“Waiting With Patience” (Romans 8:25)

Oh, thank God. Thank God for the church. What a beautiful thing to hear the people of God sing. Isn’t that refreshing? If you’ve got a Bible, go ahead and get it out and go with me to Romans chapter eight, and we’re actually going to cover another verse. You’re welcome. It’s going to be good. Now, you’re going to hate the title. The title of the message is “Waiting With Patience” (Romans 8:25). I promise you, it’s not going to be what you first think it is. One of the worst sermons I ever had to sit through was on patience, and a pastor went through nine points on why you should be patient, and by point number three, I was completely impatient. It’s like, “You didn’t help me, dude. You made me stumble.” This won’t be that. Okay, let’s get the context just a little bit. We’ll start in verse 22 Romans eight. We’ve been covering all of this in the past weeks. If you’re new to the series, you got a lot to catch up on, and we encourage you to go back and listen to the previous ones as well. Romans 8:22-25, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait. (I want you to just to take note of this real quick, as we wait) eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved.” Covered that last week goes on in through verse 24 and into 25, “Now hope that is seen is not hope (like that’s easy, there’s nothing to teach) for who hopes for what he sees.” Once you get it, you don’t, you don’t hope anymore. You won’t need it in heaven, right? But then this verse, 25 is very pointed and very important that we get it right. “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Okay, so let me just mark this for you. If we hope we wait with patience, if we hope we wait with patience. Okay, so the foundation of that hope is what? It’s faith. Covered that last week, that’s the foundation. So, then, what’s the hope of this patience that we supposedly will have guaranteed? And, by the way, this is indicative, this is not an imperative, this is not this. There is nothing to this that is saying you need to be patient. This is not that, okay? If there’s faith, it will produce hope, because it’s the foundation, and if we hope, we wait with patience. So, someone who is born again has this now, it’ll be in greater and greater measure. Okay, it doesn’t mean that your first year in Christ, you’re gonna have this much assurance in the patience, and you’re going to learn what that means, but it is something that it will be growing, but it is still a guarantee, and it’s a signet of the assurance of what we have in Christ. Here, let’s start this. I first want to tell you what this doesn’t mean. You need to know what this word doesn’t mean. Most people that come to Sherman Bible, probably according to my deep research of anecdotal guessing, is that most people have not read a literal translation. Okay, they’ve not read the New American Standard or the LSB, Legacy Standard Bible. Generally speaking, most people that come really to any church have read either the King James, New King James, NIV, maybe ESV, and that’s the word that you see. If you take this at face value, that means you’re waiting, and you’re just calmly waiting. Well, it’s not what that means, and we need to understand that. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on the phone with people in customer service, and they say, “Can I put you on a brief hold?” It’s not a brief hold, and when they come back, they say, “Thank you for your patience,” and I’m not extending them any patience. This is not that.

Let me show you what it isn’t. This will be contrast. This is Galatians 5:22, you probably know this verse, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience. Not the same word. This is a completely different word with a completely different application. Here’s a second, just for two proofs. Here, 1 Corinthians 13:4a. “Love is patient…” Right? It doesn’t mean this. That’s not the word. The word in 8:25 is not this word. This word I’m going to make sure I Greek translated of it. I know the root spelling, but this word is Makrothymia. The word that you’re used to using for patience is makrothymia. This is two words, this is “makro” in the Greek and “thumos”. So, what does “makro” mean? “Makro” means long. Macaroni, by the way, “thumos” means anger. Long anger. The word properly translated “patience” that you’re used to reading in your Bible means “long anger”. It means when God is patient, it’s saying He has long anger. In other words, He has a long fuse. Have you ever met anybody with a short fuse? That’s the antithesis of this. The guy has a short fuse, and he, you know, angry in a moment, right? This is long fuse. This is long anger. This is not the patience that’s talked about in 8:25 So, if we hope, we wait with patience. It’s a completely different word.

