Now our Scripture reading, which Mary Craig is going to do, comes not as on the order of service, but actually from the previous verses in Romans chapter 5 and verses 1 through 11. Romans chapter 5, starting at verse 1. and it's found on page 1132 of the Church Bible. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly, Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Now let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to that passage that Mary Craig read for us from Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. And as you're turning there, let me respond to Mike Strudwick's words of welcome. He didn't need to drag up that we are the same age and that I'm slightly older than he is. But we, as you would understand, have been actually close friends for, well, now 50 years. And it is such a joy to be with him and to any of you, some of you remember me, some of you remember me as a 17-year-old boy. It is a delight for me to see your faces again. There is a wonderful hymn written by Charles Wesley for New Year's Day services that begins, and are we still alive and see each other's face. And I think about some of you in just that way. I hope that you have read Pilgrim's Progress. I sometimes say to people that it may be possible to get to heaven without reading Pilgrim's Progress, but you should never take the risk. I, of course, am pulling their leg. It is like the advert for Kellogg's Corn Flakes that ran a few years ago. I can't remember on which side of the Atlantic a young man having a bowl of Corn Flakes and he looks up and he says, I'd forgotten how good they tasted. And in all the pictures that John Bunyan paints in Pilgrim's Progress of what it means to become a Christian and to go on as a Christian, I think my favorite one probably comes right at the end of the second part of Pilgrim's Progress, the story of his wife Christiana's pilgrimage. where she meets a man who is standing, and he has a muck rake in his hands, and he is digging in the muck, obviously looking for hidden treasure, and doesn't see that there is someone standing before him, holding out to him a crown of gold. It's a picture, whether of someone who is not yet a Christian or perhaps someone who has become a Christian, it's a picture of someone who has lost sight of the privileges that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to those who believe in Him. And all down through the centuries, it has been a repeated theme among Christian teachers and preachers that, alas, so often we live way below the privileges that have been given to us in the gospel. We are a little like the man in the book with this crown of gold held out to us by Jesus Christ. And yet our heads have gone down and we are raking around in the muck and mire of the world to find the gold that we need, the jewels that we want, in order to be able to live life successfully, as they say. And it isn't actually a problem merely of the 21st century church, although I suspect even to say these words ought to strike a chord in our hearts that we know the gospel so well. but that our lives do not exemplify what it means to sense the power and sense the joy of the gospel. We're able to say with the Apostle Paul at the beginning of this letter, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation. And yet we often feel that we know too little of that power and the joy of that salvation. And here in the great fifth chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul, conscious of that, conscious that although he had never been in Rome, although he obviously knew many of the members of the church there, although he had never been in Rome, he knew that certain things were probably true in the congregation. And one of them would be that some of them would have lost sight of the crown of gold. And so once he has worked through his argument in the earlier chapters about the way in which men have turned from God and the manner in which God has turned to them in Jesus Christ and brought us to saving faith in Him, he begins, as it were, to say to these Roman Christians, Let me just point out to you some of the jewels that sparkle in the crown of gold. And you can sense right from the beginning of this chapter that he is standing on the shoulders of chapters 1 through 4, in which he's been teaching us how to be right with God, how to be justified by grace through faith in Christ. And he's kind of collecting all of that up and saying, now that we have got that, since we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, Since we have received this grace that gives us access into the throne room of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, let me spell out some of the implications. And you'll notice that in these 11 verses, if you glance down at them, you will see that he uses the same expression on three different occasions. In a sense, Romans 5, 1 through 11 is like a part of a psalm, which is full of little parallel statements. And you'll notice where he makes this statement. First of all, he says in verse 2 that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And then in verse 3, he says, and we even rejoice in our sufferings. And then right at the end in verse 11 he says, and we even rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the anatomy of these verses, the body of truth he's teaching us here is held together by these three statements about rejoicing. The word that he uses here means to boast, to exalt. And he's already hinting to us, isn't he, that the gospel produces a huge reversal in our lives. Because boasting, exalting, rejoicing in ourselves was something that he had touched on earlier on. In the early part of the letter to the Romans, the goal of his argument was to bring us to this statement that he makes in chapter 3. that before God every mouth is shut and all boasting is excluded. None of us is able to stand before Him and boast in possessions or accomplishments, but in Jesus Christ our mouths have been opened. And he is saying here, because we understand that we are justified by His grace through faith in Christ, there is a proper boasting, there is an exultation, there is what the New International Version translates as a wonderful rejoicing in the Christian life. Now, the reason for that, of course, is ground level we have been justified before God. When Paul tells us that we have been justified in Jesus Christ, we need to understand that means that we are now, if Christians, as righteous before the throne of God as Jesus Christ Himself is. We often think of ourselves as believers. Yes, I am justified. I am righteous before God. Let me just spell that out. If you're a Christian, you are as righteous before God as Jesus Christ is righteous. Because, of course, the only righteousness with which you are righteous before God is Jesus Christ's righteousness. So that justification is as sure, as certain, as perfect, as unbreakable, and as permanent as the justification of Jesus Christ that He has spoken about in His resurrection. Just as Christ will never die again, those who are in Christ can never lose their justification because it is theirs only in Christ. And understanding that makes a difference, don't you think? I mean, it is one thing for me to think I am righteous before God, but it's so easy to slip from that into I am the one who is righteous before God. The righteousness is somehow in me, rooted in me, or even given to me so that it is now mine, quite independent. But that doesn't bring assurance, does it? that doesn't bring joy, but to know that you are justified in Christ and therefore as justified as Christ. That's what causes the heart to burn and the lips to sing praises and to taste something of what Paul is saying here when he says that because these things are true, there are certain corollaries follow. