Alba 4-9-2023
THERE IS ONE HOPE
Ephesians 4:4
This morning's message is entitled “There Is One Hope” from Ephesians chapter four, verse four. Hope is something as important to us as water is to a fish.
But with our current social and economic concerns, hope often seems illusive. Our political and legal systems are allowing outrageous things to go on. Just look at the news of this past week.
Then there is growing concern of a possible World War III due to poor decisions of government leaders. Add to that the fear of terrorist attacks, political fanaticism, social unrest and an increasing moral decline.
And children seem to be the target, not only with a shooting of children at a Christian based school, but also by making them question whether they really are a boy or a girl, and then children having to endure the over sexualization of drag queen story hours.
As we consider the wars and battles being fought, the increase in violent crime, the proliferation of outright sin acted out right before our eyes, the depravity of mankind in both his thoughts and actions, and all the rest of the horrors of this modern life, we are left with a feeling of complete hopelessness.
What hope can there possibly be for a better world for our children? Where can we find new hope for the present, let alone our future? Each week another shockingly awful thing is promoted or praised. We wonder, where will it end?
We are only human, and sometimes in our human weakness hope can be difficult to maintain. Our hope can be tested by life’s many difficulties.
Has life thrown you a curve-ball and struck you out? Are you having a hard time finding any silver lining in all your gray clouds? What hardships or difficulties are you going through?
Do you have difficult people in your life. Do you have trouble in your family, or with some of your friends? Do you have too much month left at the end of your money? Are you going through an illness? Has life become a drudgery?
People who face death, divorce, and life shattering things need hope. People who have faced problems for a long time need hope. People who have been wrongly accused need hope. Those whose hope has been crushed by people and experiences need hope.
Maybe you are here this morning and you think your situation is hopeless. But never doubt that hope lives, even when it is weakened.
There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who feel hopeless in them. The Bible tells us that despite the trauma and tragedies of life, God is still in charge. No situation is without hope.
According to one person's count the word hope is found in the Bible from 133 times (KJV) to 175 times (NIV), depending on which version you use. So God has a lot to say about this subject.
Too often we look for hope in all the wrong places. Worldly hope is a feeling of expectation, a desire or wish for a certain thing to happen.
It is based on positive thinking, good wishes, wishful thinking, a crossing of fingers. There is no substance to it on which we can rely.
Whereas a biblical definition of hope takes it a step further. Hope is an expectation with certainty that God will do what He has said. One is a wish or desire, the other is a certainty or guarantee.
Biblical hope looks back to the cross where God interrupted history to restore our relationship with Him. And it also looks forward to the time when God will again enter history to bring justice and restoration.
Such hope does not come from our own ability to manufacture it. It comes from God. “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”, as the wonderful hymn proclaims.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything! I Peter 1:3 says it: “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.”
We not only have hope, we have a “living hope”. Living, because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is alive! The tomb is empty!
There is an interesting story about Jesus appearing to two disciples walking to a town called Emmaus. The Bible says they were downcast. They had heard the news about Jesus’ missing body, but the fact of Jesus’ resurrection was too much to grasp.
Not knowing that it was Jesus who was talking to them, they began to explain what they had been discussing. Luke 24:19-21 records their answer to Jesus' question, “What things?”
“So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”
Do you hear what they were saying? They had hoped...! They thought He would save them from the Romans, but He didn’t.
They thought He would save them from the oppression of the religious leaders, but He didn’t. Their hopes were crushed when Jesus died. They had hoped that Jesus would give them political or religious freedom.
Well, it turns out that their hopes were set too small. If what they were looking for was political freedom, then their hopes certainly were crushed. If what they were looking for was freedom from tyrannical religious leaders, then their hopes were crushed.
But Jesus’ resurrection provided something better than kings or governors or priests. His resurrection provided freedom on the inside. Freedom from sin and its consequences. Freedom to have peace in spite of the circumstances... and lasting hope.
But just before their meeting was finished, those two disciples realized that they had been talking with Jesus, who really was risen from the dead.
Then there are the women who went early that Resurrection morning expecting to anoint Jesus' body with perfumes and spices. They also had lost hope, and simply wanted to show respect to the leader they loved.
Wondering how they would be able to remove the huge stone that sealed the tomb, they were amazed to find it had been rolled away. Luke 24:3-9 tells what happened next.
“Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.”
Hope was renewed! The good news is that Jesus has more power than all that sin, death and the devil can throw at Him. And His victory is our victory. Jesus’ resurrection provides us with hope. More than we can imagine.
