Where Does Your Hope Lie?

Part 2: Tim Moore’s Presentation

Well, last night you heard Terry talk about, Terry Cooper, pastor from Nineveh Christian Church in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, the point of no return. Have we reached that point? As a nation, I dare say many of us feel we have. We’ve already gone over the edge. And if we have not already, we’re right at the precipice. But what about each and every one of us individually? Well, if you haven’t put your hope in Jesus Christ, we pray you’re not already at the point of no return. And so that is our gospel-oriented message, to share the Good News that Jesus saves, that He was crucified, dead and buried for your sins and mine, but then He rose again, proving that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But my message today is going to focus on nation in freefall, and my question is this: Where does your hope lie this afternoon? As I get into this question, I’m going to ask you this: Do you trust yourself?

Do you trust yourself? Seems like a very straightforward question, so let’s approach it in a few different tangible manners. Do you trust your own eyes? Groucho Marx said, “Who are you going to trust, me or your lying eyes?” You see, Groucho understood that sometimes our eyes mislead us. I can prove that to you. Do you think those lines are all parallel or do they look all cattywampus to you? I can assure you they are absolutely straight and parallel. Same with these lines here. I won’t leave it up too long lest you get a headache, but all those lines are parallel to one another.

What about another example? Which of these pieces of track are longer than the other? Where your eyes would give an indication that one is short and one is long, but in point of fact they’re both the exact same length. Which is why a sleigh of hand artist can fool your eyes all too easily. How about this picture? What color are those strawberries? They’re actually black and white. There is not a smidge of color tint in this photo, nor is there any color in this photo, but your eye sees it as red. Do you trust your own eyes? Some of you famously remember this dress that made social media fame a couple of years ago. Well, here I’ve rendered it actually in blue and gold, but the original one that came out was one color and yet people saw it in different shades because our eyes often deceive us.

What about our ears? This parakeet’s name is Rambo, he lives in Florida, and he was prone to call, “Help, let me out!” And the police showed up not once but twice, looking for the lady who has been locked away crying for help. And the owner had to say, “No, actually that’s my parakeet.” Well, how about other senses we have that are so misleading? Can you tell the difference in taste between an apple and an onion? Hold your nose and take a bite of either one. You can’t tell the difference. What about your sense of smell? You’ve heard about the man who was on his deathbed and he smelled the most wonderful odor, his favorite chocolate chip cookies, his mother’s recipe handed down to his wife, so he crawled out of bed and hand over fist drug himself to the kitchen and reached up for just one more cookie that smelled so delicious, upon which his wife smacked him on the hand and said, “Not, those aren’t for you, they’re for the funeral.” His sense of smell led him astray.

I will tell you a true story. What about your sense of touch? A flying buddy of mine from my military days came home from work and found his wife cleaning the oven. He proceeded to grab her affectionately and expressed his undying love for her. And boy, she just felt right until his mother-in-law answered from the oven and said, “Well, I guess I love you too.” Boy, was his sense of touch a little off. Never quite the same relationship again with Mom. True story.

What about your heart, brothers and sisters? Do you trust your heart? Is it really what the world tells us, the wellspring of human hopes and dreams and aspirations? See, that’s what we’ve been told over and over again. But biblically, we have been advised that the heart is more deceitful than all else, desperately sick. Who can understand it? Nathan made the claim that Satan’s the most evil person we know. I don’t know Satan personally. I know the threats that he poses. The most deceitful person I know is me. And if you heard me when he asked, “Who is?” I said, “Me,” because I know me all too well and I know my own heart. As I’ve said before, if I haven’t disappointed you yet, you haven’t known me long enough. Ask my wife. We’ve been married for 36 years this month and I’ve disappointed her and my children. I disappoint anybody. But God never disappoints. But is your heart trustworthy? Scripture says no.

Well, so what is hope? I’ve emphasized that word over and over through this weekend because I want us to walk out of here filled with true hope, and yet the world seems to think hope is wishful thinking. Oh, I hope I get a pony for my birthday. Don’t think I really want a pony. But is it that or is it what the Bible talks about, a blessed assurance? Which kind of hope do you have this morning? You know, a definition from the dictionary would say hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; a feeling of trust.” Or in a verb sense, it is “to want something to happen or be the case.”

