Message of the Month

Prisoners of Hope! --Part Two
Zech. 9:9-13

Intro –The people of Zechariah’s day were still prisoners under the yoke of a foreign government. They had waited so long for the fulfilling of the promises of God that their dreams had been shattered, the future appeared ever so shaky, and hope seemed to mock them! Through the prophet, God says, “View yourselves, not as prisoners of horrible governments, but as “prisoners of hope” in Holy God!” “Prisoners of hope” is a description applied to the Israelites because they had by way of God’s blood covenant the hope of redemption. They were captives who have good hope of deliverance because they are still in covenant with God.

I am of the conviction that God intends for all of His people to live as captives or Prisoners of HOPE!

I. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Undefeatable Gospel – Cols 1:23; 2 Thess 2:16
A. Captivated by the Good Hope of Christ’s Promises

II. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Unseen and Unclear Vision of Christ – 1 Cors 13:12
A. Captivated with the Greatness of Christ’s Person!

III. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Unredeemed Body – Roms 8:23-25
A. Captivated by the Glory of Christ’s Provisions!

IV. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Ungathered Family – Rev 7:9
A. Captivated by the Gathering of Christ’s People!

I. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Undefeatable Gospel – Cols 1:23; 2 Thess 2:16

A. Captivated by the Good Hope of Christ’s Promises
Col 1:23, “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
2Th 2:16, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 2Th 2:17  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”

Let’s review our definition of HOPE -- Biblical Hope is the Confident Expectation and Desire for Something Good from God in the Future with the Expectation of Receiving It!
Prisoners of hope see the gospel as God-authored, Christ-centered, Cross-shaped, Resurrection-empowered, kingdom-based, devil-defeating, world-impacting, and God-glorifying!

II. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Unseen and Unclear Vision of Christ – 1 Cors 13:12
1Cors 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
1Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,”

A. Captivated with the Greatness of Christ’s Person!
An amateur painter once tried to develop his own version of Leonardo daVinci’s “The Last Supper”. After giving it his best shot, he showed his efforts to a few friends. He was broken-heartened when one remarked, “My, what exquisite detail you have given to the cups the disciples are holding!” Realizing he had failed to make Jesus the central focus of his painting, as he had intended from the outset, he tore up the canvas and started all over again.

Christians are like painters, passing along various images and impressions of Jesus, and if more detail is given to us, or stuff we have, and doesn’t leave the impression that Jesus is Central and Supreme; that He is the One who is to be prized, praised, and proclaimed, then we are failing in our mission.
1. God has NO HOPE for Us beyond who His Son is!
We need to see how our great and good God has guided history to a day when all the hopes of the ages past were fulfilled in one man. This one man represented humanity as the last Adam. He represented Israel as the ultimate Israelite, the Messiah. He took the sins that separate and forever settled the issue. He took the judgment the world's rebellion deserved and drained it of its accusations. He invaded death's dark prison house and blasted a cross-shape hole out the back so that although death takes us, it can’t keep us!

He has endowed us with the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and given us the legal right to use his name to obtain the resources needed to get the job done. He has given us time to embrace this call and begin to work generationally. If we can see Him more clearly and hear Him more obediently, we will become prisoners of hope who are captivated by this good news. Prisoners of hope will find themselves caught up in a whole new way of living -- living to give, longing to serve, loving to worship, leading outward to speak -- and ready to die in this wonderful experience of the hope of eternal life.

If we are to be “prisoners of hope” we must go on being re-converted and refocused to a real, radical, yet biblical vision of the Man, Jesus Christ. We need to see Him as fully God, fully man, fully sovereign, fully redeeming by his substitutionary, wrath-absorbing death, fully alive by His bodily resurrection and fully reigning via His ascension and heavenly enthronement. We need to see Him manifestly present in the throne gift of Heaven that He gave to men on the Day of Pentecost – the Other Jesus without a Body – Holy Spirit. We need to be fully committed to proclaiming Him in His fullness with sound biblical truth followed by Spirit-demonstrated miracles, signs and wonders!

We need to see Jesus’ coming in a greater soul-saving, heart-transforming, culture-impacting presence and power even now, right where we live so that His kingdom comes more fully and His will is done more freely. We need to ask for foretastes of what will some day fill Heaven and earth. We need to stay focused on His worthiness as the Son of God, the only Savior of Sinners and the Satisfier of the heart-hunger of the saints. We need to see Him in a fuller, personal, experiential way that heightens our awareness of the riches, resources, and reaches that are available in Him as the Revealer of God’s Person and the Redeemer of His people.

We need to see that the fullness of all His gospel riches and resources flow to us so that they can flow through us to the ends of the earth. We need for Christ to fire us with His zeal for the enjoyment and deployment of the glory of God. We need to begin now to see, savor, and share His life and love so that the People of God become a showcase of His majesty and glory before the nations.

The Glory of His Person should Captivate My Heart!
The Thrill of His Mission should Dominate My Plans!
The Wonders of His Grace should Regulate My Life!
The Future of His Plan should Alleviate My Fears!
-- Zec 9:10b  “…and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

We need to declare that Christ is ALL!

III. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Unredeemed Body – Roms 8:23-25

A. Captivated by the Glory of Christ’s Provisions
!

1. Prisoners of Hope Expect that What God has Begun in Grace in Dying Bodies will be Completed in Glorified Bodies in a State of Glory! – 8:23

2. Prisoners of Hope Rest on the Promise of God that for the Christian there will be a Resurrection of the Body without Loss of Identity -- 1 Cors 15:35-44
(a) What is sown isn't identical to what is grown, but is identifiably related to it -- 15:37-38
Paul says our bodies are like "seeds" which "grow" into resurrection bodies. Except the seed dies it can't come forth into new life. When you bury the body of a believer, you are "sowing" a "seed" which will come out of the earth as a resurrection body. When you plant a wheat seed, a big wheat seed does not come up. Instead, a stalk of wheat comes up. So, even though our resurrection bodies come from our present bodies, we should not expect that they will be the same bodies or just "improved" bodies. Will we know each other over there? YES!

3. Prisoners of Hope Rest on the Promise of God that for the Christian there will be an Acclimation of the Body to Life in a New Vicinity -- 15:45-50
Paul gives four contrasts between our present body and our future resurrection body: corruptible against incorruptible, dishonor against glory, weakness against power, and natural against spiritual.

a. Our new bodies will be free from Physical Deterioration and Defects -- 15:42,53
b. Our new bodies will be free from Physical Limitations -- 43 -- powerful
c. Our new bodies will be free to Experience and Express Eternal Life in its Fullness in the Kingdom of Heaven -- 44-45

After the sufferings of the NOW of life in frail, dying bodies, will come the THEN of life in fully redeemed bodies, in a new heavens and a new earth!
The very thought makes me want to sing: “Saved by His power divine; saved to new life sublime, life now is sweet and my joy is complete for I am saved, saved, saved! Jesus has saved me in every way a person can be saved!
Until THEN – Hope thou in God, for we are confident in God’s promises that the first-fruits will be followed by the harvest, bondage by freedom, decay by incorruption, and labor pains by the birth of a new world!

IV. We are Prisoners of Hope to an Ungathered Family – Rev 7:9-10
Rev 7:9  After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, Rev 7:10  and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

A. Captivated by the Gathering of Christ’s People!
Zec 9:12  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

An old hymn of the church declares: “Like a mighty army Moves the Church of God --Brothers, we are treading Where the saints have trod; We are not divided, -- All one body we--One in hope and doctrine--One in charity.”
That is true, even though there are some who have suggested that, by all appearances, it should be revised to be sung something like this:
Like a mighty turtle Moves the Church of God; Brothers, we are treading Where we've always trod; We are much divided, Many bodies we, Fickle in hope and doctrine, Weak in charity.

Yet this will not always be the case. “We will discover that the blood Jesus shed upon Calvary was not wasted, His labor was not in vain, nor is His grace wasted.  The blessed Son of God shall see the fruitfulness of His labor and be satisfied as ultimately a people stand before Him whose robes have been washed white in the blood of the Lamb.  He will see a multitude that no man could count from every tribe, every tongue, every kindred of people gathered around His throne.”

The state of the church in many Western countries is quite disheartening.

Greg Haslam – Pastor Westminster Chapel, London, England, was being interviewed and was asked this question: “Given the doctrinal disputes and the press coverage about shrinking church attendance, are you depressed about the future of the Church in the UK?”

Pastor Haslam: “No, I am not depressed about the future of the Church anywhere. Christ wins! The Church will still be here when everything else has gone. The best days of Church history lie ahead of us. Worldwide revivals will sweep the continents. Many have already happened or begun. This is the “Age of the Spirit,” and “The Holy Spirit will never allow the blasphemy to be voiced against his name that he was unable to convert the world!” I am at heart a great optimist where the Gospel and the work of God is concerned. Setbacks are never permanent, only temporary. Britain is in a state of apostasy at this time, and culpable for her rejection of history, the Bible, and the honor of Christ, and for her contempt for Christ's people. But this is no problem for God to remove and reverse. It's what I'm praying, preaching, and working for. “Of the increase of Christ's government and peace, there shall be no end” (Isaiah 9).

Christian, are you feeling as though you are hopeless? Well, you aren’t, but you very well may be helpless. God puts us in a position of helplessness or complete dependency in Him. The natural response is to struggle to gain back some measure of control over your life. The pain from this experience feels like hopelessness, but its really the condition of helplessness that is causing you pain. God wants you completely dependent on Him. Prisoners of hope no that they are shut up to Him.

Here’s the word you need -- Zec 9:12  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.  Your stronghold is seeing, savoring and trusting in the loving Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting Him in spite of all the reasoning of your mind; in spite of all the circumstances that surround you; in spite of all the people that have hurt you. You were content to give God control of your life until He decided to do something with your life you did not like. You were happy to surrender all to Him, until He decided to give your promised job or promotion to someone else; until the healing of your loved one didn’t come; until your mate left you or your children turned to the world. You believe in God’s sovereignty, until His sovereign will conflicts with your will. Then you want to run from Him, but He is your refuge. So, run to Him and not from Him -- return, child of God, to your stronghold, your fortress and remain a prisoner of hope in the assurance that all that God has promised to be for you in Jesus – He will be!

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