Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now come along.
Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
We're going to be in the Book of Romans.
We're going to continue our study in the Book of Romans.
So if you have your Bible and.
You'D like to follow along, which I.
Encourage you to do, so that's Romans chapter eight.
The title of the sermon this morning is can we continue in Confidence.
It's really a question that I want.
Us to think about.
Can we continue in confidence?
Romans chapter 8 speaks of the confidence.
That we can have in our salvation.
It's not talking about having self confidence.
It's about having confidence in the one.
Who gave us that salvation.
Romans chapter 8 speaks of the fact.
That Jesus Christ, because of his sacrifice for us, has extended
that gift of grace.
And in that gift of grace, we.
Now walk with no more condemnation, no.
More judgment, no more fear, no more defeat.
We walk in victory.
So, as a believer, as a Christian, by the way, when I say
that word, Christian, what am I talking about?
I'm talking about someone who has placed his or her faith in the
person and work of Jesus Christ for their salvation, in him
and him alone.
I'm not talking about a cultural Christian.
I'm not talking about someone who tries.
To be a good person.
I'm not talking about someone who isn't one of the other faiths
that's out there.
I'm talking about someone who has placed.
Their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross
and.
And his conquering of death through the resurrection.
So when we say that, when we say that there's someone who is a
believer or a Christian, they can now have confidence that there's
no more condemnation.
That person can have confidence in knowing that God is
with us and that he equips us to do the work that he has called
us to do.
But there's times in our life where we're tempted to doubt.
There's times in our life where we do lack confidence.
And.
And most of the time, as a believer, when we find ourselves
in those places, it's because we're putting our confidence in the
wrong thing.
We're placing our confidence in the wrong object.
But most of the time, when we fail or when we struggle, or when
we doubt.
We're putting the confidence in ourselves.
And when we put the confidence in ourselves, we tend to start to
see, even though we don't want to admit it always, we start to see
our failures.
We see our shortcomings.
We see how little we actually know.
And we begin to doubt, thinking, I.
Can never do this.
I could never overcome this.
I'm doubting, and maybe God doesn't love me, and maybe I'm not
worthy of his love.
But what we have to do is we have to go back and place our confidence
in the right object.
The right object of faith.
You guys have seen the analogy before.
Of faith being put to practice is like someone sitting in a chair.
And so, for example, today I say.
Okay, someone in the church maybe is a really good carpenter
or a builder, and they built this really, really strong chair
up here.
And then I built a chair, and some of you are like, well, what's
wrong with that?
If I built a chair, most of you probably wouldn't want to sit
in it because it would probably fall.
And so I set these two chairs up here, and I said, okay, we've
got this chair.
It almost looks like a throne.
It's hardy, it's strong, and so.
And so made it.
And they're a carpenter, and.
And then you look at my chair, and it's flimsy and it's wobbly,
and.
You look at that, and you're like.
Okay, I could put my faith in that chair.
I could put my faith in that chair.
I'm gonna put my faith in the.
Chair that looks like it can hold me up.
That I know can hold me up.
But the problem is, sometimes is that instead of putting our faith
in the object, Jesus, who can hold us up, who promises to hold
us up and has always kept his word, we put our confidence in something,
either ourselves or something else, that might look appeasing at
first or appealing at first, but eventually.
Will fail, it will fall, it will crumble, and we will find ourselves
broken and hopeless because our confidence is in the wrong thing.
I'm going to talk to you about that word confidence here this morning.
If you know anything about the word confidence, it will help you
understand what we're talking about when it talks about walking
in faith.
Because sometimes when we hear the confidence, we think of, well,
confidence means I just.
I know what I'm doing.
Well, if you look into the etymology of a word, it gives us
a lot of what that means.
What's the etymology of the word?
It's a study of how that word Got there.
And the word confidence itself is a.
Is a really.
It's a Latin word, and it's made.
Up of two words.
Con, fide.
We get our word confidence from confide.
Con means with, or having fide means trust or faith.
So really, confidence means having faith.
I'm with faith in something.
So when I say I put my confidence in something, it's saying
I put.
My faith in something.
I'm with faith, and it's placed in this object.
And so we get to Romans, chapter 8.
Two weeks ago, we talked about having.
The hope of glory, having the hope of eternity.
And the reality is, is that sometimes within the Christian life,
we will suffer.
Sometimes in the Christian life, we will have times in which
we don't feel good about what's happening to us, whether it's
our circumstance or our physical state, or maybe even if
we just look out into the world.
Because folks, suffering usually comes through me looking
inwardly and seeing my problems, or I look out and see the
problems of this world, and I can't reconcile.
What'S going on with the truths of God.
So he says here in verse 18, that we will face suffering.
He says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time,
so.
So he's recognizing, by the way, who's the human author.
It's Paul, right?
And we know that Paul can identify with suffering.
Ultimately, we know in the greatest extent, Jesus understands
our suffering because of the suffering that he went through.
And it says right up in verse 17 that the reason why we will face
suffering is because we will face the same types of things that
Jesus.
Faced, not to the extent that Jesus faced it.
But he says in verse 17 that we are joint heirs with Christ, meaning
if we identify with his glory, we also have to identify with his
trouble.
And so verse 18 is this.
Yes, we have to identify with Jesus struggles, but the struggles
are worth it.
Why?
