You Have a Living Hope

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"Easter Every Day: The Resurrection of Christ"

"Because He Lives, You Can Face Death with Hope"

"Hope Is a Person"

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Dannah Gresh: Happy Easter, friend! It’s time to celebrate.

Spring is a season of restoration, newness, and refreshment. The world just starts to come alive again. How fitting that we get to celebrate our risen Savior as the earth sings the song of resurrection. 

I’m your host, Dannah Gresh, and I’m glad you’re here for this Easter episode of Revive Our Hearts Weekend. It’s always a joy to celebrate the hope we have in Jesus.

I started this year hungry for hope. For most of last year, my husband Bob was sick with a fatigue-type illness. I took on extra work to compensate and care for him. Plus, we just had a lot of hard things happen in the past twelve months. We lost my husband's father; we experienced theft and robbery.

I felt like I was Job! Have you ever been there?

Maybe as I shared that, something in your own life is coming to mind. There’s some suffering, some hardship, and you’re longing for hope. Lean in, my friend, because today’s episode is for you. For the next twenty-ish minutes, we’re going to meditate on our living hope together. Full spoiler alert: it’s Jesus!

The Scripture passage that inspired today’s episode is 1 Peter 1:3. It says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

This is the heart of all our celebrations this weekend, and it’s the heart of all our hope. Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth with some encouragement for you from this very passage.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Apart from Christ’s resurrection from the dead, we have no hope of eternal life. First Peter 1 says that, “according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (v. 3).

So there’s no doubt that the resurrection matters. What difference does the empty tomb make in our lives this week and the next week and the week after that?

Virtually every day we hear from Revive Our Hearts listeners who write to share with us about different struggles and burdens they are facing, different heartaches and challenges. So what difference does the reality of the resurrection make for those listeners? What difference does it make for people who are facing problems and pain, failure, and fears?

I want to talk today about seven implications of the resurrection for those who have placed their faith in Christ. Again, if you’re listening to the audio of this, don’t try and jot all these things down or keep them all in your head. You can go to ReviveOurHearts.com and there you can get a word-for-word transcript that will give you this outline and the notes as well. So you can go back and reflect on these implications of the resurrection—not only on Easter Sunday, but throughout the course of the year.

Number 1: The resurrection means there is hope in the most desperate circumstances.

It means that God can make a way out where there is no human way out. It means that God is all-powerful and nothing is beyond His control. It means that one day all tears will be wiped away and all sorrow will be turned to joy. It means that He can bring beauty out of ashes and that He can cause even evil circumstances to bring Him ultimate glory.

Think about things that have been done to you or others that you know that have been such heinous, grievous crimes or circumstances, so painful—perhaps in your upbringing. Let your mind’s eye go back to the cross where evil men put Christ to death and realize that evil men never get the final word. God gets the final word. There is hope in the most desperate circumstances.

It’s the resurrection that encourages us to remember that Christ has defeated death—the most ultimate desperate circumstance. He’s defeated death by walking through it and has come out on to the other side. So no matter how many enemies seek to take Him down, He cannot ever die again. That’s what the resurrection tells us.

We think today about news of natural disasters, economic uncertainty, world crises—it can be overwhelming just to read the news. But the resurrection encourages us to take a deep breath and to remember that God is on His throne; He is in charge no matter how dark it gets in your life or in this world.

There is nothing that can happen to us that is not going to be ultimately overcome by His power. The resurrection means there is hope in the most desperate circumstances.

Number 2: The resurrection means that God always keeps His promises.

In Matthew chapter 28, verse 5, when the two women went to the tomb looking for the body of Jesus that was buried there, so they thought, "The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said'" (vv. 5–6). As He said . . . Jesus had told the disciples that He would not stay dead, that He would rise from the dead.

Let me just read to you one of those accounts where He’s told them that. In Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 21:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (vv. 21–22)

Now what’s the problem? Peter did not hear the end of the message! All he heard was the part about the Son of Man going to “suffer many things . . . and be killed,” and that’s all Peter heard. Peter goes, “No way, Lord! That’s not going to happen to You!” He didn’t hear “and on the third day be raised.” He heard it with his physical ears, but he didn’t get the promise of the resurrection.

So when the angels said to the two women, “He is not here; He is risen, as He said,” the disciples began to remember things that Jesus had told them, promises He had made that they had just entirely missed. So we think about how much stress and anxiety and fear the disciples had to endure all because they didn’t really hear and lay hold of the promises of God.

It makes me wonder how would our lives be different if we really believed, if we really heard and believed and laid hold of the promises of God? How often are we stressed out: “Lord, no! This can’t happen!” No! We haven’t heard the end of the story. We haven’t heard the promises. We haven’t really heard the promises.

