The Hope of Heaven

1 John 2:28-3:3.

1 John 2:28-3:3, “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 29If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 3:1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” NIV

In that passage John touches upon one of the great themes of the Bible, the subject of hope. The word occurs over 50 times in the New Testament. Our strength to live healthy, godly, productive lives depends greatly on this element of hope in our hearts. Without hope there is really no reason to expend effort that is why people suffering from depression have no energy. A state of hopelessness is closely akin to a state of death. Hope is as essential to the human soul as water or food is to our physical bodies. A life without hope is a living hell. In fact, one thing that will make hell so unbearable is the absolute absence of hope.

The Devil was having a yard sale, and all of his tools were marked with different prices. They were tools like hatred, lust, jealously, deceit, lying, and pride all carrying a high price tag. But over to one side of the yard on display was a tool more worn than any other tool. It was also the most expensive. The tool was labeled Discouragement.

When asked why this tool was so costly, the Devil answered, “It’s more useful to me than any other tool. When I can’t bring my victims down with any of these other tools, I use discouragement, because most of them don’t even realize it belongs to me.”

Have you ever had that tool used on you? Have you ever lost your joy because you lost your hope? Have you ever lost your will to go on because you lost your hope?

Paul wrote in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” NIV

Have you ever been around someone who was overflowing in hope? That’s good kind of person to be around. When I’m around a person like that I want to get all the overflow of hope I can get. A person who is overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit is also full of joy and peace. Those are the kinds of things that accompany hope. It’s amazing what a person full of hope can accomplish. But the Devil also knows that godly hope is a powerful thing. That’s why he will do everything he can to rob you of your confident expectation in God.

In the New Testament the word translated hope means “confident expectation.” In our society hope often carries the weak idea of wishful thinking. We say, “I hope so” and often mean “I doubt so.” But when you read that word in the New Testament understand that we are talking about a firm expectation. That kind of hope has a profound influence on the way we live.

In the Bible God gives hope as a preparation for great things? There is Abraham in Ur of Chaldes. He is surrounded by idolatry and wickedness. God gives Abraham a very special promise. Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." NKJV

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was barren. And God begins by offering to Abraham the impossible. “I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great.” How many think you might be excited about life if you had just gotten a promise from God like that? It gave Abraham the strength to do what God told him to do. But, as Abraham proceeded in his journey he encountered some discouragements. When he got to the land God had promised him he found that there were already people there. The Canaanites were occupying the land. I don’t think Abraham was expecting that.

Guess what God did? He gave Abraham a “hope boost”. Those of you who get flu shots know that sometimes you have to get a booster shot because what you got in the past is no longer sufficient for the present. Well there are some of us here today who need a shot of hope, a booster shot of hope. And God wants you to have that this morning.

He told Abraham in no uncertain terms that his descendants would have that land. Then there came a famine in the very place where God had led Abraham to go. I doubt that made a lot of sense to Abraham. If God led me somewhere I would expect abundance, not scarcity. Abraham goes down to Egypt and has a moral failure by telling Sarah to lie about her being his wife. Have you ever been discouraged about your own failures? I think those can be some of the greatest discouragements of all.

That wasn’t the last of Abraham’s discouragements. There was the conflict between his herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. Then there was the conflict with the kings who captured Lot and his family. I want you to remember that Abraham’s journey of faith encountered a lot of discouraging circumstances, not to mention the 25 years that passed before Abraham began to experience the blessing of his son Isaac.

What did God do to help Abraham succeed in his journey? On a number of occasions He fed Abraham’s soul with reminders of His promise. Why? Because hope is what will empower Abraham to do what is to be done in the now!

This morning we learn from our text just how essential hope is to our success now. If I were to ask you the question this morning, “What are you looking forward to?” how would you answer? If I were to strengthen that question by asking, “What are you living for?” I would be touching on this issue of hope. John addresses The Subject of Our Hope

1. We Need to Know What We Are Now.

In I John 3:2 John says, “Now, we are the children of God...” John 1:11-13 “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” NIV

I am not a child of God because I am better than any sinner out there. I am only a child of God because I receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But if we are to succeed in our journey of faith, we must know who we are. “Now, we are the children of God...”

This is not just something that will happen someday in the great beyond. This is a present reality. As a believer, say it with me, “Now I am a child of God.”

This is something we can know in the here and now, in this life. I have asked people, “If you were to die today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?” An answer that often comes is, “I hope so. I’ve tried to live a good life and I would hope that God would accept me.” That is a very different answer than John would have given. John knew he belonged to the Lord. He didn’t have to wait until he died to find that out and neither do we. We can and should know now that we are the children of God. Some might ask, “How can I know.” The Bible tells us a number of ways to know for sure you have a right relationship with God.

A. You can know because the Holy Spirit will witness that reality to your spirit. Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” NIV

B. We know we are children of God by our love toward other believers. 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” NIV

That does not mean that we never have a disagreement or never have to deal with our attitude toward another believer. But deep inside of us there is a union with them and we are convicted when our attitude is not right and we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to walk in love.

3. We know we are God’s children by our life style. Good works don’t save us but a new life in Christ will change the way we behave. 1 John 2:3 “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” NIV Again that doesn’t mean there will be no temptations or failures. But as a whole our lives will be lived in submission to God and His commandments not in rebellion and sin. “Now, we are the children of God...”

What does it mean to be a child of God? It means you are already acceptable with God. You don’t have to earn His favor. You don’t have to be good enough for God to like you or bless you. You are as Ephesians says, “...blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ...” and you are already “...accepted in the Beloved...”

You are approved by God because of the sacrifice of Christ in your behalf. You are worthy because by the grace of God He has made you worthy. The practical significance of that is you can come to God for help with whatever your need may be, even when you have failed and messed up, you don’t have to draw back from God but are invited to His throne of grace.

