Turn to Romans chapter 5. We covered Romans 5 verse 1 a couple weeks ago, and then last week Romans 5.2, but I really wanted to take a second run at Romans 5.2. So I'd like us today to look at the second half of the verse. To remind ourselves of the context, we'll read Romans 5.1 and 2. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Again, we are focusing on and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Let's begin with a review of the Romans epistle up to this point. Paul gives introduction by the time he's at verse 16. He declares that he has not ashamed the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. And then he goes right in, first of all, and the rest of that chapter to express a stinging and utter condemnation of the depravity and increasing depravity of humanity. Then in the second chapter, he extends that declaration of depravity to make sure it's clear. He's not just talking about some sector of the world, but all people, including the Jews. In the third chapter of Romans, he assures the readers of this epistle that there is no way to wiggle out of this condemnation through good works. Yes, the law was given, but it was never given as a means of satisfying the righteous requirements of God. Chapter 4, he goes on to substantiate this assertion that nobody is saved by works by pointing to the heroes of the faith, Abraham and David, and shows that both of them were saved by faith, not by works. Then we get to chapter 5, where we are today. And we have a therefore as the first word in chapter 5. Given the argument that we've just given, everybody is sinful, everybody has offended God. No way out of that through man's own efforts. Abraham and David are proof of this. What do we do? Therefore, being justified by faith, here's the good news. We can turn to the Savior of humanity. the One who shed His blood as our substitute, who died for our sins on the cross, to have faith in Him, we can be justified, declared just, a judicial declaration of God, regardless of our sinful condition. Since a substitute died for our sins, judicially God can declare us just if we have our faith in Christ, as if we'd never sinned, as if we've never offended the holiness of God. declared just. That having occurred for those who have exercised faith in Christ, there is now peace with God. Now it's peace with God, a laying down of arms, an acknowledgement that there has been war, that there has been a conflict between sinful man and holy God. But now there is a cessation of conflict for those who have received Christ. Now as we get to verse 2 we read, By whom also? The point here is, that's not all there is. Just taking away of all the enmity between us and God, there is an addition to all these blessings. Marvelous addition. Marvelous blessings. We're told here, not in a storybook form for our entertainment, but for an enlightenment and our engagement with in this world. by whom also we have access by faith into this grace that is the favor of God, wherein we stand, are planted," that kind of moving on through and take a little glance and go on somewhere else, not slipping and falling, but there we stand because God will make us to stand. That being the case, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Could you repeat that phrase with me? Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Let's say it again. Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That's what we will be studying today. Now in the scriptures, I count seven hopes in which we are to abide. These three things we are to abide, faith, hope, love. So you and I are to live in hope. We should be experts in hoping. Outside of Christ, hopeless. In Christ, filled with hope. What do we hope for? The first hope we find is in Colossians 1.23, and that's the hope of the gospel. The good news is that Christ died for our sins. We can be delivered from a wretched condition. The second hope in the scriptures is the hope of salvation. That's 1 Thessalonians 5.8. We have been saved from the penalty of sin. We are being saved from the power of sin. One day we shall be saved from the very presence of sin. The third hope in the Scriptures is the hope of His calling, Ephesians 1.18. Whatever we were as reprobates darkened by sin, now being redeemed, we have the hope of God's calling to take us from where we are to where we should be, to be useful in advancing of God's kingdom. The fourth hope is the hope of righteousness, Galatians 5.5. You see, though we are saved, we are still sinners. And there is this transformation, though, now that is to occur, whereby we become less like what we used to be, like the world, and more and more like Christ. And we have this hope that one day it will be a completed task, that being in glory, when all the imperfections are removed, and we see Christ, we shall be like him. Then next, there is the hope of eternal life. That's found in Titus 1.2. Jesus defines eternal life, life eternal, in John 17.3. He says, this is what it is, to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. And so we have this hope of entering into this complete and unmitigated and uninterrupted fellowship with the living God, the fullness and wonderment like we never knew existed, the hope of everlasting, the kind of life that goes on in the everlasting, eternality with God. The next hope is the hope of the resurrection of the dead. That's Acts 23.6. That dying isn't the end of it all. We die, we're buried, we rise again. And we shall ever be with the Lord, with transformed bodies in heaven, we meaning those who have called on Christ. And then finally, seventhly, is the hope of the glory of God, which we shall look at today, Romans 5.2. We'll explain that now. So it is the hope of the gospel, hope of salvation, hope of his calling. hope of righteousness, hope of eternal life, hope of the resurrection of the dead, and hope of the glory of God. That's a lot of hope. So let's talk about this hope of the glory of God. Allow me to review for you, first of all, what glory is. The word comes from the Latin word gloria, G-L-O-R-I-A, which is the Latin word for brightness. It means brightness, shining, magnificence, splendor, brilliance, gloria. In the natural world, there are causes for things that are glorious. Things that are bright. For example, electricity. Lightning is a bright flash of electricity. It's called electrostatic discharge. I was reading about it last night. You know what the temperature is in a lightning bolt? 