This sermon focuses on the concept of rejoicing in hope as discussed in Romans 12:12. It delves into the nature of hope, contrasting worldly hopes with the solid hope found in Christ. The speaker emphasizes the eternal and unshakable nature of the hope Christians possess, highlighting the joy and assurance it brings even in the midst of suffering and trials.

Good evening. I thought we might just look at three words. Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 12. Romans 12 12. I just recently heard a sermon on this and so I've been thinking about it a lot. Rejoice in hope. Romans 12 12. Rejoice in hope. What do you think of those words? Rejoice in hope. Well, let's think about it. If we're going to rejoice in hope, we've got to think about it. You're not going to rejoice in something that you're not thinking about. You don't rejoice in a vacuum. There are things that cause us to rejoice. So let's think about this hope. What is it? Well, if we back up just a few chapters, go back to Romans 8. Romans 8 22. Paul spoke about hope. It's not a difficult concept, but let's think about this. Rejoice in hope or rejoicing. Maybe you've got a participle in your Bible, but what is hope? Let's just think about that for a second. You go back to 8. Paul spoke about this before he got to 12. He mentions something about this. Verse 22 of chapter 8. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation, but we ourselves. Now, that's interesting. Groaning. Paul assumes some groaning going on. In fact, if you go back a few verses here, verse 18, I consider the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And, you know, if you go back there to chapter 12, right after he speaks to us about rejoicing in hope, he also immediately speaks about tribulation. You know that Christian life, if you've lived it any amount of time, you know that this is a life of trial. The Lord sees to it. There is suffering. We know it's through many tribulations that we're going to enter the kingdom. We go from one to another. They've been designed for us. And so it's in that setting. You see, there's several settings going on here. One is a setting of tribulation when you get to 12. The other is a setting of all that's been said about the gospel in the first 11 chapters. So you've got these things going on in the background here. Suffering, groaning. You go back to verse 23, not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons. There are many things that cause us to groan in this life. We're having a prayer meeting tonight. How many of you have prayer meetings? Sometimes they're victorious. Sometimes they're shouts of thanksgiving. There's a lot of times there's groans and there's tears because there's difficulties and there's troubles and there's strife and you know this. For in this hope we were saved. Now this is one of the plainest places in Scripture where we see something about the nature of hope. Now hope that is seen is not hope. So hope isn't something that you actually see. Hope is in something that is not currently possessed. It's an expectation of something that's in the future. That's the idea behind hope. Hope that is seen is not hope. And once you receive what you hope for then you don't hope for it any longer because you have it. Who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience. You see that's the idea. Hope is an expectation of something that we're waiting for. Now go back to Romans 12. Rejoice in hope. Now brethren just think with me a second. Rejoice in hope. This world is filled with hope. I mean it is people walk around they're very I was trying to think even when somebody commits suicide they have a hope that they're going to escape the difficulty. I'm trying to imagine are there people in this life that actually do get to a place where they are entirely hopeless? I don't know that. I don't know. But I can tell you this. I know how we thought when we were lost because we were there. And we know. Right? You have hopes of fill in the blank. What did you all hope for when you were lost? Hope we don't have all third fourth generation Christians you all been saved since you're five years old. None of you can remember that. What did lost people hope for? Material things. Money. Success. House. Marriage. You find the right woman. You find the right man. Be successful in sports. Make sure your hair looks good. Make sure you're beautiful. Make sure you're handsome. Make sure your muscles are big. Make sure you get the inheritance. Make sure you get the degree. Make sure you get good grades. Make sure you're the center of attention. I mean, what is it? Anything else? I mean, we have our thing, right? We have our idols. I mean, for some it might be a car. It might be a motorcycle. Who knows? But you see, I was just telling some of the guys. When I was a lost Catholic, I did not want to get on my motorcycle. My motorcycle was one of my gods. I didn't want to ride that motorcycle unless I had that little Catholic cross, silver cross, that my grandfather had given to me. See, my hope was in that. My hope was that if I died on that motorcycle and I had that cross, I didn't know what exactly, but I just had some hope that it would somehow make it better for me. See, the world's just full of hope. And you know this? In a hundred years, what's going to come to all that? All of it is going to be dashed. Now think about this. What does Scripture tell us? How many Christians versus all the rest of the masses? Few. There aren't many Christians. Not true Christians. How many? Only few there be that find it. You know what that tells me? That tells me of all the people in the world that have a hope that is any good. It's only