So, what is it? Let’s go back to the text, verse 25 “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” This is a different Greek word. This is the Greek word “hypo” “mone” or “hypomino”. There’s two ways to say it. “Hypomonē.” “Hypo,” you probably know this by now. This means “under”, and this word literally means. If I use “mone”, I need to use the right word. This means “to remain”. What does “hypomonē” mean? It means “to remain under”, that’s what it means. So now I want you to think about the verse, “But if we hope for what we do not see,” we wait for it (remaining under). “Remaining under”, what? Yes, remaining under anything, if we hope we wait. Now we understand that what we’re hoping for is what? It’s the resurrection of our bodies. It’s the full redemption. You recognize this, don’t you? If you’re a Christian who’s been discipled at all, you recognize you are completely saved, but you’re not saved completely, are you? No, because you don’t have the redemption of your body yet. That doesn’t mean you’re not fully born again. It doesn’t mean you’re not completely adopted, completely His, but you have not received that full inheritance. We’re still waiting for the redemption of our bodies, and it’s not over till it’s over. And so, we wait, remaining under. Very important that we get that word, because if you get it wrong, and it’s wrong in those translations that I mentioned to you, people see this and they think it’s a correlation, something to James chapter one, maybe, right? You know, let patience have its perfect work, and you just got to be patient, you know, the patience of Job, and this, that, and the other, and we get it, we get a little twisted, and so we start thinking, “I’m supposed to be a patient waiter for the return of Jesus Christ,” as though it’s a passive thing to kind of settle down and remain calm. That’s not what this word’s talking about. This is talking about something that is active against whatever else is going on in the life. The better translation would be usually “endurance” or “perseverance”, NASB uses a better translation, but I like to use the word “patience”, because then it clears up anytime that hypomonē is used for you in the scripture. If you go to the Greek in your Bible, and you can – it’s not complicated – you can get a Bible program if you don’t know which one, it’s called Olive Tree. I recommend it to everybody, download it on your phone or your iPad or your computer, or whatever. If you don’t know what those things are, never mind. These two words are often used together, and when they’re used in the same verse, you can see the contrast to them. It’ll open it up a little bit.

Here’s one of them: Colossians 1:11: being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might for all endurance and patience, makrothymia hypomonē. Do you see the correct translation that makes sense? Endurance or even long suffering, in some places, it’s put there. Perseverance, that’s what you’ve got to read. And when you get to Romans 8:25 you need to see that. Now, the reason why I’m showing you this is so you can see two words are in this, are in the same thing, but they’re different. They’re in the same verse, but they’re actually different meanings. Here’s another one, 2 Timothy 3:10. “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience (it’s makrothymia, that’s long anger), my love, and (here it is, hypomonē) my steadfastness.” Literally, what it’s communicating is the remaining under in stress, trial, trouble, temptation, hardship. Listen, and groaning, makes sense, doesn’t it? Brings it right back into Romans chapter eight. So, there’s a groaning in every believer, they see their own sin, they see the sin of others, they grieve over the world and the condition that it’s in. They grieve over what the spirit of the age is doing and the spirit of antichrist, and there’s a groaning. There’s a groaning for heaven. And there’s a groaning to get away from the things that are here. There’s a groaning, and what do we need in the midst of it? We need to be steadfast, we need endurance, we need hypomonē, we need the remaining under look at 2 Corinthians 6:4-5. It says, “But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way.” Now I want you to see the context of the way the word’s used in every way by great endurance. Guess what? This word is hypomonē. It’s the same word in 8:25 Romans. Endurance in what? Paul. Oh, here’s the resume: afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger. You see it? This is a word that means you can endure all these other things, but if we hope, we wait with hypomonē, we wait with the ability to remain under, come what may, come what may, because people say, “You know, my greatest fears, and then they’ll tell you what their greatest fear is,” or usually our greatest fear, we won’t really tell anybody, but I want you to tell you, just tell you about this. You don’t have grace there for the hypothetical. There’s no grace in the hypothetical, and so for the situations that you dream up in the future that make you nervous, and you wonder how you could ever make it through that, you couldn’t right now, but you would, if you’re there. Why? That’s what grace is. It’s in the moment, and the ability to endure and remain, remain where? Oh, remain in your walk, remain in hope, thus proving you remain in faith. No man can snatch you out of your Father’s hand. No one can. You say, “Well, can I jump out?” No, no, you’re not insane. “What if I go crazy?” He’ll tighten His grip. He’s going to all who are called are raised on the last day. Jesus said that. I didn’t make that up. And so, we have great assurance in this, that this is something that’s ultimately for our good and our joy, so when we see this word, this would obviously, it is a Greek word, hypomonē, and it is a word that was used in antiquity, particularly in a military sense.

