The Gift Of Hope (Part 2) – 2 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Life can get pretty dark. War, economic stress, politics, all of these sap our sense of hope. The Bible tells of three key elements to our having genuine hope in this life, the promise of resurrection, the potential of rewards, and the certainty of Christ's return. Today, more about the gift of hope. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, there's not a lot of hope out there these days, especially in the news media.

You know, Dave, I could speak about the news media and point out the distortions, the lies, the deceptions. And of course, that happens almost across the board, so to speak, because we as human beings tend to pick and choose what it is that we want to believe. And that's why I think at the beginning of this brand new year, it is so important that we put our hope beyond this world and put our hope in the world to come, namely Jesus Christ. And I trust that all who are listening are going to continue to listen to this message because at a time of great confusion, it is indeed a message of hope, even as we have mentioned.

I'm holding in my hands a new resource for this month. It's entitled Conquering the Fear of Failure, Lessons from the Life of Joshua. You know, we're living at a time when there is a great deal of fear, and Joshua had his fears too. But God came alongside of him. God helped him.

And through failures and through successes and hills and valleys, he continued to have strength and hope in God. Now, for a gift of any amount, this book is available to you. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com.

That's rtwoffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. I want to thank the many of you who have supported this ministry. Thank you for helping us in the past year. We trust that you will continue to pray and to connect with us and to help us even as we enter this brand new year. But now let us be reminded once again of the gift of hope. And it's not just the resurrection of Jesus that gives us encouragement, triumphing over violence and death itself.

It is also our own resurrection, because he lives, we shall live also. What the cross reminds us of is one of the answers to what hope is, that it is possible for evil to become redemptive. It is possible for the violence that nailed Jesus to the cross.

It's not only possible, it's actual that the violence that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross turned out for our good and became a means of redemption, a means of a higher end. Well, you say, how does a massacre in a college do that? I don't have all the answers. I have some answers, but not all of them. And to people who grieve, we weep with those who weep and we don't come with a bag of answers in our back pocket, as if we can read the divine print and the footnotes of God.

We can't. But we do have this, the assurance that at one time God took violence and used it for his purposes, and we have the deep settled assurance that in ways we may not understand in this life, God will take even the violence and the insanity of men today and use them also for some higher purpose. And that's why the first reason to hope is the word resurrection.

There's a second reason to hope, and that is today, you get them all with the word are, and that is the word rewards, the word rewards. Now let's pick up the text in verse four. To an inheritance, we have been born again. This is first Peter chapter one, verses three and four, born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance that is, I love this, imperishable, can't be blown up by terrorists, undefiled. We defile ourselves through sin. In heaven there is no sin.

That's why only holy people can go to heaven, those whom God makes holy through Jesus. And it is undefiled. It is unfading. It's not like those flowers that you gave your wife for her birthday last year. This is unfading.

It doesn't last just for a day or two. Our inheritance is fixed and unalterable and your fingers on the text, isn't it? You'll notice it says kept there in verse four kept in heaven. The word is guarded. It's guarded in heaven just for you. Do you realize that there is a place in heaven, a room that only you can enter and a crown that only you can wear?

You're a believer. And did you know God is guarding it? Did you know that it is a place that is reserved in heaven for you? You say, well, isn't Jesus still working at it? Is it?

No, no, no. All the rooms are finished. It's all done. It's just waiting for your arrival. It is in heaven and it is kept for you and it is guarded by God. Heaven is the safest place in the universe. You don't think this world is safe? It's not, but I'll tell you when you get to heaven, it is safe. Now that's not all. All right. Look at what the text says.

This is enough to bless even somebody who's depressed this morning. You'll notice it says, and it's for those verse five who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation. Now I discovered that the word kept in verse four or guarded in verse four is a different Greek word than the word guarded in verse five. The word in verse five is a very strong word.

It was used for guarding a city. What he's saying is not only is our inheritance kept for us and guarded for us in heaven, he's saying that God is guarding you on earth so that you can't escape and lose your salvation. God is guarding you on earth and also protecting you so that your inheritance that is waiting for you, you're actually going to make it so that it is not only that the inheritance is up there for us guarded, but we are guarded to make sure that we get it. If we were not guarded by God, protected by him, let me tell you something. Satan would have us for lunch. He'd have us for lunch, but we're guarded by God. This morning we as elders were praying for a young woman for her health. We anointed her with oil, but we also prayed against some evil spirits that are troubling her. You know, there are people like that and they're not crazy.

