Jesus, My Hope

Introduction

Welcome everyone. We have a very full auditorium. Good to see you all. Good to have Jesse and Amber identified so quickly among us. Jesse was, of course, one of the contingent that I mentioned on last Lord’s Day evening that I saw grew up at Eastside in Baytown. And I miss Kyle. I don’t know how I looked out of Miss Kyle. He’s the tallest one of the whole group sitting over there to my right. But it’s good to have all of these young men and now their spouses worshiping with us. Of course, Jamie was the girl who was at Eastside when I was there, but it’s good to have all of them with me again. Seems like old times. Great to be with you this morning as I get to talk about the greatest things that are.

And I want to begin talking about this word motivation. Motivations to do right and live for the Lord. I need them. And I preach to people, I believe, in many places, including this one. People needing to know the motivations for doing this. Why are we here today? Why do we do this week after week after week? Trudging along at times in the midst of difficulty and pain and discouragements and the futility of life as it seems around us. Why keep doing this? Why keep trudging along? Why keep preaching? As I talked about that the last couple of Sundays. Why keep preaching week after week? To do that, it’s all about convictions. Convictions first and foremost about Jesus Himself and confidence in the hope of your calling.

Those are the two things that I want to focus your attention on this morning. Your convictions about Jesus and your confidence in the hope of your calling. There are two times that this phrase appears in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 18, when Paul’s prayer for those who were Christians in Ephesus, that the eyes of their heart be enlightened. And I really think that’s what preaching and teaching is designed to do. It is designed to enlighten your thinking or to enlighten your heart as to the ultimate realities. He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?

And you can tell by the way that I read that I’m emphasizing the words riches, glory, inheritance. What is the hope of your calling? In Ephesians 4 and verse 4, there is one body and one spirit in the midst of seven things that he says there is one of, like one Lord, one faith and one baptism. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. But there is so much that clouds are enlightenment of those things. And we know who is behind it, as we’ve been studying in the past quarter on Wednesday nights. The God of this world blinds the minds of the unbelieving. It’s the devil’s activity that causes these great truths to be clouded.

The gospel is veiled. It is veiled to those who are perishing, Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. And I’ll tell you what these lies involve. Number one, the how of coming into a right relationship with God. He wants to prevent that. We talked about that last Lord’s Day morning, about the role that baptism plays in our salvation, for the remission of our sins. And so the devil is promoting lies that militate against God’s truth about how one comes into fellowship with God. And number two, his lies involve accepting something less than wholehearted submission in our response to Him, which includes the pursuit of love in every relationship. But his activity is not so crafty and so powerful that we cannot defeat him by the help of God.

And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4. And so this victory that can overcome the world, even our faith, can let us appreciate and be enlightened in regard to the hope of our calling. This hope, the Hebrew writer says in Hebrews chapter 6, is an anchor for our souls. And I want you to underscore in that verse these two words. Sure and steadfast. The hope of your calling. May you know it. May you embrace it. May you be motivated by it. And that hope is sure. And that hope is steadfast. And it continues to this time. From the time the Hebrew writer pinned those words. The hope that you so greatly need is sure instead.

This introduction will conclude with two awesome statements of faith and conviction that I believe need to be ours. The first is in Acts 27. A fierce wind known as a Europillo comes upon Paul during his voyage to Rome. I think I played golf in one of those. Not a good idea. No, it wasn’t this violent.

And yet, Paul, who is in the boat, affirms.

There will be no loss of life, only the boat will be lost. He makes an amazing statement in Acts 27 and verse 25, when he says, It will turn out exactly as I have been told. You talk about a statement of conviction and faith and confidence. God has come to Paul and told him that there would be no loss of life, only the boat would be lost. And he says, Men, don’t be afraid. It’s going to turn out exactly as God has told me. And that’s the kind of confidence we need to have in God’s message. That it’s going to turn out exactly as this book describes. That it will.

When we face difficult times. And this is my new favorite that I threw in extra. Psalm 46. The Lord is a very present help in trouble, verse 1, but now I’ve come to really appreciate verse 2. Therefore, we will not fear. Though the earth should change. That’s pretty severe. He goes on to say, though the mountains slip into the sea. Haven’t seen that. But if that happens, that’ll catch your attention. Though the mountains slip into the sea, though the earth should change, I shall not fear. Does these, do these statements of faith characterize your convictions in regard to Jesus and the hope of your calling? I want to spend a few moments this morning talking to you about Jesus. My hope. And may He be yours as well.

1. The Rock Solid Evidence for My Faith

And the first thing that I want to talk about this morning is the rock, solid evidence for my faith. Maybe you heard this news story earlier this year. In the month of March in Kempner, Florida. Sepner, Florida, I think it was.

