The Powerful Hope for A Cynic

I have entitled this post 'The Powerful Hope for A Cynic,' because from time to time the viewing of the world and the thought of making an impact depresses me. Why? The short answer: sin. If you come from a completely atheistic mindset: we are a collocation of atoms, all emotion is just chemical reaction, we have come from and will go to nothingness. That is terribly depressing, not liberating. The people that believe this certainly do not follow through with their beliefs, for with this worldview morality is a sham. I come from an Evangelical Christian perspective, and guess what, I do not have faith in the natural man, because he is dominated by sin. There is no hope for overcoming the evil and selfishness in every man - the thought of changing people through such means as welfare, politics, healthcare, law, social action, business, and education should be seen as an enterprise in insanity. If you define insanity as the doing of the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Every day the news and our own actions and attitudes prove this. Although mankind has made immense progress in all of the aforementioned areas and more - we find new and unimaginable evils happening everyday - from the simple white lie to genocide. However, I was again reminded of The Hope a Christian has while reading in the classic text Preaching and Preachers in a chapter on the need for the anointing of the Holy Spirit in preaching. The powerful hope, is Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection for sins and the new life He offers all men.

Here is what D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said on revival and the need for the anointing of the Spirit upon the preacher:

Take the situation with which we are confronted today. Look at the task, look at the state of the world, look at the modern mentality. Without believing in and knowing something of the power of the Spirit, it is a heart-breaking task. I certainly could not go on for another day but for this. If I felt that it was all left to us and our learning and our scholarship and our organisations, I would be of all men the most miserable and hopeless. The situation would be completely hopeless. But that is not the case. What we read of in the New Testament is equally possible and open to us today; and it is our only hope. But we must realise this. If we do not, we shall spend our time in 'shallows and in miseries'; and we shall achieve nothing. (sic, Preaching and Preachers, 315).

Though this transcript of his lecture is dated, it is timeless. It is only with the knowledge that God through His Spirit, particularly in preaching as His means for bringing faith and new birth, transforms men into "new creature[s]" (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 10). With new life in Christ, men are no longer enslaved to sin and have new desires and goals and and the living hope Jesus! God is making all things new, and He is transforming lives now - particularly through the preaching of His Gospel!! All my hope and trust is in God. I have faith in His power and His gospel and His anointing for the carrying out of the task. Indeed, this is the hope that this cynic has found and will find anew all his life.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. - 2 Cor. 5:17

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Titus 2:11-13

Soli Deo Gloria
 - The Reader