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It's said to be hotter than the surface of the sun. Now when you have that kind of bam of light, there's a glory to it. So natural phenomena that are glorious, there's a cause for the glory. In the spirit world, there are also causes for the brightness. They are the attributes of God. Glory is the sum total of who God is expressed in an incomprehensible explosion of brilliant light. In contrast, we see why God's enemy, the devil, is known as the prince of darkness. There's no good character. There's no cause for there to be any light. So glory, the word means brightness, shining, magnificence, splendor, brilliance. There's a cause for when there is this brilliance. So what correspondingly is glorifying? Literally, the word means to give due credit for the glory something or some person has, giving due credit for that glory. Glory can be ascribed to natural beauty. We read in Matthew 4.8, the devil took Jesus up into an exceeding high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. So glory can be ascribed to natural beauty. I mean, we are struck with the glory of the ocean. We are struck with the glory of the Smoky Mountains, struck with the glory of the Grand Canyon. Natural phenomena have their own glory. We read in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 41, there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. Take, for example, the sun. You know the sun is not even material, it's gas. I've said that to you before, but it's a remarkable thing. If you were able to put on some kind of a suit to bear the heat and all, you think you could land on the sun? You couldn't because it's a ball of gas. It's a remarkable thing. And what is at the center of the sun is this conversion of hydrogen to helium. When that occurs, it's a type of nuclear fusion. When that occurs, tremendous bursts of heat occur such that the calculated temperature at the center of the sun is 20 million degrees Fahrenheit. But there's a glory to that. When you think about the Earth, I shared with you before the Earth as far as how fast it rotates. At the equator, I think it's about 25,000 miles, isn't it, around the girth of the Earth, the Earth is spinning at the rate of 1,000 miles an hour. Right now, the globe we're sitting on is spinning 1,000 miles an hour. But that's not all. I've shared with you before the speed at which the Earth is traveling around the sun. So it's spinning like this as it revolves around the sun. But I found another factor to consider this week as I was researching this. Not only is the Earth spinning and flying fast as it goes around the sun, the whole solar system is flying fast through its galaxy. So if you factor that in, speed of doing this, speed of doing this around the sun, and also the whole system flying, right now the Earth is moving at the speed of 575,000 miles an hour. And spinning while it's doing it. And you and I are standing here like this. There's a glory to the Earth. There's a glory to the sun. Glory can be ascribed to people. Kings have glory. Matthew 6.29, Jesus says, Solomon in all his glory, not arrayed like one of the lilies. Jesus said, hypocrites sound the trumpet when they give money that they may have glory of men. Again, glory is giving due credit to something or some person. So we can give due credit to the wonderment of the sun, even though, friends, there are hundreds of billions of those. It's not even that remarkable as far as stars go. But there's a glory to the sun. There's a glory to the moon. There's a glory to the earth. Glory to mountains, natural things. And there is a glory to people. Kings can have glory. People seek for glory from men rather than of God. But the primary issue for us is that we fix our souls on the glory of God and give glory to Him in all that we do. That's the glory before us today. Again, our text today is, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The Bible tells us about God's glory. 1 Timothy 6.16, God only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. We read in Psalm 104.2 that God gives, covers himself with light as with a garment. 1 John 1.5 tells us God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Revelation 1.16, we see the glorified Christ. His face shines as the sun in its strength, even now. God dwells in the light of His glory. God's glory has appeared on earth numerous times. Time for us to turn to the Scriptures. Let's go to Exodus chapter 40. Jesus had the glory with the fathers before the founding of the earth. Once the earth was founded, the fullness of time and God's providence, glory comes to earth. I think there's a glory about Adam and Eve at one time. Glory comes back to sinful earth at the tabernacle in the wilderness. We read in Exodus 40, 34, then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. No humans allowed while that's occurring. We go to 1 Kings 8, We'll start reading in verse 10, 1 Kings 8, 10. And here we see the temple in Jerusalem being filled with the glory of the Lord. Solomon is dedicating the temple. We read in 1 Kings 8, 10. It came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord. so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord." In both cases the verb is filled. Now let's go to a familiar text, such a crowning and glorious one, 1 Corinthians 6.19. Oh, there's such glorious truths that Christians don't know, or forgot, or haven't considered. And so Paul keeps hammering away and says, what? Know ye not this? Know ye not that? I've done sermons on that. All the things we don't know and should know as Christians. That phraseology appears many times in Romans, like in Romans 6. But here we are in 1 Corinthians 6.19. