The Blessed Hope

It's always uncanny how many of the hymns, the sermonettes, which are not chosen by me, these are individuals who choose their own topics and also the hymns, and yet they coincide with the sermon about, it won't be long now. I'd like to touch today on one of the three most important words in the Bible. It's always, I like to have a little bit of audience participation. What do you think are the three most important words in the Bible? Anybody want to...yes?

That's one. Faith. Hope. Okay, you got them. Congratulations. They come from 1 Corinthians 13 verse 13, where it says, For now there are faith, hope, and love, but of these three, the greatest is love.

But one of the three is hope, so it made it into the top category. And it's a beautiful word when you study a little deeper into it. In the Greek, the term is elpis, E-L-P-I-S, and it means a desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it, a desire of achieving something good with that expectation of obtaining it.

And just as there's a chapter in the Bible, which is called the faith chapter, remember what that is? What's the faith chapter in the Bible? Hebrews 11.

We also have one that could be called the hope chapter in the Bible.

That's a little more difficult. I'm not going to ask too much, but I'll just give you the answer, which is Romans chapter 8, because it discusses hope more than any other chapter in the Bible. It goes into what it is, how to obtain it. And so it was Paul who developed this subject of hope in Romans chapter 8.

Let's start in verse 16 of Romans chapter 8, talking about God's Spirit. It says, the Spirit, it should be itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. There's something in us that gives us that confidence, that hope in the future of following God. So there's something in us, that Holy Spirit, that encourages us and helps us.

It says, and if children, if we are children of God, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Notice God the Father separate from God the Son, Christ. There's no trinity here. It's God the Father and the Son that are the ones who are going to provide that inheritance, be an insult if the Holy Spirit was left out. Wouldn't the Holy Spirit also be part of this inheritance or of giving it to human beings? No, it says, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. So there's going to be suffering and following this way of life, but it's to be glorified one day in God's kingdom.

So Paul continues now because he's talking about that coming kingdom, that hope that we have in the future. And so he describes it. He says in verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. That has to do with hope, that whatever you're going through, if you are faithful, if you remain, as he says here, realizing the wonderful reward is well worth the sacrifice, the suffering, the difficulties. He says that what we're going through physically with ailments, trials, are not worthy to be compared to the coming kingdom. But for that, what do you need? You need hope. Hope in that goal that one day will be achieved, will be realized. Goes on to say, verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. So here, in a sense, Paul is saying that this whole universe is awaiting the next stage of these glorified children, that the whole creation, the term there, has to do with the universe. And that right now, it's not occupied. It's not being beautified.

It's still subject to deterioration. The laws of physics, the second law of thermodynamics is called entropy, which is that if left to themselves, all systems deteriorate. Things go to pieces. It's like nobody's going to fix the room of the boy in the house unless he does something about it, or else it will get more disorderly. I always kidded about having our daughters live upstairs there, and I called it the abomination desolation because we didn't really know just all the rooms there and how it was all set up. You just had to be careful when you went up there. You never knew what you were going to find. They're all rushing, going to school, and getting dressed, and everything is scattered. But that's the law of entropy. Things are not going to get ordered on their own unless there's something working on it. So here it's talking about that entropy in the universe and how things just are going to deteriorate. And so the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons, which is actually children of God, both men and women, for the creation was subjected to futility or deterioration, not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope, in hope, which again is a desire of some good with the expectation of obtaining it, that it was created for something in the future. Its destiny, the goal is to be beautified, to reflect God's beauty, harmony. And so this earth is just the pilot program. This is just the beginning of what God is carrying out. It goes on to say, in verse 20, for the creation was subjected, and then verse 21, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, of deterioration, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. He said a mouthful there, glorious liberty of the children of God. This universe is not going to end up with wars, people feuding, different galaxies. Can you imagine if human nature was still reigning and people got to have more population and more planets? If man would have populated the planet Mars, pretty soon we'd have a rivalry. And pretty soon, one of the two would start a war, just like we do with different neighboring nations. And we've had war after war, but God is going to change man's nature. We are not going to be bellicose. We're not going to be war-like. And so it says here that there's going to be liberty throughout the universe. There's going to be peace, joy, love, caring for one another.

