Life of Fulfilling Hope Through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:1-11)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” May you receive God’s unprecedented and unparalleled blessings today. The title of today’s message is, “Life of Fulfilling Hope Through the Holy Spirit.” From the moment people are born, they are separated from God with Original Sin. In other words, they are born with the exact same state Adam had when he sinned against God. What was Adam’s state when he sinned against God? Instead of wanting to live with God, united with Him, he was in a state where he wanted to live separated from God, independently. He was in a state where he wanted to lead and make his own decisions and live his own life; in other words, a spiritual state where he was becoming his own god.
The spiritual state where he wanted to decide what is good or what is evil based on his own standards, that is the beginning of all problems. Even though this person is not God themselves, they are trying to live as though they are God, so they are filled with fear and shame. Instead of being able to be fully filled with God, he is always trying to fill himself, so he has this void and emptiness. When they were both with God, Adam and Eve were not ashamed of their nakedness. But even though the environment and circumstances were exactly the same, because they were separated from God, trying to be their own god, they were now filled with shame with their nakedness and covered themselves with fig leaves, and because the fig leaves dried out in a few days, they had to cover themselves with new ones. There are some people who immigrate and try to cover themselves by buying a house, or people think that they can cover themselves or hide themselves behind their children’s success, but this cannot be the perfect or complete coverage, so you’ll spend your entire life, covering yourself again and again and again until you die.
That is the state of being enemies of God. Being an enemy of God means there is no peace or reconciliation. If you think that living a life like this is a life of faith, then that is your own thinking. Even right now, people are racing so diligently to accomplish their own goals, but that peace does not come from God, that’s just that own person’s joy or pleasure or sense of accomplishment. That is not a happiness that comes from perfect completion or satisfaction, the best that can be is the hope or the joy of covering yourself with new fig leaves. But after you’ve accomplished that, you’re going to be afraid or ashamed again, and then, you’ll have to cover yourself with larger fig leaves. If your entire life repeats like this, then your heart and mind will collapse, and in that state, the future generation will collapse even more. The future generation, when they are accomplishing things well, they don’t think they have collapsed. Because they are so drunk on the taste of their own life, they think they’re okay, but that’s our life. The Lord is telling us to escape from that cycle.
We need to live with the satisfaction and peace that comes from our perfect and complete God. Because we cannot do that with our own strength, the Lord Himself had to die on the cross and shed His blood to pay the price for our sins and curses. As He resurrected, He overcame the authority of Satan and death, and He is living with us as the Holy Spirit, now reconciled in peace. There is no effort of mankind that can solve our own problems, there is nothing we can do to earn being united with God again. Then, human beings that are created to receive everything from God and live for God, are now being separated from God. Let’s say you find a good house, it’s a waterfront property, too, and you look at that house and think, “One day, I’ll buy that land,” and you live your life dreaming about how you’re going to decorate it and wake up to the sound of the waves. There are many rooms, it’s a great place to have social parties, it’s connected to the second and third floor, and so you gather all your money and you buy that house, and it feels so good because now you have something you never did.
But after a few months, this becomes your everyday life, and in the past, you’d like to go visit the beach, but when you look at the beach every single day, it actually becomes very depressing. Do you know what kind of state that is? If human beings set a goal to try to fill the void that they have lost, will they be able to fill it? No. Let’s say you spend your entire life trying to get a beachfront property, because some people can only look at the beach once or twice a year, but you look at it every day, yet you’re still not satisfied. Then, that means you have to make plans for yet another fig leaf because you’re lacking something. “What will I fill myself with? Is it because I am lonely? Then let’s go to parties every week,” it’s not going to work. Humans need to do everything from a state that is already satisfied with God alone, that is human.
1. Faith – Peace
1) Justified (Rom. 5:1)
(1) Blood of Christ (Rom. 5:9)
(2) Saved from God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9)
(3) Demonstrates His love (Rom. 5:8)
It says that they have received salvation and are called righteous. If they have been called righteous because of their faith, then how should they live? It says, “Let us enjoy being at peace with God through Jesus Christ.” In the past, we were enemies of God and could not go to Him, but now, through Jesus Christ, the curtain that was separating the Holy of Holies has been split, so anyone can go in.
