The Advent of Hope

On 17 December 1927, while surfacing from a submerged run off Cape Cod near Provincetown, Massachusetts, the USS S-48 submarine was accidentally rammed and sunk by a Coast Guard destroyer. The submarine sank in just minutes in 100 feet of water. The entire crew was trapped. Ships rushed to the scene of the disaster, and rescue operations commenced within hours of the sinking. Two Navy divers were lowered to the wreck to inspect it. They could hear tapping coming from the sub’s forward torpedo room. Through Mores Code the rescuers discovered that six men of the forty-man crew had survived in the sub’s forward torpedo room. Before the divers surfaced the survivors tapped out the message: “Is … there … any … hope?” The response, composed by the commander of the rescue operation was: "There is hope. Everything possible is being done." But thwarted by the weather, the rescue force could not rescue the six men. The entire crew died.

The cry of humanity throughout the ages has been, “Is there any hope when I die?” And God’s reply is, “There is hope. Everything possible has been done.” That hope is in Christ alone.

In 2002 Keith Getty and Stuart Townend — both of Ireland — wrote a contemporary worship hymn titled In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found). It became tremendously popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and then “jumped the pond” to the United States. The hymn has become a favorite among Christians worldwide. The first stanza reads:

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My comforter, my all in all

Here in the love of Christ I stand

Outside of the Bible, hope consists of little more than a half-hearted optimism — especially in American society. But that optimism has no firm foundation — no anchor. Hope, as commonly used in our culture today, is little more than wishful thinking. “I hope I win the lottery.” “I hope Bobby will ask me out.” “I hope that state trooper didn’t have his radar gun turned on.” “I hope I go to heaven when I die.” There is no sense of assurance in any of these statements.

The Bible, on the other hand, reveals a hope that consists of unrelenting, confident attachment to the future in light of God’s promises. ILLUS. There is a wonderful passage in the Book of Hebrews that illustrates Biblical hope. It’s found in Hebrews, chapter eleven — often called the ‘faith chapter.’ In verses one through eleven, the author talks about some of great saints of past ages; people like Abel, Enoch, Abraham, and Sara. He commends them for their faith and commends them to us as examples of faithful living. Then in verse thirteen, he makes a fascinating observation: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. (Hebrews 11:13, NIV)

Now, did you hear what he says? They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. They never saw all of the promises that God gave them fulfilled in their lifetime, but they believed anyway! These saints of ages past had a hope that consisted of an unrelenting and confident attachment to the future based upon God’s promises. This confidence is a model for the Christian’s response to all of God’s promises — including the hope of a Savior.

Listen as the Apostle Peter talks about this hope: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3–5, ESV)

As we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent, we celebrate the promise of a Savior and the Christian’s hope in Christ. The word Advent literally means coming. With the coming of Christ, therefore, is also the arrival of hope.

For the Christian, life with Christ is an endless hope. For those without him, life is a hopeless end. That’s why we begin our Advent celebration talking about hope. And no one needed a sure word of hope more than those lonely shepherds tending their flocks in the fields around Bethlehem. These men remind us how men should responded to God's invitation.

I. GOD'S MESSAGE OF HOPE IS FOR ALL WHO WILL GLADLY RECEIVE IT

1. it is for the up-and-in such as the Magi of Matthew’s gospel

a. and it is for the down-and-out such as the shepherds of Luke’s gospel

b. the shepherds of Bethlehem were the first souls to hear the announcement that Messiah had been born

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:8–11, NIV84)

2. why would God choose to announce the coming of His son first to shepherds and not to the rabbis and spiritual leaders of Israel?

a. during his public ministry Jesus once quoted the following words from the Prophet Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” (Isaiah 61:1, NIV84)

3. it is in harmony with the spirit of this prophecy that the very first proclamation of the Messiah's birth was made to poor and downtrodden shepherds

a. shepherds were a despised class of people in that day

1) the very nature of their occupation made it difficult for them to observe all the regulations of the Mosaic law

2) it was doubly difficult for them to live up to all the man-made religious regulations superimposed upon them by the self-righteous Pharisees

b. these shepherds were the migrant laborers of their day

1) they did the 'dirty work' that nobody else wanted and were disdained because of it

2) they were uneducated and unskilled, increasingly viewed in the post-New Testament era as dishonest, unreliable, unsavory characters, so much so that they were not allowed to testify in court

3) they put up with simple food, harsh weather, primitive lodging, and dangerous animals

4. that the angel of the Lord first declared God's message of hope to them teaches us two lessons

A. THE SELF-SUFFICIENT AND ARROGANT WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD

“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”” (Matthew 19:16–25, NIV84)

1. this individual had everything going for him

a. he was rich, young and prominent

b. he was clean, keen and reverent

2. he was the kind of individual we would covet as a church member if he and his family were to visit our services some Sunday

3. this young man is to be commended for going to the right person with his inquiry about eternal life

a. sooner or later the thought of what awaits us after this earthly existence comes to every man

4. the young man left his encounter with Jesus condemned

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18, NIV84)

a. this ought to be a lesson to us as believers in our witnessing efforts

b. even Jesus did not win over all who cam to him!

