Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. We're introducing our series on hope. And whenever you introduce a series the first week or two, Always has to be to lay some foundation.
You can't preach things out of context, and you've got to give the context. And I will say this when it comes to hope. You and I have to understand what hope is. To know if we need it, to know if we have it, to know if we've lost it, to know if we're struggling with it. There is a great confusion about what hope is.
And so today, we're gonna deal with that subject so that hopefully today, when you leave, at least you'll know. What hope is? And why it is so important. Our text verse obviously is from the Book of Lamentations, and you've heard it a lot recently. Brother Scott Pauley, his whole revival was out of the book of Lamentations.
I'm not going to be preaching his material or anything like that, and we will probably deal at some point with Lamentations, but there is this decision that you and I as Christians have to make in our life. And the decision is this, therefore. Will I hope? And the Lord. Let me put it this way.
Through this series I can't give you hope. Through this series, you need to understand you already have it. If you've been saved. by the grace of God. You didn't come here to get hope, dear friend.
If you know Jesus as your Savior, you already have it. you might just not know it. And so we're going to talk about that today and lay some groundwork, but I hope it'll be interesting to you. I don't want it to be overly teachy, but at the same time, you need to get the information. And I, as a pastor, am not called to motivate you.
God can do that on his own. I am called to preach God's word to you, and that's what we're going to do today. Let's pray. Lord, I love you. Thank you for all that you've done.
Thank you for allowing me to get back to this pulpit. Lord, I've traveled thousands and thousands of miles in the past few weeks. Um Lord, it's been a privilege. To be involved in missions still yet this summer, Lord. We made a decision as a church.
As a staff, our theme this year That we were going to get into the community. I already think about talking with a person last week that saw online about our church in the park. and thought not only that it was a good idea, and how God blessed it, but have decided that that's what their church is going to do in a different state. Thank you, Lord. And so, Lord, I just pray you'd help us.
Made a desire to become more missions-minded, although I feel like we've already tripled our missions program in these last six, seven years. But Lord, we want to go even further. We believe that our time is short.
So I pray that you would give our people a vision for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Now, before I can even deal with the subject of hope, we have to talk about how you get there. How do you even have hope? Because if you're saved, you already have it in you.
So let me show you in this passage in 1 Peter chapter 1. And Brother Frank read verses 18 through 21 with us.
So you've already read it.
So let's jump right into it. Number one, in this passage, you need to see that we're told what could not redeem. In order for us to understand how we can be redeemed, we are told how we cannot be redeemed. Look at verse 18. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, things that can be corrupted.
And by the way, that's a lot of things that can be corrupted.
So let's look at this. Notice first, we're told in this passage, you cannot buy salvation. It says you were not redeemed with corruptible things like what? Silver and gold. All the money in the world can't buy you salvation.
All the money you can give to the church, you can give to causes, you can give to televangelists, you can give to the dogs with boogies in their eyes on the commercials. You can give all the money, you know, with the sad song and the Sarah McLaughlin singing in the background. You can give and give and give and give and give if you want to, but dear friend, you cannot be redeemed with silver and gold. You can't buy salvation. Notice what he says.
Secondly, he says, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. Vain conversation means your lifestyle. He says, you cannot be redeemed with corruptible things like money and like yourself. What does it mean? He's saying here, you cannot buy salvation.
Secondly, you cannot earn salvation. You can't be redeemed because of your lifestyle, because you do enough good things, because you follow traditions, because grandpa did this, dad did this, I did this. And dear friend, may I say something at this church? I try to be respectful. You got to understand, I was raised as conservative as you can be raised.
And I got one hand on that, and I got one hand to the next generation. But I'm going to tell you something about this church, and you don't have to have me as your pastor, but I am much more interested in this church about the truth than I am tradition.
So don't tell me, don't come with me just because Grandpa didn't sing this song. That doesn't help me one bit. I am more interested in truth rather than tradition. And he said this: you can't earn salvation because of the tradition of your fathers or because of your vain convert, your vain lifestyle. You can't buy it.
You can't earn it. You can't just be a good person. You don't get saved because you go get baptized. You don't get saved because you give money or you do good things.
Well, preacher, I think I've been a good enough person. person and I've done a lot more good things than I've done bad things. Congratulations, that's wonderful. But that has nothing to do with redemption. It has nothing to do with salvation.
