Hope Wins!
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On this the first Sunday of Advent, I want us to to prepare our hearts for the Christmas season.
Take a breath, remember this season is ABOUT JESUS! Not gift giving lists, cookie baking, shopping malls, elves, reindeers, it is the time of year that we should not allow ourselves to get stressed out but look forward to.
It is where the beautiful love story of God’s plan for us begins. And if ever we need a reminder of hope, new life, rejuvination it is this year.
This year in our town we have seen a hope campaign trying to help us get through a global pandemic, economic hardships, and isolation.
Then we started to do an outreach campagin with other chuches here in CBS, yes that’s right when things got harder to come together to meet we banned together as congregations and had online prayer rallies and had an outreach campaign within our community during a lockdown.
This Wednesday night we are going to celebrate what that all meant, we are going to have a celebration of prayer because we know Hope wins!
Throughout scripture there has been a thread of hope interwoven throughout that leads up to the day the Messiah was born and then afterwards pointing to the Hope that has been given to us.
This morning we are going to look at:
Hope is coming
Hope is Real
Hope changes me
Earlier in our service the candle was lit that signifies hope in our advent wreath and we had beautiful scriptures read that reminds us of that hope we have. Christ is our hope, Jesus Christ our living hope!
Take a look at Rom. 8, we won’t read the whole chapter but I will refer back and forth to several verses here this morning. It is such a passage that shouts HOPE WINS! The plan that was interwoven throughout scripture is seen and is alive and releveant for us right now and for generations to come.
Prayer: Let your hope expound in our hearts today and throughout this season especially. Let our community hear that there is living hope readily available even now through the words, actions and deeds of this congregation today.
Hope is coming
Hope is coming
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
Here we see that Paul declares God sent his own son to redeem the world!
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
This verse shows the paralellel message that Christ came to save. That there is a pattern here shows the Christological formula that has been foretold.
God sent his own son
God sent his son
This happened so that we can be FREE. Free from death and sin. Christ provided hope for us.
The OT prophets proclaimed that there is a plan coming to satisfy the law once and for all. One who is called the Messiah, the one who would be the sacrifical lamb that would allow us to have eternal life.
From Adam to Malachi, the prophets told the people of the day when the God of Israel would come to earth, take flesh upon Him, and become their Savior and Redeemer. Isaiah’s prophecy represents the Messianic hope that existed among the covenant people and we heard the Rumbolt family read it this morning.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
The English word Messiah comes from the Hebrew Meshiach, meaning “anointed.” The Greek equivalent is Christos. Both words carry the idea of one who is anointed of God. The Hebrew word Yeshua (Jesus in Greek) means “Savior” or “deliverer.” The two words combined denote one anointed of God to save or deliver His people.
The expectation of an Anointed Deliverer is called the messianic hope.
We were told that Hope is coming because we need a savior! God told us throughout scripture I have a plan. I created you and He wants us to have hope to have redemption so He created a way for us.
Why do we need a savior?
When I say, “we need a Savior,” I mean that every person who has ever lived needs a Savior.
Also, we should note that the term savior enjoys a somewhat broad use in the Bible; anyone who performs an act of rescue or deliverance may be designated as a “savior”. But let me be clear here when I say Savior here, we will use the word Savior to designate Jesus Christ.
The reason we need a Savior has its roots in the nature of God and the nature of man:
1. The Bible says God has a plan and human beings are critical to that plan.
2. God is holy, and He cannot abide sin.
3. Every human being has sinned, and every human has an intrinsic sin nature.
The difficulty for us is that living with God requires sinless perfection, and none of us is perfect. So God cannot accomplish His goals without first fixing humankind. That is why we need a Savior—and Scripture identifies Him as Jesus Christ.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
We need the Savior, Jesus, because we need to be made holy: “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Jesus does not simply make us better people; nor does He boost our godliness or augment our holiness—we have none to begin with. Rather, He makes us completely new creatures.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Remember how I said hope is coming because this is God’s way of saying I have a plan?
We need a Savior because God plans for us to bring Him glory (Isaiah 43:7) and enjoy His fellowship forever (Psalm 27:4). He desires to conform us to the image of His Son.