Because he says the struggles or the sufferings of this present
time, this short amount of time that we have on this earth,
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us one day.
Meaning this basically in layman's terms today, that the sufferings
that we go through now are gonna seem like nothing when we are
in glory with our Heavenly Father.
When we're walking with no more pain and no more suffering,
we get to.
See our Savior face to face.
I had the opportunity to officiate a funeral this past week
of our dear sister, Charlene Hawkins, who went home to be with
the Lord.
And one of the things that I can say with confidence is that she.
Now understands God's grace way more than.
Any of us here on this side of heaven can understand.
Why?
Because she's with our Savior.
The Bible says, absent with the body is present with the Lord.
And so what does he say here?
He says this.
Yes, you are going to suffer.
Yes, there's going to be problems.
But in the bigger picture, there's glory in knowing where we
are going and what God has given us in the here and now, you.
And so that's what he's building off.
Of here in verse 19.
Our main text is going to be here in verse 19.
And he speaks to this idea that in the process of waiting, because
all of us are waiting for that coming.
Day where we will be reunited with our Savior.
In the process of waiting, there's a proper way to wait and
there's an.
Improper way to wait.
And here in this passage, he's explaining how we are to long to
be reunited with our Savior one day.
And so he says here in verse 19, actually something very interesting,
because instead of starting with the Christian and saying how
we as a Christian should anticipate being with our Savior,
he actually talks first about the creation of God.
And he's not just talking about human creation, but he's talking
about all creation.
And he says in verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creature,
that that word creature there just means creation waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.
So what does this mean?
It means this.
We as Christians are waiting for this reunion with God, our glorification.
By the way, we talked about what glorification was.
When we're saved, we're justified, which means we're declared
righteous.
But at the moment of our declaration of righteousness and
salvation, we are sanctified.
Positionally, the word sanctified means to be set aside
for a specific use.
I know I'm using some big terms here, but I'm going to try
to explain it the best way that I can.
So at the moment of salvation, when.
We trust in Jesus as our Savior.
We are taken from a place of.
Sin and brokenness and destruction and ultimately judgment.
And we are placed in the position of being in the family of
God.
The Bible puts it in Romans 8.
As being adopted into the family of God.
Remember, we can cry out, abba, Father.
We have that personal relationship with him.
But that's not where salvation stops.
It's actually where it starts.
Because now we're on this path of spiritual growth.
And that's what we call progressive sanctification.
Every day that we Live our lives.
We're supposed to be more and more like him.
We're supposed to grow closer to him.
And love him and grow in our appreciation for him.
Because the reality is, is that most of the time.
Well, actually, I'm not gonna project this thinking on anyone here.
I'll project it on me or I'll place it on me.
When I was a little boy and.
I got saved and I was a young man and I was walking as a Christian,
I was like, I don't.
Some of you don't judge me.
I was like, I don't want to.
Go to heaven yet.
I want to experience the things of this earth.
I want to drive a car.
I want to get married.
I want to have children.
I want to graduate.
I had all these things in my mind that I wanted to accomplish
before I went to heaven.
Now, that seems silly to someone who's.
Lived their life because they're like, well, you know, I understand.
Those are all good things.
But being with our heavenly Father trumps all of that, right?
It's above all of that.
And so the idea for me is this.
It's the spiritual maturity process that makes us love God more
and say, you know what?
This is not what I want.
I want to be with him.
But that's a progressive thing.
That's not gonna happen right away.
And that's our spiritual maturity.
So there's that progressive sanctification that happens.
But then we see ultimately one day, whenever that might be, that
we will be completely or perpetually sanctified or glorified,
meaning we will be with our Savior and we will no longer be bound
by this mortal flesh that can be hurt and can lead us to sin.
But we will be glorified in new bodies that will ultimately be
honoring, glorifying God in every single way.
And so when we're talking about glorification, that's what
we're talking about.
And what we can see here, going back to verse 19, it says that
not only Christians are longing for this, but all of God's
creation is longing for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Meaning this all creation is waiting for.
This type of glorification that God has promised.
Christina sang this in the song this morning about the rocks
crying out.
And we even know in the Gospels that it says that Jesus,
when he's talking, he says, if these people don't praise me, the
rocks will cry out.
Meaning this all of creation is in subjection to God.
And so the reality here is this.
He says, this.
This is amazing.
Paul considers the Creation that God created.
And he says that the creation is eagerly waiting for the revealing
of the.
Sons of God, the completion of this plan.
That's an amazing thing to think about.
If you go back to Romans chapter one, you remember that Paul
says, actually the problem with mankind in our flesh is, is
that we, the creation, begin to worship the creation instead of
the Creator.
So how silly would it be for us as the creation to worship other.
Aspects of his creation instead of worshiping the Creator?
But that's what we do sometimes.
Sometimes we put our confidence in the creation.
Sometimes we love the gift more than the gift giver.
And so sometimes when we think about this, when it comes from the
bigger picture, we think about, well, yeah, I love this, or
I love that.
There's nothing wrong with loving something in this world.
But.
But when we put our true and.
Complete confidence in those things, we're missing the point,
because he says even those things that you're putting your confidence
in, that creation is longing for redemption.
He goes further here and he says in verse 20, for the creature
or the creation was made subject to vanity or emptiness, futility.
Not willingly meaning they didn't choose this, but by reason
of him, God, who have subjected the same in hope.
