Hope For All Times

I think there's a common theme in the messages and music we've been hearing today. Well, as we've already broached the topic, these are difficult times for a lot of us. Bad times, I think a lot of times it's called difficult times, maybe rather than bad times, so we know what the words mean. They're never easy to live through, and we know that. And this is part of the expectation when we live in a world under Satan's sway, a world that came about because of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God, sin entered in, and death, and we are the inheritors, as a sense of that world, of that system.

And so that's why there are so many difficulties and challenges, and of course we human beings have a tendency to keep throwing more fuel on the fire, as we used to say back home. And no matter our age, no matter who we are, we can expect to experience some difficult times in our lives. That's part of it. What's really interesting about it, though, and we know from Scripture, God uses those difficult times to prove us, to temper us, to improve us, to help us grow in faith and encourage.

Now, difficult times are difficult. They are, and I recognize that older, our older people in our society, and older ones here, and any of us with white hair, we maybe we have a little more sensitivity to difficulty because we've lived longer, and our historical perspective is more broad. We can remember farther back, oh even to the covered wagon days, no not that far back, but we can look back and we recognize that we have really changed, and there's been some good changes, some good improvements since those back in the day, and there have been some not so good changes as we heard in today's sermon at.

And yet, also changes have been happening difficult times. It's never good, but things have been changing so quickly. I think even our some of our youngest people, even our teenagers, would be able to tell you that things are different from what they were back when they were younger, just in recent years, the things they're, as we heard reference to, perhaps having to cope with in schools and in sports teams, maybe not so much in this area yet, but it'll probably happen, and it certainly is happening with some of our our brethren in other parts of the country and other parts of the world.

Change is not always good. Change is not always better. We will go through difficult times. Difficult times will cause us to be anxious, and to be fearful, to be pummeled with doubts, and the old scattered brain worries of our own mind trying to make sense out of things, wrap ourselves around it logically. That can be difficult. We can become angry. We can get panicky about it. We can mourn about what we see changing and worry, and sometimes we can despair.

But as we heard in the message earlier, that is not what God wants us to be about. He has given us access to Him through His Spirit, access to His Word, and He's there to help us through bad times and good times. And so He wants us to persevere, to persevere in hope, to persevere in hope.

Hope, if you would think about it just for a little bit, hope is always pointed in which direction? To the future. It's always pointed forward. It looks forward to better times, to better situation, better circumstances.

And the hope I'm going to be talking about today is not that hope that exists just simply among human beings, and among human beings apart from God that don't know God or choose not to know God or do His ways. I'm not talking about an uncertain hope. I'm talking about what we sometimes call the real deal.

I'm talking about the real deal hope. A true and living and vibrant hope. A hope that will be fulfilled. There are so many hopes we can have as human beings, and so many of them will never be fulfilled because we're just simply not capable of it. But God is. God gives us hope, and He is capable of fulfilling that ultimate true hope.

His hope is rooted deep in conviction, deep in assurance, deep in faith and trust. In fact, faith, trust, the word hope, they're so closely connected they are practically synonymous with one another. Now, if this sounds like the sort of hope you would like to have, and I think we do, that's a good thing. Because that hope is exactly the hope God offers to every human being.

To us now, and certainly to every human being, all in due time, all according to God's plan, God has got this. He's got it figured out for us, and everyone's going to have a chance to know what you and I know now, and probably much more. And it'll all be to help others to choose not only peace, but to choose hope and trust forever in God. The title of today's sermon is, Hope for All Times. Hope for All Times.

Through this Gospel message, as we can read just the announcement of it, the glad tidings Jesus Christ brought, let's turn to Mark chapter 1, verse 14 through 15, Jesus Christ came and He announced glad tidings. He announced the coming of humanity's true and ultimate and only hope. Mark 1, verse 14 through 15, and verse 14 refers to John.

This is a reference to John the Baptist. Now, after John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. And that kind of summarizes this hope we're looking forward to. He is preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel. And again, that hope we look forward to is in God and His coming kingdom. Back in 1st Peter chapter 1, back in 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 3 through 5, we find described a little more fully this true hope that God is making available or has planned since before the beginning of time this hope He has made available. We've learned about it because He opened our minds to understand and more willing to understand it.

But God is making and will make this hope available to all humanity each in due time. And here Peter describes it, 1st Peter 1 through 5. He says, "...blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." There's a lot being said in those those scriptures.

But we find Peter's talking about this hope, this living hope. It's a hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He lived again. He was accepted by the Father, and our sins can be forgiven. And because he is resurrected, we are promised that as we are faithful to God, as we bear His God's Holy Spirit, we too can hope in a resurrection to eternal life. And that is in reserve, you might say, for us.

