But, he went on to say, there is one thing that
we can try. That little bit of light makes a
whole lot of difference. You and I live today
in a world that is dark. It is dark with the
despair of its own godlessness. The philosophies
of man void as they are of anything eternal and
transcendent, produce despair and hopelessness.
The Apostle Paul calls God the God of hope in
Romans 15 -13. Where there is God, there is hope.
Where there is no God, there is no hope. The
apostle further describes the unsaved in Ephesians
as saying, having no hope, they are without God
in the world. No hope because without God. The
darkness that we see around us did not begin
in this century, although we often think of it
that way. Actually, the darkness of the human
race began as a result of the fall and right
after it. The fall brought death, destruction,
idolatry, and godlessness that overtook the human
race. Despite the revelation of God in the Old
Testament and through His people Israel, The
world 2 ,000 years ago was a world much like
the world today, a world that was in darkness
and despair. The oppression of Rome throughout
its empire and the silence of God for that 400
-year period following Malachi's ministry left
the world in an inky, malevolent misery. And
then, one night, in the village of Bethlehem,
the dawn of a new era came. Luke 1 says, because
of the tender mercy of our God, the sunrise from
on high visited us, to shine upon those who sat
in darkness and the shadow of death. The angel
broke the news to the most unsuspecting of people,
the shepherds. They were the first to witness
the sunrise. Eight days later, the righteous
and devout Simeon held this baby in his own arms
and said, My eyes have seen thy salvation, a
light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory
of thy people Israel. The Apostle John puts it
this way in the prologue of his Gospel, verse
5, talking about the Word, calling Him the One
in Whom there was life, that is, the One in Whom
there dwelt spiritual life, self -existent life.
And he says, that One whose life was the light
of men, He says that light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it. Or as
some translations put it better, I think, and
the darkness did not overtake it. The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness did not conquer
it. And so today I want to talk about Jesus Christ
who is the light of hope. Christ's entrance in
the world provoked an intense battle, a cosmic
battle between light and darkness. On the one
side the powers of darkness, on the other the
purpose of God and His angelic host. The powers
of darkness opposed the coming of the light.
They sought to destroy the light. What they failed
to accomplish through Herod in Bethlehem They
thought they had accomplished at the cross in
Jerusalem and for three days the powers of darkness
partied and Then their party was crashed because
the light conquered the darkness Jesus Christ
rose from the grave. The light of the world is
the victor in this most important and contested
battle of the ages. John writing later says,
the Son of God appeared for this purpose that
he might destroy the works of the devil. The
word destroy there does not mean to immediately
execute. the works of the devil. But it's really
the word loose. He appeared that he might loose
the works of the devil. The idea is to undo the
bonds holding the devil's power base together.
As our guest at the Christmas Eve service said
on Friday evening, it was the pulling out of
the thread that began the unraveling of all of
the devil's empire. He loosed the works of the
devil. In this context of the victory of light,
Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. His victory
over darkness secures hope for you in life's
journey through this dark world that you live
in. It is important for us to define the word
hope before we go any further. Reminding ourselves
that hope in the biblical sense is not a wish.
It's an expectation. It is an expectation that
is noted for being favorable. In other words,
it's not a dread. It's a good thing. And for
being confident. It's certain. Nothing can keep
it from coming to pass. So when you think of
the word hope this morning, as we think of Jesus
being the light of hope, understand we're talking
about something that's good. We're talking about
something that is for sure. Your hope in Jesus
Christ can be explicated in three, in various
ways. The light of hope is in the first place,
the hope that your past failures are forgiven
by God. He is the light of hope and that hope
includes this wonderful thing that your past
failures are forgiven by God John in verse 29
of this same chapter Talks about John the Baptist
seeing Jesus coming to him and saying behold
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world In his epistle he writes you know that
he appeared in order to take away sins. Human
sin is our failing to hit the mark, our failing
to measure up to God's necessary standard of
righteousness. Romans 3, 23, most of us can quote
it, for all have sinned and what? Come short.