Think of that wonderful promise in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 10, that says:

After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

How often do we forget that when we’re in the midst of the suffering part? If we would just hear, believe, and lay hold of the promises of God, how much stress and discouragement would we be able to avoid perhaps if we remembered that God always keeps His promises. That’s the message of the resurrection.

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on what Christ’s resurrection means for your everyday life. She shared two implications just now: it gives us hope in the most desperate circumstances, and it’s proof that God always keeps His promises. What good news! She shared five more pieces of Easter encouragement in the remainder of that message. If you’d like to hear those, you’ll find a link to the full program in today’s transcript. Just visit ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend to find it. 

Nancy’s been clinging to these resurrection truths extra tight over the past several months as she navigates the homegoing of her dear husband, Robert. She has shared that the grief is very real, but that the hope is, too. As she loves to remind us, “Heaven rules. Jesus is near.” 

Before Robert Wolgemuth married Nancy, he navigated this same grief as he said goodbye to his first wife, Bobbie. Several years ago, he joined Erin Davis on the Grounded podcast to tell us about that season and to share about his book titled Finish Line: Dispelling Fear, Finding Peace, and Preparing for the End of Your Life. The overarching message of this conversation with Erin Davis was really one of resurrection. Because Jesus lives, you can face even death with hope. Let’s listen.

Erin Davis: What does the resurrection of Jesus mean when the woman you've loved for four decades, the mother of your children, the grandmother of your grandchildren, what does the resurrection mean when you have to put her in a casket? Robert knows the answer to that question. And we knew we wanted to get him on this special episode of Grounded. So welcome back to Grounded, Robert.

Robert Wolgemuth: Thank you, Erin. It's wonderful to be with you.

Erin: You said in that video that your wife Bobbie taught you how to die. What do you mean by that?

Robert: Well, she never gave up hope. Even though the diagnosis was terminal. And she didn't complain, she had tremendous confidence in the promises of God. So, as I said, the kernel of wheat fell to the ground and died, but it produced many seeds. That's the hope that we have, that we don't die in vain if we live for Christ. That was her.

Erin: Beautiful. Jesus died. He did go into the tomb, there was a funeral, but He didn't stay in there very long. More than three days have passed since you buried your wife, Bobbie. Her body is still where you laid her to rest. 

So, what does the fact that Jesus didn't stay in the tomb have to do with us when the people we love haven't risen from the dead like He did?

Robert: Well, in the end, we will. You know, the story of Jesus coming to visit Lazarus in John chapter 11 and encountering Martha on the way to the house. Lazarus has now been dead for four days. And Jesus reassures Martha that we will all come back to life because of the death of Jesus. 

And Martha says, “Well, yeah, I know that in the end, but what about now?” And Jesus said, “Well, I'm the Resurrection. I'm the Life.” And then while He stands at the mouth of the tomb where Lazarus, her brother has been buried, He calls his name. That's just a stunning thing, Erin. Jesus called his name. 

Erin: Yeah. 

Robert: And the sound of Jesus’ voice opened Lazarus’ eyes, and he walked out. 

So, I mean, eventually, Lazarus did die again, and Jesus didn't call him back. But there's such great hope in that, that Jesus has the power if He chooses to call us back from death. And that's a metaphor, really, of what it's like to live in Christ. Galatians 2:20, I'm crucified, but I live. It's incredible.

Erin: It is. My father-in-law has often told me that he believes the reason “Jesus wept” is the shortest verse in the Bible, when He called Lazarus out is because He knew his friend was going to have to face death again. He knew where His friend was. He knew what His friend was experiencing, but he called him back. We don't know if that's true or not, but it speaks to the beauty of Jesus being the resurrection.

I've been to funerals of people who were followers of Jesus. And I've been to funerals of people who were not. The difference is pretty stark. Christian funerals are really miraculous. We can face death with hope. But there's also grief. So how did you hold that tension of hope-filled grieving? It's not to slap on a smile. But it's also not to be buried under the grief. What's that hope-filled tension look like? What did it look like for you?

Robert: Well, Bobbie's favorite verse, during the thirty months of her cancer was 1 Corinthians 2:9. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” 

Bobbie was an artist. She painted. When she went to heaven, I had 55 paintings that I had the privilege of giving to friends. So, eye has not seen . . . So, the most beautiful art, the most beautiful setting, the most beautiful landscape, we can't even imagine what heaven is like. 

And then ear has not heard. Bobbie was a musician. When I first saw her in 1967, she was singing, and she was singing her whole life. So, ear has not heard. Heaven’s music is better than the most amazing music you've ever heard.

And then neither has it entered into the heart of man. In our wildest dreams, we cannot imagine what heaven must be like. 

