Hopelessness: And such were some of you…

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Church at Corinth, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said this:

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you…” (emphasis mine)

This morning that verse hit me. Such was I; such were you.

It’s easy to forget, you know? Oftentimes I find myself forgetting that I once was as lost as the vilest sinner in the midst of all his sin. I too was blind - without hope. Dead. Destitute.

Hopeless is a term we constantly overuse today. We say: Dick Vitale is hopeless. That Sanjay guy from American Idol is hopeless (at least, that’s what I’m told by people who watch it). So and so are hopelessly in love with each other. The political environment in America is hopeless today.

But let me tell you something:

YOU AIN’T SEEN HOPELESS UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN YOUR SIN, AND REALIZED THAT YOU ARE DEAD IN YOUR TRESPASSES.

That is hopeless. That is what being without hope looks like. A sinner brought to terms with the vileness of his sin, the wickedness of his disobedience, and the utter helplessness of his state — that is the picture a lost man — a prisoner on his way to his deserved execution.

You want to know why the prophet Isaiah said, that the “feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation” are beautiful feet? Because those feet bring HOPE to the HOPELESS. Those feet bring news that “says unto Zion; Thy God Reigns!”

When we ask, with the prophet Job, “And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?”…we are brought to the place of hopelessness. But that is where man must come, in order to seek true hope - to see our dire need for it. Job says later on, that God “hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.” Our hope, like our own righteousness - unless rooted and sourced from God, is like “unto filthy rags”! Filthy rags! And before men will turn unto the Lord, that self-righteous hope must be uprooted, and instead - focused toward The Hope of all the Nations - Jesus Christ.

Hopelessness is a sad case. They say that “misery loves company”, and so it is with hopelessness. But in the case of the hopeless, not just any company will do. There is but One companion equipped to handle that kind of need. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians and reminded them that, at one time they “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”, he was stating the case of every lost man that ever walked this sinful earth.

Paul was speaking to the believers at Ephesus. But not only that, he was speaking to you, to me - to your lost father or mother, or sister or brother. He was speaking to your lost friend. He was speaking to your backslidden roommate. He was speaking to both the lost and the found - reminding Christians that they too were once without hope - and reminding the lost that they still are — and that, because they “were without Christ”.

Christ is our only hope. He must be! Paul continued on to say, that “now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ye who were hopeless, strangers, destitute, blind, beggars, the vilest of sinners, the most righteous of the righteous Pharisees - Ye who were “far off” - are made nigh - not by self motivation, self will, or self determination - but only “by the blood of Christ”.

That is the only standard of hope that we can live by. But Oh, what a standard it is! For we are promised that “unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” Joel 3:16 tells us that, “The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

John Bradford, the old English Reformer and eventual martyr, once observed a criminal on his way to the gallows and remarked, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” The answer for Bradford, to the hopeless situation of the criminal, was not self-righteous piety (”I’m glad I am not such a sinner as he”), but rather one of humbled graciousness (”There, but for the grace of God, go I”).

So let us again echo the question in 1 Thessalonians, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” That is our hope. So brethren, “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” for we indeed have the perfect hope, revealed, delivered, and returning as Supreme victor of the universe - Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey…As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee…” - Zech. 9:9,11-12

Have Ye Hope in Him Today,
Grace and Peace,

‘BH

~ by brotherhank on March 17, 2007.