of the glory of God. There's a failure. We have
not hit the mark. We haven't measured up because
of our sin. And our failures do two things to
us. First, they bring us under the judgment of
God because God is holy. Secondly, they deliver
us to a guilty conscience. The only remedy for
the judgment of God and a guilty conscience is
forgiveness. Forgiveness from God because all
sin ultimately is against Him and only He can
forgive it. Christ's death for our sins and His
victorious resurrection provide the only valid
means by which God can extend pardon to us. But
because of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God is able to extend to us forgiveness. So that
when we receive that gift and we have this light
of hope in Jesus Christ, it includes the fact
that our past failures are forgiven by God. If
you sit here on this Christmas Sunday morning
wondering about your past, feeling guilty over
what you've done, Understand that with God there
is forgiveness because of Jesus. You don't have
to live in the darkness of guilt. You don't have
to live in the darkness of God's judgment. You
may come to the light and be delivered. Now the
hope that we have for life's journey through
this dark world also embraces the hope that your
personal weaknesses are purposed by God. John,
again, talks about this in chapter 9, verse 1.
As he talks about Jesus passing by and seeing
a blind man, blind from birth, his disciples
ask him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents,
that he should be born blind? Jesus answered,
it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents.
But it was in order that the works of God might
be displayed. in Him. Verse 5, it goes on to
say, while I am in the world, I am the light
of the world. Here we have the hope that your
personal weaknesses are purposed by God. On our
Christmas Eve service, it was a delight to meet
for the first time Kenny and Barbara King's little
grandson, born blind. What a wonderful little
boy, three years old perhaps at this time. growing
up with his acute sensitivity to other things
because he has no eyes. Here we have a man like
that. He had grown up to an adult stage of life.
And Jesus says he didn't sin. His parents didn't
sin. God purposed this for himself. And so I'm
not thinking now of sins or even the results
of sins. I'm not even thinking about weaknesses
like occasional sore throats or a bad golf game.
I'm talking rather about those afflictions and
marks, those weaknesses as we call them, that
we bear long term, over a lifetime perhaps, challenges,
handicaps, scars that we bear. Those things that
so often become points of comparisons as we see
other people and we wish that we were different
like them. Whatever weaknesses we may have are
ours by God's sovereign choice. We see this,
don't we, in Moses? As he complained to God,
I can't speak, I'm not eloquent. I don't have
a quick reply for Pharaoh. And God said to Moses,
who made your mouth? Moses, don't you know that
I made you the way that you are? I think of our
friend Gene Jordan who, goodness has it been
three, four years now, right at this season when
he went to be with Christ, born with a cleft
palate and lip. Grew up as a young boy with that
problem, being teased about his being unable
to speak and so on. God laid His hand on him
and his family, called him to Himself, and sent
him into Christian work. And it wasn't until
years later that he had surgery so that he could
be corrected somewhat with this problem. Willing
to serve Jesus Christ with that weakness that
God had purposed in him. I don't know what your
weakness may be. Paul had a weakness, though
we don't precisely know what it was. But he said
about it, most gladly I will boast about my weaknesses,
that the power of Christ may dwell in me. I am
well content with weaknesses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then am I strong. What a
contradiction, so it seems, and yet it is in
our weakness that Christ's strength and grace
is made perfect. The light of hope that we have
in Jesus Christ is that your weaknesses are by
God's design and he will use them to glorify
himself. We don't have to walk in the darkness
of comparing ourselves to others or wondering
why this has happened or why we've experienced
that. The fact is that we can accept our weaknesses
with gladness because we have the light of hope
in Jesus Christ. Third, the light of hope that
we have for life's journey through this dark
world is that this hope that our daily temptations
are conquerable through God. That our daily temptations
are conquerable through God. John chapter 16
talks about this hope. As Jesus says in verse
32, Behold, an hour is coming, and already has
come, for you to be scattered, each to his own
home, and to leave me alone. And yet, I am not
alone, because the Father is with me. Maybe you
feel alone this morning, I don't know. Do you
notice what Jesus says here? He knows what aloneness
is all about. But he says, truly I'm not alone,
the Father is with me. And if you're a Christian,
you may feel lonely, remember the Father's with
you. Then Jesus says, these things I've spoken
to you, that in me you may have peace. In the
world you will have tribulation, but take good
courage. I have overcome the world. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did
not overcome it. We have the light of hope that
our daily temptations are conquerable through
God. In this world we will have temptations.
