Hopeology, Part 16

The study of hope is a study that's neglected, unfortunately, in many churches So we'll talk about hope We talk more about faith and more about love, not so much about h So we have spent the last 16 weeks looking with you at the doctrine of hopology So you might come to understand The beauty of the gift that God gives, the gift of hope And we have told you, and we've given it to you in a bookmark so you don't forget That hope is rooted in God Without God, there is no hope We talked to you about that How hope is received only by grace, it's a gift

It only comes through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ And that hope is ratified in and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord And that hope can only be reinforced by the scriptures So if you lack in hope, it's because you lack the study of the Word of God Because God's Word reinforces h It 's reaffirmed by the Holy Spirit who is within you It 's a rampart against Satan and all of his devices It is that which reproduces joy You want true joy? It stems from h

Hope is that which removes the fear of death, refines our present lifestyle, revolutionizes every one of my relationships, reinvigorates My service and finally is realiz when Jesus Christ comes Again, because hope is living in anticipation of the promises of God And all the promises of God are yes in Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:2 So, if all the promises that God gives are yes in Jesus, when Jesus comes again to take us home to be with him All those promises will finally be real To not just their fullest extent, but to their eternal extent And so we must understand the doctrine of hope

And hopefully, over the last 16 weeks, we have enlightened you to the scriptures to understand what the Bible says concerning that, because we want you to live each day in anticipation Of all the promises that God has given to each and every one of us So the Bible says in Titus chapter 2 Verse 11, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in The present age, look for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus

Looking for the blessed hope Christ is that blessed hope We've said to you before about Edward Mot's hymn, The Hope and Fears of All the Years Are Met in Thee tonight We sing that at Christmastime, and we are embarking on that season even as we speak today But all the hopes and fears of all the years truly are met in Christ Himself And yet one day He's going to come again We're looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord The book of Revel tells us in Revel 22, 21, Behold, I come quick And my reward is with me, my reward is with me

And you could probably look at that at a couple of ways One, he comes again with the saints And we are a reward to him He purchased us We come in white robes on white horses In Revelation chapter 19, we come with him So it could mean that my reward is with me, my reward, that is, my saints are coming with me, my bride is coming with me Or it could mean that his reward, the things he's going to reward us with, are coming with him And we know about the different aspects of the different crowns in Scripture We understand the crown of glory in 1 Peter chapter 5

Given to those who lead in the church We know about the crown, the crown of life That the Lord gives The Bible tells us that the crown of life in James chapter 1, verse number 12, was re to those who suffer great temptation, trials, and tribulation We also know about the crown of joy, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul talks about the crown of joy is those people whom have come to know Christ as Savior, the people that He has led to the Lord There's a great crown of joy given to those who lead others to Christ

There is the crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4, verses 6 to 8, where Paul says, It's not only laid up in store for me, but for all those who love and long for his appearing And then of course there is that incorruptible crown. 1 Corinthians 9, the imperishable crown, because it is an eternal crown And there's much discussion about the crowns and what they mean The Stephanos, the crown of victory, which is very important Because only the ones who win receive the Stephanos, the crown of victory, which is very, very important

You know, if you lose in a race, you don't receive the crown because you're not the victor Only the victorious ones receive the crowns Only the victorious ones receive the glory Which is very important For if I was to ask you to somehow describe for me the different titles that you and I are given in Script Some of you would say, well, we're called the children of God That's so true Some would say, we're called children of the light That also is true We are called followers of Christ We're called disciples We're even called the friends of God, the friends of God We are called branches

That's what the Bible calls us It calls us sheep It calls us saints It even calls us soldiers It calls us ambassadors Calls us servants It calls us the elect, chos of God You can go through the scriptures and look at all the different titles that you and I are called And all of them, embedded in each of them, are precious, beautiful truths And if I was to ask you to take a piece of paper and begin to write down the different titles and names that we are called in scripture, you could begin at A and go all the way to C, and you could come up with different ones