It's waiting for the right time for that to be given. It's our inheritance, our inheritance. John 11, verse 25 through 26. In John 11, verse 25 through 26, we can read how Jesus asked a very pointed question to Martha. In this account, part of the gospel of John, this is the moment just before Jesus Christ is going to resurrect Lazarus from the grave. He'd been in the grave a number of days, and Martha said his he's stinking, his flesh was decomposing, and yet Lazarus was going to be resurrected. He'd be resurrected to a physical resurrection. But let's notice the question Jesus asked Martha. It's a very vital question. It's about her faith, and it's about her hope, a hope she had been given by Christ himself.

John 11, verse 25, Jesus said to her, her is Martha. Jesus said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Of course, he's talking about more than just the physical death. He's talking about life eternal.

They will never die at once we become immortal. And so he asked her, do you believe this? And of course, her answer was yes. And this is a very important question for us to ask. Do we believe this? Ask yourself, do I believe this? If we too believe this, then we can have that strength of faith in hope and God and in Christ to persevere through whatever life throws at us, whatever difficulties are thrown at us.

And don't we know that sometimes life throws it hard? Life throws it hard at us sometimes. But we have hope, a divine hope from God. Now God does not intend for us to be living in fear and discouragement. He doesn't want us to be overwhelmed by the challenges we face. He wants us to turn to Him in repentance and with hope and trust, to trust in Him with our lives, not just now, but forever.

And God, through Jesus Christ, gives us that true hope. It is that divine hope that we will receive everlasting life, that we shall ever be with God in His kingdom, we shall ever be a part of His divine family. More about that in just a few minutes. The fact is, even now, God is fully engaged in fulfilling that hope and He will fulfill it through Jesus Christ. Now there are other types of hope, other type or types, however you might want to phrase it, there are other hopes we have. We might call this type of hope as a contrast to a divine hope from God.

This other hope we can call our human hope, our human hopes. Humanity, because life is a challenge, humanity historically has always looked for explanations for life's problems. They, whether you believe in God as we do or not, and some have never even heard about Jesus Christ and God the Father, but they they too have hope. They look forward to something that's beyond the the troublesome times they face. The ancient Greeks, for example, provide us an example, a story whereby they tried to explain why there is suffering in the world and what they could do about it. They had a story concerning how the gods, this would have been the Greek gods, the pagan gods, gifted humanity hope.

And the way they gifted it is really interesting and so contrary, and the opposite approach, you might say, to the hope God gives us. There's this myth called about Pandora's box. Have you ever heard Pandora's box? It's very, very common, one of the things we need to know about our culture, they tell us today, our western culture. They used this myth of Pandora's box to explain the human condition, how sorrows and evil came to be in this world.

Quite different from the Garden of Eden story, by the way, although there may be some some vestige echoes of the original story. This is primarily a twisting of the original and of great imagination by human beings apart from God. But anyway, one version of the Pandora's box story. I took this from Greekmythsgreekmythology.com. And let me just read it to you.

Pandora was, according to the myth, the first woman on earth. Pandora was her name. She was created by the gods, and each one of those gods gave her a gift, and thus her name in Greek means the one who bears all gifts. Pandora, many gifts. But the story tells us that she was created as a punishment to mankind. I don't want to hear it, okay? We're not going to go there. I'm not going to be sexist, nothing like that. No. Because she apparently she's created as a punishment to mankind because of what the man did to get the gods angry.

That's another story. So she was created as a punishment to mankind. Zeus, the king of the gods, wanted to punish people because Prometheus, another god, it's a big crazy wacko family. We're not going to go into all of it.

But because Prometheus, another god, stole the fire and gave it to man. And the gods were not angry, so they made woman. I'm going to set her up to cause chaos for man. Very different approach to our true god. So Pandora was given a box or a jar. Often the most ancient story, it was a jar with a lid on it. And the gods told her that that box contained special gifts from them, but she was not allowed to open the box ever.

Yeah, you know where this goes, right? Yes, her curiosity got the better of her. And by the way, I've known some very curious men as well. I'm just keeping this fair. All right? But this is the story. I'm just reading it. So her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the box and all the illnesses and hardships that the gods had hidden in the box started coming out. I remember old Bolefinsch's mythology written in the 1880s. It talks about the illnesses like colic and gout, you know, and arthritis. And then there's... and so the idea is that all the plagues in the world, all the troubles, all the problems of humanity, the greed, the murder, the hate, it all created...

it all came from this instant, according to this ancient Greek myth. And so Pandora was scared because she saw all the evil spirits coming out of the box, and she tried to close the box as fast as possible, but she is only able... and here I'm stepping away from the story... she is only able to keep one of the gifts in the box. And that one gift was hope.

