Sister Teri Sunday School 11/24/13

Sister Teri Sunday School 11/24/13

The hope for salvation is the first hope that God gives us when we are sinners.  Then there is more hope beyond that.  People get their mind fixed on the hope of heaven without getting this first hope taken care of.  They will not realize the hope of heaven unless they get this first hope.  Salvation here means forgiveness, deliverance and reconciliation with God.

God has to be in His proper place and we have to be in our roper place for there to be reconciliation.  God is God.  He is to be our lord; He has to be the head of the household. 

I remember when I was a girl how they portrayed the man on TV.  Most cases they made fun of him; he was a bumbling fool.  I believe the enemy was through these shows fighting against the position that God is to have in our life.  

God is the head of the house, the leader, and we are to follow.  We are to be in subjection to him as our father.  That is the reconciliation: we can have that parent-child relationship.  He is not a tyrant or a dictator, He loves us.

It is a blessing to have that relationship to God.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

This is where we were.

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye 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:

Many of us did not know of this hope.  We either had not been taught anything or had our hope in error.  I was raised catholic but had hope in the wrong thing.  I was taught to ask forgiveness weekly from the priest.  There was no hope of deliverance nor knowledge that that sin was separating me from God.  I had a false hope that if I went through the process I would make it.

We have this message to carry to the lost.  What is this hope?  We must give them more than forgiveness; we must give them the whole hope.  If not, they will continue going into sin and be lost.

Hope as a verb is: to cherish a desire with anticipation and expectation.  There is a real fervency about it.

Hope as a noun is: trust, reliance, a desire accompanied with expectation and belief in fulfillment; Someone or something on which hopes are centered. 

Jesus is our hope. These scriptures and the promises of God are our hope.  God is our hope.

Some have no desire and are seemingly satisfied going their own way without God.  That is not the hope of the gospel.  Their hopes are in the way they are going independently of God.  They are seemingly satisfied placing their hopes in the way they are going.

Some have a desire but have no expectation, no hope.  They feel their disposition is beyond remedy or cure: incorrigible, irretrievable, unredeemable.  We want to reach to people that have a desire for a remedy. 

If they are in this position then it is not hard to work with them.  They have the desire but not the knowledge.  This is the way that I was.  I was not going my own way satisfied, God had already revealed that there was a need.  Then God led me to the saints that presented the hope.

Bill was the same way: he was trying to clean up his acts alone.  That is a part of the fruits of repentance; we don’t have the power to clean up our life alone.  God does the work on the inside. 

If we try to work with those that have no desire, we are wasting our time in some ways but the Word of God will help them to see their need.  Just getting them to church will not make them saved.  They may not even come to church because they are not seeking.

We deal with people differently depending on if we see a desire or not.  It can help us to know how to work with them.

Where there is desire there is hope.  Where there is Jesus there is hope.  Jesus is the answer.

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

This refers to Num 21:4-9.  The Children of Israel were in the wilderness and being bit by the serpents and there was no remedy.  God told Moses to lift up the serpent.  They had to recognize their need and look up to the hope. 

We lift up Jesus so that others can be saved.  God has proven his love for sinners, for whosoever not just a select few.  If people will believe the Word of God and recognize the love of God and what is written in the scriptures, it is available to whosoever will believe.  Those that choose to disbelieve will remain condemned.

John 6:35 Jesus is available to satisfy the hungry soul and any that desire.

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

We come to him hungering, thirsting and desiring and He satisfies that desire and that hunger.

Joh 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Jesus will lead whosoever desires the light and will believe.

When they see the character of God and the desire of God that is for them and not against them, it should encourage their faith.

Psa 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

I think of the long stretches of silence when God didn’t deal with me.  When he did draw near and stretch forth his hand it was when I was broken.  When I pulled away and went my own way He then withdrew and was silent.  What a wonderful God that He would come again and again as He did. 

God says gently, come on child, there is hope and help if you will just come to me.

Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

There is promise and hope for the backslider.

