Reading: Romans chapter 15 verse 13.
Quote: Charles Swindoll:
• Hope is a wonderful gift from God,
• A source of strength and courage in the face of life’s harshest trials.
• When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end.
• When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy.
• When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
• When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
• When we lose our way and confusion blurs the destination,
• Hope dulls the edge of panic.
• When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness,
• Hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
• When we fear the worst, hope brings reminders that God is still in control.
• When we must endure the consequences of bad decisions, hope fuels our recovery.
• When we find ourselves unemployed, hope tells us we still have a future.
• When we are forced to sit back and wait, hope gives us the patience to trust.
• When we feel rejected and abandoned,
• Hope reminds us we’re not alone ... we’ll make it.
• When we say our final farewell to someone we love,
• Hope in the life beyond gets us through our grief.
• Put simply, when life hurts and dreams fade,
• Nothing helps like hope.
• According to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 13;
• There are the three abiding virtues (qualities), they are: “Faith, hope and love”;
Quote: Warren Wiersbe:
• FAITH compels us to LOOK UP;
• And have confidence in the true and living God.
• LOVE constrains us to LOOK AROUND;
• And encourage those who need our help;
• And HOPE motivates us to LOOK AHEAD;
• With assurance, knowing that the future is our friend because Jesus is our living Lord.
Ill:
"HOPE" has been called the "Cinderella" of this great threesome:
• Question: Why?
• Answer: Because it is the one always left out! The one never taken to the ball!
• We hear a lot of messages on Faith, and a lot of messages on Love,
• But rarely do we hear a message specifically on HOPE.
Now our benediction and the surrounding verses:
• Are about Christian hope.
• And therefore it is a great benediction of encouragement.
(1). The SIGHT of this Hope (vs 12b)
• Note: At the end of verse 12,
• Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah and says: "The Gentiles will hope in HIM."
The context of these verses is the Apostle Paul talking about God’s great plan of salvation.
• The apostle Paul describes a great choir of both Jews and Gentiles;
• Praising the Lord with one mouth.
Note: He does this by quoting four passages from the Old Testament:
(1).
• Each quote is very significant;
• And Paul uses them to show a beautiful progressive truth:
• Verse 9 Paul quotes Psalm 18 verse 49.
• To show the Jews glorifying God among the Gentiles.
• Romans chapter 1 verse 16 reminds us that;
• Salvation came “First to the Jew”
(2).
• Verse 10 Paul quotes Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 43.
• To show the Gentiles rejoicing with the Jews.
• Don’t read that statement too quickly;
• Because it wasn’t always that way!
• Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12 that the Gentiles were “Without hope”
• Because of the faithfulness of Jewish Christians to share the gospel message;
• Gentile nations had & have the opportunity to trust Christ as saviour!
(3).
• Verse 11 Paul quotes Psalm 117 verse 1;
• To show all Jews and Gentiles together praising God.
• Regarding those first two quotes;
• Let me suggest they refer to the past!
• First quote is Acts chapters 1-7: the gospel being taken to the Jews.
• Second quote is Acts chapter 15 when Gentile Christians were given equal status!
• This third quote may well refer to today (you and I):
• As one body/church made up of Jew/Gentile praise God together.
(4).
• Verse 12 Paul quotes Isaiah chapter 11 verse 10.
• Future hope when Christ shall reign over both Jews and Gentiles.
So our hope as Christians is 100% rooted in Jesus Christ:
• You and I (regardless as to whether you are Jewish or a Gentile);
• You and I who were once enemies to God and separated from by our sin.
• We can praise him this ???????????
• Because ‘in Christ’ he has reconciled us to the Living God.
Ill:
• It matters not what Church (or denomination) a person attends;
• It matters not whether you are male or female,
• It matters not whether you are young or old,
• It matters not whether you are rich or / black or white.
• But It does matters immensely your view of Christ;
• It matters immensely as to whether or not you are trusting him for salvation!
That is why at the end of verse 12:
• Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah and says: "The Gentiles will hope in HIM."
• Without him ("the root of Jesse" i.e. Jesus). There is no hope!
Ill:
• A little over a month before he died, the famous atheist Jean-Paul Sartre;
• Declared that he so strongly resisted feelings of despair that he would say to himself,
• “I know I shall die in hope.”