God did not create the earth for Himself to enjoy alone. He did so to cultivate relationships with beings made in His image
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God desires to have His creation love Him and thrive. The fact that we fell into sin and rebellion means that we need a Savior, or God’s plan for us cannot be realized. In His love, God sent the Savior—His only begotten Son—so He could fit us for eternity and showcase His glory.
Hope is Real
Hope is Real
Jesus became human. He took on the form of man - God in flesh - He is God incarnate. We have been able to know God as He reveals Himself through Jesus Christ!
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
In Romans 3:10–18 Paul brings passages from Psalms and Isaiah into a discussion of the law. In so doing he uses Scripture to conclude with confidence that every person has sinned.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Every person therefore requires remediation. We cannot cast off our sin any more than a leopard can change its spots (Jeremiah 13:23). “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10; cf. Psalm 14:1).
God says in no uncertain terms that everyone is a sinner, even the ones who don’t think they are (see 1 John 1:8). What this means is that everyone needs a Savior, even the ones who don’t think they do.
To summarize, God has a plan. It is perfect, and He won’t change His mind about executing it. His plan involves us humans and we are sinners through and through.
Hope is real because God is holy.
Because God is Holy, He cannot tolerate the presence of sin, and, unless He somehow cleanses us, it is impossible for Him to work His eternal plan with us. Those who are not cleansed—those who are not saved—must be separated from God for all eternity.
God’s solution: offer the perfect sacrifice, once and for all, to cleanse us of sin and reconcile us to Himself. This He did with His Son on the cross.
We need a Savior because we cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior because, without Christ, we are described as “having no hope and without God in the world”.
remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
So Jesus came to earth. God in flesh.
So What does this mean?
Since Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38), the real identity of Jesus Christ has always been questioned by skeptics.
It began with Mary’s fiancé, Joseph, who was afraid to marry her when she revealed that she was pregnant (Matthew 1:18-24). He took her as his wife only after the angel confirmed to him that the child she carried was the Son of God.
Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of God’s Son.
When the angel spoke to Joseph and announced the impending birth of Jesus, he alluded to Isaiah’s prophecy: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)" (Matthew 1:23).
This did not mean they were to name the baby Immanuel; it meant that "God with us" was the baby’s identity. Jesus was God coming in the flesh to dwell with man.
That Hope is Real because of Jesus Christ.
Jesus understood that there was specilation about His identity.
He asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"
Peter gave the right answer: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus affirmed the truth of Peter’s answer and promised that, upon that truth, He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).
Jesus is fully God and fully man, and the fact of His incarnation is of utmost importance. He lived a human life but did not possess a sin nature as we do. He was tempted but never sinned (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:15).
Sin entered the world through Adam, and Adam’s sinful nature has been transferred to every baby born into the world (Romans 5:12)—except for Jesus. Because Jesus did not have a human father, He did not inherit a sin nature. He possessed the divine nature from His Heavenly Father.
Jesus had to meet all the requirements of a holy God before He could be an acceptable sacrifice for our sin (John 8:29; Hebrews 9:14). He had to fulfill over three hundred prophecies about the Messiah that God, through the prophets, had foretold (Matthew 4:13-14; Luke 22:37; Isaiah 53; Micah 5:2).
Since the fall of man (Genesis 3:21-23), the only way to be made right with God has been the blood of an innocent sacrifice (Leviticus 9:2; Numbers 28:19; Deuteronomy 15:21; Hebrews 9:22).
Jesus was the final, perfect sacrifice that satisfied forever God’s wrath against sin (Hebrews 10:14).
His divine nature made Him fit for the work of Redeemer; His human body allowed Him to shed the blood necessary to redeem.
No human being with a sin nature could pay such a debt. No one else could meet the requirements to become the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (Matthew 26:28; 1 John 2:2). If Jesus were merely a good man as some claim, then He had a sin nature and was not perfect. In that case, His death and resurrection would have no power to save anyone.
Because Jesus was God in the flesh, He alone could pay the debt we owed to God. His victory over death and the grave won the victory for everyone who puts their trust in Him
Hope Changes Me
Hope Changes Me
It is because of Jesus’ birth the plan was launched into action. This went on to unfold and because of His life, because He came and lived and did not sin and He died on the cross and defeated death, sin and Hell. He gave us the gift of Salvation!