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own? So first dwelling place after the fall, tabernacle. Second, the temple. Third, believers' bodies. The glory of God filling this earthly tabernacle. It is incredible. Jesus, as I said, dwelled in His glory, in this glory before the world was. That's John 17, 5. His glory was shrouded while on earth except during His transfiguration. We read in Matthew 17, 2, at that time His face did shine as the sun and His raiment was white as the light. And He was transfigured in Matthew 17. John wrote at that time, we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We read in Romans 6.4 that Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. We read concerning the Second Coming that Christ returns in a cloud with power and great glory, Luke 21.27. God expects all that He has created to give Him glory. Hence the warning, Revelation 14, 6 and 7, give him the glory for the hour of his judgment has come. You and I are called to give him the glory. We're to now rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That's not an empty phrase there in Romans 5, 2. That's what we're supposed to do. Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We're going to conclude this message by giving practical explanations of what rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God looks like. Because God expects all that He has created to give Him the glory. Hence the warning in our text, in the text of Revelation 14, give Him the glory for the hour of His judgment is coming. He gave Him glory. She gave Him glory. He didn't give Him glory. I mean, nature does this. Familiar text in Psalm 19 tells us the heavens declare the glory of God. Heavens are doing it. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. Night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through the old earth. Their words to the end of the world. Nature's doing its job. I love Psalm 98, verses 7 through 9. Psalm 98, 7. Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for He cometh to judge the earth. It's saying nature is doing its job. It's man who's not doing his job. Everything inanimate, everything animate. Everything is supposed to be giving glory to God. But we've been looking at Romans. Let's go back to Romans chapter 1. I remind you Romans 3.23 is probably one of the primary verses everybody here knows. We all have sin and come short of the glory of God. Fall short of His glory. It's all about giving Him glory. We're dropping the ball on the job as human beings in our natural condition. We read in Romans chapter 1 and verse 20, where the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Even His eternal power in God, and how can you look at that Son and not come up with such conclusions as this? So that they, all who do not give God glory, are without excuse. Anybody here who doesn't give God glory, you got no excuse. There is no excuse for not giving Him glory. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not. as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise and became fools, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. And the birds and four-footed, as this keeps getting worse, man down to birds, down to beasts, down to creeping things. Man has really dropped the ball on glorifying God. God expects all that He has created to give Him glory. What does man glorifying God look like? Well, it involves honoring God for who He is and for what He has done. So knowledge of who He is and what He has done is essential. You've got to know who God is. People who chose not to glorify Him looked at the things that were made and came up with the wrong conclusion about who God is. But that's inexcusable. So you and I need to know who God is as He has revealed Himself. For example, God is spirit. As such, He is immaterial, incorporeal, that means no body, and invisible. He's a spirit. Secondly, he is a person, actually three persons. He has self-consciousness, self-determination. He loves, he grieves, he gets angry, he enjoys, he desires. He has three persons. God is self-existent. His existence is not dependent upon anything outside of himself. As Thomas Aquinas has said, he is the first cause, himself uncaused. He is immense. He is infinite in relation to space. He fills the universe and he is outside of it, whatever that looks like. He is eternal. He has no cause for his existence. He just has always existed and he always will exist. He has non-moral attributes, omnipresent, meaning he's present everywhere at once, omniscience, meaning he knows everything eternally, simultaneously, exhaustively, truly. Omnipotent he is, meaning he has all power, can do anything he wills. He's immutable, meaning he's unchangeable in his essence. He has moral attributes. Holiness is the foremost attribute. He's absolutely separate from all moral evil and sin. He is righteous and He is just. He is good in love, benevolence, mercy, and grace. And He is true. His revelations of all things in the Scriptures are perfectly accurate and utterly reliable. How remarkable and unfathomable is our God! Truly, we must say with Paul, if you want to turn to Romans chapter 11, since we're in this book of Romans, this is the conclusion. You get to chapter 12, having 11 chapters of doctrine explaining all these things. Now we get to chapter 12 and he says, now here's what you got to do. