January 23, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Counseling, therapy, medicine. They all have their place when your
life feels hopeless. But God can do more than any
of them to instill you with his hope. Today on
turning point, Doctor David Jeremiah returns.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
To Psalm one six to share more evidence that.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
As long as there is God, there is hope from
hope and anchor for life. Here's David to introduce the
conclusion of his message, a Psalm of hope.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
And thank you for joining us today for our continuation
of this series on hope. You know, throughout my years
of teaching and ministry, my deepest desire has always been
for more people to know what the Bible says, and
what it means, and what it means for their life.
Considering the events of the past few years, studying God's
(00:53):
word has never been more critical. It is the only
place we can turn for abs truth. By understanding the
depths of God's love and the extent of his power,
we can find an anchor for our soul and hope
for tomorrow. Lining our bookshelves with dozens of Bible translations
is not enough. Turning the tide in our world starts
(01:16):
with turning the pages of the Scripture. It's not enough
to have the Bible. You must make sure the Bible
has you. And one of the things we're doing during
the month of January is giving you a tool to
help make that happen. It's called The Whole Story, a
fifty two week devotional journey through every book of the Bible.
This two hundred and eight page hardback gift book is
(01:38):
available to you for a gift of any size to
turning point during the month of January, send your best gift,
Do your best before God, do what he tells you
to do. And when you send your gift, be sure
and ask for your copy of The Whole Story. We
have one with your name on it. It'll be on
its way to you before you know it. All right,
here's part two of Assam Home.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Let's begin.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
If you have been listening carefully to our study on hope,
you've heard me say on more than one occasion that
hope in God is a decision that we make that
sooner or later, in all of our lives, we come
to a fork in the road where we have to
make a choice. Either we shall go on putting our
(02:28):
trust in our own strength and in that which others
may offer us in the human realm, or we will
take the other road, and we will make our journey
toward God. It is a decision that we make. It
is something we decide to do. Twice in these first
two verses, the Psalmist says, with resolution in his writing,
(02:52):
I will I will praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I will sing unto my God.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
He reminds us that we have the opportunity to make
a decision, and the decision about which he is writing
to put his hope in God is couched in the
language of music and worship. He speaks of praising the Lord.
He says, as long as he lives, he's going to
praise the Lord. He's going to sing praises to my God.
(03:24):
He says, while I have my being, I have mentioned
often how wonderful it is to have at our disposal
the vehicle of music for the purpose of expressing our.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Hope in God.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
The writer in the Old Testament, Isaiah the Prophet, says
that we as believers have the privilege of changing the
spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise, that we
can literally praise our way into fellowship and worship with
God as we lift up our voice. I love what
(04:01):
it means to come on Sunday and be able to
sing and to praise God. And sometimes even beyond what
this means to God, it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Means so much to us.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
How many of you can say that on occasion you've
come to church, and before the message ever was started,
you have found your whole spirit changed through the privilege
of worship and praise unto God.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It is a choice that we make.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
In the Psamus says, I have made a resolution I
will find my hope in God.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Secondly, he does a little contrasting. He decides along the
way in his journey toward hope, that he will not
put his trust in mankind. Just as certain is his
resolution to hope in God is his rejection of hoping
in man. And he says it this way, do not
(04:52):
put your trust in princes, nor in a son of
man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs,
he returns to his earth, and that very day his
plans will perish. It's a very interesting word for us
at this particular juncture in our history as a country.
(05:14):
Some says, don't put your hope in princes. Don't put
your hope and the people who say they will govern.
And of course there's an obvious reason for not putting
your hope in them that we know before we ever
read the scripture. The three reasons I can think of
are the lives that they live, and the words that
they say, and the friends that they keep. All you
(05:37):
got to do is examine those three things, and you
pretty soon can come to a spirit of despair about
leadership in this country. And so the Psomas says, don't
put your trust in princes. Put your hope in God,
not in man. And he begins in verses five and
six to give us some reasons why we should make
(05:57):
that choice. First of all, he says man is helpless,
and he uses that word in verse three.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
I've underlined it and read.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
He says, do not put your trust in princes, nor
in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
Man is really helpless to give you hope. And he
goes into detail as to why that is true. But
look down further in the text and notice in verse
five that he says, happy is the one who has
the God of Jacob for his help. There is no
(06:30):
help in man, but there is help in God. Secondly,
the Psama says, man is mortal. Don't put your hope
in someone who will die on you. Don't put your
trust in princes, nor in the son of Man, in
whom there is no help. For his spirit departs. That
means he dies, and he returns.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
To this earth.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
He's buried in the ground that very day his plan perish.