And so the idea would be here that Paul is explaining is that creation
by God's decree was subjugated to futility.
Or emptiness because of sin.
And so basically, creation feels the effects of sin.
Before sin, there was no need to go tend the garden with the weeds
and the thorns.
I don't know if you guys have ever been stuck by some thorns.
There's some big thorns and thistles around here, okay?
I have marks to prove it.
That wasn't here before.
So creation itself has been marred by sin and therefore will
benefit from redemption.
And there's not enough time to go there.
But Isaiah, chapter 11, verses 6 through.
9, talk about how creation itself will.
Be changed through the redemption of God.
And it is God who subjugated them.
But it says here very clearly that he subjugated them in hope.
So it is God who put his.
Creation with this hope of his coming.
Not man, not.
Not the enemy.
And so that's the idea that he's trying to portray here, is that
even creation itself is longing for this.
And so verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption.
We are all in this world outside of Christ in the bondage
of corruption.
But ultimately God's salvation will be this.
What does it say?
It says here in verse 21 that there will be a day into the.
Glorious liberty of the children of God.
Now, currently we get to have the down payment, which we're going
to talk about here in a little bit.
We get to have taste of liberty and be completely free in
salvation.
But if we're honest with ourselves, we still feel the effects
of the corruption.
Of this bondage of sin.
Why?
Because the old man, the flesh, it's.
Still there and we still have to wrestle with it.
Paul talked about that.
He says, the things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things
that I don't want to do, that's what I do.
We're still dealing with that to a.
Degree here even now.
But one day we see that the glorious liberty of the children
of God will have benefits not only for the individual child of
God, but for all.
Creation that is waiting in hope.
And so this redemption will benefit not.
Only the children of God, but.
But also all of creation that God has laid out.
And what does it say happens?
Verse 22.
For we know this is speaking of like a surety, a truth.
For we know that the whole creation.
Mankind, yes, but all of creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now.
Meaning this.
There are these birth pangs that are.
Happening in the world.
We see this in other passages of scripture.
Basically, the earth is longing and throbbing for.
For God's redemption.
So these aren't birth, these aren't death throws.
These are birth pangs, meaning there's gonna be a new creation,
there's gonna be a new world, there's gonna be new hope.
And that's all what's wrapped up there in those verses.
But then he changes the focus from the creation to the specific
creation of mankind.
Those who have believed in Jesus.
In verse 23, he says, and not.
Only they, not only creation, not only the animals and the trees
and the rocks, and.
But then he says, and not only they, but ourselves also.
He shifts the attention to the believer.
And then he says, what do we have in this period of waiting?
What do we have in our pockets, so to speak, as a tool or
an equipping that God has given us in this time?
Cause he's not left us alone.
Because, yes, we are saved.
Let's say you get saved when you're.
20 years old or whatever it is.
And that would be nice if once.
We got saved, he just ushered us up into heaven.
But that's not how it works.
He leaves us here for a purpose.
And so there is a period of time in which we're Waiting.
And he says, what has he given us?
Well, he's given us salvation.
But he says tangibly, what do we have?
Well, he says in verse 23, which.
We have the first fruits of the Spirit.
Now, I want us to pause here, and I want us to think about what
that means.
What's a first fruit?
Well, it's essentially something that we have not completely
yet, but on the first level of things.
The blessings that we have now ultimately foreshadowing the complete
blessing that we will have one day in heaven.
So he says, what do you have now?
As, let's say, a down payment?
The Holy Spirit's indwelling.
So.
So right now I'm not in heaven, even though sometimes I walk
onto the.
Church property and see the beautiful landscape and I'm like,
this is like.
Like almost heaven, right?
This is beautiful.
It's a little taste of it.
Sometimes when I'm in a Bible study or even in church and we're
all.
Singing songs glorifying God, and I see us walking in unity and
there's tears in our eyes.
That's, I think, a little taste of.
What heaven's going to be like for eternity.
But he says, the way that we can know that we have a further hope
in God is what God has given us now in the indwelling of the Spirit.
So he says, you have the first.
Fruits of the Spirit.
This means that we have a taste of.
Of the glory that is to come.
And he says, once you understand the beauty of these first
fruits and you rest in the beauty of the Spirit guiding your
life and convicting you and comforting you and guiding you and
teaching you when you're there, that's when we can grow in
our appreciation for what is to come.
So when a Christian is walking in obedience to the Spirit, receiving
the work of the Spirit in his or her life, that is going to bring
us that spiritual maturity that gives us that hope of, I want
to be with my Savior.
I can't wait to be with Him.
But in the meantime, I'm going to be busy for Him.
The problem is, is that many of us, again, we're trusting in that
chair that's so rickety that might fall on us.
We're trusting in something else.
And we're not walking in the Spirit.
And therefore the appetite for the coming glory is not as clear
for us because we're not walking in fellowship with the Holy
Spirit.
We're not tasting of the first fruits.
We're not taking the down payment.
By the way, let's go back to Ephesians.
This is where we had our scripture reading this morning.
This morning.
Because it speaks of the very same principle, that we as Christians
are taking these first fruits and we're supposed to.
Do something with them.
We're supposed to live a certain way, we're supposed to respond
certain ways with this down payment of the Spirit that we have
in us.
