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[823.54 --> 832.56] of Warcraft raids. That's what I think happened. Back to the point. Polls everywhere are showing a |
[832.56 --> 841.52] declining confidence in our future. And it is all due to a loss of hope in the things that we evidently put |
[841.52 --> 850.92] our hope in. Hope matters. And it goes beyond simply losing our hope. We're beginning to become |
[850.92 --> 858.24] enthralled, enthralled by hopelessness. Now hear me out here. The most popular books we read, the most |
[858.24 --> 864.00] popular movies we watch, are not ones right now filled with joy and hope anymore. They are stories |
[864.00 --> 870.50] where hopelessness reigns. Movies that take place in dystopian futures intrigue us because we relate to the |
[870.50 --> 875.38] hopelessness of the characters and that the characters face in those circumstances. Book series |
[875.38 --> 882.44] like The Hunger Games or Divergent, they do the same. We love stories with antiheroes. Marvel superhero |
[882.44 --> 887.36] movies, sure, they broke bank this last decade, but the most highest grossing Marvel movie of all of |
[887.36 --> 893.36] them was Deadpool, which featured a vengeful and ruthless antihero. Breaking Bad, probably the most |
[893.36 --> 899.12] popular television show of the past decade. Also, its lead was an extremely immoral antihero. |
[899.12 --> 905.36] This week I saw three trailers for three major movies coming out in 2021. Those three movies, |
[905.68 --> 912.04] Dune, a dystopian future where humanity fights to survive, Godzilla vs. Kong, a movie that is |
[912.04 --> 916.94] humanity's at the mercy of two giants fighting each other, and Greenland, an apocalyptic movie about |
[916.94 --> 924.98] the end of the world due to comet fragments crashing towards the earth. So much hopelessness, |
[924.98 --> 938.14] and we are drawn to it. So why does hopelessness reign so prevalently these days? Perhaps it's because |
[938.14 --> 945.90] we keep putting our hope in the wrong things. That's precisely what Habakkuk learned throughout |
[945.90 --> 950.96] this whole book. He was hoping for a solution to the circumstance that he found himself in. He was |
[950.96 --> 959.34] hoping for a solution to the impending captivity that he was about to face. But what he got was not a |
[959.34 --> 966.94] solution to that problem, but a reminder of God's promises, God's promises that are bigger than our |
[966.94 --> 974.44] circumstances. What he got was a promise that God's redemption story is grander and more beautiful than |
[974.44 --> 984.26] whatever story we want to plug ourselves into. What he got was a reminder that the story that God calls |
[984.26 --> 994.36] us to be in is his story, the story of redemption. And that is a story that is just full of hope. |
[994.36 --> 1003.76] I love this quote from Tim Keller again. He says this. He says, hope that enables us to face the worst in |
[1003.76 --> 1008.84] this world depends on faith in something that transcends this world. |
[1012.12 --> 1017.22] If we keep putting our hope in a different government or a new approach to climate change or |
[1017.22 --> 1023.32] the stock market suddenly rising or falling or a new boyfriend or a new girlfriend or a new job |
[1023.32 --> 1033.72] or a new identity crafted from this world, our hope is finite. It is small. It transcends nothing. |
[1036.52 --> 1045.62] Hope that enables us to face the worst in this world depends on faith in something that transcends the world. |
[1045.62 --> 1063.30] Hope that helps us to face the worst in this world. Habakkuk figured that out. His hope was no longer in crops or food or cattle or employment or his nation or himself or even this life. He was reminded that his hope must be in the Lord. |
[1063.30 --> 1075.62] Now there is no event in our lives that puts hope to the test more than when we brush up against death. |
[1076.98 --> 1086.40] When the reality of the shadow of death falls upon us or upon someone that we love, hope becomes so much more than an idea. |
[1087.40 --> 1088.88] It becomes a reality. |
[1088.88 --> 1099.46] The need for hope in something that transcends this life moves to the forefront of our minds when death is present. |
[1100.40 --> 1106.92] When people are on their deathbed, for example, they welcome conversations with pastors, ministers, priests, elders, |
[1107.16 --> 1110.12] even if they've never stepped in a church before in their life. |
[1110.12 --> 1140.10] Death is not natural. |
[1140.10 --> 1143.66] The death that he died was the death we all deserved. |
