So do you struggle with technology? Yeah. Do you feel like everything's just moving way too fast, You know, you just, you just can't keep up or maybe you're on the other end, you think everything's moving way too slow and the words of military expert, lieutenant pete Mitchell, you just feel the need for speed all the time. You need it need more, need more. Well, unless you've been living in a yurt for the last 18 months on the Savage River in Alaska, you have seen or heard a commercyal or a billboard with five G on it. Right? I mean, it is everywhere. Five G. So what is five G? Well, that's kind of a loaded question. So we'll start, I'm a kind of unloaded a little bit. There is a type of five G that stands for five gigahertz and that is connected to the router that's in your house. It's a, a radio signal in your house. That's that's that five G. And then there's five G. That is what your cell phone company is promoting right now. It's the uh, fifth generation is what it stands for cellular technology that's being touted by all the companies right now, everywhere, There's also a 5G. That stands for conspiracy theory. And what it's doing is it's putting out billions of memes to try to convince you that your smartphone is responsible for everybody's allergies to mayonnaise and and dandelions? You know, not blooming when they're supposed to and hallmark trying to do a hallmark movie of saved by the bill? Everything that's out there is because of the crazy five G conspiracy theory in your phone there's also another five G. That stands for five grand and that might be how much you have to pay for your next five G. Smartphone. You know it's all out there all out there. So what's the big deal with 5G? Why is it everywhere? Why is there so much discussion about 5G? Well let's just look at the cell phone type. Okay, Because that's really what will impact most of us. So what is the big deal about 5G? Well here's what it's supposed to do for us. It's supposed to create bigger channels so that data will speed up. It's also supposed to create a less latency which means that the response time, the activity time is going to be better. And it's also supposed to create a greater network so that more devices can stay connected. That that's what it's supposed to do now. I'm no rocket surgeon and I know I give them some explanations here on on five G. I'm sure there's some Laszlo holly feld's that could pick apart everything that I've said and say. Everything I said was wrong but here's the long and short of it. Five G basically speaking is designed to help your life out. Okay. That's why they're doing. I mean they're doing it to make money okay but but they're doing it generally speaking because it's one of those things that seemingly is going to help our lives now. Someone might say, well you know what, I don't want that kind of help. I'm tired of all of this technology. I want everything to get back to the way it used to be. There's just too much out there. Look, I'll agree we all need some breaks from technology, right? I mean we need to to take a breather. We need to go out and get some some fresh air. You know, we need to we need to start writing letters with paper and pen and you know, we need to start making bacon in a skillet and not always in the microwave. Alright, come on. We need we need a little extra, you know, a little a little extra stuff out there. But what if five G. and the technology connected to 5G helps your doctor figure out a way to prevent your next mini stroke. What if 5G. is used by researchers to help lessen the intensity of your granddaughters seizures. See, we can rail and beat our chest about everything we hate about the past or everything we hate about right now or everything we hate about the future. But the cold hard truth is this. We need all of them. We need the past. We need the present and we need the future. So with that in mind we start a new series today and the series is called seven G. The speed you need now. I use seven G to get ahead of technology. I figure it's going to be a while, you know, before we had that I learned in my little research that four G actually started like 10 years ago. Like the first time it kind of appeared was it was 2010. So it looks like it'll be another 10 years before five G is fully everything they say it was going to be. So I think I'm safe with seven G. You know, I got about 20 or 30 years before they catch up with this sermon series. I think I'm all right. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to be looking at seven Gs each week we're going to be looking at something that begins with the letter G. It is something directly from the pages of scripture. So what we're doing is we're taking something and an eternal truth from the past. We're going to marinate on it in the present to help us with our future. We're going to use all three as we engage with God's word. And today we begin with the Apostle Paul's letter to the folks at Rome and we're going to be in romans Chapter five romans Chapter five, we'll be looking at versus one and two of romans five and our first G and our sermon title today is Glory. Part of the speed that you need is glory. So what does that mean? Well, let's find out together. Listen to what Paul writes beginning with Romans. Chapter 5: verse one. Therefore having been justified by faith. That's how he begins being justified by faith. This is courtroom language. Okay, we