God Our Only Hope | Voddie Baucham

It is a pleasure to be here with you this evening. If you have your Bibles with you, please open them to the book of Exodus, specifically to chapter 2. Let’s focus our attention on the topic of “God: Our Only Hope.” Indeed, God is our only true hope. In these challenging times, hope is something we must discuss, isn’t it? A sense of dread has spread not only across the United States but around the world. Traveling internationally right now is chaotic. For example, my journey from Lusaka here took a total of 36 hours. Airports are mostly empty, stores are shuttered, and people are walking around wearing masks and shields, while others are stationed to check your documents.

When you travel internationally, you must present a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of your trip. Going through airports today feels like passing through checkpoints during World War II, with people looking weary. I heard a doctor on the news recently discussing one of the vaccines. Before vaccines were available, there was a glimmer of hope: eventually, there would be a vaccine, and perhaps we wouldn’t all die from this pandemic. Now that vaccines are available, we think we have the solution. But we face a shortage, and many are asking, “When will I get mine?” Then, a doctor pointed out that even with the vaccine, it’s not 100% effective. We’ll still need to wear masks and practice social distancing.

So where does our hope lie? The good news is, our hope was never in vaccines, masks, or social distancing. Our hope has always been, and will always be, in God alone. Everything else will fail us.

On top of all this, people are losing hope due to political instability. There’s a sense of hopelessness, depending on which political party you supported. If the party you backed lost, it may feel as though all hope is gone. But even if your party won, you’re still in trouble, because our hope is not in any political party.

In Exodus 2, we find a powerful reminder of God’s faithfulness. Let’s read from verse 23. Moses has been rescued, discovered his identity, and fled after killing an Egyptian. He now finds himself in Midian. Verse 23 reads: “During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew.” Amen! Praise the Lord!

God was Israel’s only hope. They were oppressed under a ruthless king who sought their destruction. In the previous chapter, we see this king ordering the killing of male children. You might think that when this maniacal king died, hope would emerge. But the opposite happened. During those many days, while Moses was hidden away, the people of Israel continued to suffer. We had hope for Moses, the baby rescued from the murderous king, but he was taken into Pharaoh’s house. The expectation was that Moses would rise in Pharaoh’s house, use his power, and deliver God’s people. But then the king dies, and Moses is gone. It seemed that all hope had vanished.

God, however, had a different plan, showing that our ultimate hope must be in Him, not in circumstances or human leaders.