Hi, and welcome back to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast with Pastor John Fonville of Paramount Church. In a world filled with grief, sorrow, and uncertainty, How can we abound in hope? This sermon reminds us that our hope doesn't come from ourselves, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Fonville teaches that as we journey through Advent, We're invited to fix our eyes on the promises of God, look forward to the redemption of all creation, and rejoice in the mercy and grace shown to us in Christ. Here's a message called The Return of Christ, Finding Hope in the Coming King.
These are a powerful text that we heard today. They have a common theme, which is hope. Hope. Hope is so important. Here's why.
Because if a person... This is hope. What happens to them? They die. You have to have hope.
Hope is the key ingredient to life. Hope is what fuels us to keep us going. Encourage perseverance. And these scripture passages that We heard today have this common theme of hope because Advent invites us as a time to reflect upon Christ's first coming. But while anticipating his second coming, which is the hope of the gospel.
Hope. Hope is important. Why? Because when we look around at this world, it's in what? Chaos.
It's hopeless, right? It looks hopeless. We have wars, we have military engagements, we have. We have storms, we have plagues, we have sickness, we have fear gripping nations. We just have chaos.
But today's scriptures assure us that the darkest moments. But our kissing. Moments, what happens? Hope shines. brightest, right?
And these passages we heard from the prophet Isaiah, from Luke's gospel, from Paul's epistle. It talks about a world in crisis. caught between judgment But it tells us this: that when you have this great turmoil. You have this chaos. You have this hopelessness.
All of these passages proclaim the promise of Christ's return. The hope of his return, the coming king. He's going to come and bring a consummation to his kingdom. And so what they do is these passages help us to lift up our eyes beyond the present chaos. and look with joyful anticipation and hope to the coming future.
And that helps us persevere. That gives us encouragement. That gives us strength. When things feel hopeless. Let's look at, first of all, the book of Isaiah.
Turn back to the book of Isaiah, chapter 24. And this is such a powerful passage. Isaiah gives us the promise of this coming king. First six verses, he depicts, he describes the earth as devastated. He's looking to the future.
He's looking to the conclusion of history. And he says that the inhabitants of the earth are facing the consequences of sin, the consequences of rebellion against God. And he says, look at the first verse. He says, behold, the Lord lays the earth waste. Devastates it.
He distorts its surface. He scatters its inhabitants. Verse 3, as the earth will be completely laid waste. And he says four. The Lord has spoken.
Look at verse 5. He says, The earth is polluted by its inhabitants. Why? Why is it polluted? Because they have transgressed God's laws.
violated his statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. And here's the consequence. Therefore, a curse devours the earth. Where did that curse come from? Wh where do you think Where do you think he is reflecting upon?
Yeah. Garden of Eden. Genesis chapter 3, when the curse came and spoiled. The entire of creation and all of us, all of mankind came under this curse. And he says.
The inhabitants of the Error. They're burned and few men. Our left. And so Isaiah gives us this picture of what happens at the conclusion of history. He's looking to the future.
But he says that amidst the darkness of this cataclysmic judgment that's coming by the king. Verse 23, he says, there is hope. There There's hope. Because he tells us that this judgment that comes Um well Uh the the whole earth. It's not an end.
But he says it's a prelude to God's restoration. Look at verse 23. He has the in the The moon will be a shade. And the sun is shame. Why?
Would it be ashamed? He says, for, because the Lord of hosts will reign. On Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders. What is he talking about? He's talking about these He's using this symbolic language.
to talk about the consummation of God's kingdom when the king comes. when Christ returns. And as for example, he says, the moon will be ashamed. How can the moon have shame?
Well, think about it. Genesis, go back to Genesis again, right? We're all the way back again at the beginning. Genesis chapter 1, verse 16. How did God create the moon?
He created it to do what? Rule the. A night. And you have this great, big, beautiful Moon reflecting light, its whiteness, this brightness. What does it do at nighttime?
It just lights up the night. And he says, the sun was created in what? Ruled the earth by day. And the sun, when it comes out in the daytime, when it comes up easier... Each day at the sunrise.
It begins to shine forth. But look what Isaiah says. He says when the king comes. He says both the moon And the son wilt be ashamed. Why?
Because his glory will be before the elders. What is Isaiah talking about? You have to go to the book of Revelation. The 21st chapter of verse 23, listen to what John says. He says that the city, the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven, he says the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it.
