Jesus Our Hope

Take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope. Let's pray. Fathers, we come now into your presence to hear you speak to us.

Give us ears to hear. Give us hearts to receive the truth that you have in your word. Father, we look to Jesus this day as our hope. Make this true to us. Lord, if there's someone that is listening now who is despairing, who is losing hope, I pray that you would use your word to reach that heart. Give hope to all of us, we pray this day.

Through your word, as your spirit ministers it to us, speaking of Jesus, our risen Lord, we pray this in his name. Amen. Amen. we're in the middle of a pandemic and people need hope uncertainty rules the day will my elderly parents catch this virus and die what about my job will it be waiting for me at the end of all this i'm already laid off but will that 1200 check from the government get to me in time and what about my unemployment benefits?

The system is overwhelmed so I'm not sure if I'm going to get it and if I can make ends meet. Death careens through the population taking hundreds a day just because of this one virus. On Thursday I was looking at some statistics. Thursday night I looked at some statistics. In New York City 729 people died on Monday. On Tuesday, another 759 died.

And on Wednesday 799 people died And all of it from this one virus And that not even counting the people like those diagnosed with cancer who right now cannot receive any treatment at all. All that has been put aside for the foreseeable future. Fear has become familiar to many. People are afraid to go out the door any longer. They're afraid to have any contact with others for fear that they're going to contract the disease.

Anger and irritability has gained the upper hand as people are living together in close quarters and finding out that it's very difficult to live with one another. People need hope. Isn't it interesting that later on in his life, after years of ministry, as Paul is writing his son in the faith, Timothy, he says this. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus our hope.

Isn't that interesting? For Paul, hope was not found merely in the teachings of Jesus. It wasn't found in following an ethical program or philosophy. It was found in a person. In fact, it's not found in a person. that person is identified as our hope. Paul didn't find hope by saying to himself, or Paul says you don't find hope by saying to yourself, I'm confident that we'll make it through these times, because it's quite possible you won't make it through these times.

Or as long as we keep our distance, we'll be okay. Because the virus may come your way as you're walking down the tall grass trail and you pass somebody and they sneeze. Maybe you're trying to find hope by saying the economy will rebound. It always does when in fact this may be a point in history where our economy never rebounds. We're trying to find hope in all these things and we're looking in the wrong place.

Paul identifies hope as a person, Jesus Christ. Hope is not found in what you do but who Jesus is. Hope is not based on what will happen but on what has happened in Jesus. Jesus can be your only hope if he alive He can be your hope only if he been raised from the dead Now I want for a moment for us to recall exactly what the resurrection of Jesus means.

And to do that I want you to turn to Acts chapter 4. Just a few verses in Acts. I think it's important. Now I have said this before I have I can find two other times when I've said this but I want us to grasp what the resurrection of Jesus really is okay we need to understand what it is and you find a clue here you find out what what we're talking about here in Acts 4 just the first four verses where the apostles are preaching and it says as they were speaking to the people the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening but many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000 now what's going on here there's something about the resurrection that is utterly different in fact something that is powerful and transforming.

Now, most of the Jews of that day believed in resurrection. They believed in resurrection. They were committed to the doctrine of resurrection. The disciples had even witnessed resurrection. The Sanhedrin, the council that condemns these men or that holds trial on them, also believed in resurrection. They read about it in their own Bibles from the Old Testament.

Hadn't Elijah and Elisha raised people from the dead? Didn't Daniel himself promise that at the end of days there would be a resurrection? So why get mad about what these disciples were preaching? Why were they so annoyed? Because they were not preaching what the Sanhedrin believed. They preached that the resurrection of Jesus was not, now listen carefully, it was not the resuscitation of a corpse.

It was not merely God reversing the laws of nature. This was something unheralded. The message was different because it challenged the very core of Jewish belief which saw the resurrection as happening on that last future day The resurrection was to happen on that last day yet future It was to be the last redemptive act of God for his people. But these disciples of Jesus preached that this last day resurrection had already occurred in Jesus.

