HOPE…What makes it so secure?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 25: HOPE”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
What makes the anchor of hope Jesus gives so secure?
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.
Let’s explore this verse a bit today…
The root cause of hopelessness is sin and a broken relationship with the Lord. We live in a broken world affected by evil, people who let us down, dreams that get dashed, and desires that never pan out. We are seeking something better for tomorrow and are tempted to place it in things or people that are temporary or eventually unreliable.
So to begin to solve the problem of hopelessness, one must have a solution for sin. For when sin and its consequences are removed, one can have a true and living hope in a life eternal where sin has no more affect or consequences.
So the reason this hope is an anchor for the soul, firm and secure is because it “enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.”
Makes you feel great, right?
Probably not much, unless we look back to what the passage is referring.
In the Old Testament directed cycle of worship, God instructed the priests to build a tabernacle (tent) and then eventually a brick and mortar temple. The design of both was the same with the front two thirds being called the “Holy Place.” The high priest or priest on duty would enter this area regularly for the rituals God prescribed. The “Most Holy Place” was a perfect cube and separated from the Holy Place by a thick curtain. The Ark of the Covenant was in this room and it was off limits except one time a year when the priest would enter “behind” the curtain on the Great Day of Atonement. You can read all about it in Leviticus 16. Here’s some key verses of what the High Priest would do “behind the curtain.”
11 “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. 12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
15 “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.
All the rituals of the Day of Atonement were pictures of the seriousness of sin and how blood needed to be shed to bring connection and restore what sin had broken. They were a picture that pointed forward to the ultimate shedding of blood by “the Lamb of God,” Jesus when he went to the cross.
The book of Hebrews is a great book to understand Jesus’ role to fulfill and bring to fulfillment the Old Testament rituals and prophesies.
Here’s a great verse (Hebrews 7:26-27): Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
Jesus went “behind the curtain” with his own blood to bring full atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Proof? When Jesus finished his suffering on the cross here’s what is recorded:
Matthew 27:50-51: And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Jesus went behind the curtain to sprinkle his blood for the sins of all people. With the curtain gone, our sins paid for, we have a hope that is an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for taking your precious blood “behind the curtain” to pay for my sins. As a result, I know I stand forgiven and can always have a living hope in an eternity with you forever. AMEN.
HOPE…What makes us lose it?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 25: HOPE”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
What makes us lose hope?
You will have to answer this question for yourself, but I’m wondering if some of the following situations cause you to lose hope, i.e. and expectation of a better tomorrow. Here’s five that came to mind…probably because they have triggered a sense of hopelessness. (In no particular order…)
- When the to-do list is longer than the day…and the week…and the month, it is tempting to think getting on top of things will ever happen. One day grinds into the next, into the next. Perhaps what makes it worse is the tasks by time they get done are such tolerations that it doesn’t seem worth celebrating any accomplishment…just move on to the next task.
- Lack of appreciation. When you have expended your best and given your all and no one seems to care or acknowledge or thank you for it, it is easy to lose hope that your life and what you do for others really matters.
- Lack of forgiveness. We are human beings with sinful natures. We will get into conflict with others. Unfortunately at times we have a trail of broken relationships, not because we weren’t willing to work it out or forgive, but the other person is unwilling to work it out and forgive. Makes one feel hopeless that any relationship can be truly enjoyed.
- A pet sin got you again. As followers of Christ we yearn to walk in his ways and honor him in all we think do or say. But then we don’t and we feel hopeless perhaps that we are forgiven or will ever be able to overcome that temptation in the future.
- We have all experience a loss of some kind at some point in our lives. Loss of a loved one. Loss of a relationship. Loss of finances. Loss of a job. Loss of our health, etc. In times of loss, it is difficult to see a future that is better because the present before the loss was better than before the loss (did that make sense?). When what we love and care about goes away, it can lead to a sense of hopelessness.
What would you add to this list? I know there are more.
So why do these and other situations lead to a sense of hopelessness? Perhaps the common theme is I am looking to myself or to others to determine whether I have hope. I am counting on someone being 100% dependable who is incapable of doing just that. I am relying on my own strength and ability to generate a future that is better than the present. And the result?
I still have times of hopelessness.
So what is the answer?
Turn to the one who is the source of all hope. Turn to the One who knows the future before the present plays out. Turn to the One who knows you better than you know yourself. Turn to the one who loves you so much and so consistently that he knows his plans for you and all of them involve hope. Jeremiah the prophet was given this message. (We often focus on verse 11, but notice the context of it.)
Jeremiah 29:10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
There would be a time of challenge, but God would be faithful to his promise. He would gather his people back to himself.
We may not be on a 70-year exile to Babylon, but sometimes in life we feel challenged and apart from the Lord. The great reminder of these verses is that the Lord is always faithful to his promises.
Hope is the expectation of a better future.
Left on our own and focusing on ourselves, there isn’t much hope.
With the Lord and focusing on him and his promises? There is always a reason for hope!
Apply: What situations in life make you feel hopeless. What promise of God can you remember in those times to stay full of hope, even when earthly circumstances seem to speak otherwise.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for knowing the plans you have for me and including in all of them a plan for hope and a future. With you, there is always hope! AMEN.
Hope…An anchor for our souls.
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 25: HOPE”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
We have this hope as an anchor for our souls… (Hebrews 6:19)
I will be the first to admit, “I don’t have a lot of experience with boats.”
