event when you talk about the gospel sometimes, oftentimes. Now, we don't end up in jail, like I said, unless you're in a Muslim country and you start preaching the gospel. You will end up in jail in many Muslim countries. So, Paul's belief that while Christians have a salt and light influence on the culture in which they live, they won't ultimately redeem or transform the culture. Culture, it is what it is. That's okay. The gospel does not have to win the culture to advance. Let's go to Philippians 1, 12, 13. In Philippians 1, 12, 13, it's a short, it's a short verse. Philippians 1, 12 to 13. But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happen to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. Remember, he's writing in jail. So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. He's writing to this Christian community in Philippi while he's in prison, and we think he's in Rome. He starts the letter by expressing, if you read the whole letter, by expressing gratitude for the support and the prayers he's received from the Philippines. Then he goes on to explain how his current circumstances, being in prison, have actually served to advance the gospel. So here, Paul wants the Philippines to understand that despite his imprisonment and the difficulties he faces, his situation has not hindered the spread of the gospel, but has rather worked to its advantage Paul sees his imprisonment as an opportunity for the gospel to be proclaimed even more boldly. So we brought this message on Wednesday. It's a message of hope that sometimes we feel like the gospel's being hindered, right? When we look around the culture, we're like, we're losing ground here. Paul was in jail, and he felt it was an advantage. in order for the gospel to move swiftly, right? He wasn't worried about the culture. He wasn't worried about the times. He's in jail. He's worried about preaching to the guards that, by the way, he was chained up directly to them. 18 inches of slack, right? Yeah, it wasn't much. Can you imagine writing a letter, chained up, to some Roman guard, and talking about joy, and talking about furthering the gospel, and how this is an advantage to furthering the gospel. I have a tough time putting myself in that position. When I'm at work and everybody's cursing up a storm and talking about whatever they're talking about, I'm like, how do I inject Christ here? But God gives us opportunities, right? If we pray, God will give us that. So that's the message, that's the title. It's our hope in Christ. We have that hope for a better future, that not what the current, whatever the current culture is or it's not, or whether we're in chains or not, our hope is in Christ. Because no matter what our culture is, as the end times draws near, we know that evil will continue to grow, It'll eventually get to the Great Tribulation for all believers, and finally the appearance of the Antichrist. Whatever's happening, that's gonna come to fruition. Then Christ will return to resurrect the dead, judge all humanity, and instill a new heaven and a new earth in which his people will no longer be subject to suffering or pain, only joy. a kingdom which will be eternal. So that's where our hope lies. Our hope's in Christ's return, in the expectation of the return of Christ. Not so much in a hopeful return to a time when the culture appeared to reflect biblical principles and values. As Christians, that's where our hope is rooted. Our sense of hope is not, it's also not found contemplating environmental concerns, like feeling bad about what might happen to the planet if you keep using a gas stove. That's not it. Or gasoline, or mowing your lawn. Or driving a gas-powered pickup truck. It's not an electric vehicle. You know there's a movement out there There's actually people who get up in the morning and want to do away with the lawns of America because it wastes water. Right? So our sense of hope should not be also dependent on who holds a particular political office. shouldn't come from our favorite sports teams because they may let you down and lose in the finals again. Shameful plug. So, there are many places to station our hope. For many out there, the gospel, and I see it all, it's just a means to an end. But it should be our only hope. And when I say it's a means to an end, especially in politics, the gospel is used as an instrument. One of my favorite books by C.S. Lewis is The Screwtape Letters. When I opened up that book, I was blown away by the perspective, because it's an interesting book. It's written from the demonic perspective. It's a short book. The first time I read it, I read it on a plane ride, a short plane ride. It's a short book. It's a really, really fascinating book if you've never read it. Screwtape Letters. The book consists of 31 letters in which Screwtape, he's an experienced demon, instructs his young, I think it's his nephew, his demon nephew, Wormwood is the name of the nephew. And he instructs them on effective strategies for tempting the human being that's assigned to him, and making sure he continues on a steady path toward damnation. So the premise of the book is that every demon has a human that they're in charge of, and they're in charge of leading them to damnation, and if they don't, And I don't know where they go, because they're already in hell. But there are consequences. There are bad consequences if you don't leave your charge to damnation. So I'm going to read to you a quick small portion of the book. My dearest Warren Wood. and this of course is screw tape writing in the book, writing this letter, your best plan in that case would be to attempt a sudden, confused, emotional crisis from which he might emerge as an uneasy convert to patriotism. Let him begin by treating the patriotism or the pacifism as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of the partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him onto the stage in which religion becomes merely part of the cause in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favor of the British war effort for pacifism. C.S. Lewis was British, of course. The attitude which you want to guard against is that in which temporal affairs are treated primarily as material for obedience. Once you have made the world an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he's pursuing, provided that meetings Templates, policies, movements, causes, Facebook rants, I plugged that in, and crusades matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity. He is ours. And the more religious, on those terms, the more securely ours. I can show you a pretty cage filled down here. Signed, your affectionate uncle, Screwtape. The more