Levi Lusko - We Can Do Impossible Things
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A message from Romans 15:3, and as you’re there, let me start by telling you that when you understand the names of God, you are much better positioned to receive the help He wants to give you. God does not just have a single name; He has many names that you find throughout Scripture. One of the things David tells us that is so helpful is that when we know God’s name, it helps us to put our trust in Him. «Those who know Your name will put their trust in You,» and that’s one of the reasons God has so many different names. He has revealed Himself to us in various ways because no single name can contain all that He is.
Now, of course, the name that is above every name is the name of Jesus, but He also has many different names that express what He needs to be for us in the moment. For example, you might have heard or sung the word «Jehovah Jireh, You are enough.» That comes from the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, where Abraham and Isaac go up on a mountain called Mount Moriah. Isaac looks around and asks, «Where’s the lamb? Where’s the lamb for the sacrifice?» Now, what his father says to him is prophetic: he says «Jehovah Jireh,» which means «The Lord will provide» or literally «The Lord Himself will provide,» or you could actually say «The Lord will provide Himself» — Jehovah Jireh.
Of course, we know that thousands of years later, on that very mountain, in the same place-Mount Moriah, outside the city of Jerusalem-God did provide Himself as the lamb to take away the sins of the world. It was almost as though Isaac was asking the question that John the Baptist would later answer: «Where’s the lamb?» What did John the Baptist say? «Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.» It was almost a one-in-a-thousand situation-the question was asked, and the answer came later: «Behold the Lamb; this is the Lamb God did provide.» Jehovah Jireh.
Jehovah means the Eternal One or the Becoming One, and whenever that is compounded, we learn something about who Jehovah is. So, who is He? He’s Jehovah Jireh. If you need provision, He’s your guy; He will provide for you. He’ll provide Himself for you because you don’t just need something from God, beloved; you need God. You need God. Right? So, Jehovah Jireh.
Then, of course, you see the nation of Israel come out of Egypt, where they were slaves, and they are headed toward the Promised Land under the direction and leadership of Moses, who walked with God face to face and who said, «God, I have one request: I want to know Your glory. Show me Your glory.» I know something of You, but I want to know more. I want You, God, who is always there, to come near. You’re omnipresent, but I want to experience Your manifest presence. «Show me Your face.» And God said, «If I do that, it will burn your skin off; that would be a problem. It would be like an Indiana Jones situation: you can’t handle the truth; so I’ll hide you behind a rock, and I’ll pass by and show you my glory.» God proclaimed His name; He disclosed Himself as Yahweh to Moses, and Moses glowed in the dark for a month just from the experience, right?
Moses is excited about this. He’s leading God’s people out of Egypt, into the wilderness, headed toward the Promised Land. They get attacked by the Amalekites. The king of Amalek leads this huge army against the Israelites, who are just a bunch of slaves trying to form a nation. They’re not organized, but the Amalekites have all these different units and regiments. You can imagine, if you’ve watched «Lord of the Rings,» how they all get organized under flags that each lieutenant, captain, and general marches under. You can see the nation of Israel freaking out because here comes this huge glorious army with their banners streaming in the air, all coming toward them.
They come to Moses, and Moses comes to God, prays, and speaks to the people. He says, «Jehovah Nissi- the Lord is our Banner,» because they were saying, «Where’s our Banner? Where’s our Banner?» He said, «The Lord is our Banner; we’re marching under the name of God, Jehovah Nissi. God marches for you; He is your Defender; He’s the lifter of your head. You can trust in Jehovah Nissi; the Lord is His name.» But He has also revealed Himself to us as the Becoming One; He becomes our Banner when we need a banner to march toward. «Those who know Your name will put their trust in You.»
Think about the diseases that would break out; they would complain, and snakes would show up and bite them. This is the children of Israel. Jesus actually talked about the snakes; He compared Himself to the serpent because God told Moses, «Make a metal serpent and put it on a pole; anyone who looks at it will be healed.» That’s good medical advice. And yet, those who looked to that pole with faith, looking at the serpent on the pole, were healed. Jesus said, «I’m that serpent on the pole; I’m going to be lifted up from the earth on the cross. Anyone who looks to Me will be saved.»