So, you’ve heard of the Greek hoplite, right? The armies that would fight, they would conquer, and they were very, you know, successful, very hard to defeat, especially when they were on defense. Right? This is a word that was a standing order. This is a word that the commanders would call out, particularly when they got together in what’s called the phalanx. And if you’ve seen any good movies, you’ve probably seen a phalanx, right? And right now, I can’t think of a single movie, and that’s a good thing. So, you won’t go watch it, and there’s a bad word, and then you email me. “You shouldn’t recommend those movies.” It’s third service that does that to your pastor, but what did they do? Each man had a shield, and they linked them together, so that they used to say no light between. There was a statement, no light between, no light could be seen between those shields, they would overlap like this, and everybody who had that front shield would push, everybody would push, and then they would encounter another army that would do the same thing, and they would get into.. I forgot the Greek word, it was called the shove, though, that’s the translation, and they would clash together, and they would push, and whoever could push the other back would gain the advantage, because then the line would start breaking down, and eventually, what would happen, the shields would separate, and here come the spears. The Greeks did this more successful than anybody, right? Think of Leonidas in the 300, right? At Thermopylae. I don’t know if you’ve seen that movie. Don’t see that movie. There I said it, that’s a terrible movie. It’s got filth in it, but the combat idea is very accurate when you look at just how they tried to portray holding something back. You remember what they did, they got the Persian army, which was hundreds of 1000s of people, to go through a narrow pass, thus the great quantity of soldiers that they had didn’t count as much. It wasn’t as important. Why? Because they only had to block that one spot, and so they got behind their shields, and this would have been the rallying cry. This is in antiquity, hypomonē. And what would that mean? Remain under that when it hits you, point it yourself, and you hold up under it, come what may, that is different than patience. And if we hope, we wait for it with patience. Get that picture in your head. Oftentimes, what those armies would do, by the way, fun fact, they would give them kind of a military juke, if they would create any separation away from, particularly those Spartans, they’d break rank. The Spartans would break rank and run in panic, and they’d turn their back, and they’d go running away. And then the other army would think, what, oh, because see, they haven’t been initiated yet, because they hadn’t seen it happen to the previous guys, and they’d go chasing after them, and the commander would yell to stop, gather, and the third command is what, hypomonē to stick, and they pin, and then they clash against that, here come the spears. This is what the text is actually saying to us, if we hope, we have a staying power, if we have hope, we have something that sticks. If we have true hope, it sticks, no matter what. And that’s a great assurance. It’s not based upon what we do, it’s actually based upon what Jesus has done. That would be the battle cry. Hypomonē carries the idea of remaining steadfast, consistent, unwavering, and unflinching. And, in fact, let me read to you a Greek scholar named Rick Renner, not the best theologian, but an absolute wonderful Greek scholar. He says this of the Word, he puts it in the first person. “I don’t care how heavy the load gets or how much pressure I’m under, I am not budging one inch, this is my spot, and I’m telling you right now that there isn’t enough pressure in the whole world to make me move and give it up.” That is the force of language behind that. I can endorse that. I studied this Word for, I guess, I started when I was 20, I think, and now I’m, we see this in the Bible. I’m going to show you two examples of it, because it’s not just like any kind of coincidence that certain things are recorded in scripture while other certain things aren’t.