You could search your scripture and come up with different Titles that were given, but probably the one that most would not come up with because it's not readily spoken of In churches, is the title that I think is the greatest of all Greater than a child of God Greater than an ambassador, great than a saint, a soldier, a branch, a sheep, a servant Greater even than the elect and chosen of God is a title that is described in 1 John chapter 5 And that is this: we are over We are The victorious ones We are the winners We are the superior

The Supreme We are victorious warriors It's described this way in John's epistle, 1 John 5, verse number 1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God And who loves the Father loves a child born of him By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe his commandments For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome For whatever is born of God over comes the world Overcomes the world And this is the victory that overscomes the world, our faith

Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? An over John would get this from the words of Jesus in John:, when he says, Be of good cheer. I have overc the world John would pick up on that as he would write this epistle and talk about those who over Those who are the conquerors because Jes conqu sin Jesus conquered death Jesus conquered Satan He is the ultimate overcomer And what happens when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and the over indwells us? It makes us overcomers Romans chapter 16 tell us that he will soon crush Satan under our feet

We are victorious warriors We're not victims, we are victors Our identity in Christ is wrapped up in the fact that we are overcomers because Christ him is the overcomer And when we get to heaven, the h of all the victory is realized The h of every battle and every war is real when we stand in the presence of the living God. I love the hymn, and probably we never sing it enough: Victory in Jesus You know that hymn? It's in our hymn book It's on page 353. I'd sing it for you, but I can't sing So it says, I heard an old, old story how a savior came from glory

How he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about his groaning and his precious blood's atoning Then I repented of my sin and I won the victory. I heard about his healing and of his cleansing power revealing, how he made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see And then I cried, Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit And somehow Jesus came And brought me to victory. I heard about a mansion he has built for me in glory, and I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea By the way, that's not right because there's not streets in heaven

There's only one street in heaven Please remember that Not all hymns are Perfect Okay? So there is only one street in heaven It's on in the book of Revelation So, and I heard about A street of gold beyond the crystal sea about the angels singing in the old redemption story And how some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory Revelation 15 calls it the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb It's the song of redemption It's heaven's song. O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is due to him

He plunged me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood What a song to describe the fact that you and I are Victorious warriors, he plunged me into victory What a great, great hymn But it's a reminder of what John says about he who overcomes the world, the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God The one who loves God and loves the brethren The one who by faith obeys all that God has said and keeps his commandments That is the overcomer And John would go beyond that because John wanted every church to understand the hope

The blessed hope, the promise that would only come when Jesus ar on the scene And so in the book of Revelation, Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, there are seven letters that are written to seven different churches in Asia Minor All real churches, but churches that are indicative of every church that's ever existed in the history of the church age And he writes to these seven churches because the Spirit of God has a message to them, every one of them And in writing to these churches, there is a conclusion given To one person or one group of people, and that is given to the overcomer

Because they would have to understand victory in Jesus And so he gives a promise that will be realized when Christ comes again, because hope is living in anticipation of the promises in these churches Would all have to live in anticipating what was going to happen when the Lord God would return, because the book of Revelation is all about the return of the king And what would be real when he comes again And John doesn't say to the saints at the Church of Ephesus Or to the ambassadors at the Church of Saver, or to the children of God at the Church of Philadelphia

Or to the branches or the sheep at the church of Smyrna Same promise, given to the same group of people in seven different churches, because he who has ears to hear, let him hear What the Spirit says to the churches Not just this church at Ephesus or this church at Pergamum or this church at Laodicea, but to all the churches He who has ears to hear, let him hear Listen up Because this is a promise that God gives to those who overcome And those who overcome are those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God

Those who overcome are those who, by faith, understand that they are to walk by faith, live by faith They have given their lives to Christ These are true believers, and to that overcomer, I will give to him this, this, this, and this And these are the promises that John gives through the inspiration of the Spirit of God To the churches that will be realized when Jesus comes again So got your Bible, turn to Revel chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2. I'm not going to read each letter to each church. I'm just going to read to you the concluding promise to the over

