Sermon Transcript
Hi everyone. Today we begin a new summer series that’s going to focus on hope, future hope. And you know, in our world right now, we need hope. We need as much hope as we can get. We need hope for a better today and a better tomorrow.
We need hope for a better world. We need hope for a world that’s free of disease and injustice and inequality, a world with more love, more peace, more joy. We hope for a world free of hate and bitterness and suffering and evil. But in order for that to happen, we just need God’s help. If what’s happening in our world recently is teaching us anything, it’s teaching us that we ultimately can’t fix what’s broken.
And even if we can get it fixed, If we come up with a new vaccine or a more just society, it won’t stay fixed. What we fix is just temporary at best. What we need is a permanent fix. We need a new nature. We need a new focus.
We need a new life. We need a new start. We need a better future. We need one that will last forever. And that better future is what we’re going to talk about in our summer messages.
The topics we’re going to focus on are have the potential— believe this— they have the potential to not only change our future, but to change our world right now. In fact, it can change each and every one of us right now. And God knows that we all need help. We all need to change. We’re all fallen.
We’re all sinful. We say and do stupid things. We hurt one another. We kill one another. If not literally, we do it with our words, with our thoughts, our intents, our disdain.
Our judgmental spirits. If ever there was a time that we needed to talk about the future, now’s the time. Because— and don’t miss this— our view of the future will impact how we live in the present. It’s impacting us right now in how we treat one another, in the anxiety, in the stress that builds up in us, in our feelings of despair, and how we use our time. We just need a better today.
And the better today is is tied to our beliefs about the future, and specifically our beliefs about Jesus’ promised coming, which sadly is tied to something that many of us hardly ever think or talk about anymore. And I say anymore because there was a past day when people gave a lot of thought and a lot of attention to Jesus coming back to earth. But for the most part, that’s just not the case in today’s world where people give little thought or attention to Jesus’ promised return. I’m thinking that may be changing with the uncertain impact of COVID-19 on our lives and the tragic volatile circumstances that our country is now dealing with. But even now, you know, in the midst of all of this, I’ve not heard anyone except for Bernice, my wife, and Daniel Kang— Bernice talking about the future and Jesus coming, Daniel Kang singing about it in a song that he put out on Facebook this week.
But, you know, we just aren’t thinking about or talking about or really singing about our present in light of Jesus’ coming. When I was in high school and college, people talked about Jesus coming all the time. It was a frequent topic of conversation among believers and even unbelievers. Many of you old-timers like me will remember Larry Norman’s song, I Wish We’d All Been Ready. And you might also remember Hal Lindsey’s book, you know, The Late Great Planet Earth.
Have you read that? I read that back in the early 1970s. It was published in 1970. I was a junior in high school when I read it, and I’ll tell you, my excitement about Jesus coming just jumped sky-high. And even when I got to college, my belief in Jesus coming was so high it impacted how I felt about going to college and the career path I should take.
When I started college, I thought, you know, I’m going to end up in a career in architecture. But that all changed during my first 2 years of college when I had, let’s call it, an end-time awakening that was connected to Jesus’ promise of a new heaven and a new earth. And I can still remember thinking about whether or not, in light of that, I should be giving my life to building buildings that I remember thinking that are going to one day burn up, or would it be better for me to build up people who could in the end, Lord willing, live with God forever and ever in the new heaven and new earth? I got to say, it just never dawned on me that I could do both of those. For me, it was kind of an either-or decision.
So hey, don’t let this impact your career decision, but that’s what hit me. And my thoughts put me on a whole different career path, and it gave me a new passion to do all I could to help others come to faith in Christ and come to love the Lord now and live ultimately with the Lord forever. At that time, for me, I just felt like my time was limited to actually be able to help people do that. I even thought that Jesus might come before I finished college. I’m not kidding you.
That possibility was so much a part of my thinking that when I went off to college, when I left Fresno and went to college in Santa Barbara at Westmont College to prepare myself for working with people, I was determined to not just go to college. I wanted to do ministry in the Santa Barbara community while I was in college, so if Jesus came back before I graduated, I would have at least already done a few things for the Lord in helping others come to love Jesus Christ and, and love others as well. Well, as things turned out, Jesus didn’t come back while I was in college, so that opened up the door for me after college to take a job at a church in Fresno, California as a youth pastor. And that also made it possible for me to get married shortly after I was hired as this youth pastor at FBC Fresno. I asked Bernice, who I’d been dating for 3 previous years, I asked her if she would marry me before Jesus returns.