That doesn’t make sense, does it? You' d be right if, while dying from your snake bite, you thought to yourself, «I need antivenom.» That’s not what you do; you don’t look to it, and you’d be right to die if you said looking to this pole shouldn’t make a difference-looking to a metal serpent shouldn’t help me. But God said it, so I believe it. And you would look, and guess what? You would live. Jesus said, «Just as Moses lifted the serpent, so I, the Son of Man, shall be lifted up.»
And on that day, God told them, «You can trust in Jehovah Rapha- the Lord our Healer.» When you need healing, you trust in God. Those who know His name will put their trust in Him. He’s your healer. And on we could go! He told Gideon, «He’s Jehovah Shalom- the Lord God our Peace.» He told Ezekiel, «I’m Jehovah Shama,» which means the Lord God is there. Why? Because Ezekiel was a part of the exile in Babylon, far from the temple, and they thought if you weren’t near the temple, you were far from God. God said, «I am there. I am with you; wherever I am is where you are.»
That’s what I was trying to convey to the students at Movement Conference because it’s so easy to get home from camp and go, «Oh my gosh, it was good at camp!» You know what I’m saying? Remember that feeling? «It was so good there; God was there in that season.» We tend to do this with different seasons in our life that are so-called glory days. «Oh, it was great then. It was great then.» But I’ve got news for you! What was good about then was the fact that your Good Shepherd was there, and wherever you are today, as you reminisce about some previous season, your Good Shepherd is with you. Your glory days are all around you! Come on, He’s there! He’s there! He’s there!
So, we can say, «I’m good here. I’m good here.» Wherever I am, God is. That’s what God was saying to Ezekiel-Jehovah Shama. So, if you feel dislocated from blessing today, if you feel like you’ve been plucked from prosperity today, I’ve got good news! God doesn’t just have what you need. He is what you need. He is Jehovah Shama; He is with you in your season of suffering. He is with you in your time of depression. He’s with you in the darkness. He’s not just the God of the mountain high; He’s the God of the valley low. He’s Jehovah Shama.
And on and on we could go, but the reason I tell you all that is because in the Book of Romans, chapter 15, we are given three unique names for God that, in the form they’re given, are found nowhere else in Scripture. I’m going to show you one of them, and only one of them; the other two, if you want to get them, you’ve got to read the Bible when you’re not in church. All right? Romans 15:3 says, «Now may"-this is a prayer-"the God of hope"-there’s our title-"this is who God is, the God of hope- fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.»
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The title of my message is, «We Can Do Impossible Things.» Right? I was going to call it «We Can Do Hard Things,» but then I figured you could just get a TikTok account if you needed to learn to do hard things, right? Because it’ll show you anything you need to learn to do. Right? You need to organize your pantry? There’s a solution! You need to figure out how you can eat keto and make ice cream at the same time? Just get a TikTok account!
Right? You need to figure out how to motivate your kids or revolutionize your marriage? You can find cheap first-class tickets to go to Turkey and get hair transplants! TikTok is there to help us do hard things! Right? TikTok will show you how to start waking up at 4:30 while being about your grind. TikTok will tell you how cold plunges can change your life-that’s actually true! TikTok will tell you about the power of intermittent fasting and figuring out your passive cash flow situation so you can achieve financial independence and retire early! TikTok is there to help us do hard things!
And God will help you do hard things, but He’s not there in your life primarily to help you do hard things because God doesn’t call us to do things that are hard; it’s worse than that-He calls us to do things that are straight -up impossible! And so I say to you in Jesus' name, we can do impossible things! Why? Because we serve the God of hope. We serve the God of hope, so it’s never hopeless! When God calls us to do something, regardless of how impossible it feels, we can do it, but only, hear me, in the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit.
That’s why today we unite our hearts around this concept that we have a responsibility to welcome the wind. Now, let me pause and say that this verse has been described as the entire book of Romans in a nutshell, which is a really big job if you think about it because the Book of Romans is totally amazing, right? I mean, it has been called like the Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony of the New Testament; it’s been called the Christian’s Magna Carta. It is incredible! Just Romans 8 alone will change your life! The Book of Romans tells us the gospel; it tells us how God has bridged the gap for us regardless of where we’ve come from or what we’ve done.
