All I Want For Christmas is Hope

Open with us to the Scriptures, and we will see where this hope comes from and how we get it. Good morning! Merry Christmas to you all. How are you doing? Praise the Lord!

Before we get into the Scriptures this morning, I want to share a little news with you. As you know, worship in song is a big part of what we do here at Cross-Connection Church. Every single week, when we gather together to connect with God on Sunday mornings, we connect with God through songs of praise and worship, through the Scriptures, through service, and through giving. All these different ways help us connect with God.

Christian, who was just up here, has done such a great job of helping us do that as a church for the last many months. However, we have not had a staff worship leader for 15 years; we have relied entirely on volunteers. God has blessed that in a great way, but we want to share some exciting news with you. We have just asked a new worship leader to come on staff with us. He has come and led with us a couple of times over the last several months.

Here is a picture of Anthony. You may have seen him up here. This is Anthony with his wife, Alma, and their little boy, Alex. They are planning on moving down here next month in January. We ask you to be praying for them as they wrap up their service at Calvary Chapel South Bay in Los Angeles, which is a really big church with almost 10,000 people. They have services going on quite a bit right now for Christmas, so he is really busy trying to wrap things up and move his family down here.

Please pray for Anthony as he and his family prepare for the move. They are looking for a place to live down here, so pray that God would lead them to the perfect place. If you know of a rental property, please come talk with me or Pastor Mark so we can pass that information on to Anthony. Hopefully, by the middle of January, he will be joining our team as our worship pastor. Praise the Lord for that! Amen.

With that, would you please stand?

With me, take out your Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will gladly bring you one. We are going to begin, as we did last week and the week before, in the book of Romans in the New Testament. The Bible is broken up into two Testaments: the Old Testament, which makes up the first two-thirds of your Bible, and the New Testament, which contains the last third.

Turn up to the book of Romans, right after the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. We will read together the first eleven verses of Romans 5.

Romans 5, verse 1: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were His enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

Father, as we approach the celebration of Christmas and as we give gifts to one another, friends, and loved ones, we read here in these verses about the gift that we have received: the gift of reconciliation. Jesus, You brought this about; You have brought us near to God through Your death on the cross. What an amazing blessing and privilege that is!

As we consider these things more fully today, the gifts that we've received by Your grace, I pray, God, that You would motivate our hearts to an attitude of worship and praise. But also, that You would stir our...

Hearts to share this gift that we have freely received, that we would freely give it to other people. As we exchange material gifts this holiday season, I pray, God, that you would motivate us to share this wonderful, precious, great promise—the spiritual gift of reconciliation that you've given to us. God, teach us about it as we look into the Scriptures today, that we would fully understand what we've received from you. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen."

You can be seated. As we are fully in the holiday season, approaching Christmas, we are in the middle of a series here at Cross-Connection Church around Christmas called "All I Want for Christmas." In the previous two studies in this series, we have been considering some of the needs that each of us have—needs that God has satisfied in Jesus Christ, which are ultimately and only satisfied in and by Jesus. His coming to this world is really the core of what we celebrate when we celebrate Christmas.

There are a lot of trappings in our culture that are kind of added on to the Christmas holiday, but the core of what is being celebrated at Christmas is the Advent, or the coming, of Jesus to this world. In His coming is the satisfying of these things that we deeply need, though we may not always acknowledge them as needs or even recognize them as needs. When we begin to look at life through the lens of Scripture, we discover that these truly are things that are needed.

A need is something that is essential—something without which we cannot really survive. We understand that we have some basic needs to live: we need air to breathe, food to eat, and water to drink. We need these things. However, as you look at the world in which we live and examine humanity, you begin to line up the human experience with what is revealed by God in the Scriptures. We discover that we also need, and it is essential, that we need grace from God. That is what we began this series a couple of weeks ago talking about—the grace that God gives to us because we live in a lost and broken world.

