THE GOD OF HOPE

The Advent Hope of Christ’s First and Second Coming

Well, today we begin our new sermon series called In the Waiting. During this time of Advent, we are celebrating Jesus's first arrival, his first coming, everything that he accomplished. All the saints in the Old Testament, they had this great hope in the coming Messiah, the anointed one, the chosen one who is going to save the world from their sins.

And so as Christians in the newer and better covenant, we celebrate the first Advent, Jesus's first coming, but we also wait with great anticipation of the second Advent of Jesus Christ when he returns, amen.

And so the scripture calls his return the Christian's blessed hope. Scripture refers to our savior as the God of hope. And that is because time and time again, Jesus has confirmed the promises of God.

As we're gonna look at many prophecies throughout history, it all pointed to him and he fulfilled it perfectly. Jesus is also the God of hope in our lives personally. Many of us have testimonies how God has always confirmed his promises when we didn't have any hope at all.

And so as Christians, we possess a kind of hope that the world cannot comprehend. We have a certainty in our hope because our hope rests in the promises of God who only can give us truth, he cannot lie.

The world has hope in things that are uncertain, right? Just a handful of months ago, the world is saying, I hope that so-and-so doesn't become president, right? Or a hope of things that are uncertain, like I hope the stock market does really, really well this upcoming year.

And that is because the world only has hope in things that are uncertain. The world cannot give us truth, therefore they cannot have a certainty in a certain kind of hope. And so that's what I want us to focus on this morning.

I want us to talk about that contrast between the hope that the Christians has, the blessed hope that we have in Christ's return versus that hope of the world that ultimately results in no hope at all.

The writer of Hebrews says that we as Christians, we have a sure guarantee hope that is the anchor of our soul because Jesus Christ is the forerunner on our behalf becoming a high priest forever. Can I get amen?

Amen. Okay, so we are looking to Christ this morning. And I wanna invite you to turn with me in your copy of God's word to Romans chapter 15. We're gonna continue to focus on defining and understanding the Christian's blessed hope in Christ and realize that it rests in something that is certain.

Christ Became a Servant to the Jews First

So Romans chapter 15, starting in verse eight, where the apostle Paul says, for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show the truthfulness, show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written.

Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing your name. And again, it is said, rejoice, oh Gentiles with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all Gentiles and let all the peoples extol him.

And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come. Even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

Let's pray this morning. Heavenly father, we thank you so much for this Lord's day gathering where we get to revere your word and your truth on high. God, I pray that you would fill us with hope this morning.

God, as we reflect on this Advent season about how Jesus, you became flesh, took on humanity, becoming a servant on our behalf. And Jesus, you alone give us great hope because in you, we have salvation from our sins.

Lord, we love you. Please help us to remove all distractions and please let your gospel truth go forth and edify your people. Lord, we pray this in your name, Jesus, amen. So this morning, I have three major points that will help us as we go through the passage.

We're talking about the God of hope who number one, came to the Jew first and number two, then came to the Gentiles and number three, it is the God of hope. He will fill you to abound in hope. And so starting with that first major point, the God of hope comes to the Jew first.

Verse eight says, For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. So this is what we were reflecting on this Advent season, right?

The second person of the Trinity stepped down from face to face glory with the father and took on flesh and became a servant, right? God, the son took on flesh and dwelt among us. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin.

Now the world has a savior. His first Advent was to come in humility as a servant clothed in human flesh that he might give his life as a ransom for many. Okay, so this is our gospel hope. We look to Jesus and we have a passage in Philippians two that I want us to really think about this word servant.

We have it in Romans 15 verse eight and also here in Philippians chapter two. Verse five says, have this in mind among yourselves Christians which is yours in Christ Jesus. I just wanna pause because during this time of Advent if we are constantly having our gaze on Christ, him being our hope, well, this allows us to have the mind of Christ.

This allows us to put others needs and interest above our own. Think about when we're as the child of God, we're meditating on the truths of what Christ has accomplished, right? He confirmed the promises of God.