2) God and peace (Rom. 5:2)
(1) God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10)
(2) Reconciled with God (Rom. 5:10)
(3) With the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5)
That God is with us through the Holy Spirit, and now, everyone is changed into a state where they can communicate with God, 24 hours. This is the life of a believer. The life of a believer is not about how morally or ethically cleanly they can live, but how united they are with God. Depending on the people you are surrounded by, your state will be determined. If there are people around you who do drugs, then you will follow the same crowd. If there are people who enjoy gambling around you, you will be swept up in that as well. And the state of the parent determines the state of the child, so if you receive influence from creation, then that is what you will receive. But for us, we are in a state of reconciliation with God, so we must communicate with God and receive His influence.
3) Into this grace (Rom. 5:2)
Now that we have received this reconciliation, we can stand in His grace; it’s God’s grace that we have access to. We did not enter it by our actions or effort, it was completely God’s grace. Why grace? Because this is completely impossible to receive by our own efforts, so God gave it to us for free. Then, if we stand in the grace we have received from God, then we look to the hope of God’s glory.
(1) Boast in the hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:2)
So now, what kind of life must we live? A life that looks towards the hope of God’s glory. When we were enemies of God, I was my own god, and I lived how I wanted to live, and I lived for my glory. Now, if I am united with God, then I live my life with the joy and hope of God’s glory. Then, what is a life that hopes to reveal God’s glory?
(2) God’s image (Gen. 1:27)
From the very beginning, God created mankind in His own image, this means God created mankind to reveal Himself through us. It’s just like a parent who raises their child to have the same beliefs and will, so it’s not only the appearance that is similar, but the parent also wants to give their best lessons to the child. God created humans and God desires to reveal His will through mankind.
(3) Establish God’s kingdom (Gen. 1:28)
However, in the midst of that, God blesses us. The blessing God is talking about here is worship, praise, and glory. How does God reveal Himself through mankind? Through worship, He reveals His plan through His Word and prayer and allows us to receive the answers of a life that rules over and subdues creation. That is the goal with which God created mankind, so we are not beings that were created to read books or find the meaning of life elsewhere; we were created to live with God, for God. More specifically speaking, we must live a life where God gives us His Word and His Word is fulfilled in our lives. If we don’t have God’s Word, then we have to live with our own thoughts, but our thinking is not from God; it is from the world and our experiences, so it’s actually the opposite of God. Even right now, whatever situation you’re in, God is carrying out His Word, but why is it that we’re not able to see God carrying out His Word in our circumstances? It’s because you are living, holding onto your own will, so you’re not able to see what God is doing.
What is prayer? It is asking God, “What is the plan that You are trying to accomplish through this circumstance?” Then God will reveal it to you because God is our Lord and Master. I am not the one who plans out my life and asks God to fulfill it, instead, I entrust my life completely to God and see what His plan is. Then, any single person can see what God is doing through them at this point. At that time, we experience the living God. We don’t have to experience some spiritual gift like speaking in tongues to confirm this; when we are able to confirm God’s Word being fulfilled in our lives, we know He is with us. God wants us to live a life that shines His light through us in the world.
That’s why in the Holy Place, in the Tabernacle, there were three things. There were three things in the Holy Place, there was the bread which represented the Word of God, there was the lampstand which represented the light, and the incense that was always burning for prayer. Those three things were centered on the Holy of Holies. God desires to reveal the Triune God through us, the Word, not the Word of God that you memorized, but how is God carrying out His Word through me now? How is God working upon us with the power of prayer? How is God carrying out missions and evangelism through me now?