And talk to you about what he says concerning the tree of life The bread of life, the crown of life, the power of life, the book of life, the name of life, and the throne of life Because they all give specific promises that we hope in, that will one day be fulfilled In a way that goes beyond anything you can ever begin to understand So it begins with the Church of Ephesus He says these words Verse 7: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says To the churches And this is the way he concludes all of his letters Because he wants them to listen

Because we go to church sometimes, and these letters were read in the churches, right? And sometimes you can tune out the letter, you cannot pay attention, and you miss it So he concludes with this statement He who has ears to hear, let him hear It's a word of admonition, a word of application, a word that helps you understand lifts, and you need to listen up Don't miss this Because it's given to the overcomer, the conqueror, the victorious warrior It's the word nikao We get our English word nike from nika See, when the Greeks went to war, the Greeks never believed that men win wars

The Greeks believed that the gods won war And so, before the Greeks would go into battle They would worship at the goddess Nikkei, the victorious one, the goddess of victory And they would worship at the altar of the goddess Nikke because they wanted victory And so that's what they would do Because they fully believe that it was the gods who caused them to win the victory John understands that He knows Greek culture He understand that there's only the God of the universe who wins the victory And he won that at Calvary He's coming back again as King of kings and lord of lords

John knows all that He knows that Jesus has already overcome the world, and so because we're in Christ and Christ is in us We are by nature partakers of that divine nature We now are overcomers We now are victorious warriors In fact, Paul would pick up on this in Romans 8, and he would say these words, I love this Romans chapter 8 But in all these things we over conquer Hoop Nike We are super abundant, over conquerors We are over-the victorious Through him who loved us, because of Christ, we cannot lose

You know, people ask me, you know, what team am I a fan of? I'm not a fan of any team. I'm a fan of greatness If you're great, I'm your fan If you're not great, I'm not your fan. I'm only a fan of greatness Why? Because greatness wins Greatness wins And Christ is the greatest of all Greatest of all And therefore, we now are victorious warriors So John writes, through the inspiration of the Spirit, seven letters to be distributed to seven churches With the promise given to the one who is the victorious warrior, the overwhelming conqueror Our military have a missile It's called the Nike missile

Did you know that? Missile designed to give us victory Then facing defeat And so it's something that you need to understand from a biblical perspective So here it is in Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation 3: promise to the over He says very clearly He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes Nikal To him who is a victorious warrior. I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God Think about that The tree of life which is in the paradise of God

Revelation 22 explains that a little bit further when it says 22, verse number 1, then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God into the land In the middle of its streets, not streets, street, on either side of the river was the tree of life, pretty big tree It was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations The well-being of the nations So he had this tree called the Tree of Life By the way, the Tree of Life was in the Garden of Eden

Remember that? And there was a tree in that garden called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve could not partake of The Lord says, if you eat of that tree, you'll die You know the story in Genesis tree They were tempted by Satan They ate and they died They were separated from God So God had to thrust them out of the Garden of Eden He sent an angel at the entrance with a flaming sword Why? Because in that garden was another tree called the Tree of Life

Having sinned against God by partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the only tree they could not eat from, but they sinned anyway and did it If they were to partake of the tree of life, they would be in a state of eternal damnation forever So he boost them out of the garden, sent an angel there, so they could not partake of the tree of life That tree now has been transplanted into gl And that tree is on either side of the river, the river of the crystal river, clear and clean And it comes with twelve kinds of fruit What kind of fruit? I have no idea If I knew, I'd tell you

Okay? And it's for the healing of the nations See, do we need to eat in heaven? No Have you ever? Eight just because you love the joy of eating Not because you're hungry Just because you love the joy of eating In fact, most of us eat because of the joy of it anyway, right? But in heaven, it's the great joy and sufficiency That the tree of life brings You don't eat to live because you have eternal life But it's in the paradise of God It's in the presence of God And to sit and eat in the presence of God with one of the 12 fruits that bloom all the time

Is going to be for the well-being of those who are there That's a promise that God gives, a promise that we live in anticipation of To be able to sit and eat for pleasure, for j Not because we're hungry, because we'll have glorified bodies We won't need to be filled up Not because we're thirsty, because we won't need to drink either We got glorified, perfect bodies It's the joy of being in the presence of God and the fellowship in the paradise of God And then he says to the church of Smyrna, he says, be faithful until the end, verse 10, and I will give you the crown of life