Listen, he says, for the glory of God has illumined it. And his lamp is the lamb. That's what Isaiah is pointing us to. Isaiah personifies the moon and the sun when he says they'll both be ashamed. Why?
Because the glory of God is so bright that it makes the glory of these created things in the heavens look like they should be ashamed. Because the glory of God is shining forth in a new creation.
Now, this is important. Look what he's looking what Isaiah says. He says, His glory is before he won. Elders. What is he talking about?
Well, again, you have to go back to the book of Revelation. When he says that God's glory is before the elders, what is he prophesying of? Listen carefully. He's talking about when the church, that is mute and me, are glorified. That's great hope, isn't it?
We're going to come back to that in just a moment, but listen, when your redemption draws near, Luke says, we're going to come to it in a second. That's what Isaiah is pointing us to. Jesus says, Luke, just very quickly, he says, when you see these signs, look up. Have great hope. Great joyful anticipation because your redemption draws near and your glorification is about to occur.
The consummation, the hope of the gospel is coming. And that's what Isaiah is talking about here. He says that in this reign the church will be glorified, which is expressed by when he says that before his elders is glory. The elders represent the government of God's people. And in Israel, you know.
Elders served. Guess what? They also serve where? in the church. Look at look at the book of Uh Revelation chapter 4.
Look at verse 2, and this is where we have the fulfillment of this prophecy. Listen to what John says. He says, immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and mine sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting like a Jasper and he who was sitting wasn't like a Jasper stone and the Sardius inappearance. And he says, there was a rainbow around the throne like an.
emerald in appearance. And listen. And around the throne were 24 Elders And I saw 20 more elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. That's the glorification of the church. That's what John sees.
And he s has the 24 Elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne. He says, and they will worship him, who lives forever. Ever endeavor. And will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. Mm-hmm.
For you created all things. And because of your will, they existed and were created. What does Isaiah give us here? He gives us the vision of God. Christ reigning in glory, grounded in the faithfulness of God's promise which cannot fail.
He's giving hope. In the midst of darkness, God assures his people through the prophet Isaiah that despite this cataclysmic judgment that is coming upon the earth. Despite that, Justice, peace, and hope prevail because the king comes and the church is glorified. That's the promise of the king. Look at what Luke shows us, we heard from Luke.
He shows us the size of the king. People say, hey, when is Jesus going to return?
Well, nobody knows. You know, no, but Luke says, Jesus says, the gospel in Luke, we have signs. We have signs. We can see that he says our redemption draws near. Luke's gospel isn't like Isaiah's apocalyptic imagery, where we have these signs in the heavens that began to occur.
Great distress happens. amongst the nations. Luke chapter 21, verse 25. This is what Jesus says: He says, just before his return. He says they're going to be signs and sun And moon, just like Isaiah said.
Signs in the stars, and he said, as on the earth, dismay among the nations. perplexity at the roaring of the sea and other waves. Listen to this, men fainting from fear and expectation of the things which are coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And like Isaiah, this architect. image of terror reflects this final disturbance of the entire earth coming under judgment.
But look at this contrast. But at Luke gives to us when this happens, just like Isaiah prophesied. He says verse 26, men fainting from fear and of expectation of the things which are coming. But he says that's not the experience of God's people. In contrast.
Jesus says, when you see these signs take place, when you see these cosmic, cataclysmic... Earth-shaking events began to take place. He said, has that a cause for fear? You don't have to faint from fear like the world's fainting. He has, in contrast to that, he says to God's people, he says, look up.
Lift up your heads. Why? Because your redemption draws nigh. Your glorification, Isaiah said, your glorification is about to occur. Not just your body, but the whole of creation.
This is what the Apostle Paul talks about in the 8th chapter, Romans. He speaks on this hope of this redemption. And you might be thinking, but wait a minute. Paul says, for example, that I've already been redeemed. Spiritually.
But there are two aspects to our redemption. The spiritual aspect. And the physical aspect. And that's great hope. That's great hope.
Why? Because physically, Paul says, you're going to hear, we groan physically with all of creation. Why? Because our bodies are not yet perfect.
Now, the older I get. Yeah! Yeah. I don't feel like I did when I was 20 when I could do 360 dunks. And play basketball and wrap it down the court.
And in my mind, when I go to Stewart's basketball practice, I'm like, yeah, I can do that. And I get out there on the court and I start to do those things I used to do, and I start to go up for that big dunk, and I'm like, I'm about two inches off the ground. What happened to my vertical? And it's like, oh, my knees. They just.
