Hope Only In Christ — Alan Martin

Hope Through the Holy Spirit

Romans chapter 15 verse 13 says. And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hope is one of the three things that remain.

That's what Paul said in first Corinthians 13. Now there remains faith hope and love and the greatest of these is love he said. But hope that middle word is something a believer needs to learn to abound in.

Because if you lose hope or if you have a misplaced hope your entire Christian life is going to be affected. There's a verse and I think it's Proverbs chapter 13 verse 12 that hope deferred makes the heart sick.

And there are a lot of people that are hoping for things that have not come to pass and may not come to pass. Now the scripture says this that if you hope in the Lord he who hopes in the Lord shall never be put to shame.

And we know that there's a process for that for the believer. There's a process for that hope in Romans chapter 5 that not only do we rejoice in the glory of God there Romans 5 1. Therefore if any man is in Christ no if anyone is just.

Therefore we are being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ what it says. And we rejoice through him. But not only do we rejoice through him we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know this.

Listen to this process. Suffering or tribulation produces endurance. Endurance produces this refining of character that we all need. And it's the refining of character that produces hope. So let's look at this process of how we are to hope and how important it is.

Holding Fast the Confession of Hope

If you have your Bibles I'm going to have you turn to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23. This is something that we see going on in our world today. I'm going to start in verse 19.

Hebrews chapter 10 19 I'm going to read down through past 23 to verse 25. Therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us to the veil that is his flesh.

And since we have a great priest over the house of God let us draw near with the sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

And let us hold fast the confession of our hope something a believer must hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promises faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see this day approaching.

So holding fastest confession of our hope is critical in Hebrews chapter 6. If you're still in Hebrews flip back to chapter 6. Because there's a there's an encouragement here and a warning that accompanies it.

Verse 11. Hebrews chapter 6. Verse 11. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize or to come to this full assurance of hope to the end. Evidently this statement means not everybody's going to get there.

Not everyone's going to come to the place where they are fully assured of hope. Once you get there you're secure. But the enemy fights us from getting there. If you lose hope. If you don't hold fast that confession of hope.

If you're not diligent to come to this full assurance of hope something could happen. Verse 12. This is what may happen so that you may not become dull. Listless is a good term. Some people become listless in their faith because they've lost hope.

They haven't come to the full assurance of hope. Something is damaged them and and in their pursuit of God they're listless. They're dull. They're not pressing in. They're hanging on. But they're not pressing in.

They're not abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because those who abound in hope they became inherit they inherited the promise through faith and patience. But when you lose sight of this when your hope has been disappointed like that scripture in Proverbs 13 12 hope disappointed makes the heart sick.

And that's where you lose motivation. That's where you start hanging on. And you can't hang on very long. You can't come to church very long. You can't read your Bible very long if you don't. If you're not abounding in hope and you're not pursuing something that is wonderful and rich sweet like a treasure.

Eventually what the little hope you have is going to fade more and more more. And it's usually because you had your hope placed in the wrong thing. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. And I want to give an example of that.

I want to use the scriptures because that's what Paul said in the that the scriptures were actually written that we could have hope. I'm gonna read it for you. That's back in that where we started in Romans 15.

This is what Paul said for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instructions so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. So I want to take this section the encouragement of the scriptures.

And I want to talk to you about the hope we can have by actually looking at three different examples of people who didn't really know what they were hoping for and how that. It's very interesting that God has always chosen to make hope a vital part of our relationship with him.

The Promise Given After the Fall

That's just an example from the very beginning when when Eve was deceived by the serpent and she took of the forbidden fruit and she she ate and she gave some to her husband. What did God do. What was his response.

Now if we were God what we have done we would have found the hoe and killed the serpent. But that's not what God did. What did he do. He gave a promise. He gave a promise that called it that there's hope.

He says what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put enmity between your seed woman and the seed of the serpent in one day you see you're the serpent is gonna bruise his heel but he is gonna crush your head. God gave a promise that called for hope.

He didn't say when this was gonna happen. He just gave a promise. And many times in our life trouble comes difficulty comes and we want something done now and over and over and over over. God didn't do it that way.

He waits. He gives a promise. And if we hope in his promise and endure through faith we'll actually experience what he talked about. Let's look at the three examples I want to talk about. One is Abraham.

Abraham and the Seed of Promise

We know that God called Abraham out of her. God made him a promise that he was gonna make him the father of many nations. We've already talked about this. You know that that didn't happen right away did it.

He lived in the land of Cain in ten years. His wife had already been barren probably 25 years. Nothing was happening. He listened to his wife. She suggested that he take her female slave named Hagar and man make him make her his wife.

