THE BLESSED HOPE

Great article by Pastor Jerry:

THE BLESSED HOPE

1 Peter 1:13, “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Titus 2:13, “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

I didn’t sleep well last night, my mind preoccupied with yesterday’s events.  On the way to church I forgot to eat my breakfast—for the very same reason.  I was troubled by some of the results of last night’s election.  Especially inasmuch as three states voted for gay marriage (passed in two states and pending in a third; this is the first time voters themselves have approved of gay marriage by initiative).  Two states voted to legalize marijuana.  Things are changing rapidly in our country.  This is not my Mom and Dad’s America.

As a Pastor I feel the need to address some of my concerns from a Biblical perspective.  I’m so glad this morning to hear from brothers and sisters in Christ who are working to respond to these matters in a Christ-honoring fashion.  That’s what I yearn to do also.  We spoke last Sunday of the dual citizenship we as believers in Christ enjoy.  We are privileged to be American citizens.  We also are citizens of a better country, a heavenly one (Cf. Hebrews 11:16; Philippians 3:20).  Our American citizenship is temporal, our heavenly citizenship is eternal.  It’s good to keep these things in perspective.  As citizens of heaven, indwelt by the Spirit of God, we can see things from a broader and Biblical perspective.  From a Biblical perspective we can find good reason for hope amidst our trials and troubles.  Someone wrote, “Don’t this election steal your song.”  That’s good counsel.

As an American citizen I’m troubled by the direction of our country.  It was noted last night by a commentator that many of the election results of last night could be traced back to an increased secularization of our society.  Surveys bear this out.  I doubt that America has ever been more “secular” in its perspective than it now is.  As a country we have faced huge challenges before—great wars and economic challenges.  But we overcame those challenges as people of faith in God (for the most part).  It’s not the same today.  Unfettered from a Biblical morality we are heading off in a bold, new direction—all by ourselves.  God is not invited or welcome on this journey.  What He says is irrelevant.  We are a prodigal country determined to recklessly spend the labors of the sacrifice of our forebears with no thought to what the future might bring.  The prodigal son spent it all and then the famine came.  A day of financial “famine” is coming (Cf. Larry Burkett’s ‘The Coming Economic Earthquake’ or Joel Rosenberg’s ‘Implosion.’)”  It will be a hard time indeed.  A people of faith survived the great depression.  What will be the case for those who have none?  The national debt is a national disgrace.  But it is foolhardy to believe that it is something that will be passed on to future generations.  The day of financial reckoning will come sooner than that (in my own opinion).

These things are all very predictable.  We won’t be the first country or last country to fail—if that indeed comes to pass.  Romans chapter one speaks to the law of spiritual gravity as it relates to the sinfulness of man.  It is the nature of man to sin.  The downward spiral of sin and lawlessness is unavoidable (apart from salvation in Christ).  Romans chapter one bears much relevance to these matters:

Romans 1:18-32, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,  because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.   For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.   Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.  Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.   For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.  And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,   slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;  and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

These things should not surprise us.  We were warned ahead of time of the difficult times that would come in the last days.  2 Timothy 3:2-5, “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.”  The fact that these attitudes and behaviors are increasingly prevalent gives evidence to the growing secularization of our society.

There’s not a lot of hope to be found in these passages.  They speak to spiritual realities of which we have no control.  We might hope that “the sun will come out tomorrow,” but the reality is that we have no control over such matters.  A better day for America is not guaranteed.  We might hope for such a day and work for such a day, but the God of the ages, who “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11) is in control.  “Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”  He has a plan for the ages that will come to pass.

God’s Word helps me to see things from a heavenly perspective, and that’s where I can find hope.  The Apostle Peter wrote in 1^st Peter to believers who were enduring much persecution.  As with many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world, these early church believers were suffering much for the cause of Christ.   Some lost their homes, some lost their jobs, and some even lost their lives.  They had little guarantees when it came to their earthly existence (as it is with persecuted believers around the world today).  They had no freedom to vote.  There was nobody to appeal to, save God, if they were treated unfairly. 