And so the Bible says that at the moment of salvation, in our justification
in that positional sanctification, we have the Spirit
indwelling us.
It's not a secondary thing.
There are some people that teach like.
Okay, you get saved and then you.
Get really spiritual and then the Holy Spirit comes.
No, the Bible says that we cannot.
Be a child of God.
This is Romans 8.
You cannot be a child of God.
Without the Spirit indwelling you.
Just not.
It's not possible.
So what's the problem then?
Shouldn't all Christians just be walking perfectly because we have
the Holy Spirit indwelling us?
Well, many people are not trusting and walking and experiencing
the Holy Spirit's work.
And so in Ephesians, chapter one, remember, he's talking about
Jesus.
That starts all the way back in.
Verse three, he talks about all the.
Things that Jesus did, all the hope.
That we have in Jesus.
And then he goes, in verse 13.
He says, in whom he also trusted.
Now who's he talking about?
Well, verse 12, who first trusted in Christ.
So he says, if you're a believer, you have trusted in Jesus.
And then after that ye heard the word of truth, meaning this,
you trusted in Jesus after you heard the word of truth.
It kind of sounds like you get.
Saved and then you hear the word of truth.
But that's not how it's written.
It says, in whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of
truth.
So the word of truth comes first.
And by the way, let me just.
Stop here and, and I'm going to harp on one topic.
A lot of times we find our.
Confidence in our feelings.
We find our hope in a circumstance or our perception.
I talked about this today in our Bible study.
How many of you have had this experience?
Maybe it's just me.
Don't raise your hand.
But you thought someone was mad at you.
Maybe they texted you and some of you don't text.
And I would encourage you be careful about really serious texts,
because sometimes you can't read spirit or their perception over
text.
Oh, man, look at that text.
They're mad at me.
And then you see them in church and.
Or not at church.
Let's take it out of the church.
Setting.
You see them at Food lion and.
They look at you and they go, huh?
You're like, oh man, they're mad at me.
Maybe they didn't see me.
Maybe they were frustrated cause they didn't have their favorite
produce there.
And they were just mad and they didn't see me.
But the reality is that sometimes we can be so caught up
in our perceptions that that person's mad at me, that person hates
me, I know they're against me.
And then reality, when you actually talk to them, they're like,
oh, I didn't even see a food line.
I'm sorry.
You know, I didn't even see you there.
Or I was having a really bad day.
Oh, that text didn't mean that.
And so my perception was.
My reality was that that person is mad.
But the truth of the matter is that they weren't.
That's sometimes how we live our lives.
When it comes to the Christian walk.
Well, my perception is this.
I feel this.
Well, my confidence can't be in that perception.
My confidence has to be in the objective truth.
That never changes.
And so what we see here is this.
He says, you can't believe unless you're in the truth.
The truth is what reveals what you are to believe in.
So go back.
Truth is the source of our confidence.
But then he goes on to say more.
Here he says, in whom he also trusted.
After ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
He's just emphasizing what saves us, the truth of Jesus and
whom also after that, ye believed ye were sealed with that
holy Spirit of promise.
Now there's so much wrapped up here.
Sealed.
What does that mean, sealed?
Well, for many of you, you understand the context, there would
be the seal that would happen.
There would be like this letter or.
A decree, and the king would seal it.
And that would be a confidence like this is going to happen.
The idea would be that they would.
Have a ring, maybe in hot wax, and they would press it in.
And once that's pressed in, that's a promise.
We are sealed.
The Bible says here what.
What gives us our security is not what we feel.
It's not what we do.
It's what does it say there?
We are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.
We are saved and we are secured.
And we are promised that God will be with us and that he will
be for us.
So when you're tempted to doubt, when you're tempted to go
astray in your confidence or actually lose confidence in God,
go back to the seal of the Holy Spirit.
The promise of the Holy Spirit, verse.
14, which is the earnest.
Now, earnest isn't necessarily a word that we use a lot in our society
today, but it's essentially means the down payment.
So maybe if you went to go buy a house, you put a down payment down.
It wasn't the complete amount, but there was a portion that was
given.
That's exactly what we see here in verse 14 says, which the
earnest of our inheritance, not the Spirit.
Because some people will take this and say, well, God gives us
a little.
Bit of the Spirit, but.
But he doesn't give us all the Spirit.
That's not what this is saying.
Be clear here.
It says, which is the earnest of our inheritance.
That means all the blessings that we will ever experience.
So we get all of the Spirit in the moment of salvation, but the
inheritance that God has promised us, that we saw back in
Romans 8, by the way, you get all the inheritance.
If you're a child of God, you're joint heirs with Christ.
You get all the blessings of spiritual.
Riches from our Heavenly Father, who is infinite in his riches.
And but it says here that the Holy Spirit is a down payment for
all the blessings that we will have until the day of redemption,
until redemption.
Of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.
Meaning there will be a day when we have everything given to
us and that's the day we're longing for.
We have the here and now.
And we don't wait and twiddle our thumbs and just say, well, you
know what, one day I'm going to be with God, so I'm just going
to.
Wait until I get there.
No, the Bible says to be busy about it now.
Why?
Because we're trying to bring as many people as we can with us.
We're trying to serve the One who saved us.
Go forward.
In Romans Romans chapter 12, it tells us that serving God with
everything, present your body as a living sacrifice, holy.
Acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service.
Meaning God saves us to serve.