Note carefully what the text says. If you note, it says, they were teaching and proclaiming in Jesus, note, the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of the dead had occurred in the very one whom they had declared was a blasphemer. The one that they had convicted and executed as a blasphemer. and so the disciples are not proclaiming the return of their beloved teacher Jesus but rather that the longed for last day resurrection had happened in Jesus so the resurrection of the dead was no longer a theological hope for the future but God had acted in Jesus now in that kind of resurrection in that last day resurrection so that no one could ignore it or remain neutral to Jesus.

The future had arrived. You see, that's what they were preaching. The last day, final resurrection had occurred in Jesus. And that is why the person of Jesus is our hope. Now I want you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter. I want us to see some things in this chapter that flow out of the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead not just resuscitated now not resuscitated but raised in an immortal body never to die again raised in the body of the future raised in the body that will inhabit and a glorified earth the last day kind of resurrection that Jesus has what makes it so important well let's look first of all at the first 19 verses you follow now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Let me just say here that there were some who were saying the resurrection of the dead is impossible it just can't happen it's not it can't happen much as we hear today same thing we're hearing today but what what are we to conclude if that's what we're going to believe here's what he says but if there is no resurrection of the dead then not even christ has been raised and if christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain we are even found to be misrepresenting god because we testified about god that he raised christ whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. Here's what we need to see. Jesus is your only hope for freedom. the gospel which saves you includes the resurrection of Jesus without it you're still lost the gospel is not full if you leave out the resurrection of Jesus it is absolutely essential that the gospel message include the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead with a body that would never die again and if you don't believe that then you are still lost in fact if Jesus had not emerged from that grave you are still a prisoner to your sins and you are still in your guilt That what he says Note in verse 14 and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain And then verses 17 and 18, Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ, I'm sorry, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. if christ has not been raised from the dead then my preaching to you is in vain it's empty it's worthless jesus claimed to be the son of god he claimed to be the only way to god in fact he said to mary at one point that he was the resurrection and the life if jesus had not and been raised from the dead, then he has no more credibility than Buddha or any other teacher that you might mention. He has no more credibility than any of them. I'm preaching then for nothing.

I cannot press the claims of Christ on you. If he's dead, then it's worthless for me. It's a vain thing for me to even preach to love your enemies, to trust in Jesus. It's vain. It's a vain message. In fact, I cannot press the claims of Christ even on my Buddhist neighbor.

The most I could do was just say, well, let's compare the teachings. Which do you think is better? Preaching is in vain if Jesus has not been raised. Not only that, but no, your faith is in vain. Your faith is empty and worthless. Jesus cannot save you if he's dead and gone.

He is no savior then. All this talk about atonement, forgiveness, justification, transformation is just a bunch of meaningless words. You are still in your sins and anyone who's died already has perished because they are still guilty before God. you are not free from your sins nor are you free from the guilt of your sin or the penalty that is due you for that guilt if Jesus has not been raised from the dead now some may say to me so what? the whole idea of sin is just a construct that you religious extremists impose on everybody To you who would assert that let me ask this question Do you believe in right and wrong?

Do you believe in right and wrong? I know you do. You know how I know you believe in right and wrong? Because you've been hurt. You've been hurt. And you feel that emotion of hurt because you believe someone has wronged you in some way.

You look back at your life with regrets because you know you've done nasty things to other people and you have hurt them. In fact, you wish you could go back. You wish you could make it up to them or let them know you're sorry for the wrong that you've done. You're trapped in shame and regret. Your only hope is the freedom that comes from the living Christ.

He's paid the debt for sinners and he's alive. When you see his love, you realize you don't have to run from your past. Instead, you can run to him with your past and find forgiveness and freedom from guilt and regret because this living Savior can pardon you. Jesus is your only hope for freedom from sin and the guilt and penalty and regrets that it produces.

Jesus is your only hope in the face of death. Let's look at some verses in this very same chapter. Jump over to verse 20. But in fact, Christ Jesus has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. for as in Adam all die so also in Christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order Christ the first fruits then at his coming those who belong to Christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Alright? Drop over to verse 42. Let's look at verse 42. So it is with the resurrection of the dead What is sown is perishable That is when our bodies are put in the ground it like putting seed in the ground What is sown is perishable What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Jump down to verse 50.

So I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed for this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory oh death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ now let's think about this this pandemic is sweeping people away in a flood of death and death seems so final because no one escapes death.