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We rejoice in our sufferings. We rejoice in God himself. we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Because, of course, it's guaranteed to us now in Christ. Glory, as you know, is one of the sub-themes in Romans. Man was made for God's glory, to glorify Him, Paul has told us in chapter 1. But he has exchanged the glory of God for the glory of this fallen world. And so Paul says in Romans 3, my problem is not just that I've sinned and I've broken the law of God, the deepest tragedy of my life is that I have sinned, he says in 323, and I've fallen short of the glory of God. I was made to know Him in His glory, to love His glory, to reflect His glory, and at the last, to be changed into the likeness of His glory. And now, tragically, through sin, it's all lost. But he says, now in Jesus Christ, for those who are justified, there is a resurrection of hope. And we begin to exalt, to boast, to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And as you know, when Paul uses the word hope, he doesn't mean, I hope it's going to be bright for the Commonwealth Games. He means I am absolutely sure of something I have not yet fully experienced. And this he is saying is, this is the birthright of every believer. that knowing that we are justified through faith in Jesus Christ, we're able to rejoice in the hope, in the certainty of the glory of God. That's what makes a believer's funeral service different from unbelievers' funeral services, isn't it? That there is light in the room, there is a door that's open in the room. because here is someone who had the certain hope of the gospel, and there is this sense, this taste of the glory to which they have now gone and into which they have entered. I actually think if, say, you just happened into this service off the street and you weren't a Christian, I think you could understand why somebody would rejoice in that. You may even have said to somebody who has that kind of assurance and hope, that certainty of where they're going, you might have said somewhat naively but sincerely, I wish I had your faith. I would like to have what it is that I see you have got." I think non-Christians can understand why someone who had this hope of glory would inevitably rejoice in it. But you notice that when Paul returns to speaking about rejoicing in the gospel, he moves from something that to the unbeliever might be enviable to something that to the unbeliever is actually remarkable. Not only do we rejoice in our hope of the glory of God, he says, but we also rejoice in our sufferings. Now, that's difficult to understand. may be a little easier to understand if we notice, as the translations into English obviously find it difficult to do, that Paul actually uses two slightly different prepositions here. He says we rejoice essentially because of the hope of the glory of God. But he isn't a masochist. He's not saying, you know, I really like suffering. If he really liked suffering, he wouldn't really like Dr. Luke, and he wouldn't actually say to Timothy, take a little wine for your tummy upset. He would say, no, I love this suffering. But he doesn't say he rejoices on the basis of his sufferings, but he rejoices in his sufferings. That is, while he's in the middle of his suffering, We understand that that's something extra, isn't it? This isn't him saying, well, I rejoice, that's over. You know, I can do that too. I rejoice, that's over. But this is him in the midst of the suffering saying, in the midst of the sufferings, I am rejoicing. Why? Not because of the pain. but because of the productivity in his life of suffering in and with and even for the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only so, he says in verse 3, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know Now, that's significant. He's not saying, empty-headed Christian, rejoice in your suffering. He is saying, instructed Christians will rejoice in their sufferings because of something the gospel teaches them. And that is that sufferings in the lives of Christian believers are employed by God in His providence through the Holy Spirit in the circumstances of our lives to work something into us. And he uses a root here that he loves to use about God working something into us. Actually, the picture that comes to my mind, which dates me with some of you, is my childhood days. It was always a Monday. Monday was washing day in our house. We were talking pre-washing machines, pre-tumble dryers, watching my mother as a little boy get the washing. And remember the old washing board, sticking it in the sink? And then that not inconsiderable power of her right arm, scrubbing away until whatever it was washed was clean and the dirt was emerging out into the water. So, he's not saying it doesn't hurt. If washing boards could have spoken in those days, washing days would have been very noisy in our house. But he's saying this is what God does in the heart. And notice what he says, it works. How does it work? Suffering produces perseverance. That is to say, kind of basically, it's only in suffering that you learn to be able to stand under the weight. I happened to catch one of these enormously strong women on television the other day, just as she was about to do the snatch and jerk or whatever it is, and the whole body is buckling, you see. Now, you can't do that, can you? You wouldn't be here if you could do that. You'd be in Glasgow if you could do that. Why can't you do that? Because she has gone through all the pain, all the pain, and it's only because she's had the ability to stand under the weight built into her. You see, there's a kind of obvious thing here, isn't there? I mean, you can't learn patience without finding yourself in difficulties. One of my colleagues in Columbia, I remember him saying, a friend of his who was a minister had a lady come and say, my problem is I need more patience. He said, well, let's pray about this. And he prayed very quickly