It's the only thing that was remained... that remained in the box. Hope. Now hope indeed... quoting again, hope indeed stayed inside, the story goes, because it was Zeus's will. He wanted to let people suffer in order to understand that they should not disobey their gods. And so that's the Greek version of how the evils came into the world and how hope came to be. And it's a very unusual story, so unlike the hope we have in the plan of salvation, God has let us know through his Bible.

For the ancient Greeks, this sort of human hope filled with uncertainty, uncertainty born... it was a story of... born of the imagination that created this story labeled it hope, and how it came about. It was a good story, and it still is interesting. You can draw lessons from it, but at least even that good story, although it's rather odd and imaginary, total fiction, it was better than living with despair and hopelessness. Humanity will create something that they need. Unfortunately, they won't turn to God, who's already created everything they need. And there's still somewhat true today for the millions of people who do not know the true God and his son, Jesus Christ.

They create their own hopes. They create their own wishes, their own desires, and trust in them. And so human hope is comprised of our wishes, our wants, our desires. It's not wrong to have hopes and desires and wishes. There's nothing wrong with that. So we can hope for a good job. We can hope for cooler weather.

We can hope for a nice home. Hope for pleasant neighbors. I hope for fewer taxes. I know it will be hope-deferred. And there'll be more. There's more we can hope for and wish for and desire. Of course, it's even more wise to take our hopes and desires and humble prayer to God for his help. For he will help us by giving us our hopes. He'll help them be fulfilled if they're according to his will and way.

And that's really what we should always ask for, because only he knows what's best for us and what's best for other people. We have to go to God because there will come times when we are absolutely helpless to fulfill our own hopes. In fact, human beings have hopes. We have hopes.

But we know those most important hopes, those ultimate hopes that humanity may have, humanity is absolutely unable to fulfill. They simply don't have the ability, the power, the authority that our great God does to fulfill our hopes and wishes as he pleases, and certainly to fulfill the hope of salvation. And we know sometimes our hopes can get twisted, blackened by sin. If our hopes are rooted in self-centered attitudes and sin, such as lust and pride and covetousness, we certainly know that is not a good thing. We're on the wrong track. At that point, we need to check ourselves, repent, refocus our hearts on on God and what is right according to his law and way.

And of course, we want to stay focused on the hope of salvation in the kingdom of God. Now, the more self-centered quality of human hope occurs when people place greater hope and trust. Again, nearly synonymous words. And people put too much trust in hope and just about anything rather than to hope and trust in God.

And that's what's something we must be careful of not doing ourselves. We're more numerous times in Scripture not to place our ultimate hope in anything other than God. And we need to take warning. Let's read, for example, back in 1 Timothy 6, 17, warning not to put our ultimate hope in anything but God. Anything else we put our ultimate hope in, we're going to be disappointed. It's going to fail us. 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, for example, here we're warned not to place our hope and trust in riches and wealth and material things. Here Paul writes, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, cocky, and proud of themselves, in order to trust in uncertain riches.

Notice it's uncertain riches, just like uncertain hopes, but to trust in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. And we should understand that, and I think we do. The trusting riches of the world is nothing compared to trusting God and his true riches of grace and love, mercy. We can add to this Matthew 16, verse 26. Jesus Christ here recorded by Matthew, in Matthew 16, verse 26, adds warning, or maybe this is where Paul also took the message from, his scripture from.

Matthew 16, verse 26, Jesus said, What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, loses his own life? His very being. Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul, for his life?

God also tells his people not to trust in the strength of men. Let's turn back to Psalm of David, back in Psalm chapter 20. Psalm 20. David was well experienced in warfare. He knew the power and might of a well-trained army with cavalry, infantry.

He spoke under inspiration of God. He knew. Psalm 20, verse 7 through 8, David wrote, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They, they who have trusted in reference be they who trust in chariots and horses, they have bowed down and fallen, but we who trusted in the name of the Lord our God, but we have risen and stand upright. Heads high because they trusted in God. And so God is our best defense. God is also our best offense in times of trial, times of conflict, especially, of course, in our spiritual battles with sin and temptation. Let's also read in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 17, 5 through 8. Jeremiah 17, 5 through 8.