You may never contract the dreaded COVID-19 virus, but the jaws of death nevertheless wait to consume you. You practice social distancing. You stay at home. You ride it out only to have the doctor tell you two months later that you have inoperable brain cancer. maybe you actually survived the virus maybe 10 you lived 10 years 12 years maybe even 20 more years but you die anyway right you may escape any number of accidents and tragedies and illnesses but you will never escape death it is inevitable isn't that right Jesus is your only hope because Jesus has conquered death that's exactly what the apostle Paul says because Jesus has been raised from the dead he has conquered death he is no longer subject to death himself, but now reigns in an immortal body.

If you can think this, the second person of the Trinity now reigns in an immortal human body, never to die again. He has conquered death so that someday he will eliminate it completely. Our text says that he rules now until that final day when he actually eliminates death altogether. And he can do that because he has conquered death. Can you imagine living in a world free of the curse in a body that will never die?

Listen, the Apostle Paul, when he says, when the mortal puts on immortality, he's not talking about our souls. He's talking about a body that will never die. Can you imagine that? c.s lewis in his little book the weight of glory writes this the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which if you saw them you would be strongly tempted to worship them christ will make the feeblest and filthy of us into a dazzling radiant immortal creature pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to god perfectly though of course on a smaller scale his own boundless power and delight and goodness isn't that marvelous that's what we're going to be everyone who's in christ that's what he's going to be he's going to be this dazzling, radiant, immortal creature pulsating with energy and joy and wisdom in his love and will be a perfect reflection of the boundless perfections of God.

That's what awaits those who are in Christ Because of Jesus a sin death immortal life has last word not death Can you face death with that hope If you know that you are going to be raised someday with a dazzling radiant immortal body pulsating with energy and joy and wisdom and love and perfectly reflecting the boundless perfections of God, you could face death with that, could you not? Well, certainly, because that's the last word, not death. All of us may inevitably come to the doorway of death, and yet someday we'll be raised with a body like that's described here, a body like Jesus himself.

When I know that, I can face death. Jesus is your only hope in the face of death. And in the midst of this pandemic, where it just seems like death just marches its way through humanity, I can face that, knowing that I will someday have this incredible, immortal body. tune now to love and to serve god without any kind of obstruction jesus is your hope your only hope in the face of death here's the third thing that the resurrection tells us jesus is your only hope for happiness jesus is your only hope for happiness Notice what he says in verse 19.

If in Christ we hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. If Christ is our only hope for this life, if he'd never come out of the grave, we would be most miserable and we should be pitied. If all you have is this life, if all you have is this life with nothing more, you have no guarantee of happiness. our culture says this hey if you just work hard enough you can be anything you want to be if you just work hard enough your dreams can come true some see that as an inspiring message I see that as sugar coated hopelessness if you don't end up becoming really rich if you don end up being successful and widely known then you end up feeling like you a loser like you missed out of life If you do not believe in the world that Jesus guarantees another higher world if you believe in this flat material world around you and if you believe that this life is the only chance that you have for happiness, then you'll not be disappointed when the world doesn't deliver you will despair your attitude will be the economy must recover we must have life like it was before this pandemic because if we don't then all is lost this is the only chance at happiness and this pandemic has ruined it all right, if it doesn't go back to the way you loved it before and this is all you have where's your happiness but jesus purchased for us a new creation his death is such that it's going to eliminate the very curse of all creation and he will eliminate that curse when he comes again because he was raised from the dead there's yet another better world where all creation will work as it was always intended to work.

And so we can face pandemics and tragedies and horrors now because there's another world coming, a world where we will discover unending bliss and happiness and satisfaction. For all who are in Christ, unending joy is guaranteed. you see, Jesus is your only hope for happiness. Lastly, Jesus is your only hope for meaning in life. Look what he says in verse 32. what do i gain if humanly speaking i fought with beasts at ephesus if the dead are not raised let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die now i don know exactly know what um the beasts were that he faced in ephesus i think it might be that he talking about people There no record of him actually being in an arena fighting lions It's quite possible he's talking about fighting beasts of people at Ephesus.

And what good is it all if we're not raised from the dead? If Jesus' resurrection hasn't happened, I'm not going to be raised from the dead. So what's the meaning of it all, right? Listen, we are all wired for meaning. To be human is to search for meaning. What is your four-year-old's favorite question?