This is 2 Samuel. We’re going to look at a couple of short stories here. 2 Samuel 23:9-12. These are in the middle of descriptions of David’s mighty men. Okay, these are the descriptions of the mighty men that were with David, and they did all kinds of exploits, and there are two that are back to back, and it’s shocking when you see what these men did, and it is an absolute portrayal of what the Greek would call hypomonē, not in the phalanx with shields, but nevertheless under unrelenting, unbelievable pressure. Here’s the first verse nine. “And next to him, among the three mighty men, was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines, who were gathered there for battle. (You need to catch this little detail.) And the men of Israel withdrew.” I can’t draw, or I draw a chicken there. There, they go. He’s with the army. Here comes the Philistines. Everybody else runs, and we get to see what Eleazar does. Look at verse 10. He did what? “He rose.” Now I get it, hypomonē means to remain under. This is him remaining under. Sometimes the way you remain under is you rise up and handle it, is that true? It is sometimes the way you remain under is you bow down on and you fall on your face and you pray. Sometimes you stand up and you declare the truth, but the remaining under has to do with staying in the fight. “He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary.” Now that’s not a good translation. It literally, in Hebrew, is saying it “cleaved to the sword.” It means his hand stuck to the sword, his hand would not release. Have you ever held something so long you’re almost stiff? They couldn’t get his hand off the sword because he was doing battle, that’s a remaining under, and his hand clung to the sword, that’s the cleaved word. “And the Lord brought about a great victory that day.” Oh, looky, looky, looky, “And the men returned after him, only to strip the slain.” In other words, they took what the valuables were. Well, you could illustrate that, couldn’t you? God always has one that’s mighty, or many who are mighty, and the others get to come along behind, maybe pick up the scraps. No such thing with a Christian, though. And you may have slept, slipped into cowardice, you may have blown it, you may have kept silent when you needed to speak. I’ve done that. That doesn’t mean that’s who you are. This is a growth trajectory, and by the end of your life, you’ll see God was faithful, and you remained under.

And this is a picture of it in battle, but I believe it’s bested by the next story. Look at the next verse, verse 11, “And next to him, (can you imagine these two guys next to each other?) was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. Now the Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils.” Do you know what that means? This is a bean field. This is a bean field. Nobody fights over a bean field, guys. It’s bean, it’s beans right now. If it’s corn, maybe this is beans. This guy is in a bean field, and here comes the enemy, but he has an attitude. Yes, it’s only a bean field, but it’s my bean field. And so here they come full of lentils, sounds familiar? The men fled. Let’s just get that going right there. “The men fled from the Philistines, but he (this is Shammah, he did what?) he took his stand.” That’s hypomonē, that’s a picture of that. “He took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.” Then they got to come in back and pick up the pieces after what he had done. How does this directly apply to a Christian? Well, it’s very clear the one who has hypomonē is the one who’s truly regenerate, and the one who’s truly regenerate has hypomonē. Did you catch that? The one who has hypomonē is truly regenerate, and the one who’s truly regenerate has hypomonē. If you’re actually saved, you say, “Will I be saved all the way the end?” Yes, you will. You will remain. You will remain under your hope will be guarded, because your faith is kept. It was a gift, and He’s the one who sustains it. Now, do you grow in that faith? Yes, you can grow in that. Can you lose that? No, you cannot. You cannot, because He’s the Author and He’s the Finisher. He’s the one who started it. He’s the one who demonstrates how it goes all the way through. And He began a good work, and He’ll complete it all the way until the day of Jesus Christ, i.e. revelation, and i.e. resurrection.

