Thank you, Ray, for that good song. Good morning, everyone. She's a beautiful sunny day. I went out and saw all my friends this morning on the farm, and everybody's happy. They're on grass, and they're warm. And just a few bugs compared to normal, so life is good. It's finally summertime in the UP.

My wife found an article this morning. It was a picture of a snowman, and it said June 3, 1945. And apparently in Ishpeming on June 2 and 3, 1945, they had a tremendous snowstorm. So you can ponder on that a little bit.

Well, we're continuing our study this morning in 1 John. And we've been in kind of a heavy passage down through chapter 2, talking about the world system, about the coming one world government and order under Antichrist, and all these things that are a bit weighty, the contrast between the world and those who believe Christ. And in the end of this chapter, John gives us some encouragement about our hope, the confident hope that we have. And that's what we're going to study this morning in verses 28 down through 33.

I read a very interesting article this week that, again, affirmed all that we're presently studying in the book of Revelation on Thursday nights and in Matthew 24 on Tuesday nights up in Gurney and also in 1 John 2 here on Sunday mornings. I'm in three very interesting texts right now at the same time. And there's been a lot of news that makes you kind of say, hmm, lately, the world seems to be spinning out of control. The president's meeting with the pope to discuss peace in the Middle East. The world leaders meeting together to save the planet. A general unthinkingness and rebellion on display every day in our world.

But this story was really interesting because it brings together the political with the false religious systems as Antichrist will do. The article was about the 500th anniversary celebrations of the Reformation, which have apparently begun in late May here in Germany. And they're calling it Reformation Summer 2017. Interestingly, in light of the Reformation, this is an ecumenical event, including Muslim imams speaking, as well as Angela Merkel and none other than Barack Hussein Obama. Heinrich Bedford-Strahm invited President Obama last year in May to visit Germany for the Reformation anniversary. 

And Bedford-Strahm said in the article, President Barack Obama's attending the Kirkentag in Berlin, which will bring in the Reformation summer, underlines the international character of our 500th anniversary celebrations. Now listen to what he said. He said, the churches from a global civil society network of over 2 billion Christians form together as a people of faith the truth that we live from the firm hope for a better world. Anyone who is pious also must be politically minded. He said, we live from the firm hope for a better world. 

That is the hope of the man in Adam, the lost man, the religious man, the worldly man. That's his only hope. His hope is for a better world. And we see that it is ecumenism that brings a better world in their minds. It's a laying aside of all our differences, our doctrinal distinctions, coming together in unity as one world under one leader. And John tells us in 1 John 2 that his name is Antichrist.

I'd like for you to turn to 1 John 2. And I want to begin up in verse 15 to set the context for our passage this morning. 1 John 2:15, John writes to the believers in the churches, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. 

Little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. 

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

Well, these verses set the context for our text today. And what we're going to see, my friends, is that our hope for the believer in Jesus Christ, His hope is not for a better world through politics and social programs and liberal theological conferences where men all gather together and pool their ignorance. We don't have this kind of futile hope-so hope. Our hope is a confident assurance. Our hope is not in the things of this world. We do not live from hope of a better world. We do not have hope in this world system to bring about utopia on our planet. 

Our confidence is the absolute judgment and destruction of this world and its systems. Our hope is in the coming of Jesus Christ to take us to be with Him forever. Our hope is not for a better world, but for a new world in which righteousness dwells and Jesus rules and reigns. This is our hope. This is our assurance, our confidence based on the truth and the promises of the Word of God. Not what any man says, but what God said in the only book He ever wrote. 

Let's pick up our reading in verse 28 of our text. Verse 28, and now, little children, abide in Him that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him that is coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.

I've given you three points for our text this morning on your outline. First, we're going to look at the hope of the world. Second, our blessed hope. And third, a purifying hope.

And thinking about the world's hope, what the lost man in Adam is really hoping for, what he's hoping in, I decided I would Google it. And here are some responses that I found. The first one, what do you hope in? What do you hope for? The first response said, my hope for the future on a personal level, earning two and possibly three doctorate degrees so that I can have the piece of paper saying I can do what I already know I can do. The third one would be English, but definitely one in philosophy and one in theology. As far as on a more universal level, I would like to make this world a better one for your children and mine and their children after them.