religious, right. Right, the more religious. Look at the cage. People use. Use it as an instrument, right? Now the book was published in 1941, but we can see this playing out today on a national scale. There are many places to place your hope. Far too many. For far too many, government represents a major one. Many politicians leverage that need of many Christians who really long for the return of Jesus, but they flip that into wanting to inject biblical and moral law into a morally declining culture through different means. Education, passing of particular laws, to reflect what they believe to be biblical standards. They cloak themselves in this populist version of Christianity. and wanting to impose their misguided version of biblical law and Christianity, which truly misunderstands the relationship between the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace. They're confused. You know why they're confused? Because they're not Christians. There are many out there, I've seen people praying, praying. I'm like, what are you doing praying? I don't know what you're talking about. Praying for, all sorts of nonsense, claiming just so they could reach out to those Christians. And then I watched the Christians fall for it. And I'm like, aren't you listening? Again, it's a confusion. It's a confusion of why Jesus came for us and why he's coming again. Right? So, as the election cycle starts ramping, the national election cycle starts to ramp up, you'll begin to notice more and more what I'm talking about. Right? More and more Christian undertones and overtones that politicians use in order to cater to those misguided Christians. Many politicians will claim to be Christian, but God can see right through their agenda. Unfortunately, I see many ensnared by these promises of getting the wrong books out of libraries, taking certain flags down so that it's become an us against them and what seems like a permanent social construct where if you have any sort of opinion on any of those matters, you have to wear a particular label of allegiance. Christ never modeled that or asked us to be cultural warriors or social activists. The group that he was most concerned about was the religious leaders of the time and the yoke they were placing on the nation of Israel with the law. He did, however, tell us to have hope in him and his second coming. So let's look at that word hope. It's a common phrase. A lot of people use it, and you find it throughout the New Testament. And what does it mean? It's used to convey an expectation of future good. The word always refers to the future. I hope for this, I hope for that. I'm hoping, just in general. But what are you putting your hope in? Where does that hope lie, right? Now specifically, as it's used throughout the New Testament, it means an expectation of future good using faith as the agent. So, let's go to Romans 8. We're gonna read 18 through 25. Romans 8, 18 through 25. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also, will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for that adoption. the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. I think some of us, including myself, we probably suffer from a lack of perspective of God, how big God is, and his plan for us. We're not going to read it today, but if you want perspective, read Job. It's incredible perspective. Job goes through this very, very difficult, almost, you know, challenges of biblical proportion. Loses everything, loses his health, loses his kids. And then he starts to question, why am I here? And God starts hammering him with a number of questions, a number of questions, a number of questions. Seemingly, you know, odd questions like, were you here when I knit the stars together? Were you here when I made the ostrich? Dumb. When I made the dumb ostrich, read it. Were you, you know, who doesn't know comings and goings? And then he asked him a series, I think it's like 64 questions, it's for perspective. It's to give Job, Job, you are a creature. I am God. Things will happen to you, you're not gonna be able to explain. And that's okay. Science tries to explain everything and fails miserably. Not always, thank God for science, but when it comes to creation and when it comes to all things, they miss the mark by a lot. So perhaps our perspective, our perspective needs to change and we need to put our hope in God. We don't see him. Sometimes we don't understand it. Sometimes we're hyper-focused on ourselves and we're like, why is this happening? But no one could ask that question like Job, right? Because he earned it. If you don't know the story, please read it. We're not gonna get into it today, but read that story. Yes, it's a beautiful, beautiful story. So here we're reading in Romans that the believer's confidence is rooted in an objective fact, namely that The future good in store for us has been promised to them by an omnipotent, covenant-keeping God who is always true to his word. As Paul puts it, the saints enjoy a hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised long ago, and which even now he has made manifest by sending Christ into the world with the good news of the gospel. Let's look at Titus 2.13 for a little perspective. It's short. Titus 2.13. In my Bible, it's page 2,280. That doesn't help you. Titus 2.13. Titus 2.13 reads, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. The Holy Spirit makes us zealous for good works. We're wired that way. We're wired for, I think we're just wired for works. The difference between us and Christians and non-Christians, we're wired for good works. Man is always wired for works. Man's always trying to do his own thing. Adam and Eve did it. Adam and Eve, right, we talked about Adam and Eve, when they sinned, they grabbed some leaves and they covered themselves. Once they sinned, they covered themselves with leaves, they tried to hide. God asked Adam, where are you? He's like, we hid because we were naked. God, after that conversation, God kills an animal and gives them skins. Because their own work wasn't going to, it wasn't going to do it. It wasn't enough. They fell short. We all fall short of the glory of God, but they fell short in that work, covering themselves. God had to kill an animal. He tried to, because what he was telling them was, no, your sin, sin is a big deal. And you, are not holy enough to cover that sin. Only I am holy. Only I can make the sacrifice to cover your sin. And ultimately, it was him who had to be sacrificed in Christ, in the person of Christ, to cover up our sins. And that's the hope we have. In Titus 2.13, It says, looking for the blessed hope. It's not just hope, right? It's blessed hope. But why is this hope