The Psalmist has made such a strong point. Do you
know we have whole books of things people used to
say when they were alive. We study them as facts
of history. We read them to understand the philosophy of
(07:18):
that time. But they have, in most respects nothing to
do with where we live today. The Psalmist says, you
should not put your trust in man, because man is mortal.
But notice, as you read clear through to the end
of the Psalm, look at verse ten. The Lord shall
(07:40):
reign forever, your God Ozion is to all generations.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Don't put your hope in mortal man. Put your hope
in God, who lives forever and reigns throughout all generations.
And then the Psalmist says, thirdly that you should not
put your trust in your hope and man, because man's
thoughts and man's plans will end. But if you will
(08:06):
notice what he says, God's truth keeps forever. Verse six.
Here are the reasonings of this man of God as
he looks out upon life and seeks something to which
he can cling in his moment of discouragement. And is
reason Thus far like this, I resolve to put my
(08:28):
hope in God. And the reasons are clear to me.
Man is mortal, God is eternal. Man's truth perishes. God's
truth is forever. Man is helpless, God is able to help. So,
having decided now that his hope is heavenward, the last
(08:50):
part of the psalm is some of the most encouraging
truth I have read on this subject of hope. And
the question is what can God do for those who
look to.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Him for help?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
And I want you to kind of just glance your
eyes down over those verses, and let me remind you
that the description that we are given here of the
kind of people Jehovah helps makes room for all of us.
I've underlined these in my Bible, the oppressed, the hungry,
the prisoners, the blind, those that are bowed down, the righteous,
(09:26):
the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows. What a list
haven't we learned so far in this series that hope
springs out of hopelessness? What a list of hopeless people?
That is, strangers, fatherless, widows, blind, But the Sama says, listen,
(09:48):
there's hope for all of those folks. It kind of
looks like the list of guests at the Pacific Garden Mission,
doesn't it. And I've written down in my notes the
seven categories and what God does for them, and I
just want to encourage your heart. Most of us here
may not feel like we have descended to the depths
(10:08):
of any of these categories, and I haven't time to
speak to each one of them for but a moment.
But just think with me now through this Psalm of
Hope and listen to what the writer says. First of all,
he says that the God of Hope represents the oppressed
against his accusers. Notice it says who executes justice for
(10:33):
the oppressed?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Verse seven?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Did you know that the God of Hope is the
one who is your defender. He's the one who is
your attorney, your advocate, the one who represents you against
your accusers.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Have you read in the psalms so often?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
When David finally turns to the God that he serves,
and he says, God, you take care of my enemies.
You defend me against the enemies of my life. And oftentimes,
as we try to serve God in this world that
is so opposed to what we're committed to, we find
the criticism and the ridicule, and sometimes we can almost
(11:12):
be on the verge of losing hope if we forget
for a moment that it is the God of Hope
who defends us and represents us against those who oppress us. Notice, secondly,
the God of Hope is the one who replenishes the
food for the hungry, who gives food to the hungry.
(11:33):
He says in verse seven, how does he do that?
How does God feed the hungry? Well, He's got a
lot of different ways of doing it. I mean, he
took care of Elijah with a couple of ravens, just
had a bird fly the food in and deliver it
to him, and then he sent him on to another place.
(11:55):
And this time he used a whole different method. This
time he replenished the barrel of meal and the cruse
of oil miraculously.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
You say, does God do that today? Yes, he can.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Do that today if he chooses, But you know how
he most normally does it.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
God does his best work through his people.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And most normally what God does is he feeds the
hungry through his own people, the Church, and we present
that food to them as the gift of our love.
