Blessed Assurance

Well, good morning everyone! I pray that this finds you blessed and full from the Thanksgiving Day that we just celebrated this past Thursday! Hands up to everyone who believes that they may have overdone it a little in eating that meal!

Well, good morning everyone! I pray that this finds you blessed and full from the Thanksgiving Day that we just celebrated this past Thursday! Hands up to everyone who believes that they may have overdone it a little in eating that meal!

OK, hands up everyone who believes that they may have overdone it a LOT in their eating of the Thanksgiving meal!

Hands up for anyone who says that they ate very modestly and made every effort to not watch and control every calorie that they took in that day!

Now, after the service, we are going to have a special laying on of hands for those of you who just raised your hands to that last question!

Would you please turn with me in your Bibles, to the book of and read along with me.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

This past Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving Day, our dear friend and sister, JoAnne Sadler, went home to be with the Lord. This coming after a long battle with cancer for years in her life.

Within the last couple of months, JoAnne and Carlos had called the church and requested a time of prayer from some of the leadership, on a specific day, before she went and had some diagnostic tests done.

While we were in the prayer room, over here off from the sanctuary, and right after prayer, JoAnne mentioned about this drawing of Jesus that was in the room and of His laughing .

She said that this is how she saw Jesus and that she could picture Him as He laughed and celebrated in joy, over us, His children!

We all agreed as she mentioned this.

I want to share with you right now, the testimony that comes from another dear brother in Christ of mine, who is also a Pastor and who has also served as a Pastor and shepherd of Carlos and JoAnne Sadler. Brother Harold Cox.

I had never met Harold before, until the past couple of weeks, as I was going to the hospital to talk to and pray with JoAnne and Carlos and the family.

I shared with you a week ago, of how I felt impressed to sing to JoAnne the song, “There’s Something About That Name”, in here hospital room one afternoon and of how Carlos and I stood on either side of the bed and did so.

Then after we were finished, Carlos said, “Well, that confirms it.”

I asked what he meant and he told me that maybe 20 to 30 minutes earlier, Pastor Harold had come into the room and said that he felt impressed to sing that same song and I had no knowledge of that, prior to getting there that afternoon.

In fact, it was that same afternoon, that I actually met Harold for the first time!

Anyway, Harold was at Jo Anne's bedside this past Wednesday, when she went home.

He said that he felt impressed to begin to pray for her, because her breathing had become labored and so he and the family began to pray for her.

As they were praying, Harold said that he knew in his heart, right then and there, what the Lord was confirming and getting ready do.

The Lord was getting ready to bring his daughter home to be with him.

Harold said that Jo Anne’s eyes, up to that point, had been glassy looking and glazed over, with no response and no life appearing in them.

He said that he was looking at her, as they were all praying and all of a sudden, her eyes opened big and wide and she looked up at him and around him and then began to smile a big and beautiful smile and then she made a loud and deep final breathing sound and Harold said that right then and there, he knew that his sister in Jesus, had just crossed over into the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ! HALLELUJAH!

To be absent in the body, is to be present with the Lord!

And JoAnne is not the first person that I personally know of who has went home this exact same way. (Mention Chris Capps, my great grandmother)

I say all of this, right behind reading the passage from , for a couple of reasons.

1) Because, I want to stress to everyone who is listening to this message right now, that there is NO DEATH to those who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Death, has been swallowed up in sweet victory.

The passage from I Thessalonians that we just read, doesn’t say, “those who have died”, but rather, it says, “those who have fallen asleep”.

And this isn’t some estranged term or phrase that Paul envisioned, or dreamt up, but rather, it actually comes from the mouth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Himself!

Listen to what Jesus said in , about Jairus’ daughter, when the official report given, was that she had died.

The report has just been brought to Jairus that his daughter has died and that Jesus doesn’t need to bother coming any longer and Jesus says to Jairus, ““Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

The upon arriving at the house, they went in and people were wailing and crying and Jesus said this, ““Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep” and the Bible says that everyone in the crowd, laughed at Jesus, for they all knew that she had died.

Then Jesus went into her room and took her hand and held it and said, ““Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around!

Or, look at and the account of Lazarus

John 11:11–14 NLT

11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” 12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

John 11:11–14 NLT

11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” 12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

John 11:11–15 NLT

11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” 12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”

Note what Jesus said about Lazarus and the direct contrast of death and being asleep.