Man named Alexander Pope penned a poem that you’re familiar with one line, “Hope springs eternal in the human heart. Man never is, but always is to be blessed.” It’s always this elusive thing we’re looking forward to, and yet that touches on the blessed hope that is ours. Not yet realized I don’t yet have the ability to put my arms around Jesus Christ or to kiss His nail-scarred feet, but I hope that I will. And that hope isn’t a false hope, a wishful thinking. That is a blessed assurance that someday I will. Yeah. Alexander Pope got something right, even in his expectation.

Here’s what the world’s hope is all about. Most of you have seen “The Polar Express” or at least heard the theme song “Believe,” and this is what it says: “Believe in what your heart is saying, hear the melody that is playing. There’s no time to waste, there’s so much to celebrate. Believe in what you feel inside and give your dreams the wings to fly. You have everything you need if you just believe, if you just believe, if you just believe you have everything you need. Just believe.” Believe in what? Yourself? That seems like a losing proposition.

And consider that this month in particular, what is the world celebrating right now? They’re celebrating one of the seven deadly sins, pride, and flaunting the rebellion against God and His established order. Now, let’s face it, I like the song from “Polar Express.” I can actually sing along with Josh Groban, not quite as good as he does. And it does what it’s meant to do, it motivates people to pursue their dreams. But let’s just consider if I dreamed of being an NBA basketball star. That is not a realistic dream because I am not skilled in that particular talent, nor do I have the height. So it would be a false dream, it would indeed be a lie.

So, do you have everything you need if you just believe? Or is that what I believe it is, really a lie? No, Scripture says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I believe too many in this world are going through life not just hoping for things that are promised in Scripture, but I like to think they’re kind of essentially paraphrasing the old Hee-Haw song: “If it weren’t for false hope, I’d have no hope at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.” False hope will only leave us with despair and eventual agony.

No, biblical hope is what we talk about even when we refer to a young woman’s hope chest. When she knows that she is betrothed, she’s engaged to a young man, and she puts things in the chest, at least they used to do that. Anybody ever have a hope chest in this room? Few of you. All right. With the promise of a wedding. Brothers and sisters, we have been promised. We are brides, so to speak, that’s what Scripture called us, to a Bridegroom who is coming, and He is our betrothed, our beloved, and we are His. And so we look forward to being together with Him forever and ever.

For just a few moments today, I’d like you to consider the perspective of man after God’s own heart, a man who knew great failure, great heartbreak, but who exhibited great patience, even as he was waiting for his own anointing as king, but whose patience and waiting also pointed forward to his descendant, a promised King to come, who is waiting for His final enthronement on this earth. You see, David is a man with great insight and wisdom.

Part 3

Nathan Jones: Well, Tim, your original question was, “Where does our hope lie?” You just cited David as a man who experienced great failure and heartbreak, but who exhibited great patience as he waited to become king. But as you also mentioned earlier that King David was a man who exhibited great moral failure and sinned against God, perhaps the question should be, where does our heart lie?

Tim Moore: You know, absolutely, and rewording helps clarify one aspect of my question. David was called “a man after God’s own heart.” But his heart was also able to steer him astray grievously. His fecklessness and lust caused him to commit adultery with Bathsheba, and his arrogance and sinful gall led him to murder the husband of his mistress. Clearly, David’s heart lied to him. It was indeed more deceitful than he would’ve tolerated in any of his advisors or mighty men.

Nathan confronted David and dramatically exposed his deception. But don’t you think David’s royal advisors and servants already knew what was happening? The only person David was fooling was David, and that is instructive to us, because as you and I have said before, Nathan, the most effective form of deception is self-deception. We need the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit, and the accountability of fellow believers in Christ to avoid blind spots and pitfalls that would otherwise ensnare us.

Nathan Jones: Well, that’s a good advice as we look inward toward our own heart and recognize our own self-deception. But there’s another aspect of deception that lies, no pun intended, outside ourselves.