all have a guilty sentence against us. Why? Well, because none of us are perfect, but we know that right, but it's a little more than that. We are all guilty. Sinners were guilty of rebelling against God and God's ways. So our sin that we all have our our sin makes us guilty toward God and it creates a guilty sentence rightly deserved. And that guilty sentence has been handed down on the highest court of the universe. But we don't have to stay guilty. There's there's a different way for the story to end. You see this word justified is is describing something that's transformative. See you you can't justify yourself, justification to be justified is something that happens to a person. So you can't sit on the witness stand and be the accused and be the judge at the same time. See God and only God can change your sentence. Only God can make it possible for you to no longer fall short. See that's what our sin does, it causes us to fall short of the glory of God. We don't measure up to the glory of God and only God can change that sentence. Only God can cause us to no longer fall eternally short. You see you you can't throw money at the court with a bribe. You can't tell a sob story for the judge to to try to get out of things and you can't do community service to lessen the sentence. There is nothing you can do to earn not guilty. There's nothing we can do to get a not guilty for ourselves. But here's the amazing reality God desires. He delights to give you a sentence of not guilty. So does that mean he just gives us a get out of jail free card? No, it's there's more to it than that. So you have to be released from the penalty. The sentence of sin. You have to be released from the from the sentence and the penalty of sin. Something has to be paid. The penalty has to be paid. But here's the good news. The penalty has been paid. By whom? Well, the penalty has been paid by jesus. How did jesus pay for the penalty? Well, he paid for it with his very own lifeblood. See the story about jesus, the story about the cross. It's not just a story. It's a moment in history, an account of a moment in history, a spiritual reality that involves actual payment, Jesus christ purchased a not guilty for you with his own blood. This is the picture of what it means to be justified. So how do you get that? Not guilty? How do you get that? Not guilty in your account. Well paul says, we're justified by faith. So you get the not guilty. You you get that into your account by faith. What that means is this, you don't look at the story of jesus as a story. You don't look at the story of jesus as a as a fairy tale or a legend or a philosophy or even religion. You look at the story of jesus and you say that is not a story, that is something completely different. You begin to look at that story and you say that is my first and my only hope in life. Hope for what Paul tells us. Look at the next part of Verse one, justified by faith. We have peace with God being justified. Being released from your guilty sentence, receiving a not guilty means that you have peace with God. Things are right between you and God. Someone has described this aspect of of peace with God is like you're in a battle with God and when you have peace with God, the battle is finished, the battle is over and God one And God one because he won you. Well, how does God win us? Paul tells us next first through our Lord Jesus Christ justified by faith. Peace with God all of this through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ born to mary in the manger in Bethlehem. Again, he purchased a not guilty for you with his own blood, Jesus made the only way for your battle with God to be finished, Jesus made. The only way for you to have peace with God. Jesus made the only way for God to win you? And if you are one by God, that is the only true definition of winning. Winner winner christian dinner only happens through jesus nowhere else. But wait, there's more Listen, as Paul continues in verse two through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this Grace in which we stand, jesus is the invite er and jesus is the introducer. He invites us into his salvation and he introduces us to the Grace of God. So so what is this Grace? What does it mean to stand in the Grace of God? I found a great list that I feel like it's going to make a connection with every single one of us at some point. Okay, this is just a list of ways to describe what it means to be standing in the Grace of God. So you you listen, for which one of these connects with you. These come from from David got sick, he says this to stand in the Grace of God means I don't have to prove I am worthy of God's love to stand in the Grace of God means God is my friend. To stand in the Grace of God means the door of access is permanently open to him to stand in the Grace of God means I'm free from the score sheet. The account has been settled in and by jesus and then he says this to stand in the Grace of God means I spend more time praising God and less time hating myself. Did you hear anything in there in that list that will connect with you? Let me ask you a question right now, are you standing in the Grace of God right now? Do you have peace with God right now? Are you justified by faith And God? If not you can be See, jesus didn't make his invitation hard. It it wasn't long didn't have a lot of words. In fact only had nine words and this was his