Before Jeremiah, God through Jeremiah tells us the heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. In verse Jeremiah 17, 5 through 8, God through Jeremiah warns, warns us about trusting in people, about trusting in man, the institutions of, of humanity as well. Jeremiah 17, verse 5 through 8. Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. And of course, he could take the scripture and think about it and realize that's exactly what's happening historically and time and time again, and we're experiencing it now. People have turned their backs on God. They've turned their backs on the morality that has long been founded on the Bible, the biblical worldview that is of God, and without God, they are trusting in their own strength. And we see the outcome in much of the troubles and strife and immemorality we see today. Verse 6, for he shall, he who trusts, so he's making a contrast now between those who trust in man and his flesh of his strength, who depart from the Lord. What happens to these people? Verse 6, or to this person, for he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. What sort of plants grow in salt soil? You ever been to the Dead Sea or seen pictures of it? Nothing grows. It's arid. It's dead. It's dead. But look at verse 7. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. It doesn't say hope in the Lord. Whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Now, if you were to be a tree, which scenario would you choose? I want the green. I want to go that way. We all do. We want to trust in God. We want to hope in God. We don't want to trust in man. I think a lot of us have already learned, have we not, we can't even trust in our own selves, can we? We can't. We get older. It gets harder to see, harder to hear, and we get it. We begin to get it. So these things that mankind wants to trust in, the riches, the power, military might, whatever it might be, and of course there's many and many other things we can include here. These things that mankind wants to trust are all, are all of the earth. They're earthly. They're fleshly. As we've heard before, they are all temporary. They will not last. Man himself is created of the dust. That old song, dust in the wind, comes to mind. He's going to blow away. That's going to be it. They are nothing, they are nothing lasting. God is the one to be trusted. God is eternal. He has all that power and authority, and He wants His people to trust and hope in God. Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't trust in hope and humanity. We, we, there is that degree of trust and hope we should place in one another. How else can we ever build unity in the body of Christ if we don't extend some hope and trust and learn to do it better? So, yes, there is trust. I'm not saying we turn your back and everything human. That just won't work. What we're talking about here, what God seems to be telling us is don't put your ultimate trust. You know, if you're trusted in man to to keep you absolutely healthy, good luck with that. If you trust your humanity so you would never die, you're going to be disappointed. But God's hope is different. God has the ability and the authority and the will to do, to be our ultimate hope.

Only God, you see, gives us that true hope. To have God's amazing hope fulfilled in our lives and as part of our expectation, hope for the future, it is there. It is solid, as I say. It is certain. It is is a conviction and assurance we can have unlike human hope. But there's something more than just thinking about it, just yearning for it. For this hope to be fulfilled, we also have something to do. There is a process of change we must be doing and continuing to do until we are unable to do it. And we know what this process of change is. We're talking about the process of conversion. We understand, to have this hope fulfilled in our lives, we have to be called by God the Father. We have to have God's help to even open our minds and hearts to begin to understand there really is a God. And we need to help us believe in the true God because we've heard so many other things out there. And God will help us to cut through all the confusion, all the lies, all the misperceptions and misconceptions. And if we do, then welcome the Father's invitation, his calling, to have a relationship with him, an invitation to be in the process of that conversion process of salvation, to get involved with it now. If we welcome that, he will help us. He will lead us to a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we understand then there are the Bible reveals there's there's steps you might say. There's a process to go through. Peter talks about that, and I'm sure it's familiar to many of us, but let's look at Acts 2.38. It's a good summation of what we do when God calls us. And some of you may be considering that process even now here on the webcast. In Acts 2, verse 38, Peter outlines under inspiration of God this process in a very broad manner. This is a message, part of the message he gave on that very, on that Pentecost when the church of God began, when God poured out his Holy Spirit in such a powerful and amazing way in 31 A.D. Acts 2.38. Then Peter said to them, to the audience, the people gathered, he said, repent. That's something Jesus said when he first came to the message of the gospel. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission, forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You shall receive. There's another promise.

So this process of conversion is the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. It is a process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. We do that through repentance, changing directions. Instead of going away from God, we start going to God, toward God. It requires faith in Christ's sacrifice, his shed blood, and requires our willing obedience, our willing submission. For that, for all this, we have the help of God's Holy Scripture to instruct us and guide us. And then we also receive the help of God's Holy Spirit with us, and then in us once we've received his Spirit. And God is directly involved in all of this process. He doesn't set us on our way, call us, and then let us go. He is there. He is there near us if we want him to be. Because that's something else we need to understand, of course, that God does not force anyone into a relationship with him. He calls us. He doesn't order us. There is a difference between the two. It's a call. It's an invitation.

And so as we come to believe God and become convicted of our sins, we repent and are baptized. Baptism again reflects our inward conviction to put to death our old life of sin and to living new life of faith and belief and obedience to God, and again through that faith in Jesus Christ.

And then immediately after baptism, we receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by God's ministry. And the receiving of God's Holy Spirit is vital. It's critical. I think vital is a more serious word than critical, if I remember my denotations correctly.

Vital means it's vital for life. And so it's vital that we receive God's Holy Spirit, because it's only with the Holy Spirit in us that we will be able to have that greatest of all hopes fulfilled. We have to have God's Holy Spirit in us.

