Hope Only In Christ

Romans chapter 15 verse 13 says and may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and 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 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 at 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 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 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 would 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 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 that he is gonna crush your head God gave a promise they call 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 we know that God called Abraham out of her God made him a promise that he was going to 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 and 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 men make him make her his wife and he did so and he had a son but God said nope that's not that's not the fulfillment of this promise it's going to be a son to 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 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 any tricked his father into get 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 his at that time his name was changed to Israel and in Israel then had multiple sons he had four different why 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 Debra was it it says in Hebrews chapter 11 having mentioned it mentions no Enoch Abraham and you 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 invented 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 descended 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 had something much bigger in mind 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 him 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 are mine but he said you're not going to build a house your son is going to 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 time of spring when the armies go out to war and David sees Bathsheba and falls into adultery commits 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 then 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 story you know God had also promised David something else he said that I'm going to 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 and 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 some of them started well and abandoned so surely Solomon and the and and the actual physical sons of David they couldn't 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 it wasn't what God had in mind and then one of the one of the 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 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 were not what God had promised they may have been parts of the promise stages in the process but let's 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 good this is the actual fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah to the people of Israel and again he says rejoice O Gentiles with this 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 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 it pay her any attention but she would not let up she kept crying after him and and Jesus disciples said Lord 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 him he said 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 to 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 his I have other sheep that are not of this folk 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 them 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 is going to restore the glory days of the nation of Israel but then all sudden Jesus was crucified and then they hear 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 you 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 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 ask 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 going to make Israel the great nation again and then he hears what Jesus answered but he said to them it's not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has said 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 know you have 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 is going to get better we're going to turn the tide we're going to outlaw this and we're going to reinstate this and we're going to 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 in God's mind he wasn't just trying to make one nation now we know that he has something way bigger in mind way bigger in mind than one nation of Israel because you realize it what Paul said I'm gonna read this from a feet 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 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 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 the 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 that and that is before the Lord Jesus all of that's true before the Lord Jesus but now listen 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 have 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 Paul says he removed the dividing wall of partition by abolishing in his flesh the in between the law of the commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself he might create 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 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 all the prophets and all those let me read something to you and just then I'm gonna try to wrap this up for us getting getting along listen to this all of these people 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 but the time will fail me if I if I tell about Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel the prophets this is what they did through faith they conquered kingdoms performed righteousness they obtained promises shut them out the lions they quenched the power of fire escape 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 man back to death from life others but listen to this others were tortured not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection and others experienced mockings floggings yes also chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two they were tempted they were put to death with the sword they went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute and afflicted and mistreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground these are the people of God of the Old Testament you think that was the fulfillment of God's promise to them that life that I just read about was that God's fulfillment to them no listen it says all of these having gained approval through faith had not received what was promised there's something more it says because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect what what had God provided for us and the Jew that neither us nor the Jew saw God had provided oneness with him through his son God had provided that this new man was going to be blessed through faith in Jesus Christ Jesus was the seed of Abraham Jesus is the son of David Jesus is the king of Israel it is Jesus who sits on the throne and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and right now his kingdom is in the earth you know what it is it's a kingdom of the Holy Spirit it's righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit it's not I don't want to upset you it's