God Will Complete His Work in Us — Zac Poonen

You know, in 1 Corinthians 13, which is a great chapter on love, the last verse says there are three things that remain, faith, hope, and love. And generally speaking, I've seen through the years, we hear a lot about faith and love, and hope, but almost never do we hear a message on hope.

So what you heard today from Santosh was very necessary to restore the balance because it says in 1 Corinthians 13, the last verse, there remains three things, faith, hope, and love, and we need to be equally balanced in knowing all three.

Hope as the Third Enduring Virtue

So, I just want to share briefly about this love, sorry, about hope. In Philippians 1 .6, Paul says to the Philippians, I'm sure, I'm absolutely confident that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you to grow in His grace.

God's Promise to Complete His Work

I'm reading from the Living Bible, until His task within you is finally finished on the day when Jesus Christ returns. If you are like me, and like, I think we're all the same, we have a lot of regret over mistakes we have made in the past, even after we have become believers or failures or sins like that.

Resisting Satan's Accusations and Discouragement

And when we look at the past, the devil reminds us of the things we've done wrong, and that can easily discourage us and hinder us from further spiritual progress. And we must not be afraid of Satan's, we must not be deceived or ignorant of Satan's tactics.

I want to tell all of you, one of Satan's tactics is to remind you of your past failures, so that you get so discouraged, you'll have no strength to press on. So when you think of the past, think also of what God did for you in the past.

Hope in God's Continuing Work

That's what he's saying here, God who began a good work within you, and in all of you God has begun a good work, and the devil doesn't want you to think about that. And that's what assures us, at a time when you were enemies, God came and loved you, and he's begun a good work within you, will continue doing it.

That's the hope we have. Until his task of making us like Christ is completely finished. So if you have that hope, hold on to it, it's a tremendous strength to fight this battle. In the Christian life, and it's going to be more intense as we approach the end.

The Devil's Increasing Fury and the Need for Perseverance

There's a verse in scripture which says the devil knows that the devil's fury increased, because he knows he's got a very little time. And the devil knows better than most of us that he's got very little time left before his kingdom is completely destroyed.

So it says in the Bible that his fury is going to increase. So what's the things that are going to help us to fight that battle faithfully till the end? Hope that he who has begun a good work in us will definitely complete it and finish it.

And it's going to get better and better and better. That's hope. So not just faith and love, but hope as well. We don't think much about it, but please start meditating on that a little more from today.

Because what you heard from Santosh was probably a prophetic word for all of you to think more about the matter of hope in Christ. Like we sing in one of the hymns, God's love for us in times past forbids us from thinking that he will leave us at last in trouble to sink.

Remembering God's Past Faithfulness

Each sweet Ebenezer that we have in review confirms his good pleasure to carry us through. What that means is Ebenezer, by the way, is a word found in 1 Samuel 7, where it's called a stone of help. Whereas Samuel put a stone down and said, hitherto has the Lord helped us.

Thus far, the Lord has helped us. That's the meaning of Ebenezer. The Lord has helped us so far. And that hymn, it says, each sweet Ebenezer that we look back upon and have in review, the places God helped us, confirms God's good pleasure in us that he will carry us right through to the end.

Hope That God Will Carry Us to the End

He's not going to take us halfway through the river and say, well, I'm fed up with you. I'm going to drop you right here. No. If he took us halfway through, he's going to carry us through to the end. That is hope.

And never give up that hope. God's love in time past forbids us from thinking that at last he will leave us in trouble to sink. Impossible. He was begun a good work in you will complete it. And I pray that will be your hope and faith as you look towards the future.

God bless you all. Thank you.