SOARING HOPE, SOLID CONFIDENCE

"Now faith is being sure of things hoped for,

certain of things not seen."

Hebrews 11:1

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host shall encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war shall rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."

Psalm 27: 1-4

"I would have fainted, except that I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

Psalm 27: 13

These words in Psalm 27 are the testimony of a man who was certain about the presence of God in his life.

He could not reach out and touch the Lord with his hands.

He could not see the Lord with these eyes.

But he knew that the God of the universe, was guiding him.

"The Lord is my light."

"The Lord is my salvation."

"The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"

This certainty is what kept this man from fainting when the storms of hell broke loose over his life.

"I would have fainted, except that I believed to see the goodness

of the Lord in the land of the living."

What was it that enabled the man who found treasure hidden in the field to go out and sell everything he had to buy the field if not the certainty that this treasure was in fact, the one thing in all the world worth having?

He's sure of it!

He doesn't sell everything he has with trepidation.

He does sell everything he has

with great joy because he's sure of the treasure.

What was it that enabled Andrew, Peter, James, and John suddenly to walk away from their fishing boats, families, everything - to follow Jesus, if not the certainty that Jesus had the treasure worth losing everything to get?

Soon they discovered that Jesus himself was the treasure.

The woman at the well came to draw water. After talking with Jesus, she left the empty water jar ran back to town, announcing,

"Come and see a man who told me all I ever did. Is not this the Messiah?"

She was certain that she had found the Messiah.

This certainty,

This soaring hope,

This wonderful confidence that enables people to shout,

"This is what I want!

This is the one thing that matters!

I am prepared to lose everything else to have it!"

… marks the life of every man, woman, and child

who comes into the kingdom.

This is the certainty that enables us to get up on the road of the kingdom

and start moving.

This is the certainty that enables us to say, "Good-bye" to all the clutter

and buy the field that holds the treasure.

This is the certainty that enables us to forsake our fishing boats

to follow Jesus.

Certainty is not some rare gift, which God imparts only to a few in every generation. This is a gift which God gives freely….

to all who draw near to his Son.

Certainty is the mark of the normal Christian.

Without it there is no discipleship.

There is no vision.

There is no life.

But from earliest times, people have tried to ignore the fact that this certainty is essential. Perhaps we taste it for a while, and when it fades, we think that we have "matured."

How often we catch ourselves thinking, "Yes, there was a time when I

knew…when I was sure that Jesus is alive from the dead and guiding my life. I knew it! But now it seems as though I'm going through the motions while secretly asking, 'Do you really believe this stuff?'"

But how can we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God?

How can we worship him and praise him unless we are sure?

How can we take the Sermon on the Mount and turn it into action? …

loving one another,

living with purity, truth, justice, mercy,

… in our daily relationships with people,

unless we're dwelling in the House of God,

beholding him, receiving life from him?

"One thing that I desire of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in his temple."

Psalm 27: 4

Unless I'm living in his presence, it's impossible to live this life.

"But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened,

you endured the hard struggle with sufferings,

sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction,

and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

For you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourself

have a better possession and an abiding one.

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence,

which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance,

so you may do the will of God and receive what is promised.

'For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'

But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and keep their souls." Hebrews 10: 32-39

What an awesome thing!

These people had compassion on the prisoners

and joyfully accepted the plundering of their houses,

because they knew that they had a better treasure.

As long as they had this treasure, they were rich.

And who could strip them of this treasure?

"Now faith is being sure of things hoped for, certain of things not seen."

Certainty is the rock bottom essential of our life with Jesus.

Without it we are powerless.

But where do we get it?

And how do we maintain it when we have it?

We receive it and we maintain it by hearing, constantly hearing,

a living word directly from the Lord Jesus.

"It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words

that I have spoken to you, they are Spirit and they are life."

His words, received and obeyed, create faith.

They bring certainty.

On the evening of the night in which Jesus was betrayed, he gathered his disciples together for their last meal together.

During the meal he got up, laid aside his garments,

wrapped himself in a towel, got down and washed their feet like a slave.

After he sent Judas on his way, Jesus gave the disciples their final instructions, beginning with these words:

"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me."

Believe. Be certain.

Not a week has gone by since it first took place that this feast hasn't been

re-enacted somewhere.