Now look at what Paul says about Jesus, after His crucifixion and resurrection, in ,

1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

So, my first point in mentioning Jo Anne and her going home this past Wednesday and the passage from , is that DEATH, true and lasting DEATH, does not exist for a child of God!

We, like JoAnne, simply fall asleep here and wake up there, in His glorious presence!

The second thing that I want to mention about JoAnne and her going home, is the main focus for today, and that is the HOPE that exists within a TRUE BELIEVER of Jesus the Christ!

Let me also mention to everyone real quick, that

In his writing to the church of Thessalonica, Paul mentions in the passage that we just read, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope.”

When everyone who is on this earth faces the same end result, physical death, as tells us, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”. Why would some have HOPE and others do not?

I mean, if everyone who has ever lived, has been appointed a time of death as the scripture says, in the natural, biological/physiological sense, then why do some of those have HOPE and others do not?

And what is the HOPE that some people have and others do not, as Paul mentions?

Is one man’s HOPE while in this world, equal to another’s?

And since Paul was writing to the believers of Jesus Christ in Thessalonica, he was speaking in this passage of what is referred to, as the BELIEVER’S HOPE.

Well, we most certainly know that non-believers in the world use the word HOPE and express having HOPE about things in this life. So, is HOPE for one group, not the same as HOPE for another?

That is, is there a difference between the world’s use of the word HOPE and that of the believer’s use of HOPE?

And let’s get even more specific about this word HOPE and use it in the same manner for both the believer and the non-believer.

In reference to death and what comes after this life, do both groups, the non-believers of Jesus as well as the believers, not share the same understanding when they use the word HOPE as an expression of what befalls them when they leave this life?

That is, if the non-believer in Jesus says that they have “a hope” of something better in the next life and the believer in Jesus says that they have “the hope” for when they leave here, are these two uses of HOPE for the after life not the same?

And to cover all bases, let me ask it one more way as to the use of the word HOPE. So that it isn’t just secular versus Biblical use of the word.

Is the use and the understanding of the word “HOPE” in the Old Testament different than that of the use and understanding of the word “HOPE”, in the New Testament?

When David writes the 39th chapter of Psalm, in which he states in verse 7, “And so, Lord, where do I put my HOPE? My only HOPE is in you”, is this not the same HOPE as we find in the New Testament.

My only hope is in you.

Is it different from the HOPE that we see in , where Paul says to Timothy, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our HOPE set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe”?

I am going to go through this rather expediently, so as to get to the matter of the fact and give an answer and make a point for everyone.

So, let’s look at a definition of the word HOPE, as used within the dictionary: HOPE - a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; to want something to happen or be the case.

There are different ways in which the world uses the word HOPE:

“I HOPE that I get that promotion!”

“I HOPE Tennessee has a winning season next year!”

“The only HOPE of us making it on time for dinner is if traffic is not bad!”

In each of these statements, the use of the word HOPE has an expectancy and a desire for something to take place.

“I HOPE that I get that promotion!” - the desire for the promotion and thus the expectation of more money.

“I HOPE Tennessee has a winning season next year!” - The desire of actually winning a ball game for a change and the expectation of keeping a coach for more than a season or two!

“The only HOPE of us making it on time for dinner is if traffic is not bad!” - The expectation to be somewhere at a set time with the desire of no traffic to impede.

Each time that you see the word HOPE used, as in these very basic examples, there is an expectancy, there is that desire of something taking place or coming into being, BUT the desires and the expectancy for each use of the word HOPE, is always met with UNCERTAINTY!

The general use of the word “HOPE”, that is, the natural, secular use of, has a future expectation, but without security and held with uncertainty.

Everyone has HOPES and expectations. Parents have hopes for their children and their futures.

A Mother was taking her four-year-old daughter to school. She was a doctor and had left her stethoscope on the car seat. Her little girl picked it up and very excited began to play with it. Excellent, thought the Doctor, My daughter wants to follow in my footsteps! Then the child spoke into the instrument:

"Hello and welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?"

All parents have high hopes for their children.

All parents have high hopes for their children.

When someone in the world, that is, an unbeliever says, “I hope that I am ready for whatever comes after this life”, their statement is riddled with much uncertainty and that is so horribly sad!

However, what is even more sad, is when someone who has sat in church for a large part of their life and professes Jesus as their savior makes a statement like, “I HOPE that I am ready to die!”