Verse 22, it says, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. It's still in that process of going to be beautified. It groans. It wants to, just like a baby inside the mother's womb, it wants to be born. Well, right now, that's not happening. It's still, you know, the earth and the universe, they're not prepared yet to have that new birth of freedom using Lincoln's words. He goes on to say, verse 23, not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the spirit, because we're the first of the human beings, this goes all the way from righteous Abel through the New Testament church, which we are the 21st century church. And so having God's spirit, the firstfruits, he goes on to say, even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies, the transformation into glorious spiritual children of God. For we were saved in this hope, talking about that's why we were baptized. That's why we repented, went under the waters, received the laying on of hands. We were saved in this hope of that coming kingdom. But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? If it's already realized, if it's already accomplished, there wouldn't be any need for it. I remember when a person falls in love, and they start a relationship with a young lady, and then eventually you get the engagement. Well, you still have that hope that we're going to be together, that we're going to be a marriage, that we're going to live as a husband and a wife. You have that hope, and then you get married.

There's no longer the need for hope. You've accomplished it. Now, in Spanish, they say that man before he's married is incomplete, and after marriage, he's finished. No, but that's just a joke.

The point is that once you're married, all of that anticipation is not necessary anymore, because the goal has been accomplished. But here, there's a Christian goal that has not been accomplished. No human being has actually accomplished that goal. They lived and they died in hope, and they're waiting. The dead are resting, and they died knowing that one day, that next spark of consciousness, that they're awoken, well, they hope that'll be in the kingdom of God. They were faithful. So it goes on to say, for we were saved in this hope, in verse 25, but if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. So again, here's a whole mouthful of concepts. Yes, we hope for what we don't see yet. What don't we see? Christ's coming, His kingdom established. But that is what we have dedicated our lives to be able to reach one day. And how are we to do it? It says here, with perseverance, with endurance, not ever giving up in this life, we have to keep that hope alive. Some people, they lose hope, and pretty soon they lose faith, and eventually they drop out. They go back into the world. They go back into the arms of society and what can be provided there. It's so sad.

So that's why I call this Romans 8, the hope chapter. And actually, you can read even more about the hope that is constantly being mentioned here about God and what He's doing through us.

So hope is the goal. Faith is the walk, and love is the attitude toward that goal. Faith is the actual doing it.

Hope is not wishful thinking. Some people talk about, oh, I just like to go to heaven, but we know that's not the right goal. No, Christ from heaven is coming down here. This is the place where there's going to be action for people, not up in heaven. And so it isn't a wishful thinking. It is actually a coming reality.

It is something based on real things. It is a coming reality. Notice in Titus chapter 2, verse 11.

Titus chapter 2, verse 11.

He also talks about hope here. Makes it even clearer. Titus chapter 2, verse 11. It says, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So again, Christ is God, just like God the Father is God.

Verse 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works, speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one despise you. So Paul was not one to discard God's law. He says here that we are to redeem ourselves from every lawless deed. That's why Protestantism and Catholicism have it wrong.

According to the biblical teaching, you cannot decouple God's Ten Commandments from love. You cannot detach the two. That is one of the biggest errors taught in traditional Christianity, that you can detach, that you can uncouple, you can separate God's Ten Commandments from love.

