Hope In The Lord

Hope

Robert C. Crowder

Lakeview Baptist Church

November 28, 2021

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Introduction

For most Americans, the year end holidays are a time of food, friends, and family. The idea of “decking the halls with bows of holly,” are in most people’s minds. However, for many, the holidays bring a different outlook. They bring stress and depression. The Mayo Clinic published an article in their “Healthy Lifestyle: Stress Management” blog with the title, “Stress, depression and the holidays: Tips for coping. The opening paragraph says:

“The holiday season often brings unwelcome guests — stress and depression. And it's no wonder. The holidays often present a dizzying array of demands — cooking meals, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining, to name just a few.” It goes on to say that with the addition of COVID19, “…you may be feeling additional stress, or you may be worrying about your and your loved ones' health. You may also feel stressed, sad or anxious because your holiday plans may look different during the COVID-19 pandemic.”[1]

Today’s message is one of joy and not stress. It is one of hope and not despair.

Biblical Examples of Hope

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Colossians 1:27 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.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Job 11:18-19 And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.

Where Do You Place Your Hope?

This message is not intended for the unbelieving today. Their eyes are already blinded by Satan. My focus is on those that are the Children of God…Christians. The world today is desperately seeking answers for questions that are as old as time. They search for meaning and purpose.

However, I have found that many Christians substitute the Lord in their life with the false gods of power, prestige, position, and finances.

No wonder then that the suicide rate for Conservative Christians is 9.2% for those ages between 16-34, and 8.2% for those over 55.

The world cannot fill the soul with peace and hope.

Many Christians choose to dwell in the house of wickedness than in the courts of the Most High. These false gods of power, prestige, position, and finances are temporal…they will not last. There really is “NO HOPE” to be found in them.

I am reminded of the psalmist’s words, “

Psalm 84:8-12 (KJV) O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts [is] better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God [is] a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good [thing] will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed [is] the man that trusteth in thee.

Hope is welcomed when we face some of the things that life throws at us. Fear, stress, and despair should direct our thoughts to the creator…we need the presence, power, and promises that are found only in the Word of our Lord God. When faced with pain or illness, we need healing by doctors and medicines. However, we may be in need spiritual healing during these times as well. We have a desire that God needs to know and understand our condition. We need reminding that the Creator can overcome the evil that has been placed into our “moment of time.” The world today is hostile to a reliance on God as our salvation, both on the world and in the world to come. We need Hope!

Sing with me this hymn: Christ the Solid Rock by Bob Kauflin.

My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus' blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name

On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand,

When darkness hides His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil

On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand,

Our Hope Is In

Isaiah declares in Isaiah 40:21-25, four reasons that Jesus cannot be equaled.

His seat is above all things v. 22

His strength is beyond the leaders of this world v. 23

Who can compare to Him v. 25

He knows your name and He leaves no one out v. 26

We Are the Only Hope for This Generation

Through a series of questions, Isaiah the prophet of the Living God, lifts his readers into the very presence of God. No graven image shall compare to the likeness of God. They are all forgeries. A forgery is fake…a false copy of the real thing. (Isaiah 40:18-20)

The world is longing to know the truth in this time of lies and innuendo.

It is not time for faux. The world needs to see the genuine article. And by the way, Christians need a fresh look at the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY as well.

Let us read the 40th chapter of Isaiah together…let us glimpse into the heaven’s and see God as Isaiah saw Him.

ISAIAH Forty

Isaiah 40:1-30 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Word of God Stands Forever

6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?

14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20047544