And she said yes. And now, you know, some 40-plus years of marriage later, we’re still in love. We still talk about and think about Jesus coming. And the hope that it gives us, and a hope that isn’t dependent upon man, but it’s dependent on God, a hope that changes how we live and what we live for. It impacts our purpose, our plans, our priorities, our perseverance in this fallen world, in this sin-plagued world.
And it changes, you know, how we connect with each other. And it can do all of that for you. It can end our racial animosity and hatred, and it can bring justice and shalom to our world. I mean, how does all that sound to you? We long for that, don’t we?
And while we long for that, we seek and we work for God’s kingdom to come on earth even as it already is in heaven. And while we work and while we wait, we also hang on to the hope of Jesus coming, a hope that he spoke about on several occasions, like the time when he told his closest followers, that he was going to die. Now just imagine that. That would upset you if you’re one of his followers. It upset them.
That was the last thing they wanted to hear from this person that they loved. So after Jesus said that, he added this: I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. Where’s that? Where was he planning on taking these guys? Well, heaven, the place where Jesus is right now, the place where God the Father and the angels lift.
Now, you know what hearing that did for these guys that needed hope in the midst of that situation. A situation that appeared hopeless. It gave them what it can give us. It gave them perspective and energy. It gave them incentive to not give up, to keep going, to make the most of their lives, to bring justice and mercy to all that they came in contact with that can do the same for us.
It can bring relief in the midst of this stress and trying times that we are facing right now. Now, you may be wondering, is there really a place out there somewhere called heaven? The answer is yes. In fact, we’re going to talk about that next week. That’s going to raise our hopes.
Is there really going to be a rapture? Yes, there is. We’re going to learn about that in this series. Will we be given new bodies, glorified bodies like Jesus? The answer is yes.
Will there be a day when the Lord rewards His children? Yes. Is there a coming tribulation that will be worse than anything that we have ever lived through? There is. That’s true.
It’s coming. Will there be a day when Satan and his demonic forces will be defeated? Yes. Will there be a new heaven and a new earth and a New Jerusalem? Can you imagine?
And the answer to that is yes. Will there be a day when everything is perfect? Listen, no more death, no more injustice, no more suffering, no more pain, no more heartache, no more bloodshed. And the answer is yes, there is a coming day of perfection. So we’re going to talk about all of that in this series over the summer months.
And today it’s connected to this, how the whole thing gets started, a hope that not only gives us hope for today, but a hope for a better future. But what that all is connected to is, first of all, Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ coming back. And that’s something that, you know, people, when you mention that, when you talk about that, they respond differently to that. My guess is you, like most, have heard about Jesus coming. But how has that thought, that belief, how has it impacted you?
How do you feel about it? Would you say you’re among those who have responded to Jesus coming with unbelief, indifference, or expectancy? Let’s talk about that. Unbelief. Many people, when they hear about Jesus coming, they basically say, I’m not buying it.
I don’t believe Jesus is coming back. It’s just another fairy tale, religious folklore. It’s just a spiritual thing. He’s not literally coming back. Have you ever passed buying on a stock that went public, you know, and then later on you regretted that you didn’t get in on it?
I mean, because it made a fortune for the people who bought it. Take for instance Amazon. May 15th, 1997, Amazon went public at the price of $18 per share. Now, if you had invested $10,000 on that day, your investment would be worth more than 1— No, not 1 point. $12 million today.
$12 million. That’s about $2,400 a share. Well, most of us didn’t make that investment. At the time, you know, we didn’t even probably give it much thought or any thought. After all, Amazon was just this online business store that got its start in Jeff Bezos’ garage in Bellevue, Washington.
Looked at that and said, I’m not buying that stock. Are you kidding? Well, that’s kind of how some people feel about Jesus’ coming. The fact is, I’m not buying response is a response that many have toward Jesus’ coming in spite of the fact that it was predicted. Peter, Jesus’ foremost follower, predicted that there would be a day when people would scoff at the stupidity of believing that Jesus will come again.
He wrote about it in 2 Peter 3:3-4. He said, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Some people think believing that Jesus is real and that His coming is a literal thing to this planet is just— it’s idiocy, something that, you know, only quacks and crazies would believe.