There is a staunch difference between the HOPE that world perceives and speaks of and that of the BELIEVER’S HOPE!

And this !

And yes, there is even a difference in HOPE that we find within the Old Testament and that of the BELIEVER’S HOPE within the New Testament.

There is

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the great philosophers of the ages, such Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and Seneca held differing opinions and thoughts about the use of the word HOPE, because HOPE, in and of itself, is often seen as an attitude of those who have insufficient knowledge or are easily swayed by wishful thinking. It thus has a primarily negative reputation as an attitude that (at least potentially) misleads actions and agents.

In other words, to act out on something based on HOPE is a desire for a future expectation, but without sufficient knowledge that would warrant that expectation.

So, HOPE is a future expectation riddled with uncertainty!

There is no mathematical or logical certainty with the use of the word HOPE.

EXAMPLE: Mathematically speaking, if I add 5 plus 5, I will always get 10, right? This is a mathematical certainty.

Logically and metaphysically speaking, if I know that all of humanity is “mortal” and we speak of someone like, Albert Einstein, I can logically deduce that he is in fact, a mortal man, correct?

Well, when we talk about the word HOPE, as the believer in the New Testament uses it, this use of the word HOPE is not linked to a mathematical or logical certainty. It most definitely is CERTAIN, but it is of the moral certainty.

Moral certainty would be like this. Desirae and I are married, husband and wife and we have the certain expectancy of staying that way, not based upon logical or mathematical certainty, but rather based upon moral certainty.

Remember, there is NO MORALITY without a source of morality. (i.e. GOD)

So, if we have a moral certainty that we are going to stay married, then it involves the certainty and permanency of God and His divine will for the union of a man and a woman.

We have the certainty of our marriage lasting until “death do us part”, because it our will, as individuals, aligned with the permanency of God’s perfect moral will for our marriage that keeps it that way.

So, we have the confidence and assurance that the Creator of heaven and earth, the omnipotent God and Lord of all, is backing and supporting our marriage!

This is a confident hope that we have about the security and longevity of our marriage!

So, the worldly use of the word HOPE, is backed only by uncertainty, because there is no absolute mathematical, logical guarantee for someone’s HOPE in anything in this life.

HOPE is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, because it is the bi-product of the optimistic heart.

But secular HOPE, is still the desire for something future to take place, but backed with an uncertainty.

In the Old Testament, the word HOPE has the understanding of an expectancy and a trust. This use of HOPE was based upon God and His divine favor upon the believer in God.

HOPE in God for the believer in the Old Testament, was more directly linked to their immediate life on earth and their trust in God to provide, to protect and to promote their existence and their promised lineage.

For example, when David says, three different times within chapters 42 and 43 of the Psalms, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? HOPE in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God”, David is crying out in the HOPE and expectancy that God would deliver him from his enemies and protect him.

And David believed that this would happen, because he knew Jehovah and His faithfulness to those who followed and loved His commandments.

And even though the believer’s HOPE in God as found in the Old Testament and their trust in God was certain and assured by God’s word, it still was only a HOPE for then and their generations.

There was nothing that provided them eternal HOPE as of yet.

But God, from the foundations of the earth, had prepared a certainty for His people, one who would forever turn the HOPE of the believer, into a future, eternal security.

, which a very well known verse in the Bible says,

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

And although God was saying this His chosen people who were being taken into captivity due to their disobedience, this statement was also a prophetic promise to all generations, past and present.

This HOPE that God stated that He planned on giving mankind, was none other than His own Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!

The BELIEVER’S HOPE, as Paul mentioned in , is that of Jesus Christ and His promise of eternal salvation to those who are His!

Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the entire Old Testament. All of its laws and all of its prophecies and its rituals and observances were fulfilled through the man, Christ Jesus, the perfect Son of God!

When Jesus paid the price for our sins on that cross, with His own perfect blood He removed the barrier that kept us from God and forever removed the need for any other sacrifice to be made for our sins.

There is in fact no other sacrifice or work that we can do to earn forgiveness, or pardon our sins. That was done through the blood of Jesus!

Then, when Jesus rose from the grave, He became the firstborn of the dead and He forever removed the sting DEATH from every believer, past, present and future!

