Rejoicing, Patient, Continuing in Prayer

Romans chapter 12. Now I almost think that I should speak the message I spoke last weekend at Stoke Conference again. I'm going to start there, I'm just going to read the same verses and then I'm going to continue from where I left off last weekend because I feel that it suits what has been touched on this morning.

Let's just remind us again, Romans 12 and 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Verse 9, let love be without dissimulation, that is without hypocrisy, and literally it would be abhorring that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another, not slothful in business or in diligence, not slothful, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.

Now, that's all I'm going to read for the moment in this passage. I'm thinking particularly of verse 12, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Now, when I was speaking on this passage a week ago, I emphasized that verse 9, let love be without dissimulation, is the primary emphasis of the rest of the chapter.

And most of the following exhortations are all linked back to the word love. Let love be, we could say, transparent. Let love be without any shadows.

Let love be without any hypocrisy or pretense. And nearly all of the expressions that follow, they don't all appear in the English translation as ING verbs, but most of them are. And they all go back to verse 9. So they all either contribute to the meaning of what verse 9 is saying.

It's an extension of what it means to love as God intends us to love. And why does he intend us to love that way? Because we are to manifest his glory. I should have read the last verse of chapter 11, where it says that of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever.

Amen. And chapter 12 is intended to be the outflow of this awesome reality. Not only are we on our way to a destination of glory, but we are to display the glory of God now as we are intended to display it in the ages to come.

And so as we look at these verses, and he's emphasizing the character of love, the love that has been imparted to us, the love that is to be the core, the essence of our beings as Christians, I want to notice verse 12 particularly as looking at our personal relationship with God as being that inner strength and stability that will enable his love to be sustained. It is also an expression of his love, but it is also a source and a sustaining strength for this love, rejoicing in hope. And the word patient really has the word endurance in it.

And so again, more accurately, literally, it would be patiently enduring in tribulation and then continuing instant in prayer. Now, that expression continuing instant in prayer doesn't so much mean that we are to be instant, continually, instantly praying. It's the same phrase that is translated as continuing steadfastly in Acts chapter 42.

Those early disciples continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine, in the breaking of bread, the fellowship, and so on. And in the prayers. And so this idea of continuing steadfastly or persevering in prayer.

I would like to suggest that these three are like the three sides of a triangle. I don't know how many of you have tried to do any building, but if you try building something, you will find out that a triangle is one of the strongest forms, strongest structures. It distributes the weight bearing upon it or the force in a very interesting way.

And that's why we have truss rafters and so on. They're all a bunch of triangles. And I would just suggest to you that each of the sides contributes to the other two, and each two sides contribute to the other one.

And so I'm going to think, first of all, on this beautiful expression, rejoicing in hope. Rejoicing in hope. What does that mean? I'm going to take you back to chapter five, because here we have it expanded a little more and also integrated with the idea of patience and tribulation.

I'm going to read the last verse of Romans four, where it speaks about the Lord Jesus, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. 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.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Patience experience and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us.

Now, it's always helpful when you're looking at the scriptures and you see an expression and you want to think about what that expression means to mentally, if not literally, go back through that letter and see where this idea has been picked up before and used. And so in chapter 12, when we get this idea rejoicing in hope, he doesn't have to explain it because he's already gone into a lot of depth in chapter five and especially when you come into chapter eight of what this hope really is. This is the prospect.

This is what is ahead of us. And we've had a glimpse of this from Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, where our prospect is to be in such close proximity to God, in such close communion, companionship, accommodation with God himself. We are his eternal dwelling.

We are the bearers of the glory of God for eternity. Christ and the church in the beautiful relationship of the love of the bridegroom and the bride is going to be the supreme expression of the very nature and being of God. And so, yes, we have become associated with the very glory of God himself.

And so God's ministry to us in this present time, he began with justification. He cleared us from every charge. He removed from us any potential penalty at the end.

How could we ever rest in salvation? How could we ever rest in view of the future if we did not have an absolute confidence and assurance that our sins are entirely, entirely blotted out and that we are cleared from every charge that could be brought against us? But that is like just coming through the doorway into this beautiful mansion of the grace of God. And you call it a foyer. We call it a foyer in Canada.

But I like to think of Romans chapter 5 as just coming into the entrance. I'll be politically correct and not make a mistake. Into the entrance.

And as you're gazing into this beautiful palace, not just as a tourist, being given a guided tour through this mansion belonging to the elite, this is your new home. This is what belongs to you. This is part that is yours as the family of God.

This is being justified by faith. We have peace with God. We are brought into a relationship where his peace controls.

Where the enmity is removed. And we have peace with God. And we will enjoy the peace of God within us.

This is his desire to fill us with his fullness. To fill us with what he is. We have this peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And by him also, we have access into this grace wherein we stand. I hope you are enjoying the fact that today as a Christian, sin no longer has the power to determine your destiny. And it no longer even has the power to determine the character of the relationship you have with God.

Now I'm not saying by this that you can go and sin as you like and it's not going to affect your enjoyment of God and his presence. But his grace determines the character of the relationship. His grace will not be withdrawn despite our feebleness and our failure.

So as we enter into this sphere of his grace, we stand in this grace. We have a standing before him. We have a standing in his presence.

And I happen to be one of those who am not satisfied to just know what I am positionally before God. That's the starting point. I want to enjoy.

I want to enjoy his presence. I want to be in harmony with him. I want to have fellowship with God.

And this passage is introducing us to the blessedness of that. And then it says not only do we rejoice or we have this grace wherein we stand, but we rejoice. We rejoice, we joy, we exult in hope of the glory of God.

So what does that mean? Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Well, everything that you can contemplate about the Lord Jesus in his nobility of character, in the wonderful love that is true of him, of his faithfulness, of his gentleness, of his compassion, of his holiness. All of these aspects that we have come to admire and to appreciate in some way, this is what we are meant for and made for.

