Advent: The Hope of Sinners

(Church family, you’ve been a refuge for my family and me this week. Many of you who have been around for the last year, know what a struggle it’s been. You’ve been a place of refuge, and I praise God for you.) Have you ever been hopeless before? My family tasted the bitterness of hopelessness this week. My sister began having some very troubling symptoms, and before we know it, we’re at the ER. And, you’re sitting there, and you’re expecting them to have a simple explanation as to what is going on so that you can leave with your antibiotics and go home, right? But then, it’s like the all of the dominos fall, and these painful diagnoses are coming at you like machine gun fire — brain tumor and heart problems. And man, you’re just paralyzed with hopelessness, right? You’re sitting there and the doctor’s talking, but it’s hard to believe that he’s saying what he’s actually saying. But then, one of them comes in, and they’re like, “We can help her. We believe we can make her better.” And, those words are just so sweet when your mouth has been filled with such a bitter taste. When you’re surrounded by the dark, nothing is so spectacular as that first glimmer of light.

You can’t love hope until you’ve tasted hopelessness. You can’t appreciate how sweet hope is until you’ve tasted the bitterness of despair. Have you ever wondered why people don’t love Jesus? Have you ever wondered why everyone in the world doesn’t run to the hope of the Gospel and the Good News that we have in Christ? It’s because they haven’t realized their hopelessness yet. You see, they don’t understand the final costs and so following Jesus still looks too costly. This morning, we open up our Advent season by thinking of hope, and to think about hope, we’re going to look at our hopelessness. We’re going to stare at it and contemplate it, and we’re going to do that so that we can cherish the hope that we have in Christ’s coming.

Have you ever been hopeless before? My family tasted the bitterness of hopelessness this week. My sister began having some very troubling symptoms, and before we know it, we’re at the ER. And, you’re sitting there, and you’re expecting them to have a simple explanation as to what is going on so that you can leave with your antibiotics and go home, right? But then, it’s like the all of the dominos fall, and these painful diagnoses are coming at you like machine gun fire — brain tumor and heart problems. And man, you’re just paralyzed with hopelessness, right? You’re sitting there and the doctor’s talking, but it’s hard to believe that he’s saying what he’s actually saying.

People are not generally good.

Have you ever been hopeless before? You know, this week, my family

“every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” There are many scars that we bear as a result of sin. We have to have hospitals and insurance because disaster is always around the corner. We deal with loss and with fear and with persecution. But, as many scars as we may bear and as many difficulties as we may face as a result of sin, none are so bad as the corruption of the mind. Listen to how explains it: The NET Bible translates it as saying: "Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time." Your translation might place the emphasis on the heart, but the Jewish people referred to the heart as the place of decision and will and deepest thinking. Think of that. Every thought, every desire, every motivation, every want are only evil. Notice that it doesn't say simply "They did evil." It says, "They wanted to do evil. They thought evil thoughts. They had evil desires and evil wants and evil motivations." This isn't simply a doing problem; it's a thinking problem. It's not just what they're doing; it's what they want to do. It's just what they say and how they live; it's, first and foremost, how they think.

There are many scars that we bear as a result of sin. We have to have hospitals and insurance because disaster is always around the corner. We deal with loss and with fear and with persecution. But, as many scars as we may bear and as many difficulties as we may face as a result of sin, none are so bad as the corruption of the mind. Listen to how explains it: The NET Bible translates it as saying: "Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time." Think of that. Every thought, every desire, every motivation, every want are only evil. Notice that it doesn't say simply "They did evil." It says, "They wanted to do evil. They thought evil thoughts. They had evil desires and evil wants and evil motivations." This isn't simply a doing problem; it's a thinking problem. It's not just what they're doing; it's what they want to do. It's just what they say and how they live; it's, first and foremost, how they think.

What Moses is driving home is not that these were good people that made a couple of mistakes. These weren’t good people who wanted to do good and be a blessing to God as they were intended, but made mistakes. These were bad people who did bad things because they wanted to. These were people who were so inherently wicked that their very inclinations and appetites were evil. These weren’t good people making mistakes. These were natural born sinners living out their true desires. Now, when I was growing up, I used to think: "Oh wow, things were really bad in Noah's day. All of the people were just so wicked and so evil. I'm so glad that I didn't live then and that I live now when it's not that bad." But, brothers and sisters, doesn't just describe a long time ago; it describes right now. We are just as deserving of the flood today as they were then.

Now, when I was growing up, I used to think: "Oh wow, things were really bad in Noah's day. All of the people were just so wicked and so evil. I'm so glad that I didn't live then and that I live now when it's not that bad." But, brothers and sisters, doesn't just describe a long time ago; it describes right now. This isn't just an Old Testament problem that goes away after the great flood. This is humanity's ongoing problem, and the flood is to show us that the judgement of sin requires the life of every sinner. The problem of sin is so pervasive that God would have to purify the whole earth of every person if He is to pour out his righteous wrath without his own intervention.