So, we're running this race. We're approaching the finish line. But it's a celebration. It truly is a celebration, because eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of you and me of the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.

Erin: So beautiful. That's actually my favorite verse about heaven. That's a game I like to play with the Lord. I'll just try to imagine it. Okay, I know they’re streets of gold. Okay, I know there's a sea of glass. I know that the choirs are singing, and I’ll try to drum it up, and then remember, nope, I didn't even get close. He has more for me than that. 

One of the hardest things about death is it just keeps happening. I mean, we all will ultimately attend many funerals. 

How has watching your wife die shifted how you see your own death and the deaths of other people you love? Because I know Bobbie wasn't the only person you love that you've ever buried. So, what's shifted inside of you?

Robert: Well, I was so close to it this time. You know, a lot of us have never seen a real dead body. We've seen one that's propped up and plastic then painted and so forth. I had the chance of literally having Bobbie in my arms when she stepped into heaven. She took me by the shirt, she pulled my face right next to hers, and she said, “I love you so much.” And she closed her eyes and she died. 

Now the wonderful thing about all of this is that this funeral that Bobbie had in November 2014 was livestreamed around the world. Nancy Leigh DeMoss watched it and then contacted me a couple days later and said, “Would it be okay if I play part of that funeral service to encourage women who would listen to Revive Our Hearts.”

How could I have ever known what Bobbie's death produced in my own life? When a year and a little bit more later, Nancy became my wife.

Erin: So beautiful. I didn't know that part about her grabbing your shirt, Robert. So, so beautiful. You wrote a new book Finish Line. My eyes are leaking as they often do on Grounded, just bear with me. But you wrote a new book Finish Line. I want to read the subtitle, Dispelling Fear, Finding Peace, and Preparing for the End of Your Life. 

I want to know what you'd say to the person listening to if they're honest, they are afraid. They know what God has said. They know that heaven awaits those who claim Him as our King. They've heard it. They've heard the verses. They've heard some of the verses we've been saying here. And they're still afraid. They're either afraid of their own death. It's my experience that people aren't always afraid of death, but we are afraid of dying, or they're afraid they know the death of someone they love is coming. How would you dispel fear for that person?

Robert: Be ready. So, I want you to pretend that you're back in college, and you've got a huge exam, right around the corner. You study, you do everything you can. You review your notes, maybe you listen to your professor on audio, if you recorded it. Then how do you feel when you're walking into that exam? You're ready. There's a great sense of confidence because you're ready. 

And then look at the other side of this. Let's say that you slacked off, you went out to pizza three or four nights in a row, you didn't study. Now you're walking into that exam, and you're not ready. How different do you feel in the first scenario compared to the second? So, the joy of telling this story is really challenging myself, and challenging the people who I know and love to be ready. That changes everything. 

If you know that your death is an account of your life before God and you're ready to die. You've studied for this exam. It's not by your own righteousness that makes you ready. It's Jesus’ death and resurrection. But because you have received Him as your Savior, you're ready. And the fear is dispelled because of that. 

Dannah: The late Robert Wolgemuth, on the hope of resurrection, even in the face of death. Jesus is alive—and that changes everything. 

Now, I want you to take a moment to consider, “Where do I need to lean into my living hope, where do I need to lean into Jesus today?” 

Okay, got something?

Now I want you to consider, “How can I point others to my living hope?” 

Pastor Chris Brooks is gonna help you answer that question. He’s a husband, pastor, and father—and he grappled with death and resurrection as he navigated the unexpected passing of his son. If you’re suffering today, Pastor Chris understands. I hope you feel the weight of his words as he exhorts you to live with hope. Let’s listen.

Pastor Chris Brooks: So when Christ returns, there is going to be praise offered to Him by all the world. (Check out Revelation 7:9.) People from every tribe and every language and every tongue are going to be praising Him, giving Him the glory and the honor.

But you know, some of those folks in that sea of people, you know why they’re going to be praising God? Because of the genuineness of your faith. Because they saw you trusting Him in the midst of the trial, and it drew them to faith in Jesus.

You see, Satan thought he won when he put Christ on that cross. But he didn’t know that on that cross, Christ was defeating death, that the cross was the death of death.

Satan thought he won when he sent the devastation and the trial to your life. But don’t you fall for fake news. The fact of the matter is the trial was given so that the world might see the genuineness of our faith, that it is not shallow or surface deep, but it is rooted in the hope of the revelation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is guarded by God, a promise in heaven that shall be revealed at the day of His return.

I’m going to praise Him now because I know how the story ends—He wins!

And this is why we have to understand the ordinances. This is why we have to understand things like the power of baptism. Because all of those things reveal and speak to us about our union with Christ.

