We're being weaned. You know
what that means? Weaned. Weaned is a phrase used
to describe what it is for a mother to teach their child to survive
on more than the milk that she's able to give. Weaning them. Weaning
the puppies. Weaning the kittens. Weaning
your children. We're being weaned. weaned from the world. Remember,
you know, we've all, every one of us here today, every
one of us online, everybody who hears this word, we've all walked
the path of enjoying the things of this world, enjoying the things
of this flesh, the desires of the flesh, All
the things that plague us now, at one time, were things that
we enjoyed a great deal, were being weaned from the world. Turn, if you would, to the third
chapter of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3. There's much in our world to
bring stress into our lives, isn't there? Oh, water main busted
on me today. What am I going to do? My car. My car is broken. And I don't know how to fix it.
I don't know what I'm going to do to fix it. Family. family turning against each other
over a virus. You wouldn't think that
would separate family, would you? You'd think that might be
something that would bring a family closer together. I tell you from experience, some of the smallest, most foolish
things can separate a family. I've seen things where people will
turn against each other over a picture that mom willed to
one of the children. I bet some of you have seen that
too, haven't you? Family turning against each other
over a virus. What about this? What about workers?
What about being workers being pushed so hard nowadays to accomplish
so much because there's so few out there to work? You think
that's something that's stressful to people? I bet it is. How about sexual
identification? You think that's something that
could separate and come between families? Whether it be homosexuality or
transgender, either one, you pick either one. You think that
doesn't come between and separate families one way or another? Pastor Norm and I were talking
about that subject here the other day. You'd be surprised at how many
brothers and sisters in Christ are being torn apart by things just like that that
are going on in the world. Are you with me in 2 Timothy
chapter 3? I want you to read a couple verses with me here,
verses 11 through 14. Persecutions. Afflictions which came unto me,
writes Paul in Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions
I endured, he said, but unto them all the Lord delivered me. Now, Paul had a different kind
of persecutions than what you and I may call persecutions.
We don't have persecutions on the religion side of us, not
yet. Not yet. I see it coming. I see
it coming more and more, especially the stronger these so-called
free will religions are getting. How long do you think it'll be
before they start choking out the smaller power grows power. Don't we know that? You give
somebody more power and all they want is more, right? But we have persecutions of the
family, of our standards. We're told that we must accept
certain things in the world around us, yet God tells us they're
an abomination. Verse 12, Yea, and all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You're not exempt from it, folks. But evil men, verse 13, and seducers
shall wax, grow, become more, worse, and worse, deceiving and
being deceived. But continue. After Paul goes
about bringing that up, all the things that can go on to us in
the world, all the things that we got to walk through in this
valley, the shadow of death, he says this, but continue thou
in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured
of knowing, of whom thou hast learned them. Every time I go into a voting
booth, I go in today without hope. It's my responsibility. I'm going to go and vote. And
I'm going to pray that maybe it be the Lord's will that something
will change. But I don't have a whole lot
of hope that it will, because I know this. My Lord just told me in
his word, things will wax worse and worse. Isn't that what he
said? Isn't that what we base our judgment
on when we say, oh, man, it sure looks like the Lord's going to
come back soon. Look at how bad the world's getting around us.
People believe in lies and promoting the lies, telling you that lies
are truth. Oh, and then turning around and
telling you that, no, that truth, that can't be true. You can't
say that that's true. I expect the results to be as
they have been, further down that path of degeneration. Every day goes by, my hope for
this world is less and less. I'm being weaned. I'm being weaned
from the world. I'm being weaned to seek the
things of the world and seek instead spiritual things above,
to seek after my Lord and my Savior, the one whose government,
whose all the government of all creation sits on his shoulder. That's what we talked about in
today's Bible study, the government on his shoulder. Oh, John. Are we going to have
another pessimist type of message today? I could see myself saying that,
sitting in the pew, listening to me talk up here. What a pessimist,
John. Is there not any good in this
world? Are you saying there's no hope? Well, there is a hope. And I'd like to spend the rest
of what time you'll give me this morning telling you where there is hope. It's not out there. It's not in the world we walk
in. It's not in this body that you see standing before you.