And they scoff at the thought, and they scoff at those who believe such, you know, nonsense. You may have heard others say, or you may have even said yourself, people have been thinking that Jesus was coming for ages, and they thought they saw the signs, but He didn’t come. So there’s really no reason to think he’s gonna come back now. In other words, some people base their disbelief, as Peter is saying, on what they see or what they don’t see in the world, an absence of what they would call God’s intervention in the world. You know, if there was a God who could actually control anything, the world would not be in the terrible shape it’s in right now, they might say.
Or the idea that Jesus is going to return and make things that are wrong right, It’s just ridiculous to them. And Peter says that their conclusion opens the door for verse 3 here to sinful desires, to sinful immoral living. This lack of belief in Jesus’ coming swings the door wide open for sin so that when Jesus’ coming is rejected, holiness is abandoned. Incentive for godly living, it just takes a nosedive. People are free— don’t miss this— people are free to do whatever they want.
Evil becomes a way of life. Everyone does what’s right in their own eyes. And the thing is, our world right now is waking up to the devastating consequences of that belief, of following after what you think or you feel is right instead of what God says is right. In fact, King Solomon, very wise when he wrote these words found in Proverbs 14:12, said, There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Unbelief leads to ungodliness, and ungodliness begets death and death and more death.
And we’ve seen enough of that recently, haven’t we? A belief in Jesus coming will cause a person to live differently. They’ll pursue that which is life-giving rather than that which is life-taking. And that belief will reap rich dividends. So would you say you’re among those who have responded to Jesus’ coming with unbelief?
I’m not buying it. How about indifference? Indifference is focusing on other things. I have more important things to think about than Jesus coming. Somebody who’s indifferent toward Jesus coming lives as if Jesus coming, it just doesn’t matter.
They may say they believe in Jesus coming, you know, someday. But his coming gets little attention, little focus, if any thought or any attention. What instead gets their attention? What are they focused on? Well, there’s many things you can focus on in the Scripture.
If you just look in the book of Revelation early on, chapter 3, John’s talking about different churches and how they lost their way. And there was a church there called Laodicea, and they had ended up with lukewarm beliefs at best. And that could happen to anybody, even church people. But why did it happen? What was it that turned them toward a lukewarm life?
Well, in Revelation 3:17, we’re told, you say, I am rich. This is the church at Laodicea. They were saying, I am rich. I have acquired wealth and I do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
What got their attention? The acquisition of wealth, making it, multiplying it, using it to buy anything and everything. In our day, you know, that could be so we could get homes and cars and clothes and golf clubs and vacations and more and more so that our pile of stuff grows and grows and grows. And as it grew among the church at Laodicea, other things shrunk. Their soul shrank.
It shriveled up. It died. It became indifferent toward God. And they couldn’t even see that they were wretched and pitiful and poor and blind and naked. It was a condition that came on them because they were consuming in their pursuit of building their own earthly kingdom in place of building and looking forward to the kingdom of God.
The well-being of their soul in building their own kingdom, focusing on that in indifference toward God, took a hit. On their spiritual lives. Fact of the matter, impacted every part of their life. A healthy biblical perspective on Jesus’ coming will save a person from that kind of condition, a pitiful condition. It really— but it comes down to focus, doesn’t it?
What we give our time to and our attention to for the betterment of our soul, for the betterment, not the detriment of our lives. I heard author Randy Alcorn give his thoughts a couple weeks ago. He was talking about somebody had asked him a question about some of the good things that had come out of COVID-19. First and foremost, he talked about the orientation, the reorientation he called it, of a focus on the family, that sheltering at home had brought, you know, families together in new ways. And he said that’s been so good in so many ways— meals and games together, creative activities.
Talks and walks and bike rides. It’s all been for the betterment, not the detriment. Well, indifference can be connected to what gets our attention. And right now, hopefully, with regard to family, we’re putting some more attention on the families, which has been so needed for quite some time. But indifference can also be the result of what doesn’t get our attention.
One of the telling signs of not consciously living in light of Jesus’ coming is what John brought into focus in the last chapter of Revelation, Revelation 22:17, where he said, and the Spirit and the bride say, come! And let him who hears say, come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. I mean, look at that.
He’s talking about the Spirit. Who’s the Spirit? Well, that’s God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is working in our world right now in people’s lives, and he’s inviting people to come to the one who is coming. He’s inviting them to come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
And then when a person comes to God through Jesus Christ, when they hear, as it says here, when they hear and they believe the good news, they in turn should be doing or will do what the Holy Spirit is doing, that is inviting others who are thirsty, whose souls are longing for water that could be quenched with the living water.