As we gather in his name to eat and drink the bread and the wine, the Spirit of the Lord comes into our midst and speaks the same words to us:

"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me."

Believe.

And as he speaks these words to us,

he imparts the power to believe enough to obey them.

He says to us, "Be certain, be certain of four things:

· Be certain that the Father knows you by name.

· Be certain that the Father has called you into his kingdom.

· Be certain that my death and resurrection have broken the curse over your life.

· Be certain that the gift of the Holy Spirit is now being renewed within you."

If you are certain of these four things, you will…

"mount up on wings like eagles. You will run and not be weary,

you'll walk and not faint."

Nothing can cause you to fail.

First of all, be certain that the Father knows you by name.

"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me!

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,

thou understandest my thought afar off.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down,

and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo,

O Lord thou knowest it all together.

Thou has beset me behind and before,

and laid thine hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high, I cannot attain unto it."

Psalm 139:1-6 KJV

It staggers our minds to even think that the God of the universe

should know each of us by name, but he does.

And this becomes the basis of it all.

Everything that Jesus did and taught begins by getting hold of this truth – that God knows us.

"Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

Again and again it's the same message,

I see you.

I know you.

I understand.

I know what you're going through.

I know who you are.

When we are certain that God knows us by name, then we can say,

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”

“The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Secondly, be certain that the Father has called you into his kingdom.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and ordained you that you

should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide."

John 15:16

Jesus said these words to the disciples in the upper room at that Last Supper and now he says the same words to us …

"You didn't choose me, I chose you and ordained you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain."

"I've called you into the kingdom and I've given you work to do."

When you eat the communion feast,

realize that you are sitting at table in the kingdom;

you are sitting, so to speak, in a chair with your name on it.

He put that name there.

That's where you belong.

He called you to feast,

and now he calls you to get to work.

There is work for each one of us in the kingdom.

Yes, we are saved by grace, but that same grace puts us to work.

We labor in his name.

We enter the harvest.

You may say, "Oh, but that's the hard part for me. I've never been able to finish anything I start. I'm a klutz. I stumble. I fail."

All this changes when your eyes focus on Calvary.

So, thirdly, believe and be certain that the death and the resurrection

of Jesus have broken the curse over your life.

Yes, there was a curse.

Sometimes we still feel it, when everything seems to go wrong.

What is this cloud of confusion and defeat which hangs over me?

When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden that was a curse.

God didn't do it. They did it to themselves.

By their rebellion they locked themselves out of Paradise.

There is indeed a veil separating the human race from God.

That separation cuts us off from our only true source of life.

It makes us vulnerable to the powers of darkness.

It blinds us to the reality of God's world.

But when that veil opens up, and we walk through,

the curse is broken.

We're free.

We can accomplish things we could never do before.

"Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through a curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Hebrews 10:19-22

Be certain that veil is open for you,

and in that certainty go through,

stand with Jesus before the mercy seat,

and start worshiping God,

… and the curse of sin, guilt, death, bad failure, defeat is over!

Be certain of this.

Confess it.

Live it.

Finally,

be certain, that the gift of the Holy Spirit is being renewed within you.

If you asked for the gift of the Holy Spirit, you received it.

And if you haven't asked for the gift of the Holy Spirit,

do it now.

Pray with faith.

"If you then, who are evil,

know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more of the heavenly Father

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

And after you have asked,

don't sit around waiting for bells to ring

and the rainbows to pop in the sky,

just know… if you asked for bread,

you didn't get a stone.

If you asked for the gift of the Spirit,

this is exactly what you have received.

The same Spirit that was given to the believers on the day of Pentecost is being given afresh to us and to others like us all over the world.

Jesus says to us, "Receive the Spirit. Live in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit."

You will do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

"Faith is being sure of things hoped for, certain of things not seen."

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

God has done everything from his side to put the kingdom into us.

He sent his Son.

Took him to the cross.

Raised him from the dead.

Lifted him back to his side.

Sent the gift of the Spirit.

All these things and the power they represent become actual in our

personal lives, and in our corporate life, when we believe, when we trust.

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me."

Be certain that the Father knows you by name.

Be certain that the Father has called you into his kingdom.

Be certain that the death and resurrection of Jesus

have broken the curse over your life.

Be certain that, even as you read these words,

he is satisfying your thirst with a fresh measure of the Holy Spirit,

making you more than a conqueror

through him who loves you.