• Then in profound sadness, he would add, “But hope needs a foundation.”
• Without Jesus Christ as that foundation - there is no hope!
• The hope of every Christian looks solely to Jesus Christ as its focus!
Our hope looks to Jesus:
(A). FOR THIS LIFE.
• We have One who is beside us every step of the way in this life.
• His promise is; “Never to leave us or forsake us!”
• The Christian’s Hope is not in men and what they can do for us;
• The Christian’s hope is fixed in Christ.
Ill:
• During the darkest days of the second world war, just after France had capitulated;
• An emergency meeting of the cabinet was called.
• Winston Churchill outlined the situation in its starkest colours;
• “Gentlemen” he said; “Britain stands alone!”
• When he finished speaking there was silence (you could hear a pin drop),
• On the faces of his cabinet was written despair and defeat.
• Churchill looked around that dispirited company and said;
• “Gentlemen, I find it rather inspiring!”
Question: As believers, aren’t you glad:
• All our hopes are in Christ and Christ alone!
• Note: Surely there is no safer place to deposit those hope!
• Note: That in the original Greek text, the word "HOPE" here has the article.
• So it literally reads: "May the God of THE Hope ..."
• Quote: “The only certainty in life are death and taxes”
• But the Christian can add “and every promise spoken by Jesus Christ!”
(B). FOR ETERNITY.
• The Christian hope is not for this life only!
• Jesus said; “That where I am, there you shall be also!”
• Because we believe in the resurrection of the dead,
• Our ultimate HOPE is an eternity with the Lord;
Ill:
• Haircut for a funeral;
• Quote John Wesley: “Our people die well!”
Ill:
• Whenever we buy anything Kathy & Arlo always want the receipt.
• The receipt is proof of purchase!
• Someone has described the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
• As God’s receipt that a price for sin was paid on the cross.
• Therefore in view of his resurrection;
• The Christian’s ultimate hope is not in this old world; i.e. Hoping it will get better!
• The Christian’s ultimate hope is in a better time and a better place.
• A resurrected body and a new world out of the old and a reigning Lord & saviour!
(2). The SOURCE of this Hope (vs 13 a)
• "May the God of Hope"
• God himself is the source of our Hope.
• Ill: Jeremiah the prophet called God: “the Hope of Israel” (14:8);
• Ill: And the “hope of their fathers” (50:7).
• In this benediction God is again referred to as; "The God of Hope";
• This implies several things about our God:
e.g.:
• His NATURE is Hopeful.
• With God the glass is always half full and never half empty.
ill
Almost every activity of human life is motivated to some degree by hope:
• Because of hope farmers plant seeds,
• Because of hope teachers teach pupils.
• Because of hope people fall in love and get married and have families.
• God motivates us by hope;
• Quote:
• “That’s why he put eyes in the front of our heads! He wants us to look forward!”
Ill:
Abraham in the Old Testament knew God as a God of hope!
• When having to make some important choices;
• He was swayed and influenced by, and lived in the hope of God’s promises.
• We are told that when given the chance;
• He did not look back to Ur of the Chaldes,
• When given the chance he didn’t look around at Sodom and Gomorrah;
• And the other cities on the plain like for example Lot and his wife.
• Instead he looked ahead to the city of God;
• He had hope in the fact that this was where his eternal citizenship lay.
• Quote: Hebrews chapter 11 verse 10:
• “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God”.
Ill:
A promise of course is only as good as the one who makes it!
• I can promise my kids a trip to the moon or a trip to Disneyland.
• But I have the ability to keep only one of those promises!
• Abraham believed in a God of hope.
• A God who can deliver on each and every promise!
(3). The SERENITY of this Hope (vs 13b)
• "...fill you with ALL JOY AND PEACE as you trust (FAITH) him."
• This Hope affords us Joy & Peace as we continue to trust, have faith in him.
Ill:
• Paul has used these two attributes earlier in his letter;
• In the previous chapter (14 verse 17):
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,
but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit"
• “The kingdom of God” that expression simply means; ‘where God is reigning’;
• The result of God reining in your life is ‘Peace and Joy’.
Ill:
• A healthy apple tree produces apples.
• A healthy peach tree produces peaches.
• A healthy pear tree produces pears.
• A healthy cherry tree produces cherry.
• A healthy Christian (a life in which Christ is reigning):
• Will experience ‘Joy and peace’.
