Rejoicing in Hope
Romans 5:2b-5
Dr. Ritch Boerckel
Fear and anxiety are well-worn tools in the devil’s workshop. He presses their sharp blade
against our soul to bend our lives away from God, away from joy, away from God’s glory.
Satan loves to fill our thoughts with all the concerns of this present life and he places doubts
in our minds about our future, particularly about our joy in our future. He may whisper, “Do
you think you will keep your job this year? You may not be able to care for your children.”
He whispers, “Do you think you will pass that exam? You may be a failure in your life.” “Do
you think that strange, persistent symptom betrays some terrible disease? You may not have
long to live.” “Do you think your parents love each other? They may get a divorce.” “Do you
think that God still loves you? He sees your sin. How could he possibly accept you?” The
devil presses hundreds of different fears and worries against us to lead us away from
worship.
We know that this world of ours is broken. We experience it daily. And we are broken with
it. We know that there is some truth in the devil’s lies. The best deceptions are always salted
with some true flavors. After all, it is true, we might lose our job. We might flunk the exam.
We might contract a grave illness. Our parents might divorce. We still do sin and we still do
grieve the heart of God. But anxious thoughts about our future—the future of us as children
of God through faith in Jesus Christ—are not from God. We cannot worship God and worry
at the same time. It’s impossible! Satan uses fears to attack our faith and eat away at our trust
in God. God commands us not to be anxious about anything. God wants us to enjoy Him and
trust His Person wholly.
What are we to do in order to strengthen faith and still our fears in the midst of a broken
world? That’s where Romans chapter 5 is so helpful. I would encourage you to open your
Bible there if you have not already. This whole section in the letter to the church in Rome is
written to believers for the purpose of helping us grasp the truth, the absolute truth, of our
security in Jesus Christ. In chapters 5-8 this is the theme: Our security in Jesus Christ.
You may remember that the first three chapters of this letter, at least two and a half chapters
unsettled us. God confronts us in our sin and our rebellion against Him. He reveals His wrath
in response to our rebellion. He tells us that we are guilty of sin and that we are “under sin”
and that we are under His condemnation. Indeed, left to ourselves, we would have every right
to be afraid for our future. Left to ourselves, we can only expect a future of condemnation by
God and separation from God forever and ever. Left to ourselves, we have only the prospect
of disconnection from every joy, every happiness, every blessing that God creates.
Then in chapter 3 verse 21 and all through chapter 4 of this letter, we learn that by God’s
grace we are not left to ourselves. Praise God for that! God wraps His arms around us tightly
to secure us for Himself. I want you to note Romans 3:24. Through faith in Jesus, we can be
“justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:24
ESV). And then note chapter 3, verse 28. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart
from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28 ESV)
What a beautiful word! “Justified.” It’s used twice there in those two verses. Justified. To be
“justified” means that God declares guilty sinners to be righteous in His sight, perfectly
righteous in His sight, on the basis of the righteousness of His Son. Not on the basis of our
righteousness, but on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus, we who are sinners are declared
perfectly and absolutely righteous. To be justified means that God Himself has done
everything necessary to secure for us a home with Him forever and ever.
Through faith in Jesus, we no longer fear condemnation. We no longer fear future separation.
Instead, we are “justified.” We are declared not guilty. We are declared righteous and we are
guaranteed a future of blessing and joy.
Friends, our future blessing by God does not depend upon our own efforts at reforming our
own soul. Our future blessing depends, rather, solely upon Jesus’ efforts as He came to earth,
lived a sinless life offering Himself to us, so that through faith we are united with Him, we
are in Christ. What a wonder of a gift! Our hope for complete restoration from the
brokenness that sin brings does not depend upon us, but upon our great God and Savior. That
is why we are secure. God is able to secure us for Himself.
The hope of eternal life is not dependent upon our faithfulness to God; it is dependent upon
God’s faithfulness to us. Our justification is absolutely secure because we did not secure it.
Jesus, the risen Lord secured it for us. Our security in Christ is the theme of Romans 5-8.