And God feeds the hungry through his people and the
word of God in the New Testament says, if a
brother comes to us and he's hungry, and we offer
(12:37):
him a stone instead of bread, or we say to him,
go and have a good time and be warmed and
be filled, but we don't help him, then we have.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Violated the law of God. The God of Hope is
the God.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Who meets the needs of the hungry, and for some
of you, he has done that for you recently, because
you've experience the pressures of the recession, You've seen God
miraculously meet your need.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
He's the God of hope.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Thirdly, he releases the prisoners from bondage. How does he
do that well? On one occasion, when Paul and Silas
were in prison, he did it through an earthquake. God
has all kinds of means at his disposal. He is
a powerful God who can do whatever he sets his
mind to do. But I wish you could read the
mail we get from the radio and television division of
(13:31):
this ministry, because I can guarantee you there's hardly a
week that goes by that we don't open a letter
from someone behind bars who will tell a story about
having been incarcerated for some crime they committed and went
to prison ungodly and unsaved, and while they were there,
through prison fellowship or through a group of Christian people,
(13:55):
they were drawn into a Bible study. And we get
letter after letter from people who say, we went to prison.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And while we were there, we found Christ.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Now we listen to Turning Point every day and it's
our Bible study every day. And I guarantee you when
Eternity casts its light upon those individuals, it will speak
to this issue that they are better off in prison
with the Lord than out of prison without him. In prison,
they were released from their bondage. God of Hope does that?
(14:28):
I mean, where are you more hopeless than when you
hear the door slam behind you and you realize you
are now confined to a little bit of space for
months or years or maybe decades. And yet if in
that space the God of Hope comes to intervene in
(14:49):
the life. Has he not set the prisoner free?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Notice?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
He restores the sight to the blind. I've mentioned to
you and over again that the Lord Jesus is the
only one who ever performed that miracle. No apostles, just Jesus,
because he's the only one who can ever lift the
scales off of the blinded eyes spiritually speaking, and give
(15:17):
them sight. The Psalmist goes on, I understand this one.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
He raises up those who are bowed down. Do you
see it? The Lord raises those who are bowed down.
That is a classic expression. Listen to me now of depression.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
It is a classic physical picture of a person who
is discouraged and depressed. You can almost see it in
your mind's eye. Someone weighed down under the load of
care and hurt, so overwhelmed with the burdens of his
life that he can't even straighten up.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And the God of hope comes along and.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Straightens him out and lifts him up and gives him
hope again. And some of you have been through that.
I've talked with some of you who have seen God
just reach into your spirit and straighten you back up
again after you were bowed down under the load of
care of life.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It's no wonder they say the number one malady in
our generation is depression. I mean, if you read the
paper and you don't have the lens of God's word,
you could get depressed every day. If you listen to
the newscasts and you don't know that there's a God
in heaven and he's on the throne and he's in control,
you could get depressed every day. It seems like we
(16:40):
go out of our way to portray the very worst
of society and put it in prime time, and the
effect is a growing sense of depression and discouragement on
the part of the American people. But I'm here to
tell you the God of hope takes the person who's
bowed down and raises him up and gives him hope again.
(17:02):
The Psama says, the God of hope is the one
who reaches out to the need of the stranger. That's
a wonderful thought, isn't it. The Lord loves the righteous,
The Lord watches over the strangers. I think he might
be referencing the people in his day who would be
sort of like the homeless people of our day. Have
(17:25):
you ever seen anything more forlorn or discouraging. Now people
on the street corners with signs just begging you to
put them to work so they can eat. And we're
such a bedeviled nation from the standpoint of violence, that
we're all afraid. All of us are afraid because we
(17:45):
do not know the reality of that person. But I'm
going to tell you somebody who does the God of
Hope does. The God of Hope watches over all the strangers,
and he knows. And then, last but not least, the
Psama says, the God of Hope is the one who
(18:05):
relieves the.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Fatherless and the widows.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
If you're here today as a single parent, maybe you've
just lost your mate, or maybe you're a young person
who has no idea who your parents.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Are where they are.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
This passage of scripture says, you have a God in
heaven who knows all about that, and he cares, and
he wants to infuse you with the hope that he
can provide you see the problem that you face in
these human intrigues of breakup of marriage and the abuse
(18:41):
of children and all of that, All of it has
to do with the human element. And God reaches beyond
all of that, and he brings his divine power to
bear on your problem. And that's where the hope is.
Do you know God can do what a counselor can do.
God can do what hospitalization can do. God can do
(19:07):
above and beyond all that we ask or think. That
is not to discount any of these procedures, but it
is to say that is long as there is a God,
there is hope. And no matter what your problems may be,
if you don't find yourself on this list and you've
got something that you wouldn't even want to say out loud,
if God is your hope, you will not find hope
(19:28):
in any human but you will find hope in God.