And Paul goes on to say in verse six, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And so Jesus becoming a servant was the ultimate demonstration of love and humility. And so I want us to think about this word servant because Paul is actually using a different Greek word here in Philippians two than he did back in Romans.

In Romans when it says that Christ became a servant to the circumcised, it's talking about how he became a minister to accomplish salvation on our behalf, right? He is the great high priest that intercedes on our behalf.

But here in Philippians, it uses a more intense word for servant. When it says that he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, it could be translated slave. This shows us that in Christ's humility, he not only took on the likeness of men, but he was submitting himself perfectly to the father's will by undergoing crucifixion, a fate reserved for condemned slaves.

And he had to, Christ had to truly become human to represent us. This is the only way for salvation to be possible, that God would send his one and only son to add humanity to his divine personhood, and he would bear the penalty of our sin.

So back in Romans 15 verse eight, we read, for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised. Now the circumcised here is a reference to the Jewish people. It was the nation of Israel, the Jews, that God would issue his law and preserve his word and ultimately send forth his son, the long awaited Messiah.

And so this may be shocking to some, but Jesus's first advent was primarily centered around doing his ministry to the nation of Israel. Jesus in Matthew's gospel said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Earlier in that gospel, when he sent out the 12 apostles, he said, go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, proclaim the kingdom of God is at hand.

Salvation is now in your midst. So why would Jesus say that? Why is it that Jesus's first advent was primarily to witness to the nation of Israel? Well, verse eight continues to say, to show God's truthfulness, that in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.

When we look back in our Hebrew Bible, we look in the Old Testament, many promises were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And when Jesus came in the fullness of time to be born of a virgin, he is showing that all of what God has promised to the Gentile world was found in Jesus Christ.

And so the patriarch refers to those ancient Jewish fathers. And so God made a covenantal promise to Abraham that one of his descendants would be the Messiah, the chosen one that would save his people from their sins.

And so the Hebrew scriptures refer to Israel as God's lost sheep. And it would be the Messiah that would gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And so when Jesus walked onto the scene and proclaimed to the Jews that he is the good shepherd, they would have all been thinking about Psalm 23, about how God is our shepherd and we should have no one.

They would understand that Jesus is claiming to fulfill the role of Messiah. And so Christ came first to the Jews to show God's truthfulness and to confirm his promises. And so how did Jesus' first advent accomplish this?

By fulfilling prophecy. So one of my passions is Christian apologetics, okay? And this means that we give a defense for the hope that lies within us. We guard the gospel of peace and the gospel of hope.

We guard this message about how the world can have forgiveness of sins by looking to Jesus Christ in faith alone and trusting in him. And so a verse that I want to direct our attention to is 1 Peter 3, verse 15, where this applies to all Christians.

But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. So as we are going about in our day-to-day life, we are revering Christ in our hearts, trusting in him constantly, always being prepared to make a defense.

So this word in the Greek for defense is apologia, right? This is where we get the word apologetics. We give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that lies within us. And we are to do this with gentleness and respect.

And so this verse primarily in the context here of 1 Peter is talking about the life of the Christian. We live our lives in such a way where it should compel others to say, hey, Jeremiah, why do you do the things that you do?

This is a wonderful opportunity to share the hope that ultimately we have fixed in Jesus Christ. And so we give a defense. And I played basketball, so I'd like to play offense and defense. And so for the life of the Christian, we are to give a defense, right?

Give sound reasons for why we believe the truths of how Christ has redeemed us, but we also contend for the faith. And one way to do that is we share our lives with other people. But I want to tell you the best defense for scripture is scripture itself.

Something that the entire world has to come to grips with is all of the countless prophecies that the Hebrew scriptures foretold hundreds of years before Jesus's earthly ministry that tell the whole world that your only hope can be found in Jesus Christ.

And so fulfilled prophecy is the nuclear apologetics of the Bible. And so I have a passage, or I have another slide that I want to show you just kind of a brief outline that the Hebrew scriptures predicted with 100 accuracy many truths about the coming Jewish Messiah.

