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00:00 Thesalonians and uh we are now just um starting in chapter 5 and my Siri went
00:06 off. Okay. Um and we're starting we starting in chapter 5 and we're going through the
00:11 first um 11 verses. Um the text today is talking about a a lifestyle of hope. And
00:17 I put up this picture of of somebody uh walking from from darkness into light.
00:22 And in this passage, Paul will tell us that we have been now transferred out of darkness into light. And a lifestyle of
00:29 hope is a lifestyle in which we continuously walk towards the light. And
00:35 even though sometimes it might seem dark around us, we focus on the light which is ahead of us. We know there is a
00:41 finish line. We know that victory has been won. We know that light will come and we have that in mind and we keep on
00:47 walking towards that light. Now what does it mean to have a lifestyle of hope? I I I put it down into having
00:54 achieved five A's. I know it speaks to every nerd's heart to have five A's. Um, so I thought many of us like to be good
01:00 at school. So I put on five A's for all of us. What it means to have a lifestyle of hope and is this as we can see in the
01:07 passage is this. The first one is to be aware and then to be uh which is verses 1-3 to
01:14 be awake verses 4-7 to be armored verse 8 to be assured verse 9 and 10. and then
01:22 to assist one another to do all these things in verses 11. But before we get
01:29 there and before we start, let us start with a word of prayer. Father Lord, we just thank you for your
01:36 goodness. We thank you for your word. Father, we just pray that we can put ourselves under your word this morning.
01:42 That your word may encourage our hearts, that it may encourage our hearts to live a lifestyle of hope and not a lifestyle
01:49 of despair. For we know the victory has been won through Jesus Christ. Yes, he died on the cross, but he also rose
01:55 again. And Father, as we look at your word today, we ask for your grace, Father, that you may open our hearts,
02:01 that we will be awake, that we may hear your word, that it may convict our hearts, that it may transform our minds
02:07 and may change our lives, Father. And I pray for your grace this morning that I may speak your word clearly.
02:15 Um, father that you will work at my voice and father that you work in my spirit to preach out the overflow of the
02:21 conviction of my heart. And I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
02:28 Um, the first thing we're going to look at is be aware here in um the text. It
02:34 says, "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written for you. For you
02:41 yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there
02:47 is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and
02:54 they will not escape." There's two things that he wants us to be aware about. First thing is that judgment is
03:02 coming. Eventually judgment will come and you can't escape it. And the second
03:08 thing is that we have no idea when he's going to come. We have no idea when the Lord is going to return. So let's look
03:15 at the first thing. And and you know what the crazy thing is that throughout history, we had people over and over and
03:23 over again proclaiming that they know when the apocalypse is going to come. They know when the world's going to end.
03:29 I mean, we see media newspapers about blood moons. That means the world's going to end. Uh we see astro physicists
03:37 saying because the stars are arranged in a certain way that the day the world's going to end. Maybe in Y2K, if you guys
03:43 remember, because the zeros are going to mess up, um the world is going to end. There's there's people throughout
03:49 history keep on telling us that the world is going to end. and they seem to be able to read some signs even though
03:54 the scripture clearly says here we have no ideas and we shouldn't be concerned about it. Just to show you how many
04:01 times people have prophesied or have proclaimed that the world will end. I put a little list together and you can you can download this. It's called a a
04:08 brief history of the apocalypse. Now, I'm not going to go through all the 37 pages. I've just put them here for you.
04:13 Um but u we have about 37 pages of people uh proclaiming when the world's
04:19 going to end. And it started already in 2,800 BC. So there are people who thought in 2,800 BC the world's going to
04:26 end. And it continues throughout history. 1st century, second century, as
04:31 you can see here. And you have you have people from all kinds of backgrounds. As I said, you have you have scientists,
04:38 you have people from cults leaders. You even have great theologians like Iranius giving you erroneous dates. If if you if
04:45 you continue here, you will see people like faithful like John Wesley, godly people giving you ungodly dates. Um you
04:53 have every kind of denomination covered. You have Baptists in there. You have charismatics in there. Even 1805 you
05:00 have a Presbyterian minister who said that the world will end. And I like the commentary here what it says in 1805. Um
05:08 it says here that he destruction of the world by earthquake will happen in 1805. And this this Presbyterian minister
05:14 eventually lost his head literally. Um maybe it blew his mind that it that the
05:20 world didn't end in 1805. But we have so many different uh uh people predicting
05:25 that the world will end. And it's really contrary to what scripture says. And as
05:31 you can see that there are clusters there are clusters of of times. Um, if I could just continue, especially in the
05:36 19th century, um, when you when or 20th century, especially when you get down to the 1990s, um, pretty much every single
05:43 day in 1999, the world's supposed to end. Um, and then especially in if you talk about uh, you see just 1999, look
05:49 at the list 1999, 1999, 1999, uh, this is just just people prophesying. And I
05:55 think the really funny thing is that people get to make mistakes and go again. Um, if you look at May 22nd, 1999
06:02 here, um, this, uh, Miss Marilyn Age, uh, or Mr. Marilyn Ag, I'm not quite
06:08 sure, he got it wrong on or that person got it wrong on May 22nd, thought again May 30th and then June 20. I think if
06:14 you got it wrong twice, you're not allowed to predict again, right? And we should make a rule, you know, if the world is still there after one one two
06:20 failures, you don't get to do it again. Um major culprits of of predictions are uh uh here you can see 7day Adventists
06:27 uh or or second adventists. Um you have um a lot of Jehovah's Witness uh uh
06:33 people predicting the end of the world. And I I like this here Y2K. Y2K was like
06:39 the greatest prediction. Like everybody predicted the world will end. Um and you can just see here these are the people here. Even Martin Lutter is in that
06:45 list. Um and you have uh January 16th here just 2000 just going on and on. I
06:51 don't want to bore you with all these dates. You can you can download them. You can analyze them. In 2017, the
06:56 world's supposed to end as well this year. Uh we're still alive. That's good. The prophet Gabriel did not come. And um
07:03 I like the last one. Even scientists are here. Uh so in year 4 billion500, the
07:08 world will end. Uh I mean they're they're smart people because none of us will be there around to prove whether they're they're they're right or wrong.