Colossians 1:23 tells us that the gospel gives us hope. If we believe the gospel, the good news, then we cannot possibly be hopeless.
Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope that the grave is not the end. While it confuses some people why it is called Good Friday, the “good” part is that Jesus took our sins on Himself on that cross so we could be forgiven.
And the good part about Resurrection Morning is that we have hope over the grave. Death will not have the final say or the last word. It shows us that even death and the grave are powerless in the face of God’s power and love.
The resurrection proves that there is no area of life where God is not in control. Regardless of what life may throw at us, God is in control, and He is by our side all the way.
Jesus’ resurrection provides the hope that there are better days ahead. Even as hard as this life is, this life is not all there is.
The reality of the resurrection is what sets our message apart from all the others being proclaimed in the world. The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. We are not just another group of people who are following a false god, chasing false hope!
Among spiritual leaders of the past, Jesus Christ is the only one who does not have a grave. There is no need for a grave for the living, only for the dead.
Through the resurrection, Jesus declared himself superior to all other world religions and leaders. All other great founders of world religions worshiped today lie defeated and lifeless in graves. Only Jesus, the Christ, is alive and triumphant over the grave.
And if you look at the apostles of Jesus, these were men who were fearful of the religious leaders, death, persecution and everything that following Jesus meant.
That all changed when Jesus came out from the grave. These men became courageous and bold for the cause of Christ, to the point of being willing to lay down their own lives for their faith in Him.
So we see what hope does. It changes everything. The resurrection gives the hope of a meaningful, and purposeful life today, and of a purposeful life to come.
And the resurrection gives us the assurance of a beautiful, eternal reunion with those who have gone before.
It is in Jesus that we have hope, a hope that lasts. The hope the world offers will quickly fade and disappoint.
Have you ever bought a product with a warranty? A “Lifetime Guarantee”? Some time ago I bought a lifetime alignment for my car from Montgomery Wards auto shop by the mall in Joplin. I think I was able to use it once before the company folded.
These days if they give a lifetime guarantee, you should ask, “Which lifetime are you talking about? Just how long is your company going to be in business?”
You see, the guarantee is only as good as the one who gives it! Jesus has life to give to those who come to Him because He is alive today.
When talking to Martha just before He raised her brother Lazarus from the grave, Jesus was telling her that He is the resurrection and the life. He was guaranteeing it. It would happen because He was going to make it happen. And He did. Both for Lazarus and for Himself.
Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
They say that seeing is believing. Well we can believe that Jesus did rise from that grave alive. Scripture records that hundreds of people were witnesses to the risen Christ.
Besides the times the apostles spent with Jesus after His resurrection, I Corinthians 15:6 says, “He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present.”
In other words, if anyone questioned this event they could ask up to 500 people to check out the truth of the story.
The apostle Paul realized in 1 Corinthians 15:19-20 that, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” But then he makes it clear that is not the case, saying, “But now Christ is risen from the dead.”
The basis for our hope is, and must always be, in Christ because it is Jesus Christ, and what He has done for us, that makes hope a reality.
People fail us; institutions fail us; governments fail us; we fail ourselves. But Jesus cannot and will not fail us! If our hope is in anything but Him, it is a flawed hope.
In Jesus we have hope that is an anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19) that keeps us sure and steadfast in the storms of life.
Without Jesus there is a hopeless end. Only with Jesus is there an endless hope.
Knowing that, then we should, as the apostle Peter says in I Peter 3:15...
“Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, 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.”
Our hope is in Jesus Christ, our risen, living Savior and Lord.
CLOSE:
There is a story about how the caverns north of Yellowstone National Park were discovered.
As the story goes, one of the original explorers was walking along the top of the mountain and fell through a hole. And he dropped down several hundred feet into this cavern and was stuck in almost total darkness for over a week, no food, no water. He cried out every day, "Help me!" hoping that somebody would hear his voice and figure out that he was down there.
Sure enough someone came along and heard this faint sound and looked around and found the hole. They dug him out and that’s how they found that giant cavern.
They asked him, "How did you hold on to hope day after day after day in the dark without giving up?" He said, "There was one little pinhole ray of light that was coming through, and I just kept focused on that ray of light."
The light gave that man hope. Jesus is the Light of the World. And that light shines as brightly today as when He walked this earth.
Many around us in this nation today are like that man down in the cave. They are in darkness looking for a way out. Let's shine the light of the risen Christ to give the hope they need.
And may we lay hold of that hope as well.