Their souls which are thirsty could be quenched by the one who is to come. And to believe and to receive the free gift of life that’s found in Jesus Christ is to change their lives. Well, our responsibility, and John is saying this, our responsibility, those who’ve come, is to take the gospel by word and by deed to whoever is thirsty as an important way of focusing our life on that which matters. In other words, in Revelation, there’s a big focus on the gospel going to everyone, to whoever, as it says here, to every tribe and every nation and every people and every language. Why?
Why would we take the gospel to everyone? Well, because God so loved the world, that’s everyone, and He commissioned us to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations. You know, one of the signs of somebody who isn’t indifferent to Jesus coming is the work of evangelism among all the peoples of the world. Evangelism here is described as inviting someone to come to the one who is coming. And it’s offering to those who are thirsty the water of life.
What a great picture. Have you ever done any kind of water distribution? I mean, how about lately? Have you ever freely passed out water? I mean, literal water, bottles of water to others before?
Our Phoenix church that I was at several years ago did this water distribution at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Annual Marathon in the city. It was easy to do this, and when you pass this water out, People eagerly received it. It met a need. People were appreciative because they needed water to keep going and finish this race. Without water, you know, in hotter than the Bay Area Phoenix, people were not going to make it to the end.
And so we didn’t want that to happen. So we as a church got together and we wanted them to keep going. We wanted to just, through an expression of kindness, show them our love. And so we freely passed out water. Well, friends, Jesus is coming, and he is the ultimate thirst quencher.
And his water, the water of life, is free. And for everyone who takes this water, a future— their future begins now, and it will be a future with the Lord forever. If we really believe Jesus is coming, we’re not going to be indifferent to doing the work of evangelism. In fact, the greater our conviction about Jesus coming and his soon coming, the greater our commitment will be to passing out the water of life to people everywhere before he comes. You know, my prayer, especially in light of what’s happening in the world right now, is that we would lead the charge of inviting people into God’s racially diverse family, that all might come into the priesthood of believers serving God our Father All of us collectively together through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Would you say, when it comes to Jesus coming, that you are among those who are unbelievers about that? Are you filled with unbelief? Or how about indifference? Or is it expectancy? I can hardly wait.
Is that you? This is the person like John that’s just longing for Jesus coming. They can hardly wait. They’re ready to give up anything in this present world in exchange for whatever he has planned for us when he returns. The last 2 verses that John wrote in the book of Revelation focus on last things, and he said this: He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. Now, is that a statement on John’s part of unbelief?
No. Indifference? No, not at all. Jesus’ I’m coming soon statement got from John an amen. Now, what’s an amen?
An amen is a statement of agreement. It’s a statement of acceptance. It’s to literally say, so be it. It is so. Let it be so.
I agree. It’s a statement of affirmation, confirmation. Let it happen. Let’s get the party started. Like Daniel’s saying this week, come, Lord Jesus, come.
Amen. Is that how you feel about Jesus coming? Could you give that an amen? Do you believe that Jesus coming will bring a better future, a preferred future, a better day for you and everyone else who loves God and wants a relationship with him now and forever? Now, you may be thinking, but I love my family so much, or, I really want to be married before Jesus comes, and the Bible says that there will be no marriage in heaven, or, you know, I love my friends too much.
I would just rather that Jesus didn’t come quite yet. I mean, we’re remodeling our house right now, and we want to enjoy it, and we’ve got this great trip planned, Lord willing, to New Zealand next year. Now, if some of those thoughts, you know, have been running through your mind, can I say this lovingly? You need this series. I need this series more than we think.
And I hope that over the summer months we’re going to begin to understand what Jesus coming really means. And one of the things that that, that means is that you, whatever it is you have right now, you take the best of everything you have on earth, the things that you love the most, and then if you were to multiply it a bunch of times, you still won’t even be able to come close to what you’re going to enjoy after Jesus comes. And you’re going to begin to experience at that time what we’ve only prayed for. At this time. Whatever is up ahead for us when Jesus returns, it’s going to be better than any of the things that we love the most about this world right now.
You say, well, I don’t even know if I could pray for Jesus coming. You know what? I’ll bet you have already prayed for Jesus coming. Have you ever prayed the Lord’s Prayer? You know it.
