The Perseverance of Hope

MONTY & REGGIE PYTHON - pictures of Reggie being held by the girls.

We took him as a pet, to hold, to take care of, to be fascinated with and keep.

But as you can imagine with snakes, there is another, much more vicious side to them - ESPECIALLY PYTHONS and Boas, they strike and hold and squeeze their prey.

I fed my snakes mice and rats. Little innocent rodents dropped into the cage, sniffing around their new enclosure, Only to realize at the other end of the tank was a vicious serpent that would strike without warning in the blink of an eye and then squeeze the very life out of it.

Sin is like that and I was reading about Romans 8 this week - I thought about our lives and how suffering puts the squeeze on us sometimes.

We have our plans, our dreams, and the things that we want so badly. We are just going along and then WHAM out of nowhere LIFE Puts the Squeeze on Us.

Sometimes there is more:

THERE IS PAIN!

THERE IS LOSS!

THERE IS MISUNDERSTANDING!

THERE IS VICIOUS, RUTHLESS SINFUL WORLD that just gets us down.

ROMANS 8 is our passage this morning, and Adrian Rogers says that he could preach a whole year from this one chapter of Scripture. I believe i could as well - but this morning we are only going to look at a few verses.

VERSES 18- 25

Contained in this passage are:

-GROANINGS

-GRACE

-GLORY

Romans 8:18-25

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Suffering IS Put Into Perspective by Hope!!

- “Groanings”, “Anxious Longing” are Part of this Life

2 Cor 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

- However, they cannot be blamed on the God.

We live in a fallen world. SIN Caused this pain, these groanings.

SSSSSSIN caused by the Serpent - the devil, lucifer, satan that seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

When our first parent sinned - and Mankind fell - Sin became a part of us - Genesis, 2/3 The Fall of Mankind. THERE is a gravitational pull in each of us that pulls us toward the badness, the wreckage, the GROANINGS!!

These groanings make us long for something better - something RENEWED!! This is one of the reasons that Christ died - to redeem this lost world from the Fall, from SIN, from BROKENESS!

Genesis 3:12-15

12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

Cursed are you more than all cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you will go,

And dust you will eat

All the days of your life;

15 And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

GOD Uses our Anxious Longings To Lead Us To GRACE!!

To have a Hope of Glory there has to be:

Objective - to HOPE On. Objective is eternal life / Salvation

In This Case, Our HOPE IS BUILT On An Object (Someone!)

Our Hope is Built on Nothing Less Than JESUS BLOOD & RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Hoped In b/c there according to Ephesians 1 & 2 we cannot gain it for ourselves)

GRACE Granted Leads Us To HOPE!!

HOPE is more than a feeling, it is an ASSURED Placement secured by the Object or Person we are hoping in. Hope is because of the reason or means for the objective to be met - the way in which the objective is gained.

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology The New Testament > Hope

The New Testament consistently uses the verb elpizō and the noun elpis for hope. Just as the Old Testament emphasizes hope as trust, Paul writes about setting our hope on God (1 Tim. 4:10) and on Christ (Eph. 1:12). As Jeremiah proclaims that God is the hope of Israel, Paul announces that Jesus Christ is our hope (1 Tim. 1:1).

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology The New Testament > Hope

In connection with hope in Romans 8:18–25 Paul speaks of waiting with eager expectation for the revelation of the children of God (v. 19), waiting for the adoption as sons (v. 23). We are waiting “for the righteousness for which we hope” (Gal. 5:5) and for “the blessed hope,” namely, the glorious appearing of our Lord (Titus 2:13). Paul has both an eager expectation and a hope for God to be glorified in him, whether in life or death (Phil. 1:20). He goes on to express his desire to leave this world to be present with Christ (1:23).

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology The New Testament > Hope

As hope is connected with patient endurance in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament trials lead to hope (Rom. 5:3–4) and hope is steadfast (1 Thess. 1:3). When we hope for something we wait for it through patience (Rom. 8:25; cf. 15:4).

LUKE 24:1-7 The Resurrection

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;

5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?

6 “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

The Road to Emmaus

13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.

14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place.

15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.

16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.

17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad.

18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?”

19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people,

20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.

21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

22 “But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning,

23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.

24 “Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.”

25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Titus 2:11–14

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.