07:14 So that's kind of prediction that we uh we cannot say whether they're right or wrong. But I'm saying that everybody is guilty of it. So we we have no excuse.
07:22 But scripture is so clear about it. And it's crazy how many of us ignore the
07:28 information that we have to seek information we do not need. And the
07:34 scripture here clearly says now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have
07:39 anything written for you. People concern themselves with the when rather than
07:44 with the what. Like what's going to happen? You see, he's saying here, be aware of something that the day of the
07:50 Lord is at hand. That is something we have to focus on. Not when judgment will
07:56 come, but that that judgment will come. See, we have to be aware not of the fact that we have no idea when it's going to
08:02 come, but that judgment is going to come. And if you look at the Old Testament, the day of the Lord is a it's judgment language.
08:09 Evaluation of our souls and our position in Christ eventually is going to come.
08:15 And here we have two imageries that he's put here. He's put one imagery of the fact like a thief in the night. That
08:22 means we have no idea when. And the second imagery is like a a woman in childbirth uh having labor pains.
08:29 That means it's a definite coming. So when when when judgment is uh coming,
08:35 we have to consider ourselves how are we living our lives? Are we aware
08:42 of it? And you know one thing the the knowledge of a or the the promise of a
08:48 future evaluation is the best means for present motivation.
08:57 Um let me explain that in a form of of of school. Um if you have uh school
09:02 exams at the final end year knowing that exams will come what it makes you study
09:07 today right? Right? If you would have no exams, maybe some of you really love studying, you wouldn't. People like me
09:13 won't, right? If there's no exams, you wouldn't study. And I'm I'm I'm a procrastinator kind of person. I was
09:19 always the person who says, "I'll study later." Uh that's just the the natural me. And I would what I would do, I would
09:25 wait until um the final exam day and like two days or three days before it, I would cram and I will then only study
09:31 the final end. But the reason is why why we do not know the date is so that we don't become procrastinators when it comes to giving
09:37 our life to Jesus. Because if we would know when he will come, we will probably procrastinate until the very last day
09:44 and then we give our life to Jesus. But we can't do that because it's not about just getting an A or or doing something
09:50 performance and see when we give our life to Jesus is about inner transformation and internalizing our
09:55 faith. Now one thing if you know that studies shows if you do last minute cramming you might be able to pass your exam but you don't internalize the
10:02 information and if you don't internalize internalize you don't eternalize you it means you you won't remember it down the
10:09 line it won't change who you are it won't shape your character it would change your being you will still be the
10:14 same person you were before who just temporarily knew some information but did not change his life in accordance to
10:20 it and that's that's that's the story of my life of times I I I cram for exams last minute and then you ask me 3 weeks
10:27 later I have no idea uh what I answered and and you know the first you know the first 10 years of schooling you can do
10:33 that but later on once you hit like you know grade 10 11 12 uh it's kind of really hard uh because you kind of
10:39 forgot everything you did before and uh now you have to really study hard and that's where I started failing and in my
10:44 whole life and I had to do a lot of studying just to make up another reason that we do not know the date and time is
10:52 because of uh pretense um I remember when I was a young kid, I um used to go
10:58 around asking my parents every time they went out of the house, when are you coming back?
11:04 Um especially when I was 16 or 17, I would ask them, "Hey, were you going out? When when are you coming back?" And
11:09 and the reason was not because I so dearly missed them. All right? Because I couldn't stand a moment without them.