And, in no place, is the corruption of the creation and the corruption of humanity worse than in the human mind. This is how Adam and Eve originally sinned, wasn't it? Think about what it was that they wanted. They wanted the full 'knowledge' of good and evil like God. In other words, their sin was the aspiration of their minds to know what God knows. It was the inclination of their minds to do evil and to think they were entitled as God that led to their wickedness.

ILL: People have trouble believing that they're evil, but what if we could see what you're really thinking all of the time. Imagine with me that I announced today that next Sunday I was going to have a device that allowed us to stream all of your thoughts from the past week through our projection system and that we were going to stream them person-by-person for good accountability. Now, some of you would want to come just because you're nosy and want to see what people are thinking, but I bet you'd sure leave quickly when you realized it was about to be your time. Why? Because we know the corruption of our minds. We are inclined to think toward evil all the time. We see people, and we immediately judge them. We are faced with hard decisions, and we immediately want to choose the one that makes us look the best, whether it's the best decision or not. People need our help, and we resent them. We lust and we hate. We constantly find ourselves thinking about what is wrong and wanting to choose what is wrong, even if we know what is right. The corruption of the mind is man's greatest scar from sin. It is the clearest proof of our total depravity, that is, the depth of our sinful nature.

APPLICATION: Brothers and sisters, Jesus did not come to save good people from a difficult life. That’s a 21st century perversion of the gospel. Jesus didn’t come so that your hardships would go away and so that you’d never have to face tragedy again. Jesus came to save wretched sinners from a deserved judgement. You were hopeless, but Jesus came! You morally bankrupt and spiritually destitute, but Jesus came. Your own mind proves your guilt, but listen to me, Jesus came so that you could be washed clean. Don’t let the bitterness of your sin throw you into despair. No! Let it draw you into the sweet hope that can only be found in Jesus!

“And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth.” And so, seeing that every man only wanted to do evil all the time, we read stunning words about the emotions of God. It says that 'God regretted.' Your Bible may even say that God 'repented.' God regretted that He had ever made man. Man is so reprehensible, he is so far from God's original design, he is so thoroughly wicked that it says that God was saddened over man's existence. Now, if you're like me, you're like, "Woah! What am I supposed to do with that?" "I thought God was happy with us no matter what we did or said, right?" In only one other place in the Bible do we see God 'regretting' or God 'repenting' like this. In , uses this same word in relation to King Saul. It says that He 'regretted' or 'repented' of making Saul king. So, what does this mean?

God laments the pain required for the fulfillment of his providence. God does not repent as a man does, having done wrong and incurring unforeseen consequences. For God does not do wrong, and for God all things are seen. God's regret is over the necessity of brokenness to achieve ultimate good. In , God knew that David was to be his king an eternity before He appointed Saul. Saul being king brought pain into the lives of his people, in Saul's own life, and in David's life, even though David was his anointed man. But, it was necessary pain, for the people of God could not appreciate David's courage apart from Saul's cowardice or David's obedience apart from Saul's disobedience. The people of God had to see that their plans would fail so that they might realize only God's plan will triumph, even if it looks less like a mighty warrior and more like a shepherd boy. But, God hated the pain this good plan caused. He hated that his beloved had to live on the run. He hated that Saul would ultimately be slain. He hated that his people would suffer under a disobedient king.

Even more specifically in , God regrets the costliness of man's sin. Immediate death. Future suffering. Ultimate crucifixion. In no place do the pain and beauty of God's providence meet as they do on the cross.

Illustration: Patton knew that many of the men in the third army would die as they stormed the beaches of Normandy. He commanded them to only be offensive, not even stopping to build foxholes for themselves. But, you can imagine the gravity of how he must've felt as he delivered his famous speech to his troops. He knew that many of them would not go home. He knew that some would go home without limbs and that some would leave their sanity on the battlefield. But, he and the commanders of the US military also knew that it would achieve a good so great that it must be done. And so, though he regretted that the action was necessary and that so many would suffer, he led his men into battle anyway. Brothers and sisters, this is the posture of God as we face the pain of his providence. God hurts over our hurt. God does not look numbly at our sin because He knows it will be ultimately for our good and his glory.

APPLICATION: God is not cold-hearted toward the pain of his providence. You know, here at Iron City, we have a high view of the sovereignty of God. And so, you've heard me preach before on how all of our suffering fits within the plan of God. I've talked about this from my own experience. We've talked about this as we've mourned the loss of babies and heroes of the faith. We've talked about this as you've fought demons in your family and anxiety about your lives. But, as you think of the providence of suffering, be sure to realize that God isn't cold-hearted about the pain of his plan. This past week has been one of the most difficult weeks of my life. And, what hope I have that it hasn't been pointless! But, what comfort I have that as I've wept, God has been weeping with me! God cries with his people! God cries with grieving mothers and lonely widows and sick children. God is sovereign, but God is not hard-hearted nor cold-hearted.

Jesus came so that the pain of providence might be made beautiful. He came so that you can live with the hope that the worst day of your life might be a means of ultimate good for you. Jesus came so that the evil God laments in might actually be manipulated to bring him glory in the end. Jesus came so that we could live in hope, brothers and sisters. He came so that we could live in hope. He came so that your darkest day might have inextinguishable light shining in the midst of it.