Because each one of those commandments is based on love. And so that's one reason you need to see whether the church that you're attending is focusing on the unity of those two. It's like what the song about love and marriage should go like a horse and a carriage. Well, also God's commandments and love are like the horse and the carriage. They go together. You can't separate the two, or you're violating the biblical teaching. And so it says here that we are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That's why the message today is called the Blessed Hope. And what we need in the church, more than just about anything, is to have that blessed hope and to keep it alive. Don't lose hope. There are trials, there are difficulties, but once that goal is lost, then it's very easy to get us distracted, to get us emotionally involved in other things and other goals in life. Certainly there are many goals that we should have, but the top one is that coming kingdom, as Jesus Christ mentioned there in Matthew 6, verse 32. Matthew 6, verse 32. Hope is reaching that goal. He says in verse 32, For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, talking about physical things, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. So notice again having that hope, seeking the kingdom of God, and also notice it doesn't say your righteousness or another's righteousness. It is God's righteousness we should seek to imitate, to follow. So let's look for the rest of the message we have here at our need for hope and keeping it alive. When people lose hope, they lose their focus on the mark, on the target, and it's easy then to get them distracted. So I'd like to use just a little prop that I brought to put things in the proper perspective, because hope is a vision of the future. And so here I have a little spyglass that I brought, and they used them in olden times to look at things and see things far away that look closer. And using this type of a spyglass, you can actually see things a lot closer than they are. Now a spyglass, though, could be used mistakenly or erroneously if you turn it around. And what are you going to see? Everything becomes small. Everything looks much smaller in that way. And just like with hope, you have to know how to look at this and put your vision on those things that are coming. And don't let yourself be discouraged by the pitiful and all kinds of things going on with human beings. Sometimes we turn the spyglass around, and we're looking, and actually the great things were diminishing, and the small things were making them much larger. So let's go to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1.

Notice what it says here, verse 1 through 3. It says, if then you were raised with Christ, if you were converted, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And so again, having the spyglass looking at that faraway place and knowing it's going to be a reality, it's worth every effort, every sacrifice to be able to make it into God's kingdom. Notice in Hebrews chapter 11, here we have two of these great words together. Hebrews chapter 11, in verse 1, it shows that faith and hope are connected. It says here in verse 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for. Notice, hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Sometimes it's hard to understand, and it sounds nice, but what does it mean?

It just means that you have hope from what you believe and the way you live in the future. Faith is walking the path of righteousness toward God's kingdom because you hope you will be rewarded, and you will be rewarded in this life, but mostly in the next life. So you walk with that hope. I remember how important that was. Back in my former religion as a Catholic, I really didn't ever hear anything about heaven, but I heard a lot about hell. I didn't want to be there, so it was basically a religion out of fear. My mother would just harp on me, well, if you don't go to mass, that's a mortal sin. You're going to burn in hell, and so she brought that fear into me, and that's why I was going. But as far as heaven, that was such an undefined and imaginary idea of being up there somewhere, but basically it was to avoid fire. So I wanted fire. I bought fire insurance here, which was going to mass on Sunday. That's the way I would keep myself from that, but actually it tells us here about this coming kingdom, that it is something real that is coming, and I remember my life changed when that little bit of hope just popped up in my life. I want to be part of that kingdom. I don't care what else there will be, but I want to be part of that kingdom. I want to be there with Christ. I want to learn from Him. I want to be guided there. I want to be part of that first resurrection, not because of something important or because you're selfishly seeking that. No, I want to be there because that's where the action is. I want to take advantage of Christ at the very beginning. It's like being taught the piano by Mozart or Beethoven, and he's in town, and he's going to be there, and he's going to be your tutor, and somebody that loves music and loves to play a piano. You're going to have that, and you're going to forsake that, and you're going to miss a thousand years of training and tutoring by Christ Himself and opportunities. For what? For a little bit of lentil soup, like what happened to the situation there with Esau, that he sold his birthright and all the privileges for a bowl of lentil soup in this world. People can give up their spiritual inheritance for some physical thing that they want, and they forsake everything else.

Here, they just want the material things more than anything.

And so it was so important, and that hope was a reality. See, when my mother came back and said, well, you're leaving that former faith that I had there in the church, and that, oh, this is going to be terrible, I don't care. I'm not interested in getting to heaven. I'm interested in being the kingdom of God here on earth. I'm through with those illusions and lies. I want to be where it's true, because that's what the Bible teaches.

That's what hope is all about, the blessed hope. And so you go through life, you go through ups and downs, but you see, still got that spyglass. Yep, it's still there. God's kingdom is coming. He wants me to be faithful to the end. Don't get distracted. Don't lose hope. Notice the examples he gives here. He says, for by it, talking about faith, the walking, the obedience, the faithfulness, the elders obtained a good testimony. They got a good record. God said, they walked. They really had that vision.