blessed? Well, one answer might be, it's blessed because on the day of Christ's return, he'll do so many wonderful things to consummate the happiness of his people. And that's true enough. But maybe a deeper answer could be it's blessed because as God's people, as we think about this hope, the Holy Spirit actually gives us like a taste, like a foretaste of the joy that we will experience on that day when the saints fully enter the joy of the Lord. We get a taste. Frank was mentioning it in his prayer today. We should be happy. We get that, to taste that joy. It's only a taste of the joy, and it'll be fulfilled in Christ when he comes. So, as believers, our hope in Christ's second coming should be, it should have a profound impact, even on our daily lives. Titus 2.13, it urges us to be waiting for that blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This hope should motivate us. It should motivate us to live godly lives, to love one another. and to share the gospel with the world in desperate need of salvation, especially in this morally declining culture. So let's look at a parable of Jesus that, and he illustrates the second coming of the Lord. The second coming of the Lord is full of theology, it's simple to understand. A lot of people shy away from the theology of the second coming. Think of it this way. If God, from the beginning, from Revelation, I'm sorry, through Genesis, from Genesis all the way to the end of the book, why would he drop the ball at the end of the book? He wouldn't. It's easy to understand. So we're gonna go through it a little bit today. So we're gonna look at a parable, and for context, This makes up part of the Olivet Discourse. The Olivet Discourse, it's one of those talks that Jesus had that's covered in many different books like Matthew and Luke. Jesus gave this set of instructions on the Tuesday afternoon of the Passion Week, the week of his crucifixion. Killed on Friday, this is Tuesday. It's a lengthy discourse, we're not gonna get fully into it, but I just wanna give you some context for the following verse. Let's go to Mark 13, 24. Mark 13, 24. Mark 13, 24. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. So this talks about the coming of the son of man. But in those days after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars of heaven will fall and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. So don't worry about your grass. You don't have to worry about that. Then, They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send his angels and gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven. Man, if that doesn't get you riled up, I don't know what is. I don't know what could get you riled up. That's exciting. Jesus, he's coming for us. So this verse actually echoes similar passages found in the Old Testament, like in Isaiah 13, 9 and 10, Joel 2, 31. They use similar language to depict cosmic disturbances. They're signs of God's judgment, right? Now in the context of Mark 13, Jesus, he's emphasizing the certainty and severity of the events that will precede his second coming. He wants his disciples and believers to be aware of the signs and be prepared for the challenges that will lie ahead. It serves as a reminder to us of the chaos that will accompany the tribulation period before Christ's return. And it urges believers to be vigilant, stand watch, discerning the signs of the times, and to remain hopeful in their faith as we await Christ to come. Now, slide down to Mark 13.28. Mark 13.28. Jesus says, now learn this parable of the fig tree. Jesus says learn the parable because it's easy to learn. It's simple. Learn this parable because you can. Remember, every word that Jesus says was significant. When each branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near, at the doors. Assuringly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. He's in charge. All this stuff that we hyper-focus on, gone. Unimportant. Unimportant. He instructs them to learn the parable because it's possible to learn it. It's not hard to understand. In South Florida, we have two seasons, a wet one and a dry one, right? That's it. It's wet. It's raining. It's not raining. So we don't have an appreciation of trees losing their leaves, right, in winter and growing them in spring and summer. Growing up in New York, I knew when winter was coming and when it was ending and when summer was beginning simply by looking at the leaves of the trees. I traded the oak tree for a mango tree. That's what Jesus is saying here. The fig tree gives you signs that a new season is upon us. He took that simple illustration of the fig tree, or of the seasons, and he said, there'll be a season, this is the season of Christ's return. And when you know a season is upon you, you take, you know, like if you know summer's coming, you take out your gas powered lawn mower. You know, some people think the second coming of Christ is an abstract, it's out there. It's an abstract concept. It doesn't really affect our daily lives. Christ is telling us here to stand watch, to pay attention, that he is and can come at any moment. We should be able to live in hope and joy Even if there are things happening in the world that seemingly wouldn't give us joy and don't give us hope, we're able to have hope and joy because of that certainty that Jesus is coming again. And so, when you face injustice, when you face trials and tribulations or difficulties in this world, when disease or illness knocks on your door, Even if you face difficulties with someone at work or a neighbor, that could be tough because you're kind of stuck with them. That takes a lot of Christian prayer and patience, right? Or even when you're maligned, you don't think people are listening to you. You're ignored. People are blowing you off. Because of our belief, we can have hope and joy and even confidence because Jesus is coming again. I've been in a circle of people, and I thought, oh, this is a good time to reject Christ. Here's my opening. Well, that circle of people, disappeared, became a circle of one. You want to be alone, stop talking about Christ. That's okay. We can work with that knowledge in our life to love, to have mercy, to do just, and walk humbly with our God, to really love our neighbors as ourselves. Now thinking of the results, right, that we're gonna get, now we're, or think, you know, thinking about our final report card like the kids just got of our lives, right? What's my report card gonna say when I get to Jesus? Jesus is coming again and he'll make all things new. And that reality powers us to be able to live with hope no matter the circumstances we're dealing with. Amen. Thank you, church. Dismissed.