Help, Hope & Happiness
29 January 2023 PM – Psalm 146:5 – Lord’s Supper – Scott Childs
Introduction: (Psalms 146:5) “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:” Some things in life that are beyond our capability. We need help. As we look at our uncertain future and on into eternity, we need hope. Deep within our being, we long for happiness. The Psalmist says that we can find all three of these in the LORD God. They are man’s greatest needs. Actually, we find them all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Transition: As we prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Supper, I want us to see that the Lord Jesus died and rose again to give us help, hope and happiness.
- Christ died and rose again to give us help.
a. We need help!
1) The Psalmist said that, “the God of Jacob is our help.” If you study Jacob’s life, you will find that he often needed God’s help.
2) Things exist that we just cannot do. We each have abilities and inabilities. I can build things from wood, but I cannot play the piano. I can type on the computer, but I cannot repair a broken computer.
3) Each of you have your own list of things you cannot do. When we need those things done, we need help. It is a blessing that God has given others abilities in areas of our inabilities.
4) However, our greatest need is for forgiveness and eternal life. We have all sinned. We stand guilty and condemned before our holy Creator. None of us is able to provide the help needed. All our efforts to provide that help are doomed to fail. Religion is man’s efforts to do good and merit cleansing. However, religion cannot save anyone from hell. Spiritual leaders can help us find God, but they cannot forgive or give eternal life.
b. Only Christ can give the help we need.
1) Jesus Christ endured the cross for us. From Jesus’ prayer in the garden the night before He went to the cross, God gives us a peak at the agony Christ endured to help us. (Luke 22:42) “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:44) “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.“
2) We can see that Jesus, being God, knew the agony of the atonement He was about to endure. Certainly, He saw more than just the torment of the Roman cross. He saw the weight and shame of bearing the sins of humanity as our substitute.
a) (Galatians 3:13) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:“
b) (Ephesians 5:2) “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.“
c) (1 Peter 3:18) “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” (Cf., Isa 53:4-6; Rom 8:3; 1Co 15:3; 2Co 5:21; Ga 1:4; He 1:3; 1Pe 2:24; 1Jn 2:2; 3:5; 4:10; Re 1:5).
3) He, the spotless Lamb of God, was about to bear the punishment for every filthy sin ever committed, or ever to be committed, by mankind. That weight was enormous. Being the God/Man, He would die an eternal death, temporarily forsaken by the Father, for every sinner.
4) Christ alone can give grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). He paid for our sin and offered us forgiveness and eternal life. That is the greatest HELP that every human needs.
- Christ died and rose again to give us hope.
a. Hope is what keeps us going.
1) Hope is an expectation of something better.
2) Sadly, many have taken their own lives or have seriously contemplated doing so because they have no hope. They have nothing for which to live and nothing for which to look forward.
3) In a true sense, those who have not received Christ’s help have no hope. Their future is dark and dreadful.
b. Christ alone provides lasting hope.
1) When Christ rose from the dead, He gave us hope.
2) Christ provided believers with hope of salvation, hope of righteousness, hope of glory, and hope of eternal life. John also spoke of the hope of one day being like Christ. (1 John 3:2-3) “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.“
3) The Christian’s hope looks beyond the burdens of this life and on into eternity.
4) If you have truly received Christ’s HELP, He has also given you HOPE.
- Christ died and rose again to give us happiness.