There's only one hope. And that's in our Savior. The
one who does rule all things. The one who works everything,
including all the trials and all that stuff that I just talked
about. And He works it all out for our
good. How can you say that, John? How can you say that it's good
to see a family torn apart for a virus, or somebody declaring
what they are as far as coming out of the closet, or whatever?
Or the boss that hounds me all day because I don't produce enough.
How can you say there's any good in that? My Savior tells me there's
good for me. And no matter what case, no matter
what I am in, you think you folks have problems?
I know somebody whose father took his own life, whose mother
took her own life, and her brother was killed on a motorcycle. And
none of what I go through even comes close to that. Is there hope? Absolutely there
is. As long as the sun continues to come up, there is hope. But
not a hope for this generation to be any better than the last,
but a hope for deliverance from it. What will deliver me from
what's going on in the world around me? My Savior will deliver
me. What will deliver me from the
sin that I see in my own body? My Savior will deliver me. Lord, bring me through this storm
in my life. Deliver me from my desperation. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, just a couple of pages to the left if you would. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. We read
in Scripture, for unto us, this is what we've been studying for
the last couple of weeks, for unto us, unto the people of God,
not unto the world, but unto the people of God, a child was
born. Somebody special came into the
world for us. Somebody who has all the power
of creation in His hand. came into the world for us. And
to us, a son was given. God the Father gave this one
to you and I to be our servants, to service, to be a servant to
us. The government is on his shoulder.
His name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, not only Has our Savior provided
all that is needed for our salvation, our righteousness, our atonement? He is our High Priest making
intercession for us right now. Oh, John, but, you know, why
do I keep doing these things? Why do I keep thinking these
things? Why do I keep stepping into that deep mire if I'm saved? He's sitting on his throne saying,
I've already paid for that. My blood has already covered
that one. The blood has already been sprinkled
on the mercy seat. I am the mercy seat, is what
he says. Folks, if we turn to Him in our
time of trials and tribulations, His promise is He will bring
us through them. This is our hope. Where is there
hope? It's in Him. It's in His promises. It's a hope for our spirit. Listen
to the words of Colossians 1 verse 27, Which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. This is the good news to a hell-deserving
sinner. This world is not our home. We
are sojourners, tent dwellers, and we belong to the mighty God.
Are you with me in 2 Thessalonians 2? I'd like you to look, if you
would, with me at verse 15 and 16. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold to the traditions which ye have been taught. What are
the traditions that you've been taught from this pulpit? Trust
in the Lord. What are the traditions that
you've learned here at Rescue where the Lord has brought you
under the preaching of His Word? Trust in the Lord. Believe His Word. Hold fast to the traditions which
you have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace." Where's the hope? That's what
we're here to look at this morning, a good hope through grace. Over in Romans chapter 8 verse
24, you don't need to turn there, but we're going to see this passage,
I'll share this passage with you in just a moment. It's a
passage of scripture that our prospects of eternal happiness
and glory in Christ Jesus are really an unseen hope. It says
in Romans 8.24, we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen
is not hope. Well, what do you mean by that,
John? And then it goes on. It says, after that, for what
a man seeth, what doth he yet hope for? Or in other words,
if you see something, if you can grab a hold of it and hang
on to it, then the hope's done, isn't it? No. If we hope for that which we
see not, then we with patience wait for
it. That's what hope is. Waiting
for it. Waiting for the promise of God
to be fulfilled. Waiting for the promise of God
to take us out of this world and put us in the presence of
his son, the Lord Jesus. If you read the preceding verses
of that in Romans 8.24, you'll find that the Apostle Paul is