invitation. It's very simple. This is how he said it. Matthew's gospel repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. But that's the invitation repent and be justified. Be not guilty with God Repent and have peace with God. Let the battle be over. Let it let it be finished. B one by God repent and stand or sit in God's grace. God's amazing, unending astounding grace. This this is what it means to follow jesus to be justified by faith, to have peace with God to be standing in grace. But but what does that do in and for your life? It does something, it triggers something. Look what Paul says Verse two and we exalt in the hope of the glory of God. Now exults not a word that we use all the time. Right? I mean you don't use it at the custard shop. Right, I exalt in this vanilla custard with cookie dough swirled with butterscotch. Yes, I Exalt. I've never heard anybody say that at Freddy's right. It just doesn't happen. Okay. It's it's not a word we use in conversation, but it's a great word. Here's what it means. It means to boast or to have deep joy and deep delight over something you have. What do you have that? You go, oh yeah, that's that's what I exult over. You know, maybe your spouse, your kids, your grandkids, maybe your car, maybe some saw in your shop. I don't know. You know, what do you exalt over? What what is it that you have that you go, oh yeah, that's that's it. Well, christians have something to truly boast over. Something truly to have joy. Deep joy and delight over. And what is it? Here's what it is. It's hope we have hope. We exalt in how You know, I'd say over the last two or three weeks. I feel like at least 15 or 20 times I've heard the same phrase. I've heard it connected to sports. I've heard it connected to politics. I heard it connected to a farm auction video I was watching. I mean I'm telling, you I have heard this phrase everywhere For the last two or 3 weeks and you've probably heard it somewhere too and it goes like this. It's the hope that kills. In other words. The notion of hope is just so foolish. You know, don't don't get your hopes up because this is going to all fall apart with dear christian. Let me know, let me tell you something. We have hope. Hope in a snow day, hoping a new car, hoping a new house, hoping to raise at work, hoping our our team getting a victory, hoping in our favorite politician, getting a victory, hoping a song from our favorite band, Hope from custard with cookie dough and butterscotch. No, we're not talking about that kind of hope paul says we have hope in the glory of God. Our our hope, we exalt in the glory of God. So what's the glory of God? It's impossible. It's impossible to explain and express its somebody put it this way they said, it's almost like the difference of telling somebody about beauty or a basketball, you know, and I can tell you about a basketball, right? It's it's it's round it's about 9.43 in diameter. Um It has black lines and it's kind of a, you know, orangey color unless you're playing with a B a ball and you know, then it's red, white and blue and everything's groovy, right? But that little description, if you saw a basketball and football, you'd be able to tell the difference from what I just said. But Beauty is is just different, right? There's there's something about beauty that that moves beyond just simple description. For instance, some of you would say that that beauty is a sandwich made with real Hellmann's mayonnaise. For those of us that enjoy and understand Trib ut we would use Duke's mayonnaise and everybody knows this. We know that's how this works okay. But when you think about beauty in your life, some people to be in the mountains Is beauty to be at the lake. Is beauty to be at the ocean is beauty to spend the day at the Jesuscake factory. It's it's beauty. You know, we we all have these these definitions of beauty in our lives and that's what makes it difficult and hard. See I can describe, or someone can describe in great, wonderful, detailed words what the Grand Canyon looks like, but it's not the same as as standing there and looking at it with your own eyes, smelling the air with your own nose touching the dirt and the rock with with your own hands. There's there's something different about the experience. And there's a sense that Glory is like that describing glory is like trying to describe beauty. It's it's difficult. It's hard because there's so many different ways to describe it. And and beauty means so many different things to so many people, but make no mistake, Beauty exists and God's Glory exist. It might be hard to describe, but the bible gives us lots of descriptions. I'm just picking one okay from Isaiah Chapter 40. Listen to what it says. It's kind of one big long question who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens by the span and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales. You don't work with anybody like that. You don't go to school with anybody like that and no offense, but you don't live with anybody like that. Only God, only God has that kind of glory. Only God is unique in, in that type of way. There is none beside him. He alone is glory. The Bible records the word glory more than 600 times. But really we could say every sentence in the Bible as some display of God's glory because it's his book. It describes him. See the glory of God is beyond our ability to imagine. It's beyond our ability to