Present Joy for Future Glory
Embracing and Displaying New Perspective Living
Text: Romans 5:1-11
Imagine the incredible advantage you’d have in nearly every part of life if you could see into the future and use that knowledge for your immediate benefit. Picture the results if you knew which stocks to invest in ahead of time. Think about how life might change if you knew which career opportunities to pursue and which to avoid. Consider how emotionally stable you could be if you knew which relationships to nurture and which to steer clear of in advance. In short, your life could be greatly improved if you knew the future before it happened. We often express this deep desire with the phrase – “If I knew then what I know now.”
While we can’t predict the future in ways that will alter the value of our stock portfolio or guarantee specific career or relationship outcomes, we do have the advantage of knowing something about the future that can dramatically change our present reality. In Romans 5:1-11, Paul reminds us that when we were justified, we were reconciled to God in ways that brought two powerful changes to our lives: we have ongoing, unbreakable peace with God (5:1), and we have been given a spiritual passport granting us irrevocable standing in the Kingdom of Grace (5:2) as well as unlimited access to God (5:11). But that is not all that happened to us.
When we are justified by faith and reconciled to God through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, we gain certain knowledge about our future that, when properly understood, should significantly influence how we think, speak, act, and live in three key areas: our hope for the future (5:2); our capacity to endure intense, prolonged suffering (5:3-10); and our personal relationship with God (5:11). Put differently, the reality of our peace with God and access to Grace gives us:
- Present Joy for __________ Glory (5:2)
- __________ Joy in Present Suffering (5:3-10)
- __________ Joy from Knowing God (5:11)
I want us to see how four things Paul says in this text create in us a present joy for future glory (5:2 – “and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”)
I. A New __________ Commended for Us: Joy
and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God
A. Joy Defined – “we boast = we rejoice”
He is talking about a deep joy that manifests as unrestrained happiness or jubilation for something that has happened to them.
B. Joy Described – exuberant, unquenchable jubilation
- In terms of what it looks like – unquenchable, exuberant jubilation that reflects profound gratitude and delight in God for His gracious provision for His people.
- Creation– Psalm 96:11–13
- Israel after the crossing of the Red Sea – Psalm 106:9-
- David when God restored the Ark of the Covenant to its rightful place in the tabernacle at Jerusalem – 2 Sam 6:12-15
- The Father when the prodigal son returned – Luke 15:20-27
- Heaven when a sinner is saved – Luke 15:7, 10
- In terms of when it is present – what we seen from these texts
- It is expressed in praise before God (Creation; Israel)
- It is visible to others (David; Angels rejoicing)
- It makes a powerful impact on others for good or evil (Father and the Prodigal Son)
- In terms of its source – something from God through Christ that we did not earn and that we cannot lose: “hope of glory” (Col 1:27)
II. A New __________ Cultivated in Us: Hope
and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God
- The term “hope” expresses a confident expectation of something sure and secure.
- Illustration: An inheritance placed in a trust until the individual turns 21. The money is real and fully belongs to the individual, even though it is not accessible until the person’s 21st birthday.
- What Paul is saying is this: There is a future reality that God has promised us. That promise has been secured through the work of His Son. We have been given a Divine Guarantor, the Holy Spirit, who not only guarantees that we will receive the full inheritance in the future but also gives us ongoing, daily access to what has been promised.
- And on the strength of this promise, we have confident assurance (hope) in something God has promised that produces present joy in us regardless of our current circumstances.
III. A Restored __________ Imparted to Us: Glory of God
and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God
- Defined in Scripture – it is the radiant, multi-faceted splendor of God’s person (who He is and what He is like). It is the sum of God’s perfections, and when you see them, they are unimaginably beautiful and gloriously radiant!
- He describes it to us in Ezekiel 1:22-28
- He explained it to us in Exodus 33:18-23
- He promised it to us in Isaiah 60:1-2
- He manifested it to us in Jesus (John 1:14; Matt 17:1-5; 2 Pet 1:18-21)
- He restored it to us at Salvation (Romans 3:23; 5:2; Isaiah 60:1-5)
- He grows it in us progressively through the Holy Spirit’s illumination and application of Scripture to our lives (2 Cor 3:18)
- He will complete it fully when we arrive in His presence (Matt 13:43; Romans 8:18-30; Phil 3:20-21)
- Revealed from Heaven
- In Creation (Psalm 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-20)
- In Jesus (John 1:14)
- To World who rejects it (Rom 1:18-23; 2 Cor 4:3-4)
- To Believers who see it, receive it, and are being transformed by it!
IV. A New __________ Adopted by Us: Present Hope for Future Glory
- This hope enables us to endure and encourages us as we endure!
Romans 8:18. For I consider (reckon) that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Conclusion:
Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves (God Shines Forth) made this sobering observation: “Happy mission presupposes Happy Christians! There is a kind of mission that can be carried out by miserable Christians, and though it may be doctrinally correct and carefully organized, it will only reflect the emptiness of their own hearts. Christians who don’t enjoy God can’t and won’t wholeheartedly commend him to others!”
Romans 5:1-11 is the antidote for miserable Christians!
What has filled your vision so completely that you’ve lost hope in God’s glory? What has blinded your eyes to its radiant beauty? What has extinguished your joy, causing you to live as if the promise of this glory has been taken from you? More importantly, how do we restore our hope and reignite our joy in what God has done, is doing, and will do for us and in us as He keeps His promise to glorify us with His own glory?
There is a two-fold remedy:
- We must behold his glory to be changed into that glory (2 Cor 3:18)
- We must purify ourselves as we wait for His appearing (1 John 3:2-3)
1 John 3:2–3 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.