While I'm speaking to this issue, let me tell you something.
It is my heart and my desire to live in
such a way that you will always be able to
respect me, that you will believe me, that I will
have credibility, that I will not allow anything to happen
(19:51):
in my life that would undo what I have said
and what I've taught. But I want to tell you something. Friends,
don't you put your hope in me. You put your
hope in God. Because I'm just a man like every
other man. One of these days they will bury David Jeremiah,
And I'll tell you what, it won't very long before
(20:12):
they'll be saying, David, who But you put your hope
in God. He will not fail you. He is the
one to whom you should always look. That doesn't absolve
me of my responsibility to be the right kind of person.
And by the grace of God, that is my hope
and my heart. But you never put your hope in
(20:33):
a man. You put your hope in God. And the
Psalmist comes to the end of all of it, and
he's so taken up by it all that he ends
the psalm the same way.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
He began it. Praise the Lord, he says, Hallelujah.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Now you're going to take this psalm and just sort
of crumple this up and stick it.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Down in your pocket and forget it's there.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
One of these days when you feel like a stranger,
maybe one of these days when you find yourself a widow,
one of these days when the world kind of has
tumbled in on you, you're going to reach down into your
pocket and look at that paper. Oh yes, I remember
where that place is. It's over on some street, and
(21:24):
the addresses one forty six, and you'll go back and
you'll read it, and God will give you hope again,
because He's the God of hope. Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? Put your hope in God. Christianity today
(21:46):
carries an article about Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Some of you have remembered reading.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
About his fight for racial integrity and his stand against
apartheid in South Africa. Bishop Tudhu has been right in
the center of every one of the struggles. He's been
criticized by a lot of Christians, but he has stood
firm and he has fought for racial equality in his country.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And if you know his.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Story, you could not help but applaud his courage and
his strength. He was interviewed by the staff of Christianity
today and had to delay the interview for twenty four
hours because he was attending the funeral of forty two
people who were massacred in the violence that brought talks
on multi racial democracy to a halt. He has seen bloodshed,
(22:36):
he has seen hurt, he has seen criticism. In his
own life has been endangered in order that he might
be a tool in the hand of God to provide
racial quality to South Africa.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
At the end of the interview.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
In Christianity Today, the interviews ask him this question, are
you hopeful as you look ahead? And Bishop Tutu said this,
I am always hopeful for a Christian is a prisoner
of hope. What a thought. A Christian is a prisoner
(23:09):
of hope. What could have looked more hopeless than Good Friday?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
He said?
Speaker 3 (23:14):
But then at Easter, God says, from this moment on,
no situation will ever again be hopeless.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Because there is hope in God.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
If he came out of the grave through his own power,
then his power can undo whatever has been done. His
power can come back and provide forgiveness and encouragement.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
His power is good. His power is your hope. There
is hope in God. Amen.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Hey, and Monday, we're going to talk about hope for
our nation. Really special time in our nation and what
the Bible says about hope for our nation is more
relevant than.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's ever been. I hope you'll join us.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Then. By the way, it's Friday, and I have to
give you my little sermon about going to church because
I know how important that is, especially during these holiday
seasons before and after Christmas.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Beginning the new year.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Together, all of it is a great news start for
many people. I've talked to many folks recently who've told
me that in their church there's a whole host of
people who have never come back after COVID, and I
want to encourage you to get over that and get
back to church.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Begin this Sunday. Let your pastor know.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
You're back, ready to serve and help and be a
Kingdom person for the rest of your life. And we'll
be on television in your area, but we'll be back
on the radio here on Monday, so you be sure
and join us.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and
David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Turning Point is also on
radio and TV this weekend. To learn where to find it,
visit our website Davidjeremiah dot org, slash Radio. That's Davidjeremiah
dot org, slash Radio, or call eight hundred nine four
(25:17):
seven nineteen ninety three. Ask for your copy of David's
new book, The Whole Story, a fifty two week devotional
journey through every book of the Bible, yours for a
gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah
Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New
King James versions to let us know how this ministry
(25:38):
is impacting you. Right to Turning Point pobox thirty eight
thirty eight, San Diego, California, nine two one sixty three.