Let's turn to a chapter that has much to say about this. Let's turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. You know, when life around us turns sour, maybe bitter, and we begin to feel overwhelmed by it all. One easy remedy for that is turn off the TV. Quit watching the news. Don't start your day with, Good Morning America. It is not a good morning in America. You will be disappointed. Start your day in prayer. Call somebody and say, How you doing?

And start a good... get a better start. There's ways we can get around the bitterness that life wants to heap on us, to conquer us, to quench our hope, to quench our hope in God. But when we do feel overwhelmed, a little bit sick of it all, we get sick and tired of the world, and I'm sure sometimes we get sick and tired of ourselves, and all of our human weaknesses and shortcomings, and you know, what do we say?

Yada, yada, yada. It's good and important to pause and remember our calling from God. It's good to remember, sometimes we tend to do this around Passover only. We need to think about it often. When we feel like the wheels are coming off the track in our lives, we need to stop. And I so much appreciate that sermonette.

We need to stop and just take a deep breath, and I've been doing more of that lately, it seems. Just take a deep breath and ask God to help you have peace and calm. And a train wreck that's coming will somehow ride itself, and you'll be okay.

You'll move forward. You'll move forward. But again, it's good to pause and remember our calling from God and His purpose for you and me, and again, ultimately for every human being. Yes, we have the Feast of the Fall Festival season soon upon us, so if you like this topic of hope and salvation and resurrection, we're going to hear more of it, I'm sure, in the Sabbath ahead.

And so it's good to recall that God will help us cope with life. Our part is to remain steadfast in faith. As I think our reference was, not running around like chickens with... Did you say that part? With our heads cut off. I know what that is. I grew up on a farm. We do that every spring. It's a mess. You don't want to go that way. We do not need to panic. We do not need to despair. We do not need to lose hope. We need to continue to continue turning to God to go to Him in prayer, keep hoping and trusting in God. And so it is good to read Romans 8, and let's read it here.

Recalling our calling, recalling our calling, and our commitment to God. And again, the importance of having this Holy Spirit in us. Romans 8, verse 8 through 17, and breaking into the thought of it here. Verse 8, So then who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. But of course, if God's calling you, it's your choice whether or not to have God's Spirit in you.

Verse 10, And if Christ is in you, the body is dead, as it were, because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, which dwells in you. And so you see right there, verse 11, why it's vital to have our ultimate hope in God fulfilled, that we have that powerful, important relationship with God, that we even have God's Holy Spirit, his very life essence in us. Verse 12, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. That's what we give up when we are baptized and commit to God. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

If we live according to the flesh, you will die. If we just live in the flesh, if we what we will find ourselves, it's like we're on death row, and there is no hope. Your sentence is certain. There's no way out. It's only through accepting God's calling and placing our faith in Jesus Christ's repentance, this new lifestyle, that we then would have hope, hope of life.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. With the help of God's Spirit in us, we can have God's strength, Christ's faith of strength in us, to help us conquer sin, to help us conquer the bastions of strongholds of sin in us as well. Kettunni in verse, let's pause there. And so, so far what we've seen then is why it's so very important that once we make this commitment to God, we have God's Spirit in us, that we don't falter, we don't let up. We have to keep moving forward with God and Christ. To turn back away from God would be to reject that commitment we make at baptism. We do not want to go back on God. We don't want to turn away from Him, because that means going back and trusting in the things of the world, in the flesh. That means going back and only having human hope. Human hope, which will will never be fulfilled ultimate. There's nothing humanly speaking that is going to survive and exist. We have to be a part of God. Continuing on, we need to choose to be led by God's Word and Spirit. Verse 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. Some translations will say the the Spirit of sonship, Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be, that we also may also be glorified together. Being glorified together, we're gonna, at the resurrection, if we stay faithful, steadfast in faith, and that will require suffering because the world is going to be against us doing that, we maintain our faith and to the end we will be resurrected part of the firstfruits and we will see Christ as He is. We will share His glory. We will become immortal spirit beings. We will be family. We will be sons and daughters of God the Father. We will be truly fully brethren with Jesus Christ. Now, if you hold your place here, let's look at 1 John chapter 3 verse 1. 1 John 3-1.