We’re going to spend a number of weeks just rejoicing in that. How important it is for us to
know that we are secure, wonderfully secure in Christ!
The central idea behind this passage is that every true believer is secure in Jesus Christ. God
does not desire that we live in uncertainty about our future. God instead desires that we
would live our lives in the hope of His glory.
The last time we were in Romans 5 together we noted that God declares our security in
Christ by revealing three specific irrevocable certainties that Jesus secures for His people
when He justifies us. Let’s read verses 1 and 2 together and look at these three certainties just
by way of review.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we
stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1–2 ESV)
Certainty #1: We have peace with God.
The second certainty that is ours since we’ve been justified by faith:
Certainty #2: We have access to God Himself.
We have an introduction and access to God Himself, personally. That’s the second certainty
that is secured for us. These are ours. These are our gifts. The third certainty that we have
through our justification is…
Certainty #3: We have the hope of the glory of God.
Last time we discussed the first two certainties in much depth. We have peace with God. We
have access to God. This morning we’re going to focus our attention upon this third
certainty: that we have the hope of the glory of God. If you’re taking notes, you might take a
look at that sheet in your worship folder. The first issue we’re going to look at is the glory of
our hope.
I. The glory of our hope.
That little phrase so pregnant with meaning, so full of truth says “we rejoice in hope of the
glory of God.”
We have to ask the question, what does this mean? There are two joyful ideas behind this
wonderful hope. The first idea that the Apostle Paul is communicating to us is:
1. Every person who is in Christ Jesus will one day see and enjoy God purely in all of His
wonder, all of His beauty and all of His magnificence.
So that’s our hope of the glory of God. We will see and we will enjoy God purely, face to
face kind of enjoyment and sight. We will have a vision of who God is and see Him truly.
2. Every person who is in Christ Jesus will one day participate in God’s glory and be changed
into the likeness of Christ.
We won’t just see God’s glory, we’ll also share it. How? By being transformed. By being
changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. And that is going to be a wonderful event. What a
day to see God face to face and then to share in that glory that we see as we worship Him by
being transformed into the likeness of the image of Jesus.
Toward the end of this message, we’re going to consider these two joyful ideas in more
depth, but I first want us to consider this word “hope” that we find. You might underline it
there in verse 2. We have this hope. “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
When we use the word “hope” in our English language, we use it to describe something that
we wish would happen but that something, we realize, is uncertain. Someone might say “I
hope that my team wins the Super Bowl today.” We might say “I hope that we have an early
spring this year.” All of these are common ways that we use this word “hope.” Something we
wish for but something that is not guaranteed, something that is uncertain. The Bible uses
this word “hope” quite differently from the way we commonly use it in our language. That’s
why it’s so important to understand how God uses this word “hope” or we’ll miss the truth
altogether, when God uses this word. God uses the word “hope” to describe something that is
not yet a reality, something that is yet future, something that is not yet fulfilled, but is
absolutely certain. It is so certain, it is as certain as though it’s already taken place. That’s
how the Bible uses this word “hope.” Here’s the Biblical definition that I believe is true all
throughout Scripture. Biblical hope is the expectation and enjoyment of a happy future made
certain by God’s promises. The reason why the something that is future is absolutely certain
is because God controls the future and He promises us these things will take place. So
Biblical hope is the expectation but also the enjoyment that we are entering into some of the
joy of a future event now, even though it is yet future, because we absolutely know that it’s
going to take place.
Perhaps one of the best illustrations of that is how a young engaged couple would look
forward to their wedding. For them, they are not considering that it might not certainly come
to pass. We know in this world even that is not certain, that it’s possible for an engaged
couple to break apart. It does happen. But the young couple, as they’re engaged, they don’t
even entertain the idea that it’s not certain. They’re looking forward to this future event and
they’re enjoying some of that future event even as they wait for it. They’re anticipating it.
But here, Biblical hope is not based upon the promise of a fiancé, it is based upon the
promise of God who is always faithful and who is completely powerful to ensure that His
promises come to pass. Let’s look at some examples of how hope is used in the New
Testament.