It’s important to know who you are in Christ right now because the devil, will jump on every failure, every shortcoming and try to use it to steal your hope in God.

2. We Need to Know What We Will Be

Here is a source of great hope we have in our faith: “What we will be...”

A. What we will be “has not yet been made known”. 1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” NIV

We do know from the book of Revelation that heaven will be a place filled with worship. We do know that we will be heirs with Christ serving with Him in His eternal kingdom. I like the way one person summarized our hope of heaven.

In heaven we will: Worship without Distraction, Serve without Exhaustion, Fellowship without Fear, Learn without Fatigue, Rest without Boredom.

The hope of heaven is a powerful strength for godly living that many people seem to virtually ignore in their daily lives. Myrtle Erickson wrote: Think of stepping on a shore and finding it heaven, of taking hold of a hand and finding it God’s hand, of breathing new air and finding it celestial air, of feeling invigorated and finding it immortality, of passing from storm and tempest to unbroken calm, and looking up and finding it home!

There is an old hymn I used to sing: “This world is not my home I’m just a passing through. My treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me to heaven’s open door and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore”

That song reminded me that life is not just about what I get now. This life is just a preparation for better things and life should be lived with heaven in mind. If you are not living your life with eye toward the coming of the Lord and an eye toward heaven you have probably gotten too attached to the things of this world.

In John 14:1-3 Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” NIV

Jesus literally and visibly ascended into heaven in His glorified body. In Acts 1 the disciples watched with mouths open as a cloud received Him out of their sight. Do you remember what the angels said at that moment? Acts 1:11 “...Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will also come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” He is coming back in like manner.

B. We shall see Him as He is. Won’t that be something? Won’t that be worth waiting for? Today we walk by faith, not sight, but one day you and I will see Him as He is.

Listen to Job 19:25-27, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes, I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me.” NIV

That reality ought to cause our hearts to yearn within us too. We may not have all the answers about what’s to come but here is something we are assured of.

C. We shall be like Him. What a promise! That is exactly what I want, to be like Jesus. There could be no greater promise than that. David wrote in Psalm 17:15 “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” NKJV

Our present limitations we will one day leave behind. Think about what the hope of heaven promises: No more sorrow, No more sickness, No more death, no more crying, No more pain, All that will have passed away. How do I know? Jesus promised all those things in Revelation 21.

My dear brothers and sisters, you really have something to look forward to! In Christ we have the hope of heaven. Today we struggle with temptations and we don’t always accomplish what we would like to accomplish. But one day we will be resurrected in His likeness. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, This corruption will put on incorruption. This mortal will put on immortality… then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV

3. The Significance of our Hope

In 1 John 3:3 “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” John is not saying he should purify himself. I used to read that verse wrong. I used to think it said, “Everyone who has this hope in himself ought to purify himself...” But that is not what John is saying and when you discover that you discover a golden nugget in this verse. John is telling us this will happen because of the influence of that hope.

Hope rises above our adversities. Eternal hope infuses us now with the ability to turn our eyes away from the glitter and attraction of the world to a much, much greater Light.

Some of us are weak in the face of temptation because our hope tank is on empty. We are gnawing on the husk of earthly things trying to get inspired and failing to see the great big WHY of it all. Why would I deny myself the pleasures of this world? Because I am saving myself for something far, far better.

If you were about to eat steak and lobster, would you eat some low-grade bologna first? No, if I knew that steak and lobster was fixed for me I would not have an appetite for bologna.

A school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their schoolwork during stays in the hospital. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a call asking her to visit a child. She took the child’s name and talked briefly with the child’s regular teacher. That teacher told her that the class was studying nouns and adverbs and asked her to help him understand them so that he wouldn’t fall too far behind the class.

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. Nobody had told her that the boy had been severely burned and was in great pain. Taken back by the severity of his condition she stumbled through the lesson on nouns and adverbs. When she left she didn’t feel like she had accomplished anything. But the next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher thought she had done something wrong and began to apologize. “No,” the nurse explained, “you don’t know what I mean. We’ve been so worried about that little boy. But ever since yesterday his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back and responding to treatment. It’s as though he has decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy told them that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple conclusion. “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”

God wouldn’t be working His grace in your life if it were not important for him to do so. Learn to draw strength from the possibilities God has set before you.

In the town of Port Hope, Canada there is a monument erected, not for some leading citizen, but for a poor, unselfish working man who gave most of his life and energy helping people who could not repay him.

Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin in 1820. As a young man he was full for high ideals and aspirations. He was engaged to a pretty young woman who promised to share his dreams with him. But on the eve of their wedding her body was pulled from a pond where she had accidentally fallen and drowned. Joseph Scriven never overcame the shock of that tragedy. Although a college graduate with the potential of a brilliant career, he began to wander to try to forget his sorrow. His wanderings took him to Canada where he spent the last 41 years of his life. He became a very devout Christian. His beliefs led him to labor tirelessly for poor widows and sick people. He often served for no wages.

No one knew that Joseph had poetic gifts until shortly before his death at 60 years old. A friend, who was sitting with him while he was ill, discovered a poem he had written to his mother during a time of sorrow. Joseph never intended for anyone else to see it. His poem was later set to music and has become a much loved gospel song. It is said to be the first song that many missionaries teach their converts. In polls taken to determine the popularity of Gospel songs, his is always near the top. What was his poem?

“What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear; All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.”

In this lifetime Joseph Scriven had no idea how God would ultimately use his life. You may not understand what God is doing in your life. But if God has told you to do something He has His reasons. So, be faithful and grow in your hope. For if you do, hope will grow in you.

How do you get the hope of heaven? …