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, do these things. But before that, at the end of chapter 11 of Romans, starting in verse 33, How can you not conclude all theology but with this? Oh, that's enough right there. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his consular? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, and whom be glory for ever. Amen. But this is the very comment to which the world would not say amen. The world refuses to give him glory. But we are told that we are to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That's not a great divide. There's the world, I will not do it. Here's all Christendom who are supposed to say, I rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So I'd like to conclude by listing four practical elements that I think this verse speaks of. How do we hope in the glory of God? Seeing as how Romans 5.1, all the sin, all the punishment taken away, that's the negative. Romans 5.2, all the good has come to us. We stand in the favor of God and all He has provided for us, we are to access for His glory. Hence, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. What does that mean? I think, first of all, it means this, you should long to see it. I knew an elderly lady who longed to see the ocean. She'd never seen the ocean. And it was like the great passion before she dies, I must see the ocean. For every Christian, what our passion should be is to see the glory of God. Is that your passion? Psalm 63 speaks of it. I mean, is that your passion? Is it what you long to have occur? To see the glory of God. Psalm 63, O God, Thou art my God. Early will I seek Thee. This is a man with a heart after God. My soul thirsteth for Thee. My flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see Thy power and Thy glory. So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary, because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Oh, how I long to see thy glory. What did Moses say? Exodus 33.18, he said to God, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. A glimpse of this and see what happens to all that. I think the way to hope in the glory of God involves longing to see it. Secondly, it involves longing to be changed by it. Let's go back to the book of Romans 1. Romans 1, verse 23, the goal is for us to be transformed by the glory of God into the glory that is God's. But what man wants to do is not be changed into God's glory. He wants to change the glory into his image, the image that man chooses. He does just the opposite. God says, take that glory and be changed by it. Man says, no, I think we'll change the glory into what we want. Absolutely contrary to the will of God. That's one side. That's the bad news, the way old nature is inclined. The good news is in 2 Corinthians 3.18. I see it as a must-memory verse. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. See, beholding it. Okay, we don't see it perfectly, like looking in one of those kind of foggy mirrors and seeing the best we can, but we're seeing it and we're beholding it. And this is the means of transformation. You know how to grow? Focus on who God is. Focus on God. Seek God. Be awed and amazed. I mean, you can do that with a fireworks display on July 4th. What do you think it is to behold the living God? It is Thee I seek, I thirst for Thee, to behold Thy power and Thy glory. For we all with open face beholding as it were known as we all." This is a supposition. He's writing to a weak group, a weak church in Corinth, and he includes all of them. And so it should surely encompass everyone here who was born again. This is something we all can and are called upon to do. Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, what happens? are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. We're to hope in the glory of God. That means longing to see it, and as we see it, changed by it. And then the third element of hoping in the glory of God is reflecting it. Seek it. Oh, Lord, show me thy glory. Pursue it. As you see it change from glory to glory into that same image. And as you do that, trust me, it manifests. Our first very material illustration is in Exodus 34. And I'm not saying that it's all sort of like glorified suntan, you know, I don't know if it happens exactly the same way, although the light of the eye rejoices the heart who read in the Book of Proverbs. Glorify God, meet His glory, be transformed, everything changes and it shows itself through the windows of the soul. What we see with Moses is a very practical manifesting of the glory. We're in Exodus 34, 28, Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. That's a wondrous statement right there. He didn't either eat bread nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables of the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount that Moses, wist not, didn't know this was happening, that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. Radiating. This is the way it was with the Lord Jesus, Mark 9, verse 3. He had that glory shining for Him always, but due to the providence and plan of God, it was shrouded, it was covered for a season. It isn't anymore. It's up in heaven, we don't see it, but the Lord in full strength is shining as the sun in its strength. But in Mark 9, verse 3. And his raiment, Christ's raiment, became shining, exceeding white as snow. Mark's trying to come up with a language here. So there's no fool on earth, no laundry man, there's no bleach that could