God's good to us. We're looking at 1st John chapter
2 and we have a different text this morning.
We're going to be starting at verse 28 and going
into chapter 3, verse 3. So I'm going to read
the text, but we probably won't get into the
text because I want to talk to you, Lewis, about
some of the context of the text and what it's
talking about. But we start in verse 28. John
introduces his text as he's done several times
with the reference to little children. There
is the term little children that he is using
there. It's actually referring to believers and
it's a general term. We could translate that
into the word beloved, I guess. Now beloved.
And he says here in the text, and let me just
read it, he says, abide in him. The word means
to endure without yielding. So he's saying abide
in him or walk with him, endure with him without
yielding to the temptation to quit or to do something
else. It's easy to start something and then change
or quit or do something else. Very easy to do
that. The Lord wants us to come to Him and to
walk with Him faithfully. That's one of the biggest
changes in my life was the decision to take the
Lord seriously in our morning devotions, in our
Bible reading, in witnessing, in seeking to follow
Him faithfully. It's easy to let things go. Believe
me, it's easy. I know that, and I'm sure you
do too. encouraging people to come to church.
We encourage people to pray. But it's not always
easy to make time for these things. Sometimes
we have so many other things on schedule. So
here he says to abide in Him or to endure in
Him. Notice that the pronoun there, Him, he's
talking about the Lord. And isn't that an interesting
challenge really that we are commanded here to
abide in the Savior, to be with Him, to abide
in Him so that when He is manifested, He is made
known or revealed, we may have confidence and
not be ashamed is probably the best way to translate
that, not shrink away or be ashamed. Again, there
he's talking about the Lord being manifested.
I can't imagine what that's going to be like
when we get to see him and when we stand before
him. There is a sense in which I fear that, because
he's not a toy. The Bible says, come boldly before
the throne of grace. But the term boldly does
not mean flippantly. It does not mean casually.
It does not mean come... like you would be walking
through a rose garden. When we come before Him
boldly, we're coming to a place that is potential
danger, and yet we can come because we've invited
to come. So we have access to that. We were talking
about prayer. Boy, is that important that we
exercise that. Brian prayed that coming before
his throne. And we are just so blessed and so
fortunate that the God of the universe invites
us to come boldly before His throne, to come
in prayer, and let our request be made known
unto Him. So in this text here, I'm taking up
all the time just reading it. He says that we
can have confidence and not be ashamed from Him.
We don't want to shrink away from Him at His
coming, at His return. And He is coming. And
that's a nice, comforting thought. He's coming
to straighten things out, and He is going to
do that. If you know that He is righteous, you
know that everyone also who does righteousness
has been born of Him. See how great a love the
Father has given to us, that we would be called,
what? The children of God, the offspring of God.
That's a very touching term that God uses. I'm
not righteous. You may think I am, and I may
appear as a pastor who's just so heavenly minded
with no earthly good, but I'm not righteous,
but God is. And He calls us to follow Him in
obedience, in trust. And so that's what we seek
to do. He goes on to say that that we be called
the children of God and we are and for this reason
the world does not know us there is that strange
barrier we talked about it this morning there
is this because we know the Lord and we're in
the world the world does not know us because
it doesn't know him beloved now are we at this
point in time the children of God and it does
not but it has not been revealed or manifested
And yet, what we will be, we know that when He
is manifested, we will be like Him because we
will see Him just as He is, and everyone who
has this hope fixed on Him purifies Himself just
as He is pure. I think our text there that I
want to focus on at the beginning is that last
verse, verse 3, that everyone that has this hope,
these are the hope and the promise that we've
just been reading about. this hope that's fixed
on Christ, fixed on Him, purifies Himself just
as He is pure. That doesn't mean that we can
work salvation, that we can just go out and have
a good intention, but it means that we access
ourselves to the presence and the Word of Christ,
that He can use that in our lives to kind of
wash us and cleanse us. So that's the topic here.