The second response said, I'm dreaming of breaking the social and religious false beliefs to be able to live as a real and complete woman. Third, this person said, wouldn't it be wonderful if there really was a God that cared about us and all kinds of wonderful mythical creatures to entertain us, angels, cherubs, unicorns. My hope for the future is that everybody I love outlives me and that the fridge is always filled with wonderful things for making sandwiches and cold beer. I just hope to make it to the new system. I'll wing it from there. And username Methane Mama said, my hope is in a religion-free world.

What is the hope of the world? What does the lost man and Adam have to hope in? Inevitably, the hope of man revolves around carnal things because the natural man is unable to discern spiritual things and the carnal mind is at enmity with God. Paul made a very clear statement about the man and Adam, the worldly man in Ephesians 2 at verse 12, when he said that at that time you 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. The natural man in this world has no hope because he is without God.

We see lost men, loved ones, who are going from one thing to the next, looking for meaning, looking for something to fulfill them, something to fill the hole in their heart, in their lives, looking in all the wrong places to all the wrong things, from alcohol and drugs, to education, to saving the world, to false religion, and there is no hope because apart from God, without God, there is no hope. And in the hope of man, there is always such a profound amount of doubt. It's like my good friends, Doug and Ray, bless their hearts, they're Detroit Lions fans. And they hope that Detroit will win, not the Super Bowl, not a majority of their games. They hope for only one thing each season, and that's that the Lions will beat the Packers. Oh, the doubt that fills this feigning, failing hope of theirs. This is like the hope of the world. When you ask a religious man if he's going to make it to heaven, he gives you a Detroit Lions kind of hope. I hope so.

My brothers and sisters, the lost man in this world has no hope because he is without God. The great kings of the world of history have put their hopes in horses and chariots, but Psalm 33, 17 says, a horse is a vain hope for safety. Neither shall it deliver any by its strength. The men of our world today put their trust in their own wisdom and science and education and political prowess and negotiation. But Proverbs 26, 12 says, do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. 

Whatever hope that lost man has filled with permeating doubt, his hope must rest in the things of this world because he has no assurance of anything after this world. The hope of the atheistic evolutionist is that he will die and rot and be recycled in the earth. The hope of the religious man is that he must be good enough, do enough works, participate in enough religious sacraments and rituals and do enough charity. The hope of the humanist must be in a man becoming better and better and making the world a better place. And the hope of the new age spiritual man of our time is that we can somehow evolve beyond all of these problems of our world.

All of these hopes are like grasping at the wind and they have no hope of coming to fruition, being fixed on the things of this cursed world because what Paul said of lost men in 1 Thess 4.13 rings true. I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have died, who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. They have no hope. They have no confident assurance of anything and nothing to look forward to.

It reminds me of the man that Paul describes in Romans 11. He says, just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their backs always. 

What we see in the last years of the man who rejects Jesus Christ, who will not believe and take for himself the gospel of salvation, is a man whose hopes and dreams have passed away. There is no hope, there's nothing that lasts. All his efforts, all his work, all his good intentions have come to naught and his back is bowed down, unable to stand straight and look into eternity. He is filled with fear, regret and disappointment because my brother, my sister, he has no hope. 

John has been telling us through this entire chapter that we as believers should not love the world, that we are not of this world, that this world has nothing to offer us, that the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. This chapter has been teaching us about the contrast between the believer and unbeliever, the man in Christ and the antichrist, the danger of deception, the lure of the world and its systems. And John's intent is to point us to our hope, the sure, confident hope that we have in Jesus Christ and His coming of our glorification of the rapture and the kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth of eternity with Him. John wants us to see the reality of our hope, the surety of our salvation based on what Jesus did and our faith in Him and the implications also now in our lives of that hope that we have in Him.

Well, we've seen the hope of the world. Now in stark contrast, let's look today to the Word of God to help us understand our hope. When John talks about our hope in the text before us this morning, he's focused on the coming of Christ, on our glorification, on the full realization of our hope, on the promise of God in Jesus Christ. We have eternal life now today. Jesus said, anyone who hears My words and believes on Me has passed from death unto life. He will not come into condemnation. He has eternal life. We are new men. We are recreated, born again with new hearts and new spirits and the Holy Spirit of God living in us. We have a new life and a new hope today. And this has great implications in our life, how we see the world, how we react and act towards others. And we will get to this in our last point this morning, this application, but this is not our only hope, this world today. 

