Jim Welch - March 31, 2019
The Far Reach of Redemption
From Series: "Daring Hope"
"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God." Psalm 42:5 Richard Sibbes, one of the great Puritan preachers of Cambridge who died in 1635, wrote a whole book (175 pages) on Psalm 42:5. He was called “the sweet dropper” because of how much confidence and joy his sermons caused. He called his book The Soul’s Conflict with Itself, because in Psalm 42:5 that is exactly what you have, the soul arguing with itself, preaching to itself. “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God!” Hoping in God does not come naturally for sinners like us. We must preach it to ourselves, and preach diligently and forcefully, or we will give way to a downcast and disquieted spirit. Therefore, in March we are going to examine hope. Daring Hope, to be exact. It is the biblical concept of hope is not the ordinary concept we use in everyday speech. It does not imply uncertainty or lack of assurance. Instead biblical hope is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. There is moral certainty in it. I can’t wait to dig into hope. May the central cry of our live be…hope in God! We’ll have a memory verse each week and a reminder each day of some — daily hope. Our theme is Hebrews 6:19: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” May we learn as a church to hope in God!