5. why did the rich young ruler leave condemned?

a. he gloried in his self-sufficiency

b. he basked in his spiritual ignorance

1) notice his emphasis on personal endeavor in his quest for eternal life . . . what good thing must I do that I may possess everlasting life?

2) confronted with the choice of either following Jesus or clinging to his material wealth, he chooses the latter

3) it is still true today that not many who are great, or noble, or rich, or mighty, open their hearts to the savior

6. there is a second lesson the shepherds teach us ...

B. THE NEEDY AND HUMBLE ARE THOSE WHO WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD

1. does this mean that all those who are poor and the outcasts of society will enter the Kingdom?

a. no, for even the needy and downtrodden must accept Jesus

b. ye must be born again knows no economic or social boundaries

2. the point that Scriptures repeatedly make is that the poor and humble have less to loose and so may be more inclined to turn to the Lord

3. all those who are needy and humble of spirit — regardless of their position in life — will be open and receptive to the good news, whether it comes form the lips of angels or men

“Blessed {are} the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3, NIV)

“Blessed {are} they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6, NIV)

“Blessed {are} the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8, NIV)

a. those individuals who recognize the spiritual poverty in their souls are the ones who will eventually turn to Jesus

II. MEN MUST RECEIVE GOD'S MESSAGE OF HOPE WITH OPEN HEARTS

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:12–16, NIV84)

1. salvation requires intellectual belief in the historical events of the Bible, yet salvation is not merely an academic discipline

2. salvation presupposes an acceptance of the miraculous and the supernatural, yet salvation is not merely a philosophical pursuit

3. salvation is a matter of the heart and the will

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”” (Romans 10:10–11, NIV84)

A. GOD CONFRONTS MEN WITH HIS MESSAGE OF HOPE IN STRANGE PLACES AND AT UNUSUAL TIMES

1. God does not always meet us in a temple, a cathedral, a church or a chapel

a. God met Moses at a burning bush in the desert

b. He met Elijah in the still small voice while the prophet was hiding in a cave

c. He met Joseph in a Egyptian dungeon

d. He met Daniel in a Babylonian lions den

e. He came to Isaiah in a vision

f. He met Jonah is a whale's tummy

g. He met Peter and Andrew, James and John on beech of a lake

h. He approached Paul on a lonely stretch of desert highway

2. God's encounter with the shepherds is consistent with His peculiar tendency of invading human history — and human lives — at the most unexpected moments

a. here were normal men going about their normal routine at its normal time

1) they're in the open countryside — isolated from the rest of society — guarding their sheep

b. suddenly, unexpectedly, a messenger of the Most High God is present and the darkness is pierced by the illumination of God's glory

c. the shepherds were sore afraid the Scripture tell us

1) what an understatement!

2) they were absolutely terrified

3) the text literally says, they feared with a great fear

d. I think the reason they were so ready to listen to the angel's message was that they were frozen in their tracks!

B. GOD'S MESSAGE OF HOPE IS THAT MESSIAH HAS BEEN BORN

1. when God speaks, men should listen

2. in spite of their anxiety over this heavenly encounter, the shepherds do listen to the angel's message of hope

a. there is no reason to be afraid

1) stop fearing the angel says (v. 10)

b. the angel's message is not one of judgment, but of hope

1) the shepherds had feared a great fear

2) the angel brought news of a great joy

3. what is the reason for this joy?

a. the angel brings good news

b. this good news will bring joy — literally calm delight

c. the message is for all people — it’s the same word we translate as whosoever in John 3:16

d. the source of this joy is the birth of the one who will deliver his people from their sin

1) he is a Savior

2) he is the Anointed One

3) he is Messiah

4) he is the Christ

4. this heavenly birth announcement initiates spontaneous praise from God's celestial army