Not just a tree of life, but a crown of life He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death Wow So, if the tree of life speaks of the joy and the sufficiency that heaven gives in the paradise of God Then the Qur of life speaks of the immortality and the eternality that is ours forever It's the crown which is life It's the crown which is incorruptible It's the crown which is joy It's the crown which is righteousness Righteousness is the crown, life is the crown, joy is the crown, imperishableness is the crown

Yes, it is a Stephanos Yes, it is a wreath Yes, they are crowns that we cast at the feet of our great Lord and Savior Christ Himself But it's also symbolic of what it is we obtain We obtain life We obtain immortality We obtain eternality We will never experience the second death Say, what's the second death? Well, again, Revelation tells you that The great thing about Revelation is that it says all these different things, but somehow down the road it explains it to you again

So to bring up The same thing down the road, so you begin to understand the different terminology used in the book of Revelation Fabulous, fabulous book It says in verse number 4 of Revelation 20: Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them, and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God And those who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years

Talk about tribulational saints The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed This is the first resurrection First resurrection Encompasses different facets One of that is the resurrection of Old Testament, resurrection of tribulational saints Verse 6 says, Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection, over these, the second death Has no power And then down in verse number 14, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death, the lake of fire

Verse 8 of Revelation 21: But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake of That burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death So we know the second death is eternal death, separation from God, because that's where death and Hades are cast into, that's where Satan is cast into, that's where the false Prophet and the beast are cast into the lake of fire Okay, that is the second death Christ says to the one who receives the crown of life, listen, he who has ears to hear

They have no part of the second death because they will live with me forever That's a promise that we live in anticipation of Realize when Christ comes again Then the church of Pergamon, we must hurry The church of Pergamon says, verse 16. I'm sorry, verse number 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, to the victorious warrior, to him I will give some Of the hidden man, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows but he who receives it

So not only is there joy and sufficiency because of the tree of life, and not only is there immortality and eternality because of the crown of life, But because of the bread of life, there is quality, purity, and a brand new id That's what he gives us The hidden manna It's hidden because the world does not know what it is Remember when Christ fed The Israelites, he gave them manna in the Old Testament He would use that as a parallel to him being the bread of life that came down out of heaven

That he who feasts on him shall no longer hunger, because he is their well-being in life, he is that hidden manna It speaks of the quality of life that Christ gives to his followers. A bread that sustains, a bread that truly is a living bread Not like earthly bread And a white stone, symbolizing purity Some would say that this deals with the priesthood and the priesthood had a clear white stone You believe it's a diamond, okay? People say diamonds are forever, that phrase Maybe your wife will tell you that this Christmas You know, honey, can I have a diamond? They are forever

Taken out of Revelation chapter 2, okay, which speaks of the white diamonds that will be ours forever, speaking of the purity Of life And the priests would carry in the um this plate with the twelve tribes this white stone, which would signify the will of God And some would say that when you get to heaven, you understand the will of God completely. I will give you the hidden manna, and with that hidden manna, a white stone And on that white stone, A new name What's the new name? I have no idea because nobody knows except the one who receives it

So, I don't know what your new name is going to be Okay, I have no idea But you're going to get a new name on a white stone because the promise of God is real And then to the church at Thyat, he says Nevertheless, verse 25, what you have, hold fast until I come He overcomes the victorious warrior And he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father And I will give him the morning star

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches You want to know something? You're going to receive authority? Responsibility and intimacy You and I will be able To have authority over the nations in the millennial age, the kingdom of God Authority over the nations Don't you wonder why the disciples asked, Lord, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom of Israel? Because they knew that they would be sitting on twelve thrones over twelve tribes and they would have authority

And so they wondered: is now the time you're going to do that? Because we're ready to rule with authority, if that's the case But it wasn't the time yet The time was coming, the authority was going to come In Christ says, I'm going give you authority over the nations. I'm going to give you responsibility to rule them with a rod Not a billy club, but a rod, it's a word used of a shepherd's crook Because you're going to shepherd people during the kingdom of God, the millennial age, which Christ rules from the city of David on the throne of his father David