The Hebrew scriptures declared that he would be both divine and human, that he would be a descendant of Father Abraham and King David. He would one day be born of a virgin and it would be in Bethlehem.

He would live this perfect sinless life and his suffering and his death would be by the hands of lawless men and that he would ultimately be pierced as a sacrifice. And so the list goes on and on and on that he would be cut off, that he would die, but then he would resurrect the third day.

And what I'm wanting us to think about is this Advent season, Jesus's first coming fulfilled all of these prophecies that were foretold and predicted many, many, many hundreds of years earlier. And the reason why this gives us great hope is that God keeps his promises.

And so the entire span of the Hebrew scriptures, meaning the law, the prophets and the writings foretold about the life and redemptive work of the coming Messiah. Now I have interacted with Jews, Jews that reject Jesus today, and they would say things to me like, well, anybody could go and fulfill some of these prophecies.

Yeah, but what about all of them? Because as we begin to look about being born in Bethlehem, you can't control where you're born. That really narrows the scope down. And for someone to suffer and die in a particular way about a prophecy we're gonna look at, man, we're gonna see that these prophecies could only be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And so if you would, please turn with me in your copy of God's word to Isaiah chapter 52, starting in verse 13. This is one of the most remarkable prophecies in all of scriptures that tell us that this coming Messiah first became a servant to the circumcised and to the Jews.

As we're gonna see, this has ramifications for every single person that ever lives because Jesus Christ perfectly fulfills this prophecy. Now, what is interesting about starting in verse 15 in Isaiah 52, this should be included in Isaiah 53.

And as we're gonna also look at, this is referred to by many Jews as the forbidden chapter of the Hebrew scriptures. Isaiah 52 verse 13 says, "'Behold, my servant shall act wisely. "'He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

"'As many were astonished at you, "'his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance "'and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. "'So shall he sprinkle many nations. "'Kings shall shut their mouths because of him.

"'For that which has not been told, them they see, "'and that which they have not heard, they understand.'". And so in the Jewish mindset, when they were reading the scroll of Isaiah, you know what question that they would have looming in their mind?

Who is this suffering servant? And who is this one who is to be high and exalted above all, the one that would cause kings to shut their mouths? And what is this business about him being so unrecognizable due from him suffering?

Isaiah 53 verse one says, "'Who has believed what he has heard from us "'and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? "'For he, the suffering servant, "'grew up before him like a young plant "'and like a root out of the dry ground.

"'He had no form or majesty that we should look at him "'and no beauty that we should desire him.'". This is remarkable. When we read phrases like, and to whom shall the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Who is this power, the right arm of the Lord going to be revealed? This is the powerful working of God. In verse one says, who is going to believe and put their faith in this saving message? And so for the Jew, they would have really focused in on that term, a root out of dry ground because earlier in Isaiah's prophecy, we read about the root of Jesse, right?

Jesse was very well known and that from him was going to come a kind of savior. So in the Jewish mind, they're thinking, is this talking about King David? That is King David's father. And here we see this term root.

Well, let's see if this is talking about King David. Verse three says, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone out of his way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Question, when did King David ever die for our sins and was crushed in that fashion?

Didn't happen, right? This is not talking about the root of Jesse referring to King David. This is referring to something that hasn't yet taken place. This prophecy was written after King David had already passed away.

And I just want to say that this is so obvious that this is talking about the New Testament record referring to the person in life of Jesus Christ that Jews can barely find themselves being able to read this messianic prophecy.

When we go back, this is a man of sorrows, right? And this is not talking about King David. And it says that he was pierced for our transgressions. This prophecy was written 700 years before Jesus ever walked on this earth.

That's something that the world has to come to grips with was saying, wow, this is so remarkable. If you were just to open up Isaiah 53 and just read it to somebody in the world, they would think you're reading from the New Testament about Jesus Christ.

Remarkable. It says he was pierced for our transgressions. When you look at Psalm 22, it says his hands and his feet were pierced. Oh, and that was written a thousand years before Jesus's first advent.