I died with Him, and I rose again with Him. And because He lives, I live. And because He is victorious, I am victorious—not because I am strong, because I am not. But when I am weak, His strength is made perfect.

Peter praises God. Even though he’s in exile, he praises God that heaven is secure. He praises God; the suffering reveals the genuineness of our faith.

Ladies, if you want to know what the focus of your faith is, just examine what you look to in moments of suffering. We’re wired for faith.

• Some looking for hope have put their hope in things that overpromise and under deliver. 
• Some have put their hope in philosophies that overpromise and under deliver.
• Some have put their hope in people that overpromise and under deliver.
• Some have even fallen into the trap of putting their hopes in politics that overpromise and under deliver.

• Economies will fail.
• Governments will fail.
• People will fail.
• Mama and Daddy will fail, though they love you.
• Husbands will fail.
• Children will fail.

But there is One who is faithful from beginning to end—the only One who is worthy of our trust. And that is why Peter says in verse 13 of this chapter that you and I are to “set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Not partially. Not faith in Jesus and . . . But faith in Christ alone.

• Faith in Christ alone is what saves us.
• Faith in Christ alone is what sustains us.
• Faith in Christ alone is what revives us.
• Faith in Christ alone is what keeps us.
• Faith in Christ alone is what gives us the hope that we need to point the world to Jesus.

In the face of brokenness and pain, Peter closes this poetic stanza, verses 10–12, by praising God that salvation has come. Verse 10 says this:

Concerning this salvation, [the promise of salvation—the three tenses of salvation that I have been saved; I am being saved; and I will be saved—that promise of salvation, he says . . .] the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Again, I wish I had three hours . . . I’ve got 56 seconds. What Peter says is that your God loves you so much that He mobilized prophets to look into Scripture and the Holy Writ, searching for the promise of the Christ who was to come, His sufferings and subsequent glories, and they found this grace.

Their hearts were so excited that they came to realize that they weren’t searching for themselves, but they had been commissioned by God in service to us who live post the cross. Christ has died. He has risen from the grave. He is alive. He is victorious. And since we are in Him, salvation has come to us.

So that means I’m not waiting for a promise. I have a promise. The promise that I have is that He is keeping me. The promise that I have is what the enemy meant for evil, God is going to use for my good and His glory.

I’m not ready to write a book on why my son passed away. Honestly, that’s not something I’ve talked publicly about much. Because of my respect for Nancy, and because of my heart to see the Lord minister to you, I broached the topic, but only for a night. I’ll shed some tears this evening, no doubt, but though I’m weeping on the outside, I am full of hope on the inside.

And you know why I am full of hope? Because I know that my promise, my son’s promise, is secure. You see, my son was a worshipper. And what I know is that he is now in the most glorious worship service any of us have ever seen. Praise God for this gathering, but now, he is in the presence of angels. He is lifting his voice. He is seeing the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Why? Because his promise is secure in the God of hope.

Don’t let the enemy steal your hope, ladies. God is faithful. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You that in our brokenness we can come to You. We thank You that we can be honest about our grief. Thank You that we can cry to You. We can look to You. But when we do, we thank You that You fill our cups. Some come empty. We simply pray, “Lord, fill us up to overflowing.”

Lord, we trust You because You are the hope of our salvation. And it’s in the mighty, matchless and magnificent name of Your Son and our Savior we pray, in Jesus’ name. And all God’s daughters say, “Amen.” Amen.

Dannah: Amen indeed. What an encouraging word from Pastor Chris Brooks. I’m feeling fired up and ready to go live in light of the resurrection this weekend and beyond. My dear sister, if you're in need of refreshment, restoration, and resurrection—you have a living hope. My challenge for you today is to believe this, and then to simply rest in it. 

As you do, we’d love to send you the Refresh: 30 Days of Personal Revival Journaling Set. This beautiful resource includes Scripture prompts and a journal, and it’s designed to help you experience renewed hope. It’s yours when you make a donation of any amount to Revive Our Hearts. To give, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959, and be sure to request the Refresh Journaling Set when you do.

I hope you get a chance to watch the new movie that just came out, produced by our friends at Sight & Sound. It’s called A Great Awakening. I got to see it; I loved it! It’s set in the late 1700s here in the United States. It’s a wonderful review of the First Great Awakening, when a preacher named George Whitefield, and a printer named Benjamin Franklin experienced revival! 

Next weekend, we’re asking the Lord to cultivate in us a heart that longs for revival. We don’t want to keep Christ’s refreshing and restoring work to ourselves. We want it to spread like wildfire. You’ll want to be back for that conversation. In the meantime, I hope you have a joyful weekend celebrating Christ’s resurrection with your local church familiy. He is risen! 

Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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