It starts with us under the wrath of God, turning created things into the Creator, and in so doing triggering wrath and triggering hell. It ends with us gloriously ushered into a place waiting for God’s kingdom to come, which has already been heralded but has not yet been fully consummated, and we get to experience it on the inside of us and take part in Him bringing it to this world. It has us ending — literally verse 13, which is the last formal remark before he starts to shut things down-because from here on out, if you look at the next passage, it’s called Paul’s travel plans.
It’s just like, «Now he’s just filling time here.» He’s like, «I want to go to Spain, hope to come see you, tell so-and-so I said hi, oh my mom, give her a shout-out.» You’re like, «Oh, you’re winding down,» which means he really kind of ends the grand finale of the fireworks of the fourth movement to his symphony with this verse, verse 13: «Now may the God of hope"-he’s kind of like rearticulating everything that’s come before -» fill you with all peace and all joy in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.»
N.T. Wright said it’s a summary verse that says so much in a short space. He then says it would be worth learning it by heart and mulling it over again and again and doing what Paul did-turning it into prayer-which is why I found myself, as the Spirit was leading, coming to it again and again and again, praying over this next generation and our students. Spurgeon called it one of the richest passages in the Word of God and returned to it again and again to preach.
But what I like about it, and really where I want to land here, is that it teaches us that we have a part to play in our peace, our joy, and our hope. We have a part to play in it; we need to, as I’ve said, welcome the wind. What does that mean? He connects it all with the word «faith.» You want to experience all peace, all joy, all hope in believing? «Yes, yes, I do!» Oh, I want some of that, right? He’s like, «Okay, good, then you’re going to do so in believing.» Circle that in your Bible because those things all come as a consequence of us choosing faith yet again.
Now, our problem is that we sort of think of faith as kind of a one-time thing: «When did you come to faith? When did you become a believer?» And we all go, «Well, you know, I was at the rally; I was at the service; I was at the gathering. I just told you my faith story: I was at summer camp, and I had known all about God, but then I was there, and I was a mess because I was suicidal, experiencing dark thoughts, toying with drugs and alcohol and pornography, guilty and full of shame and self-loathing, and feeling so all by myself in this whole world. The gospel was preached, worship touched me, and the community of God’s people around me and the leaders serving-all of it just broke everything loose, and I gave my life to Christ. I got water baptized, and I’m literally looking back to that moment as the fulcrum upon which my entire life moved.»
And here I sit today in Kalispell, Montana, getting to preach from sea to shining sea and all around the world. Why? Because God broke through, and the scales fell from my eyes. I had heard about God my entire life, but I met the Lord on that day. I met the Lord on that day! I’m telling you, I became a believer; I put my faith in Jesus when I was 14 years old, and today I’m 42. But you know what? Today I have to put my faith in Him again. I have to put my faith in Him again! And that beautiful girl sitting right there, who I’ve been married to for 20 years, I put a ring on my finger and I put a ring on hers. You better believe I did because I liked it!
And when I did that, it was a covenant I made, but I’ve had to wake up again and make that covenant. I had to wake up today and choose to be a husband and devoted to her as the only woman for me. You see, commitment in a marriage is not a one-time event. You have to continue to show up, say yes, and live out of the power of that commitment. So for you, putting your faith in Jesus, whenever you did, whether it was two weeks ago or 20 years ago, faith is meant to be consistent and constant-"all peace, all joy, and hope abounding towards you in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.»
The word «faith» in the New Testament is usually the word «pistis,» and this is that word, but in a verb form. So, «faith,» which we would think of as a noun, right? He turns it into a verb, and it’s an action verb called «pisteuō.» Now that’s not «pistachio;» that’s a delicious nut. «Pisteuō» is a word that is used when you look into it, not to describe simply an intellectual commitment, because that’s kind of where we feel like sometimes belief sits-in the mind or maybe in the heart-but this is an action verb. It implies constant reliance- active and dynamic choosing to trust Him and act upon that trust in daily life because faith, James would tell us, without works is dead.
All through the Book of Romans, Paul’s helping us to understand that salvation is only through faith. The just shall live by faith. And when we put our faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us, it triggers all of heaven opening up to us because of Jesus. God looks upon us and sees Jesus’s righteousness. While Jesus was on the cross, He saw your sin and my sin on Christ. God made Him to be sin who knew no sin so we could become the righteousness of God. But that one-time faith must be followed up by the constancy of our putting our belief and our trust in Jesus to walk in His plan for us.