1 John, I always have to get this in my head right because there's so many numbers. 1 John 3 verse 1 through 3, yes.

And here the Apostle John is proclaiming the same, the same facts, the same facts that Paul is saying. They have the same source. It's from God. It's from God the Father, Jesus Christ. 1 John 3 verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. Do you ever take time and when things are rough, you might want to pull this verse up and just sit still in peace and think about this. It's very encouraging. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. It also makes me laugh because I'm thinking of who and what I am. And God has called me. Wow! That's amazing. Then we should be called children of God. And John says, therefore the world does not know us. They cannot really relate to us. Because the world did not know Him. When Christ came to the world, the world rejected Him. He came as a light in the world and the darkness rejected Him. Man loved darkness more than the light, Jesus Christ. Verse 2, beloved, now we are the children of God. We are the children of God in the sense that if we have God's Holy Spirit in us right now, it's that it is a begettle. We have this new life growing in us. Sometimes we use the metaphor of an embryo, embryonic form. God is growing in us, a new life growing in us. Because look what he says. He says, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, suggesting that when Christ comes we'll be born as spirit beings. We will be fully immortal spirit beings, this flesh, this dust we left behind.

But we know that when, let's see, and it's not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He, Christ, is revealed, when He comes, returns, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who has this hope, and this is our hope, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He, Christ, is purer. It takes us back to the conversion process to become more like Jesus Christ. And so we must never forget that when we receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, we are becoming spiritually begotten, the sons and daughters of God, of God the Father, and we'll be born spiritually at Christ's return. And so we got to hold on to that fact. In tumultuous times, that's a solid hope. That's a solid home backed by God our Father. Whenever times get tough, whenever we might feel a little shaky of spirits and weak, we need to remember these things. Maybe go back to reread these verses. Now, if we go back to Romans 8, let's go back to Romans 8 verse 22. Hopefully you kept your thumb there, your finger there. Romans 8, 22. Let's read on what it says because Paul recognizes and he admits and he tells us it's not going to be easy. But as my parent said, nothing worth having is ever easy. It's not, it's going to be tough, but it's worth having. Romans 8 verse 22. Paul continues, he says, For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birthpangs together unto now. The whole creation is looking for the coming, this liberty of the children of God. These new beings coming, they're going to correct this whole mess that's been done to God's creation, these new sons and daughters of God. And this in verse 23, not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, God's Spirit in us, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Have you been groaning lately?

Sometimes we may ask, I think I've lived long enough. Can I get my, can I stop now? Well, no, we do that when God says it's time. Until then, there's something God wants us to learn, or maybe he wants people around us to learn. Sometimes we may feel that there's nothing, we're not able to do anything. You're doing a lot. Your presence in our congregations, your encouragement, your prayers, they're so uplifting, they're so powerful. Your wisdom and perspective of the many years you have for some of us younger ones can really need that, and there's so much you can do. And as they say, it ain't over until it's over, we have more to do. We have to be steadfast in faith as long as it takes. And so, verse 24, it continues, Paul says, For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is not, that hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? Remember, hope is forward-looking. Hope is what we look forward to receiving. And so we have to keep moving forward until that hope is fulfilled. But if we hope for what we do not see, well then we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. And there it is, that steadfastness in faith we must have. And so hope being hope, hope being hope, means that sometimes we do have to wait for its fulfillment to come, and we do it with anticipation. But again, this divine hope that we have in God, it's not an uncertain hope. It's not like human hope. It is so certain. It is so, how do you say it any better? It is so, so much coming. It's coming! We just have to shake ourselves alert sometimes spiritually, and ask God to help us stir up His Spirit and get excited, and know, and know that we know that that hope is going to be actualized. And God has called you and me, such as we are in our own estimate, to be a part of that hope.

God has the authority to make His promise certain, and God will fulfill our hope of eternal life. And our hope is assured, as Paul reminds us in verse 28 through 29, and here we find those verses we so often go to now within its larger context, and it makes so much sense, so much more powerful sense.

Verse 28, and we know that all things, even bad things, even difficult things, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called, the called according to His purpose, for whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. He knew He knew He would need a certain group of people with certain humility and willingness to become part of His church. He knew, and for however He determined it, He has called us among others to be part of the church at this time, to be among the firstfruits. And He did this, and He predestined us, continuing, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He, His Son, Jesus Christ, might be the firstborn among a few brethren? Many brethren, many brethren. It's really exciting when you put it in the context, and you understand then just why it's so important that we have God's Spirit in us.

So if we endure to the end, remaining steadfast in faith, and at Christ's return we'll be resurrected among the firstfruits, immortal spirit beings, the spirit-born sons and daughters of God the Father. And Paul encourages us even more with that vision of our hope fulfilled. It's a hope fulfilled. It's like when we... I don't mean to cheapen this, but it's like seeing a preview. It's like seeing the trailer. You know what I mean by that, right? Anybody go to the movies anymore? I haven't been in years. Let you get the idea. What Paul is describing for us here in many ways is like the preview. This is just a glimpse of what it's going to be like, because it is happening. It will happen. It's up to us to choose, are we going to stick to this calling so we can be part of that real happening as well. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22 through 26. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, 26.