11:16 No, there was a completely different reason. The reason was this reason, right? Because I was pretending to be a
11:22 little good sheep, but actually I was a wolf. because all I wanted to do is do whatever nonsense I could do during the
11:28 whole day and then clean up the mess half an hour before they come, right? And pretend to be a good boy, you know,
11:35 studying my exam. But we know that because I've been pretending the whole day, the next day
11:40 when the exam came, I still failed because it was just a pretense. I was just pretending.
11:47 So, was I really a good boy just because I cleaned up the last half minute? No, I wasn't. I wasn't. I was pretending. And when it
11:54 comes to a Christian faith, we we cannot pretend. And my my parents might have been fooled because they couldn't see
11:60 what happened during the day. I mean, eventually they knew, right? When when my grades came out, they knew, right? When the final evaluation came, they
12:06 knew what I was up to. But but but God knows whether you're just here to to pretend or real transformation is
12:14 happening in your heart. So there there's couple of reasons why we do not know the time. But we have to know that
12:22 judgment is coming and it's going to surprise some of us. It says here in the text that there's peace. Some people
12:29 will say that there's peace and security and then sudden destruction will come.
12:37 You see, it's kind of like again going back to school, it's kind of like one day this pop quiz will come and and I
12:43 was a person who always failed the pop quiz because I was never ready. I was never prepared. The classes which I did
12:50 really well in were the classes where I knew that every week the teacher would do a test because I had to prepare every
12:56 week for it. The problem is with our Christian faith, there won't be a pop quiz, there'll be a pop final exam.
13:04 We do not know when judgment is going to come. We don't know that it's going to come. It's going to come like a thief in
13:10 the night. But it's definitely going to come. Just like every pregnant woman will get labor pains, judgment will
13:15 come. The question is, are we aware of that? Are we aware of of the coming judgment? Are we living our lives in
13:23 light of the coming judgment that we have no idea when it's it could come tomorrow. It could come in a thousand
13:28 years. I have no idea. I'm not going to be one of those people who's going to tell you when it's going to come. But from the beginning of the gospels,
13:37 they said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. It's
13:43 an eminent return." We are in the last days. It could come any time. And you must know one thing. Be aware of this.
13:49 The only way for us to eliminate or get rid of judgment is to put our faith in
13:55 Jesus Christ. The only way to escape judgment is to put our faith in Jesus Christ. Are you
14:02 aware of that? And are you doing it now? Because the day of salvation is today.
14:09 We cannot procrastinate. We cannot pretend. We have to face the fact that
14:15 evaluation will come and we have to search our souls today. Are we living in the light of that?
14:22 We don't want to be caught thinking that everything is okay and jolly good in our lives because we are taking the checkbox
14:27 of of coming to church. There are people here who think there's going to be peace and security but
14:33 they'll be surprised and you have to evaluate your life. Well, the second thing is how do we evaluate our lives? Well, the question
14:39 is here are you awake? Um he puts here the language of people who are being
14:45 transferred out of darkness into a light. He says but you are not in
14:50 darkness brothers for the day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the
14:57 day. We are not uh we are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us
15:02 not sleep as others do but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep
15:08 sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. Um he uses the language of of darkness at night. And
15:14 it's even true for today. Uh most of our debauchery happens at night, right? When when when somehow when the sky goes dark
15:22 um all our sins come out. Uh somehow it's something natural about us humans. Um we do a lot of nonsense when when
15:28 when we think nobody can see, right? And the problem is God always sees. Um so we
15:35 can't escape that in one thing. But it I it's strange uh um that we do all this nonsense in the dark. I mean uh when it
15:42 comes to drinking uh uh partying uh uh uh uh sins of lust usually happens in
15:47 the dark and at night. But he says here we are not children of darkness. We are children of the light. We are supposed
15:53 to be awake. Now the word awake here means we have to be alert. We have to be
15:59 watchful. We have to see what's what's happening. We not just be aware of judgment but be awake of how judgment is
16:06 coming and be awake and see who here in this room, who here in our communities,
16:11 who here in our neighborhoods is not saved.
16:16 Be watchful. Be alert. Temptation is going to come. We have to be watchful and alert.
16:24 And primarily what the text is speaking into here. Hey, Jesus is going to come.
16:29 Are you ready? Are you awake? Are you watchful? Are you prepared for it? But
16:34 there's many different ways that we have to look at our lives of whether we are awake or whether we are asleep. He says
16:41 here, are you asleep or are you drunk? Which are you intoxicated? And there are so many reasons why in this world we can
16:48 be intoxicated. It's not just alcohol and drugs, but we can be intoxicated
16:53 with the spoils of life. We can be intoxicated with watching too much TV.
16:59 Many of us are are are put to sleep because we eat too much.
