Your Amazing Future, Purchased on the Cross // Merchants of Hope, Part 4

Easter isn’t just a time for looking back at what Jesus did, but forward at what He purchased for those who believe in Him. The amazing eternity that we have to look forward to and three new things, that will be ours. A new body, a new heaven and a new earth. Now that deserves a Hallelujah!

No More Tears

Over the past little while on the program we’ve been talking about the importance of having hope in our lives. Hope is like a photo album in our hearts and in our minds … images of the good things that we hope are going to happen to us and for us in the future. And when we run out of positive images, that’s called … hopelessness.

But the important thing that I’ve learned over the course of this series is this: that the sort of hope that the Bible talks about is entirely different to the sort of hope that we talk about. For us, hope has a dimension of uncertainty to it.

You’re sitting in the doctor’s surgery, you’re waiting to go in to be told whether the x–rays reveal cancer or not. You hope that it’s going to be okay, but … well, you just don’t know. Or you hope that next week, you’ll receive that promotion at work. The bosses are getting together over the next couple of days, to evaluate the candidates. You’re hoping that your name will be at the top of the pile, but … you just don’t know.

There’s a kind of a tension involved in the way that we think about hope. I hope it’s going to be okay. I hope it’s going to be great. I hope my marriage doesn’t fall apart. I hope my teenage kids are going to be okay at the party tonight.

And when things don’t turn out the way we want, often there are tears. The disappointment that ensues when the hope that we had proves to be misplaced, is really, really tough. It often leads to tears. Think about the last time that you shed tears. What was it about? A betrayal? A relationship breakdown? Missing out on that promotion? A scary prognosis from the doctor?

I read on Wikipedia that according to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on crying, women cry on average between 30 and 64 times a year. Men cry on average between 6 and 17 times a year. Men tend to cry for about two to four minutes and women cry for about six minutes. Crying turns to sobbing for women in 65% of cases, compared to just 6% for men. But these differences don’t start to occur until adolescence.

Inevitably, these tears are related to the disappointment that comes when hope has failed us. Think back to the last time that you cried. What was it about? Why did you cry? What was the trigger?

Sometimes it’s physical pain, but mostly, it’s when there’s some trigger or breaking point that brings lost hope to a head; that thing we’d hoped for: a good marriage, an obedient child, trustworthiness in a work colleague, good health. Whatever it is… that thing that we hoped for… has failed us.

Do you enjoy crying? No. I don’t think there’s a single person on the planet who enjoys crying. And if you or I had our way, we would never, ever, ever encounter another situation that causes us to cry anything but tears of joy, for the rest of our days on this earth. Right?

The things we hope for on this earth don’t always happen. But the sort of hope that the Bible talks about is completely different, and there’s no better passage to tell that story than in Romans chapter 5 verses 3 to 5:

And not only that, (writes Paul) but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Did you pick it? The sort of hope that the Bible talks about is the sort of hope that doesn’t disappoint us. It never disappoints us, because God is faithful; God’s Word is true; God’s promises never fail and so we can hope in Him with absolute, rock solid, certain hope. No ifs. No buts. No maybes.

Even, as is the case here, during times of suffering. Because during that suffering, God is building our character and our endurance and through that, He grows a godly hope in our hearts, by pouring the Holy Spirit into us.

So, when it comes to the tears that you and I shed from time to time there is a promise that I want to share with you today that you can have a rock solid, unfailing hope in. Revelation chapter 21, verses 3 to 5. This passage tells us what our eternity with Jesus is going to be like. Have a listen:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’

Just think about that. Whatever sadness and tragedies that you’ve had to travel through, whatever disappointments and losses that you’ve experienced in your life, God Himself will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Death, suffering, sickness, pain, mourning, loss, tragedy, disappointment … none of those things will ever be again, because those things will have passed away.

All the things that matter today, all the things that cause you hurt today, every single thing that brings a tear to your eyes today, will be gone because those things … the first things … will have passed away.

It’s hard to imagine isn’t it? I know there’s someone listening today who has lost a child. Another whose life’s work was taken away from them. Another whose wife or husband has just died and was suddenly taken away from them. And there’s no doubt someone listening whose marriage is a complete mess, not at all what you’d planned when you walked down the aisle together all those years ago.

One day, all those things will be gone. And if you believe in Jesus, all that will be left, will be you, with countless others, in glory with the Lord your God for all eternity.

Billy Graham once said this: ‘I’ve read the last page of my Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.’ That’s the rock solid truth in which you and I can place our hope … and never, ever, ever be disappointed.

So let’s bring that hope now, into the middle of the situations and circumstances that you’re travelling through at the moment. The things that you have uncertain hope about. The thing that last moved you to tears and to sobbing, the pain so deep, that you don’t have words to express it.