The disciples had temptations and they were facing
their greatest temptation when Jesus spoke these
words. They were going to be tempted to leave
him and Jesus says prophetically, you will leave
me. They would fail this temptation. But he says
I want you to be of good courage remember this
I've overcome and Later when temptations came
to them to forsake Jesus or to deny him they
were willing even to lay down their lives They
conquered that temptation What are your temptations
on this Sunday after Christmas What are the areas
of life Where you meet the enemy head -on and
you're allured to disobedience Or to denial Jesus
Christ says to you this morning. I want you to
know you can conquer that temptation. You are
not a victim You are a victor because I have
overcome the world He went right on from making
that statement to pray to the father and he says
father keep them Keep them from the evil one
You see we don't have to yield to the temptations
that come to us in this world of darkness Jesus
Christ lives in us by his Holy Spirit and in
heaven he prays for us Enabling us to say no
to temptation and say yes to obedience You and
I have this hope for our life in this dark world.
It is this that our daily temptations are conquerable
through God. Our hope for this dark journey through
life also embraces this fact that your individual
troubles are measured by God. Go back to John
chapter 11 for a moment. We return to this passage
where two sisters are troubled. over the death
of their brother Lazarus. We talked about Martha.
We look at Mary this week, verse 32. When Mary
came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at
his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died. Sounds
a little familiar, doesn't it? Same thing Martha
had said earlier. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews who came with her also
weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was
troubled, and said, Where have you laid him?
And they said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus
burst into tears. And in verse 40, Jesus said
to her, Did not I tell you, if you believe, you
will see the glory of God? And then he raised
Lazarus from the dead. What I want to point out
here is that Mary and Martha were passing through
a trouble in life. Their hearts were troubled
and Jesus' heart was troubled with them. Jesus
felt with them the pain and the loss that they
so keenly felt. He wept with them. What they
were experiencing was measured by God. God was
not laying upon them something they could not
carry, nor something that he himself did not
feel, for he did. This experience for Mary and
Martha, just like your individual troubles, are
measured out of the hand of a loving and sovereign
God who delights in you. Is it the illness of
a loved one that you face? Have you received
word from your employer that because the company
has been bought by another corporation your job
is going to be phased out in six months? Do you
have the individual trouble of having a sexual
assault that has occurred with all of its horrors?
What about the persistent pain that you bear
of a child that's gone astray? I don't know what
the trouble That you have in your individual
life is today, but I want you to know something
because Jesus Christ has conquered Because the
light shines in the darkness and the darkness
didn't overcome it You can have hope in the midst
of your darkness today the hope the light of
hope in Christ Because he is the victor He is
the one who comes to us in our troubles who weeps
with us and who keeps us encouraged in the midst
of our troubles. I must go on to the next hope
that we have in Christ, He who is the light of
hope. That is the hope that your life's mission
is determined by God. Let's go to the last chapter
of the Gospel of John to see this light or this
hope played out in the lives of Peter and John.
You recall that here in John chapter 21, Jesus
gives to Peter his instructions. He says to him,
follow me, Peter. Do what I tell you to do. And
Peter looks around and he sees John and he says,
Lord, what about this man? And verse 22, Jesus
says, if I want him to remain until I come, What
is that to you? You follow me. This saying therefore
went out among the brethren that that disciple
would not die, yet Jesus didn't say to him he
wouldn't die, but only if I want him to remain
until I come. What is that to you? You see the
point here? Jesus had a purpose for Peter. He
says, Peter, here's what I want you to do. Peter
looked over at John and said, Lord, what about
him? He says, I have a purpose for John Peter.
That's not your concern. You follow me. I'll
take care of Peter. I'll take care of John, rather.
I'll tell him what I want him to do. What we
see here is the hope that your life's mission
also is determined by God. When there is no meaning
to life, we wind up in despair. That's one reason
that teenage suicides are skyrocketing in our
day. The philosophies of man are beginning to
take their toll upon our younger generation.
They see no purpose, no meaning to life. If there
is no meaning to life and you're in pain, then
get rid of it. Be done with it. Kill yourself.