explain. It's beyond our ability to fully enjoy because it's infinite. It's just it's out there, it's too much. But we know it's real. And how do we know it's real, paul was writing to the folks at Corinth. This is what he said second Corinthians four verse six. For God, who said Light shall shine out of Darkness is also the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of christ see, we know the glory of God is real because of the mountains and the oceans and the you know in the prairies and and everything else. The Grand Canyon holding a newborn baby. The coups that baby makes we, we understand glory. We know glory exists and we proclaim because of the truth of the bible that all of that glory is connected to God. But we really, really, really, really, really no about the glory of God because jesus came from heaven to earth to display the glory of God on his very face. We are not believing in a fairy tale, We are not believing in a legend. We are believing in a person who came from heaven to earth to help the earth see the glory of God. We see God's Glory in the face of jesus CS, Lewis and his work. The weight of Glory said this. We want more than to merely observe beauty and an almost indescribable way. We want to be united with the beauty we see to, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, To bathe in it, to become part of it. Why do you go to the beach instead of just watching youtube videos of the beach? Why do you go to to the beach or the mountains or the lake? Why do you go to a sporting event? Well, why do you go to a concert? Why do you go get custard with cookie dough and butterscotch swirl. I mean why do we engage in life because we desire to be a part of beauty. We don't want to just look at it. We we want to somehow engage with it. We want to be a part of it. You were created with a desire to be a part of beauty. It's why you cheer for your team. It's why you sing really bad in the car with your favorite country singer, because the notes are just too high. Right? We all engage in beauty. We want to be a part of beauty. But here's what the bible says. The bible says. You also want to be a part of glory. You want to be a part of glory. And and not the glory of a of a one game. Not the, not the glory of a great concert. Not the glory of a raise or a new car or a new house. You want to be a part of the glory of God. You were created with a desire for the glory of God. Why? Because he is Holy Holy Holy, your spouse is not, they never will be stop expecting them to be. God is Holy Holy Holy, he is other other other. Your kids are not, Your grandkids are not, your elected officials are not, no president. Ever past present or future will be. We are not Holy Holy Holy, We are not other other other. That's why our glory is small and his glory is great. Only God is Holy Holy Holy only God is other other other and we were created with the desire for his glory. As the song says, we could know him by 1000 names and he would deserve every single one of those names. King David knew about glory King. He had all kind of glory in his life. But this is what he wrote in Psalm 19. The heavens are telling of the glory of God. The heavens are telling of the glory of God because the glory of God is very very very, very, very, very, very great. The glory of God is great. You thirst and hunger for the glory of God. Even if you don't know it, we have a desire for the glory of God. We want the glory of God. The heavens are telling of the glory of God over and over again. And the apostle paul says that your hope is in that glory that the hope of a believer is found in the Glory of God. I love this translation of of this word. Hope from the original language, it can be translated. Happy certainty. That's good. Happy certainty. We have Happy certainty in the glory of God. What does that mean? That means no matter what happens today, no matter what happens tomorrow, it means that no matter who the current president is or who the next president is. It means that no matter what the stock report is. This coming week and what the doctor's report is next week, It means that the glory of God doesn't move doesn't lose an ounce of its power, doesn't lose an ounce of its shine and its authority and its majesty. The glory of God is always there, always, there, always, there come, what may nothing can be done about the glory of God. It is full, it is free, it is infinite, it is everywhere and it is where we find our hope. It is pure and greater and more majestic than anything that was or is or is to come. And jesus, jesus gave his life so that you could have the happy certainty of the hope of the glory of God. That sounds great. But what does it look like in in real life? I read a story recently from a few years ago about an anglican bishop. For many years, he served as a missionary around three different countries in Africa had a had a big impact in evangelism and church planting. And when his time as a missionary entity, he moved to the United States and started the seminary and at the time that theologian Don Carson met him that bishop, which I don't know his name, it wasn't in the article, but but he was suffering with advanced Parkinson's disease. It had gotten so bad that that he couldn't talk anymore. He could basically just nod yes or no and he could write on a piece of paper, a few words to try to communicate. But but he wrote really slow and it's very