And he did so. And he had a son. But God said nope that's not the that's not the fulfillment of this promise. It's gonna be a son through your wife Sarah. That did not happen till another 15 years 25 years in all for Abraham to see the fulfillment that that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in heaven.

But when Abraham at a hundred years old finally held the son Isaac in his hand was that the fulfillment of God's promise. Here's what God has said. Here's the beginning of it. At least God had promised that you're gonna have a son and now you have a son.

Well Abraham thought this was got the beginning of God's promise being fulfilled. But what do we know came from this people the son. The promised son was named Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebecca had two twins Jacob and Esau.

We know that that Jacob tricked or actually bartered with his brother to buy his brother Esau's birthright as the firstborn and he tricked his father into giving him the blessing. So Jacob ends up being the line that the other story kind of continues with.

We know that Jacob ended up wrestling with an angel and at that time his name was changed to Israel and Israel then had multiple sons. He had four different wives two wives and then ended up two more wives.

Four wives 11 sons one daughter. The people of Israel the nation of Israel. Was that the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. Was it it says in Hebrews chapter 11 having mentioned it mentions Noah Enoch Abraham.

And you know it says all these people were living by faith. None of them had received what was promised. You mean the nation of Israel wasn't what God promised Abraham. Isaac. Isaac wasn't the promised seed.

Hmm. That's interesting. We know from the New Testament that it wasn't Isaac that God had in mind when he told Abraham your seed and his descendants are going to inherit this land. In the book of Galatians Paul received the revelation that the true seed of Abraham was not Isaac but the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now think about the nation that's going to be in Christ. What Abraham and Abraham had advantage. It envisioned a nation a nation of those that bore his name the father of many nations. But at that time are you are you.

Do you realize especially those of you here who are not Jews. Is anybody Jewish by birth. Jewish by blood. Okay. Then you're not even involved in this story. You're not. If you're not a descendant from Abraham by blood you're not in the story.

So how could that be God's promise. How could that be the fulfillment of God's promise unless God had something else in mind that Abraham didn't fully know at the time he couldn't see. We'll find out later that God has something much bigger in mind.

David, the Kingdom, and the Temple

But let me let me pause there. Just put Abraham aside for a minute and look. Let's look at another man in the Old Testament they received a promise. His name was David a man after God's own heart. And the whole story of David you got to remember David becomes into the picture because Israel the nation the descendants from Israel the twelve tribes of Israel were such a mess they were continually being oppressed and abused and scattered by the people around them.

There was. They weren't even following the law. They were doing what's right in their own eyes. And God would raise up for them a judge. And that's where you read the book of Judges. Some of you know what I'm talking about that period of the Bible.

And during that late period of the judges when Samuel one of the last great judges was their judge they looked around at the nations around him and they decided we wanted a king. They want a king. God didn't giving him a king.

The first king he gave them was Saul. You know the story of Saul the second king that God gave them you remember his name was David the man after God's own heart David the God's own hand-picked King of Israel.

And David was a special man. And God made David a special promise David you remember David wanted to build a house for the Lord. Once David had become established as a king and that was a process. He built him a nice palace.

They think it may have been six stories tall those that have excavated the ruins there in the city of David in Jerusalem. But while living in his palace he said to himself it's not right for me to be a living in a palace where the Ark of the Lord is still living in a tent the tabernacle.

So he purposed in his heart he's gonna build God a house. But the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to him and said can you build me a house. Is there really any kind of house that you can build me that I can dwell in.

I mean the heaven and earth earth or mine. But he he said you're not gonna build a house. Your son is gonna build a house. And so David thought okay it won't be me it'll be my son. David then began to lay aside all the things necessary to build.

And if you know the story David gets into some situation. David is not out doing what he's supposed to do. He's in his palace when the Kings are supposed to be out with their troops during the time of spring when the armies go out to war and David sees Bathsheba and falls into adultery commit adultery ends up murdering having her husband murdered.

And and yet God's mercy and his kindness to David gives David and Bathsheba a second son. Now the first son died. But did the Lord struck the first child and the child died. But the second son is named Solomon.

So the second son of David ends up being the one that's building the temple. Have you heard of Solomon's temple. Was that the temple that the Lord that the Lord told David he was going to build for him.

Or David's son was going to build for him. Well that temple was pretty magnificent and it lasted about 400 years until the Babylonians came and tore it down because of the disobedience of the Jewish people.

And Solomon himself this great son of David who was going to build the Lord's house. Solomon as he was King married 700 women 300 concubines amassed large amounts of gold and silver amassed large amounts of horses and chariots.