Christians. Nobody else does. A hundred years from now, you see, they may get the pleasures of sin for a season, but then it's gone. And then there's hell to pay. The thing is, no matter what they're hoping for, they may hope to get a good grade on their test. They may hope to get a raise next time they're evaluated. But what's going to happen to that money even if they do get the raise? Can they keep it? I mean, something is said in Scripture about the fool that was not rich towards God. Whose things are they going to be then? Not his. What are all the applause? What is all the glory that man can bestow upon you? Because in a few short years, you know what? You can go to the gym and you can pump those irons. And you can bulk up and you can look good and you can look beautiful. You look handsome. Forty years. It's gone. You see, the thing is, every hope that this world has, it gets taken from them. Do you recognize when you drive home tonight, you're driving by all sorts of people with hopes and with expectations, and yours is valid. Yours will stand. You are one of the few people in the world that has a hope that can truly be rejoiced in. Let me ask you, what's our hope? What is our hope? It's Christ. Think with me here. Here's a little microcosm of this at play. Imagine this. You have had spikes driven through your hands and your feet. You're hanging on a cross, a condemned criminal, hanging naked between heaven and earth. And you're there and you're guilty. Your conscience tells you you're guilty. You're in incredible pain. You're hanging there and the Christ next to you says, this day you will be with me in paradise. Now I'll tell you folks, that is a hope worth having. But see, he didn't have it yet. He was going to get it really soon. He didn't have to wait patiently very long, but it was still a hope. But you see, it makes suffering a whole lot easier and a whole lot bearable when you know that later today you're going to be in paradise. You see, that's the thing. When you've got this hope, when you're rejoicing in this hope, when this hope is fresh, and you've got your mind set on just a few more rolling suns at most, now what did Christ say? This day you will be with me in paradise. Do you recognize? You are one heart attack away from paradise. Or maybe it's longer, maybe it's decades. What's the hope? The hope is to be in a condition where you will not sin anymore. The hope is that you will behold Him, blessed are the pure in heart. What's the hope there? You're going to see God face to face. You're going to be with Him. You're going to be like Him. Because you're going to see Him as He is. This is a real hope. We have a hope. Not like the hope of the world. This is not some fleeting thing. This is rock solid. You're going to go through this conference, these truths that are going to come forth from the pulpit. Brethren, this is it. Don't you recognize? We look around, you see the people, they're going into the store and they're buying their lotto tickets. I live in the inner city in San Antonio. I go get my gas at a real cheap place in the inner city, but they like to sell lots of beer there and lots of lottery tickets. And you go in there and they're poor people. They're poor and they're spending all their last money. That's their hope. Their hope is they're going to win the lotto. But do you realize in a spiritual sense, you've won it all. You've got it. It doesn't get any better than this. You are the elect. You are the chosen ones. You are the one that have been chosen. Have you ever read Ephesians chapter 2 where it says that through all these coming ages, what is God going to do? He's going to pour out immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness upon you age after age after age. You think about Almighty God with all of His wisdom and all of His might as He devises all of these ways to just heap upon you immeasurable grace. It doesn't get better than this. If you're a Christian, it's everything. I mean, you have the hope of all hopes. You have the treasure of all treasures. You have the riches of all riches. And what Paul is saying, you know what he did? He went through 11 chapters and he just poured out this gospel and the riches of it. And he says, you know what? Think on it all the time. Think on it. Think on it. Think on all the glory that is yours. Isn't that what he said back in 8? He's talking about this suffering that is just simply for a moment. But then he told them there, he told them, I consider the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that's to be revealed to us or towards us. It's literally the idea. That preposition there is literally the idea of a glory that reaches out towards you, it comes at you, it embraces you, and it pulls you in. That's what God's going to do. The moment you die, to depart, is to be present with Christ. You're going to go, paradise! He's telling this guy hanging on the cross, paradise! This is paradise from God's perspective. And it's ours. The moment we pass out of this world. It's not long. We were just talking moments ago about how fast these conferences come around. It's a blur. Life is just going by so fast. And if your hope is all in Christ, what a hope we have. Eternal life, more abundant, rejoiciveness. I mean look, when you walk down the street, you are no ordinary person. You have a hope. You have a hope that the rest of the world doesn't have. You are one of the few that has a legitimate hope that is going to stand judgment day, it stands death, it stands the wrath of God. You have a hope that is going to take you through all of that. And on out into eternity, into everlasting glory. Brethren, we need to be rejoicing in that.