Hope
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: The message of the Prophets. Hope in the what God will do in the future. (Qavah, Yakhal, Elpis)
They were anticipating the coming of the Messiah! Romans 8:25
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Luke 1:5–25 (NASB95)
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.
8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,
9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.
11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.
12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.
14 “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
15 “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.
16 “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.
17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Transitional Sentence: When we think about all the stuff we can hope for the hope of seeing the Messiah come should be at the top of our list.
The Hope of Zacharias and Elizabeth
a. Zacharias & Elizabeth
They were righteous before God - Luke 1:5-6
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
They are both of priestly descent. 1 Chronicles 24:10
10 the seventh for Hakkoz, the eighth for Abijah,
Zacharias did not marry outside of his tribe.
They fulfilled all the requirements of the law.
b. The work of the Lord
Zacharias was ministering before the Lord Luke 1:8-9
8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,
9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
Enter the Temple of the Lord and burn incense - Exodus 30:6-7
6 “You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7 “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps.
c. The Foretelling (fulfillment of prophecy)
An Angel joins him in the Temple and tells him he will have a son. Luke 1:13-14
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.
14 “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
2. Why Does Prophecy Build Hope?
a. The Prophecies Malachi 3:1
1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.
6 “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
b. The Messenger for the Messiah will be his son Luke 1:17
17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Kings in the day had forerunners go before them and clear the path Isaiah 40:3
3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
c. The Hope of seeing the Messiah! Gen 3:15
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
3. A New Hope for today's Christians!
a. Christ fulfilled at least 351 Old Testament prophecies. If you check the mathematical probability of this happening you will find the general answer of 1 in 10/17th power. Which is a one with 17 zeros behind it.
A lot of them you might not even think of as prophecy. Some you may recognize easily are: Isaiah 7:14
14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
a child born (humanity) a Son given (deity) and the most familiar is: Isaiah 53 The suffering Servant. These are but a few. Google it. You can find a list of them and read each and every one. Your home work for this week is to read Isaiah 53 and see how many different prophecies are in that one chapter and think about how He fulfilled them.
So Jesus is the Messiah even against the odds that say it is impossible. But why does that matter to us?
b. Christ died to give us eternal life Titus 3:4-7
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
c. The ideal of eternal life brings Hope!
Why? Why should the thought of eternal life bring Hope? The idea of all of this being for nothing - we just die and rot away in the ground just isn’t a good thought.
d. Stand firm in the Hope that the promises will come true! Titus 1:1-3
1 Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,
3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,
Conclusion: God’s faithfulness in the past provides hope for faithfulness in the future.
Look back to the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus and forward to His return.
The Old and New Testaments are full of promises. Promises that we must stand on! Its these promises that will give us Hope to believe in a greater future then what we have now.
Hope is a choice. We can choose to hope in what will come or we can just accept the world as it is and accept that it won’t get any better. Our circumstances don’t have to dictate how we feel about our present or our future.
NO MATTER WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND YOU CHOOSE HOPE!
Romans 15:12-13 as the Benediction!
12 Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.