talking about the whole of creation, everything in creation. You'll
find out that it says that creation, the trees, the vegetables, the
plants, and the flowers, and all things in creation, including
the animals, were made subject to vanity and decayed because
of Adam's sin. Because of Adam's sin, everything
that we see, everything that is, will be cursed and burnt
up. When Adam fell, death came into
the world by one man's sin, and death came into the world by
one man's disobedience. Sin and death came into the world,
and death passed upon not only the human population, but was
also passed upon the world. The whole world is suffering
because of Adam's fall. That's what all the chaos that
you and I can see clearly now, because we've been given eyes
to see things according to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can see
it clearly where we could not see it before. That's why there's
all that out there. And we were right in the mix
of it, weren't we? If you say you weren't, you call God a liar. The whole world is suffering
because of Adam's fall. We see death. All about us, don't
we? You know how many times I have
to walk out here and pick up branches because the trees are
dying? Some of them fall in the building. Mike and I got up there and fixed
a pretty big hole, didn't we, Mike? Yes, sir. This creation, it says in Romans
8.22, groaneth and travaileth until the day when Christ shall
return. There will be a new heaven and a new earth in which there
will be no death. In that scripture, it says we
too are waiting and looking and hoping for the resurrection and
the redemption of our bodies, which will never die. Once they
are raised, once our new bodies are raised and Christ comes and
makes us like himself, we will never die. That's a promise. That's something we can put our
hope in, isn't it? We can't see it yet. Isn't that
what we were looking at a moment ago? You can't really see it,
but we can hope for it, can't we? Can we hope for it in something
that we have done? No. But we can hope for it in our
Lord and Savior who promises it to His people, can't we? There will be a new heaven and
a new earth in which there will be no death, no decay, no rotting
or anything like that. There'll be nothing but life.
The same thing is true with our bodies. This is what he's saying
here. It is unseen. It is something that God has
promised. It's something that will take place. It's something
that we are certain of, but it is still unseen hope. Do we not
hope to be like Christ someday? Do we not hope that there's a
day coming when we'll put away this flesh, this sin, when it'll
all be put away, burned up, and we'll stand in the presence of
our Lord just like Him? In Romans chapter 5, listen to
this, it says, this hope, that being like our Lord, it is also
a maturing hope is what it is. Romans 5, verse 3 and 5, you
see these words, we glory in tribulation. Or in other words,
glory in our troubles and trials. Knowing that tribulation and
trials work with patience and patience work with experience.
This is important. The word experience means maturity
or growth. Maturity produces hope. There is that word again. All
through life. This is what Paul is saying.
All through our life, believers have trials. We're being weaned
from the world that we walk in. In this world, you will have
tribulation, is what it says. That's what our Lord said. You'll
have troubles and trials. All that would live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And these trials teach us patience.
Patience with the providence of God and patience with those
around us. It's patience in knowing that
our Lord will work this out for our good. I don't know what it
is now. You think a child who was raised
by a man who raped him all their life would ever understand what
was good in that? I can't imagine it either. But
my Lord says it will be good for them that love Him." I can hope in that, can't we? Maturity produces hope. There's
that word again. In this world you'll have tribulation.
You'll have troubles and trials. God's people shall suffer. We learn patience through trials
and troubles, and we see our trials and troubles, and we see
how it produces stronger faith. It reveals faith. Trials and
troubles and heartaches and sorrows and sickness and death, they
don't produce it. They show that it's there. They
reveal it. It doesn't make man believe God. When a man goes through certain
trials, it reveals whether he does or does not believe God.
So tribulation and troubles produce patience. Henry Mahan wrote this.