It was to those people to whom Peter wrote, “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).  The term “hope” in Scripture bears no thought of uncertainty.  We use the term in that way.  We might say “I hope it doesn’t rain today,” but we say that with a measure of uncertainty.  Many of the things that we hope for in this life are uncertain hopes.  They are hopes without guarantee.  We might hope for long life or good health or prosperity—but none of those things are guaranteed to us.  We may hope for our candidates or political measures to win on election day—but these things are not guaranteed to us.  We might hope for a strong and God-fearing American—but this is not guaranteed to us.  Most of the things that we enjoy and hope for in this life are in fact things that are uncertain.  And even the most certain of things—the strength and security of our country—are without guarantee.  But Biblical “hope” relates to something in the future that is certain.  It is the confident expectation of God’s provision of a thing.  And so it is in relationship to the coming of Christ—grace will be brought to us on that day, GUARANTEED!  We are reminded that His provision to us is grace, i.e. unmerited favor.  It is the same with every intervention by God on our behalf.  From beginning to end the salvation He works in us is by grace.  It will be so in His return.  It is good for us to submit our lesser hopes to the reality of this greater hope.  We want to be prepared for that day, and do all that we can to make sure others are also.  This hope is said to be “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).  It is a happy hope.  It ought to cheer our hearts.  Christ is coming again!  We will be caught up together with those who have previously departed to meet the Lord together in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).  The concluding admonition from this text is especially timely “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”  We are repeatedly exhorted to encourage one another in view of the confident expectation of Christ’s imminent return (Cf. Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.”).

As believers in Christ we are to be different.  We are to not set our minds on “earthly things” (Philippians 3:19).  We are not to preoccupy ourselves with the uncertain hopes that lost people are given to.  The hope that we have in Jesus is “steadfast and sure” and serves “as an anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:17).  It is a hope that first worked to “deliver us out of this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4) and will ultimately work “to transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Philippians 3:21).  God’s glorious work in our lives—this salvation to the uttermost—is a work that He will complete (Cf. Hebrews 7:25; Philippians 1:6)!  It is on this confident expectation that we are to completely fix our hope.

I was thinking this morning about the experience of Jeremiah the prophet.  He had repeatedly warned his people of God’s pending judgment.  Despite his warnings the people continued in idolatry and sin.  Then God sent the Babylonians.  They brought utter destruction to Jerusalem.  The burned the temple and the King’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem.  They broke down the city walls.  They raped, pillaged, and killed Jeremiah’s people.  Those not killed were taken off into captivity.  Jeremiah was a witness to those events.  He saw it all.  Women and children dead in the streets; the law, the temple, the priesthood—all torn away.  And he wept.  And he was discouraged.  He said, “My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord…my soul…is bowed down within me” (Lamentations 3:18-20).  His circumstances were grievous beyond measure.  It’s hard to imagine how difficult that must have been!  But Jeremiah found reason to hope.  And the hope that he grabbed a hold of was no false hope.  It was a confident expectation bound up in God’s promises and founded on God’s very nature.  “This I recall to mind” he said, “therefore I have hope.  The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23). 

A faithful promise has been made to you, believer in Christ.  He is coming again!  Fix your hope completely on this hope and you will never be disappointed, because it is guaranteed by our faithful God.  Confident in His soon return (1 Peter 3:15) we are to devote ourselves to prayer (Cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-4; Colossians 2).  We are to pray for all men and for kings and those in authority.  God desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).  His glorious and powerful gospel is able to save (1 Timothy 1:11; Romans 1:16).  We have good news to declare and people to pray for.  The great Ship of Humanity is headed on a collision course with the immovable reality of God’s judgment.  We, God’s people, want to see lost people saved.  That’s the work God has for us until our hope is brought to reality in the glory of His presence.

Pastor Jerry

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

"Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

"Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!"
 Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
"Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!