Hope

Title: Hope

Text: Acts 2:22-39

Acts 2 has been called the record of the birthday of the church. This is true. It was the beginning of "the Way", as they called it. It was the beginning of the gospel of Christ being preached, that He was the resurrected Son of God.

Peter preached statements of indictment against those who had Jesus crucified: READ Acts 2 SELECTED VERSES.

**Why did Peter tell them to repent and be baptized?

--Peter didn’t say things so they would believe and maybe be saved.

--They asked what to do to be saved.

--They wanted to know how to keep from being lost.

--And the answer they received, they expected, would cause them to expect to be saved.

**And we all know what happened "...the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

**"How do you know that you will be saved?" Let me ask you right now, Are you sure?

**Our assurance, or the lack of it, in our salvation is summed up by how we feel about one word in the New Testament. HOPE What is New Testament hope and how do we learn how to trust in that hope?

DEFINITION OF HOPE IN THE BIBLE: “Hope is when the realities of the next world and the future are perfectly familiar; the tone is not that of prediction but that of obvious fact. In other words hope, to Christians, is CERTAINTY....”

**Listen to these scriptures:

‒ Hebrews 6:18-20 "These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he makes a promise, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath. These things encourage us who came to God for safety. They give us strength to hold on to the hope we have been given. {19} We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and strong. It enters behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place in heaven, {20} where Jesus has gone ahead of us and for us...”.

‒ Romans 5:3-5 "We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. {4} And patience produces character, and character produces hope. {5} And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us."

‒ Titus 2:13 "We should live like that while we wait for our great hope and the coming of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."

Do any of these sound like there is no expectation????

1. Hope is founded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Heaven is our hope, we want to be raised. Without resurrection we can all go home.

A. The word “So,” rendered “therefore” in some translations, in Acts 2:36 points back to the conversation about Jesus being resurrected from the dead. That was the basis for Peter’s Sermon.

‒ He said concerning the Jews, Acts 2:23-24 "...You put him (Jesus) to death by nailing him to a cross...{24} God raised Jesus from the dead...."

‒ He said "Jesus is the one whom God raised from the dead. And we are all witnesses....” V. 32

‒ Therefore, the basis of their salvation and hope is seen in the resurrection.

B. Paul’s hope in resurrection is what drove him to serve God.

‒ Acts 24:15-16 "I have the same hope in God that they have--the hope that all people, good and bad, will surely be raised from the dead. {16} This is why I always try to do what I believe is right before God and people."

2. Because of hope we gain an obedient faith.

A. What is your motivation for serving God?

‒ Some serve from fear, continually. Not the reverent fear of God, but a fear that He is out to crush them.

‒ Some serve God because of the threat of others like a parent or a preacher.

‒ Some serve God from the confidence of the hope that He gives them.

B. Why didn’t I say that "hope is seen in an obedient faith"?

‒ Because hope causes motivation, not visa versa.

‒ Too many have the cart before the horse on this subject.

‒ My hope keeps me going, not my going makes me hope.

‒ We sing, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name."

‒ Too many times we have confidence in our own ability to be saved. This always fails, why?

‒ "Our righteousness is as filthy rags." --Isaiah 64:6

‒ "There is none righteous, no not one." --Romans 3:10

‒ We cannot be good enough to earn our salvation. We are "bent" toward sin.

‒ Our nature is sinful. As we grow older we get wiser, but we never will attain "sinlessness."