He said, patience produces experience or maturity or growth in grace. Maturity and growth gives us
a better hope. Or in other words, if I live
on this earth and walk with the living God and God visits my
life with blessings and troubles, happiness and heartaches, then
I learn patience. If God gives me success and failures,
and I go through all these trials and troubles, and then I learn
patience, I learn to wait on God. I learn to depend on God. I grow in grace, and I grow in
the knowledge of my Savior, the Lord Jesus. And the more I grow,
the stronger my hope becomes. Do you see what he's saying? He says, I mature not only in
grace, but I grow in hope. I've shared this with you before,
but Pastor Gene and his wife Judy speak of it every time I talk
to them. We're just waiting. Our hope is in our Lord. These
bodies we walk in are falling apart and can't even get out
of the chair anymore. But oh, I have a hope in my Lord
just around the corner. It's almost done. It won't be
long, John, and we'll stand with the Lord. That's growth and hope. I share with him a lot of times
the things that I go through as a young minister, and I know
I'm old, but I'm young in years as far as the ministry is concerned.
I share with him things that go through my mind and the troubles
are laid in my heart, knowing that I'm insufficient, knowing
that my only sufficiency is my Lord's. And he just laughs. And he says, John, and I was
telling him the other day, I said, brother, I don't even know if
I can continue. I shared that with you a couple of weeks back.
And he said, John, you know how many times? This is growth and
hope. John, you know how many times
I've gone through that very same thing? The Lord will get you
through it. The young lady whose mother and
father took their own lives, whose brother died in a motorcycle
accident, all I can tell her is have hope in God. Put your
troubles at His feet. His promise is that He'll get
us through it. That's what Pastor Gene's saying
to me. That's what I'm trying to tell you this morning. No
matter what trials you may be going through, put it at the feet of Jesus. Lay it at His feet, because He
promises He'll bring us through it. And the day will come when
we'll put it all aside. It'll all be behind us. And we'll
stand in perfection in Him. Our hope is not just a profession
of faith. Our hope is in, and is of, and by, through the Living
Lord. That's what Peter is saying.
In 1 Peter 1.3 he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a living hope. Our hope is not in the flesh
that we walk in, but it's in Him. The living God. Death could not hold Him. He
sits on His throne today, still working the government on His
shoulders as it has always been. It's not just a profession of
faith, it's a hope in Him. Christ hath begotten unto us
a living hope. We're talking about an old profession
of faith. Not one that we made 20 years
ago. I said that wrong. I said I'm
not talking about an old profession of faith, one that I may have
made 20 years ago. I'm not talking about an old
experience that we have told over and over again. Our hope
is in and through and by the living Lord today. It's a new
hope every morning. I wake up, Lord, thank you. I
have a new hope that my Lord is still with me because He refreshes
my mind. He assures me that He's still
on His throne today. He's still working it out right
now according to His purpose. And it's still for my good. Paul
kind of said the same thing. Who is it that can condemn me?
My hope is in Christ. He says it in these words, it
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
me. That's again in Romans 8. Christ lives, and Christ lives
in us, and we live in God by Him. Now look again, if you would,
at our text here in 2 Thessalonians 2, chapter 16. The scripture
says this, Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even
our Father, which hath loved us, hath given us an everlasting
consolation and a good hope. Now remember, I told you that
this hope is an unseen hope. Yet, it is as sure as the promise
of God. It is as sure as the Word of
God. But it is still unseen. It is
a maturing hope. As the years go by, and as we
grow in grace, and we grow through the trials, and God deals with
us in His providence and purposes, our hope is strengthened and
it matures. It's a good hope. You know why? Do you know why a believer's
hope is a good hope? Because if it wasn't for the
grace of God, we wouldn't have that hope. We'd be going around
in the world with the hope of, well, maybe I'll get lucky today. Do any of you have that kind
of hope before? How'd that work out for you? If it wasn't for His grace, we'd
still be walking in that hope of the world, wouldn't we? Why is it a good hope? Because
it's a hope that God's given us. And God's gifts are always
good. Let's see where I've got it here. In Ephesians chapter 1, I believe
it says, He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenlies,
and in Christ Jesus. Every good gift and perfect gift
cometh from God. You realize that that means your
faith, even if it's just as small, even if it's just as weak, is
that little mustard seed, the smallest seed of all the plants.
