Most people are placing their hopes on the passing, deteriorating things of this world. The only sure, abiding and enduring hope is the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal life He gives; everything else is passing away.
Everyone faces eternity. We will exist in either heaven or hell! It doesn’t do any good to try to suppress it, ignore it or run from it. The steady passing of time reminds us that we are all one year older, and none of us knows the hour of our death, so what are you placing your hope in? What is hope?
The American Heritage Dictionary says hope “is a wish for something with some expectation; to be confident, to trust; to expect with desire; to persist in hoping for something against the odds; a wish, a desire supported by some confidence of its fulfillment/a ground for expectation or trust/that which is desired or anticipated/that in which one places his confidence.
Atheists believe that our lives are confined only to this world. You may as well follow this out to its logical conclusion. If you are an atheist, then you would have to confess that you have no reason or purpose for your existence, that we are all just particles of little insignificant dust that came into existence by accident.
Carl Sagan, a now dead atheistic scientist, wrote: “We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy, which is one of billions of other galaxies, which make up a universe, which may be one of a very large number--perhaps an infinite number--of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is worth pondering.”
Think of the effect this way of thinking has had in the last two centuries: First, there is Charles Darwin (Author of Origin of Species). If all life as we know it evolved from lower life forms, then, in essence, there is no difference between man and other species; he is the process of millions of years of evolution, moved by the survival of the fittest (the strongest survive and the weak die out).
Second, there is Fredrich Nietzche. He was a German philosopher who exerted profound influence on Western philosophy before his death in 1900. He took Charles Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ idea and applied it to his godless philosophy of violence. He said that Christian morality embodied the essence of everything he hated; he believed that Christ’s teachings glorified human weakness and were detrimental to the development of the human race. He scoffed at Christian values such as humility, mercy, modesty, meekness, compassion for the powerless and service to one another. He believed that such ideals had bred weakness into society.
Nietzche saw two types of people: The “master class,” an enlightened dominant minority, and the “herd,” sheep-like followers who were easily led. He concluded that the only hope for humanity would be when the “master-class” evolved into a race of “super-men,” unencumbered by religious or social mores, who would take power and bring humanity to the next stage of its evolution.
Adolf Hitler was heavily influenced by Nietzche, and he confessed faith and hope in a super race--the pure German-Arian-white race. He took Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest to its logical conclusion--the extermination of those who weren’t pure German; all others were undesirables (Blacks, Slovakians, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded, elderly, weak, etc).
When our public schools teach children that they came from apes, that the Bible is full of myths, that God did not create them, how will that play out in society? There will be a sharp increase in violence, immoral behaviors resulting in the breakdown of the family, unethical business practices and the depths of other forms of wickedness we now see in our day. People conclude that since there is no God, there are no rights or wrongs, that good (God) and evil (Satan) do not exist. We are all just animals living according to our intellectual animal instincts. This sort of thinking leaves a society with NO HOPE. If the physical is all there is, then eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow we are all going to die.
The drunkard’s hope is in his next glass of whiskey or can of beer. The drug addict’s hope is in little pills, powders and syringes. The sports enthusiast hopes in his favorite football or baseball team. People fix their hopes in other hobbies: Hunting, fishing, boat-riding. Here is an earth-shaking reality: All of those things are going to pass away, and you will face eternity--with no hope.
In order to get out of this rut, you are going to have to become dissatisfied with it all; you’re going to have to love God more than this world. You can not love God and the system of this world together. This world system is anti-God and will only lure you down the broad road to personal destruction and eternal death in hell.
I remember growing up and hearing my mother talk with my sisters about a hope chest. A hope chest is used by a young woman for the gradual collection of fine linens, silver and other small household items in anticipation of marriage. When I go hunting, I hope I’ll kill a deer; when I go fishing, I hope I catch a lot of fish; when I plant a garden, I hope it does well. But nothing in this world will hold you, secure you into eternity. If you are tired of being enslaved by the stuff of the world and you want to live your life upon that which will never move, fail or ignore you, you must come to God Almighty through His only begotten Son.
There’s nothing wrong at all with having hopes and dreams, if you want God to be the backdrop behind it all. Hope motivates us to reach for better things, that even in the midst of tragic circumstances, we anticipate things getting better; we, then, trudge on in life. We hope we don’t run out of gas; we hope we get the loan in order to build our dream home; we hope our illness is curable; we are moved, pushed forward by this invisible thing called “hope,” but hope can only be found by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us on a cross, rose again from the dead, ascended back to heaven and intercedes for all who desire to be saved.
Will you call upon Him today, turn from your sins and commit to following Him? If you do, He will send His Spirit to live in you, comfort you and strengthen you to live in this life, and when your physical body dies, your spirit will enter the presence of the Lord. On the day of His return, He will raise your body incorruptible. This is our blessed and only hope.
Tim Haney serves as pastor of Phil Campbell First Baptist Church.