What difference does God’s hope, this certain hope make? What difference can it make? Does it completely take away the pain and the tears now? No, I don’t think so. Probably not. Some hurts are incredibly deep. But what it does do, is it puts them into a whole new eternal perspective. Just stand back and look at the whole picture. What you’re going through now in the context of the hope that you can have for where you’re going to be and what you’re going to be doing and what God will have done on that day that you go to be with Him.

And listen to His Words again, as He speaks them personally to you:

‘I will dwell with you; and you will be mine, I myself will be with you; I will wipe every tear from your eyes. Death will be no more; your mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for those things will have passed away.’

And my friend that very same God, the God that speaks those words of love and hope to you now, is with you, now. Through your faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit … the very Presence of God … dwells in you. He feels your pain. He knows your tears. He is there to comfort you. And He is there to pour his rock solid certain hope into your heart, so that you will know beyond any shadow of a doubt, that one day, these things will come to pass.

The Word of God is able to do things that no man can do. May His Word and His Spirit bring deep comfort and great hope to you today.

What Will We Do for the Rest of Eternity?

Have you ever tried to imagine eternity? It’s a bit like infinity. You and I are these tiny specs in the cosmos. In fact, we live on a tiny speck hurtling around the sun at 30 kilometres a second. So we’re tiny, tiny, tiny in the overall scheme of things. At least a hundred trillion stars out there, and those are just the ones we know about.

Of course day to day, we don’t think too much about that at all. As I sat at my desk this morning pecking away at the keyboard it seemed totally incongruous to me that I was hurtling through space at 30 kilometres per second. (Actually it’s a whole bunch faster than that, because as well as flying around the sun at breakneck speed, our solar system is whirling around the centre of our galaxy at the rate of 220 kilometres per second. That’s 792,000 kilometres or 490,000 miles per hour … but I try not to think about that).

So when it comes to our sense of space, we cope with these ridiculously, unimaginably large numbers, by retreating into our few square miles in which we live, and somehow fencing our mind and our imagination to live in that space, because it’s much more comfortable that way, right?

And the same is true with our sense of time. I’m now 54 years old and every now and then I think to myself if I live to what is an average life expectancy for a male in Australia … say to my mid-eighties, that’s what, another thirty years. Could be more, could be less … only God knows. I’m pretty fit, I’m pretty healthy, I’m hoping it’ll be more, but who knows?

Thirty years left. Thirty birthdays. Thirty Christmas’. Thirty Easters. Thirty summers. That’s not that many is it when you think about it. Basically I’m almost two-thirds the way through an average lifetime.

And yet, every day, it can be a long time. I look back on yesterday. Hey, I got a lot done yesterday. I tend to pack a lot into my days, because I love living life to the full. It’s just me. So, thirty years, is another 10,950 days. Well, I tell you something if I get as much done on each of those as I did yesterday, then that’s an awful lot. So now, I turn my mind to the lyrics of that wonderful old hymn – Amazing Grace:

When we've been here ten thousand years. Bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise. Than when we've first begun.

Hang on ten thousand years! That’s three million, six hundred and fifty thousand days! (I’m assuming we’ll have given leap years the ditch by then). What do you do for that many days?! I mean after a three week holiday, I’m raring to go to get back to work, back into harness, back to do stuff.

And yet 10,000 years is a still just an infinitely small drop in the ocean, when it comes to eternity, which by definition, is infinity years. Have you ever wondered what we’re going to do for all that time in heaven? Well, when we talk about heaven, we’re really talking about the new earth that God is going to create. When God creates that new earth, heaven will literally be on earth as God makes His home with us.

Okay, so if you believe in Jesus today. If you put your trust completely in what He did for you on that cross. If you’re living out your life for him … then you’re going to be spending eternity in the new heaven on the new earth, with Him. As we’ve seen in this series, the effects of our sin will be rolled back. As one author writes, we’ll effectively be picking up where the garden of Eden left off.

Will we be working in heaven? Or will it be one long holiday? Will we get bored? Is that pain in the neck, busy-body, gossip, Mrs so and so from down the road going to be there to bend my ear for all eternity? Come on, eternity is an incredibly, unimaginably, long time. What are we going to be doing?

The last book of the Bible, Revelation gives us the best indication of what we’ll actually be doing. Now it’s written in a style of literature called apocalyptic literature, for which we have no real equivalent in our culture today. The best way to describe it is picture language. So, here are the words, let them paint a picture in your heart. Revelation chapter 5:

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:

‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood, ransomed for God, saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on all the earth.’

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and living creatures and elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, ‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.

