Ron Dunn Podcast - Never Disappointed

Episode Date: March 26, 2020

From the sermon series on Romans

And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God proved his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Now let's read again the first part of verse 5. Paul says, And hope maketh not ashamed. Hope never disappoints.

You learn as children to hope. That's where you learn the art of hoping when you're a child. And you soon discover two things about hope. First of all, you discover that you don't get everything you hope for. Secondly, you make the sad discovery that the things you do get don't bring you the joy you thought they would. Some of the most disillusioning times of life is when you finally accomplish the thing you've

been trying to accomplish for so many years and you discover that it really wasn't so great after all. Two things, characteristics of earthly hopes. You don't always get what you hope for. And secondly, when you do get what you hope for, it usually disappoints you. There seems to be an emptiness there. And yet Paul the apostle makes what I consider to be one of the most astounding statements in all the Word of God, hope never disappoints. J. C. Hewlett was right when he wrote, There's no disappointment in Jesus.

He's more than my tongue can tell. His love is so sure and steadfast. His friendship divine will never fail. All that thrills my soul is Jesus. And why it thrills the soul of a knowing Christian is because, first of all, you always get what you hope for when you're hoping in Him. You can have all of Him you want. and you can know all of God you want. And the second thing is, you're never disappointed in what you find. And I repeat, Paul makes one of the most astounding statements that's ever been made when he says,

that person who puts his hope in God, that person who puts his confidence in God will never be disappointed. The Greek word means to be let down. To get rid of that old let down feeling of everyday living, you turn it over to the Lord. I like the song that Gene Bartlett has written. I think Gene Bartlett has a pipeline to the Lord because most of the songs he writes are right on it. They hub right to the center every time. And every day is worth living. It's a better day, and it's what Jesus does. He makes it worth living when you turn it over to the Lord. And Paul says that person who puts his confidence,

his hope in Jesus Christ will never be let down. Will never be let down. Romans chapter 10 and verse 11 says, The Scriptures say that whosoever believeth on him shall never be let down. Romans chapter 10 and verse 11 says, the scriptures say that whosoever believeth on him shall never be disappointed, shall never be ashamed, shall never be let down. Now you can put your hope in the preacher and you'll be let down. And you can put your hope in the denominational program and you'll be let down. You can put your hope in religion and you'll be let down. I hope the Lord is teaching

us the difference between religion and Jesus. There's a lot of difference. And you can put your hope in religion and be let down. You can put your hope in a thousand and one things and sooner or later that hope is going to disappoint you. But I'm here to say to you this morning that the man who puts his confidence in God and ignores outward circumstances and cares not what the circumstances may be and he centers that hope in God himself, he'll never be disappointed. Some of us are disappointed because we have a little bit of hope in God and a lot of hope in ourselves or in circumstances. And that always will lead to disappointment. My pastor used to say a lot

of people have just enough religion to make them miserable. And you know that's true. A lot of people know just enough to make them miserable about it. And I promise you a miserable time if you put Jesus in second place. I promise you a miserable time if you try to mix your confidence with God in anything else. That's why we've said so much lately about God shutting us up to faith. Sometimes in order for God to teach us this lesson, he has to wean us from everything else and cut off every other avenue of escape and shut us up to faith where the only thing we can believe in is God. And when you come to that place, you're never disappointed. He's been talking about the hope we have of glory, the hope we have in Jesus Christ, that man who

completely abandons himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the promise is he'll never be let down. He'll never be disappointed. It is an utter impossibility for a man to be disappointed when he puts his hope and his faith and his confidence in God. You say, how do you know that? Well, I know it. I know it for two reasons that Paul knows it here. In verse 5, he says, and hope, make of not ashamed. And I can hear somebody in the wing say, how do you know, Paul?

And Paul says, I know because of the love of God. I know that my confidence in God will never let me down, will never disappoint me, because the love of God has been proven to me. Boy, just think about that for a minute. That God who spoke and the world came into existence, that God by whom all of this majestic universe runs according to the laws of His mind, that God in whom the whole universe holds together, that God loves me in a personal, individual, intimate way. He loves me. Paul says, I know that

my confidence in God will never let me down because that God in which I am confident loves me. He loves me. I know he loves me because it has been exhibited in history. God has proven that He loves me because He gave His Son to die for me on the cross. You know, you hear a lot of talk today about love, and we hear a lot of songs about God's love, and they point to the mountains, they point to the birds.

