Whatever Happened To Hope?
(Note this text was used with the power pont slide available at Sermon Central)
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
What Is It?
"Thus ELPIDZEIN means expectation with the nuance of counting upon... If hope is fixed on God, it embraces at once the three elements of expectation of the future, trust, and the patience of waiting. Any one of these aspects may be emphasized.
Theological dictionary of the New Testament. (Vol. 2, Page 530-1).
What Is It?
In the NT, “favorable and confident expectation”... It has to do with the unseen and the future, Rom. 8:24, 25. “Hope” describes (a) the happy anticipation of good (the most frequent significance), e.g., Titus 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:21; Vine’s complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (Vol. 2, Page 311).
Where is our hope?
Safe in Heaven
Colossians 1:5 – "because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,"
Ephesians 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
What Is Our Immediate Hope
God will Supply ALL NEEDS
Philippians 4:19 – And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Mat. 6:33 – To seek first the kingdom we must have hope.
What Is Our Ultimate Hope
We shall be like Him in Heaven
1 John 3:2-3 "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."
These two hopes enable us to – keep on keeping on.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 "remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,"
Why Do We Have Hope?
Because we are in Christ
Col. 1:27 – To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Why Do We Have Hope?
Because of scripture
Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