The world and every single human being, whether they know what the Bible reveals or not, understand that the world is broken. There is a certain point in life, as we walk through this world, where we all come in contact with the brokenness of our reality. You might even be able to pinpoint that in your life experience. If you think back to your first ten years, you may recall being confronted with the brokenness of this world. Sometimes it's through the death of a family member, even at a young age. Other times, it’s through very difficult circumstances that you went through as a child. Regardless, we all encounter the fact that this world is broken.

There is a yearning inside every single human heart for life to be better, for life to be as it should be. We talked a little bit about that last week when we broached the topic of peace as it is revealed in the Bible. When we talk about peace, we refer to what the Old Testament writers, the Hebrew writers, described as Shalom. It is not just the cessation of violence; it is the experience of life as it should be. Every human heart desires that.

We need grace from God to experience life as it should be, and that grace from God makes it possible for us to have peace with God. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 5. He says in verse 1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith." The word "justified" is a theological term that means justice has been satisfied. The perfect righteous standard of God is so high that we cannot reach it, and thus we deserve the justice of God. However, in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross 2,000 years ago, justice is satisfied. We tap into that; we lay hold of it by trusting in Jesus and what He did on our behalf.

So, Paul continues, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, by trusting in Jesus, now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The coming of Jesus into this world, which is the hallmark of the Christmas celebration, is all about grace from God coming to humanity so that we could be reconciled to God. We could have peace with Him through the cross of Christ and be brought back into connection with God. The joyful wonder of this is that not only are we reunited with God in Jesus Christ, but we are also reunited with one another.

There is severe division between humanity that goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. This is not a recent phenomenon. When we talk about an increase in division in our own nation over the last several years, it's important to recognize that this is not new; it is the story of humanity. As we study history, as far back as we can, we see that it is the result of what the Bible describes in the opening book of Genesis. It is the result of sin.

We live in a broken world characterized by separation from one another and separation from God. However, in Christ, we are reconciled and brought back into connection with God and with one another. That is our mission and our vision here: life in connection with God, with one another, and sharing that with the world through Jesus Christ. It all comes through Him.

Christmas is all about grace from God, bringing peace with God. When we start to look at who we are and the makeup of humanity, we begin to realize and understand that these are basic human needs. In the last two studies, I mentioned some psychological research conducted in the early 1940s by a behavioral psychologist from the United States named Abraham Maslow. He established Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which primarily addresses material needs that we can all identify.

Living in the United States in 2018, for the most part, those material needs are met. Yet, human thriving—reaching our fullest potential, which is what Abraham Maslow was looking for—requires more than just meeting basic needs. We realize that even with those needs met, there is still something wanting, something lacking.

I have been proposing that we not only have material needs but also spiritual needs. Abraham Maslow came to discover, as he continued his research throughout his life, that there are transcendent needs related to spiritual matters. I believe there is a hierarchy of spiritual needs, and at the top of those needs are grace from God and peace with God. This leads us into the discussion of the third thing we need.

Point number one on your outline is that grace from God brings peace with God, giving us hope in God. This hope is a need, and that is what we will be discovering as we go through the Scriptures.

To prove this point throughout our message today, Paul speaks about it right in the passage that we opened in Romans chapter 5. We see in verse 1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God." We have received grace from God; therefore, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Romans 5, verse 2, Paul continues, "Through whom, through Jesus, we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Because we have grace from God and now peace with God, Paul says we stand in this grace and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

This is an interesting concept because the glory of God speaks of the coming of God in contact with humanity, and all of creation is looking forward to it. Paul mentions this later in the book of Romans; we are all looking forward to the revelation of the glory of God.

There was a theologian who lived four or five hundred years ago by the name of Martin Luther. He is known as one of the fathers of the Protestant Reformation and lived in Germany. Five hundred years ago, he was a Catholic theologian in the Roman Catholic Church who wrestled with the concept of the glory of God being revealed. He understood just how sinful he was, how fallen he was, and how holy God is because he had been studying the revelation of God in the Bible.

Martin Luther knew that God is holy, and he recognized that he was not. He understood that God's way is up here, while we are down here. When that which is unholy comes in contact with that which is holy, it is not a good picture for the unholy. The holiness of God is so powerful that even God says, going back into the book of Exodus when He interacts with a man named Moses thirty-four hundred years ago, "You cannot see me because if you see me, you will die."