Bible talks about Faith hope and love those three
and they are very commonly used the one that's
we're gonna be looking at this morning is hope
faith and Love are covered quite a bit in Scripture
We don't talk as quite as much about hope but
hope is very important That's going to be kind
of what we are looking at in our text today Bible
talks about having this hope We frequently will
use the term hope almost like we would use the
word wish my hope Well, I could say I'm hoping
that Alabama will win the national champion I'm
just trying to use an illustration and that's
what it comes to mind some reason but that But
that's a hope but that's not not the same thing
as what he's talking about here It's not just
a wish, it's a hope that's based on God's word
and God's promise and God's promises to fulfill
and to do things. And we'll be looking at a number
of verses like that. But it's good that the Lord
gives us these goals, if you will, of things
that are really important that we want to pursue,
that we anticipate, we hope, we look for them,
and He's promised to fulfill them. He is undertaken
for your welfare and my welfare. He is undertaken
to provide for us things that bring glory to
His name and that He can use those things in
our lives to challenge us, to kind of straighten
us out a little bit because we need straightening
out at times. We need to be taken out in a gentle
way behind the woodshed because I know that I
should... I started to say, I know you need that,
so do I, but I should reverse that. I know I
need that, but so do you. We need that sometimes,
because we are very self -centered. And so here
he's telling us, here is this hope, and that
we strive to that. It causes us to purify ourselves.
And that's what I want to look at this morning.
I want to look at this hope. David, the Lord
in Acts chapter 2, David said, I saw the Lord,
this is Acts 2 .25, I saw the Lord continually
before me because he was at my right hand, so
I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was
glad and my tongue exulted. Moreover my flesh
also will live in hope. This desire, this forward
vision of anticipating what God, not only what
He is and who He is, but also what He's promised
for us. and that we live in that. Galatians chapter
5 says that you have been severed from Christ.
He's talking about those who are seeking a righteousness
by keeping the law. And he said you've been severed
from Christ in one sense. You have been severed
from Christ. You who are being justified by law,
you have fallen from grace, for we through the
Spirit by faith are eagerly waiting For the hope
of righteousness that challenge eagerly waiting
looking for that. So let me just talk to you
I've got got some of these ideas from John and
his Commentary as we look at hope and one of
them is that we hope for Eternal life. I don't
know if you what you what you're thinking about.
I appreciate the testimony this morning Pete
gave that it was a good series by the way and
spoke to my heart, but the testimony this morning
That you you can for a long time Embrace what
you think you you know in the Lord and how you're
following him and so on and so forth and yet
be deceived about that I've had that happen at
church. I've had Honestly, I've had deacons that
would come forward at the invitation saying that
they Thought they were saved and that but they
realized they were not We can be deceived about
that and that's something the Bible tells us
to examine ourselves But here Paul says and I'm
going to read Titus chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 Paul
says he introduces himself as a slave of God
and an Apostle of Jesus Christ For the faith
of God's elect. That's God's children. He's an
apostle for the elect and the full knowledge
of the truth, which according to godliness, in
hope, he says, of eternal life, which God, who
cannot lie, has promised from all eternity."
I've gone to several funerals. I've conducted
several funerals. I've looked at the casket,
and almost every time I do that, I don't want
to sound gross, but I... think of myself as one
day taking that person's place there in that
casket, that I will be there one day. Don't get
too excited. It may not be right away, but that's
going to happen to all of us. We're not going
to be around forever. And you kind of want to
be ready for that. The Bible promises that to
those who love Him, He gives what does John 3
16 say for God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son that is so I believe in
them not bears, but have what? Everlasting life
eternal life God promises that life real life
not just duration life, but real life right life
that comes from him that is Beyond what we can
just experience on a good day when we say, boy,
things are really going well, but really have
that relation with Him. You talked about this
morning, having that personal relationship with
the Lord. So He promises eternal life, and that
produces in us, those who love Him, a hope, an
anticipation. It is promised, but it's still
something that we want. Now, I realize that we're
not in a hurry to die today to experience that,
but the hope is that when we do take our place
in that casket there, that box, that we are going
to be with the Lord and we're going to be there
forever. I frequently talk to people at work
about my wife, Sweetie. Many times it has to
do with military because that's where we met
and tell people that I met her, she outranked
me, which she did, always has. We married, we
got to see 12 countries in Europe and then we
came home and we were married for almost 50 years.