2. Holy Spirit – Hope
1) Glory in our sufferings (Rom. 5:3, Jm. 1:2)
(1) Suffering produces perseverance (3, Jm. 1:3)
Now, the saved children of God live with the joy and the hope of this glory. However, in this life, it’s not always good things that come. In order to fulfill this work, sometimes God will even give you suffering or persecution, so if you believe in a God that does not give you suffering, that’s not God. But it says that we are able to rejoice in the suffering. It says in James 1:2, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” because it says that, through these trials, God gives us perseverance. When you suffer, there’s no way out; if there were a way out, it would not be suffering. It means you are in an inescapable situation that brings you suffering, and because there is no other way, you have to persevere, and that is how we experience the perseverance of God. Is there anyone like this?
(2) Perseverance produces character (Rom. 5:4, Jm 1:4, 2 Cor. 4:8-9)
These are not things that happen because of your faith; they have to happen, but it also says that “Perseverance produces character.” What is this “character”? Inside of us, there are things that are not able to glorify God, and by building our character, God is taking out all of these impure things that cannot glorify God. A great example of this in the Old Testament is Job. Job was not a nonbeliever, he was a believer of God and righteous, and he had a reputation of believing in God. One day, God brings him suffering. Because things got so difficult, his wife ran away, and all of his children died. He himself was so diseased, and he lost all of his possessions. Then, why did God push His good believer into this corner? All of his friends around him made fun of him, “It is because you did something wrong.” If you did something wrong, then you can fix that, but just because of the fact that you believe in Jesus Christ, you may face trials.
(3) Character produces hope (Rom. 5:4)
Later on, what does Job say? He said that by going through all of those trials and tribulations, he would come out refined like pure gold. Later on, Job confesses, “Before, I knew of God as someone who is far away,” but now, he has met God, face to face, and feels Him closely. That’s what this means: when God brings us suffering, it is so we can confirm God is with us and finish all of our problems with that. “Because I have opened up this path of reconciliation, you can pray to Me and seek Me anytime.” My Lord is with me always and forever, 24 hours, but my nature doesn’t believe or remember this, so God uses suffering to change our nature. Then later on, we live a life of joy that has the hope of glorifying God.
2) Hope does not put us to shame (Rom. 5:5)
(1) Through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5)
(2) God’s love (Rom. 5:5)
(3) Poured out into our hearts (Rom. 5:5, 2 Cor. 4:7)
What does it say in 2 Cor. 4:7? “Though we are hard pressed on all sides, we are not crushed. Though we are perplexed, we are not in despair.” When you go through suffering, do not worry. God is allowing this on purpose in order for us to become an even greater vessel, then these are things that rightfully had to come, because if these things did not happen, we could not become a greater vessel. You might have the same material iron, but there is an iron that is used to make a bicycle and an iron that is used to make vehicles. Iron that is used to make bicycles does not need to be so pure and strong; however, if you need iron to build a military vehicle or tank, it needs to withstand artillery, so it has to be very strong. Then, the level of the refinement of the metal will change, depending on the role you’ve been called by God for. That’s why you shouldn’t compare yourself to people next to you, because the reason God has called each person is different. There are people who do very well without suffering because that is the level of their usage. However, for people who go through an intense refinement process, it is because God called them for a different purpose. Everyone in the Bible is like that. The more suffering and trials someone endures, the more they change into a person of faith.
Rom. 5:5, “And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.” Because the Holy Spirit continuously pours the love of God into our hearts, we live for the hope of God’s glory. It’s not that we’re all alone, suffering through this persecution and suffering, but the Holy Spirit is with us, and He pours God’s love into our hearts. One day, there was the martyrdom of Stephen, and after the persecution of Stephen, all of the believers ran away to avoid that. “If you believe in God, then God could have controlled that situation from happening, so why did God allow that persecution?” That’s our thinking. God uses that persecution to scatter people, that’s how the Antioch Church was raised up and that’s how world missions took place, full force. God will give persecution and suffering to fulfill His will, because our nature does not want to go. God has to send them to Antioch to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles, but by nature, they want to remain in Jerusalem. So, God’s method is to martyr Stephen so that the members of the Early Church are persecuted.
