[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 2nd of December, 2018 at Pilgrim Reformed Church. This is the first Sunday in Advent, with the theme of "Hope". Look for the video of this and our other services on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
Today is the 1st Sunday, and the 1st day, in Advent, that time each year when we prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord Jesus into this world. We celebrate the first time He came to us, as a little baby born in Bethlehem. We reflect on what His birth means to us, what His life showed us, what promise His death and resurrection hold for us. We acknowledge Jesus as our only hope for salvation.
Please listen and follow along as I read from the 1st letter the Apostle Peter sent out to the early church, chapter 1, verses 3 through 9 and verses 20 and 21, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…
Please listen and follow along as I read from the 1st letter the Apostle Peter sent out to the early church, chapter 1, verses 3 through 9 and verses 20 and 21, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…
3 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, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
--1 Peter 1:3-9, 20-21 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, in You we glorify for we know You offer our only hope of salvation, through our belief in Jesus Christ Your Son. Father, please help us ignore any false hopes the world may offer. Only through Jesus may we be saved. Speak into our hearts, Father, with the message You need us to hear. Show us how our faith assures our hope. This we pray in the glorious name of Your Son Jesus. Amen.
G. K. Chesterton once noted that: "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all... As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength."
Perhaps that helps explain the true story of how self-made millionaire Eugene Lang greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem, New York. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
Hope is a powerful force, as this little story shows. It can give us the courage and strength to go on, when we think we’ve gone as far as we can. It can shorten the longest night, shine a glimmer of light into the deepest darkness. Hope is sometimes all we have left.
Of course, what we put our hope in is important. It is truly wonderful and remarkable that Mr. Lang was able to follow through with his promise to those kids. But let’s face it… anything could have happened that would have prevented it. He could have simply changed his mind, thinking the expense to be too great. Or he could have gone bankrupt and lost everything. Where we place our hope is crucial, because any hope the world offers might not come to pass.
The way the world defines “hope” is more like a wish. Hoping for something is nothing more than wishing that it might happen. And part of the problem with that way of treating “hope” is that, deep in our hearts, we don’t really believe it will happen, because the world has disappointed us so many times.
But God never disappoints, He always follows through with what He promises, and nothing can stop Him from doing so. God is our only true hope, and in Him, it’s not just a wish. Our hope in God is the expectation of what will happen, and it will happen because He said it would.
The Apostle Paul tells us to rejoice in this hope. Hear what he wrote to the church in Rome, chapter 5, verses 1 and 2…
One of the many blessings that comes with our belief in Jesus as Christ is that we can be at peace with God. We don’t have to struggle with the greatest force to ever exist, nor should we need to struggle with anything this life throws at us, if we take our peace from God through Jesus. Our faith grants us entry into this peace, and to God’s great grace, our only hope for salvation. And for that we can rejoice!
There is so much more that comes with placing our hope in the Lord than anything the world can give. King David, in Psalm 31, verses 23 and 24 tells us…
When we place our hope in the Lord, we are placing all our trust in Him as well. And as we’ve seen in previous weeks, our faith will be rewarded. Those who are prideful, who look to the world for their hope and satisfaction, will get what’s coming to them, but the faithful will be preserved, will be saved. For that we can take courage, and our hearts will be strengthened to resist the world when we place our hope only in the Lord.
In verse 3 of our scripture this morning, Peter says that God has “begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Through our belief in Jesus we have been born into life once again, this time to the living hope of our own resurrection into life eternal!
And I see that to also mean that we are a living hope! When we hope in the Lord, we live as He would have us live, love as He would have us love. And in that way we show Jesus to the world. By our very lives, we show others what true hope means, what true hope brings.
We know what God has promised, and our hope in Him is merely our expectation, our anticipation, of that promise being realized. Our hope was fulfilled by the sacrifice of Jesus, by His death and resurrection. Now we can share that true hope with the world by being a living hope to others. We can show them the love of Jesus by giving freely of our love. We can help them come to know Jesus, to believe in Him, and then find their own true hope. Like us, they too can come to place their faith and their hope solely in God, giving Him all the glory.
