Gateway Church Australia
Binh Nguyen - Hope is Here
Well, good morning Gateway Church. It's always good to be with you. If we haven't met yet, my name is Bin, and I like to see myself as one of the leaders and pastors at Gateway Church. Because deep down, I am praying that you are offering me a role as your Vietnamese community pastor, and I get to be part of your team. You know what? It is always a joy to be with you, it is. I love this church. I really love your pastors a lot. I love the team. I love it every time I get to be with you, and I just want to say thank you so much for making me feel so part of the family. Hey friends, I've got a message for you, a message on hope. I titled the message, you know, hope is here. And let me ask you this question. Have you ever been in a season where you have lost hope? Like it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe that is you today. You feel like the ability to keep moving forward is just too much. There's no longer confidence and courage and passion or energy to see a brighter future. Or maybe, you know, you're just waiting for that breakthrough, and it's been too long, and you are waiting and waiting. And you know what? The light of hope is slowly flickering away. Do you remember back in October 2021, you know, in Western Australia, there was a young four-year-old girl by the name of Chloe Smith. I've got her photo on the screen here. Remember, she was abducted whilst camping with her family in Outback West Australia. The entire country, we held our breath waiting to hear news of the whereabouts of little Chloe. And I'm sure like her parents, each day that went by with no information of her whereabouts, hope was slowly being sucked away. Friends, maybe that is you today. You know, you're in the middle of a season where you are waiting for God to turn your situation around. You are praying that God would answer your prayer and nothing has happened yet, and you feel defeated. You feel that your soul is crushed. You have lost hope. You know, I agree with the writer William Stiron. He writes this. It is hopelessness, even more than pain that crushes the soul. If that is you today, listen carefully. I've got some good news for you. Friends, there is a God who brings hope to those who need it. You know, in today's reading from Luke chapter 1, we find Zachariah's Song of Hope. And the reason why Zachariah wrote this billboard chart-topping number one smash hit song was because he and his wife Elizabeth, they long to be parent. And finally, with God, Elizabeth falls pregnant and she gives birth to their son, John the Baptist. Now, go with me to Luke chapter 1 verse 13. This is before the birth of John the Baptist. But the angel said to him, that's the angel speak to Zachariah. Do not be afraid, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son and you are to call him John. And then several months later, Holy Spirit of God will then speak to Mary, who is the mother of Jesus, a relative of Elizabeth. And look what the Spirit of God says in Luke chapter 1 verse 36 and 37. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age, so Elizabeth is old now, has also conceived the son. And this is the six months with her who was called Baron for nothing will be impossible with God. Can you see that? You know, it seems to be impossible, but with God it is possible. The weight is over. You know, Zachariah and Elizabeth, they're blessed now with a son. And so now we see this song of Zachariah. It's a song of hope. And in this song, which is 13 verses, only two verses have been dedicated to John the Baptist and the rest of the song directed towards the goodness of God. And so with the time I have, I want to draw out just two points from Zachariah's song that will give you and me hope in the midst of hope business. Are you ready? Here's the very first point. God remembers us. You know, some months ago, I was preaching at a friend's church and after the service, a man came to me and he said, man, hey, bin, do you remember me? I was very embarrassed because I didn't remember this guy. However, he remembered me and he told me we went to high school together some 30 years ago. Now, the fact that this guy remembered me, he made me feel so appreciated and worthy. You see, friends, we live in a culture where apparently, apparently, we're so connected with the introduction of social media. But in reality, in the Western world, loneliness is at its highest. We find ourselves in our own little world and the smartphone screen with its, you know, updates and newsfeed has become our community. But when someone, an actual human being, not AI or some bot, a person actually remembers us and they tell us that they're thinking of us or they're praying for us, we as human, we feel loved, we feel known, we feel appreciated, we feel cared for. Now, imagine creator of the universe, the god of all gods, the one who knows the end from the beginning, God is thinking of you and me. And that's what we find in Zechariah's song. I God who remembers his people and I God who also remembers Zechariah and Elizabeth. Now, go with me back to the text in Luke chapter 1 verse 68 onwards. Let me read the word of God. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said through his holy prophets of long ago, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant. Did you notice those phrases in his song? God has come. As he said through his prophets of long ago, to remember his holy covenant. Here's the context. You see, God has been silent for some 400 years because the last time God spoke to his people was through the Old Testament prophet Malachi. So from the book of Malachi to the gospel, that was a period where there were no prophets of God, no presence of God, no provision of God, nothing but silence. Now, I could imagine God's people thinking, have we really messed up that Yahweh, our God, has forgotten us? But friends, that's not the God of the Bible. See, the Bible teaches us that God never forgets us. In fact, I would say God cannot forget you and me. You know, this is what the prophet Aziah, he writes in Isaiah 49, 15, can a woman forget her nursing child that she should have no compassion on the son of her will? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. The eye here is God. God says, I will not forget you. A mother may forget her nursing child, but I, God, will not forget you. That means that God remembers you and me, my friends. In fact, you know Zechariah in Hebrews means, are you ready? It means God remembers. Our God is the same God who remembered Noah and his family, the God who remember Abraham and Sarah, the God who remember Joseph when he was sold into slavery, the God who remember Moses when he was in the wilderness, the God who remember his people crying out when they were being oppressed in Egypt, the God who remember Zechariah and Elizabeth right here in this morning's text. And all those examples I just mentioned, when God remembers, guess what? God acts. God saved his people from Egypt. He acted there. God blessed Abraham and Sarah with a son Isaac. He acted there. God used Joseph to save his people from a famine. He acted there. God used Moses to save his people from the hands of Pharaoh. He acted there. You know, Kent Hughes, I quote him. He says this, God's remembering is more than a recollection because when God remembers, he acts. You see, friends, we can have hope because our God remembers us. He loves us. He cares for us. And we can trust that when he remembers us, he will act. And when he act, listen carefully, it's always according to his good and perfect timing. He will act according to his timing. He hasn't forgotten you, my friend. He remembers you. You know, the late Timothy Keller once gave an illustration of two prisoners locked away for some 10 years. The first man was told by his wife that she wanted out. She wanted to leave him. She could not wait that long. In fact, she's found another lover. She's found another man and she wants to move on. This first prisoner, when he heard this, he lost hope. And not soon later, he died a lonely man in his prison cell. Now, however, the second prisoner was told by his wife, she's pregnant with their child. She promises to raise the child and she looks forward to their reunion. She promised him that she loves him and she'll wait for him and she'll never forget him. You know, the second prisoner lived every day whilst he was in prison in the hope that his wife is waiting for him. He had hope. He knew that his wife is remembering him and he hoped to have that day to be reunited with his family. Friends, listen carefully. God remembers us and we can live every day with our hope, knowing that one day we will be reunited with our God in eternity future. We have a hope, a hope not from this world, but from a God out of this world, a God who loves us. And we know that God is loving us and caring for us and thinking of us and he will act according to his perfect timing. Friends, that gives us hope, amen. Hope to keep trusting God, hope to keep moving forward. This is what the Psalmist says in Psalms 136-23. It is he who remembered us in our lowest state for his steadfast love in Jews forever. Friends, don't forget God remembers you and that gives you hope. Now my second point is this, God redeems us. Look back at Zechariah's song. Look in verse 68 again. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. Did you notice the word redeem? It's in the past tense. This means that Zechariah was so confident that God would redeem his people with the coming Messiah. You know what? The coming of Jesus, that first Christmas was God's ultimate plan to redeem us back to him. That is the essence of Christmas. That is Christmas in a nutshell, that God came to bring us back to him. But as we continue to look into Zechariah's song, the theme of redemption, it's very obvious, my friend. Look in verse 73 onwards, the oath he swore to our Father Abraham to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Verse 77 and 78, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God. Verse 79, to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace. You know, redemption is a slave trade terminology. It's when something or someone is released or recovered by the payment of a price. So as we read the Bible, redemption is associated with words like ransom or substitution or deliverance or salvation. And so God would come into our broken world to redeem broken people back to his family. That's what redemption means. And I love it how the Apostle Paul, he puts it like this in Romans 3, 23 and 24, "For all have sinned and for short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." You see what Paul is saying? "We're all sinners. None of us are perfect. We are all for short of the glory of God, yet God would come to redeem us." He came not to make bad people good, but what? To make dead people alive, to be part of his family. We are redeemed into his family. That's why on the cross, that first Easter, that's what God did. He died in our place to redeem us. That's redemption. But there's more. You know, there's more. There's more than what took place on the cross. Do you know that God is also redeeming you and me today? He's redeeming us today. That means that whatever situation we may be facing today, whatever we are going through today, God can still redeem that situation for our good and for his glory. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8, 28, and we know that in all things, not some things, all things, God works for the good of those who he loved, who have been called according to his purpose. You notice that all things, the good, the bad, and even the ugly, God is still doing a beautiful work. You know, I remember as a four-year-old boy living in the refugee camp of Indonesia. He's a photo of me and my father and uncle. Now, this took place back in 1980. For those who do not know my story, I was once a refugee. We escaped Vietnam in 1918. Well, I have these beautiful memories of my uncle, which is my dad's younger brother, collecting bits and pieces of rubbish. You know, my uncle would go collect lids from plastic bottles and toothpaste boxes and matchstick boxes and little sticks and all these broken bits and pieces. And what he would do is he would spend hours creating little toy cars and toy trucks for me to play with. And I would sit there patiently watching him and waiting for him to do his work. You know, friend's life is a bit like that. As we wait for God to do a redeeming work, we know that he is up to something good. There may be seasons where we feel like nothing is going right. Maybe that is you today. We feel that our lives are so broken and it's broken to bits and pieces and not sure what God would do with our mess. But if we know that God is always at work for our good, if we know that God is still redeeming all situations for his glory and we know that God is always doing something good, no matter how messed up the situation might be, no matter how broken we might be, if we know that God loves us and God cares for us and God is redeeming us, God can still create beautiful things in the midst of our brokenness. And I believe that. I believe that everything we experience in this life, especially the tough season, God can still create something beautiful and new in those tough seasons. And friends, if we know that's the case, wow, we can have hope. We can keep trusting God. Let me leave you with an old hymn from Avis Christians in written in 1918. The hymn is titled "Out of the depths to the glory above." It goes like this. "Out of the depths to the glory above, I have been lifted in wonderful love. From every fetter of my spirit is free, for Jesus has lifted me. Jesus has lifted me. Jesus has lifted me. Out of the night into glorious light, yes, Jesus has lifted me." So friends, hope is here. Hope is here today. May this Christmas, you find the hope that God has for you. And don't forget, we can have hope because one, God remembers us and two, God redeems us. Let me pray for you, especially those who really need hope in this time. Let me pray. Father God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much that in your word, you give us hope. And I am grateful that you remember us, that you never forget us. You remember those moments when we are struggling, those moments when we feel that you are not there, but yet you are there and you remember us and you love us and you care for us. And God, thank you so much for redeeming us, that old situation you can still redeem it for how good in your glory. So God, I pray right now for my brothers and sisters, anyone who is needing hope, a Lord that your hope rests upon the heart, that you will settle their hearts, anxiety to leave, fear to leave, hope and peace and love to feel their hearts right now. God, thank you so much that this Christmas, we are reminded that hope is here. Will you bless us? Thank you so much for this time. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Thank you very much. Take my church. God bless you. Bye-bye.