Martin Luther wrestled with this concept, fearing that one day he would come in contact with the glory of God. He thought there was no way he could stand in the presence of the glory of God. This struggle led him to dig into what the Scriptures had to say, which resulted in his great discovery: salvation is not by our works, but salvation is by grace from God. This grace brings peace with God and makes it possible for us to have hope in God.

That we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, why is this concept of hope so important? Why do I think that it fits somewhere in that hierarchy of spiritual needs: grace, peace, and hope? Why is it included in this whole discussion of the hierarchy?

Well, the answer is that we first need to have a good, solid biblical definition of what hope is. When I say we need to define what hope is, many of you already have some sort of idea of what you think hope is. We use the word hope somewhat frequently, but most of the time, we use it in kind of two different ways in which we imagine or define hope.

The first way is that we think hope is kind of an optimistic feeling about the future, that everything is going to turn out well. The best way to describe hope in this way is to bring up the Chargers. You remember them? It might be hard memories for some of you, but remember when they would go in at halftime in the lead? They could be up by like 21 points at halftime, and you'd say, "I hope they win." How many times was that hope smashed? That is an optimistic feeling about the future, but it's not very certain.

Sometimes we think of hope in another way, which is kind of like wishful thinking. This is similar to the hope that some of you feel in the spring every year. Now we're moving into a new season, baseball season, and you might say, "I hope that the Padres get to the World Series." That's wishful thinking that I don't think has ever been realized. It's similar to when someone says, "I hope I win the lottery." It's like the luck of the draw—wishful thinking.

These are the two ways that we often live out the concept of hope: an optimistic feeling about the future or wishful thinking. However, I want to suggest that this is not the way the Bible uses the concept or the word hope. It's not the way Paul uses the concept or the word hope. Biblical hope is not just...

An optimistic feeling is not wishful thinking. So, what is it? Point number two on your outline: biblical hope is the absolute certainty of future good. It is not just blind optimism or wishful thinking; it is an absolute assurance based upon the promise and the oath of God.

To prove this biblically, keep a finger in Romans chapter 5, because we will return to that. Turn to the right in your Bible to the New Testament book of Hebrews. You will pass through Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and a whole bunch of Paul's letters before you get to the book of Hebrews.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 6. In this chapter, the author of Hebrews discusses the hope we have in God, which is not just optimism or wishful thinking. Hebrews 6, verse 16 states that when people take an oath, they call on someone or something greater than themselves to hold them to it. They swear by something greater than themselves, and without any question, that oath is binding. They hope to prove to whoever they are talking to that they really mean it because they are swearing on this thing.

God also bound Himself with an oath so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. Here is the point: verse 18 tells us that God has given us both His promise and His oath. These two things—His promise and His oath—are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. There are some things that it is impossible for God to do; by His very nature, He is truth. Therefore, it is impossible for Him to lie.

He made a promise and an oath; these two things are immutable and unchangeable. Therefore, we who have fled to Jesus for refuge, for protection, and for salvation, can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

This hope, verse 19, I love this. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our soul. Now, for us to feel steadfast and sure, we need to have a good foundation. Just this last week, we all woke up to news that there was a massive earthquake in Alaska. We live in California, and most of us have probably experienced an earthquake at some point or another.

When I was about nine or ten years old, we were in Oakland, California, when the 1989 earthquake happened in the Bay Area. That was kind of freaky. I think it totally messed me up for about the next five years because it was like things are not certain; the ground we’re walking on moves. That’s not good. We want something sure and steadfast, amen?

We don’t want just something sure and steadfast for our material needs; we need something for our soul. We’re not just material; there’s something immaterial, more than material, that makes us who we are. We have a body, but even science is beginning to discover there’s something more than just material that makes us up. The Bible describes it as a soul. I believe we also have a spirit, but that’s for another study.

