Rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God
This is an exegetical sermon from Romans 5:2. It shows us why we should find nothing but joy in the hope given to us by the gospel. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Justin Bragg at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA. Audio unavailable.
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::The Resolved:: 05.28.05
Justin Bragg
“Rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God”
Romans 5:1-2
Romans 5:1-2: therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Opening 2 verses of Romans begin to tell us that we have security in salvation because of Jesus Christ
SINCE we have been justified by Jesus Christ
+ Peace has been made between us and God
+ We now have access to God as a result of that peace
+ The third evidence of security – we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God
1-2a: current situation of believer in light of the past
(Stand in grace w/ access to the God we used to be at war with, but now have peace with)
2b: contemplates the current situation of the believer in light of the future
“Hope in the glory of God” – refers to the final destiny of believers,
So it’s in a realm that is difficult to really understand or even believe is possible.
Paul says pretty much the same thing as he is saying in
Rom 8:29-30: or those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Do you see the chain of events?
Justified always leads to glorified – there are no drop outs.
As Duane said last week – we didn’t start grace, and we cannot end it
If you have been justified by Jesus Christ:
You have peace with God
You have access to his unfathomable grace
You can have hope in your final end – being in the presence of the glory of God
God’s purposes cannot and will not be frustrated
The next 4 chapters of Romans are all about assurance.
GLORY of GOD
Begin with the glory of Jesus, since it is by him alone that we are given this assurance
Jesus’ prayer before his death:
John 17:1, 5, 24: “father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you… glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed… Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
Jesus had glory in fullness before his incarnation, he set it aside to become a man and save the world, but he takes it up again.
The key here is what he prays for himself and for his followers:
That the glory would be restored to him
That those who belong to him would see him glorified
In light of this “the hope of the glory of God” looks forward to a time when we will see Jesus in the full manifestation of his glory
Let’s go further – we shall be glorified. This is absolutely necessary.
Without our own glorification, we would never be able to see the glory of the Lord
2 Corinthians 3:12-18 gives us the best expression of this theme, but to understand it, we need to first look at something that happened to Moses as a result of spending time with God on mount Sinai
When Moses came down from the mountain, his face glowed with a transferred brilliance, and this was so bright that the people were unable to look directly at him
To converse with the people, Moses had to cover his face with a veil until the heavenly glory faded
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul picks up on this story
Today the veil is actually over the hearts of unbelievers and that believes, by contrast, are themselves unveiled and are becoming increasingly glorious, rather than having the glory fade from them like what happened to Moses.
18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The experience of Christians is to become increasingly glorified, even now.
We are to become like Jesus Christ in his perfections
This whole veil thing seems really interesting to me, and it seems to be important in understanding how ‘hope of the glory of God’ is significant for our present life and our future
The veil over our hearts will be removed, so that we can see glory in its fullness
But a veil doesn’t mean that we can’t see it all now.
We are able to see the glory of God in this world now – but it is masked and covered, but we are on our way to seeing it in fullness
Throughout our lives, we are experiencing the increase of becoming glorified, even now
Charles Wesley: “love divine, all loves excelling”:
Finish, then, thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee!
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love and praise.
We are going to be like Jesus.
A transformation has begun. And we are going somewhere
We are headed toward glory. We are being changed from glory into glory
The marvelous expectation of the fact that we are going to be like Jesus one day leads us to pursue holiness in him now
Talking a lot about glory – what is the glory of God? Why do we even want this?
Why is the content of all our hope wrapped up in glory?
The glory of God is a rich concept in the bible, and it is difficult to even attempt to explain
I apologize for not being able to explain it well and comprehensively
Glory in Greek
The word still developing in early days of Greek language
Dokeo – to believe, to think, to seem, to appear, to have the appearance of
From this verb came the noun (doxa) which we translate glory,
But in the early stages naturally referred to how a thing seems or appears to someone
“An opinion”
The opinion a person held was either good or bad
As time went on, came to be used almost exclusively of a good opinion –
“Renown, reputation, or honor”
And finally meant only the very best opinion of only the very best individuals
God is the king of glory (like in psalms 24) because he is the most glorious of all beings
He is the one whom only the highest opinions should be held
When we express these high opinions of God what do we do?