All of those things the Lord said the King is not to do. Solomon himself built temples for his foreign wives. He married women that the Lord told the people of Israel. They were not even married. Not only did he marry them he built temples for their gods and worshipped in their temples with them.

His heart turned away from the Lord. Was that the Lord's fulfillment to David. No it sure looked like it though at the time. Didn't it. But and and the and the story you know God had also promised David something else.

He said that I'm gonna establish your throne forever. You'll never fail to have a descendant living on the throne. And any of you read the book of Kings and first to second Chronicles you're the story of that.

Does that sound like a continuous line of David's sons on the throne doing well. No it's a pitiful story now and then. A there was a good king whose heart was after the Lord for a while. Very few of them actually ended up still in the faith by the end of their life.

They some of them started well and abandoned. So surely Solomon and the and and the actual physical sons of David they could have been the fulfillment of God's promise to David that he'd make him an enduring dynasty that he would establish the throne of David forever.

No no that wasn't. This wasn't what God had in mind. And then one of the one other thing itself the nation of Israel they the nation of Israel had become a people that at least during David's time they were that they were the ruling dynasty in the region and all the other kingdoms around them were subjugated and they paid tribute to David.

They they served David. And David was one of the richest and most dynamic kings in all of Israel's history. It was their glory days for a short little time. But if you follow the history very very soon after it was just it became a roller coaster of up and down up and down continual unfaithfulness and disobedience to the point where the great nation of Israel was scattered throughout all the the Middle Eastern world Babylon Assyria Egypt Edom all these places.

God scattered them and there wasn't even a people living in Jerusalem reigning. They were scattered everywhere. Ah but the Lord in his mercy. And you've read this in the book of Nehemiah in the book of Ezra the Lord in his mercy brought a remnant out of all those nations that were living in Babylon and the king of Babylon when Babylon was conquered.

Darius the Mede who conquered Babylon felt moved in his heart to restore the city of Jerusalem and actually fund the rebuilding of the temple. So a small group of Israelites came together back to the promised land back to Jerusalem.

And you remember the story of Nehemiah. They rebuilt the city city walls and then through through the the books of you can read about in Zechariah and Haggai and Malachi the even eventually even the temple.

The second temple was rebuilt and that's the temple that King Herod actually kind of refurbished and got famous. The temple that actually Jesus walked in and that temple stood and people may thought this is the temple that's going to be the eternal house of the Lord.

Well until Romans came in 70 AD. And they tore that temple down. They tore the walls of Jerusalem down and they tore that temple down. So you see these physical things that were happening. We're not what God had promised.

They may have been parts of the promise stages in the process. But let's so let's look. Let's look at Abraham. God promised Abraham that through his seed all nations shall be blessed. Hmm. Who is the seed of Abraham.

Isaac. No Jesus Christ was the actual seed of Abraham. And through Jesus Christ all nations are blessed. All nations. Now what were the Jewish nations looking for those scattered tribes of Israel that were living throughout the Middle East at that time.

What were they looking for. They were looking for a Messiah. And they were looking for one who was going to be called the son of David. And the prophet Isaiah had told them that out of a root of dry ground would spring this shoot the out of the house of David and that the Lord would put his spirit upon this person.

And that and from that root you can read about this in Romans. Actually I'll read it for you in Romans chapter 15 where we started. Because this is the actual fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah to the people of Israel.

Christ as the Hope of the Gentiles

And again he says rejoice O Gentiles with his people. And again phrasal let me back up to find that where it starts all right. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go real quick to Isaiah chapter. Oh there is verse 12.

And again Isaiah says there shall come the root of Jesse and he who arises to rule over the Gentiles here right in the middle of this promise that the Jewish people thought Messiah was going to be all for them.

God has actually spoken through the prophet that the root of Jesse will arise to rule over the Gentiles. And then it says in him the Gentiles shall hope now that's good news for us because not a single person here raised your hand indicating that you were Jewish.

That means we're Gentiles. And what were the Jews looking for. The Jews were looking for their Messiah to come rebuild the center of their nation and their kingdom and make them great again. And not just all the Jewish people even the disciples who followed the Lord in his ministry.

If you read the Gospels you might even think that the only reason Jesus came was because of to rescue the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Do you remember the the story of the Canaanite woman. There was a woman that Jesus went to the area of Tyre and Sidon.

And there was a Canaanite woman who had a very very sick child and she cried out after the Lord to have mercy and heal her child. And and the Lord wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't give her pay her any attention but she would not let up.

She kept crying after him. And and Jesus disciples said Lord this woman you know she keeps crying out. He said to me look I've not been sent except to the lost sheep at the house of Israel. And and then she kept crying out.