You're you you you're not quite what you were. uh a couple of decades back. But Listen to what the Apostle Paul says. He speaks on this hope of this redemption. He says, not only that, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we have this spiritual redemption.
Our sins are forgiven. We bent Redeem. Right? Free from the slave house. of sin.
He says we have these first fruits of the Spirit, but he says we ourselves groan within ourselves. We groan. Why? Because he says, eagerly waiting for the adoption. What is that?
The redemption of our body. And then he says, verse 24, for we were saved. In this Hope. Do you know what the hope of the gospel is? When I had to preach my uh father-in-law's funeral I can't believe it's already been over a year ago.
I got up in the church and I preached the gospel to them, and I gave them the hope of the gospel, and I went to. 1 Corinthians 15. And I preach resurrection, the new creation. And after, I had a person come up to me and say, Thank you for clarifying something for me about the gospel. And I said You're welcome.
What got clarified? And the person said this, they said, And this person was 85 years old. And the person looked at me and said, My ho Wife. I have dreaded death. And I have dreaded what's after death because I don't want to be some kind of mystical spirit floating on a cloud playing a harp.
That just has never sounded appealing to me. But you just gave me hope. Because the hope of the gospel is a new creation. It's not this. Cool.
Uh uh this Earth is not my home. I'm just passing through up to the way beyond the blue, right? And that person has given me hope because I think it sounds pretty cool to be in a perfectly glorified creation with a perfect body. And I kind of like that. That's what we confess each week in our church.
People say, well, what is all this stuff you guys do in your church? I don't get it. Listen, we confess the Nicene Creed, and here's why, each week. Because we say we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. week after week after week.
And where is the hope of that shown to us? At the Lord's table. The Lord's table is what theologians call a proleptic. It's saying that it is anticipating something that is going to happen. You get to participate in it now as a foretaste.
Each week at this table, what does it say? You proclaim the Lord's death. It's a visible gospel preaching substitutionary atonement to you for the forgiveness of your sins. When? Until the Lord.
Comes again. Each weekend Sunday, church is Advent. Pointing you to the future, to the hope of the gospel, which is new creation, resurrection, the redemption of your body. Who wants a glorified body? I'm gonna be able to beat LeBron James when I'm glorified.
Yeah. Right? I'm going to be able to sing like Larnell Harris, who is my, you guys are probably too young to even know who Larnell Harris is, but he is just the best singer of all time. And I'm going to sing just like him when I'm glorified. But that's our hope.
New creation. No disease, no suffering, no wars, no chaos, no hopelessness, no burglar alarms. No presence. No courts. None of that.
Perfect justice. perfect righteousness, perfect community, perfect relationships, perfect joy, perfect fulfillment, perfect fruit. Right? Like, you've never tasted an apple like Adam and Eve tasted. Yeah.
Yeah. And they bit the apple, or it wasn't an apple, but you know what I'm saying. But they bit the apple, they ate from the fruit and bitten tree, and everything was spoiled. You got spoiled rotten fruit. Never again.
Everything exactly, exactly like God intended from the beginning in the garden. It's the Garden of Eden glorified. Exactly, God's design, how He has designed it. God's people groan and long for the completion of Christ's saving work. And Paul says, this hope.
He says, we were saved in this. Hope. We were saved in it. Then, and by the way, that's the message of Advent right there. Saved in this hope.
And then you're going, well, I don't know how can that just sounds a little bit too good to be true, right? Listen to what Jesus says at the conclusion of this. He says, Jesus assures us that while this present world is passing away in its fallen condition, he says his words will never pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away. But Listen, but my words will not pass away.
What is he saying? This present condition that heaven and earth are in this fallen condition that's gonna go away A new heaven, a new earth is going to come, and you're going, Well, I know. Jesus says, He assures us. My words, what I have promised is going to happen. It's never going to pass away.
My words, my promises cannot fail. fail. You can trust the word of God. When he makes a promise, he fulfills it and he sees it to its completion. This brings us to the certainty of his promises given to us.
That gives us hope. This brings us to Paul's teaching. In the book of Romans. Isaiah gives us the promise of the coming king. Luke tells us about the signs of the coming king.
And Paul tells us about the hope of the coming king. These apocalyptic visions of both Isaiah and Luke call us to look forward in hope to the consummation of God's promises. And you're thinking, but okay, Jesus said his words are not going to pass away, but how can I be sure? That his words will not pass away. How can I be sure that I can have the hope of this glorious future?
