Hope requires a God who is in control \u2014<\/span> a God who really is in control and a God who can therefore help us. It\u2019s very important that we understand that. Help comes from God, not from other people. Others can help you a bit, but the way in which they\u2019ll help you is simply this: by pointing you to God and by strengthening you in God.<\/p>\nFor example, in 1 Samuel 23:16 \u2014 \u201cJonathan strengthened David\u2019s hand in God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any leader will let you down because he is not God. He can\u2019t be there all the time. You\u2019ll try and ring him one day and his phone will be switched off or engaged. You\u2019ll find that God\u2019s phone is never switched off.<\/p>\n
But it must be the right sort of God who we can believe in. Some people just say, \u201cWell, I believe in God. Isn\u2019t that enough?\u201d No, we need to understand some things about God. It\u2019s no good, for example, if God is as clueless as the rest of us, is it really? And some people believe in a God like that. But it\u2019s not true. God is the God of all comfort. \u201cHe comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others who are suffering afflictions with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God.\u201d ( 1 Corinthians 1)<\/p>\n
This is God\u2019s description of himself in Isaiah 46: \u201cI am God.\u201d <\/span>And YOU are not, by the way. He is, but you\u2019re not. And neither am I. \u201cI am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning.\u201d <\/span>In other words, he knows the end of time from the very beginning of time. He knows everything that will ever happen. \u201cAnd from ancient times, things not yet done, saying this, \u201cMy counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purposes. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\nThat\u2019s the God we worship. There are some people who say that God is surprised by things. They say, well, you know, there are some things that are unknowable and that until something happens, even God doesn\u2019t know what will happen. I\u2019m sorry. That\u2019s not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible knows the end from the beginning. He\u2019s not surprised by anything. And it\u2019s so important because when you\u2019re counseling somebody, you have to bring them to that<\/em> God, not to some kind of weak God who is surprised. I once heard of a situation\u2014this is a true story apparently, and I think I read it in a book somewhere. (If anyone remembers the reference for this, I would appreciate knowing that.) A lovely young lady married a guy who was also a Christian (they were both Christians). Everything looked fine. And then after a while this guy basically did the dirty on her and went off with somebody else and the relationship broke up and they got divorced. And this woman\u2019s pastor (shame on him) said this: \u201cWell, when God guided you to that marriage, he had no more idea than you did what would happen. He was as surprised and as shocked and as hurt and as disappointed as you by what happened.\u201d Now that might seem cute, but it doesn\u2019t give me any hope. Does it give you hope? If God was like that, I think I\u2019d rather not be a Christian. No, God is not like that. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what will happen. He will accomplish all his purposes. There is no plan B with God.<\/p>\nGod is NOT surprised by anything!<\/p>\n
Hope requires a God who is loving \u2014 <\/span>he\u2019s the God who cares for you. If God was all-sovereign and all-powerful and all-knowing, but actually was a bit of an evil, capricious God who hated you, then well, the world would not be a very good place, would it?<\/p>\nBut the Bible is very clear. It says that God is<\/span> love (1 John 4:16).<\/p>\nRomans 5:8 says, \u201cBut God shows his love for us in this; that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.\u201d So if Jesus died for us, if he would come from heaven to earth, live as a man, the great invincible God becoming a little baby and then living as a man, and then dying a cruel death in our place that we might know God, do you not think that this demonstrates that he loves us?<\/p>\n
Paul makes this argument in Romans 8:32 when he says, \u201cHe who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?\u201d If we\u2019re coming to God and say, \u201cOh, well, God, you know. I\u2019m not sure if you really love me or not,\u201d we\u2019re making God into a liar and we\u2019re just despising the cross. Jesus loved us enough to die for us. That should be enough to give us hope. Hope that this sovereign God is for you, and that this God is in control and knows the future; that he will make sure things map out for your good.<\/p>\n
Romans 8 continues: \u201cWe know that for those who love God all things work together for good\u201d (verse 28). So if you love God, God will work out everything for your good.<\/p>\n
He keeps you. He will not let your foot be moved. It says \u201cHe keeps you\u201d six times in this psalm. He\u2019s your keeper. He\u2019s your watchman. He watches over you. He doesn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n