We have a soul, and most anxiety and fear take place where? In the soul. So, how can we have an anchor for our soul? Well, the author of the book of Hebrews says we need hope that is certain. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our soul to latch onto and hold onto amid all the turmoil and upheaval of life. The earthquakes—both tangible, physical ones and those that are emotional and spiritual—show that we need an anchor for our soul.

Where does that come from? It comes from a sure and steadfast, concrete hope. Not wishful thinking, not just optimism, but something that is concrete. Where does that come from? It doesn’t come from us. It’s not based on the luck of the draw, like the lottery. It’s not based upon or dependent upon our ability to do everything right. It’s based upon the strong consolation that is the promise and oath of the unchangeable God. That’s where this kind of hope comes from. Our hope is not dependent upon our church.

Attendance is really good. Our hope is not reliant upon our Bible reading schedule; it's not reliant upon our giving patterns; it's not reliant upon our volunteerism. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. He is the sure foundation for our hope.

In one of Paul's letters about hope, he writes in Titus chapter 1, verse 1: "Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness." Note this verse: "in hope of eternal life."

I have had this conversation many times over the years with people about eternal life—life after this. Do you realize that the vast majority, over 80 percent of Americans, think that there is something after this life? Most people believe there is life after this. I often ask people, "If you died tonight, do you think you would go to heaven?" Most of the time, they respond, "I hope so." Frequently, they follow up with, "I'm a pretty good person."

So, what is their hope dependent upon? Their good works. If your hope relies on your good works, you're sunk. You might be better than the next person, but you're not as good as God, and that's a problem. To say, "I hope I'm going to be in heaven because I'm a pretty good person," is to have a shaky hope.

Paul states in Titus chapter 1, verse 2, "in hope of eternal life," and then he adds that "God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." The basis of my hope in eternal life is not me. Before Paul was a Christian, before he trusted in Jesus, his hope was in himself. You can read in Philippians chapter 3 that he claimed to be perfect according to the law, which is what he based his hope on. Then one day, he met Jesus and realized that this was not going to work. Being perfect according to the law left him feeling hopeless.

So, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, our certain hope—hope that is absolutely certain in a future good—is dependent upon the promise of the God who cannot lie. Our hope is based upon His promise.

That is good news! It means we can rejoice in the hope for the glory of God. Someday, we are going to meet God. For a person who does not have the grace of God, the concept of one day standing before a holy God is frightening. That's why some people have a really hard time coming to church. I've had conversations with people who started coming here a few months ago, and they tell me about their first time. The first time I came here, I was terrified. I thought I might just drop dead coming in, wondering what happens in there. Maybe you had that fear. Perhaps you're here today, and you have that fear, thinking, "What's going to happen?"

Well, listen. If you don't have the grace from God and the peace with God that comes from that grace, there is a reason to be fearful. But Paul says we rejoice in hope for the glory of God because he had grace from God that brought peace with God. In another one of his letters, Paul says this in First Timothy, chapter 1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope." You see, our hope is Christ.

When Jesus came into the world 2,000 years ago, at the event that we celebrate as Christmas, it was hope coming into the world. One of the songs we sing at Christmas says, "A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices." Why? Because Jesus has come, the one who brings hope to this world. We have grace from God, which has given us peace with God, which has made it possible for us to have hope in God that is sure and steadfast.

Now, why do we need this hope? I suggest there are two reasons for why we need this hope. The first reason is biblical, and the second reason is practical. The first biblical reason, which you can note down in your notes, is found in the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. I just want to read this to you.

Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 11: "Therefore remember." Take a moment to remember. Remember what? Remember that you were once without God. You were a Gentile in the flesh, not a part of the Jewish family. You were called the uncircumcision by those who were called the circumcision. At that time, you were without Christ. Just remember for a moment. You can probably recall a time when you were without Christ in this world. Maybe it's a really sour memory for you; it probably would be. Remember that you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants and promises, having no hope and without God.

In the world today, this is a hopeless world. Hopelessness is pervasive, and I believe the most hopelessness-inducing thing in our current culture is the news. It is truly hopelessness-inducing. If you want to see your experience of life improve, I challenge you to take a 30-day fast from the news. You will find your joy increase, and I promise you might even come to like it. The news might lose another viewer, which is good because it lost me several years ago. I realized that it is hopelessness-producing, whether it’s world news, national news, or local news.