Colossians 1:27—“… Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Titus 1:2—we have the “… hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised
before the beginning of time.”
Titus 2:13—“While we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God
and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:3—“… [God] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead.”
In each of those passages, hope refers to a certainty. In Hebrews 6, I love this passage,
Hebrews 6:19! We learn that because God cannot lie, our hope is “a sure and steadfast
anchor of the soul.” I love that picture! That’s what hope is. It is a sure and steadfast anchor
for our soul. It’s something we can count on, something that gives us weight, something that
gives us certainty in the midst of the shifting waves of the sea of this present life.
Someone asks the question, “Can a child of God lose their salvation?” The answer here in
Romans 5 is, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, . . . we rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God.” That’s the answer of Romans 5, verses 1 and 2. Since we already have
been justified by faith, we already now rejoice in hope, a certainty of an expectation of a
future event, of the glory of God.
When Paul says that “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” he is saying that nothing will
keep us from one day experiencing God’s glory up close and personal. One day we will
certainly see God in His glory.
Friends, our lives have yet to be lived to their earthly conclusion. Is that a truth for everyone
here? It certainly is. But we already know how these lives of ours will turn out. They will end
by us seeing God’s glory and by us being changed into God’s glory. That is God’s guarantee
to us when we are justified in Jesus Christ.
Samuel Rutherford was a pastor in the 17th century and he wrote some letters. This little book
of his called “The Letters of Samuel Rutherford” in writing to his friends and to his
congregation are very precious and dear. I want to read you an excerpt of one of these letters
to his friend as he talks about this hope. He says:
“I rejoice in the hope of the glory to be revealed; for it is no uncertain glory we look for. Our
hope is not hung upon such an untwisted thread as, ‘I imagine so,’ or ‘It is likely’; but the
cable, the strong tow of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal
verity.(eternal truth) Our salvation is fastened with God’s own hand, and with Christ’s own
strength, to the strong stoup of God’s unchangeable nature.”
Samuel Rutherford in a letter to a friend.
I love that because that’s where our hope is! It’s not attached to something that is shifting
like our own faithfulness, like our own obedience, like our own will, like our own desires.
Our hope is fastened to the strength of God’s immutability and His faithfulness and His
power.
“But this seems to us like we are boasting in the future, pastor! It sounds like we’re boasting
that we know we’re going to be filled with glory and see God’s glory before it happens.” And
I tell you, “Yes, we are!”
That word “rejoice” is fascinating there in verse 2. He says, “we rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God. It’s a very, very strong word. Elsewhere in the New Testament, this word is
actually translated “boast.”
So for instance, in 1 Corinthians 1:31, we read the same term, but it’s translated differently in
the same English Standard Version. “so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast
in the Lord.”” We can translate that “let the one who rejoices, rejoice in the Lord.” It’s the
same term that is used here in chapter 5 verse 2. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Now, most of us have watched sports teams who celebrated a victory too early and ended up
losing the game because they celebrated before the end of the game. Most of us have seen
that happen. Perhaps we’ve even been part of that. They rejoiced in a victory before they
secured it and they ended up looking like fools. And when we look at that team we say,
“They should not have done that! They were overconfident.” Here, in Romans 5, verse 2,
God is saying, “Celebrate early! It’s okay. Celebrate early.”
Boasting right now about a future victory is absolutely in fact, necessary to our present joy. It
is the way that we overcome anxieties and fears that hound us. And it is proper and right and
wise for us to boast about a future victory because that future victory does not depend upon
us, not in one iota. That future victory solely depends upon our Champion. And there is no
one who comes close to wounding or ruining or defeating our Champion, our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. We may fail, but God always comes through. This is why faith and hope
are always connected to each other. They’re friends.