We don't serve to get saved.
He saves us to serve and to.
Get busy about his work.
That's what it means to walk in.
The hope of the Spirit.
So go back to Romans chapter eight with me.
He's going to talk about the proper way to walk in the Spirit
and have this type of hope or confidence.
So verse 23, he says, all of creation, including Christians, are
longing for that day.
And we as Christians have tasted of.
The first fruits of the Spirit.
And then it says, even we ourselves groan within ourselves
waiting for the adoption.
We just talked about adoption, right?
We're waiting for that complete adoption.
Now, spiritually speaking, we're completely adopted.
But in the physical sense, there will.
Be day when we're reunited.
So.
So he says here, okay, we're waiting.
We're longing for that day to wait to the redemption of our body.
So he clarifies what we're waiting for, the redemption of our
body.
So we're waiting for our adoption.
Even though Romans 8:15 says that we are already, by a sense,
adopted, we have access to God, we have his presence in our
life.
There also is a sense that there will be some type of consummation.
One day, the marriage, supper of the Lamb, the bridegroom and the
bride will be reunited.
And that's a whole other study for another day.
But there's a picture of.
In the Old Testament, marriage would, or, excuse me, even in the
New Testament would be that the.
The groom would set up the marriage.
There would be a betrothal period, and.
The groom would go away and prepare a place.
And then eventually the wife, the bride, wouldn't know when this
would happen.
And there would be a groom who would come back.
And then there would be the consummation of the marriage.
And that's exactly the picture of what Jesus Christ has done for
us.
I go to prepare a place for you.
Behold, I'll come again.
That's John 14.
So we are the bride of Christ waiting for that consummation of.
Of Jesus Christ coming back.
So First Corinthians 15 talks all about that, about the body, the
corruptible taking on incorruption and the mortal body
taking on immortality.
And he says that we are longing for that.
I love how he puts it there, that we groan within ourselves.
That's the idea of longing for this day to come.
So I'm going to tell you this, Christians, the church will not be
what God wants us to be unless we.
Are longing for that day.
Some people say, well, you're living so much for heaven now that
you're not living for earth, folks, if you're living for heaven,
you're gonna be living for Christ here on this earth.
We have so many Christians who have just retired.
And I'm not talking about physically retiring from their job.
I'm all for retirement.
Lord willing, one day I can get there too.
But I'm talking about retiring from my Christian job.
Whereas the Bible says, walk worthy of the vocation in which we
are called.
The Bible says that many people will eventually lose sight
of this and then.
Eventually just become helpless Christians who are.
Not helping other people, not even being able to trust in the Lord
themselves.
To some degree on the day to day kind of things.
And so we see here he says, waiting for the adoption, the redemption
of.
The body, for we are saved by hope.
You say, well I thought we were saved by faith.
Well, confide with faith.
Hope is biblical hope is this Biblical hope is not, Well, I just
hope that God will save me.
There are some faiths out there.
That.
Try to do all that they can.
In the time that they have.
And they say, I just hope that my God will shine his light upon
me and smile upon me and maybe I'll do enough.
That's worldly type of hope.
Like I just hope that I did enough for God.
Well, we'll never know if we can.
Do enough for God because let me tell you something, we can never
do enough for God.
We can never match what he's done for us.
So biblical hope is not that type of hope.
Biblical hope is a confident expectation or.
Assurance that God is going to keep his word.
And so what does he say here?
He says, we are saved by hope, we're saved by faith.
Believing in what God has done and what God has said.
Go a little further.
But hope that is seen is not hope.
See, what does that mean?
He's talking about this Real faith is not saying God, show it
to me and then I will believe.
It's this Lord, I believe and I know you're going to show it to
me.
That's biblical faith.
Like a lot of times people will say, well, you know what, I
just don't believe that God's got me today.
So I'm just going to wait for a sign that he loves me.
Folks, the sign that he loves you is that cross right there.
But God commends his love towards us.
In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He's proven his love.
If that's the only sign, that's all I need.
And Jesus actually said that there is corrupt people who are looking
for signs and wonders.
I need more confirmation God.
Now the idea is that God will confirm your heart in the spirit.
But it's when we demand these things and say, well, I'm not going
to believe until I see it.
God, I think God has me moving.
Here, but I need to see it all laid out on paper first and then
I'll move.
Well, that's not necessarily complete faith.
And what he says here in this.
Case, he says, but if we hope.
For that, what we see not.
Then this is verse 25.
Then do we, with patience, wait for it?
Meaning this True faith is not waiting for something to happen and
then believing.
True faith is saying, God.
You said this.
I believe it.
And I'm gonna live like that.
You already said it, and that you're gonna do it.
How many of you.
Now, again, I better not ask this question because we can get
down some rabbit trails.
But I'm gonna venture to say that.
None of us have been to heaven.
Some of you might have some stories and say, I've been there
and come back and.
Well, we'll talk to you about that after the service a little bit,
but.
You know what I mean.
None of us have been there.
None of us are there now.
So how do.
How do.
None of us saw Jesus?
Well, some of you.
So I've seen.
None of you were there 2,000 years ago and walked the streets
of Galilee and saw him.
Okay, so.
So what does that mean?
Well, I got to see Jesus before I believe in him.
No, remember what Jesus said.
He says, blessed are those who don't see and believe.
That's faith.
And we are saved by faith.