“I will blot out man whom I have created” In verse 5, it says that God 'saw that wickedness of man was great on the earth.' God knew the extent of man's wickedness. Moses writes it this way so that you can realize that God has been watching all the while, showing patience and restraint. Everywhere He looked, God saw self-interest and self-centeredness and self-promotion. Everywhere a man was, there was evil there. And so, if you've been keeping up with the character of God since , if you've already picked up on the storyline of the Bible, then when we read verse 5, we should know that verse 7 is coming. Verse 7 must come because God saw the sin, and God cannot turn a blind eye to sin.

Jesus did not come so that God could overlook sin. God cannot overlook sin. Sin attempts to unseat God as the center of the universe. It undermines him and his plans. It perverts what He has made good and glorious. The judgement of sin is an issue of God's integrity. People seem to think that when God says in that if you sin against him, you will surely die that He's just bluffing. People in our day can live believing there is a God and be in total disobedience to him because they don't think God will actually follow through with a threat of condemnation. So, they do whatever they want to do and sleep with whomever they want to sleep with and don't do anything they don't feel like doing. But, brothers and sisters, God is not North Korea. His condemnation of sin is not a propaganda campaign. If God overlooks sin and dismisses its severity, then God is either without integrity or without power. In either case, He isn't God. So, do not convince yourself that Jesus came so that God could overlook sin. That may be American and that may be enlightened, but it isn't the Gospel.

Jesus did not come so that God could overlook sin. God cannot overlook sin. Sin attempts to unseat God as the center of the universe. It undermines him and his plans. It perverts what He has made good and glorious. The judgement of sin is an issue of God's integrity. People seem to think that when God says in that if you sin against him, you will surely die that He's just bluffing. People in our day can live believing there is a God and be in total disobedience to him because they don't think God will actually follow through with a threat of condemnation. So, they whatever they want to do and sleep with whomever they want to sleep with and don't do anything they don't feel like doing. But, brothers and sisters, God is not North Korea. His condemnation of sin is not a propaganda campaign. If God overlooks sin and dismisses its severity, then God is either without integrity or without power. In either case, He isn't God. So, do not convince yourself that Jesus came so that God could overlook sin. That may be American and that may be enlightened, but it isn't the Gospel.

Jesus came because God couldn't overlook sin. Jesus came because in God's holiness you were wicked, but in God's mercy you were loved, and so, by God's power and provision you would be saved. By God's power you would be saved by his Son born to a virgin without sin so that He might take your place beneath the weight of God's judgement that was stored for you. In Christ, God does not overlook sin; He punishes sin. In Christ, God is not proven powerless, but gracious.

APPLICATION: God will not overlook your sin, but He will save you from it! Hell is not a bluff, and salvation is not a bait and switch.

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” The case can be made here that God was not just. It's not that He was unjust in bringing judgement and destruction upon the people of earth. For He had told them that if they rebel against him and do wickedness that the consequence was death. The question is: Was God just in sparing Noah? Was God just in sparing Noah's family? For they too were guilty of sin and of rebelling against him, yet they were spared. How could God destroy them and not undermine his justice?

But, God is just. God justly saved Noah by offering him grace that will be secured by a baby to be born thousands of years in the future. Jesus came because judgement is coming. The interesting thing about this part of is that you know that judgement is coming. All of us would like to think that if we knew the flood was coming that we'd build the ark right there beside Noah. But, you know, Jesus told us that He was coming back. And, in his return, He is not coming to die as a substitute but to judge and establish his reign on earth. That is, a Judgement far more sweeping and far more eternal than the flood is coming. And, this is why Jesus came. This is why the Baby was born. This is why the virgin gave birth. The Son of God was born to earth so that He might take the place of man and deliver them from the approaching judgement. Noah's salvation is a shadow of our own.

But, God is just. God justly saved Noah by offering him grace that will be secured by a baby to be born thousands of years in the future. The interesting thing about this part of is that you know that judgement is coming. All of us would like to think that if we knew the flood was coming that we'd build the ark right there beside Noah. But, you know, Jesus told us that He was coming back. And, in his return, He is not coming to die as a substitute but to judge and establish his reign on earth. That is, a Judgement far more sweeping and far more eternal than the flood is coming. And, this is why Jesus came. Jesus came because judgement is coming. This is why the Baby was born. This is why the virgin gave birth. The Son of God was born to earth so that He might take the place of man and deliver them from the approaching judgement. Noah's salvation is a shadow of our own.

Advent: The Hope of Sinners

Introduction

God’s Word

Read (We’re going to be taking an interesting look at Noah and what we’re supposed to learn about the Gospel from Noah’s life over the next four weeks of Advent.)

Then and Now

We are Just as Deserving of the Flood

Live Stream of Your Thoughts

Jesus Didn’t Come to Save Good People from a Difficult Life

God Repents

God Is Not Cold-Hearted Toward the Pain of Providence

Jesus Came so that Pain Might Be Made Beautiful

God is not North Korea

Is God Just?