That is remarkable. And so this is clearly depicting how Jesus would suffer and die on Calvary for our sins. This is one of the most remarkable passages in all of the scripture that is telling us the gospel.

When you look to Jesus, believe this report. When you believe that the power of the Lord is upon this suffering servant, well, you can have all of your sins forgiven, right? He has paid for this in our stead.

Absolutely amazing. Verse six, he says that we all are like sheep that have gone astray, right? So the nation of Israel would understand that the coming Messiah would be the good shepherd to return the sheep to the fold.

But we're gonna continue to see that this isn't just the benefits to the Jews first, but this has implications to the entire Gentile world. Let's keep reading. Verse seven says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that was led to the slaughter and like a sheep before its shears is silent, he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Now that last phrase that there was no deceit in his mouth, this is telling us that this suffering servant would be sinless. No deceit in his mouth means that there was nothing ever that was uttered from his lips that was unclean, only truth.

Well, that would rule out the prophet Isaiah, who many chapters earlier in his prophecy in chapter six said, woe is me for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Well, this rules out the prophet Isaiah and this rules out the people of Israel. This is staggering because Israel is the called out nation by God from all the pagan nations and they were a people of unclean lips.

So the suffering servant can't be the Jews, right? Collectively as a whole, the nation of Israel. This can't be the prophet Isaiah, who is a man of God, but when he is confronted with the thrice holy God, the God who is holy, holy, holy, what does he do?

He pronounces a curse on himself. And when you come in contact with the creator of the universe and his holiness, the hope of God who is Jesus Christ, then you recognize your own sinfulness. Everyone is disqualified from being this suffering servant except God alone.

Verse 10 says, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Now, this is remarkable because it is the will of Yahweh, God, the father to crush, ultimately to have the suffering servant die on the behalf of mankind. Now, this should really begin to break our categories because when we look at the New Testament record of this, sinful men, right, choose to put Jesus on the cross and they have malicious, murderous intent and they don't care.

And yet what man means for evil, God uses for good. It was the will of Yahweh to crush, to have this suffering servant ultimately die. But we see the great benefit, right? Because through this sinful act, probably the grossest evil that's ever happened because Jesus was the only innocent one brought about the most glory of God.

He was a guilt offering, meaning that he was offering himself as a payment for the sin on behalf of other people. Okay, so he died. Then something miraculous occurs after his death. Look with me when it says, he shall see his offspring and he shall prolong his days.

So what does that mean? Jesus died and then he miraculously was made alive. This is talking about his resurrection. Absolutely remarkable. Verse 11 says, out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied.

By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, this sinless one who no unclean thing will come from his lips, will make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. Verse 12.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he has poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

This is the gospel. This is the gospel according to God that was foretold hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus and his arrival came to earth. And so this is the one that the Old Testament saints had their hope in, this coming suffering servant.

And so turn back with me in Romans chapter 15, where I want us to see once again, that Christ became a servant to the Jew first. That is our first major point. And now number two, not just the Jews, but also to the Gentile world.

The Gospel Promise to the Gentiles

Verse nine in Romans 15 says, in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. Now this term Gentiles is simply referring to non-Jews, all the nations of the world outside of Israel. The Gentile nations were not an afterthought in God's plan of salvation.

They were always a part of God's covenantal promises to the patriarchs, right? Which were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Let's look at verses eight and nine together. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

This goes all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis chapter 12, where God said, Abraham in you, all the families, all people from every nation of the earth shall be blessed. And so this blessing that's promised to Abraham is the hope of salvation.

And the Gentile nations were always included in that promise. I have another passage here in Galatians chapter three that brings so much clarity to this and how we can be reconciled with the Holy God.

Paul says, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture for saying that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed.

So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Isn't this wonderful news? That we can have our sins forgiven by looking to Jesus Christ, this coming one, this coming offspring that would crush the head of the serpent.