[1144.94 --> 1154.24] But by raising to life on the third day, he defeated death once and for all until he comes again at the end of time to redeem all the cosmos for his glory. |
[1156.70 --> 1161.04] Habakkuk's hope was in that future for him. |
[1161.04 --> 1168.16] That future promise of the Messiah who would restore the world and bring justice to the injustice. |
[1168.88 --> 1171.10] Bring peace to the warfare. |
[1171.62 --> 1174.62] Bring life into a world full of death. |
[1176.62 --> 1181.62] Brothers and sisters, we now live on this side of the empty tomb. |
[1181.72 --> 1183.02] That was a future for Habakkuk. |
[1183.28 --> 1185.80] It is a reality, a past event for us. |
[1185.80 --> 1194.46] We know our risen Lord has accomplished justice and peace and eternal life, |
[1194.64 --> 1203.54] and we hope in certainty for the fulfillment of these promises when our already victorious Savior |
[1203.54 --> 1209.64] comes down from his heavenly seat at the right hand of God to restore all of creation to its final glory. |
[1210.18 --> 1215.22] Then all who believed in him can rejoice in body and in soul forever. |
[1215.74 --> 1218.76] That is our hope. |
[1218.76 --> 1228.82] Believers in Christ, we are not simply hoping for some comfort for the life that we might have lost. |
[1229.30 --> 1233.90] We can look towards this full restoration of the life that we wanted, |
[1234.08 --> 1236.88] but could never have due to the sin and brokenness of this world. |
[1237.12 --> 1239.36] Our hope is in so much more. |
[1239.36 --> 1251.14] Other religions, they offer an afterlife that is primarily conditioned on people living morally and good lives. |
[1252.42 --> 1256.66] But the salvation Christianity offers is not for good people, |
[1257.50 --> 1261.94] but rather for people who understand and acknowledge that they are, and never will be, |
[1262.56 --> 1267.26] good enough themselves and are desperately in need of a Savior. |
[1267.26 --> 1276.14] Because of this, we don't have to approach death uncertain of whether we will be found worthy of eternal life or not, |
[1277.20 --> 1284.92] but we can approach death confidently, knowing our Redeemer lives and our hope is secure. |
[1286.16 --> 1287.50] We've seen this throughout history. |
[1288.20 --> 1291.38] Dietrich Bonhoeffer was about to be executed for plotting against Hitler, |
[1291.38 --> 1296.00] and he wrote that death is the supreme festival on the road to freedom. |
[1296.00 --> 1299.08] At the end of his life, D.L. Moody wrote that, |
[1299.20 --> 1301.08] Someday you will read that I am dead, he said. |
[1301.42 --> 1302.34] Don't believe a word. |
[1303.02 --> 1305.80] At that moment, I will be more alive than I am now. |
[1307.72 --> 1310.34] The first martyr, Stephen, back in Acts chapter 7, |
[1310.40 --> 1312.36] he's about to get stoned for witnessing the gospel, |
[1312.46 --> 1313.94] and he looked up to the heavens and he said, |
[1313.94 --> 1320.06] Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. |
[1320.06 --> 1324.02] Our church has seen it too. |
[1324.68 --> 1327.16] Two of our members passed away in December, |
[1327.70 --> 1337.90] and yet both Dave and Brum were confident that their sure hope was in Christ. |
[1339.36 --> 1342.36] That this life was simply the beginning. |
[1342.98 --> 1343.92] They were sure of it. |
[1344.56 --> 1346.04] We can be sure of it too. |
[1346.04 --> 1351.22] We recognize that we are part of a more beautiful story, |
[1351.38 --> 1353.02] a story that is already victorious, |
[1353.24 --> 1355.22] and yet a story that is not concluded. |
[1356.26 --> 1358.74] The conclusion comes with Christ's second coming, |
[1358.82 --> 1361.00] where he will redeem all things once and for all. |
[1361.38 --> 1362.64] That is our hope, |
[1362.96 --> 1365.92] and it is an eternal hope. |
[1369.50 --> 1370.34] Concluding with this, |
[1370.38 --> 1371.18] as I mentioned earlier, |
[1371.24 --> 1372.22] our hope is not earned. |
[1372.98 --> 1374.04] Our hope is not bought. |
[1374.04 --> 1376.18] Our hope is not even found, |
[1376.26 --> 1378.56] because that presumes we need to search for it. |
[1379.82 --> 1380.04] No. |
[1380.50 --> 1382.06] Our hope is a gift. |
[1382.20 --> 1385.80] It is a faith in our intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, |
[1386.10 --> 1387.22] our Savior. |
[1387.98 --> 1390.00] And this hope is available to everyone, |
[1390.60 --> 1392.10] no matter their circumstance. |
[1394.56 --> 1400.44] That is why Habakkuk could rejoice in the midst of his impending captivity. |
[1400.44 --> 1404.06] That is why Christians can sing at funerals. |
[1404.26 --> 1407.80] That is why we can be caught dancing in the dirge. |
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