How can I be sure of my future redemption? The Apostle Paul takes us and he directs us to the scriptures. Look what he says in the book of Romans chapter 15, he says, for whatever things were written before. Whatever things were written before, what is he talking about? The Old Testament scriptures, Genesis and Malachi.
He says these were written for learning, four-hour learning. That we, through the perseverance and comfort of the scriptures, might have. Hope. There it is again. Isaiah said there's hope.
Luke said there is hope. The psalmist from Psalm 48 that we heard today, he finishes the psalm with what? The word of... Hope. Paul says you can have hope.
How can you have this assurance of hope? that you have this glorious future. Paul says everything written in the Old Testament is for our benefit. Everything. Paul says, by immersing ourselves in the scriptures, we get two benefits.
Perseverance. and comfort which leads to and gives us Hope.
Now Look what Paul does. Look at chapter 15. Look at verses 8 through 12. This is very, very powerful. What how Paul does this?
Chapter 15, look at verses 8 through 12. Paul directs us to Old Testament, God's promises in the Old Testament, which reveal to us this grand narrative of Scripture. The scriptures that he quotes shows us that in the midst of impossible circumstances, God is faithful to fulfill his promises to his people. He tells us that in Christ's first advent, his first coming, God has fulfilled his covenantal promise to Abraham. From Genesis chapter 12, verse 3.
Where he said, Abraham, through your offspring, your seed, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Now, if you go back, we've looked at this before, if you go back to the story of Abraham, that is an impossible situation. That is, is as dark as you can possibly get. Because Paul says back earlier in the book of Romans chapter 4 that Abraham was past childbearing days and he says his body was as good as dead. And he says that Sarah's womb was dead. And God comes to this couple.
Who is way up in years, whose bodies are not redeemed yet. And they can't have children. And God says to Abraham, you're going to have a son. And in your Offspring, your son. All the families of the earth are going to be blessed, justified through faith in this.
offspring.
Now If you're about 100 years old. What do you think are the chances you're going to have a son? You're not going to have a son. But if God makes a promise. in a possible situation.
The situation is not dependent upon its ability to bring about the promise. Guess what that situation is dependent upon? The God who promises. And this is what Paul directs us to. He shows us these scriptures.
That in the midst of seemingly impossible circumstances, God is faithful to fulfill his promises. And so from the beginning, the scope of God's redemptive plan included not just Israel, but Gentiles, all of us here today. And just give me a little bit of a clue. It's impossible for any of us to be brought into the kingdom of God here today. It's impossible because we're like Abraham and Sarah's body dead spiritually in our sin.
We cannot enter into the kingdom of God because we're not righteous. It's impossible. But Paul highlights in these verses, in chapter 15, how Christ became a servant to the Jews to confirm the promises to the patriarchs. Who were the patriarchs? The fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
What promises that through Abraham's son, through his family, through his offspring, the whole world will one day be blessed? And so by doing this, God has opened up a way of salvation to Gentiles who are grafted into God's covenant family. And through Christ, Paul says here, all God's people, Jew and Gentile from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people are united in worship and great hope for the future. And so Paul says, listen to these fulfillments. Verse 8, I say, Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers.
Christ's first advent confirmed God's promise. It confirmed that God is faithful, that when He makes a promise, the future is certain and secure. You can have hope. Based upon his past performance of his promises, you can have hope for his future performance and what he's promised for the future. Do you see what Paul's doing here?
And because Christ became a servant to the circumcision, that's to the Jewish people. Why did he become a servant? Can you? We prayed about that this morning, right, Wayne? Think about this.
God Eternal God took upon Himself flesh. and became your servant. Do you understand how shocking that is? The eternal God humbles himself, and he's born in an animal-feeding trough. In humility and filth.
To serve you. Why? To confirm God's. promises that he made to Abraham. 4,000 plus years ago.
God is faithful. And your future is certain, and there's always hope, because God is a God of promise and performance. What he promises, he performs, and he does it through the sending of his son Christ, who took on flesh to earn for us what we cannot earn for ourselves, which is entrance into this kingdom to have redemption. The resurrection, the new creation. And so, just like the people of Isaiah's day, as we wait for the consummation of our salvation, as Paul says, we groan for this day.
We trust in a God who has promised to bring all things to consummation. And how do we know that He'll bring all things to consummation? Because the promise that He made to Abraham, Paul says He has fulfilled through the servant Christ. For the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy. That's us here today.
