Hope
I. Hope Begins with Waiting
A. Christian faith expresses itself through hope that God will do what is in the best interest of believers and that in turn cultivates patience. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24-25)
B. Rejoicing in hope forms a strong cord to God when it is braided with patience and continuing prayer. “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;” (Romans 12:12)
C. Scripture was written to comfort believers and cultivate hope. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
D. Joy and peace are natural companions to hope. “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13)
II. Hope Bears Fruit
A. Hope causes people to naturally yield good fruit just as a tree planted by a stream and cultivated produces fruit. “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
B. The happiness of the hopeful invites people to investigate faith in God. “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Psalm 34:8)
C. The peace which accompanies hope is perfect and eternal. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:” (Isaiah 26:3-4)
III. Hope Is the Anchor of the Soul
A. Christ causes people expect eternal substance, meaning, and joy. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” (Colossians 1:27)
B. The Christian hope is that Jesus will save people. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;” (1 Timothy 1:1)
C. Hope makes life stable for believers. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” (Hebrews 6:18-19)
IV. Christ’s Return Is the Blessed Hope
A. Knowledge that Christ will return and set all things in order makes it possible for believers to endure the trials and vicissitudes of life; the good times are yet to come us and for believers who have gone ahead to be with Jesus. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
B. How far the blessing of eternity will take believers is too great to imagine but it makes Christians the most hopeful of all people. “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.” (1 John 3:2-3)
