The Advent: Hope

Sermon Notes from the First Sunday of Advent yesterday:
"The Entrance of Hope"

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Entrance Order:

Faith: Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith introduces hope.
Hope: Psalm 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
You are not hopeless. We are given a wonderful example of a hope portal in the Book of Hosea.
Hosea 2:13-15 I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot," declares the LORD. 14 "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt."

God says he will allure his people into the wilderness. Many times God leads his people to where it is dry, lonely, and dark in order to bring them to himself. God has to bring us to a place where sin is no longer appealing, no longer satisfying so that we might hate it and want more of Christ.
When Israel arrived in the wilderness, God gave her vineyards and the Valley of Achor a door of hope.”

He will take our trouble and turn it into hope — “Achor” in Hebrew means “trouble.” Valley of Achor is found in Joshua 7:10-26, Achan’s sin in the camp that lost the battle.
"Christ in you the hope of glory."

Only Christ can lift the trouble that we have on our hands because of our transgressions and give us life.
Titus 3:7 “Being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Charles Spurgeon: "Sinners may rest content in their sin,
for as yet they know no better, but you are disqualified even for that! You have so much knowledge still left and so much of conscience still remains that you are spoiled for this world, spoiled for the pleasures of sin"

Those who entered the Valley of Achor with tears and lamentation can emerge at the other end with joy and hope.
A miraculous portal

The one particular verse in O little town of Bethlehem is worth looking at again:

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may his His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

Love: Psalm 26:3 for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.
Psalm 57:3 He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends his love and his faithfulness.
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

Jesus does not come to us with explanation but with His presence.