17:05 Right? There there's many reasons why we are distracted of the things of God and and and ignoring the things of God and
17:12 putting our faith on on the worldly things. Like the question is, are we are we intoxicated with our money? Is all
17:19 that we strive for is getting that another fix of another paycheck
17:25 being intoxicated with with with prosperity and wealth that it consumes all our lives.
17:32 Uh recently desiring God came out with an article you can look at it. It says that one thing which is just as dangerous as pornography is prosperity.
17:40 But because it will consume you, your life will be about it.
17:47 What is getting us high? What is making us drunk? What is distracting us? What
17:53 is putting us to sleep? And my question to you is when you are in your offices,
17:58 when you see your your your colleague who does not know Jesus, are you asleep
18:05 or are you awake? When you're in your neighborhoods,
18:10 when you when your neighbors are around you who do not know Christ, are you asleep
18:17 or are you awake? When people in your community are are
18:23 sick, are suffering, are going through depression, are you encouraging them? Are are you awake? Are you praying for
18:29 them? Are you awake or or are you asleep? Because it says here, brothers and
18:34 sisters, we are not children of darkness. We are not asleep. You know we are awake.
18:40 We need to be watchful. We need to be alert when temptation comes.
18:48 Are we awake or are we asleep? You see here we are not just supposed to
18:53 be awake because we are called out of darkness into light. But the next point is this. We are supposed to be armored.
19:02 So many times we let down our guards. We we we are not ready for when
19:08 temptation comes. See, we he's saying here, not only you have to be aware, not only do you have
19:14 to be awake, but you have to be ready for battle,
19:19 right? This is this is not peace and security. We are in the midst of a spiritual battle. And if you're living
19:26 your life aware and awake, you will realize that we are in the midst of a battle. Scriptures tells us that the devil is
19:33 prowing around like a lion seeing who he can devour. As we are trying to live our life
19:39 faithfully, temptation will come. Are we guarding ourselves? Are we are we
19:44 putting on the armor? Here in verse 8, um he says, "But since we belong to the
19:50 day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for
19:56 our helmet the hope of salvation." So he's asking us to do two things. To
20:01 guard your hearts and to guard your mind. Are we guarding our hearts? Are we
20:07 guarding our minds? And the way we're doing this here, he says, is by putting on the armor. Now many of us know the
20:14 armor mainly we will go to Ephesians 6. Uh that's the kind of the text we will go to to to look at the armor. U Paul
20:21 uses there. Many people have likened it to be like um he was looking at the Roman soldier. Actually, what Paul was
20:26 doing, he was looking at the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, there is the armor
20:32 of God all over the place. Specifically, in Isaiah 59:17, you will see how Isaiah
20:37 talks about the armor of God. And you have the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation there. Uh
20:44 the breastplate of righteousness or in here in this text is the breastplate of love and faith.
20:50 You see, we have to protect our thoughts and we have to protect our feelings
20:57 because these are the things that will come in attack in the first place because we will live our lives in
21:03 according to what we think and according to what we feel. So, we have to protect them. And how do
21:09 you protect them? He's saying here, well, well, guard them and guard them how? Well, the first thing is guard them with faith.
21:15 Guard your heart with faith. Now, now it's not just faith, but it's it's faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is not going to
21:20 save us. Faith in Jesus will save us. You have to be very specific about that. That's why
21:27 it says a lot of times it's the breastplate of righteousness. And the breastplate of faith is the same
21:32 thing. Because the only way that we will have righteousness is by placing our faith in the one who then purchased
21:39 righteousness for us on the cross. You see, we are all sinful people. We
21:44 have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are all due to judgment. The only reason that we can escape judgment
21:50 is by placing our faith in Jesus who lived the life we should have lived. He lived a a perfect life and who then died
21:56 to death we should have died on the cross for us
22:01 as a substitute for us taking all our sins. So by placing our faith in him we
22:08 receive righteousness. So we protect our hearts by having faith. And what is faith? Well, Hebrews 11 says it best, I
22:15 think, where faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Faith is putting your
22:21 trust in something you cannot see, things hoped for.
22:27 So, it's not knowing facts. It's it's just trusting Jesus in the midst of doubt, in the midst of difficulty,
22:35 putting your faith in him and his faith work. The second thing here he talks about is
22:42 protecting your heart with love. Now I tell you it's it's a different kind of love than the love of the world.
22:49 The love of the world is a is a completely different kind of love than the love that you get from Jesus. Many
22:56 of us are intoxicated by the love of the world. Things that that promise you uh u um
23:03 love. For example, the world tells us that if we look good, we will be loved.
23:09 The world tells us that if we have money, we will be loved. The world tells us if we have common interest with
23:15 somebody else, we will be loved. The the love of the world is a because of kind of love.