They're not crazy. Satan wants to get us and harass us through temptation and through his wilds, but praise God we are guarded all the way to the heavenly city. What are the three R's? First of all, resurrection. Secondly, rewards. They are reserved in heaven for us.

Is there anything more secure? No wonder the hope is called a living hope. And now, return. You'll notice it says that it is guarded for us in heaven, ready to be revealed in the last time. I take that to be the return of Jesus. Well, you say, well, Pastor Lutzer, when people die now, when Christians die, don't they go to heaven and already enter into their inheritance?

Yes, they do, but not completely. Those friends of yours that you buried, that husband, that wife, that child that is in heaven today does not yet have its complete resurrection body. It has an intermediate body that is able to function and the soul takes on the characteristics of the body, but it is not the final redemption. No special rewards have yet been given for faithfulness on earth because the judgment seat of Jesus Christ is still future. So what he's saying is that the full redemption will be revealed when Jesus comes at the last time.

But you know what that also means? That also means that all people are going to be raised, the just and the unjust. Jesus said that there is a resurrection unto life and a resurrection unto damnation. And what that means finally is that justice, which eludes us on earth, is going to be meted out in heaven. There's a time coming when all will be judged with such accuracy that we will marvel at the judgment of God and we will sing throughout all of eternity, just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints, because justice will be answered. And the parent that abused a child will be judged for that abuse. And then the way in which the child handled the abuse and the crimes that perhaps were committed as a result, that all that we can't begin to sort out is going to be fully understood and answered by God. Either the judgment of people falling fully upon what Jesus did on the cross or bearing their own, in either way, God will be shown to be totally, meticulously just. Where does this leave us?

Few observations that should send us on our way rejoicing, if I might say so. First of all, please know this, that this inheritance that I've talked about is not something that we earn. I know I used the word rewards because they are rewards, this place in heaven, but it's not earned. God is so good, the way in which we enter it is not by works, but by birth. You'll notice it says, we are born again, verse 3, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

That's the way you enter into it. You're born again of the Spirit. This is the new birth. This is what you receive when you receive Jesus Christ as your savior, when you say, I trust him fully for my redemption. Wasn't that a wonderful testimony that we had in the baptistry just a few moments ago where a man said that he thought he was a Christian and then attended our class on evangelism and discovered that he had never believed the gospel.

It's amazing how people stumble over its simplicity. Those of you who are listening here, those who are listening by radio or on the internet, we've heard from 80 different countries of the world, right where you are now, you can say, I receive the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus. Give up the weapons of a rebel and receive Christ and you'll be caused to be born again and have the same hope we all have. Here at the Moody Church, the invitation for people to believe in Jesus is as wide as the gospel.

Whoever wills comes. Secondly, notice that the way in which we handle life until we get to our inheritance is by understanding the difference between time and eternity. Notice what the text says. In this verse six, you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials a little while. You say, oh, it's so long. My father is 104. He thinks he's dying every day. And then the next day he still does the dishes. He's been going through this for months and he thinks it's long.

My mother's 98 and she thinks it's long. They are so anxious for heaven they can just taste it. You know, whatever they want.

They certainly don't want to be resuscitated if they go to a hospital. Don't interfere with my glorification, please. Peter would say to my father and my mother, it's a little while. Eternity is coming. Eternity is coming. It's just a little while, 104 little while. It's a fleck.

It's a fleck, the spectrum of eternity. Be faithful. Now you say, oh, but why do I have so many trials? You know, it's nice, you know, to talk about, you know, going to my inheritance, going to my reward, but why the trials? The text tells us. And do you know what it says?

This is so exciting. It says you are going through various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, might be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. What he's saying is the reason that you are looking around and in the world seeing no good reason why you should believe in God, no good reason why you should trust Christ. All that you have is one tragedy after another, one unanswered prayer after another, and there's no reason for you to believe that God cares. And yet you go on believing his bare word. When Jesus comes, your faith is going to be to him more precious than gold, which perishes because gold eventually perishes, but your faith does not, and it's going to be a present that you will give to Jesus at his appearing that he will highly value.

Wow. So we keep on, and we keep on with a lively living hope. Now, the real bottom line is this, my dear friends, my moody church people. The bottom line is this, that we are God's ambassadors of hope. What do we have to offer the city of Chicago? What do we have to offer it? Hope, the gospel, transformation of life, connections. Isn't it interesting? We were begun by evangelist Dwight L. Moody, who began with the Sunday school where he had a thousand boys, eventually boys and girls, and he began to attend a church and the church didn't want them because, you know, when you've got kids, they do terrible things.