We “glorify” him, right?
So in this sense, to glorify God, worship or praise is all the same thing
To worship God means to assign him his true worth
Glory in Hebrew
Two distinct words
Kabod (closest to Greek)
Reputation or renown
But root refers to something that is weighty, as opposed to weightless
God alone has a real gravity – he alone is the only really weighty thing in the universe
Shekinah
Visible manifestation of God’s glory
Light so brilliant as to be unapproachable (Moses on Mt. Sinai)
A cloud, that filled the holy place
Seeing the glory of God and seeing the face of God are identical
The hope of the glory of God is nothing less than the vision of God.
This is the goal of our faith – the climax
Because of the gracious justification of God – we will see him
1 Corinthians 13:12: “for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”
HOPE
Here’s where the word hope in vs. 2 comes in.
All of this – the glory of God, our being transformed and glorified – the glorious end and culmination of our salvation – is certain
Hope today is a weak word
Dictionary: “desire with expectation of obtaining what is desired”
Trust, reliance are synonyms
But in common speech we usually mean much less than this
“Hoping against hope”
“Hoping for the best”
Speaking of hope sounds like we are not very hopeful
But not the hope of the bible.
In the bible, hope is almost synonymous with certainty
The only reason we call it hope and not certainty is because we don’t actually have it yet
Hope is that which is guaranteed, but not yet possessed
Analogy: parents parking a new car in the driveway for a child on their 15th birthday, but this car is promised to the child on their 16th birthday.
There is a guarantee “this is your car”
But until the child is 16, he or she will not actually possess the car.
Imagine the joy – “that’s my car” – a hope and delight in the expectancy, waiting for the 16th birthday to finally come. Bragging to all his/her friends, and waiting with eagerness.
Then going on his 16th birthday, getting a license, and taking that car out for the first drive. The manifestation of all that has been promised.
Hope reflects certainty
Although we are not in full possession, we are certain of it
Since it has been won for us by Christ, and promised to us by God, we will have it, we do have it in part, and will have it in full one day.
REJOICE
And what does this mean for our lives today?
Do we just sit around crossing our fingers, waiting for the hope to come to fruition?
No, look at the first word of this statement of Paul – REJOICE
In most of Paul’s letters, when we see the word rejoice, it comes from the Greek word that is most familiar to us – rejoice – proclamation of joy and delight…
But here Paul uses a different word that has an even greater meaning than simple rejoicing
The word here that is translated rejoice means more – it means “boast, glory in, exult”
When we understand it this way, we see again this marriage of confidence and joy:
“We are joyfully confident in hope of the glory of God”
Now boasting (in human terms) is excluded by the gospel (3:27; 4:3)
But boasting because of God’s grace in Christ is entirely appropriate
3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
The glory of God – “God-like-ness” has been lost because of sin
But this godlikeness, this glory, will be restored in the last day (8:17, 18, 21, 30)
Moo: “a joyful confidence in this prospect, overcoming our proper frustration at our present failure to be all that God would want us to be, should be the mark of every believer”
How could it be possible to boast, glory, and exult in our hope of the glory of God, if it were not absolutely certain?
Your boasting would be foolishness, and may be proven to be in vain, unless it were so completely and unfailingly guaranteed – which it has been, because God has promised it, and Jesus has won it for us.
What effect does this rejoicing in hope of the glory of God have on us today?
1 John 3:1-3: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Hope is future, but it has a present significance as well
It is our hope, or confidence that we will be like Jesus one day that motivates us to be like him now.
This is the right motivation for Godly, and even moral living
This type of living in hope has no room for legalism as a motivation for Godly living
There is significant motivation here to refuse and resist temptation, and a life of sin
I believe that this is what it looks like to boast in hope of the glory of God
Knowing what you know, about the end, about your eventual complete transformation to seeing God in his full glory as a glorified being yourself, how can you not boast, rejoice and live in this hope?