Almost 50 years. It's a good thing to be able
to relate that I know where she is. They'll say,
well I'm so sorry when I tell them I'm so sorry
that your wife died. I said, well, I know where
she is and I'll see her again. And there's no
doubt about that. These are things that are serious.
And so, that's the first thing. We have this
hope of eternal life, this promise, if you will.
It's like, Hebrews uses the phrase that we have
this hope as an anchor of the soul. And I think
of it, this may not be the best way, but I think
of it kind of as a where you have the temple
and you have the holy of holies and you have
the high priest that goes into the holy of holies
once a year on the day of atonement and the understanding
that I have is and I have not been able to confirm
this but I've heard it said several times that
he goes in with a cord that is attached to him
because he's going into a place that is extremely
dangerous and men have died who went in casually
before the Lord and took it lightly. And so you
don't take that lightly. And so as he goes in,
he goes in and the only thing you see is this
cord kind of being pulled on the inside as he
goes into the Holy of Holies. And if something
happens and he did something wrong before a Holy
God, a thrice Holy God, you get struck dead,
just like Ananias and Sapphira and others that
in the scriptures have died. You'd have to pull
him out because you couldn't go in there and
get him. That's what the court is But this hope
that we have is kind of like that that anchor
this in the veil there That we don't go in and
see it, but we have the hope it's like a connection
for us that we can connect to it and so we have
this this anticipation this joy of The relationship
with the Lord this hope and it is a hope a promise
of eternal life the second another area of hope
that the scriptures may talk about is That God's
grace is a gift of this holy of this hope if
you will second Thessalonians is the verse that
I landed on in second Thessalonians chapter 2
verse 16 says Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God our Father who has loved us and given
us eternal comfort by good hope, by grace. So
we know what grace is. Grace is God's riches
at Christ's expense, and it's God's overflowing
bounty to those who don't deserve it, and it's
His provision for us. And He says it's good hope.
By the way, notice the word good there. It's
a good hope. that God has for us and it comes
to us by grace and he says that should encourage
your hearts. I don't know if your hearts need
encouragement this morning. Mine do frequently.
I'll get up in the morning and before I have
my quiet time I may have a very sour look on
life or maybe be kind of depressed or whatever
things I want to do. didn't do them yesterday.
You have those kind of things. And He gives us
this good hope, if you will, that comes to us,
and it comes to us by grace. It's always good
to feed on the things that God gives us by grace,
the disciplines of the Christian life that He's
given to us to practice. and one of those disciplines
is hope. It's a good hope, and He's given it
to us by grace, and we want to feast on that.
That's a good thing, that hope is given to us
by God, by grace, by His Spirit. Another one
is related to the Scriptures, and Paul says in
Romans 15, 4 that whatever was written in earlier
times, that is in the Old Testament times, was
written for our instruction, for our learning.
Those things that are written down in the Old
Testament are there so that we can learn from
them so that as we learn from them, as we read
to them through the perseverance or the endurance
or the steadfast persistence, if you will, and
the encouragement of the Word of God of the Scriptures,
we might have hope. And the Bible is just filled.
There's so many illustrations of that. One of
the illustrations is David and Goliath. David,
here's this young boy going out to face this
giant. We have down at Lowe's some Halloween
displays. And they have one of them, this great
big horrible monster with red eyes and stuff.
And I guess he's... 14, 15 feet tall, and I'm
thinking that's about the size of Goliath. He
was a big, big guy. He was a big dude. And here
is David, and when he comes in from taking care
of those little sheep, he hears this Goliath,
and he takes a double -take, and the text says,
I love the way it's worded, it says, when Goliath
started running his mouth, he said, David, hurt
him. That's when things began to change. Before
that happened, the Philistines heard him, Saul
heard him, everybody else heard him. Didn't make
any difference. But when David heard him, things
started happening. Because he couldn't, he said,
who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he
is going to defy the armies of the living God?