I was listening to a song tonight, and I like the song. It's very pretty. And it says, We know God loves us because the birds of the air that fly and the mountains majestic that reach towards the sky but i want you to know this morning there's only one place you can really know that god loves you and that's in the death of the lord jesus christ

i can look at those mountains majestic as they reach towards the sky that tells you that god is a god of power i can look at the little birds that fly that tells me god is a God of power. I can look at the little birds that fly. That tells me God is a God of genius. I can look at all of nature round about me and it tells me a lot about God, but I never know, well, does that God who has such awesome power, does that God care about me?

Does that God really care about this insignificant little speck of dust on this insignificant little planet? Does that God really love me? And the only thing it tells me He does is when I go to that event in history and see God giving His Son to die for me on the cross. Boy, I look at that and I say, God loves me. God loves me. The trees can't tell me that. The birds can't tell loves me. The trees can't tell me that. The birds can't tell me that. The mountains can't tell me that.

The rushing rivers can't tell me that. And in bright red letters of blood on the cross it says, God loves me. You know, Paul is amazed at this. You just read these verses and he just keeps coming back. He's completely startled that God loves him. He says, for when we were yet without strength, he said, God loved me when I was helpless. Jesus died for me when I was helpless. That word in the Greek without strength

means incapable of doing any good. Helpless to do any good. I lacked the capacity for even holding good. There was no possibility of my pleasing God. And Paul is just amazed. He said, think about this. He said, you mean you doubt

confidence in God? Why, look there. When you were helpless, when there was no possibility of your pleasing God, God loved you so much He gave His Son to die for you on the cross.

Why now? Who's ever heard of such a thing? You know, once in a while, once in a while, somebody, perhaps per adventure, once in a thousand years, somebody might lay down their life for a good man. But Jesus not only died for us when we were helpless, He died for us when we were hostile. For it says in verse 10, For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Verse 8 says, but God proved his love toward us in that while we

were still practicing sin against him, is the way you can read that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us. And so he says, much more than in verse 9, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. You see what Paul is saying? He's saying, now listen, I want to tell you something. You were helpless. You were hostile. You were weak. You were wicked. You were God's enemy. You were practicing rebellion against him. And while you were in that situation, God loved you so much, he gave his son to die for you on the cross. Now listen, if God has done the greatest,

he'll take care of the lesser. Why, sure you can put your confidence in God. Sure God is going to take care of you in your everyday life. Sure God cares about you because look, he's proved it by exhibiting his love in history. Why, if we were having a weightlifting contest this morning he didn't know I used to lift

weights did you that's right I did let's suppose we were having a weightlifting contest this morning and over here a thousand pounds and I get up and I'm going to demonstrate my tremendous strength. And I clean and jerk that 1,000 pounds. I don't think that's ever been done. And everybody sees it and they applaud and they clap. And it's marvelous. It's marvelous.

I lifted 1,000 pounds. Over here is a little 10-pound weight. And so I walk over to that 10-pound weight, and the whole audience gasps, and they begin to wonder, and they're worried about, maybe I can't lift that 10-pound weight. Maybe it'll break under, maybe I'll break under the load, maybe I'll not be able to get a grip on it, maybe somehow I won't be able to lift up that little 10-pound weight. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? But I want to tell you something, you know, we're just that stupid. I see Jesus Christ dying on the cross for me. I see God loving me so much that He gives the gift of His Son, His only begotten Son, to die in my place when I was in that sorry condition. And then I turn

right around and worry and wonder if He cares about me today at this point of time. Paul said, I'm not worrying about that. My hope in God will never put me to shame. I'll never be disappointed in putting my faith and confidence in God because God has proven that he loves me by giving to me the death of his son on the cross. He's exhibited his love in history, but I'll tell you there's more than that. I know God loves me because I've experienced his love in my heart. One of my favorite verses is verse 5, and hope maketh not ashamed. How do you know that, Paul? Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Now, that's

hard experience. That's hard experience. Paul says, I know that God loves me not only because I have seen it exhibited in history by the death of Jesus on the cross, but know that God loves me, not only because I have seen it exhibited in history by the death of Jesus on the cross, but I know He loves me because I have experienced that love in my heart. The Holy Ghost has taken the love of God, and the word shed abroad literally means to pour out of into. Now you think about that for a minute. To pour out of into.

Now what does it mean? That means that first of all the Holy Spirit goes to the great heart of God and pours out of the love of God out of that heart, and He pours it into my heart. God, the Spirit, takes that love which is His, which is unbounding and unchanging and everlasting and forgiving. He takes that tremendous love out of the heart of God, and He just pours it into my heart like a mighty waterfall. Paul said, I know God loves me because I've experienced that love in my heart. Boy, I have too. Somebody said the other day, don't you live a lot just on emotion?