Tim Moore: Again, you are spot on. Think about the things we hope for in this life. What songs like “Believe” train us to believe in. Not just ourselves, but worldly riches and treasures and relationships and achievements. But all those things are fleeting. And even if we acquire and possess them all, we find that they actually begin to possess us. And that is why Jesus advised us not to store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. Our only lasting treasure is what we store up in Heaven, and if we realize that, our heart will be focused there as well.

Nathan Jones: We have to touch on the looming blessing or curse, depending on your perspective, of the outcome of the election in America this fall. Many of our viewers may be hoping for a certain outcome. Is it wrong to hope that right prevails and America regains some semblance of moral clarity? Shouldn’t we hope that America will once again bless God?!

Tim Moore: Well, let’s be very clear. You and I both hope that America repents of our wickedness and rebellion against God. We hope that our beloved nation steps back from the precipice and returns to God. And we hope that out of the two or three imperfect, flawed men running for president, our preferred candidate prevails. But our hope is based on a lie if we think that candidate, or our system, or our nation can bring about heaven on earth. To cite the old hymn:

“Our hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
We dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock we stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”

Nathan Jones: Well, Tim, we don’t have time to show your full presentation today, but where you stepped through David’s beautiful Psalm 20 was great. The great Jewish king testifies to the faithfulness of God and challenged us to pin our hope to his greater King who saves. Here is the conclusion of Tim’s message where he points to the true Hope, our Blessed Hope, who answers us when we call on Him and is coming again soon.

Part 4: Tim Moore’s Presentation Continued

Tim Moore: Well, John 6 records that Jesus shared some difficult truths about Himself, about the Gospel, with the Jews around Galilee, and many of them grumbled. They even withdrew, choosing not to walk with Him anymore, just as Terry warned us about last night. He asked the 12 if they would continue to follow Him. And Peter understood the choice that was being represented, so he responded and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You, only You, have the words of eternal life.” He knew what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him and to every person who has trusted in Jesus Christ.

And then Peter, himself, later testified at Pentecost, “We have believed and come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” A man who lived his life reminded every morning of his failure. You think you’re reminded of your failures? How’d you like to be awakened every morning with a reminder of your greatest failure? You think Satan was trying to needle in on Peter? But God’s grace was sufficient. And Peter was bold in his faith and not weakened, even by Satan’s efforts to undermine his confidence in Christ.

“We know that You are the Holy One of God.” Now, what Satan offers is false hope. What God offers is true hope. But He also makes it very clear that while we wait, there’s some things that He is working together for our good and His glory, even in this time. And that’s why Paul could write that we glory in our sufferings. I don’t look forward to suffering, but I realize it’s for God’s glory. Why do I glory in suffering? Because I know that suffering produces perseverance, the same thing y’all have exhibited this afternoon. And perseverance, character, y’all are all got good character, I know, and character, hope.

O Lord, don’t send any suffering my way! Well, if I want to grow, entrust for the Lord God. It’s sort of like Job. It wasn’t Satan’s idea to test Job, it was God’s idea. Because God knew what Job could endure and God knew the plan He had to restore Job after Job’s faith was proven to Himself and to Satan. Job grew through his suffering to demonstrate perseverance, character, and hope.

Well, Paul also says that we should rejoice in hope, be patient in little “t” tribulation, and be constant in prayer. Do you take everything to your friend in Jesus in prayer? I hope and pray that you do. What about the prophet Micah? Micah said, “But as for me, I watch,” well, how does he watch, “in hope for the Lord, I wait for the God of my salvation. He will hear me.” Are y’all waiting for the Lord? You’re here today at a prophecy conference to hear a message of hope. We are all waiting on the Lord! But do you continue to watch in hope while you wait? Is your hope spring eternal? Not because that’s the nature of man, as Alexander Pope says, but because as a Christian, we know the person who is our Blessed Hope.

We don’t hope in hope any more than we have faith in faith. Our hope is in the person of Jesus Christ and in the sureness, the yes and amen of every promise He’s made to you and to me and all the other promises of Scripture which He will keep. He, our Savior, hears us and cares for us. “For this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he has seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it,” how? “With patience.” I know that’s hard. I’ve said it before. I can’t wait till I have patience. I just, I’m looking forward to the day. But God is teaching me patience, because I wait upon Him, I wait for Him, and I do so with hope.