Let me give you something that might seem out of left field. This is going to be the interpretation that Jesus gives us, Luke 8:11-15. This is the interpretation that Jesus gives us to the parable of the sower. Remember, the sower? The sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell right on the on the track, right on the walking track. Literally, some of it goes on two types of ground, the fourth goes in good soil. He gives the explanation to the disciples, starting in verse 11. “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. The one along the path are the ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes, and he does what he takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” How does he do that? Well, he just stirs up their own humanism. All he has to do is just remind them of how awesome they are, and how weird church is, and how God would be a meanie, and they need to be their own god. And you don’t need this religion. That’s how the devil steals the Word. So, obviously, that doesn’t bear fruit. Look at verse 13, “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, they receive it with joy.” “What? Jesus has a great plan for my life. Awesome, I’ve got one too. He can help me with it. Jesus loves me just as I am? Cool, I don’t need to repent.” See? Those are bad gospels. Nevertheless, the seed goes out, then there’s some kernel of truth receives it with joy. “But these have no root. They believe for a while, and in a time of (what?) testing, they fall away.” That fall away proves who they never were, according to 1 John 2:9. In a time of testing, so here comes the testing, and they don’t remain under, they don’t remain under what? They don’t remain under the Word. This is a sad but true, by the way. And if you’re going to be a true Christian and walk as a true disciple, which, if you’re, if you’re here, I don’t know what else you’re doing, right? I know you’re here for the Greek, right? Then you’re going to experience this kind of heartbreak, you’re going to see people who are excited, and then something happens, and there they go, you’re like, what happened? This is what happened. Yeah, it wasn’t in the good soil. They did not remain under. Verse 14, “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go their way, they are (what? they’re) choked by (what? look) cares, riches, pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” In other words, it wasn’t truly abiding in the vine. This is still an unsaved person. We see the parable in another place, and we recognize that true application, right? They don’t continue, they don’t bear that fruit, they don’t remain under. This is the absence of hypomonē. This is contrast to clarity. Look at verse 15, though. “As for that in the good soil, (the seed in the good soil) they are those who, hearing the Word (Oh, look at this) they hold it fast in an honest and good heart.” In other words, the Holy Spirit has done something, because there’s none good, no, not one, and nobody has a good heart. You say, “Oh, well, their heart is good.” No, it’s not. Not according to Romans chapter one, or two, or three, or four, or 5, 6, 7. “They hold it fast to the good heart and bear fruit with (what?) patience.” ESV. Thanks a lot. “Endurance.” “They bear fruit with endurance.” “They bear fruit with hypomonē.” They bear fruit as they what? Remain under. They bear fruit as they stay under the Word. They bear fruit as God holds them together. Come what may, hardship, trial, temptation, opportunity. It doesn’t matter. They’re not going to be pulled away. This is the life of a real believer. And He doesn’t say they might, He says they will, because a work’s been done in their heart. Their heart is good soul, because of what the Holy Spirit has done. You can’t plow up your own heart, you can’t change your own heart, you can’t change somebody else’s own heart. That’s why we ask God, “Change my heart.” You see, a heart problem with you, and you have an issue, and you recognize it. What do you say? “God, help me, change my heart.” You don’t make a vow and say “I’m going to try harder this time, and I’m never going to, and I’m always going to know what do we do?”

