Hope 2021
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
The variety of ways we think about Christmas.
Some, it brings joy and excitement.
Others, stress or grief.
The commercialization of it all...
Lucy, “Look, Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.”
Part of why we do Advent services is to try to strip away all the extra stuff and get back to the reason…the birth of Jesus.
Jeremiah is addressing a difficult time for the nation of Israel, and as he speaks to them, he shares with them a message of Hope.
Despite Despair, Have Hope
Despite Despair, Have Hope
v. 31
“The days are coming...”
This is a phrase filled with hope because of the current situation for the nation of Israel.
Politically, the Babylonian threat. It would be during Jeremiah’s life that Jerusalem would fall to Babylonia.
Religiously, a brief revival under King Josiah, but after his young death, the kings of Judah led the nation away from obedience to God.
Jeremiah saw all of these factors and it broke him. The weeping prophet.
Yet, despite the despair, Jeremiah saw hope.
“The days are coming...” God would make a New Covenant!
This represented a new start for the people of God.
We all go through times of despair.
Sometimes the despair is false…outside voices that profit by you feeling despair.
Other times, the situations we face produce authentic despair. Just not sure where to turn.
Yet, when we trust God, we find that we can have hope.
God overcomes your hardships.
Despite Disappointment, Have Hope
Despite Disappointment, Have Hope
vv. 32-33
Jeremiah looks back on the state of the people of God.
The northern Kingdom of Israel had already fallen in 722 BC. Now, around 150 years later, the southern kingdom would fall.
These exiles were related directly to the spiritual condition of the people.
They rejected God and so God was allowing them to fall.
They rejected the God who had rescued them out of Egypt!
Rescued them and gave them guidance in how to live, but they chose their own way. Led to destruction.
The next step in God’s redemption of mankind goes to the next level of interaction.
First covenant was an external covenant written on stone tablets.
The New Covenant would be an internal covenant written on their hearts.
The heart is more than the emotional center of the person, it is the identity.
Jeremiah understood that the identity of his people was to be the people of God.
And he saw how they were all missing out because of their rebellion.
He understood how it should have been and so he was disappointed.
Sometimes when we are looking around, we wonder why our life isn’t better.
And we stumble into disappointment.
The way Clark Griswald in the movie Christmas Vacation builds up how he wants his family’s Christmas to be.
Even the lights on his house - he wants it to be bigger and better into an almost unattainable magnitude.
For him, it led to a lot of disappointment because reality was not lining up with what he wanted in his mind.
Your life maybe doesn’t look like what you thought it would - maybe you struggle with disappointment.
But, there is hope because
God is using you where you are.
Look around and see the purpose God is accomplishing in you right now!
Look for other ways that He can work through you in days to come.
Despite Disobedience, Have Hope
Despite Disobedience, Have Hope
v. 34
Jeremiah recognizes the root of the problem: sin.
Sin is disobedience to God’s Word.
At its most basic, when we break one of the ten commandments.
And, even though the bar is set extremely low, we have all sinned.
The Bible is clear in the way it describes our spiritual condition.
We are in rebellion to God. We have gone astray.
This sin separates us from God because He is holy, completely perfect.
So perfect that sin cannot be allowed in His presence.
This puts us in a difficult situation - we need someone else to rescue us from our sin.
And this is what Jesus came to do!
When He died on the cross, He said, “It is finished!”
He uttered that word because He had finished the work of salvation.
When you become a Christian, you are clothed with the righteousness, the holiness, of Jesus.
Righteousness is the “right” ness of Jesus!
It’s like He gives you His own cloak of perfection…and He took on your cloak of sin.
And when God looks at a Christian, He doesn’t see all the sin and disobedience. He sees righteousness.
Receive the righteousness of Jesus.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This morning, have you received Hope?
Now, as we’ve used that word, maybe you’ve had a different idea.
Some kids hope for a certain gift for Christmas.
Maybe a new phone or a video game or a certain toy.
Many write letters to Santa telling him what they hope to receive.
When we talk about hope, we aren’t using it in that way. Those are really wishes.
When we hope on something, it means we are expecting it to happen.
It’s like if you had a gift under the tree and you snuck in and looked at it.
And it was something that you really wanted!
But, now you can’t have it until Christmas morning.
This is the idea of hope in the Bible, the kind of hope we are talking about.
It is anticipating something that you know is going to happen!
Hope is joyful anticipation.
In Christ, you can have hope.
Receive it today.
And for you who are Christians, live in hope.