I said, no, sir, I live on fact. I live on fact. I'm glad the Lord has delivered some of us from feeling. You know, man, you don't have to be happy when you have the feeling. You'll be happy when you've got the fact. And the fact is that God loves me, and I know He loves me because the Spirit of God which dwells in me has witnessed to that fact that He loves me.

I want you to know that makes me rejoice. That encourages me. That makes me happy. God loves me. God loves me. Why should I doubt? Why should I worry? Why should God loves me. Why should I doubt? Why should I worry? Why should I be anxious?

Why should I be uptight? God loves me, and He's in control. He's in control. I want you to know this morning, you can put your confidence, you can put your hope in God, and never be disappointed, never be let down,

because He loves you. He loves you. You know in your heart He does. You've experienced it if you've been saved. But I know that my faith in God, my confidence in God will never put me to shame, not only because His love has been proven to me, but His life is present within me. His life is present within me. Now look at that verse 5. It says, And hope maketh not a shame. Why?

Because, first of all, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and secondly, which is given unto us. I can put absolute confidence in God because I know His life is present within me. The Spirit, the Word, as you know, means breath.

The Spirit of God is the breath of God. And when the Lord Jesus Christ saved me several years ago at the age of nine, God, just as He breathed on Adam back in the book of Genesis and made him a living man, so God breathed into the deadness of my soul. He breathed His breath into me and I became alive in God. His life present within me. His life present within me. And over and over again, over and over again, the Bible uses time and time again

that expression of His life within us. Christ in us. Our abiding in Christ. And that gives me confidence in God because I know now that God is not someone who is far off and unreachable and unaccessible. I know that the very life which dwells within this physical body is the life of God, the life of God. And that's resurrection life. That's resurrection life. I want you to look at verse 10. For if when we were enemies,

we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Notice, much more. Have you ever gone through and underlined that? Much more. That expression appears five times in chapter 5. Let's look at it.

Verse 9, much more. Verse 10, much more. Verse 15, much more. Verse 17, much more. The Christian life is the life of much more there's always more there's always more and here's what Paul is saying here's what Paul is saying listen it's one thing to know that the love of God has been proven to you and we can all look back to that event on Calvary and know that

God loves us and we can look intovary and know that God loves us. And we can look into our heart and know that at times we have experienced that love as we've allowed the Holy Spirit control over us. We have known that, had that witness that God does love us, we've experienced it in our hearts. But Paul says, listen, there's more to it than that. Oh, there's more to it than just having your sins forgiven. There's more to it than just having a home in heaven. There's more, so much more than that. I heard Stuart Briscoe put it this way. He said,

you remember the old iron bedsteads that we used to have, or our grandparents used to have? He said, you know the characteristic of the old iron bedstead was it was firm on each end and sagged in the middle. You remember that, don't you? Showing your age, Jamil. I remember that. And he said, you know, that's the way a lot of people's Christian life is. Firm on both ends. Are my sins forgiven?

Yes, thank the Lord. I remember 20 years ago, 30 years ago, when I trusted Jesus as my Savior. What about the future? Praise the Lord, I know I have a home in heaven. If I should die right now, if Jesus should split the clouds right now, I know I'd go to be with Him. What about now? Well, it's sagging.

It's sagging. The interim is sagging. Oh, how descriptive of the average Christian life. Sagging in the middle. No victory. No rejoicing. No hall. Sagging in the middle. No victory. No rejoicing. No hallelujahs ringing in the soul. Every day is not better.

Every day just seems to be the blah old day it was before. Maybe once in a while an exception to the rule and there's a little bit of joy and there's a little bit of victory and we just settle down and make peace and come to terms with this kind of living. I want you to hear the message of the gospel. There's more, much more than that.

There's so much more than that. Not only has the love of God been proven to me by the death of Christ on the cross, but more than this, and this is the good news of the gospel, the life of God himself is present within me. The life of God is present within me, and that's resurrection life. Look in that verse 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Now, what life is it talking about? It's not talking about the life that Jesus lived before the crucifixion. It's talking about resurrection life. You look it up in your Williams translation, it's resurrection life. I like the way the Amplified New Testament translates this. Listen. We shall be daily delivered from sin's dominion by his resurrection life. We shall be daily delivered from sin's dominion by his resurrection life. You say, oh I love to read over there

in 1st Corinthians when it says, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye we shall all be changed. This mortal shall put on immortality. This corruptible shall put on incorruptible. In the twinkling of an eye we shall all be changed in the likeness of His glorious body. Well, friend, why wait? I mean, that wouldn't do me any good to have a million dollars in the bank if I couldn't spend a little of it down here on this earth. Boy, money burns a hole in my pocket.