This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we
continue the series Hope and Anchor for Life on Turning
Point with Doctor David Jeremiah
Counseling, therapy, medicine. They all have their place when your
life feels hopeless. But God can do more than any
of them to instill you with his hope. Today on
turning point, Doctor David Jeremiah returns.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
To Psalm one six to share more evidence that.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
As long as there is God, there is hope from
hope and anchor for life. Here's David to introduce the
conclusion of his message, a Psalm of hope.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
And thank you for joining us today for our continuation
of this series on hope. You know, throughout my years
of teaching and ministry, my deepest desire has always been
for more people to know what the Bible says, and
what it means, and what it means for their life.
Considering the events of the past few years, studying God's
(00:53):
word has never been more critical. It is the only
place we can turn for abs truth. By understanding the
depths of God's love and the extent of his power,
we can find an anchor for our soul and hope
for tomorrow. Lining our bookshelves with dozens of Bible translations
is not enough. Turning the tide in our world starts
(01:16):
with turning the pages of the Scripture. It's not enough
to have the Bible. You must make sure the Bible
has you. And one of the things we're doing during
the month of January is giving you a tool to
help make that happen. It's called The Whole Story, a
fifty two week devotional journey through every book of the Bible.
This two hundred and eight page hardback gift book is
(01:38):
available to you for a gift of any size to
turning point during the month of January, send your best gift,
Do your best before God, do what he tells you
to do. And when you send your gift, be sure
and ask for your copy of The Whole Story. We
have one with your name on it. It'll be on
its way to you before you know it. All right,
here's part two of Assam Home.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Let's begin.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
If you have been listening carefully to our study on hope,
you've heard me say on more than one occasion that
hope in God is a decision that we make that
sooner or later, in all of our lives, we come
to a fork in the road where we have to
make a choice. Either we shall go on putting our
(02:28):
trust in our own strength and in that which others
may offer us in the human realm, or we will
take the other road, and we will make our journey
toward God. It is a decision that we make. It
is something we decide to do. Twice in these first
two verses, the Psalmist says, with resolution in his writing,
(02:52):
I will I will praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I will sing unto my God.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
He reminds us that we have the opportunity to make
a decision, and the decision about which he is writing
to put his hope in God is couched in the
language of music and worship. He speaks of praising the Lord.
He says, as long as he lives, he's going to
praise the Lord. He's going to sing praises to my God.
(03:24):
He says, while I have my being, I have mentioned
often how wonderful it is to have at our disposal
the vehicle of music for the purpose of expressing our.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Hope in God.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
The writer in the Old Testament, Isaiah the Prophet, says
that we as believers have the privilege of changing the
spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise, that we
can literally praise our way into fellowship and worship with
God as we lift up our voice. I love what
(04:01):
it means to come on Sunday and be able to
sing and to praise God. And sometimes even beyond what
this means to God, it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Means so much to us.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
How many of you can say that on occasion you've
come to church, and before the message ever was started,
you have found your whole spirit changed through the privilege
of worship and praise unto God.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It is a choice that we make.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
In the Psamus says, I have made a resolution I
will find my hope in God.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Secondly, he does a little contrasting. He decides along the
way in his journey toward hope, that he will not
put his trust in mankind. Just as certain is his
resolution to hope in God is his rejection of hoping
in man. And he says it this way, do not
(04:52):
put your trust in princes, nor in a son of
man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs,
he returns to his earth, and that very day his
plans will perish. It's a very interesting word for us
at this particular juncture in our history as a country.
(05:14):
Some says, don't put your hope in princes. Don't put
your hope and the people who say they will govern.
And of course there's an obvious reason for not putting
your hope in them that we know before we ever
read the scripture. The three reasons I can think of
are the lives that they live, and the words that
they say, and the friends that they keep. All you
(05:37):
got to do is examine those three things, and you
pretty soon can come to a spirit of despair about
leadership in this country. And so the Psomas says, don't
put your trust in princes. Put your hope in God,
not in man. And he begins in verses five and
six to give us some reasons why we should make
(05:57):
that choice. First of all, he says man is helpless,
and he uses that word in verse three.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
I've underlined it and read.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
He says, do not put your trust in princes, nor
in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
Man is really helpless to give you hope. And he
goes into detail as to why that is true. But
look down further in the text and notice in verse
five that he says, happy is the one who has
the God of Jacob for his help. There is no
(06:30):
help in man, but there is help in God. Secondly,
the Psama says, man is mortal. Don't put your hope
in someone who will die on you. Don't put your
trust in princes, nor in the son of Man, in
whom there is no help. For his spirit departs. That
means he dies, and he returns.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
To this earth.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
He's buried in the ground that very day his plan perish.
