give you these 338 00:31:09,599 –> 00:31:15,359 very briefly and you can discuss this perhaps profitably in the life groups 339 00:31:15,359 –> 00:31:19,619 you will come up with many more but here just sitting in a chair with a bit of 340 00:31:19,619 –> 00:31:22,839 paper and a pad here are the four answers I came up what would I do 341 00:31:23,239 –> 00:31:28,959 different if my hope was mainly in this world my first answer that came to mind 342 00:31:28,959 –> 00:31:36,319 is I would work less I’ve heard less I would slacken the pace if my hope was 343 00:31:36,319 –> 00:31:43,319 mainly in this world I would just take more time off I just would I do less 344 00:31:43,319 –> 00:31:48,180 because I would focus more attention on all the things that I could do in this 345 00:31:48,939 –> 00:31:53,380 and I would therefore live the more I focused on that I would live more and 346 00:31:53,380 –> 00:31:57,900 more of the constant feeling that time is slipping away if my hope was mainly 347 00:31:57,900 –> 00:32:05,699 in this world second it’s just what I wrote down I would give less I’d work 348 00:32:05,699 –> 00:32:10,420 less I’d give less if my hope was mainly in this world I’d figure that there are 349 00:32:10,420 –> 00:32:13,959 so many things in this world that I could do and that I would want to do I 350 00:32:13,959 –> 00:32:17,359 therefore need all the money I could possibly get in order to do these things 351 00:32:17,739 –> 00:32:21,339 and the natural effect of that would be if my hope was mainly in this world 352 00:32:21,339 –> 00:32:28,260 that give less just what it is third I would grief more I’d groove a whole lot 353 00:32:28,260 –> 00:32:33,560 more for this reason that if my hope was mainly in this world then any loss in 354 00:32:33,560 –> 00:32:40,380 this world would be an ultimate and an irreplaceable loss and fourthly I would 355 00:32:40,380 –> 00:32:46,859 feel the need to seek my own vindication if my hope was mainly in this world then 356 00:32:46,920 –> 00:32:49,699 clearly this world would be the only place in which things that are wrong 357 00:32:49,699 –> 00:32:52,599 could ever be put right and therefore I would feel I needed to do more in that 358 00:32:52,599 –> 00:32:58,319 regard so I am sitting with this little bit of paper and saying okay these are 359 00:32:58,319 –> 00:33:04,859 all the changes that I would make if my hope was mainly in this world so as I 360 00:33:04,859 –> 00:33:10,079 set my hope more and more on the world that is to come and all that Jesus 361 00:33:10,079 –> 00:33:14,020 Christ holds in his hand for me it makes sense that in all of these regards I 362 00:33:14,119 –> 00:33:20,920 must go the other way and then I looked back at Romans in chapter 12 just 363 00:33:20,920 –> 00:33:23,780 reading through the whole passage and it it hit me in a way it did not 364 00:33:23,780 –> 00:33:28,079 these are exactly the things that Paul is talking about in this chapter what’s 365 00:33:28,079 –> 00:33:31,319 he talking about don’t be slothful in zeal don’t slacken 366 00:33:31,319 –> 00:33:37,760 off then next week contribute generously to the needs of the saints is what’s 367 00:33:37,760 –> 00:33:42,040 coming next be patient in tribulations what we looked at 368 00:33:42,520 –> 00:33:44,680 and then further down what will come to later is 369 00:33:50,180 –> 00:33:52,060 in other words everything that he’s saying in 370 00:33:52,060 –> 00:33:57,079 these verses were looking at all flows from settling in your mind where your 371 00:33:57,079 –> 00:34:02,920 hope is and where your joy is and therefore being free to joyfully in this 372 00:34:02,920 –> 00:34:08,040 world give yourself to a life of serving Jesus Christ 373 00:34:08,040 –> 00:34:10,340 and so in just a 374 00:34:10,399 –> 00:34:15,520 sentence the invitation is simply this that you would place all your troubles 375 00:34:15,520 –> 00:34:22,360 in the hands of this Lord Jesus Christ today and that you would look in hope to 376 00:34:22,360 –> 00:34:26,600 him, in other words that you would rejoice in hope that together we would 377 00:34:26,600 –> 00:34:32,439 be patient in tribulation and that in God’s mercy we would be constant in 378 00:34:32,439 –> 00:34:37,580 prayer and if you do this here is what happens here’s where that leads here’s 379 00:34:37,739 –> 00:34:44,899 what it goes it means you will not be overcome with evil but instead you will 380 00:34:44,899 –> 00:34:54,300 overcome evil with good. Oh father please help us to be such people pursuing such 381 00:34:54,300 –> 00:35:00,399 lives with joy and freedom and gladness for your sake and for your glory and 382 00:35:00,399 –> 00:35:05,379 these things we ask in Jesus’ name and everyone together said Amen.