If I've got a $100 in the bank, I want to spend it. I like to enjoy it. Don't you? I mean, what good would it be to have all that money in the bank? And they say, now, it's yours. There it is. It's yours. Just don't spend any of it. Maybe one of these days when you get real old and decrepit, we'll let you have a little bit of it. Oh, friend, that wouldn't be an inheritance. That wouldn't cause rejoicing. Now, it's one thing for us to stand on Jordan's stormy banks and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

I want you to know you can spend it while you're here on earth. And as a matter of fact, the only time the promises are good are right now in this life. Did you know that? The only time you can spend God's promises are in this life. The only time you can spend faith is in this life. Up there, faith will give way to sight. And the promises of God will become reality then. If you're going to cash in on all the promises of God, you've got to do it in this life.

Faith is the pawn of the realm. You can have resurrection life today. You do have it today. You just don't realize it. It's the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came out of that grave. He was victorious over death and hell and He had put the devil to flight

and He was triumphant. And it's that resurrection life, that glorious life, that victorious life that dwells in me. What's the difference between his resurrection life and his physical life? Well, his physical life, he was meek and lowly in heart, nothing wrong with that, but he subjected himself to the circumstances of men. He voluntarily gave up all of his power and all of his prerogatives. In John chapter 14 and verse 10 it says, I do nothing of myself, but it's the Father

who works in me. When Jesus came to this earth to take upon himself a physical life, he laid aside his mighty power, laid aside that royal life that was his, and subjected himself in humility. But when he was raised from the dead and glorified, he took up again that mighty power that he laid down in the incarnation. And he clothed himself again with all the glory that he had with the Father before the world began. That is his resurrection life.

And that resurrection life lives in the life, in the heart, in the body of every believer wanting to be released. Wanting to be released. I like the way Jack Taylor puts it in his new book. The release of Christ through the human life. Christ is living in me. His resurrection life.

And what he wants to do is to release that life through my physical body. If I'll just let him, if I'll just die to self, if I'll just turn my life over to him, put my confidence in him, I can put all my confidence in him and not be disappointed because within me is living the resurrection life of Jesus. That's power. After his resurrection, not before, it was after his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me, and lo, I am with you always.

Lo, I am with you always. All power in heaven and earth is given unto me. A-double-L, all. No power lacking, no need missing, no solution unsolvable. Jesus says, all power is given unto me, and this resurrected life lives in me. That's why I'm not worried about my faith in God ever putting me to shame, ever letting me down, because all power is given unto him. But it's not only resurrection life, it's also reigning life. Look in verse 17.

This is a tremendous verse. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life. It doesn't say anything about heaven there, does it? Does it? I thought we were going to reign in heaven. I thought when the Lord came back and set up his kingdom on this earth, then we were

going to reign with the Lord. Well, that's right. But he's not talking about that here. He's talking about spending your money right here. They shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Now listen to the way J.B. Phillips translates this verse. They should live all their lives like kings. They should live all their lives like kings. They should live all their lives like kings. Now, a king has two things.

He has plenty and he has power. He has plenty. He's dressed in royal robes. He lives off of the fat of the land. He's a king, not a pauper. He has plenty. The Bible says all the riches and all the wisdoms and all the treasures of God are mine through Jesus Christ. Colossians 2.9 in the Williams Translation says you lack nothing in Christ. You are complete in Christ. You lack absolutely nothing in Christ. And the king also has power.

A king is a man who reigns. He has power. Jesus says, if you ever just wake up to the fact that you have living in you the resurrection life of Jesus, you'll also walk into the fact that you have reigning life living in you, the resurrection life of Jesus. You'll also walk into the fact that you have reigning life living in you. There's no reason that sin should have dominion over you. There's no reason that a Christian

should ever be defeated in his Christian life. We are, but there's no excuse for it. And so Paul says, Hope maketh not ashamed. He that believeth on him shall never be let down. When you put your faith, your confidence in Jesus, there is no disappointment in him. I want to ask you this morning where your faith is. In what do you have your faith placed? There's a sign out there in front of our church lot that where your faith is. And what do you have your faith placed? There's a sign out there in front of our church lot that says your faith is no stronger than its object.

I want to know what the object of your faith is this morning. You can put your faith in anything and everything else. And I got one promise to make. As soon as you put your faith in anything and everything else, sooner or later, it'll let you down. It'll disappoint you. Put you to shame. Put your faith in Jesus. Put your confidence in God. Build your hope on Him, and it'll never let you down. You'll never be disappointed.

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