We are saved by hope.
But what happens in our world today is this the whole.
Show me, and then I'll believe.
Now, I'm not against this idea that, hey, we need to have proof
in Scripture, like, inspect scripture, like, that's great.
There's.
There's so much evidence here.
I'm not saying blind faith and just go for it.
But God has given us everything that we need right here
to believe.
He's given us enough proof.
If you want more proof, go over to Israel, go over to some people,
went over to Greece.
The places are still there, right?
But everything that we can find throughout archeology, everything
that we can find through history, everything that we can find
through science, nothing in the Bible contradicts that.
Actually strengthens a lot of these things.
But what I will say is this.
When we are like, you know what, God, I just.
I don't know if I can trust.
You in my workplace.
I don't know if I can trust.
You in my marriage.
I don't know if I can trust.
You with my children.
I.
That's essentially what.
It's a lack of faith.
It's a lack of hope.
So if you go back to verse 24, he says, for we are saved by hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope.
For what a man seeth, why doth.
He yet hope for it?
There's no need for faith.
If it's like happening.
So, for example, let's use something that we all can kind of
like appreciate and understand.
So, like, let's say I owe a big bill, okay?
I owe, like, money that I can't afford and I need to have it
paid.
And I'm doubting God.
I'm like, well, you know what?
I don't think God can do this for me.
Then all of a sudden, the money comes and then I say this.
Oh, God, I always knew.
I always knew I had faith.
No, you didn't have faith in Him.
And sometimes he provides for us even in the midst of our lack
of faith.
That's not faith.
That's seeing something and being thankful for what God has done.
That's not walking in faith.
Faith.
And there's going to be a lot of people one day.
I believe this because of Scripture saying this.
There's going to be a lot of people one day that will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
But they're going to do it too late.
They're going to see the miraculous working of God's judgment,
and they're going to all.
No one.
At one point, the Bible says this.
At one point, no one will be.
Able to deny who Jesus is.
But some will be professing him by.
Way of judgment and not by way of faith.
Quote.
Question is, are we going to trust in him by way of faith and
believing in what he says?
Or are we going to wait to see it happen and become, you know, too
late behind the eight ball, so.
To speak, as some people say, right?
You, you, you have this idea that.
As a Christian, we have to be people that live by faith.
How can we be living by faith?
The way that we live by faith is we lead a life that is according
to scripture, according to the conviction of the Spirit, the guidance
of the Spirit, the comfort of the Spirit.
And so the Bible tells us very.
Clearly what it means to walk in the Spirit.
It means to walk in unity with the word of God, to walk in unity
with his plan and his purpose for our life.
And then what's the outcome of that?
Verse 25.
But if we hope for that, we see not.
Meaning you walk in faith, then do we with patience, wait for
it?
Meaning this?
We walk with perseverance, endurance.
That word patience is interestingly translated here because
sometimes in our way of thinking, patience is, well, I gotta
sit and just wait and not do anything.
Well, biblically speaking, that word patience, actually it's
used in another passage of Scripture in the book of Hebrews
as running the race with patience.
Now, I'VE run a few races in my life.
You don't run the race by sitting in the seat and just hoping
that you're gonna be transported to the end.
You run it, you complete it, you do it.
So the Bible says here, this type of patience is not just, well,
I'm gonna wait.
You've heard people say this.
Well, God's coming back one day.
I'm just gonna wait for him, and I'm not gonna be busy about it.
That's the wrong way to understand things.
It's actually God's coming back.
I need to get busy right now.
I need to affect my family.
I need to affect my culture.
I need to get in there and I need to preach the gospel, live,
be living with endurance, perseverance, patience.
That's the type of patience.
So he says, if you're living in hope and guided by the spirit,
you will walk and wait with endurance.
Pushing forward through the struggles, pushing forward through
the conflict, pushing forward through the.
Doubts, through the circumstances.
That's the type of Christian we have to be.
That's the type of Christian we have to try to, within the church,
bring up in the way of making disciples.
If I got up here and said, hey, all you, do you believe in Jesus?
And everyone's like, amen, I do.
Praise God.
Well, that's all you got to do.
We're good.
We got our ticket to heaven.
Now let's go have the potluck dinner and just talk about whatever.
But the church must say, yes, believe.
And now with our belief, what do we do?
Can we.
Where we started, can we have confidence?
Question is, where's our confidence?
Well, my confidence is in the church.
Church has never failed me.
Well, let me give you a little secret, guys.
Church as an institution will fail.
Why?
Because there's humans trying to work in the inner workings.
Now, the church in Christ will never fail.
But sometimes we don't see the church of Christ.
We see the people in the pews, or we see a policy put in place.
We see tradition.
There's a lot of people trusting in church tradition more
than the word of God.
And therefore their confidence fails.
How many of you have heard, well, I got hurt in church.
I'm never going back there again.
There was a corrupt preacher, so I'm.
Never going to go.
Do you see the fallacy of that thinking?
Of course, like, I've used this analogy before.
I'm not going to go to the gym and get healthy because there was
someone who went to the gym and they quit.
So it just that gym's a fake.
No, that's not how it works.
There's going to be people who frequent churches all over the world
that are going to be hypocrites, that are going to be
sinners, that maybe are believers, but they've fallen into
the trap of sin.
That's no reason for us to stop.
Doing what we know we're supposed to do.
