So, my best friend called me up about my last blog post. As he commented on the post, he thought it seemed a bit dark and was a bit worried I guess – which was strange to me because I really viewed the prayer I posted as a prayer of hope and of ultimate redemption in light of the deep brokenness of this world. He and I ended up having a good conversation about the proper way to approach thinking about the end times and the eternity Christ’s return and judgement will bring. We also talked a bit about how we are to view the troubles of this world, which all originate from the problem of sin. It was a great conversation.
So I was pleased to continue the theme today with a sermon from John Piper on a closely related topic. Over the last several months I have been working my way through the ~20 year series Dr. Piper did on the book of Romans. It is some of the deepest, most dense, challenging and God glorifying preaching I think I have ever heard. If you can make it work with your schedule, I would seriously recommend that you give it a listen (free online, also available for purchase on CD). The sermon next in the queue today is titled, “We Exult in Our Tribulations” and it is based on Romans 5:1-5:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 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.
Romans 5:1-5
After thinking so much about how the sin and pain in this world is a pointer to Jesus and His ultimate redeeming work it was great to hear a strong word on how these same things are also meant for our good. As Piper puts it, our trials serve to temper our faith and hope like steel is tempered through heating and cooling. I would encourage you to listen to this and the follow up sermon if you ever wonder how we are to deal with the trials and evil we see in this world. It’s definitely worth the time.
Tags: end-times, hope, Piper, sermon, tribulations