Knowing that? I'm going to give you the morning star Who's that? It's Jesus How do you know that? Revelation 22, 16. I, Jesus, am the bright and morning Star Wow Fulfillment of Numbers: Takes all the way back to the beginning, right? A star will rise out of Jacob with a scepter in his hand Who's the star? Messiah Who's Jesus? Messiah He's the morning star He is the bright and morning star. I'm going to give you Jesus. I'm going give you me What a reward that is That's why Peter talks about the day star rising in your hearts, the bright star

And then to the church of Stardust, he says he overcomes verse five Will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels He who has an ear Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches Wow Not only is there festivity, but there is security White garments Remember back in Isaiah 61, the garments of God, the robes of righteousness? When Christ returns, he comes on a white horse with a white robe We come following after him on white horses Clothed in white robes

White is a symbol of festivity as well as purity It speaks of the fact of our cleansing By the blood of the lamb, right? He clothes us in white raiment, right? Garments, the garments of God And not only that, he says, I will not erase his name from the book of life People read that and they think, well, does that mean my name can be erased? That's not what it means How do you turn a promise into a threat? You can't do that You see, in ancient days, the king would have a registry And in that registry, if you committed a crime, your name was blotted out of the registry of that city

Christ is saying, on the other hand, I have a book called The Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life, which the names of those that Christ was going to save. were written in before time began See he says, I will never erase your name from the book of life This speaks of security You have nothing to fear to the one who is the over And then he says, This is just so good Church of Philadelphia, he overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem

Which comes down out of heaven from my God in my new name Listen He says, not only do you receive joy and sufficiency, not only do you receive eternality and immortality, not only do you receive festivity and security You receive not and dign Notoriety because you are a pillar In the temple of my God Now, there are no temples in heaven for Christ the Lamb Himself as a temple So, how can we be a pillar in the temple of God? His God It's very simple It's a symbol of notoriety When people put pillars up and people's names, right, it's a symbol to their notoriety

Also, the Church of Philadelphia was located on a volcanic fault And there were so many earthquakes that people had to flee, and things were destroyed Things crumbled, things fell Christ says, In my city, in my kingdom, you'll be a pillar, you'll never fall You will be known in my kingdom Notoriety And you receive a new name You receive the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, and His new name Again, I have no idea what his new name is Bible didn't tell us that one So you're going to receive a name, a new name, on the Whitestone, which no one knows but you. I don't know what it is

Hopefully, I'll know when I get to heaven because you'll be there, right? You can share it with me Here, here's my diamond Here's my name See? See? My name right there Okay? And then you're going to receive a new name The new name of Christ What is that? Again, I have no idea But that's what makes heaven so amazing There's so much there that we just don't know And then he says, We must hurry The Church of Laodicea, he says, these words He overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my f on his throne Unity

You and I are going to sit down on the same thr as Christ him Because you're an overcomer as he is an overcomer You're a victorious warrior as he is a victorious warrior See that? How big must that throne be? First, all are still on the same throne As Christ There's another hymn in our hymn book Again, one that's rarely sang or sung, excuse me, anymore When we all get to heaven, it says, Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing His mercy and His grace

In the mansions bright and blessed, he'll prepare for us a place While we walk the pilgrim pathway, Clouds will over the sky But when travel days are over, not a shadow nor a sigh Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay Onward to the prize before us, soon his beauty we'll behold Soon the pearly gates will open, we shall tread The st of go When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus, we will sing and shout Let me know the last phrase? The victory The victory

Why? Because you're overcomers You're victorious warriors Pray Father, we thank you for today You are so good to us to explain in your word the promises that will be ours To their fullest We live in anticipation of that That's our hope All because of you and the gift you've given us through your grace May we, through our study, learn the things that will enable us to live for your glory and honor If there be one today that has no idea of this hope, may today be the day they give their life to Christ The hope, our hope of glory In Jesus' name, amen.