23:22 You'll be loved because of your beauty. You'll be loved because of your wealth. You'll be loved because of your
23:28 affinity. That's the world of love. It's a conditional love. You got to meet these conditions to able
23:35 to be loved. I will love you if you do this. I'll feel loved if somebody does
23:40 that. It's a because of kind of love. A conditional kind of love. But the love of Jesus
23:47 is a completely different kind of love. It's a in spite of kind of love. It's a
23:53 unconditional love. The Bible tells us that in the midst of
23:58 our rebellion, in the midst of us not performing, in the midst of us not have meeting any of the conditions, while we
24:05 were in rebellion, while we were sinners, God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us, while
24:12 we were in rebellion, why we were sinning, why we were going against him, why we wanted to know nothing of him, he
24:18 sent his son. It was a in spite of our fallen condition kind of love. And it's
24:24 the kind of love that is unconditional. That means one thing. If you're here and you have never experienced the love of
24:29 Jesus, you can come to him today as you are. There's nothing about yourself that
24:35 you have to change today to come and experience the love of Jesus. Now, he doesn't want you to stay the way you
24:41 are. No, he wants you to slowly walk out of darkness into the light and change your life. But to come to him today,
24:46 it's no conditions. So, if you have never put your faith in Jesus, today is the day of salvation. Don't procrastinate.
24:53 You don't have to meet any conditions. You can come to him today. It's a unconditional love. It's a sacrificial
24:60 love. See, God so loved the world that he sent his son to die for us. Jesus says
25:07 there's no greater love than this than to lay down your life for another. And he laid down his life for all of us.
25:14 So you guard your heart not with a because of or a conditional kind of love. You guard your heart with an
25:21 unconditional in spite of kind of love. And it's so important because in moments of darkness, in moments of weakness
25:28 where we feel that we have not performed, where we feel that we are we are falling and we're not worthy, we can
25:33 think of that unconditional love and realize that Jesus loves us just the same today. If he could love us while we
25:40 were sinners, how much more now that we are his children can he love us?
25:46 That's what we have to guard our hearts with. so that we don't fall into temptation.
25:51 We don't fall into weakness but we stay immersed in the love of God.
25:59 Another thing here is hope. He says here that we have to guard our uh u our minds
26:05 our our our heads with the helmet of hope of salvation. And here hope is the same thing. Hope
26:11 hope is so different um the hope of Jesus that we have is so different than we the hope of the world.
26:18 Um, the hope of the world is wishful thinking. I hope I'll lose this weight, right?
26:25 There's no certainty there. Trust me, there's no certainty there. Um, it says, I hope she will marry me.
26:34 Um, I I I I hope I will have more friends. I I I hope I get this job
26:39 promotion. Right? It it's wishful thinking. It's actually thinking of achieving a future
26:46 met desire. Right? Trusting in a future met desire.
26:51 That's that's what the the the worldly hope is. There's no certainty. It's
26:56 wishful thinking. The hope of Jesus is a completely different kind of hope. It's
27:02 an assurance of assurance of something which has been fully achieved by Jesus. I think the
27:08 best or not the best one of a good verse to um describe what the hope that we
27:13 have in Christ, what the what the Jesus kind of hope is is here in uh 1 Peter
27:19 1:3. It says this, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy. He has
27:26 caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." See, the love
27:32 shows that he has died for us. The hope shows that he has risen again.
27:38 And he says to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
27:44 kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith and salvation, ready to be revealed in
27:51 the last time. That's good news. That the hope that we
27:57 have is completely accomplished for us by Jesus Christ. Not only is it there for us, not only will we get there, it's
28:04 guarded for us by God himself. God is guarding it for us. He's holding
28:10 us there. It's not by our strength that we will get there. It's by his strength that we will get there. And it says
28:16 here, it's unfading, undefiled, and imperishable.
28:22 That's the hope that we have. And we got to guard our minds with that
28:28 because so many times we live in defeat. We think that our present sin defines
28:33 us. But we got to remember that what defines us is the love of Jesus is the hope that
28:41 we have. The accomplished work of Jesus. We got to think on. That's what keeps us walking. Even though we might be in a
28:47 tunnel that that looks so dark, we we know that victory is achieved and worn for us. we keep on walking towards that
28:55 victory. And that's what it means to have assurance of faith
29:01 to know that it's not your mess ups that's going to define whether you or not are going to make it to heaven or
29:07 not, but no, it's it's the victory of Jesus and your faith in him and trusting in
29:14 his love and having that hope is going to deliver you into his presence.