The reason why you keep suffering externally is because your nature cannot endure, so you must change it. With your thinking, your nature, and your level, you cannot follow God’s will, so God will change it. So, you shouldn’t resent people, God allowed that to happen. What’s important is you need to find what God is doing, then you’ll say, “Thank You.” If it wasn’t for that situation, then would my thoughts and heart have been able to turn to God? When you take a step back from the human-to-human hurt and emotions, you’ll realize you should be thanking God, and you’ll realize, it’s surely true that God is carrying out His perfect plan. When you discipline your child, it is to correct their path, not for another reason. Our God is the same way. So, I hope you will go through that suffering because either way, you are in the Lord and God is guiding you. There are some people who are suffering financially, some people with betrayal from humans, some people with health, it doesn’t matter because the Lord is with you and He will take you through this path.
So, just resolve with one thing. “If I perish, I perish. There’s nothing to be afraid of, because if I die, I just die. If I fail, I just fail.” There’s nothing else someone else can say, then you will completely change with a faith that believes in God. Then, later on, even if you face a problem, you will not look at the problem; instead, you will just look to God, then God will make it so that instead of looking at all the work you have to do every day, you’ll race towards the perfect and complete God. And even though it seems like I have no name, I’m actually famous. Even though it seems like I have nothing, I actually have everything. When sheep follow their shepherd, is it because they are able to make their own grass? No, they’re only following the shepherd. They don’t even think about their circumstances, and everything is provided. Can you believe and follow? God wants to give you that certainty of faith, that’s why He makes you suffer.
3) Boast in God (Rom. 5:11)
(1) Reconciliation with God
“Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation,” because now that you have received reconciliation, you can enjoy that. Because God is guiding me with His absolute sovereignty, I just let Him do that, but that God is a good God, He is a God Who saves. I trust in that God and entrust myself to Him. No matter what happens, it’s okay; it doesn’t matter. Even if I’m lacking, it doesn’t matter at all because all I do is look to Him alone, and He alone is perfect and complete. Then there’s no need for me to work so hard to cover myself with fig leaves.
There are people who receive scars when they’re young in their families and it’s locked deep inside of them. In order to try to cover their scars, they keep trying to package themselves externally, and they don’t open up their scars because otherwise they would explode. So they cover up themselves with fig leaves and think that’s the real “them,” and they tell that to others. They keep trying to cover themselves, saying, “This is my career,” or “This is what kind of life I’ve lived.” They keep trying to cover themselves up instead of exposing their true selves, and they avoid people in case they expose their scars and make them feel hurt. That can be in your church, your family, or your job, but the Lord has already finished your scar. There’s no reason for you to hold onto that scar; you can just walk very boldly with the Lord. The Lord has already taken the pain of your scar, He was whipped for it on the cross, so now, we rely on the goodness of the cross and we go forward.
If you are not able to do this, you have no choice but to have mental illness, because it’s not like you’re going to live life for 10 years, you have to continue to live life, and if that scar inside doesn’t get resolved even in old age, it will not be resolved no matter even if you get a good house. And the devil will repeatedly touch that, he will continuously control you with that, he will continuously make you explode because of that, but you think you’re okay because of what you have. But the devil is continuously and repeatedly controlling you. You are a slave to the devil, what freedom is there?
(2) Life of prayer
3. The Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18)
1) All this is from God (2 Cor. 5:18)
(1) God was reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19)
Now in 2 Cor. 5:18, it says, we have been given a new position. So now we have been given a new ministry of reconciliation, now that we have been reconciled with God, and we also have been given a reconciling Word to reconcile ourselves to God.
(2) Committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19)
You need to be able to tell nonbelievers why they have no choice but to be where they are. It’s because they’re in a state that is disconnected from God. It’s not because they lack hard work, but they’re disconnected from God. But there is a way to meet with God, that is, that God died on the cross and He resurrected and opened up the way for us to meet God again, and that is the way to come out of your fate. The only way for you to escape from the repetitive problems of your family line is to meet with God through Jesus Christ. The spiritual inheritance is passed down for multiple generations in the family line, and your children cannot escape.