The Psalmist has made such a strong point. Do you
know we have whole books of things people used to
say when they were alive. We study them as facts
of history. We read them to understand the philosophy of
(07:18):
that time. But they have, in most respects nothing to
do with where we live today. The Psalmist says, you
should not put your trust in man, because man is mortal.
But notice, as you read clear through to the end
of the Psalm, look at verse ten. The Lord shall
(07:40):
reign forever, your God Ozion is to all generations.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Praise the Lord.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Don't put your hope in mortal man. Put your hope
in God, who lives forever and reigns throughout all generations.
And then the Psalmist says, thirdly that you should not
put your trust in your hope and man, because man's
thoughts and man's plans will end. But if you will
(08:06):
notice what he says, God's truth keeps forever. Verse six.
Here are the reasonings of this man of God as
he looks out upon life and seeks something to which
he can cling in his moment of discouragement. And is
reason Thus far like this, I resolve to put my
(08:28):
hope in God. And the reasons are clear to me.
Man is mortal, God is eternal. Man's truth perishes. God's
truth is forever. Man is helpless, God is able to help. So,
having decided now that his hope is heavenward, the last
(08:50):
part of the psalm is some of the most encouraging
truth I have read on this subject of hope. And
the question is what can God do for those who
look to.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Him for help?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
And I want you to kind of just glance your
eyes down over those verses, and let me remind you
that the description that we are given here of the
kind of people Jehovah helps makes room for all of us.
I've underlined these in my Bible, the oppressed, the hungry,
the prisoners, the blind, those that are bowed down, the righteous,
(09:26):
the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows. What a list
haven't we learned so far in this series that hope
springs out of hopelessness? What a list of hopeless people?
That is, strangers, fatherless, widows, blind, But the Sama says, listen,
(09:48):
there's hope for all of those folks. It kind of
looks like the list of guests at the Pacific Garden Mission,
doesn't it. And I've written down in my notes the
seven categories and what God does for them, and I
just want to encourage your heart. Most of us here
may not feel like we have descended to the depths
(10:08):
of any of these categories, and I haven't time to
speak to each one of them for but a moment.
But just think with me now through this Psalm of
Hope and listen to what the writer says. First of all,
he says that the God of Hope represents the oppressed
against his accusers. Notice it says who executes justice for
(10:33):
the oppressed?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Verse seven?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Did you know that the God of Hope is the
one who is your defender. He's the one who is
your attorney, your advocate, the one who represents you against
your accusers.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Have you read in the psalms so often?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
When David finally turns to the God that he serves,
and he says, God, you take care of my enemies.
You defend me against the enemies of my life. And oftentimes,
as we try to serve God in this world that
is so opposed to what we're committed to, we find
the criticism and the ridicule, and sometimes we can almost
(11:12):
be on the verge of losing hope if we forget
for a moment that it is the God of Hope
who defends us and represents us against those who oppress us. Notice, secondly,
the God of Hope is the one who replenishes the
food for the hungry, who gives food to the hungry.
(11:33):
He says in verse seven, how does he do that?
How does God feed the hungry? Well, He's got a
lot of different ways of doing it. I mean, he
took care of Elijah with a couple of ravens, just
had a bird fly the food in and deliver it
to him, and then he sent him on to another place.
(11:55):
And this time he used a whole different method. This
time he replenished the barrel of meal and the cruse
of oil miraculously.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
You say, does God do that today? Yes, he can.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Do that today if he chooses, But you know how
he most normally does it.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
God does his best work through his people.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And most normally what God does is he feeds the
hungry through his own people, the Church, and we present
that food to them as the gift of our love.