Hope requires a God-centered gospel \u2014 s<\/span>ome people say, \u201cWell, you know, God is lucky to have me.\u201d There is a sense in which God is knocking at the door. But people can say it sometimes as though Jesus is the needy one; as if he\u2019s a bit lonely and he needs another worshipper or feels insecure or needs a relationship or needs his ego boosted a bit. \u00a0No, God isn\u2019t like that. God is the eternal one who out of his self-sufficiency and his joy of being eternally one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternally a community, lavishes love on us through grace. Through unmerited favor. Through his all-sufficiency.<\/p>\nThere are five aspects of the gospel that I think give us a stable foundation. It says in this psalm that God keeps our foot from being moved. It also says in another psalm that God put our foot on a rock. People sometimes call these five points the five points of Calvinism. I would rather just say they\u2019re the five points of a stable view of the gospel, which enables us to have hope. Sometimes people use these points under the acronym TULIP. So if you like acronyms, you can use TULIP to help you remember them.<\/p>\n
But sometimes our Christianity is like another flower. I don\u2019t know if, in other countries, people do this, but English children very often find a nice daisy in the lawn, pick it, and usually thinking about a boyfriend or girlfriend, they remove one petal at a time. \u201cHe loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. Oh no! He loves me not!\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of us approach God like that \u2014 if I\u2019m doing well, God loves me. If I\u2019ve just sinned, he doesn\u2019t love me anymore. If I make a commitment to him and follow him, then he\u2019ll love me. But if I backslide, then he won\u2019t love me anymore and I won\u2019t be a Christian anymore. I don\u2019t believe that gives us a stable foundation for hope. So what are these five points? I\u2019ll go through them quite quickly.<\/p>\n
T \u2014 <\/span>Total Depravity of Man<\/strong>
Now most people actually have very little problem believing this. I think there are very few Christians who don\u2019t believe this. There are a few who say, \u201cOh no, people are basically good.\u201d But I don\u2019t think any of them are parents. I\u2019ve got a 16 month old child. We don\u2019t have to train him to hit his brother and sister; to steal from his brother and sister; to scream if we give his brother and sister something and don\u2019t give it to him. And he has already learned how to bite. He\u2019s 16 months! But people say that human beings are born good. They\u2019re not born good. They\u2019re born with a sinful nature. We are born with a bias towards sin, as the Puritans used to say. So basically, if you don\u2019t believe in the total depravity of man, if you don\u2019t believe that we have a sinful nature, then I would suggest that you borrow a two year old for an hour. That\u2019s all you need.<\/p>\nBut let\u2019s look at the Scriptures. The Scripture is what we stand on. The Scripture is very clear about this in Ephesians 2: \u201cAnd you were dead in trespasses and sins . . .\u201d Dead people can\u2019t help themselves. If we\u2019re dead without Christ, we need him to make us alive.<\/p>\n
U \u2014 Unconditional Election<\/span>
In other words, God chooses us; we don\u2019t choose him. Ephesians 1:4\u2014he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. John 15:16\u2014You did not choose me (says Jesus) but I chose you. Terry Virgo likes to say he imagines somebody in the congregation saying, \u201cHang on. But haven\u2019t I got a free will?\u201d And Terry says this, \u201cYeah, but God\u2019s is freer.\u201d The truth is this: actually we do have a free will, but we all freely choose to reject God. It\u2019s only as God intervenes and woos us and changes our hearts and sends out his grace on us that we actually can be saved.<\/p>\nL \u2014 Limited Atonement<\/strong>
This is one that causes a bit of controversy and a lot of disagreement, but it\u2019s mostly about a misunderstanding. I think all Christians will agree with two things about this. The first is this\u2014that everything that Jesus did on the cross, the good of it, the full goodness of it, the eternal value of it, only gets applied to those who are Christians. Obviously, in order to benefit from Jesus\u2019s death, you need to be a Christian, so in that sense it is a limited atonement. It is especially for the believer. It is especially for us. Jesus said this, \u201cHe laid down his life for his friends\u201d (John 15:13). There\u2019s a sense in which the death of Jesus was specific to certain individuals.<\/p>\nThe second thing that we all can agree on is this: that actually Jesus\u2019 death does have some benefit to everybody, and that the offer of the gospel is available to everybody as well. And it\u2019s an honest gospel that says that if you are willing to repent of your sins and follow God, then you will be saved. So I think we need to be very careful in what we say about this. 1 Timothy 4:10 to me, sums this up, \u201cWe have set our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.\u201d So the very fact that the world is sustained at all and that Jesus didn\u2019t just wipe it out the second that somebody first sinned is because of Jesus\u2019s death. So everybody lives in the good of the cross all the time actually, and the offer of the gospel is a genuine offer to everybody, but the full benefits of the cross are only ever applied to those who are truly saved. I think sometimes this one is expressed in a way in which I would not agree.<\/p>\n