Joe 2:12  Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

We don’t have to rend our garments: labor to get our life cleaned up and in order first.  Come to him with a broken heart and let him do the work.  He is gracious and full of kindness.

Joe 2:14  Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

I think of David that repented and yet there was the promise that his son would die.  He fasted and prayed after he repented, “Who knows if God will heal him?” 

If a person would just step out on the thought, “What if that hope is for me?  What if it is?”  Just press out.  This is a question to ask people, “Is your situation desperate enough, your desire strong enough, God’s character and strength enough to encourage you to step out and press to receive the promise.”

Mic 7:18  Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

Mic 7:19  He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Mic 7:20  Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

He will forgive and forget.  He delights to do that.

Just because we don’t see hope we don’t want to quit praying.  As we pray it puts us in a position to be able to work with them and show them the hope.  When they come to the position of seeing the hope then we will be able to work with them.  God does use human intervention to help dispel the doubts.  He wants to use us that way.

Luk 15:1  Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

Luk 15:2  And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Luk 15:3  And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Luk 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Luk 15:8  Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

Luk 15:9  And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

Luk 15:10  Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

This shows the character of God:  There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents more than over 99 just people.  We appreciate the saints of God but what a joy there is when a sinner repents.  Our desire is just like God’s desire when a sinner comes into the audience.  We want to see them recovered. 

God is looking to recover the one that is lost.  When a soul has a desire for reconciliation and is hungry and thirsty then they meet the conditions.  We can encourage them, “You meet the conditions, just step out.”

Good scriptures: Isaiah 41:17-18; Isaiah 55:1-3; 6-7; 12-13.

Encourage the hungry and thirsty to come.

2Ch 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

That is the promise.  That is the hope.

Richard Paul Evans in Lost December wrote of the prodigal son.

A certain man had two sons and the younger said, “Give me the portion that remains to me.”  Then the younger son went and spent all.  After he had spent all, he joined himself to a citizen to feed swine.  When he came to himself, he said, “I will arise and go to my father.” 

He saw his need, he had a desire for forgiveness, and had a desire for reconciliation: Not just for being a son but for the father to be his lord.

In the book, the son dreamed a dream:  I looked through the front window; the house was crowded and I could see my father.  My father looked at me and I knocked and he would not let me in. 

How many times have people thought that the father would not answer if they knocked; they think that he will turn away if they knock.

“I will arise and say to my father.”  What if He will receive me?  What if He is not the way that I think He is?  I will arise and go to the father. 

The true story is, when he was yet a great way off the father saw him and ran and fell upon his neck and asked the servants to bring the best robe and feed him with the fatted calf. 

That is the true story for any sinner that will just take hold and press out.

Throw out the life line across the dark wave;
There is a brother whom someone should save;
Somebody’s brother! O who then will dare
To throw out the life line, his peril to share?

Refrain

Throw out the life line! Throw out the life line!
Someone is drifting away;
Throw out the life line! Throw out the life line!
Someone is sinking today.

Throw out the life line with hand quick and strong:
Why do you tarry, why linger so long?
See! he is sinking; oh, hasten today
And out with the life boat! away, then away!

Refrain

Throw out the life line to danger fraught men,
Sinking in anguish where you’ve never been;
Winds of temptation and billows of woe
Will soon hurl them out where the dark waters flow.

Refrain

Soon will the season of rescue be o’er,
Soon will they drift to eternity’s shore;
Haste, then, my brother, no time for delay,
But throw out the life line and save them today.

Refrain

This is the life line, oh, tempest tossed men;
Baffled by waves of temptation and sin;
Wild winds of passion, your strength cannot brave,
But Jesus is mighty, and Jesus can save.

Refrain

Jesus is able! To you who are driv’n,
Farther and farther from God and from Heav’n;
Helpless and hopeless, o’erwhelmed by the wave;
We throw out the life line, ’tis “Jesus can save.”

Refrain

This is the life line, oh, grasp it today!
See, you are recklessly drifting away;
Voices in warning, shout over the wave,
O grasp the strong life line, for Jesus can save.