You can't be redeemed with anything that's corruptible. And dear friend, you and I are corruptible. Just look at our politics. By the way, let me just say this about our hope. We're going to preach about hope.
I am so thankful this year, especially. I am so thankful that my hope. is not based on Donald Trump or Joe Biden. My hope isn't based on either one of them. And you better make sure your hope isn't in either one of those men.
Because I'm going to tell you something, if my hope was wrapped up in that, I would be in trouble. Yes, sir. is in the Lord. Can I have an amen right there?
So now you still ought to vote for the right things, but that's not what I'm saying. I am saying that's not my hope. That's not the basis of what I have to hope for. Notice this: what could not redeem, you can't. Buy salvation, you can't earn.
salvation. Notice secondly he says, well this is what can redeem. Look at verse 19. But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
So, very quickly, this verse is fantastic with doctrine, okay? Number one, I want you to see: I cannot be redeemed, I can't earn it, I can't buy it, I can't be redeemed by that.
So, what are you redeemed by? Notice first, he says, precious blood. And it's the precious blood of Christ. That's why it's precious, it's because it was His blood. Can I have an amen right there?
You are not redeemed because of anything you've done. You're redeemed because Jesus shed his blood for your sin. Make sure you understand that. It's in Christ and Christ alone. Not just precious blood.
Notice, secondly, a perfect lamb. He said, as of a lamb without blemish or without spot. Listen to me, Jesus' blood being shed for you on the cross would have not saved you at all if he had ever committed one sin. Just as, and you've heard me say this a thousand times here, almost as amazing to me of the suffering and the shame that he went through on the cross, even more amazing to me is that for 33 and a half years, he faced everything Satan threw at him, being God and man, and he never sinned once. It was precious blood.
from a perfect lamb.
Okay, notice thirdly, he is our prophesied Redeemer. Look what he says in verse 20: who verily was foreordained. Before the foundation Of the world. Did you hear that? He was ordained to be our Savior.
Before man ever committed the first sin. Listen, Adam and Eve. We're the first ones. That's the foundation of the world. What does this verse say?
He was foreordained before. The foundation of the world. Can I tell you something today? Before there was ever a sin, there was a Savior. It was already in the works.
When Satan fell from heaven, we all knew what was going to happen, and God knew that there was going to be a battlefield called earth, and that's where it was all going to be taken care of one day. And obviously, sin, Satan is the prince and power of the air. But on earth, Jesus predicted, Jesus was predicted, Jesus was involved in creation, he was the Savior, He was foreordained before that. It was precious blood from a perfect lamb, and He not only that, He was literally a promised Messiah and a prophesied Redeemer. Which gives us obviously to verse 20.
the prophesied Messiah part. who have In these days. In these days, And not only that, these last times. Wait a minute, this is th this is... This is tons of years ago.
Why did they call them the last days? Because we're in the last days. What does it say? He was manifest. Jesus came in these last times.
for you. He was prophesied that he would come. And he came. You are not redeemed because you can buy it or you can earn it. You're only redeemed because of these four things.
Precious blood from a perfect lamb who was the prophesied Redeemer, and he came as the promised Messiah. That's how you're redeemed. You say, Preacher, what does this have to do with hope? It has everything to do with hope. I woke up four of you there.
Thank you so much. Notice number three. what that redemption creates.
Now look at verse 21. Who by him, Jesus, Do you believe in God? That raised him up from the dead. and gave him glory. That your faith And hope.
might be in God.
Now, notice that redemption, when you and I are saved, it creates what?
Well, the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith. But the Bible also says we move from faith to faith. What does it mean? When you got saved, that created two things in your life. It created faith.
and it created hope. Are you with me so far? Say amen. You don't have to understand it, but just so you heard what I've said, say amen.
Okay, what does this mean? Look at this. Who by him do believe. That's faith.
So, notice what it says here. What is faith? Notice this: who by him do believe? Faith is believing, faith is being convinced of what? Notice, first, there is a belief in God.
By him, Jesus, we now believe in God. Remember what Hebrews said? We must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You can't go anywhere in your Christian life if you don't believe that He is.
So, first, we have a belief in God. That's faith.
Notice, secondly, faith is a belief in the resurrection. Listen, you can't be saved if you don't think your Savior was ever resurrected. You can't be saved if you think he's a dead God. He's a living savior, not a dead God. Look what it says.