Hope celebrates future victories before we experience them. And that’s important because in
this world, in its brokenness, it might feel sometimes like we’re losing. It might feel
sometimes like the devil is winning, like Satan or our own sin, or the sins of others, or the
sins of society are creeping to take over and darkness is setting in. We may feel like we are
losing, but friends, we will not, because God has secured the victory through Jesus Christ.
God will be faithful to His promises. It is especially important for us to celebrate victories
early in the midst of our suffering, whether our suffering is for persecution. I think that’s the
specific context in Romans 5. But I think suffering through painful trials is also an
application.
II. The growth of our hope.
When we experience persecution as a result of our faith or painful trials, we are tempted to
ask, “God, where are You? God, do you know my sorrows? Do you really love me? Are you
really in control?” Paul now turns to address this temptation of ours to let go of our hope
when persecution and suffering strike our lives. Look at what he says in verse 3.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to
shame,” (Romans 5:3–5 ESV)
Paul answers the question of the problem of our suffering and he says instead of persecution
and painful trials being evidence that God is losing the battle with evil, that God’s love is not
guaranteed to us, rather, persecution and suffering is evidence that God is winning the battle
against evil. The path that God ordains for us to gain victory is the path marked with
suffering.
We ask the question, “God, couldn’t you have ordained another path for us in order to get to
victory, in order to experience the joy of a joyful future? Isn’t there some other way?” Well
God, we know, is all wise and God does nothing without purpose. God does nothing
frivolously. God does not tell us why He includes suffering to be the means that moves us
toward His glory. He does tell us very clearly that He does include suffering as the means to
move us toward His glory. It’s very clear all throughout Scripture, He tells us that.
In Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9, God would say as the people were perplexed about God’s dealing
in their suffering, He would say:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)
Who are we to think that God should explain Himself and that we could understand it even if
He did. God deems our suffering as necessary. When we experience suffering, God is telling
that He is working to bring us to this certain future day.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight
of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things
that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are
eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV)
No matter what we are experiencing, it’s momentary. It’s for a short time. This suffering is
God’s ordained plan to prepare for us an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all
comparison. When we experience this future glory, we won’t even set it aside and ask the
question, “Was it worth it?” The joy will be so far above and beyond the pain that we
experience that we won’t even be comparing it at that time.
Here is our problem. We think too much about this present world. We set our hopes on this
present world and we wonder why we are filled with despair. We pursue our joy in this
present world and we wonder why we are overwhelmed by our sorrows. We expect to find
happiness from this present world, and we wonder why we are so sad. It’s because of these
expectations about this present world, that the world presents to us, that we love this world.
And loving this world is a losing strategy. It’s a losing strategy for today and it’s a losing
strategy for tomorrow. This is what John would write:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the
eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is
passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1
John 2:15-17 ESV)
Everything in this present world, both our circumstances as well as the people that we have
in this present world, they’re all passing away. The only relationships that we hold are the
relationships that are forever. And that’s why it’s so important to share the gospel with the
people we love and care about and the people around us, so that those relationships will be
forever. Otherwise, that person is of the world as well and that person is passing away. But
everything in this present world is passing away if it’s not connected to God Himself. If we
place our hopes upon this world, then our hopes will pass away along with this world.
All along the road, what God says is to lift our eyes up higher, to look out farther than where
we naturally would. The reason why so many believers are overcome by fears and anxious
thoughts, why so many believers are living lives of despair and misery is that they are putting
their hope in this world. That’s our temptation. And the things of this world will always fail
us. That’s why it says we’re not to look at the things that are seen, but at the things that are
unseen.
Recently, I was very much challenged by this. The temptation for me as it is for you is to
begin to keep my eyes right here and right now. We were looking at a video on the Right
Now video, which is something we offer to every family, every person in the church. It’s
kind of like a Christian Netflix. There is a video that Francis Chan has where he is teaching
about eternity. He used an illustration that I’d never heard before, and I know it’s rather
popular. Since I had heard of it, I talked to many people who have said, “Oh, yeah. I already
saw that.” So it might be old, but I wanted to use it because it was so powerful in my life.