29:20 Which brings us to the next point. Be assured, be assured that you are no longer
29:26 childrens of wrath. It says here in uh verses uh 9 and 10, for God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain
29:33 salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are
29:38 awake or asleep, we might live in him. Now when he says here whether we are awake or asleep, he's not talking about the same asleep as we talked earlier on,
29:45 whether we are vigilant and watchful. Here he's talking about whether we are dead or alive. Other translation says
29:50 whether if you would pass away and Jesus has not returned yet, you're still saved. Whether you're dead or alive,
29:58 right? When Jesus comes, you'll be saved because you're no longer children of darkness. You're no longer childrens of
30:04 wrath. You're now childrens of light. You are now obtain the salvation through
30:11 our Lord Jesus Christ. Um I don't know. I'm I'm not a a big
30:18 soccer fan, but um to to explain assurance, let me let me say, do you guys remember this match 2004 Spurs
30:25 versus Manchester City? Okay, let me tell you about it. Makes it
30:32 more exciting if you don't remember. That's great. What happened was it was Halime. The Spurs were leading 30-0. All
30:38 right. It seemed like a a hopeless endeavor for Manchester City to actually come back. Worse than that, they lost
30:45 the man. They were three goals down and they were one man down. 10 against 11. I
30:52 mean, the the fans must have been in despair. I mean, how do you recover from
30:58 such a a a a situation? I mean, how can you shoot three or four goals when you
31:03 only have 10 minutes? I mean, they were in despair. Hope was lost. What are you going to do? And and one of the players
31:08 said, "Oh my, 45 minutes are over. We are three goals down. Where's the I
31:14 guess I need to find a new job. But you know what happened in the next half?
31:20 They came together and what happened was the Spurs were asleep.
31:25 They were not watchful. They were not vigilant. They were they thought victory was
31:31 there. They were secure. They thought they had peace. But Manchester City came like a thief in
31:37 the night. And they came and and they shot and they shot not one goal, not two goals, not
31:43 three. No, they shot four goals. And one of the greatest comeback in
31:48 history, right, of soccer. The greatest comeback of history is
31:53 Jesus rising again. But it's the greatest comeback and one
31:59 of the greatest comeback in history. They they they shot four goals. Now, I could ask you here, what kind of
32:06 fan would you be? The fan who would have gone home in halftime dismayed and despared thinking there is no hope or
32:13 the fan that would have stayed there and support the team even though it looks dark having the hope that victory will come or what kind of player would you
32:21 be? Would you be the player who who even though they had security, thought everything was okay, is not watchful,
32:29 is asleep, not ready, or are you the kind of player that even
32:35 though all hope seems lost? No, you you you put your identity, you put your heart and your your mind in the right
32:41 place and you you focus on the goal and you shoot for goals. I could ask you all these kind of questions. They might be
32:47 good questions, but they have nothing to do with assurance. You know, assurance is a completely different concept. God has elevated us
32:54 out out of that whole game. We don't have to play that game. You know what assurance is? Assurance is the
33:00 Manchester City fan who today watches back that game
33:06 knowing that victory will come, knowing that his team is going to win because he know history has been written. The game
33:13 is already over. He knows victory is his. So when he watches back that game, regardless that his team, his team is
33:18 three goals down, he's unwavered. He's not affected.
33:24 He still is full of joy because even though his team is three goals down, one man down, he knows victory is going to
33:29 come. See, that is assurance. And God, Jesus on the cross has won that
33:37 victory for us. History has already been written
33:42 through reading the scriptures. We know we are like that that that that fan who who who who reads from a from a
33:48 different vantage point, from a different position. We already know how the game is going to end. So regardless how our situation is,
33:56 regardless our team is is three goals down, regardless how our life looks like today,
34:01 regardless of what kind of problems we face, what kind of sickness we face, what kind of financial difficulties we face, we know victory will be ours. That
34:10 is the assurance that we have. That's how how Christ has saved us.
34:15 Not just from final judgment, but he has freed us from thinking about tomorrow
34:22 because tomorrow is secured. And the only way to freely live in today
34:27 is being free from tomorrow. And because we are free from tomorrow, we can truly live for him today.
34:36 So what does a lifestyle of assurance look like? by the looks of one thing or
34:41 three things actually. The first thing is we are able to risk
34:47 because victory is won. We are able to risk it all for his glory.
34:53 We don't have to hold back any of our time, any of our talents, any of our treasures.
34:60 No, we can go all out because victory is won.
35:06 We can we can go and and and try things for the kingdom and even if it fails, it's okay. Victory is won.
35:18 Second thing is we can look foolish.
35:23 It's okay for us to look foolish for Christ because finally again we have overcome.
35:33 And when we follow Christ, when we are awake and aware and we put on those battle armors, a lot of times we do look
35:39 foolish. When we go out to our our colleagues in the workplace and try to
35:44 talk to them about Jesus, we might look foolish.
35:50 When we invite our neighbors to our house and talk to them about Jesus, we might look foolish when we don't take that job promotion
35:56 that keeps us away from our family and our ministry. Yeah, we might look foolish when we don't take that business
36:03 deal because we would have to bribe somebody. Yes, we might look foolish
36:13 when we guard our hearts. when we lock down our computers and our internet, put down passwords that we can't remember,
36:20 we might look foolish. But God says, "What is foolish to the
36:26 world is the wisdom of God." And you know, one great writer once said
36:33 that Noah looked foolish when he was building an ark and there was no rain.