Say it with me. Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Now if you’ve prayed that prayer before or even now, and you meant it, you know what? You said amen to Jesus coming, to God’s coming kingdom. I mean, look at it again.
Focus is on heaven. Our Father who art in heaven and his kingdom that is going to come on earth as it is even in heaven. We’re praying it would come on earth right now. And you are asking God to deliver us from evil. Absolutely.
And for his kingdom and his power and his glory To be manifest now and forever and ever. And then you said amen to that. You said amen to God’s preferred and prepared-for future. And every time we pray that prayer and we give thought to Jesus’ coming, you know what it should do? It should put a huge smile on our faces, and it should fill up our hearts with hope.
It should give us all the more expectancy for Jesus’ coming. In fact, that word expectancy, does that mean anything to you? Does it conjure up in your mind joy, happiness, anticipation, excitement, enthusiasm, hope? Moms, moms, before you had children, can you remember having I can hardly wait feelings? I mean, why did you have those feelings?
Well, because you’re going to have a baby. And then you did. And that time of expectancy was amazing for you, wasn’t it? Didn’t it change how you lived? Did you pack a bag?
Did you prepare yourself for the birth of your baby? Did you have a baby shower? Did you live with an amen attitude? Did it lift up your spirits? Did it invigorate your soul?
Did it give you new love for God? Did it give you gratitude? Did you long for the day that your baby would be born? Did you tell others about your baby’s coming? Did you believe it was going to happen?
Did it happen? Are you glad you prepared? Do you get the point? Some of you may say, well, man, I don’t know if I’m ready for him to come because I haven’t really been living in a way that would please him. I’m just not worthy of his coming.
Friends, welcome to the club. None of us are worthy to face Jesus. None of us are worthy of living forever with God. The new heavens and the new earth. But what awaits us is not based on our worthiness.
That is based on a gift. It’s based on a gift of grace, a gift from God. Did you see that in this passage, Revelation 22? He who testifies to these things says, yes, I’m coming soon. And John says amen to that.
Come, Lord Jesus. And then he says, in the grace of the Lord Jesus, be with God’s people. Amen. Do you notice there? That’s John’s second amen.
That’s very unusual to have a double amen that close. What’s he saying? Yes and yes. And the first yes is a yes to, yes, Jesus is coming. And the second yes is a yes to, and we’re going to share life with Him because of His grace.
Jesus is coming and we’re going to share forever relationship with Him because of His grace. Now, how How do you respond to that? Do you respond with unbelief? I don’t buy it. I hope not.
Do you respond with indifference? Like, yeah, I’m busy doing too many other things. I hope not. Hopefully we respond with expectancy, with enthusiastic expectancy and say, Lord, come. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
You know, that is more than enough reason for future hope. And we need that right now more than ever. And it can be ours now and forever as we come to the one who’s coming and we focus on the one who’s coming because our view of the future impacts how we live in the present. If you’re having a hard time being excited about Jesus returning because, you know, there are just so many things in this world that you’re clinging to, Please hear these words. They’re from C.S.
Lewis in his book The Last Battle, when he describes what life will be like for God’s children when Jesus returns. This is what C.S. Lewis wrote: For them, it was only the beginning of the real story, and their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the COVID and the title page. Now at last they were beginning chapter 1 of the great story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before. Let’s pray.
Father, thank you so much for future hope, that in the midst of these circumstances that we live today, There’s hope, and that hope is found in the one who is coming. And so even now, Lord, we pray that we would be transformed in our current circumstances by the truth of the fact that you one day are going to come. You’re going to change all of this. And until that day, Lord, may your kingdom come on earth even now more than it has in the past. May that happen through belief in Jesus Christ.
And we pray even at this moment, if anybody is watching this service and they yet have come— they have not yet come to belief in Christ, we pray that this might be the moment of salvation for them, that they would come to the one who came a first time to make it possible for them to have a relationship with you, Father. And then they would begin to live with the anticipation of his second coming. If that’s the desire of your heart, tell God that. Lord, I want a relationship with you now and forever. Forgive me.
Change my heart. Change my life. And God, may we not be indifferent to what you have done for us. May we not be indifferent to your coming. May it transform how we live.
May we especially be about bringing the gospel to the world that is around us, helping them understand that the gospel is for everyone and that in Jesus Christ lives are changed forever. Lord, may we live with a sense of expectancy that the best is yet to come. May that transform our lives this day, this week, for years to come. For we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Amen.