Salvation changes us.
A concise definition of salvation can be summed up in one word: deliverance.
But deliverance from what? When the Israelites came out of Egypt and reached the Red Sea, Moses told them to “stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13). In this case, God provided a physical deliverance for Israel from the armies of Egypt.
In the New Testament, the term salvation describes two essential components of a Christian’s life:
1. Being delivered from the penalty of sin, which is eternal death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. Being delivered from mortality and given the gift of eternal life
that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
Salvation is very important. The Bible calls it “so great a salvation”. Salvation is all about how a Christian can live a better life today and, ultimately, live forever in the future!
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
This scripture shows us the inner testimony of the Holy spirit to our relationship with Christ. Because of our relationship with Christ we have changed from our old life. Life that rejected Christ to a life that accepts Christ. We are now a child of God. Therefore we are heirs, co heirs with Christ. Everything really belongs to Christ but by grace we share in what is His.
It is because of Jesus we are changed.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Personal salvation is important because, without it you cannot become a child of God or receive eternal life.
Many places in the Bible human life is described as “mortal” that there is an end to life here on earth.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
All human beings face the same inevitable fate—we will die. But the doctrine of salvation shows us we can be delivered from eternal death.
Every human being (except for Jesus Christ) has sinned.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The penalty for sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Sin causes every person to earn the death penalty. Once we have sinned, we earn the penalty of death and there’s nothing we can do to remove that penalty ourselves. We have to be delivered from it!
So man needs to be saved—delivered from eternal death—and to be given the gift of God, which is eternal life. That is why salvation is necessary, and why Jesus came to the earth as a human being. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
We are all lost to the penalty of sin—eternal death—and the only way to be delivered from that penalty is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus gave His life, a life of perfection, without sin, so that we can be saved. It is by His shed blood that salvation is now made possible for all humans.
But that doesn’t mean human beings only have to “accept” that sacrifice and—poof!—they are saved. The Bible shows we need to accept His sacrifice and also repent and turn from sin.
And it truly does make all the difference in your daily life, too. Having been saved (born again) you became a child of God and you now live a new life of dedication to God. You have the power within you to overcome temptation and sin and live a life pleasing to God. You also have a new destiny-Heaven.
The Lord is also referred to as Jehovah M’Kaddesh, which means “The Lord who sanctifies us” (Leviticus 20:8). This literally means He is the God who changes us. It’s so encouraging to know we don’t have to change ourselves, because when we try to change on our own, it only produces frustration and struggle.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
You see, when you begin a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. Now you have great things on the inside, but they need to be “worked out” to the outside. We need to learn how to think right, talk right, and treat other people the way we should. And we can only do it through God’s strength and help.
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
I love this! Out of His great love, God not only shows us what needs to change, but this verse says He will also do it. As we draw closer to the Lord through reading His Word and talking to Him in prayer, He literally transforms us from the inside out and makes us more like Him. Our part is to cooperate with God and do the things He puts in our hearts to do.
These may seem like small things, but every time you obey God and do what’s right—even when it hurts—you grow spiritually and become more like Jesus. And as you represent the character of Christ to the world, people will want what you have and be drawn to you to know more about God.
Others will see your life change and transform and will want what you have. It is a living Hope that changes me and you!
Conclusion:
Jesus came to die for our sins, which are actions that break God’s law. He paid the penalty of death for us, so that we can have eternal life. He reconciled us to God the Father, justified us of our past sins through His blood.
Hence, after we repent of our sins and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our salvation—our deliverance from eternal death—is possible.
But we cannot continue to break God’s laws! Don’t reject Hope!
The answer is obvious—sin leads to death, obedience leads to righteousness and eternal life. The apostle Paul understood that he would receive a crown of righteousness at Jesus Christ’s return (2 Timothy 4:8).
He also understood that this promise was for more than just him—“but also to all who have loved His appearing.” That means receiving eternal life when the salvation process is complete.
This morning start this Christmas season out by embracing Hope, by realizing that Hope wins! He is the answer to all the questions of life. He walks with you closer than anyone will ever walk with you. Let’s celebrate the Hope that has been given us this morning with Praise and thanksgiving corporately today!
Come this morning won’t you and receive His Hope!