And God feeds the hungry through his people and the
word of God in the New Testament says, if a
brother comes to us and he's hungry, and we offer
(12:37):
him a stone instead of bread, or we say to him,
go and have a good time and be warmed and
be filled, but we don't help him, then we have.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Violated the law of God. The God of Hope is
the God.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Who meets the needs of the hungry, and for some
of you, he has done that for you recently, because
you've experience the pressures of the recession, You've seen God
miraculously meet your need.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
He's the God of hope.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Thirdly, he releases the prisoners from bondage. How does he
do that well? On one occasion, when Paul and Silas
were in prison, he did it through an earthquake. God
has all kinds of means at his disposal. He is
a powerful God who can do whatever he sets his
mind to do. But I wish you could read the
mail we get from the radio and television division of
(13:31):
this ministry, because I can guarantee you there's hardly a
week that goes by that we don't open a letter
from someone behind bars who will tell a story about
having been incarcerated for some crime they committed and went
to prison ungodly and unsaved, and while they were there,
through prison fellowship or through a group of Christian people,
(13:55):
they were drawn into a Bible study. And we get
letter after letter from people who say, we went to prison.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And while we were there, we found Christ.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Now we listen to Turning Point every day and it's
our Bible study every day. And I guarantee you when
Eternity casts its light upon those individuals, it will speak
to this issue that they are better off in prison
with the Lord than out of prison without him. In prison,
they were released from their bondage. God of Hope does that?
(14:28):
I mean, where are you more hopeless than when you
hear the door slam behind you and you realize you
are now confined to a little bit of space for
months or years or maybe decades. And yet if in
that space the God of Hope comes to intervene in
(14:49):
the life. Has he not set the prisoner free?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Notice?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
He restores the sight to the blind. I've mentioned to
you and over again that the Lord Jesus is the
only one who ever performed that miracle. No apostles, just Jesus,
because he's the only one who can ever lift the
scales off of the blinded eyes spiritually speaking, and give
(15:17):
them sight. The Psalmist goes on, I understand this one.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
He raises up those who are bowed down. Do you
see it? The Lord raises those who are bowed down.
That is a classic expression. Listen to me now of depression.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
It is a classic physical picture of a person who
is discouraged and depressed. You can almost see it in
your mind's eye. Someone weighed down under the load of
care and hurt, so overwhelmed with the burdens of his
life that he can't even straighten up.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And the God of hope comes along and.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Straightens him out and lifts him up and gives him
hope again. And some of you have been through that.
I've talked with some of you who have seen God
just reach into your spirit and straighten you back up
again after you were bowed down under the load of
care of life.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It's no wonder they say the number one malady in
our generation is depression. I mean, if you read the
paper and you don't have the lens of God's word,
you could get depressed every day. If you listen to
the newscasts and you don't know that there's a God
in heaven and he's on the throne and he's in control,
you could get depressed every day. It seems like we
(16:40):
go out of our way to portray the very worst
of society and put it in prime time, and the
effect is a growing sense of depression and discouragement on
the part of the American people. But I'm here to
tell you the God of hope takes the person who's
bowed down and raises him up and gives him hope again.
(17:02):
The Psama says, the God of hope is the one
who reaches out to the need of the stranger. That's
a wonderful thought, isn't it. The Lord loves the righteous,
The Lord watches over the strangers. I think he might
be referencing the people in his day who would be
sort of like the homeless people of our day. Have
(17:25):
you ever seen anything more forlorn or discouraging. Now people
on the street corners with signs just begging you to
put them to work so they can eat. And we're
such a bedeviled nation from the standpoint of violence, that
we're all afraid. All of us are afraid because we
(17:45):
do not know the reality of that person. But I'm
going to tell you somebody who does the God of
Hope does. The God of Hope watches over all the strangers,
and he knows. And then, last but not least, the
Psama says, the God of Hope is the one who
(18:05):
relieves the.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Fatherless and the widows.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
If you're here today as a single parent, maybe you've
just lost your mate, or maybe you're a young person
who has no idea who your parents.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Are where they are.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
This passage of scripture says, you have a God in
heaven who knows all about that, and he cares, and
he wants to infuse you with the hope that he
can provide you see the problem that you face in
these human intrigues of breakup of marriage and the abuse
(18:41):
of children and all of that, All of it has
to do with the human element. And God reaches beyond
all of that, and he brings his divine power to
bear on your problem. And that's where the hope is.
Do you know God can do what a counselor can do.
God can do what hospitalization can do. God can do
(19:07):
above and beyond all that we ask or think. That
is not to discount any of these procedures, but it
is to say that is long as there is a God,
there is hope. And no matter what your problems may be,
if you don't find yourself on this list and you've
got something that you wouldn't even want to say out loud,
if God is your hope, you will not find hope
(19:28):
in any human but you will find hope in God.