We light the candles at Advent to show that our hope is in our coming salvation, which causes us to show love to others, which brings us peace that leads to joy in the coming Christ. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
We can trust in the Lord, for He is our only true hope. In the blessed name of Jesus. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You are our only hope for salvation and eternal life. We can put our trust in You because You have never failed us, You’ve always done as You promised. Forgive us, Father, when we try to place our hopes on things of this world. Please give us the courage and the strength to put our faith into action and be a living hope that others can see.
Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our sin, and asking for Your help by our faith to serve You in all we do…
Lord Jesus, our hope for salvation is founded on Your resurrection. You died and were buried, and then raised again to life by our Father God. Forgive us, Lord, when we place more trust in things of this world than in God’s saving grace. Please help us grow our faith into the living hope into which we were reborn. Help us put our gift of faith to good use so that others might see it, and in that act see You.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior. Amen.
G. K. Chesterton once noted that: "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all... As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength."
Perhaps that helps explain the true story of how self-made millionaire Eugene Lang greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem, New York. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
Hope is a powerful force, as this little story shows. It can give us the courage and strength to go on, when we think we’ve gone as far as we can. It can shorten the longest night, shine a glimmer of light into the deepest darkness. Hope is sometimes all we have left.
Of course, what we put our hope in is important. It is truly wonderful and remarkable that Mr. Lang was able to follow through with his promise to those kids. But let’s face it… anything could have happened that would have prevented it. He could have simply changed his mind, thinking the expense to be too great. Or he could have gone bankrupt and lost everything. Where we place our hope is crucial, because any hope the world offers might not come to pass.
The way the world defines “hope” is more like a wish. Hoping for something is nothing more than wishing that it might happen. And part of the problem with that way of treating “hope” is that, deep in our hearts, we don’t really believe it will happen, because the world has disappointed us so many times.
But God never disappoints, He always follows through with what He promises, and nothing can stop Him from doing so. God is our only true hope, and in Him, it’s not just a wish. Our hope in God is the expectation of what will happen, and it will happen because He said it would.
The Apostle Paul tells us to rejoice in this hope. Hear what he wrote to the church in Rome, chapter 5, verses 1 and 2…
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.--Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV)
There is so much more that comes with placing our hope in the Lord than anything the world can give. King David, in Psalm 31, verses 23 and 24 tells us…
23 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!--Psalm 31:23-24 (NKJV)
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
24 Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.
In verse 3 of our scripture this morning, Peter says that God has “begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Through our belief in Jesus we have been born into life once again, this time to the living hope of our own resurrection into life eternal!
And I see that to also mean that we are a living hope! When we hope in the Lord, we live as He would have us live, love as He would have us love. And in that way we show Jesus to the world. By our very lives, we show others what true hope means, what true hope brings.
We know what God has promised, and our hope in Him is merely our expectation, our anticipation, of that promise being realized. Our hope was fulfilled by the sacrifice of Jesus, by His death and resurrection. Now we can share that true hope with the world by being a living hope to others. We can show them the love of Jesus by giving freely of our love. We can help them come to know Jesus, to believe in Him, and then find their own true hope. Like us, they too can come to place their faith and their hope solely in God, giving Him all the glory.
We light the candles at Advent to show that our hope is in our coming salvation, which causes us to show love to others, which brings us peace that leads to joy in the coming Christ. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
We can trust in the Lord, for He is our only true hope. In the blessed name of Jesus. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You are our only hope for salvation and eternal life. We can put our trust in You because You have never failed us, You’ve always done as You promised. Forgive us, Father, when we try to place our hopes on things of this world. Please give us the courage and the strength to put our faith into action and be a living hope that others can see.
Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our sin, and asking for Your help by our faith to serve You in all we do…
Lord Jesus, our hope for salvation is founded on Your resurrection. You died and were buried, and then raised again to life by our Father God. Forgive us, Lord, when we place more trust in things of this world than in God’s saving grace. Please help us grow our faith into the living hope into which we were reborn. Help us put our gift of faith to good use so that others might see it, and in that act see You.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior. Amen.
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