Okay, so since God’s part is giving you all faith, all peace, and all joy — great, that’s up to Him- I want to focus more on our responsibility. What is our responsibility? To continue to believe again. First heading; jot it down: We need to understand the opportunity for faith. The opportunity for faith that we find ourselves in again and again is what? Hardship, impossible circumstances coming our way-things that feel impossible for us. What was it for the people who received the Book of Romans originally? Because Paul wrote it, and he wrote it to a specific church, even though he did want it to be shared around, because he would always tell the church, «Hey, after you’ve read your letter, read the one I wrote to Colossae because it was wicked awesome.» And then he would tell the Ephesians, «Hey, make sure you read the one I wrote to-you know he wanted them to be circulated around.»
And I think he had a sneaking suspicion that God’s Holy Spirit was going to use it far beyond its original shelf life. How crazy is it that 2,000 years later, we get to crank open the Book of Romans and read what Paul was writing from Corinth, where he spent 18 months doing ministry to the church at Rome, when he had it in his heart to write them and help them with a specific situation? Because that was always what motivated him to pick up his pen. It wasn’t just so we could have systematic theology, though that did happen as a byproduct-this amazing articulation of what Christianity really is, as it’s concretely found within the Book of Romans. He had a specific situation in mind.
You really get to see that as you look at the final of the four movements of the book, chapters 14 and 15. He really delves into an issue that seems to be a struggle between Jewish Christians-stay with me-and Gentile Christians. Understanding what was happening in the city of Rome at that point helps you to understand why that was such a big problem. There was an emperor named Claudius. Claudius got tired of the Jews just being troublemakers; they refused to be assimilated into the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire didn’t really care if you had a different god. They would say, «Yeah, great, just build a new shrine and worship that god, this god, and all the gods; everyone can be god.»
But the Jews, of course, had trouble with that because they said, «No, this is the only God, and we don’t want an image made of our God, and we’re not going to say that Caesar is God.» So Claudius was like, «We’re sick of all your antics-no Jews are allowed to live in the city of Rome anymore.» Now, a ton of the first followers of Christ in Rome were Jewish who started the church in Rome. Anyone? Anyone? Peter! Peter was the one, originally, it seems, because of the persecution in Jerusalem, who headed to Rome and started the church. We know quickly afterward that you had other people getting saved, and it’s a house church.
It’s pretty small. By the time Paul writes the Book of Romans, best we can figure there are about 100 Christians living in and around the city. That number had gone down when Claudius said Jews had to leave. In fact, if you look at Acts 18, when we meet Aquila and Priscilla, these friends of Paul, it says they were in town because they had just been forced to leave Rome when all Jewish people were kicked out of the city. So, these events factor into the narrative. The Jewish Christians weren’t the only Christians, because of course Gentiles started to get saved too, but it’s a mixed church until all the Jewish people have to leave. Now, it’s only Gentile Christians, like me and perhaps like you-Jesus people who don’t have any of the background of Moses or the law or the prophets or Sabbath or circumcision or any of these things.
They’re just-"I was a pagan worshiping the Caesars and worshiping all the Roman gods and Greek gods and all the things, and now I’m a Jesus person because my eyes are opened to the resurrection and the life, and Jesus saved me, and I’m just following Christ.» Right? So they’re primarily just following Jesus, and that’s it. Okay? Emperor Nero comes along, and Emperor Nero goes, «Eh, let the Jews come back if they want to; it’s not a big deal. Let’s just let them come back.»
So now, here’s what’s happening: Paul picks up his pen, Nero is the Emperor, and all the Jewish believers have returned to the city, so now the church has a bunch of people who have only known paganism and Jesus, and you’ve got all these people coming back in, and they’re like, «Hey, following Christ is super important because Jesus is the Savior, but we’re not eating bacon!» Okay? And for the pagan Christians, they’re like, «I don’t know about like Saturday or Sunday, which is the best day to worship?» And should we circumcise? Like that’s not a big thing for them; they don’t have that in their mind.
