“COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: The blessing of the hope of heaven.” - 8-22-21

 “COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: The blessing of the hope of heaven.” - 8-22-21

INTRODUCTION

Blessings

God carries our burdens daily.

God meets our needs.

God blesses us with spiritual blessings in Christ.

God forgives all our sins.

God heals all our diseases.

God redeems your life from the pit.

God crowns us with love and compassion.

God satisfies your desires with good things.

God works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

God offers unseen blessings.

God blesses through suffering.

God allows us to participate in the suffering of Christ.

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”

‭‭ Psalms‬ ‭103:1-6 NIV

VIDEO- Mercy Me “I Can Only Imagine”

I.  HOPE

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength. 

G.K. Chesterton, Signs of the Times, April 1993, p. 6

A.  Hope is never lost.

“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?”

‭‭ Romans‬ ‭8:24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

B.  We can be confident in hope.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

‭‭ Hebrews‬ ‭11:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

C.  True hope comes from God.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

‭‭ Romans‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭ 1 Thessalonians‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

D.  Hope is a gift.

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

‭‭ Romans‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

E.  Hope endures 

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.”

‭‭ Proverbs‬ ‭23:18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

II. THE HOPE OF HEAVEN

We know very little about heaven, but I once heard a theologian describe it as "an unknown region with a well-know inhabitant," and there is not a better way to think of it than that.

Richard Baxter expresses the thought in these lines:

My knowledge of that life is small,

The eye of faith is dim,

But it's enough that Christ knows all,

And I shall be with him.

To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us.

James Packer, Your Father Loves You,  Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986

A.  Jesus is preparing a place for you.

““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.””

‭‭ John‬ ‭14:1-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

B.  We will be transformed for life in heaven.

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

‭‭ Philippians‬ ‭3:20-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

C.  We will see God “face to face.”

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

‭‭ Revelation‬ ‭22:1-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

III. THE ASSURANCE OF HEAVEN

A.  The promise to believers

“Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

‭‭ 1 John‬ ‭5:10-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

‭‭ 1 Peter‬ ‭1:3-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

B.  The reward of faithfulness

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

‭‭ Matthew‬ ‭7:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

‭‭ 2 Timothy‬ ‭4:7-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

‭‭ 2 Peter‬ ‭1:10-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

C.  The promise of God

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

‭‭ Hebrews‬ ‭10:23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

CONCLUSION

In one of his books, A.M. Hunter, the New Testament scholar, relates the story of a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him something about the place to which he was going. As the doctor fumbled for a reply, he heard a scratching at the door, and he had his answer. "Do you hear that?" he asked his patient. "It's my dog. I left him downstairs, but he has grown impatient, and has come up and hears my voice. He has no notion what is inside this door, but he knows that I am here. Isn't it the same with you? You don't know what lies beyond the Door, but you know that your Master is there." 

A.M. Hunter, Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 208

Hope.  The hope of heaven.  The assurance of heaven.m

CHALLENGE

Our challenge will remain the same each week of this sermon series.  I just ask that you keep in mind the topic of each week’s message as you write down your weekly 3-2-1.  The topic this week is the blessing of the hope of heaven.

Write down 3 ways God bears your burdens daily.  Write down 2 needs God has met this week.  Write down 1 spiritual blessing in Christ that you cherish most.  Acknowledge God’s blessings.

INVITATION

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.