Hope (Romans 5: 1-11) Josh Oldfield
Jesus is our true hope. By his death and resurrection we know hope for today, tomorrow, and eternity.
Jesus is true hope
- In the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul (ch. 1-2 in particular) outlines our need for hope from God to save us from our sin. Our situation is completely hopeless without Jesus. (Think Dunkirk, not Disney!)
- Into our hopelessness God offers us peace and access to him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. As Christians we have been justified (God says that we are in the right with him) by believing in Jesus.
- Since Jesus has dealt with our sin when we couldn’t, we now rejoice that God will get the glory. We no longer fear God and live for ourselves, we now love God and live for him.
Jesus is hope for the whole of life
- Paul says that when we endure through suffering, God produces character in us, which causes us to hope in him. We don’t chase after suffering (flagellants), and we don’t ignore the existence of suffering. But we recognise that God allows us to go through suffering to make us like him.
- In this life we will experience happiness and suffering - but God is able to use all of it to transform our character and help us hope in him.
Jesus is our hope for the future
- If God was willing to send his Son while we were still sinners in rebellion to him, how much more is he going to save us now that we love him. He is not a landlord who will turn round and kick us out of the house!
- We have shared in Jesus’ death when we became Christians, and we will also share in his resurrection when we die or he returns. We have a hope for the future nothing else can challenge!
Questions:
- Is your hope in God rooted in your justification* through faith in Jesus? What else are you tempted to place your hope in?
- What does it look like to start your year “standing in grace”?
- Are you more likely to pursue and wallow in your suffering, or try to ignore it?
- What gives you hope in... a) tough times? b) good times?
- What does Paul mean by “much more”? What is our hope for the future?
*Justification = God saying that we are in the right with him (because we trust in Jesus’ death in our place).