So it starts to be this big struggle. It starts to be where there are two minds on every subject, which is why you get Paul’s heartbeat in really writing the book when he says, «I just really pray that in the church at Rome there can be one mind and one voice-one mind and one voice, a real spirit of unity.» In other words, what felt impossible for them, he’s praying that they would have the grace as the strong to bear with the scruples and to bear up the weak, that they would see each other’s needs as more valuable than their own-and not be all, «Well, this is mine!»
Do you see how this plays into the season we’re in as a country? As we’re about to tear each other apart once more, which we love to do every four years, all of the conflict, and we see things differently, Paul’s saying, «I want there to be in the Church a spirit saying I want there to be one in my church.» Jesus prayed for it: «That you may be one, Father, even as We are One. One mind, one voice.» So what does that mean then? That means this situation of difficulty in getting along — it can feel like even just getting through a Thanksgiving dinner with our family can be impossible, right? Much less to love and serve people in a small group who have different perspectives. But he wants them to see; he wants us to see when we come up against something that feels impossible. It is an occasion and an opportunity for faith.
I want you to get good at speaking that over these trials, speaking that over these setbacks, speaking that over your pain. I want you to speak into it, «This is an opportunity for faith!» And in believing, it triggers God’s powerful Holy Spirit, who will bring peace and hope and joy into my life. It doesn’t make sense, humanly speaking, to get into a burning hot trial and rejoice, but isn’t that what Scripture says? «My brethren, when you find and experience various trials in this world, count it all joy.» This is an opportunity for faith; this is a chance to believe; this is a chance to trust.
It’s much easier to go to Twitter and vent; it’s much easier to text three friends. It’s much easier to try and figure something out on your own. But to go to God and say, «I’m going to believe; I’m going to trust; I believe You have a plan, and I want to know Your mind, and I want to know Your heart.» I mean, even the dead giveaway that it’s going to be hard in your life when He says, «Oh, He’s going to give you peace; He’s going to give you hope; He’s going to give you joy,» you’re like, «Wait a minute, when do you need those things?»
" I’m opening up a box and it’s full of peace!» What are you saying about what’s coming my way? Because every gift sends a message. You open up a gift and go, «Why’d you give me that?» You’re so confused you got a nose hair trimmer for Father’s Day! It’s not like they’re saying, «You might need this someday!» See what I’m saying? They’re like, «You need a weed whacker for your face.» Okay? That’s what you need-to beat back the ear hair into submission.
So when God chooses to give us peace, He’s promising complexity because He will guard your heart and mind with peace, but that means first you’re going to experience anxiousness. You’re going to feel stress; all of those names. God is there because you’re going to feel far from Him sometimes. God is your healer because you’re going to experience pestilence, and these things are going to try to strike you. If God’s saying to you, «I’m your banner,» good news, bad news-there are other armies coming against you with their banners rippling in the air.
If God’s going to provide, it means you’re going to experience lack and be in situations. Why? So you can grow! Paul told the church at Corinth, he said, «I want you to know the things that happened to me at Ephesus-all the hardship I faced at Ephesus-it happened so I wouldn’t trust in myself, but I would trust in God who raises the dead. If I never experienced something that I couldn’t do anything about in my own power, why would I ever trust Him? These things happened to me so I would trust in God who raises the dead!»
I don’t need to go to TikTok to deal with death! Only Jesus has defeated death! Only Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And in your impossible situations, you don’t need worldly wisdom; you need the power of the Holy Spirit. You need God’s mighty right arm in your life; you need the supernal! Okay? That’s the opportunity for faith: hardship and impossible circumstances.
Number two: Let’s look at the outcome of faith. You say to me, «Levi, what will happen if I choose to believe again, facing my impossible things?» I’ll tell you three things will happen: You will walk in a hope that’s beyond containment; you will experience peace beyond comprehension; and then, thirdly, you will get to taste joy that cannot be articulated-joy beyond articulation. Those things are thoroughly tied into the promise of how God gives gifts. Didn’t He say, «I don’t give peace like the world gives peace; I give peace that’s on a whole different level „? In fact, Philippians 4:7 puts it this way: „The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus.“
What kind of peace does He give? Peace beyond comprehension! My wife reminded me this morning that my first book came out nine years ago today-"Through the Eyes of a Lion.» It is the first time I ever wrote a book, and it came out-it’s crazy to think it was nine years ago! It’s wild! That book’s about how you can face impossible pain but discover incredible power, and we wrote it because our daughter, at the age of five, went home to be with Jesus after she had an asthma attack. It’s been read around the world by parents who have had to bury children, but also by people who’ve had to go through chemotherapy or have buried their spouse, or have lost a job, or lost a limb. Because pain is pain, and there’s power waiting in pain if we trust God in the midst of it.