And Paul gives these encouraging words. He says, For as in Adam, all die. That's a fact. Even so in Christ, and of course through the Holy Spirit, Christ lives in us. Even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order. And here's part of God's plan, its sequence. And we're going to hear more about this. It's part of what we review, according to God's will and instruction. This is why we keep the Holy Days, as God commands us. It's important never to forget these things. And so here's the process of salvation. Here's the order. But each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits. And afterward, those who are Christ is coming. And then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. And I so look forward to this last one. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Don't we look forward to that? And then Revelation 3, verse 21 through 22, Revelation 3, 21-22, reveals that the firstfruits will reign under Christ in his kingdom on earth. Just a little bit. We'll be hearing much more about this in the weeks ahead. Revelation 3, verse 21 through 22.

To him who overcomes, Jesus says, Revelation 3, 21, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, you got your spiritual hearing aids on today? Okay, yeah, I need aids, spiritual aids. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, what the Spirit says to the Church of God. And again, this divine hope is not uncertain. It is no myth. It is no fiction of man's contriving. It is a true hope. And in Titus 1, verse 2, Titus 1, verse 2, just a little, a few words align.

Is that very important?

Titus 1, verse 2, here we find words of Paul. It's, to quote it apart from its longer context, is a little awkward, but I'll try to put it in a way. In Titus 1, verse 2, Paul is speaking, Paul who proclaimed faith and truth and hope to God's faithful, he here emphasizes how he preached God's truth. He preached God's truth in hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie. Do you believe that?

He preached the truth in hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie promised before time began.

Very encouraging.

Do I dare quote Peter and ask men and brethren, what shall we do? What shall we do with this understanding we've reviewed today? We need to strengthen our hope in God. Hope needs to become more than just a thought. It becomes more, and it must become more than just a yearning. We've already reviewed how to have the hope fulfilled that God offers us means we must be doing. We just can't sit and think about it. So what can we or should we be doing to strengthen our hope of salvation, to fortify ourselves spiritually against the doubts and fears, the troubles, and all the junk in the world that would try to wear us down and make us give up?

Well, number one, don't be surprised. Study God's scriptures. Study God's scriptures. Romans 15 verse 4. Here's why I say this. Actually, I'm just referring to what the Bible says. Romans 15 verse 4. Paul made clear the importance of studying Scripture so that we might have hope in God. How can we hope in something we don't understand? How can we have hope in something that we're not keeping fresh in our minds and hearts? We're human. We're going to forget. It's going to get fuzzy. We're going to start treating it like an uncertain human hope. That's why we have to keep studying God's word. Romans 15 verse 4. Paul wrote, For whatever things were written before were written for our learning.

This whole Bible was written before us. We need to know it. Whatever things are written before were written for our learning. That we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. We might have hope. And you can tag on with this. Matthew 4.4. We know it. Matthew 4.4. Man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Please tag on this too for future study and reference 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17. We know the words. Do we live by them? Do we use them? All scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable. Doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. You know, there's a phrase. There's a question back in John 6, 68. I'm not going to turn there, but because you know it, it's memorable.

There's a moment there when Jesus had said some things. A lot of the disciples had decided to turn from him. They no longer followed him. And Jesus looked at the disciples and he looked at them and he said, will you too leave? The 12 disciples, as close as one, are you too going to leave? And do you remember what Peter said? He said, Lord, you have the words of eternal life. Where else should we go? Where else can we go? And brethren, that's why we need to be studying God's Word.

Where else are we going to get the Word to tell us the truth about this hope that God is going to be fulfilling for us? It is fulfilling for us, in fact. It's happening now. There's nowhere else we can go. And so that has to be our response. We have to build the habit with God's help, because I know there are times we just feel we don't have time to get in the Bible as much, but we need to. I'd rather we get in the Bible, wouldn't you, than watch what's out there going on in the world?

Number two, we need to be steadfast in faith. We must keep striving. Be steadfast in faith, number two. We need to keep striving to put away our sinful way, just as we've been reminded today, to be diligent in living according to God's way of love and service toward God and neighbor. To be diligent means to be persistent. It means to be meticulous and thorough. And our human nature does not like being meticulous and thorough and persistent. There's a part of us that likes to be a little bit lazy. Ask God to help us fight that, that we could be more steadfast.

