Have Hope! The Light Has Dawned!
Matthew 4:15-16
This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on November 30, 2008. On this day we begin the first Sunday of Advent, the day of Hope. In this message we will be reminded that Jesus Christ is the hope God’s people have been waiting for throughout the ages.
I am Adam. Once I knew paradise. Once I knew unending food, delightful food, wonderful food. Food from the hand of God. Now I know food from toil and labor and struggle and pain, food from my thorn-scarred hands. Once I knew God. I walked with him in the garden. We enjoyed the cool of the day. He loved me and I loved him. Oh his love was wonderful. Greater than all the delights of the garden. But the mistakes I made! No, not mistakes. Mistakes are simple things. What I did was not simple. Nor was it an accident, an oversight. I sinned against almighty God. Along with my wife I scorned the garden. I scorned paradise. I betrayed God. Now I lie on my deathbed, calling out to him. Crying for Messiah! Oh if I could see the light. I know Messiah will come. The serpent – that one who deceived us! – but we let ourselves be deceived. That enemy of man, of God – God promised one would come who would crush his head. The chosen one of God will come! Come, my God!
I am Noah. Tossed on the waves. The screams we heard for so long have finally ended. They are dead, all dead. There is no one left but me and my family. What will happen to us? What will God do with us? I am trying to have hope. I know the promises made in the past. But all I see are the waters and the bodies of those once my friends. God, save me! Give me some hope. Roll back these clouds and let your light shine!
I am David. My son lies dead at my feet. How wretched my sin! God gave me a kingdom but I wanted more. Clinging, grasping, tearing away from others what I wanted for myself! I stole your mother from another man. Bathsheba was not mine but I had to have her. I murdered her husband to cover it up. Oh God, how could you spare my life! I know my transgression, my sin is ever before me! I was brought forth in iniquity. From my mother’s womb I have been sinful! But you, O God, have promised me a lasting kingdom! What wondrous love is this? Cleanse me, O God, and I will be clean! Make haste to bring to earth the one you promised. The one whose kingdom would never end. Bring, O God, Messiah!
I am Peter. I stood on the waves. Yes, on water! Can you believe that? So few believe me. I walked and sank not on the storm vexed sea. But it was not my feet that held me up. It was not the waters that supported me. It was the power of God in the Son of God! Jesus Christ! I beheld his face! I saw his glory! I saw the multitudes fed with a few fish and some bread. I was there when the blind were made to see, when the dead were raised. I listened as the Pharisees tried to trick him, heard him escape every trap. What more could a person hope to see in order to believe? What more would you need to have faith? But I denied him. I turned from him when he was facing the cross. Three times I cursed and cried that I did not know him! But Oh marvelous grace! He forgave me! He restored me! He gave me hope and life and work! We were created to work, you know. Created to tend the garden of God’s creation. I rejected the Creator. I turned from him and ran. But he turned to me and said, “Feed my sheep.” Oh marvelous savior! Did you know that he has caused us to be born again? Born into a living hope! Born through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is hope! He is life! He is light! How marvelous was his coming to us. How terrible that so many rejected him. But you, his followers, remember – remember! He will come again! You are being guarded by God’s power! You who are saved, you are being guarded for the great Day of the Lord! Salvation that will come to his people, revealed when he returns to the earth at the end. Many will try to deceive you. Many will try to lead you astray. Many will lie about him and tell you he will never come again. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” But remember, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are on it will be exposed. Your works will be exposed. How will he find you? What does your hope rest in? Christian, rejoice! Have hope! The light has dawned! Morning has come on the earth. His name is Jesus Christ! In the words of my brother Paul, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand! Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light! Walk as those who walk in the light. And look and watch and wait and pray for Christ’s coming once more. Do not sit around and be idle, but work! When he comes, when he calls you, let him find you busy about his work. You were created to work in his garden. Now go! Work!
I am Chris Roberts. A sinner saved by grace. The hope I have has not come from my own hands but from Jesus Christ. I am saved because of his first coming. I have great hope and expectation because of his second. The first was a long time ago and no one knows when he will come again. But I have hope! I have trust! I believe he will come again and I look forward with longing to that day, crying out Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus. I admit sometimes the days are long and I feel my heart turn cold. Doubts creep up, uncertainties form, and the Adversary leaps to the occasion to try and rip me away. But no enemy can take you from God’s hands. Nothing can separate you from his love. If you are his then you are his! The only thing that will hold you firm in his grip is his power, and once you are held by his power nothing can pull you out. In the dark night, pray for light. Pray for protection. Pray for his power. Cry out, “Oh Lord, do not let me go!” And remember the words of the Good Shepherd when he said, “I shall lose none of them that he has given me, but I will raise them up on the last day.” In your doubt cry out to him and realize you do not need to fear. It is not your strength that holds you to Christ. It is Christ that holds you fast in the midst of the storm. Peter was not rescued by the waves because he started to swim. He was rescued by the grip of a Saviour who would not let him go.
I am Nosakhare of Nigeria. I do not know this light you speak of. No one has yet sent the good news. There are no beautiful feet proclaiming the gospel to me. I have heard there is hope and light out there, but what are they? How are they found? Will you leave me in the dark?
I am your friend, your neighbor, your brother, your cousin. Will you speak to me of the light? My salvation is not in your hands. But your obedience to Christ is. Will you tell me of what he did? Will you spread your hope? Is your hope great enough for others to hear, or is your complacency greater still? How I respond is not up to you. Will you be faithful?
He is Jesus Christ. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.