(3) Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20)
The repeated disease is coming into your children the same way and we cannot escape. I had an uncle who passed away from an illness in his 40s, and one of my cousins also passed away in the same way in his 40s as well. My uncle’s daughter resolved in her heart to study cancer treatment to prevent those causes of death, but things don’t work out the way you want them to. But this is life. Do you think there’s something special to life? You were not born by your own strength, and you won’t die by your own strength. Everything is by God’s will, you were born by God’s will, and you will die by God’s will. Even right now, if God does not allow oxygen to enter your nose, you die. Even now, if you lose the muscles in your legs, you can’t move. If there’s just one clogged artery in your brain, you will lose your brain function, but we don’t acknowledge any of that, we just think we can do things on our own, but that’s foolish. We have been called as soldiers of God, Christ. In Rom. 5:7, God promises He will give the words of truth and wisdom to His soldiers, and we are given the weapon of righteousness.
2) Servants of God (2 Cor. 6:4)
(1) Truthful speech, power of God (2 Cor. 5:7)
(2) Weapons of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:7)
What is the weapon of the world? The weapon of the world is to kill your enemy and survive. Everything you’re studying in the world may be good, but it’s an instrument to press down on others and save yourself. In the competition between Samsung and Apple, you need to have the technology to be able to win over the competition; that’s the weapon. In the war between Ukraine and Russia, they need to have the greater weapons; that is the weapon of the world. But we have the weapon that saves. How will your hearts and thoughts save? That becomes our weapon. That is the way for everyone to live. So, in your thoughts and heart, if you hate someone, I hope you’ll keep on practicing, “How can I save them?” The weapon God gave us is to wonder, “How can I save the people at my work, These are the people who may seem like they have no name, but that’s not true; they are famous and if we live like this, sometimes, we’ll face trials and tribulations; sometimes, we’re even mugged; sometimes, we’re beaten and imprisoned, but it doesn’t matter because it might seem like we are concerned, but we rejoice.
(3) Unknown, dying, beaten (2 Cor. 5:9)
The world might think that we have nothing, because we’re being persecuted and we have nothing to gain, and wonder, “Why do they live like this?” But on the other hand, the world seems like they have everything but they have nothing because there is no God there. For us, it seems like we have nothing, but because of God alone, we have everything. “Oh, you say I have everything, but I don’t have anything.” God is giving you nothing because you don’t need anything, because if God gave you more, then you’d use that to wander away from Him, so He gave you what you need. Do you think God makes mistakes? Do you think God made a miscalculation? God is perfect, God is working perfectly according to my specific situation. I hope you will be satisfied with that God alone.
(4) Sorrowful, poor, having nothing (2 Cor. 5:10)
Then, you’ll have this boldness of faith, that it doesn’t matter if I’m rich or poor, that I’ll live my life as a soldier of God. In this world, you have to kill your opponent to survive, but I will live a life that saves. Then, if someone treats you unfairly, it doesn’t matter, because we are racing toward the prize for which Christ called us. We are not calculating to gain something on this earth, we are living for the reward in heaven. We are living on this earth, dreaming of the glory of God. May you have victory throughout the week.
Conclusion
1. Life of righteousness in communication with God
2. Life that fulfills hope through the power of the Holy Spirit
3. Life of servants of God who reconcile
Message Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received. If you pray, then God answers.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We thank You for Your grace, that You have bought us with Your blood, though we were destined to die, separated from God. Thank You for allowing us to communicate with God, 24 hours within. Allow us to communicate with God through the Word and prayer. Allow us to live a life of the ambassador of Christ that reconciles the world with God. Allow us not to run away from suffering, but instead, to receive perseverance and character, to hope for the glory of God with joy. We have returned Your materials as offering. May it be used to save the world, the church, and tribes. We believe that You will work with the economy of light and answers that will save the world through missions and offering. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray You will carry out Your Word of a life that hopes for the glory of God with perseverance with Your Word. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
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2. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, guidance, fellowship, and working of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the future generations who desire to hope for and live for the glory of God, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.