I \u2014 Irresistible Grace<\/span>
Jesus said \u201cNo one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day\u201d (John 6:44). When God sets his mind on you, when God sets his grace on you, your resistance is futile. You can run, but you can\u2019t hide. And there may be some of you reading this who have been running. You\u2019ve been fighting. And God is saying, \u201cStop fighting. I\u2019m here. Now is the time to surrender.\u201d<\/p>\nP \u2014 Perseverance of the Saints<\/strong>
I prefer to state it in this way: the persistence of God. \u201cAnd this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day\u201d (John 6:39-50).<\/p>\nNow, we all know people who appeared to be Christians and drifted away. The thing is this\u2014it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). I believe the balance of Scripture is very clear on this, that there are actually three possible verdicts on that day.<\/p>\n
The first verdict is this\u2014You\u2019re not a Christian; you never were a Christian, and that means an eternity without God. It means hell. We do believe in hell. That\u2019s one verdict. The s
\necond verdict is what I call a \u201cwell done\u201d Christian. What I mean is this. When God looks at you and says, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant. You\u2019ve followed me. You\u2019ve served me. I\u2019m pleased with what you\u2019ve done.\u201d And that\u2019s what I pray for each of us. The third possible verdict is one that I call the \u201cskin of the teeth\u201d Christian. 1 Corinthians 3 talks about it like this: \u201cAs one saved through fire.\u201d All your good works get burned up, but somehow, because of God\u2019s grace, you somehow scrape in.<\/p>\n
Now I would say that the difference between the slightly \u201cscraping in\u201d Christian and the person who is not a Christian at all is not one that we can sometimes easily discern. And that\u2019s why we need to make sure really, brothers and sisters, that we are following after God. Because we don\u2019t want to be those who miss it.<\/p>\n
So, for those who have appeared to backslide, it may be that they were never Christians. It may be that actually they will be among that \u201cskin of the teeth\u201d brigade, or it may be actually\u2014and this is what we should pray\u2014that God will bring them back because God is in the business of restoring people. God is in the business of bringing people back, people we thought would never ever do it. And God says, \u201cNo. I will do it. I will do it. I will bring them back. I will complete the work I started.\u201d And that\u2019s the way to pray. Say, \u201cGod, you promised that you would complete the work that you started. I remember what you did in that person . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Hebrews 3:14 actually says something interesting about this idea of perseverance. Because it really isn\u2019t just the idea of \u201conce saved, always saved\u201d in a very simplistic way. You think if you go forward at a crusade that\u2019s it. No! What it\u2019s saying is that we\u2019re expecting God to preserve our faith and keep us until the end. It says this in Hebrews 3:14\u2014For we have come to share in Christ (and that\u2019s the past tense\u2014it has happened to us in the past) if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.\u201d So we should expect that God will sustain us to the end, and at the end of our lives, to be able to look back on a lifetime of trusting God.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want any of us to drift away. Please don\u2019t play fast and loose with God because he\u2019s not mocked. It is appointed once for man to die and afterwards to face judgment.<\/p>\n
Hope requires eternal security, but it is not passive \u2014 <\/span>we don\u2019t just say, \u201cOh well. I\u2019m okay now. Let me sit back and put my feet up and coast to heaven.\u201d 2 Peter 1:3\u2014His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and goodness. Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. But if you do these things, you will never fall. And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.\u201d Why not aim for a rich welcome?<\/p>\nHope also requires a resurrection \u2014 <\/span>Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:19 where he says, \u201cIf in this life only we have hoped in Christ we are of all people most to be pitied.\u201d Because actually, eventually it will seem as if God has let us down because we\u2019ll die and evil will, in fact, touch us. Well, the truth is this, eternally these words are always true\u2014 God will<\/span> keep our lives. God will<\/span> keep evil from ultimately harming us. There is a glorious day coming. Jesus promised, \u201cIn this world you will have trouble.\u201d I don\u2019t see very many people naming and claiming that promise! And Jesus does keep his promises. But he also said this: \u201cTake heart. I have overcome the world\u201d (John 16:33).<\/p>\nSo we need to know this\u2014death is coming. We can\u2019t stop it. We can fight it and we can try to delay it, but we must remember that the timing is ultimately in God\u2019s hands. But it\u2019s also okay to walk in faith and obedience, trying to follow God faithfully, because actually, even under the New Testament, God does sometimes terminate somebody\u2019s life early. Look at Ananias and Sapphira. We can pray for healing, and rightly so when someone gets sick. We can eat in a healthy manner. We can try to keep that weight down. We can stop smoking. It\u2019s like playing Russian roulette with your life. Three holes, one bullet\u2014a \u201cone in three\u201d chance of dying early\u2014not a good idea. We can exercise. We can see doctors. But the point is this. Our hope goes beyond the grave because death is coming, even if we do all those things.<\/p>\n