This hopelessness is a reality in a broken and fallen world. You cannot manufacture hope apart from God. Without Christ, remember that you were without hope and without God in this world. The first biblical reason we need hope is that this is a hopeless world, and without God, we have no hope.

There is also a practical reason for this need for hope. I mentioned in the message last week that just a couple of weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States released research indicating that, over the last three years, life expectancy in the United States has decreased for the first time in almost a hundred years of study. This is a challenging reality to consider. The CDC identified two primary contributing factors to the decline in life expectancy: opioid addiction and suicide.

I referenced an article from ABC News that was published on November 29th, a couple of weeks ago. The CDC officials did not speculate about what is behind this decline in life expectancy, but Dr. William Dietz, a disease prevention expert at George Washington University, sees a sense of hopelessness. He stated, "I really do believe that people are increasingly hopeless, and that leads to drug use and potentially to suicide."

We live in arguably the most blessed nation materially and at the most blessed time in human history, yet we find ourselves among people who are hopeless. As I mentioned, we talked about Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of human needs. His theory was that if we can meet these basic needs, then humanity will experience their fullest potential.

Potential exists, and people will thrive. Yet, here we are: three generations of experimentation in the United States of America—Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. Three generations of us trying this out, which let me just fill you in on: Solomon tried it out 3,000 years ago and wrote a paper on it called the Book of Ecclesiastes. This is not new, but we've been doing empirical research as a people.

What have we discovered? We have most, if not all, of our basic needs met, and we are a hopeless people. Now, what's amazing is that at the very same time Abraham Maslow was doing his research in the early 1940s in the United States, there was another Jewish psychologist, a behavioral psychologist, who was studying very much the same thing under different conditions. His name was Viktor Frankl, and that was not a good place for a Jewish man to be in the 1940s.

Viktor Frankl spent several years in German concentration camps. He survived them, and after he was done, he wrote a book called Man's Search for Meaning. I've read it a couple of times, and I highly recommend it. It's a challenging read. In the foreword to Man's Search for Meaning, Rabbi Harold Kushner writes that Viktor Frankl described pungently those prisoners who gave up on life in the camps, who had lost all hope for a future, and were inevitably the first to die. They died less from a lack of food or medicine than from a lack of hope.

On page 75, Viktor Frankl said, "The sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect." This brings us to point number three on your outline: we cannot truly live without hope. Why do we need this hope? Biblically, we are in a hopeless world, and without God, we have no hope. Practically, science is even confirming through research that you cannot live without hope.

In the last ten years, there has been a scientific discovery in psychological research that they actually call "broken heart syndrome." This is not just a physical problem; it is a physical problem brought about by a soulish problem or hopelessness problem. As a result, people's hearts begin to break down, and they die because of what is happening in the soul. We cannot truly live without hope.

Hope, well, that of course begs the question: where then can this hope be found? Back to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11, where Paul said, "Therefore remember that you were without Christ in this world, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."

But then the next verse says this: "But now remember what you were. You didn't have Christ; you didn't have God; you had no hope. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Where is hope found? It comes from grace from God, resulting in peace with God, and then we can have hope in God.

So, I said we'd come back to it—Romans chapter 5. If you kept your finger there, Romans 5, verse 1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Not only that, verse 3 continues, "We also glory in tribulations." We have to stop there because I always have a hard time when I read those words. We glory—that is, we rejoice in—we find great joy in tribulation. What? I don't know about you, but I don't find joy in tribulation. That's why I have a hard time reading that. Just like passing through, because when the car breaks down, or the dryer dies, or that unexpected bill comes, or that diagnosis arrives, or you sit across the table from your manager or boss and they say, "It's not working out," in those moments, you're not like, "Yes! Glory in tribulation!"

So, what is Paul saying? Well, we can't just stop there. We also glory in tribulation knowing—now, if you're one of those people who circles things in your Bible, that's a good word too—because you cannot glory in tribulation without knowing this: knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.