36:40 that the Israel, the Israeli army looked foolish when they were running around
36:45 Jericho seven times and blowing trumpet. That David looked foolish when he came
36:51 against Goliath, which is a sling and five stones. That Peter looked foolish when he was in
36:57 the middle of the oceans and stepped out onto the water. That Jesus looked foolish when he was
37:03 hung on the cross wearing a crown of thorns. But history has revealed to us that the
37:09 foolishness of the world is the wisdom of God. Because history tells us that Noah escaped the flood.
37:18 History tells us that the walls of Jericho came down. History tells us that
37:24 David defeated Goliath, that Peter walked on water, and that Jesus was
37:29 crowned king of all kings. When we have a lifestyle of hope, when
37:35 we have assurance, we are able to do and take risks and we are able to look
37:41 foolish for God because the foolishness of the world is
37:46 his wisdom. So lifestyle of hope lets us be assured
37:52 that the victory is his and let us be free from worry and anxiety. Jesus says,
37:59 "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own trouble."
38:04 We don't have to worry about tomorrow because he has fixed our tomorrow for us.
38:10 He has guaranteed us an unfading imperishable future guarded for us by
38:17 God. And there's nothing nothing that can separate you from it. No heights, no depth, no angels, no
38:24 demons, nothing created, nothing, nothing can separate you from the love of God. He holds you there. And
38:33 lifestyle of assurance lets us do a third thing. This lets us not live in the defeats
38:38 that we have. Right? Let me explain what I mean. Um, many of us when we look at the list of
38:45 things that I said to do to to go out and evangelize, to to live holy lives, to put on our armor, to to keep our mind
38:51 on the goal. Many of us will fail. We will fail in different areas at
38:56 different times, in different ways. Now, I'm not giving you an excuse to sin. I'm just fa I'm just The reality is that we
39:03 still have darkness in us. We are still sinful creatures and we will fail. But wearing this helmet of salvation,
39:09 looking at the hope that we have and living a life of assurance is that even though you might have temporary
39:15 failures, that failures don't define you. No, Jesus' victory on the cross defines
39:21 you. And especially important for us of of people who have habitual sins, habitual
39:28 sins that keep getting us down. We've repented of it yesterday and today we do it again. We repent again and tomorrow
39:35 we do it again. And these are things that defeat us, that makes us lose hope. We pray and we
39:42 pray. We ask for people to help us, but yet that sin keeps on cropping into our lives. But here's the good news. One day
39:48 you'll be freed completely from that sin. I I did a study on repentance. And one thing a a a mark of true repentance,
39:55 you know what it is? Persevering repentance. Continual repentance. Not letting that
40:02 that defeat of today define who you are. No, you can get up again with the
40:08 strength putting your your mind in the right place, putting your heart in the right place. You can get up again and you can try again. You can come to
40:13 Jesus, ask for forgiveness again, and he will give it to you as you continue to fight the battle. Continue get armored
40:19 up, continue going, your victory is assured.
40:26 You're defined not by your defeats, but you're defined by the victory of Jesus.
40:32 You are a Christian. You have his name. You're washed clean by his blood, not by
40:39 your performance, not by how well you do, but how well he
40:44 did. He has purchased your righteousness. And that's the identity that you got to live
40:50 in. And that's the identity we have as Christians. So we don't let the defeat of yesterday
40:56 define our tomorrow. No, the hope that we have defines our
41:02 tomorrow. Now, of course, it's hard to do this
41:08 alone. So often we forget. So often we get
41:13 distracted. So often we are unaware of the situations we're in. So often we are asleep and we miss out.
41:21 So often we let down our guards. And so often we we have doubts and we
41:27 lose our our thoughts of assurance and and we let the moment define us.
41:32 And that's why we need to do this in community. It says here, "Therefore, encourage one
41:39 another and build one another up just as you are doing." So, they were doing it.
41:45 You are doing it. Continue to do it. The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. No, a lifestyle of hope is a
41:52 lifestyle in community. We have to assist one another in doing
41:58 this. When somebody's down, we go and we we pull them up. If somebody's in despair, no, we we we
42:05 preach them the gospel. We give them hope again. When somebody is sick, we we we pray for them. When somebody needs
42:11 encouragement, we encourage them. When somebody's in sin, we admonish
42:17 them. When somebody's struggling, we we are there and walking side by side with
42:23 them. Now, I'm not going to do a talk a lot about the one anothers. Pastor Mark will
42:29 will talk next week about how that looks like in community and how we do to one anothers. All I'm trying to say is we have to assist one another and encourage
42:35 one another. And there's there's two things that we need to know or two things that we need to do to be
42:41 able to encourage somebody. The first thing is we got to be in that person's life.