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 19, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. John's real focus here is on the fullness of our hope, on the coming of Christ and our gathering together with Him. Listen to his words again, beginning in verse 28. He says, And now, little children, abide, remain in Him, that when He appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Behold, look, check this out, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. He's our Abba, He's our Papa, He's our Daddy. We have access to Him. We can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need. 

Therefore, the world does not know us, John says, because it did not know Him. He says, And now, little children, abide, remain in Him, that when He appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Therefore, behold, look, check this out, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. 

Thus, when He speaks of our hope, this is a matter of anticipation, a looking forward to the great fullness of our salvation, when we are fully and finally released from these old tents and from the very presence of sin, and we shall see Jesus face to face, and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We have a guarantee. We have an earnest, a deposit. We have eternal life, new life from now, but this is just a picture, just a shadow of what is to come. We are new in our spirits now, fit for heaven, but we are still incarcerated in this flesh, and we still deal with indwelling sin in the systems of this world in which we live. But there's coming a day, my brothers and sisters, as sure as the Word of God and His promises, when Jesus will catch us up and we shall be glorified together with Him, and our hope shall be fulfilled. 

The New Testament Scriptures concerning hope are filled with anticipation, confidence, assurance of what is going to come, what will happen, the reality of our final salvation in Christ. Galatians 5.5 says, For through the Spirit we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Ephesians 1.18, Paul prays that the eyes of our understanding, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Colossians 1.5 says, Because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of truth of the gospel. 

And Colossians 1.27, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. In 1 Thessalonians 2.19, Paul says, For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? Titus 1.2, And hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.

I want you to listen carefully to the words of Hebrews 6, and I want you to think about the contrast between the hope of the man in this world and the believer in Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 6.19, it says, This hope we have as an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil. This hope we have as an anchor for the soul. 

2 Thessalonians 2.16 tells us that our hope is from God by grace. He's given us a good hope by grace. We see in 1 Peter 1 that our hope is alive, is assured, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In verse 13, he says, Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We see also in Romans that our hope is tied to the work and the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

So may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The hope that we have of glorification, of full and final salvation, of life eternal from God's grace because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit in us is a sure and confident hope, secured, kept, protected, guarded by the very power of God in the Trinity. There's such a contrast between the hope of the world and the hope that is fastened, secured through faith in Jesus Christ.

Let's just look at a couple more Scriptures. Turn over to Philippians 3 with me please. Philippians 3 verse 18. And then we're going to look at Romans 8. Philippians 3.18 Paul writes, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body, and to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Again and again and again and again. For those who believe Jesus Christ, God promises eternal life, promises glorification. Turn over to Romans 8. We can't leave out such a crucial passage on hope. And what an encouragement we find in Romans chapter 8. Beginning in verse 1. We'll read a few verses down through the chapter. In verse 1, Paul says, There is therefore now no condemnation, there's no judgment for sin, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now look at verse 11. This is another promise. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 

Verse 15. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 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 what? 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. 

Look at verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. And not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves. Why are we groaning? Why are we upset about the injustice of this world? All the things that have gone wrong in this world, we're groaning because we're eagerly waiting for the 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. 

Look at verse 28. I just want to read down through verse 39 because I want you to just think about the promises we have for those who believe Jesus, the surety of salvation. Verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. And whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, then who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are Nike. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our hope is sure and steadfast. It is an anchor, my brothers and sisters, an anchor for the soul. Think about that. The word soul is suke and it refers to our mind and our emotions. Do you ever struggle with your mind and your emotions? 

Hebrews tells us that man is made up of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit is that eternal part of us, the I, who I am, and it is the spirit that has been regenerated, made new, when we were born again, when we believed Jesus. The body is this tent in which we dwell. It's our flesh, it's our body. And the soul specifically refers to our mind and our emotions. We just read in Romans 8 the truth that we are saved in this hope. We are saved from doubt and fear today, having confidence of our glorification. 

Listen to Hebrews 6 again. Verse 17 says, Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, but fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil. MacDonald's comment on this passage ties in very well with the context of our passage in 1 John 2. Listen to his words. He says, First, those who are true believers are pictured as fleeing from this doomed world to the heavenly city of refuge. To encourage them in their flight, God has given them an unfailing hope based on His word and His oath. In the storms and trials of life, this hope serves as an anchor for the soul. 

The knowledge that our glorification is as certain as if it had already happened keeps us from drifting on the wild waves of doubt and despair. The anchor is not cast in the shifting sands of this world, but takes hold in the heavenly sanctuary. And since our hope is the anchor, the meaning is that our hope is secured in God's very presence behind the veil. And just as sure as the anchor is there, we shall be there also. 