Sure I’ve been on a fishing boat, and a ferry or two, but that’s about it. However, I remember fishing experiences with my Aunt in Alexandria, MN. We would motor out a ways into the lake and she would always know where the fishing hole was for sunfish. The goal was to sit right on top of the weed bed and spend a few hours catching a bunch of “sunnies.” No matter how slight the breeze was, the boat would move unless we put down the anchor. We were taught how to let it down, but often times we would find ourselves drifting off the fishing spot and away from where the fish was biting.
The anchor didn’t hold.
No matter large container ship or small fishing boat, when you put an anchor down, you want it to stick. You want the anchor to hold you in place, no matter how strong the breeze is or how high the waves are. The job of an anchor is to make sure the boat you are in is firm and secure.
When the writer to the Hebrews describes “this hope as an anchor for our souls,” he too is wanting us to have a hope that is firm and secure. I suspect the Spirit of God led him to use the picture of the anchor because he knows that life can seem rather hopeless at times. We have days where the winds of opposition blow strongly and the waves of hardship beat hard. We may have days like Job did as he lost all his earthly possessions and even his health was being challenged.
- Job 7:4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering. - “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.
We’ve all had these days. They come after losing a position at work. They come after a diagnosis of a terminal illness. They come when we hear of a death of a loved one. They come when our career is cut short by an injury. They come when someone we think loves and cares about us leaves with little warning. The list of winds and waves that beat against us can be extensive.
So what enables us in the middle of these circumstances have expectation for a better future (hope)?
The Apostle Peter puts it this way:
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
Hope is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because the resurrection of Jesus Christ anchors our expectation of a better future in heaven.
…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
You don’t want that which you anchor your eternity on to perish, spoil or fade. You want it to live and last forever…exactly what Jesus did and who Jesus is…he proved it by his resurrection.
More on what makes this anchor so secure tomorrow…but for today, know with certainty a living Jesus is someone you can always count on and a living Jesus is always the anchor for your soul.
Apply: What are the winds and the waves of life beating against you right now? How does certain hope alter your perspective on these situations?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for providing an anchor for my soul in Jesus, your Son. AMEN.
HOPE…I had or have hope!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 25: HOPE”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
We had hoped…
How many times in life have you caught yourself using this phrase…
“I had hoped…”
“I had hoped I would have been chosen for the job.”
“I had hoped to get a better grade on my test.”
“I had hoped that my investments would have gone up.”
“I had hoped that that relationship would have worked out.”
“I had hoped my car would have lasted longer.”
The list goes on.
Hope is a desire for a better future.
We have hopes in our life, but often times whatever we put our hope in fails us.
Whether it’s wealth, people, governments…they will all let us down.
Ironically the evening of the day of Christ’s resurrection a couple of his followers “had hoped…”
Luke 24:17-24 They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.
As they didn’t recognize Jesus, their hearts were discouraged. They had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel, but his body was in the grave, but the reports of Jesus’ body not there were beginning to circulate.
A dead Jesus is like anything or anyone else. A dead Jesus lets us down. Because the work of a dead Jesus is incomplete.
The Apostle Paul said it this way:
1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
But …
1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Jesus’ resurrection turns “I had hoped” into “I have hope”!
Things on earth in which we put our hope will always leave us disappointed and empty. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead affirms the reality that Jesus truly did pay for my sin and rise again to prove the truth that I too will rise again.
John 11:25 Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
As the Spirit of God leads us to trust in Jesus, we can and do have hope for a better future…the best ever with Jesus in heaven.
Apply: What things in life “had” you hoped in that let you down?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for sending Jesus to live, die and rise again for me. Because of him, I have hope! AMEN.
Self-control…stays on the cross.
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 24: SELF-CONTROL”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Matthew 27:38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
I’ll show them!
I’ll get down from this cross, destroy the temple building and have it rebuilt in 3 hours let alone three days.
I’ll show them!
I trust God. I am the Son of God. I’ll just step down and I’ll show them!
Jesus didn’t say or even think the things above, but the taunts and the jeers and the challenges had to be a temptation against self-control.
Self-control is challenged when others challenge us to prove our point or prove our abilities or prove our claims.
Dares…double dares…challenges to my person challenge me to lose self-control.
A taco eating challenge leads to a day of sickness afterwards – dumb move.
A drinking challenge leads to a drunken driving arrest – dumb move.
A challenge to prove your fastball leads to a torn rotator cuff – dumb move.
A mean insult leads you to take a swing at the person – dumb move.
When people challenge our ego, our claims, our person our natural response is to prove them wrong.
It takes self-control to be confident that you don’t have to do something against your person or purpose to prove yourself to people who don’t care about you or would change their mind even if you did.
The insults were brutal. The challenges were real. The temptation was strong.
But power isn’t shown in one’s ability to do something, power is proved by choosing not to do something, even if you have the power to do it.
Jesus practiced perfect self-control on the cross in the face of intense challenge to do otherwise.
Self-control knew destroying and rebuilding the physical temple in Jerusalem would have no converts if his rising from the dead didn’t change minds in three days.
Self-control knew getting down from the cross was less significant than triumphing over the cross as he did.
Self-control knew that coming down from the cross would save no one…staying there would.
Self-control knew that if the many miracles he had already performed hadn’t convinced the religious leaders of his authenticity…coming down from the cross wouldn’t either.
Self-control led Jesus to be consistent with his person and purpose as he hung on the cross. He came to bear the sins of the world…including those that mocked him. Self-control led him to forgive instead of insult back. Self-control led him to pronounce salvation to the thief who recognized his position on the cross paled in comparison to his position before his Holy God. Self-control led him to suffer separation from his Father so you and I would never have to.
He could have come down.
But he didn’t.
To show us.
How much he loves us.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for staying on the cross…for me. AMEN.