So, without this knowledge, you cannot glory in tribulation. Grace from God brings peace with God, giving us hope in God, which is sure and steadfast because it's not based upon me; it's not based upon...

Anything in this world is based upon the promise and oath of God, so it is sure and steadfast. I have hope in God, even in the face of tribulations, trials, troubles, and any other word that is a synonym. In the face of all of these things, why? Because when you have peace from God as a result of His grace, and you have hope in God, when you go through trials and tribulations—which you will—what does it remind you? The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. This is not all there is.

This is why, on just an existential level, atheism does not work. It doesn't work on a whole bunch of other philosophical levels as well, but on just an existential level, atheism does not work because it leaves you completely hopeless. Viktor Frankl talks about man's search for meaning. All the materialist atheists of the last 200 years have basically put forward the idea that you are a cosmic accident. There is no future; you are just an animal like any other animal. You have to try and figure out meaning for yourself, manufacture meaning for yourself.

So what do you get? You get a culture where we just don't know where meaning is found. We are trying to manufacture meaning, and it reduces down to a level where now, in our culture, the open conversation is, "Well, maybe I'm just not the way I should be or the way I want to be, and maybe if I had a different gender, I'd be better. That might fix it." It's hopeless.

When the person who has grace from God, peace with God, and hope in God goes through trials—which everybody does—they realize that this is not all there is, and that is joy-producing. It builds up our hope. Look at what Paul goes on to say about this hope in Romans chapter five, verse five: "Now this hope does not disappoint." I love that it does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Optimistic feelings, that kind of hope, will leave you disenchanted. Wishful thinking, that kind of hope, will leave you let down.

Hope in God does not disappoint; it will not lead to disappointment for at least three reasons.

Reason number one: it is based upon His sure promise. It's not based upon my practice; it's based upon His promise.

Reason number two: He has sworn by His perfect character to come through until the end. Paul could say, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). So, it's based on His sure promise and His sworn oath according to His perfect character.

Thirdly, this hope will not lead to disappointment because God has already given us the down payment for our future inheritance in the form of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Paul states in Romans 5:5, "Now this hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Paul, speaking on the same topic in Ephesians 1:13, writes, "In Him, you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

What does all that mean? Maybe you've experienced the concept of layaway, which was popularized by stores like Kmart many years ago. You remember layaway, right? You want to buy a product but don't have the money for it, so you put it on layaway. You make a down payment and continue to pay until you can redeem the product. That first payment is a promissory note; it signifies, "I promise I'm going to pay for it," but you don't get the product until you pay in full.

When you do receive the redemption, it's like a celebration. The down payment is a promise. The Holy Spirit given to you when you trust in Jesus is God's presence, dwelling in you and giving you a peace that surpasses understanding. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee, with God saying, "Hey, I gave you this."

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our redemption, and so we have hope. Hope for what? What is our hope latched onto? Let's look back to Romans chapter 5, verse 6.

"For when we were still without strength, in due time, at just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

That's our hope: we are saved from wrath through Jesus.

"For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

Here’s the concept of salvation that is presented in the New Testament of the Bible. Salvation is from God in Jesus, and it appears in three tenses: past, present, and future.

It is theologically correct to say that to the person who has put their trust in Jesus, you are, in the past tense, saved. But it is also theologically correct, as Paul does in his letter to the Corinthians, to say, "You Christians are being saved."

You might wonder, "Wait a minute, am I saved or am I in the process of being saved?" Yes, that can be confusing. Salvation encompasses more than just a single event that happened in the past; it is actually happening in your life right now as God is transforming you and me through the renewing of our minds, so that we would display what is God's perfect will in this world, as Romans chapter 12 says.

Therefore, it is theologically correct to say you are saved, you are being saved, and it is also correct to say you shall be saved. This is what we call justification: being justified, justice satisfied. You are saved.

Sanctification is the process of being transformed by God's power, by His Spirit, and by His Word right now. And glorification is when you shall be saved. In a twinkling of an eye, this corruption will put on incorruption; this mortal will put on immortality. And when we see Him, we shall be like Him. It does not yet appear what we shall be.