I hate to be a broken record. We go back to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. We humble ourselves, we say, “Lord, you can change hearts,” and yes, you have a new heart, but your mind is getting renewed, and that is part of the of what comprises your heart in its totality, but this is identifying true believers. It’s not just a random chance that that’s written down there. In fact, look at Hebrews 10:35-36 and, by the way, I’ll remind you, Hebrews was written to a mixed audience. This was a congregation we can, we can identify as Jewish believers and unbelievers. Some are being encouraged in their faith, and some are being called to come all the way. Don’t just start, you know, don’t just move away from Judaism, forsake it, and come in fully and believe on Christ apart from your works. The writer says this: “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence.” What would be another word for that? That it would be assurance, wouldn’t it? “Do not throw away your (confidence) which has great reward, for you have need of (guess what that is? Hypomonē, you have need of) endurance.” Some translations you’ll read it, and they’ll say you have need of patience, and it doesn’t land. Does that make sense? Because you think a passive calm waiting period, no, it’s anything but that. There’s something very, very forceful to it. You have, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is what promised.” Same thing applies now. You have need of endurance, so that when you’ve done the will of God, that is the walk of sanctification throughout your life, you’ll receive what’s promised. This is His guarantee. He’s going to do this, so it looks like I’m holding on to it. Well, sanctification is synergistic, it’s not one actor. God doesn’t do what He’s commanded you to do, but He is the one giving you the grace to do it. He is the one working in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, even though you are the one that walks out your salvation with fear and trembling, Philippians two. What do we do to have this? Well, we look to Jesus, shocker. We go to Jesus. We don’t just stand apart from Him and say this: I’ve decided to follow Jesus, and though none go with me, yet I will follow, and you make these vows, and you make these tough guy statements, and you act like you’re super Christian. No, what we confess is this: I think I stand, I better take heed, lest I fall. I better remember the rock that I was hewn from. I better remember that I was, I was saved by God. I didn’t save myself. I won’t be the one that raises me from the dead. I didn’t start it, I don’t finish it, and I’m going to have to have Him to walk it through the sanctification. Have to have Him.

2 Thessalonians 3:5. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. You know what that word is, hypomonē, to the remaining under of Christ. So, here’s a question for you. How much hypomonē did Jesus Christ have? All of it. He had all of it. We know it because He proved it, didn’t He? What did He remain under? He remained under things that you will never experience. I don’t mean just the physical. He remained under. He remained under the wrath of God in our behalf. That’s basic 2 Corinthians 5:21, “(God that’s) He made Him (that’s Christ) to be sin, who knew no sin. For our sakes, He did this. He made Him to be sin for our (for us) He knew no sin, so that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ.” He remained under that. Yep, He absolutely did. Hebrews 12:1-3. We like to wear these verses out. I’ll tell you what, because you can’t wring every drop out, no matter how long you study it. Look at verse one. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with (hypomonē) the race that is set before us.” What is that? That’s your life. Let’s run it with hypomonē. Let’s run it with endurance. Some translations say let’s run with patience, and that always gives me some picture of someone running, you know, and they’re either in the race, but they’re like, everything’s cool, this is great, they’re laid back, they’ve got some chamomile tea, this is not that picture with endurance, the race that is set before us. Okay, there’s the admonition. How do we do that? Verse two, right? (Fixing the eyes) “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for (watch this closely, who for) the joy that was set before Him.” What’s another word for the joy that’s set before you? Isn’t it hope? Yeah, the joy that’s set before you. I hope to do that. I hope to be there. “Who, for the joy that was set before Him, He had a joy set before Him (that He hoped in).” He did. It was the reunion with the Father, and to have His entire church gathered to Him, namely it was you who, for the joy that was set before Him.” Hypomonē. There it is. You wouldn’t say He was patient, would you? No, He endured what? The cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Now look at the next verse. “Consider Him who (hypomonē).” “Consider Him”. That means to contemplate, to meditate on, to look into it, to keep your eyes on Him. How do we do that? We behold Him in the Word of God, and we’re strengthened with might in our inner man, and we have the strength to endure. And I’ll tell you what’s neat about the body of Christ? It’s almost like a phalanx, because if I’m enduring and I’m remaining steadfast, and I’m in that yoke, and I am hypomonē, I’m being steadfast in that, and I’m actually persevering, and you’re persevering next to me, and we lock together in unity, we can hold back far more than an individual can. One will chase 1000 to 10,000 that’s at least the principle, if not the direct application of that of that text. You get yourself linked with the right people who are saying the right things to you, trust God, believe, read the Word, confess your sins, repent, believe, be faithful. You get those people around you, you’re now just not an army of one. You have more and more might because of the body of Christ that’s around you. That’s called a grace from God. The people around you in your life, in the church, are secondary means of it. Nevertheless, that’s how He provides you grace. Often those around you. “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” That doesn’t mean you’re never going to get tired. That’s talking about weary in what? That’s weary in your faith, weary in your walk, weary in your hope. Start become disillusioned, start to feel timid, start to feel beaten down, start to feel spiritually depressed. There is such a thing you want, if you’d like to have it, stop reading your Bible. If you’re real happy in here and you have lots of joy and you’re growing, I can help you fix it, just stop reading your Bible, it’ll all go away. The contrast and the converse of that is true too. If you want to grow in this, open up your Bible, start reading it. You should be found daily with the scriptures in your hand, being nourished on the true words. It’s not just from a sermon. Now, we do want to take the truth that’s exposited on the weekends, and we want to explode that, want to study on it, we want to meditate on it, we want to chew the cut, as it were, so we really digest it. But you can’t live unless you’re in the Word yourself, you’re not going to grow. So that’s what we do. We stay in the place of hypomonē. Consider Him who endured. Why? So that we can therefore endure, and ultimately that becomes an end in itself, doesn’t it? Standing faithful, there’s a lot to be said for that. The Bible says many man will tell you of his own faith, of his own worth, but a faithful man who can find? That means a man who’s true to the original, who stays the course. It’s going to be a man who’s fixed his eyes on Christ. If your eyes are bouncing all over everything else on creation, and that doesn’t mean you can’t shop on Amazon, but come on, right? Fixing my eyes on a new income, fixing my eyes on the new thing, fixing my eyes on the new house, fixing my eyes on the new whatever, whatever it is, don’t let it become first. Keep him first. Keep Him in your focus. He’s the source of the grace. You’ll never get that new thing. All those new things, by the way, are the stuff of future garage sales or fire sales. It’s very important we get this.