That raised him up from the dead. I believe in God. I believe that he raised him up from the dead. Notice this, and gave him glory. What does that mean?
I believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It means that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose again, and ascended back into where? Glory. He gave him glory. The finished work of Jesus Christ.
So when you and I got saved, our faith is the fact: I believe in God, I believe that Jesus raised from the dead, and I believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary. That's our faith. But notice what it says here. that your faith and hope second it creates hope. that your faith and hope might be in God So here's our conundrum today.
What is the difference? between faith and hope. All through the Bible, you'll find the two always right next to each other, but they're different.
So what is the difference? We're going to spend a little time here and we'll let you go, okay? The difference is this. Let me make give you the statements. I'll be saying this over and over again because I want to make sure you understand this.
Faith is centered in the past and the present. The now. Hope is always centered in the future. And I'm going to prove it to you. Look at verse 21.
Who by him, it's on the screen for you, who by him do believe in God that. We'll raise, no? That Raised. Past tense. My faith, believing it.
Why do I believe in God? Because He raised Him from the dead. Because of what's been done, my faith believes based on what I know, what I've been promised, what I've read, what I believe.
Okay, notice this. Look at the verse. Raised him up from the dead and. will give him glory. and gave him glory.
Past that your faith and hope might be Not was.
So I literally, my faith comes from what I know from the past. My faith is exercised in the present. But because of my faith, I have a hope for the future. Are you with me? I got to go through this.
You've got to understand this. Look at this verse. You might have never even really noticed this verse. Romans chapter 8, verse 24. Look at this.
Please read it. For we are saved by hope. What does this mean? The Bible says we're saved by grace through faith. True.
What it is saying here is that when we were saved, we were given hope at salvation. We were saved by hope. That is one of the crowning things that happens in our life when we get saved. We have a hope now that we didn't before we got saved. You hear me?
Yeah. We have a hope now that I'm saved that I didn't have before I got saved. We are saved by hope. Look at this. But hope.
That is seen. is not hope. Listen, if you're hoping for something that's right in front of you, it's not hope anymore. It's right in front of you. I mean, it would make no sense for me to say, hey, I hope Nick Farrington comes this morning.
A preacher, he's right in front of you. Oh, okay.
Well guess what? I don't have to hope that Nick will be here anymore. Nick's here.
So that's not hope anymore. Are you with me? So he says this, to hope for something that you see. is not hope. Look at the verse.
But if we hope for that we see not. Then do we with patience wait for it. Hope is patiently waiting for something. Hope is, I know it's going to happen, I believe it's going to happen, and I am going to patiently wait for it because I haven't seen it yet. Are you there?
It's all going to make sense in just a minute. Listen. We were given this hope and we were saved. For by grace are you saved through faith. The faith that I had in salvation creates a hope now in my life that is based on that faith.
My faith is now. My hope is in the future, and my hope in the future is based on the faith that I have now. If we already have something. We don't hope for it. But if we look forward to something that we don't have, we patiently wait for it.
Hope is that expectancy. That keeps our faith alive until that which we believe will happen happens.
Some of you were like, huh? Let me give you a passage. Faith is always in the now. Look at Hebrews 11 verse 1. Have you ever noticed this verse?
I've seen it all kinds of times, preacher. Look at it.
Now Faith. is the substance of things hoped for. The faith is now. The hope comes later. The faith says it's here now.
The hope says it's coming in the future. Notice this. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It means this, my faith says Jesus is coming again. That's my evidence now.
What's your evidence? He said it. But that creates a hope. That I know he's gonna take me to heaven. Are you with me?
Now here's what happens to a lot of Christians. You don't lose faith. You lose your hope. Mr. Preacher, how does that happen?
Well, I'm going to show you. Hope keeps your faith alive until those things You are believing for Are pulled from the spiritual realm. Into the natural well.
Now, this Hebrews 11 passage that we just looked at, notice the past tense here. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things. Notice this: for by it, By what? What happened? For by it, the elders obtained a good report.
Through faith, we understand that the world's. were framed. Past tense. I have faith because I see what God has done. We're framed by the Word of God so that all things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Past hence. Past hence. My faith comes from the past. and is exercised in the present. But my hope is always centered in the future.
Amen.
Let me go a little bit further than that. Let me give you a definition here. Faith is confidence or trust in something or someone that is not based on proof. but on promise. Hope is an optimistic attitude.
based on that possibility. Biblically speaking, faith says, whatever you're believing for. is here now. Hope says I believe It will happen. in the future.