In 1 Peter chapter 5, it says, the God of all grace, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ or in Jesus Christ. After you've suffered a little while, himself strengthen, establish, settle you. He is going to make you perfect.

He's going to make you complete so that you can radiate his glory with nothing, no deficiency, no defect, no defilement that would mar the beauty of that eternal light shining through your being. So we truly have a wonderful, amazing prospect ahead of us. And so he says, we rejoice, we exult with this hope of the glory of God, not only seeing his glory, that might seem to be enough.

Remember the disciples when the Lord was drawing them closer and closer and closer to the ultimate revelation of himself. And Philip says, well, Lord, just show us the father and we'll be satisfied. Just give us this glimpse of the eternal God and we will be satisfied.

We will have arrived. And he didn't know he was looking at the eternal. But not only does God want us to be able one day to gaze upon him without having to shield our eyes, without having to be hidden, as it were, from the gaze of his presence, but to actually be part of the outshining of his glory to the creation.

So that is a tremendous reality that we are called to. And so it's in this context then that we learn a connection that is given to us in Romans chapter five. But not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience.

And I want to now think with you about that significant connection. And I'm reminded of a book that I read a few years ago, not too many years ago, written by Johnny Erickson Tata. Now, she's probably familiar to a lot of Christians.

I'm not sure how old she is. She's probably a little bit older than I am. I figured that out some time ago, but I forgot again.

But when she was a teenager, she had a diving accident and she became a quadriplegic. And when she was in the hospital, she went through all the stages that you do of grieving, of denial, of being angry, of pleading. And one of the things that she demanded of every visitor that came into her room, they were to read John chapter five, the story of the man by the pool, who was healed by the Lord Jesus.

She had claimed this passage. She had claimed, you know, by faith that the Lord was going to heal her. And she would not entertain any other idea in her mind that the Lord was going to mercifully and graciously draw near and heal her and deliver her out of that condition.

And of course, if you know anything about her life, it didn't happen. And so she went through a tremendous struggle for a while to come to terms with this reality that the Lord, in whom I have put my trust, in whom I look to for help, he is leaving me in this desperately difficult condition, permanently chronic, a chronic condition. But she has written many, a number of books that have been very inspiring.

And a few years ago, the little book that I read is called How God Heals. It's a very worthwhile book reading on the working of God in the life of a saint. And that God often does something deeper in our lives through suffering than if he had removed the suffering from us.

And basically, the point of the story is that she and her husband made a trip over to Jerusalem, and they went to the pool of Bethesda. And as she is there sitting in her wheelchair, her husband went down however far he had to go down through the ruins and to get a cup of water to bring her a little drink of the water of the pool. And as she was sitting there contemplating her life, her mind went back to those days in the hospital when she had prayed so hard and had such faith that God would heal her from this.

And she was finally able, as she was sitting there, to thank God for her wheelchair. To thank God that he hadn't taken away the suffering, but that he had drawn close to her. He had enabled her to endure.

He had enabled her to overcome all the effects that would naturally have upon her. And for her to be able to be someone who would serve the Lord with fervency, with zeal, with confidence, living in this condition. And she thanked God that he hadn't healed her, but that he had drawn closer to her.

And she actually was able to appreciate that God had given her more by taking away what was so precious to her in her life. And so we have this combination of ideas. Rejoicing in hope.

If we get a clear glimpse of the greatness of God's purpose, the greatness of the glory that belongs to us, and that we are going to be sharers of and enjoyers of, it will strengthen our ability to patiently endure in tribulation. And most of us, to one extent or another, have things to endure. Things that don't go away.

Things that don't improve. Things that we are called upon to keep going and called upon to serve him despite those limitations. Rejoicing in hope.

Patient, and it's really patiently enduring in tribulation, in distress, in limitations, and so on. But the other side of it is this. As Romans chapter 5 says, glorying in tribulations also knowing that tribulation works patience.

Now you might be saying, I'm not so sure that I want to be this strong, enduring Christian. I would sooner have an easier life than endure and be this super saint. But the word here, experience, and the word patience rather, as I said, is endurance.

But it says here, it produces experience. And again, you might say, I'm not sure that I want that experience. But this isn't just meaning that you've gone through experience and you can say I've been through this.

It actually means to be tested and approved. It means having gone through and carrying trust in God. You have maintained loyalty to God despite your suffering, despite your loss.

And God has now put his stamp of approval on you. You've been proven, and he is pleased with you. That's the sense of being of this word experience.

And then having come to this, again, he says, experience produces hope. And I would suggest that the word hope, as it is used here in this part of the context, is really my personal hope, my anticipation, the optimism within me. It produces this positive attitude that nothing can destroy.

And experience hope and hope makes not ashamed. That means so that we are not confused, confounded, brought to shame. And a consciousness that is infused in this is that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.

Now, just coming back to chapter 12, and I'm going to stop now and leave time for another brother. Number chapter 12, where it says this rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. I'm not sure why it is, but it seems a very common failing among us.

And I'm putting myself in this category where we so easily become careless in prayer. We so easily become complacent. We seem to be more the emergency prayer partners.

He is trying to get our attention here to tell us not only will our rejoicing in hope, having our consciousness focused on our true future, not only will that help us to endure through troubles, it will also encourage us to be continuing, persevering in laying hold of God, having communion with God regularly, continually. But it's also assuring us and telling us we need this continual, constant communion with God. We really need to live in the atmosphere of communing with God, bringing God into everything that we're thinking, everything we're going through.

And so this pattern of continuing instant in prayer or earnestly, steadfastly in prayer will also help us to focus on the future. It will help us to be faithful in enduring through the present.