white him like this. Glory, glory. And we often repeat Psalm 4 verses 6 through 7. If you would like to turn there, Psalm 4, 6 through 7. There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. It's not just an external thing. Thou has put gladness in my heart more than in the time when everything goes right for them. Their harvest is abundant, when their corn and their wine increase. Lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. Well, let's go to Ephesians chapter 1. Glory comes from the word gloria. Gloria means manifesting, brilliant, shining. That comes from a cause. The cause is those attributes which, summed up, cause a glory to express itself. In the natural way, that's the way. With God, it's that way. In the way of the devil, because he doesn't have anything glorious, so he's prince of darkness. We are to be captured not by the glory of the things of this world, other than the springboards that cause us to think of the Creator. And His glory captures us. And we seek to know it. That's step one. And as we seek to know it, we are changed into the same thing. Not fully, but moving from glory to glory, step by step, transformed into His likeness. And thirdly, that's going to show itself by reflection. Now, we read in Ephesians chapter 1. We're about done here. Just a few more verses. that why did God save you and me? That we might live to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's why you and I are redeemed. That's what we're predestinated to do. That's the calling. Look at verse 12 of the same chapter, Ephesians 1, that we should be to the praise of His glory. Go on a little farther, Ephesians 1, And I think it's verse 14, so 6, 12, and 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory, to the praise of His glory, praise of His glory, praise of His glory. There's one long sentence there in Ephesians chapter 1, phrase after phrase, but that's the repeating verse. And here is the goal then. Finally, I said one more verse on the reflecting part, Matthew 5.16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and what? Glorify your Father which is in heaven. Even the works you do, picking up this garbage, opening that door, standing up and speaking when you need to, submitting to this, whatever it might be. Observe your good works and glorify your Father. You say, amen, that's motive enough for me. That's why I'm here on earth. So there are four steps or four elements I see in living in the hope of the glory of God. One is longing to see that glory. Second one is to be changed by it as we fellowship with it. Third is to reflect it. And the fourth element of that hope of glory is one day it shall be revealed. Haven't you tasted of the glory? Don't you wish all would see it and give God the glory and confess with the mouth, bow the knee. We're told the day will come, we say, Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus. The day will come as we read in Habakkuk 2.14, the earth shall be filled with what? The knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Now how much of the sea is covered by water? I think 100% of it. It's a glorious promise, Habakkuk 2.14. earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Two more verses and we're done. Isaiah 66, 18. If we're dwelling in Beulah land and our hearts are bursting with joy irrespective of the troubles that are in the material world, we long to see this manifested and more people introduced to it and the God of all glory to be known by all people. Hallelujah, that's part of the hope and that is what shall happen or shall be filled with that knowledge. Isaiah 66, 18, I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather all nations in tongues and they shall come and see my glory. I will gather how many nations? all tongues, and they shall come and see my..." That's the end. That's the goal. That's the cap. And then our final verse, New Testament, Titus 2.13. I may back up a little bit. All this fits together, you know. We're seeing in Romans 5, Verse 11 of Titus 2, we're told that the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, there's a key word, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Father, it is an incomprehensible blessing of the highest magnitude that we who are on death row, without God, without hope, in darkness, destined to an eternity away from God, that the light of the gospel of Christ is shown unto us. who are saved, and therefore there has been that great takeaway, because the punishment that rested upon us has been placed upon another, a sinless substitute. It is virtually incomprehensible, the good news of that takeaway. But then secondly, to have this addition, that we have access to the favor of God, No good thing will he withhold from those who are his and who walk with him. Oh, that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened that we might know what is the hope of this and how we should then live. But then thirdly, to add this. that we can abide in the hope that the glory, whatever measure of it we now experience, whatever increasing amount we shall experience while yet on this earth, that that glory in its fullness shall be displayed across the whole world one day. How we long for that. How we pray that every soul who hears this message, will also long for that, knowing that their souls are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for this hope. We thank you for grace. And we pray if there's anyone here who is being drawn now by the grace of God to forsake sin and to call on the Savior, lead them even this moment. Don't delay. Don't give one more moment to rebellion. But right now, confess Christ as Savior, the one through whom there is access to God the Father. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.