They actually worked on it. It's not that hard to understand. You look at, now they're going to have the World Cup coming up in Russia in June, July, in Latin America, where we lived. You hardly did anything for that month. And all of these athletes have been trained all their lives to go to these World Cups and hopefully to come out as a champion.

We see they have a hope and they sacrifice and they work day and night exercising and working at their profession and playing games and getting bruised and getting injured. But they got that hope of getting that World Cup trophy. They're willing to do so much.

So it's with us. God has provided us with a great reward and we just have to go through the pains and aches and all the other trials and testing to be able to be part of that kingdom one day. Notice, in let's start here in verse five, it says, by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death. God said Enoch was righteous, so God protected Enoch and was not found. So God took him to a place of safety, of protection, because he was a righteous man in the midst of a corrupt and violent society, which eventually brought the flood.

Because God had taken him, for before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. So he pleased him with his words and actions. Verse six, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

God is going to reward. You have that hope. That hope is not vain. It is something that is going to bring about a great reward. No human being is going to give that to you. Nobody in the church is going to give that to you. It doesn't depend on who else is in the church. God says, you're here, this is your area, this is where I place my name.

You come here because you have that blessed hope, and you have to work with people that are imperfect and work things out. Because God is testing all of us. Sometimes we'll see on our relationships that the way it worked out, God says, oh, f, you didn't pass. Doesn't mean he gives up on you, but everybody gets tested, and he wants to see are there improvements? Are we going to better our relationships? Or are we just going to sulk and lick our wounds and not overcome things? God says, look, there are people that are going through so much worse and have gone through so much worse.

People have been tortured to death, and they did not give up that blessed hope. Anybody here still can show me their backs? We're all the flagellations, and you've been whipped because of the faith? No, we're pretty soft, aren't we? We haven't been, like it says here later in Hebrews, that we haven't suffered unto blood. So, verse 7, Noah had that blessed hope. He wanted to be part of God's kingdom. He believed in God. And so it says, by faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.

Notice, heir, he hasn't received it yet, but he is an heir. He's going to receive God's kingdom. He's going to be there. If we're part of the first resurrection, we're going to get to see Noah. We're going to be brothers to Noah. We're going to be part of the spiritual family. Would you like to sit there with Noah and have him tell us about all of this time that he went through? Then, Salcedo and I were together yesterday. We sometimes get together, planning things for the future in the church. And Noah came up and he said, well, Noah was a preacher of righteousness.

And that was to the world. And he said, well, how do you think Noah preached righteousness? To the world in his day. Made me think, well, do you think Noah said, well, today I'm going to take a trip, a thousand mile trip, to go to that community to preach righteousness. Then you think, well, if he was preaching to all of these places, would he have finished the ark? I think not. Most probable. He was building the ark and people were coming to him, saying, what kind of a crazy, loony person are you? And then Noah said, well, this is a good opportunity. You know why I'm building this? Because God says there's going to be a flood coming. And because of all the unrighteousness. And so he had the perfect marketing tool to bring people, because he was out there in the middle of a plane, building this huge ship. Wouldn't that have aroused your curiosity? And then, of course, people heard, and they didn't pay attention. They did not have the blessed hope. They never got the vision.

They were too busy living their own lives, worried about their own problems.

And so it goes on to say, let's go to Moses in verse 27. It says, by faith, talk about Moses, he forsook.

Well, let's go a little bit before. It says, verse 24, by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. He was looking toward God and that coming kingdom, and he endured, and he suffered, and he gave up so many things with people that were slaves. He lived in the royal palace. He was being groomed to become one day either Pharaoh or Pharaoh's right-hand man. He had everything to gain in the world, but he said, no, that's not my vision. It's not the Egyptian vision. I have the vision of the Israelites, of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so he looked far away. He saw something that most people did not see. Notice what it goes on to say here in verse 13. It says, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. Yes, they had their spiritual spyglass. They could see that coming kingdom one day. And not only did they see it, they embraced these promises and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And if truly they had called in mind that country from which they had come on, they would have had an opportunity to return. But now they desire a better that is a heavenly, and it should be there.