So our confidence can't be in a.
In a institution or a person.
I don't know about any of you.
Guys, but there's been times in my.
Life where I've looked at a man.
A preacher, a teacher, and I've wrapped up my confidence in
what he's preaching.
And then I get news, oh, he's not who he said he was.
Then that really hurts me.
Then I'm like, oh, man, did anything he said?
Was any of it true?
Well, of course.
But the reality is that sometimes people are flawed.
All the time, people are flawed.
So our confidence can't be in a man.
Well, some people's confidence is in money.
Well, Pastor, look, the church is thriving.
I'm thriving.
Everything's good.
That's where my confidence is.
Well, we all know the volatility of that.
That could go away in a heartbeat.
So where do we place our confidence?
We know this.
We place it in the only one who can hold us up, and that is Jesus
Christ.
The confidence of Christ is why we can move forward.
Some people look at other people for their hope for their salvation
or.
Or their hope for tomorrow.
I'm going to tell you, there is always going to be flaws with
that.
But when we look to Christ, as he says here, but if we hope for
what we see, not then do we, with patience, wait for it.
Now, I don't know about you, but I want to be a Christian who
walks with endurance, who runs with endurance, fights the battles
on the front lines.
Is not afraid of someone coming against us, who's not afraid
of what the world's doing.
Folks, the world has attacked the church always from the very beginning.
If we live bold enough, we will stand out.
If we live bold enough, people will say things against us.
If we live bold enough, we will be countercultural.
There was a period of time in my life that I thought countercultural
meant to be dressing like the world and listening to this type
of music and doing certain things.
That's not countercultural.
That's actually following the culture.
It's the opposite of being countercultural.
If we want to be different, as the Bible calls us to be different,
live like Christ.
That never changes.
And that's always been against culture.
So let's do that.
Let's not be cultural Christians.
Let's be Christians driven by the confidence.
That we have in Jesus Christ.
Now, let me say this, and then I'll close you, me, maybe someone
in your family is dealing with something that's overwhelming right
now.
Paul never, ever minimizes the struggle.
He just says that God's with you through it.
He's on the boat with you in.
The midst of the storm.
And he can calm that storm at any point.
But there are times and seasons in.
Which we are going through the storm for a purpose.
And we might not know that purpose here and now, but what we
have to do is we have to trust.
That God is who he says he is and will do what he says, and he
can get us through that.
And we're going to see this.
We don't have time today, but next week we're going to see that.
What do we do when we get to that place where we don't know what
to do?
How many of you have been in.
Such a struggle that you're like, lord, I have not seen any of
this matching up with what you say in Scripture.
I thought you were with me.
I don't feel like you're with me right now.
I thought you were going to provide for me.
Well, I don't feel provided right now.
I thought that you had it all in control in this world.
And I'm looking out here in the world and it looks like evil's
winning.
Okay.
These are all things that cause people to say, I just don't
even know what to do anymore.
Did you know that we're gonna talk about this next week?
Did you know that even when we don't know what to do and we don't
know what to pray for, that God knows what's best for us?
And so instead of trying to have all the right words and all
the.
Right things, there's sometimes where we just have to rest
in God and say, I don't know why, but Lord, I know you.
And I know that you love me and I know that you're gonna provide
for me.
And so that's what we're gonna talk about next week.
Okay?
Yes, we have confidence.
But what if everything that I think.
I should have confidence in has failed?
And I know I gotta go back to Christ.
How do I go back to Him?
We're gonna talk more about that next week.
But what I will say with this, this morning in way of invitation
here in a moment, is the way that you start that process, the
way that.
You initiate that process of coming back to confidence in God
is just going.
To him and admitting that you've fallen in that path of putting
your trust in something else.
Maybe you're in that season of life.
That you're like, lord, I gotta see.
It to believe it.
And sometimes I'm just gonna tell you, that's a season of lack
of faith.
And what does he say here?
He says, no, living like that is.
Not even real hope.
That's not even real confidence.
So how many of us are going.
To say this this morning?
I'm not gonna have you stand up and sign a piece of paper.
But what I am going to say is I'm going to challenge you with this.
How many of us are willing to.
Say, lord, I believe what you say.
I believe in what you did.
I believe that I should follow you in obedience, and I trust in
you.
Wherever you take me.
How many of us would be willing to say that?
It's not an easy thing to say.
It's not something you should say lightly.
I'm going to tell you, when you sign up to do the work of the
Lord, it's the most difficult thing.
It's almost like you're never going to grow the church by telling
people that living the Christian life is difficult.
Well, it's difficult in our flesh, but I'm going to say it's
the most rewarding and comforting and freeing things to
be walking in Christ.
It's difficult from one perspective, and it's easy the other
way.
Jesus says, hey, your load might be heavy, but my load is not
burdensome.
And so it's like, what does that mean?
That means this.
It's not like, lord, I'm gonna yoke up with you.
The Bible talks about yoking up with someone.
You know what that means?
Like, two oxes would get into a yoke and they'd start plowing the
field.
A lot of times people think it's.
This, well, I'm gonna join Jesus team and I'm gonna start pushing.
And me and Jesus are gonna do this.
Let me tell you, when you yoke up with Jesus, you're not pushing
anything.
It's all of his power.
You're just getting to be on the team.