They cut up things and they make marks all over the place. And so they said, we don't want you. And so DL Moody began a Sunday school. And from that Sunday school, Moody church was founded. DL Moody offered to those boys and girls, hope. Isn't it fitting that a ministry begun by DL Moody and children, isn't it fitting that we should build a Christian life center whose entire second floor is devoted just to the children of Moody church and the children of Chicago.

Isn't that fitting? Praise God that this building is being built not for my children, but for the children of unseen generations for the glory of God to give children hope. Isn't it fitting that we should have a woman in this church who has begun a ministry, nearly, what is it? 400 children presently, not to mention all those that have gone on before. And the vision is for a thousand. Isn't it fitting that we should say to the children of Chicago, we're here to give you hope.

There's a better way. God loves you and God cares. Isn't it fitting that we should have a woman in this church who began a ministry called shared hope and shared hope. We adopted a refugee center in Osiri and we sent five or six semi truck containers full of supplies to this particular camp and that we built them a church and we built them a women's center so that women would have a safe place.

And then when they needed blankets, when the cold season came, did you know that we bought them 10,000 blankets, 10,000 blankets. Why? Because we wanted to say to a different community in Angola and in Osiri, we are here to offer hope. Isn't it fitting that we should be here in the city of Chicago thanking God for a strong church that we can touch the world and that through touching the world we can give people hope. Isn't it fitting that we should have sometime in the near future a course called Christ and Culture that will help people to better understand the gospel and be better equipped to understand our culture and to put the two together.

Why? So that we can more widely disseminate the gospel and give people hope. Isn't it fitting that we should have an equipping center that will enable people to connect and to learn and to understand so that we can reach more people with a message of hope and we can say to them you can have also a living hope, a living hope. And those of you who are going to be in offices tomorrow, in banks, in hospitals, in factories, in classrooms, isn't it wonderful that you can say to people in the midst of this world that is so filled with despair I have an anchor for the soul most sure and steadfast.

And then if they ask you well what did the pastor preach on on Sunday? You say oh the three R's. Really? What were they?

Education rewards and return. We are above all people in the midst of a broken world a people of hope. I love to tell that story in Montana. Now I need to tell you that we've been to Montana. You know my wife and I and kids and ain't much going on in Montana.

Some of the folks out there bless them I think it takes them an hour and a half just to watch 60 minutes. I mean it's a whole it's a whole different time frame. But in the 1850s there was a gold rush in Montana. You've heard the story and there were people who found gold in the riverbed lots of it. But some of their number had died their tools were all broken they were hungry they said let us make a pact among ourselves and let us make this pact that we will not tell anyone where the gold is. We'll go back to the town we'll get new tools and new supplies and then we'll come back and we'll get all the gold for ourselves.

Ten days later after being in the town they left early one morning and 50 of the townspeople began to follow them. And they began to have a little huddle among themselves and say did you tell did you tell did you tell nobody told but the townspeople said we know that you found gold because of the smile that was on your faces. My friends in Jesus we have found gold. And we're going to offer the gift of hope in the city of Chicago. In a broken world to say that there is hope and I say to you today in the broken world there is hope. My friend this is Pastor Lutzer if you're a believer on Jesus Christ will you share that gift of hope with your neighbors and your friends even as we begin a brand new year let us begin with a new sense of commitment a new sense of focus and a reminder of the fact that if we trust in Jesus in the end everything is going to be okay. I'm holding in my hands a new resource for this month it's entitled conquering the fear of failure lessons from the life of Joshua. Now as I look through this book I notice the various chapter titles the reminder of the fact that there are times when it seems as if faith doesn't work we have to listen to the right voice what happens when we listen to the wrong voice I think that you'll be given guidance but beyond that I've written this book to increase faith that is to say my faith your faith and to believe God for greater things even as we think about the brand new year. For a gift of any amount this book can be yours here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 I'm going to be giving you that contact info again but I want to emphasize a word of thanks to all those of you who have supported this ministry you've supported it last year we're so deeply grateful for that and of course as you often hear me say the ministry has expanded but in addition to that we trust that you'll continue to support us with your prayers and your gifts even as we enter this brand new year so remember ask for the book conquering the fear of failure lessons from the life of Joshua and here's what you can do go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 right now go to rtwoffer.com you can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614 running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life loneliness it's a terrible thing we're all meant to interact with others and having a place to do that is crucial for the believer that place is the church and it's here we can receive what Pastor Erwin Lutzer calls the gift of belonging next time on running to win the second of the four gifts we can't live without plan to join us this is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church.