[Pastor Ritch took out a long white rope, and there was red tape wrapped around a small
portion on the end of the rope.] This rope represents your life. Do you see this red part? The
beginning of it represents when you are born, and this last part represents when you die.
Chan says, so many of us are looking and are so focused just on what is happening here on
this red portion of our life. But God has created us for eternity. And here’s our life that is
really when we are in Christ. It goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on. [Pastor Ritch
showed us the rest of the rope which is white as representing eternity.] And we as believers
are not looking at any of this [the white part of the rope]. This is the hope of glory. This is
where our life is. We’re not investing in anything like this. We’re investing our time and
attention to see that everything is in order in this little piece [the red part] and guess what?
For all of our investment, for all of our attention, we can’t do it. We can’t hold this piece
together. There’s going to be an end to this. There’s going to be a day when everything that
we’ve been working toward passes away. And what then? How much more wonderful it is to
live for this part of the rope [the white part] that never ever, ever, ever, ever ends. That is the
hope of glory, the hope of the glory of God.
Look briefly at what He says about this process. He’s going to share this four step process
very shortly and plainly to you. I love this! He says:
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope . . .”
(Romans 5:3-4 ESV)
There is a process that God is working us through. Suffering produces endurance. That’s a
commitment not to quit, not to give up. I’m going to continue in this race because I know
how this race ends. I’m going to stay on the path, even though I feel like giving up. I’m
getting torn down. I’m getting tired. I’m getting discouraged, but I’m going to stay on the
path because my Champion has secured this victory for me. So, I’m going to keep running
the race.
Suffering is the means that God uses to help us build up this endurance, this “stick to itiveness,” this perseverance in our soul. And then he goes on to say, when we get endurance,
do you know what happens? We begin to build character. That means Christ likeness. We
begin to grow in Godliness, practical Godliness of life. That’s the way God works. Without
suffering, we’ll never have endurance. And without endurance we’ll never know the joy of
being conformed to the likeness of Christ. If we don’t have character, we won’t have hope.
This is the process, the four step process He goes through. God sends us suffering. He
ordains it for us. So then we have endurance, and then endurance helps us become more like
Jesus because we lean into Him more and less upon ourselves, because we know we’re
totally weak. The more we become like Jesus, the more hope we have, the more we look at
the long end of the rope. Because we’ve given up on this short part of our lives being
meaningful in and of itself. We know that our meaning, we know that our hope, we know
that our joy is tied to what is eternal.
Finally, I want us to consider the ground of our hope. I love this!
III. The ground of our hope.
“and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5 ESV)
I love this little section here at the beginning of verse 5 that says, “hope does not put us to
shame.” Do you know why hope does not put us to shame? Almost every other translation
reads, “hope does not disappoint us.” Do you know why hope will never disappoint us?
1. Because what we hope for will come to pass.
Oftentimes, hopes in this world disappoint us. We hope that our team wins, and then our
team doesn’t win and we’re crushed. That disappoints us. Here he says, “no, this hope will
never disappoint us.” Why? Because it’s guaranteed by God.
2. Because what we hope for will be joy unspeakable.
Sometimes hopes in this world disappoint us because even though we win, you know what?
It didn’t give us the kick of joy we thought it would after we won. We thought it was going
to be so much bigger than that. But then we finally won the championship and are holding
the trophy and we feel empty. This didn’t give us what we thought it would.
This hope will never disappoint because when we’re holding and beholding the glory of God,
we will say, “Yes. This is what life’s all about. This is worth it!”
What is the ground of our hope? I love this! Verse 5. Why doesn’t hope put us to shame?
And why doesn’t hope disappoint? Why? Because “God’s love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” God’s love secures us. God’s love
is steadfast. God’s love is strong. God’s love never gives up on us. We must never think that
our sufferings are a sign that God does not love us or has given up on us.
After suffering terribly in Ravensbruck concentration camp in Nazi Germany, and after
losing her sister to death there in Ravensbruck, Corrie ten Boom would write:
“No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still; with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the
best remains and the very best is yet to be.”
And so we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!