Ill:
Fruit of the Holy Spirit is ‘Love, joy peace……”
• Ill: Remember no machine can ever manufacture fruit.
• Because fruit can only grow out of life.
• People who are spiritually dead do not have ‘Love, joy & peace’
• As something resident and permeating their lives – because they are spiritually dead!
• But the Christian who is alive and ‘walking in step’ with the Holy Spirit;
• Will experience the fruit that ‘He’ (the Holy Spirit and not they themselves) produces.
(4). The SUFFICIENCY of this Hope (vs 13c)
"...that you may OVERFLOW with hope"
Ill:
• You know the Early Church evidenced this abundance of Hope.
• Whenever they met one another.
• Ill: Just as the first Christians developed a sign of recognition; ‘The Fish’.
• The ancient and classical Greek word for "fish." – ‘Ichthus’.
• The Christians made an acrostic for each of the letters of that word ‘Ichthus’
• Jesus / Christ / God’s / Son / Saviour.
• They also developed a greeting:
• One believer would say to another the word "MARANATHA";
• Which means "the Lord is coming!"
• These believers expected Him daily; and daily they lived in that hope!
Note:
• These Christians attitude was not merely positive;
• It was bursting, it was choc-full of hope.
• Ill: This word used in verse 13: "overflow" or "abound" is the Greek word "perisseuo",
• Ill: Which means "to superabound, to have in excess".
Ill:
• Nice to have money in your wallet,
• Better still if it’s in your wallet, your pockets, your piggy bank, under the mattress and even in the bank!
Ill:
• Nice to have food on your plate at dinner-time,
• Better still if you have it in your fridge, freezer and cupboards!
Ill:
• Paul says as Christians we are not just positive thinkers!
• We are those who "Superabound”, those who have hope “In excess".
Remember: that the sufficiency of our hope is secured in God himself:
Ill:
• Every premiership football team wants a Roman Abramovich.
• A club chairman who will pump money galore into their football team.
• But even Roman Abramovich is feeling the economic crisis;
• His team Chelsea have not been able to buy any players recently.
Christian:
• God wants us to SUPERABOUND in Hope.
• He wants this Hope that we have to be filling us up to overflowing;
• Because he will never have to tighten his belt; His resources never run low!
• He is always sufficient to meet our needs!
• Therefore God wants us to SUPERABOUND in Hope.
• He wants this Hope that we have to be filling us up to overflowing;
And there is more:
• God wants us to SUPERABOUND in Hope.
• He wants this Hope that we have to be filling us up to overflowing;
• So that it pours out of our lives to affect others.
• The hope that we have in Jesus Christ should be contagious.
• Ill: Remember: We are channels of hope, not reservoirs!
• The hope that we have in Jesus Christ should be contagious.
(5). The SUPPLY of this Hope
"...by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT."
• We receive this hope, and we live in this hope,
• And we keep this hope alive, “By the power of the Holy Spirit”.
• The Greek word for power here is "Dunamis".
• From which we get our words like "dynamic" & "dynamite".
In other words we need an outside power to maintain our hope:
• Ill: Run on the battery system.
• Our hope is going to be up and down, weak and strong, inconstant!
• Ill: Running on the mains.
• Constant flow, a stability in our lives!
We need according to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18:
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit”.
CONCLUSION:
Ill:
• Charles Spurgeon called this verse (Romans chapter 15 verse 13):
• “One of the richest passages in the word of God”
(1). THE SIGHT OF THIS HOPE
• "In Him shall the gentiles hope."
• Our Hope looks to Jesus as is constant focus.
(2). THE SOURCE OF THIS HOPE
• He is "the God of (the) Hope"
• God himself and non-other is the source of our Hope.
(3). THE SERENITY OF THIS HOPE
• "All joy and peace in believing"
• Joy – “Happy are those whose sins are forgiven”
• Peace – “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
(4). THE SUFFICIENCY OF THIS HOPE
• "That you may abound"
• Our Hope is one of superabundance.
• He has saved us! (Penalty of sin)
• He is saving us! (Power of sin)
• And he shall save us! (Presence of sin)
(5). THE SUPPLY OF THIS HOPE
• "By the power of the Holy Spirit"
• We receive this abundant Hope by the Spirit’s power at work in our lives.