Let me give you another verse. Jeremiah 29, 11. The Bible tells us to hope in the Lord. The Bible tells us that God has plans to give us hope and give us a future. Look at this verse, you know it.
Jeremiah 20, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you and what? Expected end. You're already expecting it. I already hope for it. God says, I desire to give you what you're already hoping for.
And I gave you that hope at salvation. Here's what's interesting. You say, well, then there's not really a whole lot of difference between faith and hope. What's interesting, nowhere in the Bible does it say hope brought a miracle. The Bible says faith brings miracles.
Hello? It wasn't by hope that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It says by faith he raised him from the dead. It wasn't hope that had Jesus feed the multitude. It was faith that Jesus fed the multitude.
All those acts are done in faith. The New Testament says, because Isaac was an heir of God's promises, Abraham believed that God would resurrect Isaac. before he even put him on the altar. Look at me, please get this. Abraham had faith.
To put his only son on an altar and get ready to kill him. He had that faith. Why? Because he had a hope. That God would bring an heir.
So, if I kill him, God's going to have to raise him up or do something different. But my hope is that God's going to take care of this. And because my hope is that I know God will take care of this, that gives me the faith to do something now. That's good. Yes, sir.
Are you here? Look at me. When you begin as a Christian to lose your hope, you begin to lose your faith. When you lose your hope of what God's going to do for you in the future, it begins to shake what you're doing now.
Well, this is a waste of time. You see, what does the Bible say? We've got to believe that God is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
So my hope says if I'm faithful and I serve and I keep teaching my class and I keep giving the gospel and I keep working here and I keep getting involved in ministry and I keep doing that, God's going to bless it. My hope says I know God's going to do that in the future. But if that begins to shake and you begin to doubt whether God will do that in the future, it's going to make you give up now.
So I need my hope for the future to keep my faith strong now. Let me give you this. Titus chapter 2. Verse 13. We're almost done, by the way.
Looking for that Blessed hope. What is that blessed hope? The glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. What does it mean? It means my faith is in Christ.
And because of that, My hope is. that he's coming again. Because my hope says he's coming again, guess what? My faith is exercised here by being faithful to him. I'm going to be faithful to the end because my hope tells me he's coming again for me.
If you got a little bit of an understanding, I hate to keep asking this, but I got to ask: if you understand what I'm saying here, say amen. You see, if you aren't convinced of your hope. then your faith now begins to shake. And it begins to alter how you live now. I'm going to show you in just a minute.
Now Jesus said he's coming again. Look at this verse: John 14:1. I'm going to prove my point here. Let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God?
Believe also in me. There's believe. Faith. You believe in God? Jesus said, believe also in me.
Faith. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
My faith is where in the first of the verse. My faith is in God. My faith is in Christ. And because of that, my hope is he's preparing a place for me. He's going to come back and get me one day.
Let me give you another verse, First Corinthians chapter fifteen. Verse 19, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Listen to this. If in this life only We have hope in Christ. We are of all men most miserable.
Do you understand? Hope has to be in the future. If it's just for the now, then the hope's not going to help you. If the only hope I have is in this life, I don't have much hope. And that's the problem a lot of Christians are trying to find hope in this life.
And that's why they are of all men most miserable. Anybody ever met an unhappy Christian? Why are you laughing? It would be easier to say if you ever met a happy one. Why are they miserable?
Well, they're just jerks. No, why are they miserable? Because they don't have hope. And because they don't have hope. Their faith now is shaken.
He said, if in this life only I have hope, Then I'm of all men most miserable. But look what he says. But now is Christ risen from the dead. And become the first fruits of them that what does that mean, firstfruits of them that slept? He is the first.
He resurrected himself. And he says, I'm the first of many. And when you're in Christ, that means because he rose from the dead, he can raise me from the dead.
So my faith is in Christ, but my hope goes way beyond this life. In fact, that's where my hope really starts. is after this life. If your hope is based on anything in this life, you're miserable. You're asking for misery.
And I'm going to prove it, and I'm going to show you at the end. Our hope has to be Way past. This life. Let me give you another verse. John chapter 14.
Yet a little while, Jesus The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this to-day? Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life for the through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ.
by faith as your Saviour. Romans 10.9 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name.
Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior? There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Saviour? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Crowin Baptist Church.
Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