It's still a perfect faith. It may be small to you, but it's come from the Lord. You may feel like you don't have
it, but what you do feel you do have is from Him. And it's
a good faith, because it's from Him. John said this, this is the record,
God hath given us eternal life. So I want to tell you why it's
a good hope. It's because God gave it to us. He's the one that
loved us. We didn't love Him. We love Him
because He first loved us. He not only loved us, but He
chose us in Christ. He said this, He says, you didn't
chose me, I have chosen you. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He chose us from the beginning
unto salvation. And it says that in 2 Thessalonians
2, over in verse 13. Look at that if you would. But
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Why? Because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. He not only loved us and chose
us, but He called us. Paul puts it this way, he says,
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb to call
me by His grace. You see how we're building up
the hope? Why is it a good hope? Because it comes from our Lord.
The One who called us by His grace. He not only loved us and chose
us and called us, He keeps us. He keeps us by His power. This
is what it says in Ecclesiastes. What God doeth, it shall be forever. In 1 Peter 1, verse 5, we are
kept by the power of God. Why is our hope good? It's because
God gave it to us. God Himself. God our Father has
given us good hope. Here's another reason why it's
a good hope. It's a good hope because it's through grace. Isn't
that what it says in our text? It says, now our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself and God, even our Father, have given us a good hope through
grace. It also says, for whom He foreknew,
He also did predestinate. This is in Romans chapter 8,
to be conformed to the image of His Son. And whom He did predestinate,
He called. And whom He called, He justified.
And whom He justified, He will. Not maybe, not might, but He
will glorify. In John chapter 17, isn't that
what our Lord and Savior is praying to the Father? Glorify me, Lord,
that I may glorify them. All of those that He's praying
for. Not the world, but for those that the Father had given Him.
It's a good hope because God gave it. It's a good hope because
it's through grace. It's a gift of grace, and grace
cannot fail. It's a good hope because it's
based on the person and the work of our Lord and Savior Christ
Jesus, not me. Not you. That's why we have no confidence
in this flesh, isn't it? There's no hope in what I do.
There's no hope in what you do. We all know how weak we are.
If you're a child of God, that's the first thing he does is teach
you how weak you are. And sometimes that's a pretty
rough trial to go through, isn't it? I can tell you by experience,
those kind of trials pop up all the time. It wasn't just once. It says, our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, our Lord Himself came to this earth. Our Lord Himself
took upon Himself our redemption and accomplished it. Paul says
this in Hebrews, when He, speaking of our Lord and Savior, had by
Himself purged our sins, He sat down
and was right under God. You know what it says? He Himself.
That means He'd done it. When he hung on that cross and
he said it was finished, it was finished. That's what it means.
By himself. He told his apostles before he
went to the cross, he said, you can't come with me. You can't
go where I've got to go. Can you drink the cup that I
have to drink? No. They couldn't because they weren't
perfect like he was. They weren't spotless like he
was. It's a hope that we can't add
anything to, but it's also a hope that we can't take anything away
from. If I could, if I could take away
from it or add anything to it, then I could not be assured of
it, could I? Our hope is in the expectation
that arises from a promised mercy of God. And that promise is in
Christ Jesus, his son. Our hope is a confidence that
it is based on his substitutionary work. Our hope is in the mediator
who is seated at the right hand of God, working all things out
according to the counts of his own will. Well, what's the will
of God? What is the will of God? The will of God is that Christ
should lose none, isn't it? This is the will of the Father,
that I shall lose none. Let me ask you some questions
briefly, and I'll bring this to a close. And I'll try to answer
it quickly. My hope is a good hope. If I can give a good reason for
that hope, listen to the Word of God and let everything be
established by the Word of God. In 1 Peter 3.15, the Scriptures
say this, it says, Sanctify the Lord in your hearts. And be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." What that
means is you're to recognize the holiness of God. Sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts. Not only recognize, but express
the holiness of God to those that come across your path. My
God is so holy He cannot look upon you in your sin. The God of all creation can't
even look down upon this creation anymore because it's tainted
with sin. If He doesn't look upon you and
see the blood of His Son, He won't see you. Sanctify the Lord of God in your
hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
seeketh your reason of hope, the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear." Well, what's your reason? Let me share with
you mine. Mine is Christ Jesus, the Son
of God. That's the good hope in me. It's not a hope in going to church
on Sunday. It's not a hope in going down
and feeding the poor. And I pray the Lord will give
me the ability and the desire to do those things when it's
available to me. I pray that for you. But that's
not where our hope is. Our hope is in our Lord and Savior,
in what He has done. He's my substitute. Instead of
getting what I deserve, He took what I deserve upon Himself.