Let me give you one last encouragement, and it’s this: there is a finish line, family. There is a finish line you can remain under until your finish line, or until He returns. You can, and what assurance there is in perseverance. There’s such assurance. Let me ask you this, can any of you think of a time that the Lord carried you through something? Yeah, even if you can think of one, and you realize that was the grace of God, or something God just graced me, and I walked it out, and He was right there with me. Maybe the body came around you at some point, but you recognize God was in that. What does that do? That assures your heart that He’s going to be there in the next time, and the next time, the next time, all the way to the last time. 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action (okay, this doesn’t sound passive) and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you (when?) at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” What is that? That is the resurrection from the dead. We’re future thinkers. We focus on the finish line. That doesn’t mean we don’t interact and we don’t take care of what we have to do now. Yes, we do, and we do it with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, as unto the Lord. We want to do that, but that’s not our finish line. Our finish line is when we look at our Savior, and I’m telling you, Romans eight is giving assurance to true believers that you will endure until that I can almost feel the arguments that people have in their hearts right now, but what about that? What if this happens? What if that? Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. He’ll endure. He will. Why? Because He’s the one who bought you, and He’s the one that’s keeping you. He will finish what He started, and that assurance is there for you to know this. I believe because He saved me. I have hope because I have faith because He saved me. And because I have hope, I will endure. I will walk all the way, I’ll hypomonē all the way to the very end. Let’s finish where we started, Romans 8:25 “But if we hope (let me ask you this, do you hope? If that, then this is) if we hope we wait with patience.” There is deep assurance from strong endurance. If you’re understanding that you’re understanding 8:25 of Romans, and that’s all I got to say about that. You’re welcome.

KEYWORDS

Patience, Hope, Endurance, Endure, Stand Under, Remain Under, Romans 8:25, Faith, Redemption, Groaning, Steadfastness, Perseverance, Greek, Makrothymia, Makro, Thumos, Hypo, Meno, Hypomonē, Long Anger, Spiritual Growth, Grace, Assurance, Gospel, Phalanx, Lentils, Race, Run, Community, Parable Of The Sower, God’s Word, Bible, Non-Denominational Church, Churches In Texas, Churches In Grayson County, Bible Churches, Churches That Teach The Bible, Churches In Texoma, Churches In Sherman

Speaker

Steve LeBlanc