One day we will see him face-to-face. And what does that say? It tells me that we will still have a face. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re going to be some sort of ethereal spirit floating in heaven. We will know each other. We will be able to recognize each other. We have a hope that goes beyond the grave, And we will meet our departed brothers and sisters again one day. We will see<\/span> them. And together we will see God.<\/p>\nNotice this: it says that he will keep our life, and he will also keep our going out and coming in. To me, that\u2019s a physical thing. You don\u2019t go out and come in if you\u2019re a spirit floating ethereally, not even knowing if you\u2019re you. You will be you<\/span>. Hope requires that there is a resurrection. Hope requires that there is eternal security, and that God will keep us, but it\u2019s not passive in that knowledge. Hope requires that God sends his gospel. Hope requires a God who is loving. Hope requires a God who is in control. Hope requires a lifted head. Hope requires a biblical outlook.<\/p>\nHope requires an alert God<\/strong>. It requires a God who is keeping us and a God who is not sleeping. God never sleeps so that you can sleep. He\u2019s watching over you. When you\u2019re in the desert and you\u2019re worried about wild animals coming to eat you, one of you needs to stay awake. You don\u2019t all need to stay awake. You just need one to stay awake. One that\u2019s trustworthy. God would say this to you\u2014\u201dI am trustworthy. Cast your anxieties on me. Don\u2019t you realize that I care for you, and that I don\u2019t sleep so that you can sleep?\u201d<\/p>\nGod doesn\u2019t sleep when somebody dies. He doesn\u2019t sleep when somebody gets news that they may die. And he doesn\u2019t sleep when somebody gets news that someone they love may die. He\u2019s never asleep. He is aware of all those things and he can meet you in all those settings. He is your keeper. He will protect you through all those things.<\/p>\n
God wasn\u2019t sleeping when your name came up in the tally in heaven as to who\u2019s going to get married and who\u2019s not, and how we\u2019re going to sort that out. You weren\u2019t one he missed. He\u2019s controlling your life. He is guiding your steps. And he will guide you, either to the perfect mate or to actually feeling content in the midst of your situation.<\/p>\n
We think we can hide our sin from God. We\u2019re fools. We think the darkness will hide it. Maybe we think that if we come out at night we can do certain things that no one else will see, and therefore sometimes God won\u2019t see. But he never sleeps. He doesn\u2019t slumber. He sees everything you\u2019ve ever done, everything you\u2019ve ever said, and everything you\u2019ve ever thought.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t see all these things with a view to condemning you, saying you\u2019re useless, and telling you deserve hell (although that\u2019s true). He did it so that you might be forgiven. And he wants to highlight that to you right now. Your sin is worse than you think it is. But this is also true\u2014God is better than you think he is, and he\u2019s more gracious than you think he is. He chose David, an adulterer and a murderer, and said, \u201cThis is a man after my own heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
God can take the shame that you feel, the hurt you may feel, the dirtiness you feel. Jesus carried our shame on the cross that you might be full of hope, tha
\nt you might be able to stand firm before God, aware of him, and fully in love with Jesus, fully secure in hope.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the 24th of August, I preached a sermon at Jubilee during our summer series on some famous psalms. I took Psalm 121, which served as a starting point for me to share some of the most important planks of my personal doctrinal framework\u2014a framework that has sustained me through hard times. As blogging around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,210,225,28,39,46,274,280,117,122,132,139,179],"tags":[410,401,449,516,380,598],"class_list":["post-3233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-and-2-corinthians","category-arminocalvinist-spectrum","category-calvinism","category-ephesians","category-hebrews","category-irresistable-grace","category-isaiah","category-limited-atonement","category-psalms","category-reformed-charismatic","category-romans","category-sermons","category-total-depravity","tag-healing-2","tag-hope","tag-sermon-ideas","tag-sermons","tag-spurgeon","tag-terry-virgo"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SERMON - A Song Of Hope - Psalm 121","description":"On the 24th of August, I preached a sermon at Jubilee during our summer series on some famous psalms. 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Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. 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My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}