The Life Changing Power Of Godly Hope Series

The Life Changing Power of Godly Hope

1 John 3:1-10

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The First Epistle of John

Grayson Baptist Church - January 24, 2016

(Revised December 25, 2023)

BACKGROUND:

*Let me remind you that the Apostle John was a very old man by the time he wrote this letter. Bible scholars estimate that it was written between 85 and 100 A.D. By now, John was living in Ephesus, a Roman city on the western edge of modern-day Turkey. Just as Jesus had prophesied, John's native land of Israel had been crushed by the Roman army. Jerusalem had fallen, the Temple had been destroyed, and Jewish national life had basically ended.

*Also by this time, dangerous heresies were spreading poisonous lies in God's churches. For example, some false teachers denied the divinity of Christ. Others denied the humanity of Christ. And John denounced these false teachings in the strongest possible way, so one of the greatest themes in this letter is the truth of the Gospel. (1)

*Another great theme is agape love, the kind of love that God has for us, and God wants us to have for one another. We know that agape love is one of God's greatest priorities, because the original words show up 51 times this short letter. Here in chapter 3, a third great theme is the transforming power of Jesus Christ. God's Son can turn any sinner into a saint, if they will put their trust in our crucified and risen King, if they will receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. With this background in mind, lets' read 1 John 3:1-10 thinking about the life changing power of godly hope.

MESSAGE:

*Hope is a wonderful thing. John Maxwell said, "Hope is one of the greatest gifts leaders can give to those around them. Its power should never be underestimated. It takes a great leader to give hope to people when they can’t find it within themselves.

*Winston Churchill recognized the value of hope. He was prime minister of England during the darkest days of World War II. Churchill was once asked by a reporter what his country’s greatest weapon had been against Hitler’s Nazi regime. Without missing a beat Churchill said, 'It was what England’s greatest weapon has always been -- Hope.'" (2)

*In vs. 3, the Apostle John talks about the hope that we have as Christians. There he wrote that "everyone who has this hope in Him (in Jesus) purifies himself, just as He is pure." But what kind of hope was John talking about?

*Pastor James Chandler helps us understand with a story from his early childhood. One Thanksgiving James was asked to say the family-prayer at the big meal. And in that prayer he said, "Dear God, I sure hope the Oakland Raiders make it to the Super Bowl!" James remembers that prayer, because he found out real fast that it "wasn’t really appropriate." And James said, "As I grew, I also learned that real hope is not the kind of hope I mentioned in my prayer. Real hope is not a wish, but confidence in a certainty." (3)

*I like that definition: "Real hope is confidence in a certainty." Real hope, godly hope, Bible hope, is joyful confidence in something that is certain. That is the kind of hope John is talking about in vs. 3: Confidence in the certainty of all we have in Jesus Christ. He is talking about our hope of Heaven, our hope of the resurrection, our hope of perfection, the hope of all that we have in Jesus Christ. And John said, "Everyone who has this hope in (Jesus Christ) purifies himself, just as He is pure."

*In other words: Godly hope in Jesus Christ has the power to transform our lives. And today's Scripture gives us four truths about the life-changing power of hope.

1. FIRST: REAL HOPE IS HUNGRY TO BE HOLY.

*Godly hope, real hope longs to be like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We see this truth in vs. 3, but we also see it down in vs. 5-7. There John said:

5. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

6. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

7. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

*In vs. 7, there is a hunger to be righteous, just as Jesus is righteous, a hunger to be holy. Jim Elliot had a full measure of this holy hunger. He was one of the heroes of our faith in the last century.

*Jim Elliot was one of the five missionaries who were speared and hacked to death by Auca Indians in the rain forest of eastern Ecuador. The other 4 men were Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCulley, and Roger Youderian. It happened on January 8, 1956, and the missionaries were armed with rifles, but they did not try to defend themselves.