I don’t know … I don’t know about what else we’ll be doing, but one of the main things that we’re going to be doing is worshipping Jesus. What? For all eternity? Sure. He is an infinite God … He is an amazing God and when you and I stand in His Presence, I have to tell you, our instinctive reaction will be to worship and to worship and to worship. Have you ever been in a great time of worship at your church and wished it would never end? Well that … was only a shadow, just an inkling, of what is to come. We will be in His Presence and worship Him. Forever.

There’s a great song by Mercy Me called I Can Only Imagine. It goes like this:

I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by your side.

I can only imagine, what my eyes will see when your face is before me. I can only imagine. I can only imagine.

Surrounded by your glory what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still?

Will I stand in your Presence, or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?

I can only Imagine.

I don't think that you and I can begin to imagine what it will mean to be in glory with Jesus, knowing that we are only there by His grace, through His suffering on that Cross. And because of His great love, God is our God, and we are His people and the home of God is amongst us.

Friend, do you believe in Jesus? Then this is the certain hope that is in you. This is absolutely what is going to happen. And it will go on forever and ever and ever, AMEN!

And that hope my friend is meant to fill your heart today. That hope is meant to overflow out of you into the lives and the hearts and the hurts and the fears and the failures and the sin of the people around you today. That hope is meant to spill out and flow out and touch them with the love of your God today.

Are you a follower of Christ Jesus? Then you are meant to be a merchant of hope. An ambassador of Christ. We don’t see people around us coming to Christ through the condemnation that we hurl at them, do we? How well has that ever worked for you?

We see them come to the Christ when they see the hope that is in us, and they ask: why are you so up-beat? How can you be so happy? Why are you so strong through all the trials that you face? And you turn to them with a smile and you say, let me tell you about the hope that is in me. You and I are meant to be … merchants of hope.

Cross Roads

Over these last few weeks we’ve talked a lot about the future that Jesus has planned for you. A future so great, that it doesn’t bear comparing to the suffering that we might have to travel through in this life. That’s what the Apostle Paul said, right in the middle of a time of great suffering, in Romans chapter 8, verse 18, he said:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory about to be revealed to us.

But I know that there are some people who struggle to imagine that this eternal future, being in glory with Jesus for all eternity, could possibly be meant for them. I get that. In fact, the more you’re struggling with the issues of life at the moment, the harder it is for you to lay hold of the truth that this eternal glory is actually meant for you.

Jesus’ disciples were struggling when He was telling them about what lay ahead for them. They were struggling because there was a plot afoot to assassinate Jesus. They were struggling because they weren’t just afraid for Him, they were in fear of their own lives. All these amazing things they’d seen this Jesus do … would all be lost? Would He indeed be assassinated? So Jesus said to them:

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. For in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it weren’t so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may also be. And you know the way to the place where I am going. John chapter 14, verses 1 to 4.

And my friend just as He was preparing a place for them, He was preparing a special place for you and for me. That’s how personal this is. That’s how real this is. So, do you know the way to the place where He was going, where He is today?

Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we possibly know the way?’ and Jesus said to them, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ John chapter 14, verses 5 and 6

Friend, there is only one way. And that way is Jesus. All the things that we’ve talked about these past weeks, all the amazing blessings that lie ahead are only available to those who have put their trust in Jesus, the Son of God; who have given their lives over to Jesus.

Now, if you haven’t done that yet, if you’ve been listening to the amazing things that lie ahead in eternity and you want those for yourself, I am going to invite you right now to pray this prayer with me. To accept Jesus into your life as your Saviour, to hand your life over to Him as your Lord, to receive forgiveness and to receive eternal life. If you would like to do that, then please, pray this prayer with me in your heart:

Dear God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that you sent Him to die on that Cross to pay for my sins. Thank you that He rose again to give me eternal life. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And so I give my life to You, Lord Jesus, today. Forgive me please for all the things that I’ve done wrong. I turn away from those things today. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit, so that I can know you personally and have your power to live my life for you. From this day forward Lord God I belong to you and I believe in Jesus. All these things I’ve prayed in His name. Amen.

Friend, if you just prayed that prayer with me, then you are forgiven, you have received the gift of eternal life freely given through Jesus, and all the things we’ve spoken about in this series about your eternal future belong to you. It’s time for you to be filled with the certain hope that you have in Jesus Christ. It’s time for you to become a merchant of hope, to share that hope with others around you.

So let me encourage you to become part of a Bible believing church. In fact, I’ve recorded a series of messages called So Now What for anyone who just prayed that prayer. You’ll find them in the Jesus section of our website: christianityworks.com. So go and have a listen and be blessed in your new life in Jesus Christ.