Twenty foot wide, twenty foot deep. His whole bedroom was swallowed, including him. His brother was sleeping in another room in the house, and he could not save them. Let’s hope a sinkhole doesn’t develop around us. But we don’t have to worry. Do you ever think about this? We don’t have to worry about a sinkhole developing that undermines our faith and confidence that there’s going to be some kind of archaeological discovery, some discovery in our world that punctures a hole in the reliability of God’s message. You think about this, from the time these messages were first delivered through God’s spokesman in the first century to nearly 2,000 years later. No discovery has been found. No sinkhole has developed that has undermined our confidence in the truthfulness and reliability of this message.

And yet the challenge of faith, we may struggle at times to display unwavering confidence in the unseen and in this message. You know, from the outside, people looking at us think that what we’re doing is pretty silly. Bowing our heads and making petitions to a God that we cannot see. Because of our convictions about it. This book.

Jesus may have said, Father, forgive them that they do not know what they are doing, but he didn’t say it on the cross because you couldn’t say something that long when you’re being crucified. Because, you know, he knows he was crucified once, and he knows what that experience is like. Bill, how do you know the length of a statement that could be made when somebody was being crucified? And he thinks that only two of the seven statements that are recorded in the biblical narratives that he actually said from the cross. I wonder how he could say any of them. And why just those two of the seventh? Well, Bill doesn’t take the Bible literally. Isn’t that convenient? And so people look at our convictions about the Word of God and think that we’re silly.

And sometimes we can waver and entertain doubts. And that’s where this song comes in that we’ve sung this morning. If we just had something tangible to confirm what we know, we think. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. We have trustworthy eyewitness accounts of people who saw Jesus. I have come to appreciate 1 John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 more than I ever have. When it says, John says, what was from the beginning and what we have heard and what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the word of life, and the life was manifested, and we have seen. And bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, the hope of your calling, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. You know, whatever we’re going to do with this book, we have to acknowledge that these were real historical men, as we said in our Bible class, who were inspired by God and wrote these things down. And John says, I saw these things. Peter says that in 2 Peter chapter 1, when he said, We didn’t follow cleverly devised tales. We are eyewitnesses of his majesty. If we’re going to call into question the reliability, call into question the reliability and certainties of this book, then we’re calling into question the historical eyewitnesses as well. Peter isn’t really what he claimed to be, and that’s inspired by God and an eyewitness of the transfiguration and the life of Jesus.

And John, the one who writes this epistle, 1 John chapter 1, he says, I was there, I saw it. These are things our hands have handled concerning the word of life. I want to tell you that resonates with me.

I believe Paul is an historical character, who was once a persecutor, turned into apostle and preacher. And I believe in Peter the fisherman, as God is going to be studying with you in the adult class on Wednesday night. I believe in Peter the fisherman who was changed. Though he was trained and uneducated, he was recognized as having been with Jesus in Acts 4 and verse 13, and he became a leader among God’s people and among the apostles. And I believe in John, who wrote this epistle, who says, These are things that we have beheld and handled. You don’t just call into question the historical nature of Jesus of Nazareth, but all of these men who are historical eyewitnesses who saw these events. This book is reliable.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest friend, but holily on Jesus’ name. Is Jesus your hope?

2. Jesus Is the Only Solution

Is he the motivation for how you pursue life? If not, what else is there? What else can you turn to that truly provides hope for the future for immortality? These are things that God brought to light in the gospel. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 10. What are you going to turn to? If you don’t turn to Jesus as your hope, anything else that you might choose is terminal. It is short lived. It is inadequate in comparison and in promise. Everything. You name whatever it is that floats your boat. It’s short-lived. It’s terminal. It’s inadequate. In comparison to Jesus’ offer. Which has promise of both the life that now is and the life that is to come. There was an article that one of you sent me a while back that I’ve been waiting just for this occasion to use.

It was entitled Three Reasons You May Not Need a Religion. Well, that’s that’s attention getting. The three reasons. Number one, God is love, and love knows no fear. And the illustration is used of a dog tied to a tree. Now, your religion may enshackle you. You may be like a dog tied to a tree. Being bound to a religion is no different when it keeps you from living up to your full potential. The article says.

That was cute. One evening we’re sitting there, and Brett turns on the Miami Heat. No, they get the Miami Heat every game down there. If you like the NBA, of course, I thought this is pretty cool. They get to watch the best basketball player ever, Thad. The best basketball player ever, LeBron James, play every night. We’re just sitting there, you know, doing some other things, and occasionally, if Brett would go, Dad, wow. Did you see that? That’s like nobody can do that. He makes it look so easy. All of a sudden he goes into third gear and he just blows by everybody and slam dunks it. And it’s like, there’s nobody else that can do that. And you appreciate that, but you know what?

LeBron, as great as he is as a basketball player. Not going to always be that way. Somebody else is going to come along and be the new superstar in the NBA, and he’s going to become the has been like Michael Jordan did.