He who knew no sin was made sin for me. He came to the earth and He worked
out a perfect righteousness for me because I have no righteousness
of my own. This is my hope and the One who's
done that for me. He went to the cross and He died
for my soul. He was buried and He rose again.
And He ascended on high to the right hand of God the Father,
where He sits right now. He is my righteousness. He is
my holiness, my sanctification. He is my redemption. He's my
hope. My hope is in Him and Him alone. Christ is all in all to me. What
is He to you? What think ye of Christ? That
is the reason I have hope. Secondly, my hope is a good hope.
It's based on the Word of God. It's not on what I think. What
does that mean? Well, I need to look through
God's Word and interpret it. And if I can't get it that way,
then I need to wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord to show me the
truth. It's in His Word. It's not in what I think, or
what you think. It's not in what we suppose or
believe. No, in Romans 15.4 it says this, for whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort in the Scriptures might have hope. That's where
my hope is at. It's right here in the Word of
God that points me to my Savior. Thirdly, my hope is a good hope
for it rests entirely on the person and the work of Christ
Jesus my Lord. It says, Christ in you that is
the hope of glory. Other foundation can no man lay
that which is laid, Christ the Lord. There is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved except
for Christ the Lord. Is that clear? Can that be misunderstood? We sing this song, don't we?
On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. We also sing this in another
song. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus Christ, His righteousness. Folks, that is good hope. Fourthly, my hope is a good hope
for it brings me rest. It brings joy and peace in Christ
Jesus. Listen to the words of Romans
chapter 15, Now the God of hope fill you with joy. I'm not talking
about an artificial hand waving thing. I'm filled with the Spirit. Look how happy I am. I'm talking about the only hope
and the only joy I have is in what my Savior has done for me. We love our little ones, don't
we? Our children. But then they grow up. I'm not saying we don't still
love them. But it's not like it was when they were little,
is it? Oh, I've got to take care of my little ones so much. Now
they take care of themselves and they make their own way through
the world. My only peace is in my Savior,
who's working all of that out for my good. Fifthly, my hope is a good hope
because It's a good hope if it believes God and acts in faithfulness,
regardless of the circumstances. Romans 4 verse 18, Abraham, against
all hope, he believed God, didn't he? He was an old man. Him and Sarah were both long
past being able to have children, yet he still had hope and acted
on that. His hope was in Christ. He had no human reason to expect
a son, yet he believed God. He staggered not at the promise
of God, so it was imputed to him for righteousness. Folks, conditions and circumstances
do not change a good hope. A hope which is based on faith
in Christ and not the feelings of the flesh. That is a good
hope if we can rest in Christ regardless of the circumstances
or the situations or the conditions. And last of all, my hope is a
good hope if it continues to the end. Christ is the sun over
his house. That's what we read. It says,
whosoever we are, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing
of this hope, firm to the end. In 2 Timothy 4, verses 7 through
8, we read these words. I have fought a good fight. I
have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. with the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto them, unto all them also the love is appearing. I ask you this morning, where
is your hope? If you have hope in something
that you are doing, I ask you, I beg of you, I plead with you. Put it aside. Turn to it no more. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ,
for there is the only hope that will get us through this world
as we sojourn through it. Amen.