Instead, it doesn't say country here, but a heavenly kingdom which is coming from heaven. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. That city is Jerusalem, which Jesus Christ is going to establish one day.

Talking about hope, I was impressed. Years ago, when I read about an experiment where scientists had a big barrel full of water, and they wanted to see how much hope actually affected rats that they had there in the laboratory in cages. They wanted to see the effect of hope. So they took a rat out, they put him in the barrel. It was very slippery. The rat could not come out. And so they watched as the rat swam around the barrel until hours later it was exhausted and finally gave up and drowned. And then they did a second experiment. They put another rat in the barrel and they let it swim around. And after a couple hours, the rat was very tired, about ready to give up. But what did they do? They took the rat out. They fed the rat. They let it rest.

And then the following day, they took that same rat, put it in the barrel again, and that rat lasted about twice as long as the other. And why was that? Because that rat thought, they took me out once. I've got the hope that they'll do the same. But where there's no hope, it's easy to perish. It's easy to give up. But the person that has that hope can last so much longer. They've got something there to live for. They know God can intervene, that that coming kingdom is coming, that life is worthwhile living.

What happens when you don't have the hope? If you lose that hope. It tells us in 2 Peter chapter 1, what happens in this case. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 1, it says, Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Verse 2, it says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord, as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises. They're just promises. You can't see the reality of it. But God has staked his word. He has promised that this kingdom is coming, that we can be part of that kingdom, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So why are we here? Because we have decided not to follow the world's evil ways. We have decided that we want to be part of God's kingdom more than what we can get from the fleeting pleasures of sin. I remember again a young man, and I had a girlfriend. She was part of the world. And when I came into church, I realized, well, this girl, she doesn't know anything. She's not interested. What am I going to do? I'm going to put her first or the church. I had to say to her, no, we're breaking up. We're not going to continue with this because I wanted to be part of the kingdom. I didn't want to give it up. And so it's like a shield that helps you protect yourself from so many temptations. In the Bible, it's described as the helmet of the hope of salvation. Protects your mind, protects your head, which is one of the crucial, most important parts of the body, the helmet of the hope of salvation. And so he says here that we have these wonderful promises, but then it says in verse eight, for these things are yours. If you have this hope and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted. What happened to the spyglass? Yeah, a person's no longer using it. Just looking right here in front of their nose is short-sighted. Actually, the term is myopic. It comes from the Greek.

Even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So again, we have to always have that future kingdom. Looking at it, division, not losing focus on it at all. Now, going toward God's kingdom is compared to a race. Notice in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

God doesn't believe in spiritual socialism. Where? Well, you're part of the church, so it doesn't matter how much you give to him, how much effort you put. Oh, everybody makes it into the kingdom, because it's kind of a group. No, God says this is an individual race. We've got to put our best effort into it. We cannot think that it's automatic to make it into the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 9, starting in verse 24, he says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

So he compares it to a competitive race with the hope of winning the prize. Not everybody gets a prize when they started this spiritual race toward the kingdom. Now, we are actually racing against ourselves. It's not looking at the other person, how well they do it or not. That's up to God. It's how we are doing it in comparison with how well we could be doing. We're racing against ourselves. It's like when you're racing against time, where you're trying to clock a better time. This is what Paul's saying, try to better the time. He goes on to say, verse 25, And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Learn self-discipline, focus, dedication. Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown like they did in those days in the Olympics. Corinth was part of the Greek Empire. They had the Olympics every four years, and that was one of the greatest moments. And they all wanted to be part of the winning group. He says, But we for an imperishable crown, therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, not, well, yes, one day you're turned on to it. The next day you're turned off. No. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air. No, it's easy to be a shadow boxer, because you never get hit back. Yeah, the world's gonna hit you. What are you gonna do about it?

Are you gonna give up? Are you gonna brace yourself and say, I don't care what you come against me? I'm still gonna follow God's way.