“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”” (Luke 2:13–14, NIV84)

a. heaven explodes and angels come pouring into the realm of humans to sing, and rejoice, and dance, and hop, and skip, and jump at the news — the Second Person of the trinity has humbled himself and taken on flesh

ILLUS. In the history of Christendom we have amazing conversion stories. Men and women who came to Christ in spite of themselves. On of the great conversion stories comes from the life of C. S. Lewis. Lewis is the author of the Chronicles of Narnia which so many children have enjoyed. But as a young adult Lewis was pessimistic, and an avowed atheist. His mother’s death when he was nine, a emotionally distant and demanding father, unhappiness at boarding school, and the horror of trench warfare during World War 1 convinced him the God was not real. Lewis believed that Christianity, indeed all religions, was nothing more than an emotional crutch for the psychologically week-minded.

After the War Lewis became a highly respected professor of literature at Oxford, and then Cambridge Universities in England. His passion was stimulating his imagination by reading ancient mythic stories, feeding his intellectual curiosity, and writing for publication and posterity, he thoroughly enjoyed academic life. While at Oxford God kept bringing committed Christians into Lewis’s life — men who challenged, and threatened, his whole world view. Through the influence of those friends Lewis first made the tentative step of becoming a theist. He admitted, “God was God.” In his book Surprised by Joy, Lewis writes of that moment: "You must picture me alone in my room at Oxford, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England"

But God was not done with C. S. Lewis. Merely believing in God was not enough. Within two years the reluctant theist surrendered his life to Christ. One night in 1929, Lewis stayed up till 3:00 AM talking to his Christian colleagues, Hugo Dyson, and J. R. R. Tolkien. A few days later he wrote to a friend, "I have just passed on from believing in God to definitely believing in Christ, in Christianity.... “

Christian history shows that when men and women meet Jesus, recognize His Nature, and then decide to trust and follow Him, they become strikingly different people. Like Nicodemus, Lewis the intellectual had his night filled with light and his life changed radically. From that moment he became an ardent defender of faith regained and a refined popularizer of Christian truth: still today his essays on faith, grief and love are among the most effective works of 20th century Christian apologetics.

C. GOD'S MESSAGE OF HOPE MUST RECEIVE A RESPONSE

1. the shepherds believed the message and desired instantly to see what God had done on their behalf

“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:15–16, NIV84)

2. they came with haste the Scriptures tell us

a. the word means to accelerate or to cut across

1) the implication is that these shepherds had not time to travel the ordinary paths to Bethlehem

2) rather, they cut across the fields, and bounded across the creeks — running all the way — in order to reach Bethlehem more quickly

b. their rapid journey was not disappointing

3. they heard the message, they saw the proof, they believed

a. their response tells me that you too, must respond quickly to God in your life

III. THOSE WHO BELIEVE GOD'S MESSAGE OF HOPE MUST ANNOUNCE IT TO OTHERS

1. the simple shepherds were the first to receive communication concerning the birth of the Savior

2. and look ... these same shepherds were the first to proclaim this event to others

“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” (Luke 2:17–18, NIV84)

A. GOD'S MESSAGE OF HOPE IS NEVER FULLY FIXED IN OUR HEARTS UNTIL WE PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE OURSELVES & GIVE GLORY TO GOD

1. these shepherds made known abroad what they had been told

a. they broadcast to all who would listen — and even to those who wouldn't

1) so thoroughly convinced were these men of the truth of their story, and so sure were they of its importance, that they were willing to risk disbelief and even ridicule

2) these shepherds looked at a baby and saw in his face the hope of Israel

ILLUS. No wonder Charles Wesley could write the lines "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see: Hail th' Incarnate Deity" We sing those words in that great carol of Christmas "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

b. those that heard the story were amazed

c. how faithful are you in telling the story?

2. these shepherds returned to their simple and routine responsibilities of guarding sheep

a. but their lives could never be quite the same

b. the praise of God would continually be upon their lips

On a cold and stormy night in December survivors of a sunken American submarine tapped out the message: “Is … there … any … hope?” The response, came: "There is hope. Everything possible is being done." The cry of humanity throughout the ages has been, “Is there any hope when I die?” And God’s reply is, “There is hope. Everything possible has been done.” That hope is in Christ alone. Biblical hope is based on God Himself, revealed to us in Jesus Christ, the living Word and in His written word.

How have you responded to God's message of hope? It's a message that is for all men who are lowly and downtrodden of spirit. It's a message you must receive with an open heart, just as the shepherds did. It's a message that will bring joy to your heart and praise to your lips. It's a story that we cannot help but tell to those around us.

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