And to him it was a spiritual matter and that
means that it wasn't... David who was the underdog
in a real sense it was Goliath because he has
defiled God's army, God's people and it's God's
people and God's name that's on the line and
so he took a stand for that and so this is just
a way of getting hope from the scriptures that
give us hope. I think of another one is Nebuchadnezzar
who is this godless leader of Babylon. very arrogant
man most powerful person on the planet in whatever
he wants to do he can do and nobody can question
him he can have people killed if he wants without
even batting an eye he can give riches to people
without missing any of the wealth or whatever
he was powerful very very powerful man and yet
at the end he humbled himself and he learned
a lesson and he said that and I forget exactly
the wording but he makes it clear he said that
God who rules the universe is able to humble
those who walk in pride and he's able to exalt
anyone from the lowest place to the highest place
and he's able to bring the person at the highest
place down to the place of humility and that
illustration is there for a reason among other
things is we can learn that because a lot of
times we get depressed like Moses we get depressed
because we things don't go the way we want them
to go well that's okay they're going the way
God wants them to go and that's what matters
and so we can learn from scripture the examples
of people who've gone through these things they're
real people they're real examples they really
took place God's hand was was behind the scenes
working and so what some people meant it for
evil, God meant it for good and he turned things
around for his story, for his kingdom. And so
that's kind of some of the things that we get
hope as we read the scriptures and as we study
the scriptures. And I'm going to stop here because
we're going to be, I got about seven more and
I can't get through them all. So we're going
to come back to look at some of the other areas
of hope. next time. I would encourage you to
read your Bible and to read the examples in Scripture,
both in the New Testament and in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is filled. That's what we see
as things written beforehand or written for our
encouragement. We can learn from these examples
and these people both good lessons and bad lessons.
There's a lot of warnings in this. The Proverbs
are filled. with text that tell us things not
to do and talks about the bridle is for the horse
and the whip is for the back of fools and things
of this nature. The illustrations that help us
and you know people like that. You know people
that are very stubborn and they need a whip or
whatever to move them and the Bible is very clear
about that. So if we read the Proverbs and we
read the scriptures, read the book of Genesis
and read the gospels, read about the Lord Jesus
and the scriptures and how he functioned and
what his passions were. It does give us hope
and give us encouragement. So let me close in
prayer. Father, thank you for these words. I
know we're kind of rushing through this and yet
it's really very rich and very powerful and I
thank you. I thank you for the examples. I pray
that you'll... We were reading about being sons
of God. That means that we are like you, that
we take on your nature like children do, that
sons do their fathers in a way. And so help us
to demonstrate our relationship with you and
our commitment with you and our likeness with
you and our love for you and our commitment to
you. I pray that for my life too. I'm sitting
here thinking as we're talking about this morning
that Jesus... I was going to say to many in that
day, depart from me, for I never knew you. Get
away from me. I didn't know you. Lord, nothing
is more terrifying to me than to hear those words.
And yet they're going to be uttered, and I pray,
Lord, I ask that they will not be uttered to
anybody in this room, that from the top to the
bottom, beginning with myself, that we will really
take you seriously and surrender. to your lordship
and find our hope and purpose in you rather than
in our good planning or our finagling or whatever
we have plans and things, whatever we want. Help
us to realize that none of these things are as
good as your will. Your best usually comes disguised
as something that's tiring or boring or whatever
and it's not. but that's because we don't see
it like you see it and don't know the things
that you know. We were talking this morning and
I think it's almost a biblical axiom that our
will, when placed against your will, ours is
never right, yours is always best. So we just
want to surrender to you and thank you for this
time and for these people. Help us to live for
you and to honor you with our hearts, with our
lives. with everything we have. Help us to really
take you seriously. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.