Verse 27, But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others I myself should be disqualified. So he knew until the last breath of air, he could still turn away. So the race only ends at the final moment of your life. That's when you find out if you persevered to the end or not. So, racing toward that kingdom of God is one of our great goals. In God's kingdom, we're not going to have to contend with the foibles and weaknesses that humans have today. Many relationships can be strained, can be difficult, because of our human nature. This is pretty much the same as this. This is part of what God wants us to learn. Why we're going to go through two phases. The first one is a human nature phase. And what God wants us to learn is we're imperfect and this isn't going to work for the coming kingdom. And then you have the second phase, where our human nature is turned to the divine nature. Where you're not going to have envy, you're not going to have pride, you're not going to have vanity, you're not going to have egoism, all kinds of things like that. So God is putting us through a process. He considers it's important to live an earthy life, to do the best you can, but also contend with our own human nature and other people's human nature. You know how difficult it is to maintain a good friendship through the years. It's much easier for some type of falling out, some misunderstanding, some offense to produce the end of that friendship. It's much harder to keep it going. And so it is that God is teaching us. And psychologists have a word for when you want to kick a bad habit, which is called aversion therapy. Aversion therapy is designed to make a patient give up undesirable habits by causing them to associate it with an unpleasant effect. Sort of like giving them something when they're doing something wrong that induces vomiting, or for the drunk to just let them drink until he vomits all over, until he realizes, I don't want to do this anymore. Mr. Armstrong brought that example up. It seems like human nature has to be in us, in this world, so we can have aversion therapy. So God says, you see, I plan to have you for millions and billions of years in the future, and I don't want you to be double guessing and thinking that, well, is God's way really the only way that's going to work? Well, here we've tested all the wrong ways of doing things. We've seen people do that. Oh, we ourselves have fallen into something, and we say, God, no, please, just I'm ready for your system. I know it's the only one that's going to work, and nobody's going to have to look back or have second thoughts about it. So we have this blessed hope.

The church is tested. We know God represents it in the time of the end as 10 virgins, of which five are not ready and who are not going to enter into that blessed hope, and they're not going to be part of that kingdom at that time. They're kidding themselves. And so God's the one that knows our hearts as it's brought up. But the point is that we've got to look at ourselves, our race toward that kingdom, and maintain that blessed hope.

There are three great hopes that we need to keep alive. One is the hope of the coming kingdom.

We know it's coming, but don't ever lose sight of it. When you pray, one of the first things, the categories, thy kingdom come, you look and you say, yep, it's still there. It's one day closer, one day more that the world needs this coming kingdom, one more day that we need relief.

We need God to intervene. So many things are going wrong. The second blessed hope is the coming transformation in ourselves. That's the primary one. In a sense, we want to be changed. As Paul brings up in 2 Corinthians 5, let's read that. We still got time, although we're going to finish early so people can still get home before it's too dark. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 1. It says, for we know that if our earthly house, talk about the body, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens, a spiritual body that we're going to be given. For in this we groan, we desire, earnestly desire, to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. We want that spiritual body.

It's much superior to an earthly body in every sense. Our senses, all of our emotions, are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of times better. Every emotion that we have now is going to be much better in the future. It says, if indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, we don't want to die, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life, so that our life can be transformed. Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. We know that that kingdom hasn't come, and so we're still not achieving the goal that we should have. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we have our spyglass looking at that kingdom, and we're walking patiently toward it.

The third hope is the hope of the coming family of God. We're not going to be by ourselves. This isn't something personal. No, we're going to be a huge, wonderful family in the future, and we're not going to have that human nature that can so easily be detoured and distracted by vanity or envy or grudges, resentments, things like that that are of the earth. We have to rise above those. We have to be willing to seek that kingdom more than our own grievances. And so, as it says in 1 John chapter 3, talking about the coming family of God, 1 John chapter 3 verses 1 through 3, it says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. And as long as they uncouple God's commandments from true love, they don't know us.

They cannot have fellowship with us. They don't understand the truth.

It says, verse 2, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We're going to have spiritual eyes and be able to see spiritual things. We'll be able to see all these wonderful new worlds before us. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. We're working on it. We're a work in progress. Never give up. Never give in. Maintain, brethren, the blessed hope to the end.