Sermon Tone Analysis

A Saving Hope

Romans 8:17-27

“For in this hope we were saved.

But hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what he already has?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Romans 8:24-25

We are in week three of Lent!

We are walking to Easter!

Can you imagine back in the days of Jesus when all of the Jewish people made the pilgrimage back to Jerusalem for the Passover festival?

We are told in the Book of Acts that people from all around the known world would make their way to Jerusalem for their pilgrimage.

These people would walk, take ships and then walk, they even rode camels or donkeys and then walked.

All to return back home to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

The distance between Nazareth and Jerusalem was around 70 miles.

It would have taken Jesus between five to seven days to walk that distance.

The Jewish people were not allowed to travel more than 2000 cubits or 3/5 of a mile on the Sabbath.

This means it would take Jesus over a week to walk to Jerusalem.

I read in my study that Jesus made at least nine trips back and forth from The Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem during his life-time; roughly 1440 miles.

Think of walking through the desert, up and down mountain trails.

Think of the rough terrain and the obstacles.

I wonder how many times Jesus stubbed his toe on the rocks or how many times he had rocks stuck in His sandals?

How often did he slip and fall?

I wonder if He ever thought that all of the walking was worth the trip?

Did Jesus look forward to the hope of coming home to the temple in Jerusalem?

We have only been journeying on this road to Jerusalem for two weeks.

We are also looking for hope.

This week we will take a brief look into Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Romans was written around 57 A.D. while Paul was in Corinth preparing to go to Jerusalem.

Paul wanted to introduce himself to the Christians in Rome, Paul wanted to encourage them to wait in hope!

Let us turn to one of my most favorite chapters in the Bible --- Romans 8!

Here Paul wants to give the early church in Rome the assurance of the love, grace and hope found in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8 begins with the assurance of no condemnation --- “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,…”[i] and Paul continues to write to the hope of no separation --- “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[ii]

Before we come to God’s Living Word, let Us come to our Living God and seek His Saving hope.

Let us pray, “Lord, God of all hope, give us to hope to travel the road you have called us to walk.

Let your Living Word bring to us a Saving hope.

Amen.

Romans 8:18-27

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

24 For in this hope we were saved.

But hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.[iii]

HOPE

Last week, we looked at finding a living hope.

We worked in I Peter 1:3.

We have been born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

On Friday of this week, Rev. Dr. Billy Graham was buried.

The memorial service was televised.

I took the time to watch the entire service which lasted over 90 minutes.

Many of the reporters said that this was actually Billy Graham’s last revival.

I would agree.

They had several different pastors and musicians speak and sing.

The most moving part of the service was the personal sharing of Billy’s family.

There were five children in Billy’s family: three daughters and two sons--Gigi, Anne, Ruth, Ned and Franklin.

Gigi read a poem her mother had written at age 13 about the man she would marry—her daddy, Billy.

Anne Graham Lotz then gave a powerful message of hope comparing her father to Moses.

She spoke of the promise of the coming of Jesus.

Ned spoke and declared his father was FAT: faithful, available, and teachable.

Franklin then challenged everyone listening that Jesus was the way, the truth and life.

Franklin concluded his Gospel message with an invitation to ask Jesus into your hearts.

We all know Franklin well.

He is the founder of Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child—the shoeboxes we do at the holidays.

But I must tell you that it was Billy’s third daughter, Ruth, who spoke volumes of hope in her quiet way.

Ruth shared that she went through a divorce early in her life; a painful time when she wandered in the wilderness for years making many wrong choices.

Then she met another man.

A man felt would complete her.

Her sister and her father and mother had deep concerns but despite their warning, she left and married the man on New Years Eve.

Ruth said that she knew she had made a mistake within 24 hours.

After five weeks, she fled and knew she had to return home.

As she drove up the mountain, all she could think of was how she had embarrassed her family.

“We never want to embarrass our family but we certainly never want to embarrass Billy Graham.”

Can you imagine the pressure and burden of growing up in the shadow of Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, the world’s pastor, as your father?

Ruth Graham drove around and around that mountain.

She drove down the lane and got to the front door of the family home.

Her daddy was standing there waiting for her.

As she got out of her car, her daddy threw his arms around her and said, “Welcome Home.”

Welcome Home!

What powerful words!

What reassuring words!

What wonderful words that say that there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

What joyous words that say that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus.

Ruth, Billy’s daughter said, “Now my daddy is not God, but on that day he showed me what God was like.”

SAVING HOPE

When Paul wrote this letter to the early church in Rome, he wanted them to wait in hope.

Paul wanted to encourage them that they were saved in hope!

In this section in Romans 8:18-27 we find a hope that helps us in our groaning.

In verses 22, 23 and 26, we find a word that is repeated three times and yet is found nowhere else in this letter.

In fact, it is found only six more times in the entire New Testament.

It is the Greek word stenazō (variants, sustenazō and stenagmos), and is translated “groan” (v.

23), “groans” (v.

26), and “groaning” (v.

22).

The interesting thing is that this word is applied to three different entities: to creation, to ourselves, and to the Holy Spirit.

This groaning is like the groaning of childbirth.