difficult for him to write. Carson said in a short amount of time that he spent with him, He could see that this was a man of unshaken hope and unshaken faith. Carson said as they talked, he, he had the audacity to, to ask the bishop a question. This is how he described it after decades of immensely productive activity. How are you dealing with your own suffering with the temptation to feel that you are now useless and fruitless? I have been there. You don't have to be old to feel that way. I've met some teenagers that, that feel useless and fruitless. They don't understand their purpose in the world. They feel like they're, they're doing nothing that matters. I would say all of us have felt that way at one time or another. But here's a man who has spent his entire life doing great things for the glory of God. And then suddenly he can't do anything. My heart is breaking this week for a friend of, of our family. Um, it's Karen's youth pastor when she was growing up. And, and really the only reason I'm your pastor is because of Mark. Mark went from Arkansas to south Carolina and that's how I met him and he started telling, he started giving my name to people to work and I didn't want to work at a church. I never said nothing about working in no church. Next thing. I know people are like, hey I got your name from Mark john what, I don't know why you got my name from him. But Mark was the one who just kept pushing and kept pushing and I eventually ended up serving as a youth pastor. Uh Karen's church in Arkansas where he used to be the youth pastor because of of Mark just continuing saying, hey man, I think you should be in the ministry. And I said no I don't. And he goes, yeah, I think you do. So this week uh Mark posted that he hadn't been feeling good for the last few weeks and and they've run some tests and and they've discovered that he has a L. S. And and he he is the he he is the most energetic person I probably have ever known. And I mean I'm a pretty big psychopath on my own, you know, in that respect. But but yeah, I've never known anybody that has more energy and desire and joy and and just fervor than Mark, but all that's about to change, Everything's about to change. And he'll be resigning from his church in the next few months and and moving to be close to his kids believe in texas. So I share that story just to say this, what happens when the moment comes that you either can't do what you've always done or you feel like you can't do it? That's where the bishop was. And so he asked the question, hey, how are you dealing with this? So the bishop scribbled something on the paper, is his response, but Carson couldn't read it the first time, so it took a second time of him kind of slowly writing it to make sense and the bishop wrote this on his piece of paper, there is no future and frustration. There is no future in frustration. All of the great things that he did, Even just his basic abilities have been taken away and he was suffering greatly. But his response to the question was, you know what? There's, there's no future in frustration. Are you frustrated with something right now? Are you frustrated with someone right now? Well, if you're not a christian, we want you to know there's hope for your frustration and all of that hope is found and jesus, all of it. And if you are a christian, then we want you to know that there is hope for your frustration and it's found and jesus, why here's why, wow, if you're a christian, just come on dolly and just for a second, here's why there's hope for your frustration because you've been justified by faith, You are not guilty with God, you have peace with God, you are sitting and standing and walking and texting and posting and eating and breathing and driving in Grace after Grace after Grace after Grace, you have hope bishop's right, there's there's no future in frustration. I'm pretty sure we've all proved that this week, right, we've all proved it. But there is amazing majestic, unending, astounding, satisfying future in the gospel. See, we have happy certainty in the glory of God because there is a future in jesus, you will be frustrated this afternoon, okay, you will, you will, you're going to get in line, you're going to Freddie's, you're going to try that butterscotch with, you know, cookie dough, You're going to try it today. I'm going to try. I've never eaten that before, but I'm going to do it today, I'm going to try, I'll post a picture, but you know what, I might get stuck in line, you know, and they may get martyr wrong, they may put caramel instead of cookie dough and gosh, how terrible would that be for me to have custard with caramel or this week, you're going to have to go to the department of motor vehicles. You know, you're going to get stuck there for a while, You're going to be frustrated, you know, or you're going to have a test done at the doctors office and and you're going to get the results back for for weeks, maybe, you know, or your spouse or your kids or your grandkids or your neighbor or your pastor, they're going to do something you don't like, you're going to be frustrated this week. But if you're in christ, if you've been justified by faith, if you have peace with God if you are standing in the grace of God, you can have happy, happy certainty in the glory of God because there is and there will always be a fantastic, glorious, satisfying certain future in jesus and with jesus.