You saw this picture before, and I cited the verse, but really I believe that this verse could be read in this manner. Dare I add to the words of Scripture, but I think this is what is implied. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, yes, the conviction of things not yet seen! Why? Because we will see them. We will see Christ with our own eyes. We will see Him descending from the heavens to take up the throne of His father David on Mount Zion! But I haven’t seen it yet. And so my hope is looking forward with great anticipation to that glorious day. I may not have seen it already, yet, but I know that that promise will be fulfilled to me and to all who have put their trust in Him.

Well, this brings me to a reminder that was driven home to me very recently as my daughter graduated from college in Louisville, Kentucky. And as we watched a wonderful ceremony and saw all these young people streaming across the stage to receive their diploma, there was a young lady who was graduating in her class who was blind. And for the four years she was at this school, she would just head out in the morning and somebody, just whoever, one of the other students would take her arm and lead her around and they would chat and become friends.

And that day, there was a couple that were actually designated to help her. And she walked with great joy and excitement, not able to see one bit of where she was going. All she could do was trust that that escort was going to lead her along a safe path, avoiding obstacles, avoiding places that she could trip, unlike Tommy Nelson earlier, and take her up to the stage to receive her diploma and then escort her off the stage and back to where she could sit with her friends. She didn’t have one doubt that her escort was going to take her faithfully to where she needed to go.

Brothers and sisters, we grope in this life virtually blind to what lies ahead. But if you put your hand in the hand of Jesus Christ, you can step boldly and confidently and faithfully, even into an unknown future, unknown in the short term, fully known in the eternal term, because if your hand is in His, He will not let you stumble or fall because He knows the plans He’s made for you, and He knows the place He’s prepared for you, and He will keep you and preserve you. Jesus indeed is coming soon, and very soon. Perhaps before this hour or this day is over. I’m ready. Are you? Are you looking forward to His coming.

Audience: Yes!

Tim Moore: Are you so eager to see Him you can just, in your mind’s eye, imagine it right now? You know, the kind of tough faith we’re talking about is the faith exhibited by Daniel, but he said of the End Times that in the End Times, “the people who know their God will display strength and take action.” What action can we take? If the question was asked earlier, the action is to go home to write 10 letters to people you know, we already gave you that assignment, to tell everyone you can “Jesus is coming soon, Jesus is coming soon. You don’t have time to mess around anymore. Do you know Him? Do you know the Lord and Savior who loves you more than I can possibly express?”

David wrote in Psalm 7, “Lord, what do I do? For what do I wait?” And then he affirmed in his word of testimony, “My hope is in You.” So my benediction to you before we sing our song of praise is straight out of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Maranatha!

Conclusion

Nathan Jones: Well, like us, many of you may feel that our nation, and the world as a whole is in a freefall. If you were alive prior to, say, 1980, you’ve witnessed a precipitous decline in morality as our society has embraced militant secularism. Historians and sociologists tell us that our country is more divided at any time since the Civil War, and anger and anxiety are being stoked on a daily basis.

Tim Moore: Just as we were preparing to record this series of episodes featuring content from our Nation in Freefall Annual Conference, an assassination attempt was made on former President Donald Trump. Tragically, three Americans attending his political rally were seriously wounded or killed. We lament the hatred that has sprouted from callously sown seeds of discord and division. So many in our nation have been eager to sow the wind, and now we are all reaping the whirlwind.

We hope you’ll tune in again over the next several weeks. We will have much more to say about the looming election from a Biblical perspective, but we will always affirm the reassuring Truth of God’s Word. Right now, our nation is in freefall. It may teeter at the brink of disaster or it may have already passed the point of no return. We will pray for, advocate for, work for, and hope for our beloved nation. But when we lift our eyes to the mountains for help, we will not expect it to come from a political party or candidate. It will not come from a government program or policy. It will not come from a Supreme Court restriction or ruling. “Our help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and earth.” Praise be to Him. Our God has already come to offer a salvation, and He is coming again!

Godspeed!

End of Program