I've been overwhelmed in my studies these last couple weeks at the amazing amount of scriptures concerning our security, the surety of our salvation in Christ. And I think the essence of this is captured by Peter in 1 Peter 3.15 when he said, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Our hope is defensible. We can give an answer to those who want to know true hope, confident assurance of eternal life today and forever. Our hope is defensible because it is based on the Word of God, on His promise. And the answer that we have for the world, the answer that we have for our hope, is Jesus Christ. 

What is the hope that is in us? What is the reason for our hope? The name of our faith, as Pastor always says, is Jesus Christ. I hope that you're beginning to get an understanding of the surety of our hope, of our salvation in Christ, and how in the light of His glory and grace, this world fades away into oblivion. That's the message that John's been trying to teach us in chapter 2. 

So we see the hope of the world, the hope so hope. We've seen our blessed hope, His glorious appearing when we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And now let's look at our third point briefly, a purifying hope. John writes in verse 29, everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. And in chapter 3, at verse 3, he says, everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure. 

And I'd like to just take you back to Romans chapter 5, where Paul said in verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. That's the condition of the lost man in this world. He's a sinner by nature. The problem is who he is on the inside. And who he is is manifest outwardly in his life. Doing all kinds of good will not fix the wrong he's done. And then he says that many were made righteous by one man's obedience. For those who believe Jesus, He gives us a new heart and a new spirit. He fixes us on the inside. He makes us righteous.

We're born again to a new life. Paul goes on in Romans 6 to tell us that we can no longer live in sin, practice sin, continue in sin as we did in Adam, because we died with Christ. We were buried with Him and we rose to newness of life with Him. Our old man in Adam was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this body controlled by indwelling sin would be rendered powerless. 

My brothers and sisters, the basis of our new life in Christ is our hope. The hope that we've been studying, considering this morning. The hope that we have now today because of our faith in Christ and the hope that we have of eternal life in heaven with Him. Anyone who has this hope, this salvation in Jesus, purifies himself just as He is pure. You see, the essence of the Christian life, of a holy and pure life that we can now have and live, and should live, and must live because of our salvation in Him and all that it means, the essence of this life is Christ in you. 

Jesus Christ living in you. He makes His home in every believer. He indwells us. He purifies us. And because of this marvelous truth of His grace in our lives, of the new life that He has given to us in His life in us, our deepest desire is to live in thankfulness to Him, is to live in obedience to Him, to glorify Him and to lead others to Him. Thus, we who believe Jesus, we who have this hope in Him, we who have this desire to live in Him, to live by faith in Him, to trust Him, to produce fruit through our lives by His life in us for His glory.

This has been John's message through this entire epistle. That we would remember the things which we heard from the beginning, the gospel. That we would focus on Jesus, His sufficiency, His grace, His life, that we would not seek the things of this world, the wisdom of this world, the something more that the deceivers try to lead us away with, but rather that we would continually come back to the gospel, to Jesus, to our hope. And that we would abide in Him and His words would abide in us. And we would press on toward the goal to lay hold of that for which Jesus Christ has laid hold of us, to make us like Christ, to bring us to glorification. 

That's holiness, that's purity, that's an abiding relationship with Him. That's not religion, my friends. That is eternal life in all its fullness, in glorification together with Him. That is our hope. That is reality. That is sure and steadfast hope, an anchor for the soul. And my friends, it could be today.

How often do you think about His coming? How often do you anticipate the rapture, the hope? I heard a story from a pastor this week who was in Russia and he was ministering there teaching a class and they were staying with a woman who had lost her husband and they were very poor and she said she had to stand in line for eight hours a day to get a little bit of horse meat just to feed them. 

When I was in India, I saw people who had nothing, nothing. They don't have an attachment to this world. They aren't hoping in the things of this world. Their hope is in the coming of Jesus Christ and the fulfilling of the promise. And John wants our hope to be in that as well. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your words, Your truth, that You tell us the truth. Thank You that You continue to teach us and guide us, that You've given us Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. Father, I just pray that You would help us to love men as You love men, to be a witness in this world and to love them enough to tell them the truth, that they might believe and be saved. Father, we thank You that You're working, that You're bringing men to Yourself and that You're giving them hope. 

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.