But I thought to myself, as I was studying this week about how often I’ve been in interviews around that book, people have said to me, «I don’t know how you could keep worshiping, preaching, and trusting God after your daughter died.» They would say to me, «I don’t think I could survive that.» And you know what I always say? I always laugh and say it, and I mean it-not in a mean way, but just honestly, «I don’t know how I did either. I don’t know-in the moment. I don’t know now. I don’t understand it, but the peace passed my comprehension.»
You know what’s great and refreshing about that? It’s not on me to figure it out; it’s on Him because my brain is really small, and so is yours. But God — who has known the mind of the Lord? He spoke the universe into existence and carried the cosmos and the cross. There’s no end to His understanding! So the peace that He gives won’t always make sense to you, but as you believe, it will bypass your comprehension and sustain you.
Similarly, the hope is beyond containment. That is to say, He doesn’t miserly give hope; He is very generous with the hope He gives. First Peter 1:3 tells us as well that the hope He gives is living. «Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.» Your hope is alive because your Savior is alive! The hope that Jesus seeks to give you cannot be contained; it spills over, floods over, and will lead to greater peace!
And then the third heading is joy beyond articulation-joy unspeakable and full of glory is how Peter describes joy. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. Look at it in 1 Peter 1:8: «We have not seen Jesus, but we love Jesus. Though now we do not currently see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.» Adam and Eve walked with God in person, and that experience will one day be ours. You will walk with Him; you will talk with Him. What will make heaven heaven is not golden streets; don’t be silly! What will make heaven heaven is being with Jesus!
It has been said that to have just even a day in His presence would be better than 10,000 days anywhere else. I think about how I’ve experienced in my spirit the presence of God in those moments in my life when He comes close in a very unique, undeniable way. And in those moments, you can have all this world but give me Jesus; that’s joy unspeakable-joy full of glory! You’d need 10,000 additional tongues to even be able to start the first paragraph of the story of what is to be experienced in the presence of the one who is fullness of joy. In His presence and at His right hand are pleasures evermore!
Jesus Himself, His entire earthly life-33 years on this Earth-He experienced the fullness of the joy of God in the presence of His Father through the Holy Spirit, demonstrating for us what it looks like to depend on Him for our next breath. There’s one little moment where you get to peek at it; it’s in Luke chapter 10. The 70 have just returned from preaching. They’re very excited that the demons are subject to them, and they come back to Jesus with their chests puffed out and sunglasses on at night. They’re going, «Jesus, guess what? It went really well in that ministry assignment you gave us; the demons listened to us!»
And Jesus says, «Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you! He says rejoice that your names are written in heaven!» Because He’s like, «What you really should be excited about is that you are headed to heaven to experience in full what you get to taste now through being with me face to face.» And then in that moment, He turns and demonstrates what we need to do every day.
In Luke 10:21, it says, «In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit.» Some of you need to learn how to rejoice in the Spirit- to allow your Spirit to rejoice! You can be in worship but not rejoice in the Spirit! He’s looking for those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. It’s where you really open up your armor and you let God come into you. You really fully experience rejoicing in the Spirit, and He thanked God because we always enter His courts with thanksgiving and with gratitude. «I thank you, Father,» and the prayer goes on.
But theologians pause and point out that the word «rejoiced» is this word «agalliao,» which means to overflow with exaltation. They say it’s almost like an explosion or firework of joy that we see in Jesus here letting us get a glimpse of what it looks like to stand under the waterfall of God’s glory and to taste the blessing that comes as a result. Now, you’re like, «No, but that’s great for Jesus, but you don’t know my circumstances.» Hold on; your circumstances have nothing to do with it! Joy isn’t circumstantial; it’s doxological! It’s about you praising God right where you are!
