#2418 0430 17A

            Everyone needs hope, and the believer in Christ has a living and eternal hope of Heaven.  Jesus promised John 14:3 “I will return and take you to be with me.”  The hope we have is the promise given by God—to all true believers, that they will be welcomed into His kingdom, as they keep their faith in the Atonement sacrifice at Calvary.

            Lamentations 3:21-23 “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”  God will be faithful to His promise—the promise of eternal life for all who believe in faith and trust on the Atonement Blood of the Cross.

            The apostle spoke of faith in Christ—a faith that leads to our home in Heaven.  It was, he said, Titus 1:1-2 “According to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”

            He went on to explain Titus 3:5-7 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

            We all need hope, but it must be a living hope that is based on the Blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Everyone hopes for change or improvement with something in life, but the believer’s hope is a Bible assurance that God’s promise will be fulfilled for anyone who keeps their faith in Him for all things in life.  Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

            Allowing God to perfect our faith in Him keeps our hope alive.  Hebrews 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.)”  God has kept all past promises; it is sure He will keep future ones.

            Our steadfast trust in what the Atonement of Christ accomplished, is what enables us to have this living hope—His Atonement for sin promises protection; peace; daily provisions; changes in attitudes; deliverance from oppression; or loved ones brought to repentance.  God gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to anyone who is willing to believe in Him.

            People in the world place their hopes on plans of the world—which eventually fail—because they are not based on faith in Christ, nor on the Blood He shed for them.  The world hopes that things will improve, but they often do not.  The world’s hope is uncertain because it is based on ever-changing circumstances of life. The believer’s hope is very certain because it is based on the never-changing God of the Bible Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8.

            Our living hope is based on our living Savior.  If our hope for Heaven is based on faith in the Blood of Christ, our destination is sure.  Jesus paid the price for our sins, and He destroyed Satan’s power by that sacrifice, so our hope for Heaven is assured.  John 14:3 “If I go and make ready a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me, that where I am you also may be.”

            This living hope is based on a living Savior.  Colossians 1:19-20 “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”

            To have a living God with us, is to have a living hope for the future.  Before accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior—and putting our trust on Him for everything—is where the world is today—“without Christ” Ephesians 2:12 “having no hope, and without God in the world.”

            The promises of God are guaranteed by the resurrection of His Son.  1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

            God promised Abram Genesis 12:2 “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”  Years passed and the Lord appeared again—twenty-five years later.  He said Genesis 15:5-6 “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

            Abraham’s living hope was based on living promises of God.  Romans 4:18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’”  20-21 “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”  That faith made Abraham righteous 22.

            God will consider anyone else righteous, if they will believe and trust God like Abraham did.  If our trust is on the living God, and our faith is in the resurrection power of Christ, leaving this life just means going to the next one in Heaven.

            The apostle Paul said 2 Timothy 4:6-8 “The time of my departure is at hand.  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, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

            God’s love and grace gives assurance and hope.  Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works”—which is trusting God in faith.

            The glorious appearing of our God and Savior approaches with each passing day.  God’s chosen people, the Jews, have held on to their own identity through the worst of persecution, and today they have their own homeland in the country of Israel. 

            Enemy Arab states surround them, and have vowed to destroy them, but God has promised to protect His people—Zechariah 2:8 “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.”  Zechariah 12:3 “On that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

            Spiritual apathy and a general disinterest of spiritual things on a global scale, is just another sign that Jesus is at the door.  Millions of people throughout the world have not one thought in a day about God, and certainly not about faith in the Blood He shed to free them from sin.

            The world in general is totally indifferent to, and has completely rejected the greatest gift ever given—the Atonement work of Christ, that could deliver them from sin; grant peace within; and promise a living hope for Heaven.  Jesus spoke on financial trust, and getting rid of laid up money on earth—saying Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

            He then said we must be ready, by faithfully trusting Him every moment for every issue of life.  35-36 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”

            Jesus said over and over, that He would return for those who truly believe in Him, and have trusted on Him—on the Blood sacrifice of Atonement He made at Calvary—freeing them from wrong ideas; unscriptural desires; hurtful habits; and destructive obsessions. 

            When He rose to life, all that He mentioned in the gospels—health, healing, provisions, protection, avenging wrongs, selling treasures, showing compassion, helping the poor, lending to borrowers, forgiving others, and many other issues involving trust on Him, are rightfully ours to claim through faith in Him.

            God accepts us when we truly believe in His Atonement for us.  Romans 8:23-24 “We ourselves inwardly sigh, as we wait and long for open recognition as sons through the deliverance of our bodies.  It is in hope that we have been saved.  But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it?”  We trust in an unseen God, who is faithful to every promise.

            The living hope for heaven is kept by faith on the Atonement Blood of the cross.  Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”  It is a hope of Heaven by our faith in Jesus Christ.

            The apostle Paul was on trial, and he testified of the living hope he had, by his faith in God.  Acts 24:14-16 “I admit that I follow the Way, which they call a sect.  I worship the God of our ancestors, and I firmly believe the Jewish law and everything written in the books of prophecy.  I have hope in God, just as these men do, that he will raise both the righteous and the ungodly.  Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and everyone else.”

            We have all sinned, so everyone needs forgiveness.  If we will repent; God will forgive 1 John 1:9, which then enables a living hope for entering Heaven—which is only through faith in the Blood of Christ.  Romans 6:23 “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

            It is a living hope of Heaven—based totally on our faith in the sacrifice of Atonement offered for us on the cross.  It is Colossians 1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”