And so when you feel struggles and you feel hopelessness and you
feel like, I can't do this, you're right.
But God can.
And he's your Father and he loves you.
He says, take your yoke upon me.
I'll take it.
I can take this you know what?
I can take maybe one or two people's burdens today.
Let's say, for example, someone after the service, this has
happened, and I'm not opposed to it happening.
Someone comes up and says, pastor, I got a real big thing going
on in my life.
Can you help me with this?
Yeah, I can.
But guess what?
Guess if, like, the line lined up.
Outside the door and every single person was like, I've got
this struggle and this sin I could only bear.
There's only 24 hours in a day.
There's only so much I could take.
Eventually I'd have to just pass out with exhaustion.
Did you know that all of us.
In this room, every one of us.
And every other church around the world that's meeting today and
every other Christian on this planet can bring their biggest.
Burden to God and it's nothing to Him?
He says, I can take it.
Cast your care upon me.
First Peter, chapter five.
Cast your care.
Cast your anxieties upon me.
Why?
Because he cares for us.
So this morning, the way that you respond to a struggle with confidence
is coming back to him and say, lord, I cast everything to you.
I'm out.
I'm on empty.
I'm past empty.
I need you to fill me.
And that's what it means to walk in the Spirit.
There's so many other things.
The Bible speaks of all the roles of the Spirit.
One of the roles of the Spirit would be that he comforts us, the
great comforter.
If you felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit in your life to any capacity,
that's confirmation that God loves you.
The Bible also says that the Holy Spirit's a teacher.
He guides us to all truth.
If you've ever been taught by spiritual truth in His Word and it's
affected your life, that's confirmation that the Holy Spirit's
with you and God loves you.
The Bible also says that he will convict the world into all sin.
How many of you have ever felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit?
Sometimes we don't like that.
But that's a reminder to us that God loves us.
The peace of the Holy Spirit, a peace of God, the paths to all
understanding.
If you've ever experienced the peace of God, that's confirmation
of the Holy Spirit living within you and that he loves you.
So if you're ever tempted to doubt.
God does give us confirmations constantly.
But he says the confirmation comes through the Spirit, the working
of the Spirit in our life.
You'll hear me say this a lot.
Galatians, Chapter 5 Fruit of the Spirit, Love, joy, peace, long
suffering.
All these things that we see in that passage, those are all confirmations
that God loves us and that he's changing us and that he's growing
us.
So if you're ever tempted out, you say, lord, you save me.
And then you leave me alone.
How does that mean that you love me?
No, it's not that.
It's just.
It's understanding the earnest, the first fruits of the
Spirit.
And every time you see the Spirit working in your life, it's
those things that you can't explain, but God does it.
That's again that little taste of what it's going to be like to
be with him one day for eternity.
So just think about that here this morning I'm going to ask if
you can to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed.
We're going to have a time of invitation.
And I want to challenge you in love with this question.
Who or what are you putting your.
Confidence in here this morning?
Folks, you can't place confidence in someone.
That you don't know.
There could be someone here this morning that says, I want what
you're talking about, but I don't know how to achieve that.
Well, let me tell you, you can achieve it.
The Bible says all we do is.
That we are saved by faith, not.
Through works, lest any man should boast.
Faith in what?
Faith in who Jesus is.
Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus is God.
The Word Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us.
So to believe in who Jesus is.
But also to believe and trust in what he has done for us, that.
His death on the cross not only paid for the sins of the people
around him in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, but his sacrifice on the
cross paid.
For the sins of people sitting in a room here in Middletown, Delaware.
And when he said, it is finished, he didn't just mean his
crucifixion, he meant the payment for the sin of the world.
And so this morning, it's trusting in that payment for our
sin that I can't save myself.
I am a sinner.
But it is his payment that paid the price.
But then it's trusting in the fact that that Jesus didn't stay
dead.
He didn't.
He didn't stay in that tomb.
He didn't stay on the cross.
He conquered death through the resurrection.
And that because of his new life, because of his resurrection,
we can have.
Resurrection and glorification as well.
That's the gospel.
That's what we believe in.
That's it.
If someone tells you it's more, they're.
Going against scripture, they're adding something to it, or
they're subtracting something from it, folks, that's what the Bible
says is the way to know Jesus and the way to know life.
And so if you want that confidence, trust in him this morning.
But if you have trusted in Jesus.
Christ this morning, but you've been tempted.
To revert back to that rickety chair that can't hold you up, come
this.
Morning and say, lord, I throw that.
Out, I cast that out, and I.
Cast my care upon you, put your confidence in him this morning,
not just for salvation, but for every element of your life.
Lord, I pray that you be in.
This time of invitation, working hearts and lives.
But I pray that if there's someone here today that needs to
know you as Savior, that today can be the day of salvation.
Lord, if there's someone here today that is saved but needs that
reassurance of your confidence that you extend to us.
Lord, may we today be a church who comes back in fellowship with
you and we ask all these things in Jesus name, Amen.
As the music plays, we have some.
Folks that have already come.
We've got folks that will stand up.
Here and show you the word of God.
If you're a lady and you want to talk with a lady, we've got.
Ladies here that can talk to you about the Scriptures.
But if the Lord's moving in your heart, either there, kneel in
your pew or kneel up here at the front and follow God in obedience.
This morning.
Foreign.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
You would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch
dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow
along for future podcast and updates.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.