TOPIC: Hope; Apathy, Hopelessness
TITLE: UNDER THE SUN - No thing new there!
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11
CONCISE OUTLINE
Apathy is a compound word, having a negative prefix attached to the Greek word pathos. It’s similar to our word amoral (a-moral), meaning “not moral” or “without morals” or “immoral” in English.
Social commentators and pollsters have been talking about America’s apathy for some time now, especially among voters.
Religion watchers and analysts have been seeing the same phenomena in the American spiritual community.
It’s almost as if everyone has become indifferent to the condition of the world, there is an observable absence of animated concern.
I’ve found myself telling others I’m sorry I ever had kids. I’ve been feeling somewhat hopeless. I’ve needed some hope.
Would you agree with me, Billy Graham is one of the most popular and trusted people alive today?
Well, through a 1950s message he reminded me of something: my hope is anchored to the Rock of my salvation.
INQUIRY: What three questions, when answered, would help man have a more abiding hope?
EXPANDED OUTLINE
Though man has changed the world, in 6,000 years of existence he hasn’t changed the cause of the world’s problem or eliminated its rotten fruit.
We’ve disguised, renamed, and remodeled sin … and given it an extreme makeover … but a jackass in a dress is still just a boy donkey!
We’ve used philosophy, technology, and psychology to explain it away … but running down the street with arms out shouting, “To infinity and beyond,” won’t get you in the air!
We’ve used mysticism, plastic surgery, open-heart surgery, cryogenics, diets, expensive spas and mud baths, botox, and cucumbers to avoid it … but a Tom Cruise looking Frankenstein is still a dead thing!
Christ is the cure!
I don’t need to regret that I did not have a plan to change the world or to make it a better place for my kids. Because Jesus did!
My job is not to save the world, my job is to tell my kids about Jesus, their job is tell my grandkids about Jesus.
Today, Christ is at His Father’s right hand, in fact He is His Father’s right hand, in-terceding for you. You need to appropriate His intercession through prayer.
Tomorrow is not yet here, but Jesus has prepared a place for you, that where He is you may be also.
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You come, let’s take care of business today!
TITLE: UNDER THE SUN - No thing new there!
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11
What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.INQUIRY: What three questions, when answered, would help man have a more abiding hope?
Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; and hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; and on its circular courses the wind returns.
All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.
So, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, 'See this, it is new'? Already it has existed for ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; and also of the later things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.”
CONCISE OUTLINE
I. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF OUR DILEMMA?TRUTH/CONTEXT: Apathy is defined as the “lack of emotion or feeling” and “indifference.”A. The Introduction of Sin (Rebellion)II. WHAT IS THE PRODUCT OF OUR DILEMMA?
B. The Denial of Sin
C. The Absence of the Fear of GodA. Common DepravityIII. WHAT IS THE CURE FOR OUR DILEMMA?
B. Certain Death and Judgment
C. Constant ConflictChrist Jesus is the cure for all of man’s problems,
Apathy is a compound word, having a negative prefix attached to the Greek word pathos. It’s similar to our word amoral (a-moral), meaning “not moral” or “without morals” or “immoral” in English.
Social commentators and pollsters have been talking about America’s apathy for some time now, especially among voters.
Religion watchers and analysts have been seeing the same phenomena in the American spiritual community.
It’s almost as if everyone has become indifferent to the condition of the world, there is an observable absence of animated concern.
- Would you agree with me the world, including the USA, is in a real mess?
- Would you agree with me the mess is bigger than you have ever seen in your life?
- Would you agree with me that far too many people seem to have given up, a kind of a nationwide sigh of resignation?
I’ve found myself telling others I’m sorry I ever had kids. I’ve been feeling somewhat hopeless. I’ve needed some hope.
Would you agree with me, Billy Graham is one of the most popular and trusted people alive today?
Well, through a 1950s message he reminded me of something: my hope is anchored to the Rock of my salvation.
INQUIRY: What three questions, when answered, would help man have a more abiding hope?
EXPANDED OUTLINE
I. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF OUR DILEMMA!A. Introduction of Sin (Rebellion)1. The Origin“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened.”2. If anyone should feel bad about the world that’s been left to our children, it is Adam and Eve.Genesis 3:6, 7
3. Paul said,“Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”Romans 5:12a“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”Romans 3:23B. Denial of sin“If we say that we’ve no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we’ve not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”C. No Fear of God1 John 1:8-101. Following the resume of a classic sinner, Paul writes,“THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”Romans 3:18“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”Proverbs 1:7II. WHAT IS THE PRODUCT OF OUR DILEMMA!A. Common DepravityIII. WHAT IS THE CURE FOR OUR DILEMMA!B. Certain Death and Judgment
- Depravity has filled our prisons, half-way houses, and gutters
- It has destroyed families, marriages, careers, homes, communities, and even churches
- It has brought us hopelessness and emptiness
- It’s left us confused, numb, and burdened
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”Hebrews 9:271. The world seems to have no understanding of eitherC. Constant Conflict
2. First DeathOur graveyards are full of these -3. Second Death“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 6:23“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”4. Sheep-Goat JudgmentRevelation 2:11“Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power”Revelation 20:6“And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”Revelation 20:14“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”Revelation 21:8
- Every day of man’s existence, since the fall, has been scar pocked with conflict
- Life’s road is littered with the wreckage of human conflict
- Every home, every city, every nation
Christ Jesus is the Cure!“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 6:23
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.”1 Corinthians 15:22
Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”Matthew 11:28
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”John 11:25, 26
APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: I ask you, “Do you believe this?”
Though man has changed the world, in 6,000 years of existence he hasn’t changed the cause of the world’s problem or eliminated its rotten fruit.
We’ve disguised, renamed, and remodeled sin … and given it an extreme makeover … but a jackass in a dress is still just a boy donkey!
We’ve used philosophy, technology, and psychology to explain it away … but running down the street with arms out shouting, “To infinity and beyond,” won’t get you in the air!
We’ve used mysticism, plastic surgery, open-heart surgery, cryogenics, diets, expensive spas and mud baths, botox, and cucumbers to avoid it … but a Tom Cruise looking Frankenstein is still a dead thing!
Christ is the cure!
I don’t need to regret that I did not have a plan to change the world or to make it a better place for my kids. Because Jesus did!
My job is not to save the world, my job is to tell my kids about Jesus, their job is tell my grandkids about Jesus.
[IN CHRIST] In the movie “In America,” an Irish family is chasing a dream to start over. The father has lost his ability to feel anything since the death of his son (for which he blames himself). He lost his hope and desire to love, laugh, and cry. Through a chain of events (the presence of innocence, an act of love, a death, a birth, a miracle, two adorable little colleens) his faith in God is restored and his hope returned.Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness.
The movie presents America as the hope and dream of all, a place for new beginnings, a place to leave the past and build for the future … but they set the film in NYC and so you see the pain, the tears, the sorrow, and the depravity all around.
The potential for apathy and hopelessness was still there; clearly, effort alone could not protect them. In the end, it was the faith of the two little Irish girls that gave them all hope and purpose for living … to see Frankie (the son) again, and be with him.
“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who’ve fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.Yesterday, Christ made atonement for your sins. You need to receive Him into your heart through repentance in order to receive His atonement.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”Hebrews 6:17-20
Today, Christ is at His Father’s right hand, in fact He is His Father’s right hand, in-terceding for you. You need to appropriate His intercession through prayer.
Tomorrow is not yet here, but Jesus has prepared a place for you, that where He is you may be also.
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. You come, let’s take care of business today!
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