Oh, Michael Jordan can still whip me on a basketball court, but I want to tell you, his abilities have diminished. And so will LeBron’s. And whatever it is that is your passion, even if you reach your ultimate potential in that passion, ultimately that fades. That’s gone.

It can hold you back religion. If it’s holding you back from loving yourself or others unconditionally, you need to jettison that. You need to get rid of your religion. You can’t have religion. You can’t have real love without religion. You can’t have real love without God’s instruction, which teaches you how to love. And this love that’s actually being described in this article, it’s not God’s love. It’s not agape love. I want to tell you what it is. It’s love for self that’s being admonished. Religion can become a God thing. Point number two. I found that one to be really interesting. Well, yeah. When a good thing becomes a God thing, it’s a bad thing, as the saying goes. We ought to just seek the heart of God.

What does that mean? What does that mean? Seek God. How can I know the heart of God except from what he has revealed in his word? Number three, the reason why you may need to jettison your religion is religion can keep you comfortable. Start by taking just one step in the direction of your passion and then another. Trust the bridge to your passion, the article says. You see, it’s all about me. Whatever your passion is. Maybe your religion is standing. Whatever that passion is that you have, again, it’s very temporary and short-lived. The only solution. There is no other name under which, no other name under heaven under which we can be saved, other than Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. He is the only solution, and without him, Paul describes in Ephesians 2 and verse 12, we are without hope and without God in the world.

One of the most tragic statements in all of Scripture in Ephesians 2 and verse 12. Without hope and without God in the world.

If you hold fast the word which I preach to you. For I deliver to you as of first importance what I received. That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scripture. I want to tell you, folks, we dealt in certainties, not question marks. That’s true. That’s reliable. Jesus died. He was buried on the third day. He rose from the dead. And that’s why I do this. That’s why I preach this message. That’s why I’m here every week doing this. Week in and week out. Because I believe that. That is rock solid evidence. That is the only solution. And when my heart becomes enlightened to those facts, he yields, he gives to me a new identity.

3. He Gives a New Identity, a New Self

And as you go on reading in Ephesians, as Jared so ably taught us in that quarter of the book of Ephesians, you find out what is involved in embracing Jesus, and that he gives us a new self, which we so desperately need in our journey of life. He changes us. We become God imitators. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 1, this new identity, this new self that he gives us, we live a life in imitation of God. And that means we go about our lives walking in certain things. We walk in love, just as Christ did. We walk in life, in holiness and purity, just as he did. And because we follow his precepts, we walk in wisdom just as he did. And this new identity is what you need.

This new self. We are indeed in this pursuit, spirit-filled. As we saw in our class this morning in Ephesians 5 and verse 18, when they’re admonished in the section that involves the new self to be filled with the Spirit, to not be drunk with wine. That is dissipation. But to be filled with God’s things. And this new self is others oriented. As he goes on to describe in verse 21, subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ. And he talks about all kinds of relationships where subjection is involved, the husband and wife relationship, the father-child relationship, the servant-master relationship going on in chapter 6. And so as he talks about this new self that makes our lives meaningful, something to truly to be passionate about, because Jesus is our whole God imitator, spirit-filled, other subject.

He comes to our final identity in Ephesians chapter 6. We are soldier ready. Because of these certainties, because of our confidence in these things unseen, because of our knowledge of what is true and right and reliable and sure and steadfast. Our role in the new self, our final identity. God imitator, spirit filled, other subject, our pursuit and our passion. We’re soldiers. Putting on the full armor of God. As he says in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11, not to be isolated from the foregoing subjects of Ephesians chapter 4, but this final imagery pulls it all together. The imagery of a soldier sufficiently girded for battle. Hope fuels the whole thing. Undergirds the whole thing, compels the dawning, induces the proper arrangement of the armor. What’s this assembly about?

It’s about the advancement of his cause. Another step in this great battle. That’s what we’ve done today. Flee these things, man of God, as he talked about a number of immoralities and a love of this world and a love of money that could ensnare him. He says, Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. And you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I’ll tell you what we’ve done today.

We’ve done some soldiery on the battlefield. Our lips have uttered selfless praise. We have exalted our creator and savior. We have touted the highest principles of conduct as good and wise and saving. We have identified everything contrary to that as fraud. Promoted by the evil one. Every day is about placing our trust in Jesus, come what may, and displaying our confidence in God’s word. His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming blood. When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and state. And so as I thought about these things, about the rock solid evidence that supports our faith, Jesus being the only solution for our lives, and the new self, the new identity to which he calls us.

Conclusion

I thought the perfect conclusion to that, the perfect admonition and motivation by way of invitation is to sing the song. Soldiers of Christ arise.

A truth that we can know with certainty. And an ennobling faith in God that trusts implicitly in him to provide what we need. When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then be found. Dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Amen. If you need to become a soldier in his army and embrace this new identity to which our one and only Savior calls us, we ask you and invite you to come as we stand and sing. Soldiers of Christ arise.