The Resurrection of Jesus Restores Hope!

3rd Sunday of Easter, 4/23/23 Acts 2:14a, 32-41 The Resurrection of Jesus Restores Hope! I. It crushes misplaced human hope. II. It revives rock-solid divine hope. If you’ve having a bad day, here’s one bit of pastoral advice: don’t Google anything about living in the United Sates and hope. I did just that, and it’s depressing. Link after link about Americans being less hopeful than they were a number of years ago. Link after link about how Americans feel their lives are not as good as they used to be. Link after link about how young adult Americans don’t think they’re going to end up living as well as their parents did. And those perceptions of diminishing hope are not only recent; they extend several years into the past. It would appear from these reports that we’re living in a dire time in our nation’s history. Yikes! But this is the United States of America! We’re still the greatest nation on the face of the earth. The people of countless other nations would love to live here. We live surrounded by modern conveniences. We’re blessed with the world’s best technology. Every day medical science in our country enjoys breakthroughs that weren’t even considered 10 years ago. Scientists in our country are plumbing the depths of the ocean and the unimaginable expanse of the universe. We have the resources to accomplish just about anything we want. Some would argue that this is the greatest time in history to be alive. So, why are people so pessimistic? Why are people so hopeless? Why do we struggle so mightily with addictions and psychological disorders? Why can’t we seem to enjoy life? Because, in spite of all our advancements and all our resources, we can’t seem to make any headway in solving the problems in our world and in our lives. We shake our heads, shrug our shoulders, and carry on, knowing that things won’t get better. Knowing that things might even get worse. By now you might be thinking, “Thanks for the reminder, Pastor! But I don’t need it. I came here for a different reason. I came here for you to give me some hope.” If that’s so, then praise God because that’s exactly what he shares with you this morning. You see, there is no lasting hope in human efforts. We might win victories here and there in this life, but the losses and the problems continue and even multiply. What’s the answer? What’s the solution? Are you ready for the answer? It’s the resurrection of Jesus. It’s what we celebrated two Sundays ago. It’s what we celebrate every Sunday when we gather for worship—the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There’s your hope in a hopeless world. The resurrection of Jesus restores hope. That’s the message that Peter shared with the Pentecost crowd as recorded here in Acts 2, and that’s the message our Lord shares with us this morning. Let’s find that hope, shall we? Part I. Have you ever come to the conclusion that you were wrong about someone? It happens to us all the time. And it goes both ways. On the one hand, we might get to know someone, and we’re convinced how wonderful they are. They seem genuine and caring, responsible and positive. But then the honeymoon ends, and cracks begin to develop in your relationship. And it isn’t long before you realize you were wrong about that person. On the other hand, it can also work the other way. Your first impressions of a person were not favorable. You held the person at arm’s length. You didn’t trust them. Something was telling you to watch out. But you were wrong. Your negative impressions were unfounded. This person was actually very admirable. And your inability to judge character properly made you feel foolish. The crowd listening to Peter preach on Pentecost had that very experience. They were filled with horror that they had been wrong about Jesus. Peter recounts the facts for them. Jesus had died on the cross but had risen again. Peter informed them, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” In the previous seven weeks since Jesus rose from the dead, there weren’t just a couple people who had seen him alive. He appeared to the women who followed him. He appeared to the disciples. He appeared to scores of people. He appeared to other believers, at one point 500 of them at one time. The facts don’t lie. Jesus was dead but rose. But what about what these thousands of people had witnessed just moments ago—the apostles declaring the wonders of God in languages they had never studied before? Peter explained, “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” The risen Jesus had changed these men in unbelievable ways. He filled fearful men with confidence to proclaim the risen Jesus. But that didn’t change this one crucial fact, “Let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” How that must have blown them up! They crucified Jesus! Why? Why crucify someone claiming to be their Savior? Well, for one thing, they felt no need for a Savior from sin. They prided themselves on being God’s chosen people who lived each day in keeping with his laws, eating kosher, observing the Sabbath, bringing their sacrifices to the Temple. Their hope for a relationship with the holy God was in themselves! But isn’t Peter stretching the facts here? We don’t know how many of these thousands were even in Jerusalem on Good Friday, so how could they be responsible for crucifying him? Because they had rejected him as their Savior. What’s more, their countless sins against God made the death of Jesus necessary. There was only one sacrifice for sin that the Father would accept. Jesus made that sacrifice on the cross. They crucified Christ! And so did we! How can that be? It was more than 2,000 years ago! Because every one of my countless sins today made his death on Calvary’s cross necessary. My personal record before God, as wonderful as I might think it is, stinks; it’s repulsive to God. And so is yours. So, if I’m basing my hope of a relationship with God on my own record, I’m delusional, eternally delusional. The Lord Jesus crushes that hope. Part II. But what if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead? Well, the vast majority of the people living on this earth today don’t think he did. Is it any wonder that they crave more hope? This life is all they have and it’s never what they want it to be. In fact, in many respects this life is tragic. If you’re looking for some evidence of that statement, just read or watch the news. Without a risen Jesus, there is no hope. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead! He is risen and lives! And that means our future is filled with eternal blessings. One of those is the forgiveness of sins. How often does guilt paralyze you? How much do past sins haunt you, even at night? We all know what that’s like! It’s because our greatest problem is our sins, and there’s nothing we can do about a single one of them. But Christ has taken all our sins and all our guilt away! How do I know? Because Christ is risen! In fact, Peter urged the members of the crowd to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Your baptism is one of the greatest blessings God gave you in this life. It brought you to faith in Jesus and made you a member of the kingdom of God which will endure forever. It’s your daily assurance of the forgiveness of sins and the certainty that your name is written in the book of life—meaning, heaven is your final destination. Those tremendous gifts fill us with eternal hope. But how can I be sure they’re mine? Because Christ is risen! That’s correct, in a life full or disappointments, frustrations, illness, death, anger, hatred and violence, you have the eternal hope of eternal life. And that hope is not a simple wish; it’s a reality. Heaven is yours! How can I be sure? Because Christ is risen! In other words, each day we Christians live in hope. A Christian theologian once quipped, “The Christian is an optimist.” Of course, he is! Of course, you are! You are now exactly what your God wants you to be—his own dear child by faith in Jesus. You will always be his own dear child. And he promises to watch over your life, guard you and protect you, until that day when your life reaches its fulfillment in heaven. How can I be sure? Because Christ is risen! The resurrection of Jesus restores hope! It revives rock-solid divine hope. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when I say it’s a violent, cruel world that we live in. What horrifies us is that we see that world coming close to us, at times in our own communities. We wonder what’s happening and why. Where is this leading and when will it end? Even more so, what can we do about it? With the rest of the people of this world we can hope that things get better soon. We can even pitch in and do what we can to make things better. In fact, as God’s people, we should be leading the way in doing so. But, as we do, realize our hopes for this life and this world will never be fully realized. My sins, your sins, a world reeking with sin, dash those hopes. But you, my Christian friends, have a hope that is far different, a rock-solid hope, a hope that will never leave you disappointed. That’s because it’s a hope that is centered and founded on the rock-solid truth of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And that’s a hope that only your God can give you. That’s a hope that lives in you by faith in Jesus. Christian, live in daily hope! The hope that the resurrection of Jesus gives you! Amen.