And wherever you are, He is! And so we find this joy exploding forth that God wants to be your day-to-day experience as well. Now you think, «Hold on! Hope leads to peace and to joy! How do these two connect to each other?» Well, Spurgeon answers that for us beautifully as only Spurgeon can. He says, «Peace is joy resting, and joy is peace dancing. We work with joy and rest with peace.» So there’s a symbiotic nature to it. When hope overflows in our lives, we get to have peace, and that peace is the joy of the Lord resting, and that joy of the Lord is peace dancing. We work with joy and rest with peace!
Alright, well, we’re close to concluding this. Let’s look at the third heading: The Operating Manual for Faith. If we want to keep believing while facing impossible things, we need to remember to use the operations manual. Ladies and gentlemen, here it is: God’s Word, which He has chosen to even set above His name. He said, «Sanctify them, Father, in unity through Your Word; Your Word is truth! Your truth to sanctify and unite Your people.»
If you back up just a couple of verses to verse 4 of Romans 15, Paul references this Scripture when he says, «For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have, say it with me, hope!» Wait- that’s the thing that’s going to overflow in our lives; it’s going to lead to joy and peace in our lives-hope! He’s saying hope is going to come as I let the Spirit of God give me comfort through the Scriptures.
Now, this would help both the Jews and the Gentiles to understand, «Hey, we’re not just writing off the Old Testament just because Jesus fulfilled these things! No, we’re not under the ceremonial law anymore, but everything, Genesis to Revelation, points us to Jesus! And that He is our Sabbath; He is wanting to do a spiritual work of circumcision on the inside of our hearts, and He has made unconditional covenants and promises to Abraham that relate to the land, that relate to future prophecy, that relate to promises of His working in the world anymore.» So we’re going to let, with a spirit of humility, God allow us to see that we were grafted into the vine, and God still yet has a plan for Israel.
We’re going to have hope built up in our hearts when we don’t write off those things, but we remember He is the same God that called Jacob; He’s the same God that worked in Ruth’s story and in Esther’s story. He has not changed; He doesn’t change! And when we let the Scriptures point us to Jesus, we will grow in hope, which leads to greater joy and greater peace! In fact, in between verse 4 and verse 13, which is where we started, Paul quotes from four different parts of the Old Testament. He quotes from 2 Samuel; he quotes from Psalm 100; he quotes from the Book of Isaiah. In fact, we were just singing it a moment ago! He quotes from Isaiah 11, which says there shall be, in Jesus, a root of Jesse.
He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall have hope! He quotes from these different parts of the Old Testament to show that it was always God’s plan to have a church built of Jewish people and Gentile people of different backgrounds all learning to speak out of one mouth because they have one mind united under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we look to the operating manual for faith, it will help us to abound in the comfort that comes from God’s hope!
But let’s not forget, in all that we’re doing, the most important thing-and that is the object of faith. The object of faith is that our faith is not in something; our object of faith is someone! So the last thing I would want you to think-the literal last thing I would want you to think-is that you’ve got to walk out of here and your responsibility is now just to keep the faith up. «I just need to keep believing; I just need to keep believing; I just need to keep believing,» as though your faith were in your faith! But that your faith is in the God of hope!
And that’s that title-that’s that name He gives us. The only place in the entire New Testament that exact phrase is used-a very unique, beautiful phrase. Paul’s sealing up all of the Book of Romans: «Now may the God of hope.» You need hope today; you do! I need hope for tomorrow; I need hope for next year; I need hope for the future; I need hope for my family; I need hope! And the good thing is, we serve a God who doesn’t just have hope; He is hope! He is the God of hope! And as we put our faith not in something but in someone, He takes up residence uniquely in our hearts and lives through the person of the Holy Spirit.
That’s why He ends with, as we trust the God of hope, you’re going to be given all these things, abounding in them through the power of the Spirit. And I kept, as I was just reading this verse over and over again, going, «Hold on a second! I’m going to overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit! I’m going to be filled with hope through the power-filled-power-filled!» And I just had to open my Bible immediately and, in my Greek New Testament, go, «Oh my gosh! Paul is intentionally using the two most poignant words that we are given in the entire Bible to describe the relationship we have to the Holy Spirit right here in one place!»
Ephesians 5:18: «Don’t be drunk with wine but be,» look at it on the screen, «filled"-exact same Greek word-filled with all hope! He wants you to be filled with the Spirit, filled with all hope! Then He says, «So that you will walk in this power of the Holy Spirit.» I go, «Wait a minute; that can’t be!» But it exactly is! The exact same Greek word from Acts 1:8-Jesus speaking: «You shall receive „dunamis“ (in the Greek the word dynamite comes from that)-"You will receive explosive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.»