It's very logical. The problem is that it's based
upon a false philosophy. That life has no meaning.
It does. And especially for those of us who know
the light of hope, Jesus Christ, life has meaning.
We have this hope that our life's mission is
determined by God. You have significance beyond
what you can possibly grasp as you live day by
day. But someday your life's purpose will be
realized as you follow Jesus Christ and do His
will. The opposite of that is to waste life.
Life is too precious to be wasted. Therefore,
let's press ahead with what the will of God for
us is. What we understand that mission to be.
Understand that Jesus says to you, as he said
to Peter, you follow me. Do what I want you to
do. Don't worry about others. You do what I want
you to do. What a wonderful hope there is in
Christ. To know that as we pursue what He tells
us to do, as we follow Him, our life has meaning.
And finally, as we think about the light of hope
in the midst of this dark world, and our life's
journey in it, we have the hope that our promised
destiny is guaranteed by God. Those familiar
verses in John chapter 14, where Jesus says to
His disciples, not your heart be troubled. Believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house
are many dwelling places. If it were not so,
I would have told you, I go and prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. Here
we have the hope that your promised destiny is
guaranteed by God. As a child of light, you are
called to inherit glory, the glory of God. Paul
says God calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 8 where we see
this further elaborated upon. Jesus in John 17
prayed, Father, I want those that you have given
to me to be with me where I am. Where is that?
In glory. In Romans chapter 8 verse 18 he says,
I consider the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory
that is to be revealed to us. The anxious longing
of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing
of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected
to futility not of its own will but because of
him who subjected it in hope that the creation
itself also Will be set free from its slavery
to corruption into the freedom of the glory of
the children of God For we know that the whole
creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth
together until now and not only this but we ourselves
having the first fruits of the spirit even we
ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly
for our adoption as sons the redemption of our
body for in hope we have been saved but hope
that is seen is not hope for why does one also
hope for what he sees but if we hope for what
we do not see with perseverance we wait eagerly
for it what the hope what is the hope glory You
and I have the hope that our promised destiny
is guaranteed by God. The Apostle Paul, knowing
that his own death was near, testifies to Timothy,
the Lord will deliver me from every evil deed
and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.
We have that hope. We have that light of hope
in this dark world. that this life is not all
there is, and that with all of its sufferings,
it's not worthy to be compared with what's coming
in the future. What I've tried to explain to
you this morning in my own weakness is that the
story of Christmas, the story behind it, is the
story of the battle between light and darkness.
The battle is over. It's finished. And the light
has won. The darkness has not overcome the light.
It still shines in the darkness. And so we celebrate
His coming and His conquest. That triumph has
secured hope for all of those who come to the
light, Jesus Christ, and who follow Him. The
world that we live in is dark and it's getting
darker, but not to fear. We are the children
of light who trust Jesus Christ. We are not given
to despair, but to living in hope. And though
we may be tempted to upset and to troubled hearts,
Jesus says let not your heart be troubled. Believe.
Believe. Let's pray together. What aspect of
hope this morning brings light to your journey.
I hope we've touched on it. I hope that as you
leave from here that some area of life where
there has been darkness may be lightened, illumined
by the light of hope in Jesus Christ. I hope
that you know Him as your Savior and Lord. If
not, we invite you to trust Him today. Those
of us who are the children of light who've been
translated, transferred out of the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son,
we have the light of hope for our journey. And
because of that our hearts can be still and be
at rest, trusting in Him as we journey on faithfully
through life following Him. Father God, I pray
today that you will apply this truth to our lives
in such a way that it will bring renewed hope
for any who are tempted to despair. And wherever
we may be walking in darkness through life's
journey in this dark world, may the light of
hope in the sun illumine our path and dispel
our darkness as we walk on toward the glory that
waits. In Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like for us
to sing a hymn in closing. And it is hymn 347
that says, Be still, my soul, God's on your side.
Bear patiently your daily trouble, your cross
of grief or pain. Leave to God to order and provide.
In every change He faithful will remain. Let's
stand and sing about this light of hope that
we have that allows us to be still and quiet
and know that He is God. 347.