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

A Mother was taking her four-year-old daughter to school. She was a doctor and had left her stethoscope on the car seat. Her little girl picked it up and very excited began to play with it. Excellent, thought the Doctor, My daughter wants to follow in my footsteps! Then the child spoke into the instrument:

tells us,

"Hello and welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?"

1 Corinthians 15:56–58 NLT

56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Jesus gives those who entrust their lives to Him, a secure HOPE, confident and sure HOPE, a guaranteed expectancy of an eternal life with Him in heaven.

All parents have high hopes for their children.

There is thus, no DEATH for the believer in Jesus the Christ!

The believer in Jesus serves Him faithfully while they are here in this mortal shell which we call a body and all the while with the eager expectation of their future glory that they are promised through their faith and belief in Jesus!

This is why tells us,

Galatians 5:5 NLT

5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.

We have faith and belief about our HOPE for the future. Probably the most well known verse on our faith in the Bible, is ,

Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You see, our faith and our hope are intertwined.

You could look at like this. Your faith is your conviction, your belief about what you have not yet seen or received.

Faith can found in things of the past, present and future. When faith is linked to the future, we can call it our HOPE!

I have faith in all of the promises of God from the past. I have faith in the work of Holy Spirit in my life, here in the present and I most definitely have faith for my completed salvation in the future.

So, my hope in Jesus, is really, my confident faith in the future.

Does everyone see and understand that? Your HOPE in Christ, is really your faith in Him for your eternal future!

We have not seen our eternal glory yet, but we have the HOPE and assurnce of it waiting for us when we leave this body on earth!

tells us, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.”

I have the HOPE of glory living inside of me and awaiting its fruition!

tells us,

Colossians 1:27 ESV

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

“Christ in you, the HOPE of Glory!”

Everyone say, “Christ in me, my HOPE in glory!”

IF you are a true Christian, then your eternal glory is waiting for you, as soon as your spirit leaves your body, Paul in fact says it this way, “the hope laid up for you in heaven”.

And the assurance of your HOPE being found in Heaven, is guaranteed through the promise of God, as tells us, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

If God did not spare His own Son’s life, but gave it up for us, to pay for our sins, then how much more confident should we be that He will also give to us a life in eternity with Him, which was the very reason that He paid for our sins to begin with!

tells us that HOPE deferred makes the heart sick. Dear friends, with Jesus, our HOPE is not deferred, that is, it is not a long ways off.

It is ever within us and sitting right before us at all times. It is literally separated from us with a thin veil that disappears the moment we “fall asleep” and cross over!

The HOPE of the believer is held firm and always strong and assured in their heart, as long as they keep their hearts and minds focused on the glorious light of the world, Jesus Christ. If the devil can ever get your attention focused on this world and the cares of the world, then the Jesus and His glorious light begin to fade and your HOPE begins to seem distant and unsure.

It is the HOPE living within us that sustains us and drives us on. Without the HOPE of Jesus living within us, there is no future!

The Light of Hope

Rabbi Hugo Gryn, was sent to Auschwitz as a little boy during the Holocaust of WW2. In the midst of the concentration camp, in the midst of the death and horror all around them, many Jews held onto whatever shreds of their religious observances they could, without drawing the ire of the guards. One cold winter's evening, Hugo's father gathered the family in the barracks. It was the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish Feast of Lights.

The young child watched in horror as his father took the family's last pad of butter and made a makeshift candle, using a string from his ragged clothes. He then took a match and lit the candle. "Father, no!" Hugo cried. "That butter is our last bit of food! How will we survive?"

"We can live for many days without food," his father said. "We cannot live a single minute without faith and hope. This is the fire of hope. Never let it go out. Not here! Not anywhere!"

"We can live for many days without food," his father said. "We cannot live a single minute without faith and hope. This is the fire of hope. Never let it go out. Not here! Not anywhere!"

JoAnne Sadler openly expressed her faith and love and trust of Christ within her, her HOPE of glory. And in that very moment that God called her home, her lifeless affect changed and her eyes burst open in wonder and the smile on her face, showed that her HOPE was coming to it its fruition! She shared with everyone her faith and her love for Jesus throughout her life as a Christian and in doing so, JoAnne demonstrated the BLESSED HOPE of the believer!

says this, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our BLESSED HOPE, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Jesus and His gift of salvation is our BLESSED HOPE, our BLESSED ASSURANCE of an eternity in heaven!