Why? Why do you put the lid on that pan? Why do we have to go to sleep every night? Why do you go to work every day? Why do we pray before every meal? and listen you never teach them to ask that question do you we are just plain wired for meaning you go through the monotony of doing the dishes every day changing diapers at a regular rate only to see them get messy again and you ask what what's the meaning of all this right you're watching some suspenseful movie and you find yourself asking why did he do that where's he going because you're trying to figure out the meaning of that of it all you're trying to put together all the pieces so you can make sense out of it when tragedy strikes with unspeakable suffering what's the question that people ask the same question why is this happening you see we're wired to ask that question why we are wired as human beings to find meaning in life and Paul argues here for something astounding the grand purpose of life what gives it all meaning is beyond ourselves and tied to one thing the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and so in verse 32 he says what good does it do to fight the beasts in Ephesus if we're not going to be raised from the dead.

It makes no sense to face the opposition in Ephesus if Jesus is dead. What possible purpose could there be in risking your life if there's no future, if there's no bodily resurrection? Why take this one body? If that's what you believe, this is the only body I got, it's the only one I'm going to have. why risk it and deprive it of so many pleasurable things for no reason at all?

And so verse 19, we should be pitied, not honored. If there's no future hope, if this life is all there is, if all you have is this one body, the here and now, you might as well eat and drink because tomorrow you're going to die. Now someone might respond to that. Someone might say to Paul, that's not true. I don't agree with you, Paul, when you say, let's eat and drink and be merry because tomorrow we die.

That's not true, Paul, because hedonism is not my only option. I'm going to build a legacy for myself and go down in history. Well, aside from the fact that you most likely are not going to be remembered by history. that would mean then that everyone who's not famous or even less that everyone who's not remembered lived a meaningless life isn't that true let me ask you can you name your four great grandparents can you tell me what they did can you even tell me how long they lived do you even know any of that your great-grandparents now right you don't remember them does that mean they lived a meaningless life?

No one remembers them. Alright? You may say to me then, yes, but even if there is no resurrection life I will have the joy of helping other people Well let think about that Go ahead and help people What good does it do in the end What good does it do You may raise someone from poverty and help them become a flourishing productive human being, but in the end, she dies, swallowed up in that black hole of death, not to be remembered again.

You have spent your time and resources and energy on someone who's going to end up dead. And if you're going to end up with your body rotting in the ground like a carrot, then why not use your time and resources and energy to live for yourself? You may say I have another option than hedonism, and my reply to you is, why? Why? Everybody dies. You may help others.

Right? All that. Listen. If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then Jean-Paul Sartre, a French existentialist philosopher, is right when he says, and he's being honest, right? life is an empty bubble floating on a sea of nothingness. That's what you're left with. But Jesus has been raised from the dead.

And when you live and serve him, then nothing is vain or meaningless. Look at the very last verse of this chapter This is how Paul concludes the chapter Therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. It's not in vain. You hear him? Why? Because there's more to life than this life.

I am not living in an empty bubble floating on the sea of nothingness there is a savior to serve a savior who knows, a savior who remembers a savior who looks at what you do and says, if that's for me, it's not in vain there's reward there's eternity at the end of it all I have this for you there is meaning in life and Jesus is your only hope for meaning in this life so listen the resurrection of Jesus is not just a story from some ancient texts although it is that it is not just a doctrine held dear by millions of people although it is that but it goes beyond that the resurrection of Jesus means that Jesus is hope incarnate Jesus is alive this very moment and because he alive you can have hope now I don know who listening Some of you may be out there and you may be thinking life is an empty bubble floating in a sea of nothingness. You know something? There's hope for you.

There's hope in Jesus. Some of you, dear people, you know Jesus, but you're losing sight of him. On this day, remember, Jesus is alive. And because he's alive, you can have hope. Jesus is our hope. Let's pray.

God of heaven, we would be a hopeless people were it not for our Savior, the Lord Jesus, who's been raised from the dead. would you once again magnify him in our sight that we might be a people of hope that in our hope we would reflect our God in a dark, dark world in a hopeless world help us Lord to give people the hope that is in Jesus as we open up the gospel to them but Lord also help us to embrace the hope of Jesus as we open the word of God God help us we pray for your glory in Jesus name Amen