The Hope that Will Never Shame Us Romans 5:1-8; Exodus 17:1-7; John 4:5-26

Grace, mercy and peace, from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus, who gives us hope.

We’re going to talk about A Hope that Will Never Shame Us, based on our Epistle, especially verse 5, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

In our current culture, there seems to be a lot of shaming going on, trying to control or manipulate people by publicly shaming them.

“Shame on you”, I’ve heard people say, or groups chant to various leaders.

There’s a better way to treat people, the way Jesus treats us, with love and respect.

Now this isn’t to say that we haven’t done things that are, in fact, shameful-- we all have; all sin is shameful.

But the answer isn’t for us to mope around, constantly burdened by guilt and shame, the answer is to get rid of it by sincerely confessing our sin.

And then, with repentant faith, embracing God’s complete and perfect forgiveness, throwing off the guilt and shame that would keep us and slow us down, and then walking more closely with Christ, better in step with Him. 

And all the while, us sharing the uplifting, saving hope we have in Him.

Speaking of sharing this hope we have, a few days ago, I heard a story about a Christian woman in Afghanistan, who had spoken with a media person, and told her that it’s a great time for Christianity in Afghanistan.

The media person was stunned. She asked how that could be with the Taliban taking over, and Christians being punished and imprisoned and persecuted. 

And the woman said that now the people of Afghanistan truly know what darkness is, and Christians have the light of the Gospel to shine and share, and she said more people are listening, because they’re looking for hope to get them through this dark and difficult time.

There’s no hope that can help us like the Christian hope can. Let us never abandon this great hope, but rejoice in it, and share it with confidence.

Even when the fallen world would try to shame us, and label us as stupid, or worse, for believing the Gospel, and following God’s Word, don’t listen to the world’s false accusations; just let them roll on off you.

Believe that the Gospel is the light this dark world needs – it’s healing for a hurting world, and truth for a confused world…

And that sounds to me like the world we live in, so embrace the Gospel, and share the Gospel. 

Paul says in Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

It’s not the Gospel that will shame us; the Gospel saves us from shame.

It’s the adversaries of the Gospel, and the critics of the Word, and the enemies of the Church, that would try to shame God’s people and put them down. 

The fallen world, the devil, and our own sinful nature, would all deceive us and bring us to everlasting shame… but our God and His Gospel give us grace and hope, and bring us to everlasting glory!

When the world would try to shame us for believing the Gospel, let us, by the power of this same Gospel, love the world, and share the light that can save this world from darkness, and lift this world out of despair.

There are many things in this world that will let us down and bring us to shame… but never the Gospel… not this hope we have in Christ. 

It’ll never shame us, never mislead us, never let us down, but will keep us strong and resilient in this life, in this walk we have with Christ.

So hold on to this powerful hope you’ve been baptized into.

Stand in the Church on the Rock, which is Christ… and your heavenly hope will never slip away.       

As we sang in our hymn:

1. My hope is built on nothing less,                                                                    Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim,                                                                                    But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found:
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Redeemed to stand before His throne. [Refrain]

That kind of says it all; what an inspiring and powerful hope we stand on and live by, and it all comes to us through our dear Savior, by faith.

Our Epistle says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Even if the world refuses to be at peace with us because of what we believe and strive to obey, we still have godly hope and peace, which matter way more than being accepted by the world… and bring far greater blessings. 

Our Epistle continues, 2 Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, we have God’s grace through faith in Jesus, and we stand on it, on Him, the solid rock, as we just sang; every other belief and hope in this world is, in the end… sinking sand. 

And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, our text says. God has such glorious love and joy to give us; they far outweigh the troubles of this life.

Verse 3, 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance…

When Satan and the world would declare war on God, and on His Gospel, and on His Church, which is the caretaker of the Gospel… it just proves how powerful and vital the Gospel is, that the world and the devil would fear it so.

But the devil’s schemes and persecutions just backfire on him, because, by faith and hope, with the help of the Holy Spirit, our suffering for Christ makes us love Him all the more; it just strengthens our resolve to follow Him and walk with Him all the more closely.

Our text continues, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

This Gospel of hope will never shame or disappoint us, because through it, God has poured the joy of His Spirit, and the power of His love into us.

In this world there are things that would shame us; some of that shame is the result of our sin. 

God takes that shame away from us by faith and forgiveness, and replaces it with His righteousness.

His righteousness is never something to be ashamed of, but always to be thankful for, and to rejoice in.

Of all the teachings, and philosophies, and theories, and beliefs in this world, and there are more than we can number, the Gospel of Christ is the thing to be the most certain of, and least ashamed of… 

… in fact, never ashamed of, for it is loving and powerful and true, and it will never fail nor shame you.

Stand on the rock of Christ; don’t step off into the sinking sand; stay close to Him, keep in step with Him… 

Hold on to Him and the hope He gives, and the final result will be, not shame and regret, but immense gratitude, and everlasting joy! 

And as you live and rejoice in this glorious hope, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our Rock and our Salvation. Amen.