If you don’t have an airplane or the internet, how’s that going to work out? It’s going to feel pretty-! You need power! You need to be filled! We must have the hope of God filling us with the Holy Spirit of God to have the power in our lives to do the impossible thing! To do God’s work without God’s strength is a recipe for failure. You’ll be like Samson with a buzz cut! It’s just not the same! «I’m trying, but these ropes aren’t snapping!» But to do the work of God in your life with the power of the Holy Spirit!
I want to close with a story from history. Some of you know I really, really like Winston Churchill-100% have a man crush on him. You know, you see these photos of him with a cigar in his mouth, giving the victory sign-like this is what I think of when I think of Winston Churchill! You know, he’s got the «V for victory " — or «up yours,» whichever direction he was facing at the moment! But he’s always got the stogie, you know. And you read that he actually would time the-he would wait to light the stogie in the car, even though he wanted to smoke on the way to the thing, but he wanted the big stogie for the photo op, not a little one.
So, he would delay; he was a master at PR. So he’d wait to light it so it would be long and not little for the epic photo that he knew was going to be run around the world. But it’s actually not the most famous photo of him! The most famous photo of Winston Churchill ever is this one right here, and there’s no cigar! It’s interesting-no cigar! And there’s a reason for that. He was speaking in Canada; the year was 1941, and the Canadian Prime Minister knew of this amazing photographer who was around- I have his name here-Yousuf Karsch.
Yousuf K. was available, and he said, «Oh my gosh, after your speech, we’ve got to get a portrait with Winston,» because he was just beginning to be really known around the world, and this could galvanize it. So, they arranged it, and they had him in the little green room where Winston was going to come into after his speech was over, but they forgot to tell Churchill! So he comes in, you know, post-message; there’s a lot going on in your mind, heart, and emotions, and you’re kind of exposed and vulnerable, giving a speech like that. So he comes into this room, and this guy’s just sitting there with all this photography equipment ready to take a photo, and Churchill’s so annoyed because the moment he got off the stage, his private secretary handed him a brandy and a cigar!
It was just a different time. Okay? And so he’s super excited to smoke his cigar, and the guy’s like, «No, I’m going to take a photo with you.» And so famously irritable, he says, «Just one-you get one!» He’s like, «Oh my gosh, one photo!» But then he sees the cigar’s making a cloud of smoke all around Winston, and he’s like, «It’s going to ruin my one shot; I have to take this photo!» So he puts an ashtray in front of him, and thinking he’ll put the cigar down, Churchill goes, «No!»
And he goes, «No, come on, just one photo? One photo?» Winston goes, «No; you have one photo.» So it' s famously legendary! And he goes, «What will happen if I do the shot this way?» And he goes, «Yes, yes, yes; just one photo!» So the guy gets everything ready, and Winston says, «Sorry for what?» and he just grabs the stogie and snaps the photo, and that’s the result! And that photo was on the cover of LIFE magazine! That photo has galvanized the whole world because everyone looked at that photo and saw that is the steely determination of someone who will go all the rounds needed with Adolf Hitler!
And the actual truth is, he was just mad someone stole his cigar! That’s the photo! Why do I tell you that story? Because Churchill one day fell asleep smoking a cigar, and his private secretary came in. He was sleeping, and he had the cigar still in his mouth, and ashes- he noticed just as he came in-had fallen on his sleeping jacket. Or they call it a smoking jacket or a sleeping jacket, right? It’s basically a robe with a big ol' velvety collar, and the ashes that had fallen were beginning to puff up in big puffs of smoke all around him.
And Churchill, who had dozed off working, woke back up, and she was-he hated snores! He hated whistling! He was a very particular guy, right? And what do you need? He goes, «Sir, sir, sir, what do you need? I’m working!» And he goes, «Excuse me, sir, you are on fire.» That’s what he said! And then he says, «May I put you out?» He said, «Yes, yes! What will happen if the God of hope fills you with all hope and peace and joy and believing?» As you walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, the world’s going to see you and go, «You are on fire!» May no one ever put you out!