How? By faith apart from trusting in any of your accomplishments or any other person or thing in this world. Christ became a servant to the Jew first to show that the word of God can be trusted and his promises can never be broken.

Yes, Jesus is the hope of Israel, but he is also the hope of the Gentiles. And so the promise revealed to Abraham has only been further expounded upon in the law, the writings and the prophets, the entire Hebrew scriptures.

Look with me at verse nine in our text. We continue to read, as it is written, therefore, I will sing praise. I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. Now, this is a quotation from King David from Psalm chapter 18, who praised God from delivering him out of his personal anguish when he was going to task with Saul.

But he also sing praise to the same God who is going to deliver the Gentile nations. And that next verse in Psalm 18, David says, great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.

So Psalm 18 was something that the people of God would sing. They praise the Davidic line that would one day bring Messiah and they'd also sing praise to the one that brings salvation to the world. Verse 10 goes on to say, and again, it is said, rejoice oh Gentiles with his people.

And so King David sings praise to the God that restores Gentiles. And this would be Moses in Deuteronomy with the same expectation that God would bring one day the light of the gospel to the Gentile world.

Verse 11 comes from Psalm 117 that says, and again, praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let all peoples extol him. Isn't this what we do every Lord's day? We all gather together and sing praise to God's unfolding plan of redemption.

How he is the one true savior of the world and he is our yes, he is our amen and he is our hope, amen. And so in a sense, we are joining in that orchestra of praise with King David and Moses and the saints of old.

Look at me at verse 12. And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come. Even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope. So again, this is a quotation from the prophecy of Isaiah.

And so he is quoting from Isaiah chapter 11, which explains that this root of Jesse would include King David, but finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. So I have a passage on the screen coming from Isaiah chapter 11.

I wanna show you what would be in the people's mind when Paul is quoting from Isaiah chapter 11. This prophecy begins by saying in verse one, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Now, again, the Jew would be having in mind who is this future descendant from the root and shoot of Jesse, okay? Well, verse two gives us a clue. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and mind, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Now, right here, we may pause and say, okay, well, the spirit of God did come on King David. Is that really who he has in mind here? I believe that we're gonna see that this cannot be King David because as we continue to see that this one, that is a branch and root of Jesse brings about perfect peace, perfect shalom, and he is the hope and signal of the Gentile world.

Verse five goes on to say, righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness is the belt of his loins. And the result, well, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, which would be Mount Zion. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Sorry, King David, you may have slain tens of thousands and brought about temporary peace, but Jesus Christ, he is King of kings.

He is Lord of lords and he is the Prince of peace and his reign extends over the entire earth and it will be everlasting. His consummated kingdom will bring about permanent peace and true shalom. So this root of David, this branch of Jesse is unequivocally talking about Jesus Christ.

This is a messianic prophecy. Verse 10 in Isaiah chapter 11 is what the apostle Paul is quoting from in Romans. It says, in that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious.

There is a second advent. There is his return. One day when he returns, he will stand as a signal of hope for all the peoples of the world, even the Gentile nations. And so that's what Paul wants to expand upon in Romans 15.

He is referring to Christ who ascended on high. He begun his rule over the Gentile world. And when he returns, he will restore the entire world in righteousness. It will be glorious. And in Christ's return, will the Gentiles hope.

That next verse in Isaiah says, in that day, the Lord will extend his hand a second time to recover a remnant that remains of his people from the four corners of the earth. This sounds a lot like our Malachi series, right?

That God, when he sends his son to return a second time, he will preserve a remnant. And the powers of the world will not be able to stop that reunification for all the saints, the remnant with the Lord of glory.

Abounding Hope by the Power of the Holy Spirit

So back to Romans 15, the God of hope that is only found in Jesus. Number one, he was to the Jew first, and number two, to the Gentiles, and number three, he will fill you with abounding hope. Verse 13 says that, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

The triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the only God of hope because he alone gives a joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. One of my favorite verses is Romans 1 16, where the apostle Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God, the arm of the Lord for the salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek or the Gentiles.