The disciples kept pressuring in me. So look it's not right to take the children's bread and give it to the pets the dogs. And the woman heard this. Remember what she said. She wasn't offended she said.

But Lord even the dogs eat crumbs that fall from the plate for the children from the table. And he turned to her and he said woman you have great faith. And he healed the woman's child. There's a little hint she was not Jewish she was a Gentile.

Another time Jesus gave a hint that that he had a purpose beyond just the people of Israel. He was talking about being the great good shepherd. That he was the good shepherd of the sheep and that his sheep knew his voice and they followed him.

And then he added this in that passage he says I have other sheep that are not of this full this flock. Who's he talking about. He's talking about us. He's talking about you and I the Gentiles the one that the Gentiles will put their hope in.

But his own disciples didn't get it. They didn't get it even though he gave them more hints. Listen in Matthew. You know this. Most of you know this. You're you're familiar with the scripture the Great Commission.

Matthew 28 after the resurrection Jesus there with his disciples remember what he told them go into all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

Where did he tell him to go. All nations. All nations. They didn't quite get it. They weren't quite there. We know this because they're at the last last chapter of the book of Luke. You've heard the story of the gut they got the two men on the road to Emmaus.

They were walking back discouraged because they had heard about the resurrection. But they they were still very very confused because they had an expectation that Jesus was the Messiah. And you know what their expectation was that he was going to make Israel great again.

He was going to sit on the throne of his of David. He was going to drive out the Romans. And it's going to restore the glory days of the nation of Israel. But then all sudden Jesus was crucified. And then they hear the reports that he's raised from the dead.

And they are just walking in confusion not understanding what's going on. And Jesus meets them. And and this is what they tell him in Luke 24 21. But we were hoping see there's that hope misplaced hope.

We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. And besides all this it's a third day since these things happen. And some women among us astounded us when they were at the tomb early this morning not finding his body.

And they came saying that that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. But but they were. They were. They were out of joint because they had figured that with Jesus and his power he was going to make the nation of Israel great again.

They still weren't getting it. So Jesus has to explain to them further. And he does in the book of Acts you remember this. They're still not getting it. He spent about 40 days with his disciples. He's seen by almost 500 different people after his resurrection.

This is one of the conversations that he has with the group of disciples after he was raised from the dead before he ascended to heaven and gathering them together. This is in Acts chapter 1 verse 4. And gathering them together he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said you heard of from me.

For John baptized you with water. But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together they were asking him. And this this lets you know they still were not getting it.

Here's what they asked him. Lord is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel. What are they. So what are they looking for. They're still thinking that he's gonna make Israel the great nation again.

And then he here's what Jesus answered. But he said to them it's not for you to know the times or seasons which the father is set by his own authority. But here's what's important. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And you will be my witnesses. You know there's a there's a lot of people who get their hope deferred because that's not what they're looking for. They're not looking for the power of the Lord Jesus inside them when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

I don't care about the end times. I don't care about America being made great again. You need to be careful. What you hope for. You hope this next political party comes into power. Ah too bad it didn't happen.

You hope society's gonna get better. We're gonna turn the tide. We're gonna outlaw this and we're gonna reinstate this. And we're gonna make it. This law this law that what you're hoping for you better be careful.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. That's not. God didn't promise those things. Here's what he promised. We would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. We would receive ability to live a godly life.

And we could become accurate witnesses of the Lord Jesus walking in his kindness his godliness his goodness his mercy his humility his peace his patience. That's what it's all about. God had never in God's mind.

One New Man in Christ

He wasn't just trying to make one nation. You know we know that he has something way bigger in mind way bigger in mind than one nation of Israel. Because you realize that what Paul said I'm gonna read this from Ephesians chapter 2.

And this is right after most of us know this. For by grace you've been saved through faith. And this not of yourselves is not of works as any man should boast. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them.

And then he speaks to us. This is to you you and I the Gentiles. Therefore remember that formerly you the Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision. That's us. We are the Gentiles in the flesh.

We're not Jews. We're not the circumcision. Because you know did you realize that a a Gentile could become a Jew. You could to do so. You had to undergo circumcision. And after you went under under underwent circumcision.

The male and any other male in his house had to be circumcised. But once you did that you made yourself a Jew. And you had to live exactly like a Jew. So you could partake of Passover. You could do all the Jewish feasts.

You could live right in the middle of the Jews. Because you had chosen to be a Jew. You could do that. And and some did they call those proselytes. But the most of us Gentiles the uncircumcised were not Jewish.