While I'm speaking to this issue, let me tell you something.
It is my heart and my desire to live in
such a way that you will always be able to
respect me, that you will believe me, that I will
have credibility, that I will not allow anything to happen
(19:51):
in my life that would undo what I have said
and what I've taught. But I want to tell you something. Friends,
don't you put your hope in me. You put your
hope in God. Because I'm just a man like every
other man. One of these days they will bury David Jeremiah,
And I'll tell you what, it won't very long before
(20:12):
they'll be saying, David, who But you put your hope
in God. He will not fail you. He is the
one to whom you should always look. That doesn't absolve
me of my responsibility to be the right kind of person.
And by the grace of God, that is my hope
and my heart. But you never put your hope in
(20:33):
a man. You put your hope in God. And the
Psalmist comes to the end of all of it, and
he's so taken up by it all that he ends
the psalm the same way.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
He began it. Praise the Lord, he says, Hallelujah.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Now you're going to take this psalm and just sort
of crumple this up and stick it.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Down in your pocket and forget it's there.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
One of these days when you feel like a stranger,
maybe one of these days when you find yourself a widow,
one of these days when the world kind of has
tumbled in on you, you're going to reach down into your
pocket and look at that paper. Oh yes, I remember
where that place is. It's over on some street, and
(21:24):
the addresses one forty six, and you'll go back and
you'll read it, and God will give you hope again,
because He's the God of hope. Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? Put your hope in God. Christianity today
(21:46):
carries an article about Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Some of you have remembered reading.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
About his fight for racial integrity and his stand against
apartheid in South Africa. Bishop Tudhu has been right in
the center of every one of the struggles. He's been
criticized by a lot of Christians, but he has stood
firm and he has fought for racial equality in his country.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And if you know his.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Story, you could not help but applaud his courage and
his strength. He was interviewed by the staff of Christianity
today and had to delay the interview for twenty four
hours because he was attending the funeral of forty two
people who were massacred in the violence that brought talks
on multi racial democracy to a halt. He has seen bloodshed,
(22:36):
he has seen hurt, he has seen criticism. In his
own life has been endangered in order that he might
be a tool in the hand of God to provide
racial quality to South Africa.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
At the end of the interview.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
In Christianity Today, the interviews ask him this question, are
you hopeful as you look ahead? And Bishop Tutu said this,
I am always hopeful for a Christian is a prisoner
of hope. What a thought. A Christian is a prisoner
(23:09):
of hope. What could have looked more hopeless than Good Friday?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
He said?
Speaker 3 (23:14):
But then at Easter, God says, from this moment on,
no situation will ever again be hopeless.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Because there is hope in God.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
If he came out of the grave through his own power,
then his power can undo whatever has been done. His
power can come back and provide forgiveness and encouragement.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
His power is good. His power is your hope. There
is hope in God. Amen.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Hey, and Monday, we're going to talk about hope for
our nation. Really special time in our nation and what
the Bible says about hope for our nation is more
relevant than.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's ever been. I hope you'll join us.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Then. By the way, it's Friday, and I have to
give you my little sermon about going to church because
I know how important that is, especially during these holiday
seasons before and after Christmas.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Beginning the new year.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Together, all of it is a great news start for
many people. I've talked to many folks recently who've told
me that in their church there's a whole host of
people who have never come back after COVID, and I
want to encourage you to get over that and get
back to church.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Begin this Sunday. Let your pastor know.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
You're back, ready to serve and help and be a
Kingdom person for the rest of your life. And we'll
be on television in your area, but we'll be back
on the radio here on Monday, so you be sure
and join us.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and
David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Turning Point is also on
radio and TV this weekend. To learn where to find it,
visit our website Davidjeremiah dot org, slash Radio. That's Davidjeremiah
dot org, slash Radio, or call eight hundred nine four
(25:17):
seven nineteen ninety three. Ask for your copy of David's
new book, The Whole Story, a fifty two week devotional
journey through every book of the Bible, yours for a
gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah
Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New
King James versions to let us know how this ministry
(25:38):
is impacting you. Right to Turning Point pobox thirty eight
thirty eight, San Diego, California, nine two one sixty three.
This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we
continue the series Hope and Anchor for Life on Turning
Point with Doctor David Jeremiah
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