You know, earlier we read—let's turn back again to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1. Earlier we read these verses, 1 Peter 1 verse 3 through 5, and telling us about the hope of the resurrection and eternal life that God is preparing for us. He has prepared for us since before time began. 1 Peter 1. And so we read earlier, blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercies begotten us again, till He living. That's a new begetal. It's a spiritual begetal and hope through resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then skipping down—let's go ahead and skip down to verses 13 through 15. We did not read this part before. Notice how we're to respond to what Peter is exhorting us to do, telling us to be— to remember what this calling is about. Notice how we're to respond to this wonderful and exciting hope that we have from God. Verse 13. Peter said, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. It sounds weird, but it simply means get yourselves ready, mentally, spiritually, yes, even physically, if it means making more time to read your Bible. Gird up the loins of your mind. Get ready for action and be active. Be sober. It means to be serious. Be mindful. And rest your hope, rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Do that as obedient children, he says, verse 14. Not conforming yourselves to our former lust, as in our ignorance, yes, when we are stupid and we didn't know any better. We are so much more wiser now and gratefully so. But as he who has called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Why? Because it is written, be holy, God says, for I am holy. And so Peter is essentially telling us, among all the busyness we can be busy about, we need to be busy spiritually. Even though we all have troubles, we can never lose sight of our goals and hope, the kingdom, eternal life. Number three, last point, we need to use God's hope. We need to use God's hope. Now, I know that may sound a little strange. Is hope usable? Spiritually speaking, yes, it is. Absolutely. We must use God's hope, not just know about it. How many times have we heard that? It's not knowing that matters. It's using it, putting it into action. We've got to be active, you see, to prove through our belief and actions that we who have been baptized and received God's Holy Spirit really do believe what God says, and we're putting our belief, our faith in Him, His Spirit in us, into action. We have to believe it and conscientiously choose to do what pleases God. In fact, we get a good hint of how we're to use hope in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 8. 1 Thessalonians verse 5 verse 8. Did I say that right? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 8.

Again, it's a little, a small line, but great things come in small packages. 1 Thessalonians 5, 8. Paul writing here, he says, 1 But let us who are of the day, that's us, we're of the day. 1 Jesus Christ came as the light, rejected by the darkness. We've accepted God's calling. We've committed ourselves to this. We are of the day. 2 Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, as a helmet, the hope of salvation. That's how we're to use hope. We need to have God's promise of that salvation, our hope, that affirmed hope. It's coming. It's actually coming. We need to keep that in our hearts and minds.

We need to keep that in our hearts and minds. If we have hope in our hearts and minds, as if we're a helmet that we put on our head to protect us from being tackled by life or taking a blow to the head by some enemy, if we have that hope of salvation as a helmet, we'll be able to repel wrong thoughts.

We'll be able to repel despair and distress. We'll be able to repel all that noisy, irritating news, negative news we hear. We can repel it. In 1 Peter 3.13, once more here, 1 Peter 3.13, this is also a way we are to be using hope. And again, we may not always think of it in these terms, but this is what God has given us. He wants us to understand. He wants us to use his hope and not just wait on it. 1 Peter 3.13, he writes, And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good, or followers of Jesus Christ? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and here's these lines, these words, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And so we should be ready. People are going to see a difference in how we behave. They're going to see a difference in how we respond to the negativity of the world, where they should. And so we need to be ready to explain to others, and even frankly, we need to explain to our own selves sometimes. You ever have those conversations with yourself? I guess I revealed something about me. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves why I have that hope. Maybe we need to put in words. Maybe what we've done today will help some of you to understand more clearly when we say hope in God, maybe now, whether old or young, we could better articulate articulate, if I can articulate that word right, we can better articulate what our hope is. It's not a fuzzy, feel-good hope. It's real. It's coming. And when our hopefulness becomes apparent to others, we need to be ready to explain our faith, our hope in God. We need to explain what Christ is doing in the coming kingdom of God. And so, brethren, we've learned a lot. I know in a little bit of time, it's a big topic. I had so many scriptures about hope. It's amazing. And so, I just had a little bit to share with you today. But as we draw to an end, let's turn to verse, one more verse, the final verse, Hebrews 11 verse 1. Some of you may be wondering, oh, why didn't you use this verse? Well, you got to give me time.

Hebrews 11 verse 1.

I think we know it, but I hope, and it is a godly hope, but I hope after what we've done today, this verse will maybe mean a little bit more to you right now. Hebrews 11 verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

And so, remember, human hope will ultimately disappoint. It'll never satisfy us. It'll always leave us hanging. It'll always leave us empty. But the hope we have in God, the hope we have in God, is assured. And brethren, these are the realities of life. This is the way it is. And if by accepting these realities of life, if we accept these realities of life, we do so, I believe it should help us to better cope with the hard times that come our way. It will also help us to strengthen our faith and trust and hope in God. Remember, those three are very synonymous. And so, brethren, we have many things to hope in. The greatest hope of all is the hope we have of salvation through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Brethren, you and I have great hope for all times.