They and the those who are circumcised as Jewish people they call us that uncircumcision. And it says in verse 12. Remember that you were at that time without Messiah. Without Christ he wasn't for you.

They didn't. They didn't even think Christ was supposed to be the Messiah of the Jews. Never. Not the Gentiles. We weren't even a part of this story at that time. You were without Christ alienated from citizenship in it citizenship in Israel.

We weren't a part of the citizenship in Israel. All the promises to the nation of Israel. If it was just those 12 tribes who were the descendant of Israel we weren't even involved those promises weren't for us alienated from citizenship in Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world.

He wasn't even our God. He was the God of Israel. He was the God of the covenant people. He wasn't our God. That's what. That's what Paul says. But listen to this. But now and that is before the Lord Jesus.

All of that's true. Before the Lord Jesus. But now listen when he says. But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace.

Who has made the two groups. What are the two groups Jew and Gentile. And what do you think. He made of the two groups one. His purpose all along was to make Jew and Gentile one. That's the purpose. No man understood.

It was a mystery not fully revealed until the Lord Jesus came. He himself is our peace. Who has made both groups. One and broke down the dividing wall of the partition. What wall separated Jew and Gentile.

What was the wall that separated Jew and Gentile. The law. According to the law you had to be circumcised. You had to eat certain things and not eat certain things. You had to observe certain feasts. That was the law.

And according to the law an uncircumcised Gentile couldn't even come to the temple couldn't even offer a sacrifice. That law was what separated a Gentile and a Jew. And you know what it says that the Lord Jesus did.

He took it away. He took it away. And Jesus said he was going to do so he said all the law and the prophets were only until John. Until John the Baptist. Since John the Baptist what was coming. What did he say.

His drawn near. What was in God's heart all along. What is what has come near. The kingdom of God has come near. And it's a kingdom of God which the son of David the Lord Jesus Christ will sit and reign upon an eternal kingdom.

A kingdom not made up of just physical Jews. A kingdom made up of both Gentile and Jew. Everyone who by faith becomes a part of Abraham. And therefore through faith the same faith of Abraham all nations are blessed through Abraham seed the Lord Jesus Christ.

So through faith in Christ the hope of Abraham is fulfilled. It wasn't in Isaac. And through Christ the seed of David David's throne will endure forever not through Solomon. Solomon is not the one who built the temple of the Lord.

Listen to what. This what Paul says. He removed the dividing wall of partition by abolishing in his flesh the enmity the law of the commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself he might create the out of the two men.

One new man making peace. And he said. And he might reconcile both of them in one body to God through the cross having himself put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to the good news of peace to you who are far away the Gentiles.

And peace to those who are near the Jews. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. You have the same access to God your father that the Jew has to God his father. Your access to the Father is through the Holy Spirit.

The Jews access to the Father is through the Holy Spirit. Isn't that what Jesus said. The men didn't understand when he was asked a question by the woman at the well. You Jews say that Jerusalem is the only place you're supposed to worship our fathers worship on this mountain.

You remember what Jesus said. The time is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain men shall worship. For the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth the to the new man that God has made in Christ.

All of us have the same access to the Father by the Holy Spirit. And that is what God was in his mind and heart all along. Not one set of people over against another. And he Paul goes on to say so then you are no longer strangers and sojourners.

But you are fellow citizens with all the Saints. And you are one of God's households having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in whom.

Listen to this. The whole building being joined together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. You mean we are being built together to form a holy temple a temple not made with stones but with living people.

It wasn't Solomon who built the temple of the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who is building God's temple. And you know who the stones are. We are. We're. We're the stone. We are the temple of the Living God.

God is dwelling among us by his spirit. What about all those ideas that the people had that that all the prophets and all those let me read something to you. And just and then I'm trying to wrap this up for us getting getting along this into this all of these people.

Faith, Suffering, and the Better Promise

And I want to remind you that all these people at the came from David and Joshua and Samson. This is in Hebrews 11. What more shall I say. For the time will fail me if I if I tell about Gideon and Barack and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel.

The prophets listen to what they did through faith. They conquered kingdoms performed righteousness. They obtained promises. Shut them out the lions. They quenched the power of fire. Escaped the edge of the sword.

Who quenched the power of fire. Remember Shadrach Meshach and Abednego did. They escaped the edge of the sword. They were made strong from weakness. They became mighty in war. They put foreign armies to flight.

Many of those stories. The Old Testament is filled with many of those miraculous things. But it goes on. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Remember the prophet Elijah raised the widow son of name back to dead from life and others.

But listen to this. Others were tortured not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experience mockings floggings. Yes also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned.