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[Final musings of Paul] Too much information to integrate into a single thought. Too many inflection points and interconnections to assimilate. It all led to this one moment when all that God’s been doing congealed in an instant, into one single reason: “For the hope…” Picture in your mind how it might be portrayed in a movie. It’s the culmination of the entire narrative, the climax of the story that both reveals the final missing piece and settles every issue at once. Every question is answered when the main character rewinds every memory in ten seconds, reliving in his mind all the events you just spent two hours watching. It takes place in a single moment that amalgamates all the pieces, and the confusing twisted story of seemingly unrelated scenes suddenly all makes sense.

I wish I could make that happen for you. Maybe I can. God created man in His own image and then Adam sinned in the garden and creation went into a tailspin. It looked really bad and seemed to ruin everything. Man had departed from God and death was introduced. And somehow that horrible event must end with a better outcome than had Adam never tasted the fruit. The long twisted history of mankind ensues: murder and selfish desires; intrigue and greed and rebellion; prophets and judges and kings; the birth of a child called to save us all; rejected and crucified by more Adam-like men, as if nothing will ever change; those who believe and those who torture those who believe; and somehow the purple thread that weaves throughout the entire story, and holds it all together, never breaks. Zoom in and you can see the writing woven into its fibers. It says “Hope!”

And what is most fascinating of all is that I had this burning desire in my heart to somehow get to Rome, but I could never have imagined how God would make it happen. It’s another of those purple threads. First there was the desire; then a prophecy ensuring I would one day be here; in between I was stoned and persecuted and ridiculed and rejected; then one day I was rescued by a Roman soldier as I was being beaten by Jews in Jerusalem; he sent me to testify in the Roman courts and I witnessed before governors, a king, and many prominent people; then I was asked if I’d prefer to return to the Jewish courts for a final ruling and I appealed my case to Caesar instead, right here in Rome. But it gets better. On my way here I almost died in a shipwreck in a storm, except God spoke to me again and reminded me of His promise that I must testify in Rome, so all I had to do was trust Him and stay in the boat. It’s what Jonah would have done had he obeyed the Lord in the storm. It’s what Peter would have done had he truly understood the Lord in the storm. And it’s what you need to do. Stay in the boat in the storm and be saved!

All that has happened has brought me here, to this very moment, “For the hope!” I was born a Roman citizen; I was trained in the law by the most prestigious scholar; I became the worst persecutor of all; I had the most dramatic conversion; my journey was filled with fruit and torture; and all along I was desperate for this one thing. I would do anything to get to Rome just to tell you this… “For this reason, for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” You see, it all looked lost when Adam ate from the forbidden tree and he introduced death into creation. But that Adam could die was there all along and we know this because he did. What I have to tell you now is that Adam’s sin can work to your advantage. That is why I am in chains. Better than Adam had, who always faced the risk of dying, there is a greater promise, a promise of life everlasting without any risk. You don’t have to die; you can live forever. All you need is Y’shua, the long awaited hope. All you need to do when the storm is raging is to stay in the boat!