Thrill of Hope
Notes
Transcript
Growing up I loved Transformers and He-Man and GI Joe and Voltron. All of it. Thundercats, everything. One year for Christmas I really wanted this Polar Bear Transformer. I remember asking for it for my birthday and Christmas. Any time I thought I could get a gift. It drove how I acted all year long. I was a good kid all year. Every time I would think about misbehaving, I would remember Polar Claw. He would be mine!
I had hope that my parents would come through. That hope drove me to adjust my thinking, actions, and beliefs. Hope is a powerful thing. Throughout history, most dictators and conquerors try to keep people from having hope. A little is ok. Too much makes you believe the impossible is possible. So what does unshakable, determined, stubborn hope look like? And where does it come from?
True hope, biblical hope, is built on and based in the character and finished work of Jesus Christ. But why? For that, we need to start at the beginning.
Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
This is the first time the Gospel is preached. It is also the first time we see God curse something. God is blessing and cursing at the same time. This verse gave the people of God hope through generations. Why? Because they believed God would do what He said. The nation of Israel looked for this savior to come and strike the head of the enemy.
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Hope for this savior gave them faith to press on. They knew it was for a future time, so they were always looking for the savior.
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.
The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine.
You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest
and like warriors dividing the plunder.
For you will break the yoke of their slavery
and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.
For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
God spoke through His prophets that the light will come. This suffering will not last forever. But thousands of years passed. There was no messiah (anointed of God to establish His kingdom). The light had not yet come. Then something happened late one night in a dirty old manger. A Child was born. A Son was given. And all of heaven rejoiced with the normal, common, blue collar, everyday man.
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Jesus coming into the world as a human baby is when the thrill of hope first began to enter our souls. Not the hope for a new toy, better pay, more influence, or any of the superficial things we attach hope to. This true hope is only in Jesus and His completed work of salvation. You see, the birth of Christ is historic, monumental, vital to the flourishing of humanity. We have to remember, this hope began with a prophecy in Gen 3:15
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
How does a baby strike the head of our enemy?
But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
He is risen! Our hope started with His birth. Our hope was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. By the resurrection Jesus showed that He has complete authority and power. Our hope is safe with Him, even if it isn’t always how we want it to look.
Our hope, our ancestors hope, looked to Jesus. Read Hebrews 11:32-40. It tells of men and women that placed their hope in eternal life, not this life. They endured and pressed on for a kingdom they never saw with natural eyes.
Hope is not easy. Hope is not for the faint of heart. Hope fights. Hope endures. Hope is a gift.
Our lives knock us down. Then they go to work on us.
This season is hard for a lot of people. Our world is broken and cruel. It doesn’t make sense. Maybe this is you first or 50th Christmas season without someone. Maybe they passed away or the relationship is strained. God does not leave us alone in these times.
So how do we hold onto hope when everything seems lost?
Remember who God is.
Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh. The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,
“Yahweh! The Lord!
The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.
I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.
But I do not excuse the guilty.
I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;
the entire family is affected—
even children in the third and fourth generations.”
2. Remember who you are
For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
3. Remember God’s Word
I am counting on the Lord;
yes, I am counting on him.
I have put my hope in his word.
This is not easy. Nothing of true value is. But it is worth the discipline. It’s worth the fight.
I’m going to be honest for a minute. This time of year is hard for me, as it is for a lot of you. Last year I lost my mom unexpectedly. This is my second holiday season without her. There have been times of anger, frustration, sadness, depression, rage. I can truly say I don’t know how I would have gotten through it without the hope I have in Jesus. Sometimes, it was knowing that someone was listening. Sometimes it was having someone or something to blame. Every time I reflect on this I imagine life without Jesus, without hope, without faith. Seasons of my life would have crushed me. Through this Scripture has been a refuge. Recently I mad this connection. I hope it gives you the same hope it has given me.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
We fix our eyes, not on what we see, but what we cannot see. Jesus who is the initiator and perfecter of our faith. Our faith is the substance of things hope for; the evidence of things unseen.
You can “hope” all day long. Without Jesus there is no substance. It is an empty wish.
Faith starts small. Zech 4:10 tells us that God rejoices to see the work begin. Everything you are hoping for is found in Jesus. Place your trust in Him. He’s not a genie, He is a loving Father who cares for you. You don’t have to go through this season alone.