and simply, Lord, bring some suffering into our life. And she opened her eyes and said, my problem's not suffering, my problem's patience. But you see, you only learn patience, endurance, when there is something that is stretching you in this way. And then, notice he says, and this endurance, this perseverance produces tested character. Isn't that wonderful? And haven't you noticed this? Do you remember the boy or girl at school who just flew through, you know, went to a good university, was captain of the whatever it was, everything was easy? I remember meeting them 15 years later when everything had still been easy and thinking, she's got very little character. And this is what he's saying, he's saying, at the end of the day, the only thing in your life that will last forever is you. And that's what God is working on. And this character, he says, what happens? Well, he says, this character produces, isn't this interesting, hope. Well, hope in what? Hope in the glory of God. You see, it's brilliant really what he's done. He's shown us that when we understand the way the gospel works, it produces a rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. And when we know how God works providentially in our lives, it leads experientially to exactly the same place. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. But he says, this is a hope that will never disappoint you. Most of us in the room, I presume all of us in the room have tasted disappointed hopes. You know, it may have been the wee girl you loved when you were eight who went off with your best friend who was nine. I mean, it may be something trivial like that or something absolutely stunningly sore. So how do we know this hope will not let us down, will not shame us. Actually, again, this is a root he'd used in chapter 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And even in Rome, where Rome soon will seek to shame Christian believers, he's saying, this is a hope I know will never let me down. And I want to know, Paul, why will it never let me down? And he gives me the answer, doesn't he? Because the love of God has already been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit God has given to us. You see what he's saying? Those of you who are fishermen, you may have read Isaac Walton's famous book, The Complete Angler. He wrote a number of little biographies. One of them was of a great Christian called Richard Sibbes, and about Richard Sibbes he wrote, "'Of that blessed man let this just praise be given, that heaven was in him before he was in heaven.'" That's what he's saying. Heaven is a world of infinite and perfect love. And God, as it were, has punctured a little hole, as it were, in the windows of heaven looking down upon us and said, let's pour down some heavenly love into the hearts of our dear children so that they may get a taste of heaven before they are in heaven. And that's why the hope doesn't disappoint us, because we've begun to taste it already. That's what he's saying. And then he goes on, a little section, verse 5, actually, right through to verse 10, where it's almost as though he's saying, now, just let me press the pause button here. I'm going to come to the third reason why we rejoice. But let me press the pause button that will get us from rejoicing in the hope of glory and rejoicing in our sufferings to the climax of all this. And he says, what kind of love is this that God has poured into our hearts? And you see how he puts it? He says, well, how do you measure love? You measure love by the character of the person who is loved. And the person who is loved here, well, look at the ways in which he describes us. He says character. He says it was when we were powerless and when we were ungodly and when we were sinners. And when we were God's enemies, verse 10, that He loved us. And you measure love by the gift that the lover will give to the loved one. And the gift here is that while we were still sinners, He gave His Son to die for us. And again, it would be strange English, but he's very emphatic. A whole series of statements here he makes about what Christ has done. Every single one of them ends with the word died. He wants to focus on this. This is where we see the measure of God's love in the magnitude of his gift. This was his own son, but he did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. That's the magnitude of this love. And he says, you see, this begins to dawn on you and something amazing happens. Yes, rejoice in the hope of glory unbelievers can understand. Rejoice in sufferings that seems remarkable from the unbelievers' point of view. But now he says, we also rejoice in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's actually incomprehensible to the unbeliever. The unbeliever can never rejoice in God at all. He or she can never say, God is my chief joy. Not this God anyway. Do you notice what Paul has said? He has said, this God, incidentally, I'm speaking about is the Father who sent His Son to die on the cross for us when we were still sinners, and who then has sent His Holy Spirit to pour out into our hearts this love. It's staggering. He's saying the love that God pours out into us through the Holy Spirit is a love that can be measured only by the fact that this is God, the blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Spirit. He mentions all three in these verses. The God who pours His love into you is the God who has poured His love out for you on the cross of Jesus Christ as sustained by the Spirit. The Savior has died for your sins. And when you grasp that, at last, you who were made to know and glorify God and to rejoice in Him are able to say, in this God, I now at last rejoice with what Peter calls joy unspeakable and full of glory. because through Him we who were once enemies have now received the reconciliation." Well, I wonder where you are in that series. Do you know what it is that you'll be able to stand before God as righteous as Jesus Himself? Do you know what it is to rejoice in the hope of glory? Do you know what it is to be able to rejoice even in the midst of sufferings and to say, Lord, work on and polish my graces for glory? And if so, you're probably also able to say, God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that's my joy, and share something of what it means to know that there is a crown of gold handed out to you in the gospel, and you can throw away the muckrake and embrace the Savior. Well, may he help us more and more to do that. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace to us in Jesus Christ and for this word of the gospel. We are conscious so often we simply scrape the surface of great passages like this. We thank You that even a scratch on Scripture shows us the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses all of our sins and brings us through grace to glory. So help us to trust You fully, in Jesus' name. Amen.