not the United States of America the kingdom of God is every believer from every country who has received the Holy Spirit and has the same access to God the Father that's it every every country that's many nations Abraham has become the father of many nations through the Son of God his seed the Lord Jesus Christ and not only has he become the hope of Israel he's become the hope of the Gentiles we hope in him they hope in him and all of us have access to him by one spirit now as I wrap this up here's the danger we have all these scriptures a record for us that talk about the things that the people of God went through the people that had received promises so you and I have received a promise what has God promised us yeah yes God has promised us salvation but let's let's look at this salvation Romans chapter 8 turn with me I want to I want to how we have this salvation is how and how this relates to having the right hope Romans chapter 8 I'm going to start at verse 18 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us for the anxious longing of creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was subject to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God for we know that the entire creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together even until now and not only this we also having the first fruit of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves eagerly awaiting our adoption this son Paul's writing to Christians they don't they're still waiting for their adoption to sons it's not happen there's things that believers are waiting for you know what it is right for us now this present suffering right now we are in a season we have the first fruit of the Holy Spirit but we are in the season of suffering verse 20 not only this but we ourselves having the first fruit of the Spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves eagerly awaiting the adoptions as sons their redemption of our body for in hope we were saved this is the hope we were saved that someday our bodies are going to be redeemed I have good news for you the body that you're sitting in right now is not the one God's gonna say you don't matter how many legs or hands or eyes or ears you have you're not taking that body to heaven it don't matter how many times you have to go to dialysis it don't matter what they have to how many needles they have to stick you in or what it you're not taking that one you're awaiting the adoption of your bodies and it's in this hope we were saved it's not happening here on this earth and let me encourage you something don't think God's gonna come to the rescue when your physical body starts falling apart because he's not outwardly Paul said we waste away inwardly inwardly we were renewed day by day see God's promised something better than just getting us limping us through this life Christ is going to come and you know he's coming for he's coming to receive all those who are waiting for his return I'm not waiting for the next Republican president I'm sorry I'm not waiting for the next Democrat president either I'm not waiting for the for the United States to become any better the scripture is very very clear in the last days perilous times will come and there'll be a great falling away many will abandon the faith many will betray one another brothers will hate one another men will be irreconcilable it's happening and it's gonna happen lawlessness is going to increase and knowing that ahead of time means means that I am NOT going to put my hope in what I think will be better days ahead on this life you know what I'm gonna hope for and fully hoping I want to come and I want you to come to the full assurance of hope to the end because Jesus said he who endures to the end shall be saved but you better hope in the right thing now let me tell you another thing you can't open don't hope that this church right here stays open forever it may not happen don't hope that I may be up here preaching I may be killed in a car wreck tomorrow don't hope that you'll be here next Sunday you may have a stroke or heart attack and not be here we can't hope in those things what do we hope that Jesus Christ what he said he would do he will do he is king he is returning and if we die before then at the last trumpet at the voice at the shout of the Archangel guess what's gonna happen the dead and Christ are going to rise that's a sure thing not these buildings we don't need these buildings we don't need pulpit we don't need piano we don't need health we need hope we need faith and even if it gets harder he said it would let's not be like those people that we have in the scriptures they were expecting something that didn't happen in it threw them off and if you and I don't place our hope only in Jesus I'm gonna say it again I say this to you before don't place your hope in me don't place your hope in your husband don't place your hope in your wife hope in Jesus what are you waiting for you're waiting for him to return he's going to return and he's told us that the closer we get to that return the harder things are going to be here okay let's not let that throw us off that's why it says be careful encourage one another all the more but what are we supposed to be encouraging one another we are you know we're we're struggling financially you're gonna encourage me oh that's all right pastor God's gonna provide all the money really what if we get poor and poor that mean God is not at work what if suddenly our health fails does that mean God doesn't love you no it doesn't mean those things it means that those are things that we should not place our hope in the hope in Jesus that he's coming again that we already this is to we are already being built together to be a temple that God dwells in and the thing that he promised we already have we have his spirit and what does his spirit do his spirit gives us direct access to God the Father so we can walk by his spirit be led by his spirit live in his spirit and we'll get and we'll endure to the end whatever it looks like hey if it's easy for a while thank the Lord if it gets harder what thank the Lord it doesn't change we know what the end is going to be in the end every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father that's the hope I have I'm not in the Lord is helping this and I just want to help you in this and you hear of this or that sometimes we get disappointed we get confused this person is doing this and this person is doing this and this person is doing that and if you get your eyes on that you can just kind of get scramble brain look to Jesus the only hope okay now that back to that script in Romans now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing and what are we to believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God Jesus Christ is coming again Jesus Christ has made this beautiful temple a temple of people who have God's Spirit that's restored to the Father and Jesus Christ is returning again for those people that are his that's it we endure the rest and we can abound in hope that hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and nothing nothing else should shake it's nothing else should stop us all right you got it all right okay