42:47 I can't encourage you if I do not know you. If I'm not in somebody's life, if I
42:54 don't know their their problems, their pains, their weaknesses, their struggles, the places where they're letting down their guards, the places
42:59 where they are asleep, the places where they have no hope, the places where they are struggling in
43:06 a spiritual battle. If I do not know that, I can't encourage them. I can give them little lip service. I can give them
43:12 general conversation. I can give them uh uh general truths, but I can't encourage their hearts.
43:19 I can't hold their hand. I can't walk with them. For us to be able to encourage one
43:25 another, which is a command here.
43:30 He says, therefore, encourage one another. And for us to do that, we have to be in
43:35 community. It's a therefore. It's because of all these things. Because you are awake.
43:42 Because you're children of light. Encourage one another to continue to do that.
43:48 See, I I I need to know your pains, your struggles to be able to do that. If I'm
43:53 not in somebody's lives, I can't encourage. How do you get in people's lives? Well, it's not enough to just
43:59 appear on a Sunday and then walk away. We got to be in community somehow. Now,
44:05 how that looks like it might look differently for everybody else. There's there's no hard and fast rule,
44:12 right? You you might be in a small group. You might be in GMA. You might stay back and talk to people after this.
44:18 You might meet up with people for lunch. You might you might I mean there's different ways how to get to know people and be in community. But be in community.
44:24 Now the second thing we need to do to be able to encourage one another is we got to be in community with God.
44:31 We got to know God. I can't encourage you if I do not know God. Because if I encourage you just with
44:38 worldly things, I'm encouraging you with temporary things, things that will fade, things that will perish, things that
44:43 will do not last. I will I will I will encourage you with
44:49 because of and not in spite of. I will encourage you with conditional
44:55 love, not unconditional love. See, I I I got to be in here and and there's no
45:01 greater encouragement than here in scripture. If today I have said anything which encourages you, it's because
45:08 I'm in the scripture because I'm preaching scripture. Because hopefully these are not my words. Hopefully these
45:14 are the words of scripture that are coming to you today. There's nothing more encouraging than
45:19 the word of God. Because it's the only thing that can save us. It's the only thing that can
45:27 change an unrepentant heart. It's the only thing that can give you a new heart. It's the only thing that can
45:33 give you a new hope. It's the only thing that can give you the gift of faith.
45:40 So, let's encourage each one another through the word of God. So, we got to know people. We got to
45:46 know God. We got to know the finished work of God. And we know to know God's word. And
45:54 that's how we encourage one another. So, what is a lifestyle of hope?
46:01 It's five A's. It's being aware. It's being aware that
46:09 judgment will come. It's being aware that we cannot escape it. Being aware it
46:15 will suddenly come. That people, some of us here who who think there's peace and security, think we have got all the
46:20 boxes checked, will be surprised. It's being awake. It's being watchful.
46:28 was being vigilant. It's being aware of your surroundings, being aware of who do not know Jesus. Do
46:33 you know this fact that if we are not people who are awake, if we are a sleeping church,
46:39 97% of Koala Lumpa will go to hell.
46:45 There's only 3% saved. If Jesus comes back tomorrow,
46:51 over 7 million people will not be there to celebrate with us.
46:58 We have to be awake. And as we do that, we know that spiritual battles will come as we walk towards the light. There's
47:05 going to be somebody trying to pull us back into darkness. So, we got to armor ourselves.
47:11 We got to put on love, faith, and we got to put on hope. We got to
47:17 protect our thoughts. We got to protect our hearts. Got to put on the breastplate. Put on the helmet.
47:24 And we got to live in the hope that we have and the assurance that we have that
47:29 Jesus has won the victory. So we can go out and and take risks. We can look
47:34 foolish and know that our defeats don't define us. But the victory of Jesus defines us.
47:42 And to have a lifestyle of hope is to assist one another. to assist one another to to help live
47:49 that life to be aware to be awake to be armored and to be assured.
47:54 Let's have that lifestyle. And if you're here today and you do not know the love to Jesus, if you do not know that
48:01 lifestyle, if you're not sure, if you think you might have peace and security, but you're not aware, today is the day
48:08 of salvation. Do not pretend. Do not procrastinate. No. Evaluate your
48:14 heart today. Are you living like this? Let us pray.
48:24 Father Lord, we know it's only because of your goodness, your mercy, that we
48:30 can escape judgment. It is only by placing our faith in the finished work
48:35 of Jesus that we will stand with you in glory.
48:41 And yes, hard times will come. Your word says we will share in your glory provided that we share in your sufferings. And yes, spiritual battles
48:48 will come, but you give us armor. And father, yes, there will be moments of defeats, but we have assurance.
48:58 We have assurance in you because you are faithful.
49:04 You give us unconditional love. You give us an in spite of kind of love
49:10 and you hold us in your hand. Nothing can separate us from you
49:19 because our hope is built on nothing less
49:24 than Jesus blood and righteousness. Amen.