Know this: when we see Him, we shall be like Him. That's glorification, and that's what we hope for. This hope is sure and steadfast. We shall be saved by His life.

Point number five is that we have hope in God for eternal salvation. When we ask someone, "If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" and they respond, "I hope so; I'm a really good person," that person has wishful thinking. Their optimism is based on their good works, which is not sufficient. If that's your hope, you have every reason to be anxious. However, we have hope in God that is sure and steadfast for eternal salvation.

Now, for the final question, what does this hope that the Christian has—having grace from God, peace with God, and hope in God—result in? There are two things. The first response of hope in our life is found in John's writing in 1 John 3:2. He says, "Beloved, now we are the children of God." If you're a Christian, you are a child of God. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

So that's our hope: we are going to be with Him. What is the result? In 1 John 3:3, it states, "Everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as He is pure." The person who bases their hope for eternity on their good works thinks they need to purify themselves to have hope. However, the Bible teaches that as you receive God's grace and are brought into peace with God, you have hope. Therefore, because you have this hope of one day seeing God and being like Him, that hope motivates us to sanctification and to purify ourselves.

I don't want to do the things I used to do because I now have hope in God that I will be with Him for eternity. So that's the first response of our heart to hope. The second response of our heart to this sure and steadfast hope is written by Peter in 1 Peter 3.

Verse 15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear." In a hopeless world that produces hopelessness, the person who has sure and steadfast hope is the envy of all hopeless people.

So, point number six: hope in God motivates our sanctification and our evangelism. This is a really good place for us to end, especially since we are at that time of year when our culture celebrates a holiday called Christmas. Christ is a part of Christmas, and even though our culture says it is about presents, eating too much food, and having parties, the true point of Christmas is that hope has come to a hopeless world in the child Jesus.

If you have that hope, whoever has this hope purifies themselves and also sanctifies the Lord in their heart. They are ready to share with other people the hope that they have. If you take just five minutes to think about it, you could probably come up with a long list of people in your life who are pretty hopeless. If you are in Christ, your hope is not based upon your baptism, your church attendance, or any of those things, although those things are good. It is based upon the finished work of Jesus and what He did. Amen.

Please stand with me as we close in prayer. Father, thank You for the hope that we can have as a result of grace from You and peace with You. We have hope in You, waiting for the coming of Your glory. God, I pray that that hope would so transform the way that we live that we wouldn't be striving to try and get peace, hope, and grace by our own efforts, but understand that You've finished it when You said on the cross, "It is finished." It's done, and our trust in You gives us grace, peace, and hope. God, we rejoice in that. I pray that that hope would be so evident in our lives.

It would be attractive to other people who are truly hopeless, even though they have a new job promotion, a nice big house, and a brand-new car. Despite all these things, they are still hopeless. How many times, Lord, have we seen the stories of people who seem to achieve everything and yet remain hopeless? I can't help but think, Lord, of Michael Phelps. He has all these gold medals, and yet he almost took his life.

God, help us to rejoice in the hope of Your glory. It may be that as we stand here today, you don't have this hope, or you've been trying to obtain it through your good works. Even coming to church today may have been your aim to try and increase your hope, but that is not sufficient. Hope comes as a part of God's grace and the peace that He gives in Jesus.

If you want to receive that hope today, I want to give you a chance to put your trust in Jesus. If that's you, would you just lift up your hand high so I can see it? Do you want to receive this hope that we're talking about? I see a hand over here; God bless you. Anyone else? Lift it up high if you say you need that hope that Christmas is all about. I see your hand over there; God bless you. Back in the back, I see you.

I want to lead you in a very simple prayer of faith, trusting in Jesus. Talk to God, asking Him for His grace, His peace, and His hope today. Just pray with me where you're at:

"Dear Jesus, I have been hopeless. I need Your grace. Would You come into my life and forgive me of my sin? Help me to follow You by faith. God, give me Your peace that surpasses understanding and help me to have hope in You. In Jesus' name, praise the Lord. God is good."