We are gathered here today glorifying God for his mercy to us in Christ, our servant. Therefore, I will give, and then he quotes the Old Testament passages, therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name. And again, he says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, rejoice, O Paramount Church, this is you, this is the fulfillment of God's promise. Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. Rejoice with the Jews.
Rejoice with Israel. God always meant it from the beginning, Genesis 12 verse 3, which Paul says in Galatians 3 verse 8, is the gospel beforehand, is the gospel in promise, the Abrahamic covenant, is the gospel in the Old Testament. He says, rejoice with his people. You are always meant to be included. because of the servant who has confirmed the promise.
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Let all the peoples praise him again. Isaiah says, There shall come from the root of Jesse, there shall come from a stump that looks like it is dead and gone. He who arises to rule over the Gentiles. And in him, and here it is, the Gentiles shall hope.
There's great hope. God is the God of promise in Christ. He has fulfilled his saving promises to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord has demonstrated in Christ His truthfulness and faithfulness to His promises. And as we look back to Christ's fulfillment of God's promises, Paul says we can look to the future with hope of the consummation of God's promises.
We're just like the people of Isaiah's day, looking forward, looking to say, Lord, we're groaning. Come, redeem us, redeem creation, bring the new creation, bring the resurrection, bring the hope of the gospel. We're just like those people, and you're saying, well, how do I know? How can I be assured this is going to happen? Paul says, oh, Gentiles rejoice.
He has confirmed. his promises to the fathers through sending Christ who is your servant. And if he fulfilled it then, he's going to fulfill it in the future. You can trust him because he's the God of promise. And he says, He has done this.
So that the Gentiles, so that the people of Jacksonville, Florida. In 2024, almost 2025, can you believe it?
So that the people In Jacksonville, Florida, at Paramount Church, might glorify God for his. Mercy. This apocalyptic hope of Isaiah and Luke is not distant, it's not abstract, it's deeply practical. It meets us right in the midst of our hopelessness here today. I know some of you out there are suffering physically.
I understand that. I pray for you all the time. I know myself what it is to suffer physically day in and day out, all the time. But there's great hope. There's great hope.
A day is coming. Redemption is drawing near. And as we wait for the return of Christ, we're called to live in the hope of God's word. United, Paul says, as a people of God, sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit. Look what he says.
He ends with this prayer.
Now May the God of hope, there it is again. You see, every passage today has been about this theme of hope.
Now, may the God of hope. fill you with what all joy and peace in believing What believing what his promises Right. Christ is your servant. He's confirmed it. He's going to do it.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing, so that you will abound in hope. And how can I abound in hope? Listen, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit. We abound in hope.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, who takes the word of God, the promises of God that Paul gives us here. And he takes that word. That's what With what we pray at the beginning of the service, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by what? The inspiration of your... Holy Spirit.
Take the Bible today that I'm about to encounter and by your Holy Spirit, cleanse my heart and give me hope. And the Holy Spirit takes His word, which is perfect. He takes the promises of the gospel which are perfect. He cleanses our hearts. He fills us with joy.
He fills us with peace. And we abound in hope.
So as we move through Advent, these readings remind us of the grand narrative of Scripture. Isaiah says we have the promise of the coming king. Luke echoes Isaiah's vision. He centers our hope on it. of our redemption in the coming of Christ in his first advent.
And he says, when these sighs begin to occur. While the world trembles in fear, God's people, in contrast, lift up their heads, lift up their eyes to the heavens, and they say, come quickly, Lord Jesus, our redemption draws near. The resurrection, the new creation is coming. And Paul tells us that as we await the fulfillment of God's promises. to the future.
We can live in hope, strengthened and encouraged by God who fulfills his promises to us. United in faith, glorifying God for his mercy, empowered by the Holy Spirit to abound. In hope. And that is a tremendously encouraging message for us in this Advent season, isn't it? Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, help us to abound in hope. We thank you that none of this. None of this great Hope that we have in the gospel is given to us because of anything that we've ever done. It's not about our performance, about your performance, it's about your promises and your confirmation to us and the sending of your Son. Who has performed on our behalf?
to give us this glorious future, this new creation, the redemption. of our bodies. The redemption of all creation. None of us based upon anything that we've ever done, but your mercy. We glorify you here today.
We glorify you for your mercy to us in Christ. who has become the servant to serve us.
So help us to Lift up our eyes. As we're about to knew here at your table, Lift up our hearts and give thanks. Look for the consummation of your great Gospel Promise. A new creation. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again.
This book may be just what you're looking for. with his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group.
Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
