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[457.72 --> 460.50] And many of us struggle to have it. |
[462.38 --> 465.04] Just before we dive in, let me ask you the question. |
[465.84 --> 468.42] Would people describe you as a hopeful person? |
[469.22 --> 471.32] Would your friends and family members who know you well, would they say, |
[471.38 --> 473.02] yeah, there's a hopeful person? |
[473.40 --> 474.74] They anticipate a better future. |
[474.74 --> 482.02] Harder question to answer, even, is do we as a church with the name Hope Community Church, |
[482.34 --> 484.50] do we live as a community of hope? |
[484.58 --> 487.46] Do visitors who come in, people who get to know us, would they say, |
[487.54 --> 493.34] yeah, this is a church where they live in a sense of hopeful expectation for a better future? |
[495.58 --> 497.74] In the video we watched at the beginning of the service, |
[497.82 --> 503.36] they described hope as imagining and waiting for a future that is better than the present. |
[503.36 --> 507.14] And you should know, by the way, the two words for hope in the Old Testament in Hebrew |
[507.14 --> 510.06] both translate interchangeably with waiting. |
[510.26 --> 511.46] To wait is to hope. |
[511.68 --> 513.08] To hope is to wait. |
[513.50 --> 516.96] And hope is a huge part of the story of the Bible. |
[517.78 --> 520.38] Because regardless of where you read the Bible, |
[520.96 --> 523.94] you will realize that God makes these huge promises, |
[524.14 --> 526.08] and I do mean huge promises, |
[526.22 --> 527.42] in the Old and the New Testament, |
[527.42 --> 533.04] and He invites His people to wait for Him to make good on those promises. |
[533.66 --> 536.76] Let me share just a few of the promises that God makes in the Scriptures. |
[537.00 --> 542.58] One is to reverse the effects of the curse on creation and bring blessing. |
[543.76 --> 546.74] Another promise He makes over and over again in the prophets |
[546.74 --> 551.26] is to stand against oppression and violence and bring justice and peace. |
[551.26 --> 553.04] That's a big thing to promise. |
[553.78 --> 556.38] Another one is to overcome the power of sin |
[556.38 --> 560.18] and bring healing and restoration to human life and the whole world. |
[560.96 --> 561.92] Or how about this one? |
[562.46 --> 566.62] A promise God makes to overcome the power of death itself |
[566.62 --> 568.72] and bring resurrection life. |
[569.32 --> 572.18] Those are just a few of the promises God makes through the Bible |
[572.18 --> 573.50] and the Old and New Testament. |
[573.72 --> 575.14] And no matter where you read, |
[575.14 --> 581.16] you will find people in the Bible waiting for God to make good on those promises, |
[582.02 --> 585.96] holding on hope for God to do what He said He was going to do. |
[586.34 --> 587.54] And when you read the Bible, |
[587.64 --> 590.08] you'll also learn that that was a struggle, |
[591.00 --> 592.12] a real struggle. |
[592.92 --> 596.50] People find it very difficult when they walk through the mud of life. |
[596.66 --> 600.78] They experience the pain, the difficulty of death and sickness and all the rest. |
[600.96 --> 604.26] It's hard to hold on to hope that something better is coming. |
[604.26 --> 606.24] Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. |
[607.42 --> 611.66] And if you do, you'll know exactly what Isaiah 40 is about. |
[612.26 --> 615.04] Isaiah 40 is a passage written to people |
[615.04 --> 619.20] who are struggling greatly to hope for a better future. |
[620.16 --> 621.72] And let me read for us how it starts, |
[621.80 --> 624.06] because interestingly, it starts with a complaint. |
[624.80 --> 626.36] Isaiah, who's the writer of this book, |
[626.50 --> 629.04] he's sort of rehearsing back to the people of Israel |
[629.04 --> 630.30] what they are saying. |
[630.36 --> 632.02] And listen to what he says in verse 27. |
[632.02 --> 633.56] He says, |
[633.76 --> 635.18] Why do you complain, Jacob? |
[635.94 --> 639.20] Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord? |
[639.40 --> 642.64] My cause is disregarded by my God. |
[643.54 --> 644.26] You ever been there? |
[645.40 --> 647.72] Ever been frustrated with God for unanswered prayer, |
[647.84 --> 650.22] for not seeming to hear the things you're bringing before Him? |
[651.24 --> 653.04] Interestingly and coincidentally this week, |
[653.14 --> 654.78] I was being led through a devotion, |
[655.32 --> 656.32] to audio devotion, |
[656.32 --> 658.96] and it invited you to speak your heart to God |
[658.96 --> 661.44] about the things you feel He hasn't answered in your prayers. |
[661.84 --> 663.28] And that's a very vulnerable thing. |
[663.36 --> 665.36] It's also a very powerful thing to pray, right? |
[665.44 --> 668.54] Lord, I've prayed this for people with real need, |
[668.68 --> 670.84] and I don't sense that you've answered that prayer, |
[670.96 --> 672.26] and I'm bringing that before you. |
[672.52 --> 673.90] That's where Israel was. |
[674.56 --> 675.72] That's exactly where they are. |
[675.76 --> 677.12] And now I'll tell you why. |
[677.50 --> 679.62] Do you know what's going on in Israel at the time of Isaiah? |
[679.62 --> 679.74] Yeah. |
[681.24 --> 682.82] So Israel's in two sections. |
[682.92 --> 683.94] There's the north part of Israel, |
[684.04 --> 685.24] and then there's the south part of Israel. |
[685.42 --> 688.68] The north part of Israel just got decimated by the Assyrian army. |
[689.38 --> 692.06] Like this giant new mega power of the world |
[692.06 --> 694.78] just rolled into Israel, which is a small nation, |
[695.02 --> 697.08] and just took over many of the northern tribes. |
[697.46 --> 699.00] If you ever go to the British Museum, by the way, |
[699.30 --> 702.22] they have artifacts from Assyria |
[702.22 --> 704.94] showing Israel paying tribute to the Assyrian victory. |
[705.04 --> 705.48] It's crazy. |
[705.48 --> 707.68] It made me just realize that this is history. |
[707.68 --> 710.80] So the whole of the north gets destroyed by Assyria. |
[711.14 --> 712.96] Isaiah and Judah in the south, |
[713.32 --> 716.48] they're literally waiting for Assyria to come back and destroy them. |
[717.34 --> 719.22] That's the context of this passage. |
[719.48 --> 722.06] So you can imagine why Israel's saying, |
[722.58 --> 724.36] what in the world is God doing? |
[724.62 --> 726.62] Why is the northern tribes being destroyed? |
[726.82 --> 728.94] Is Assyria going to come back and take us over? |
[729.08 --> 732.42] Like zero sense of safety or peace or security. |
[732.64 --> 734.24] They've got their questions for God. |
[734.24 --> 739.12] And it's in light of that that we now get to hear Isaiah speak back to them |
[739.12 --> 740.84] some pretty profound words. |
[741.68 --> 743.14] This is what he says in verse 28. |
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