Hope

INTRODUCTION:

Hope and Love are things everyone needs. Hope gives you a direction otherwise you wander about lost. Some people hope for a large bank account for their old age, some hope for fame while they are young. Others hope just to be loved, and to find the capacity to love.

Christians see beyond, this life. They have been given a hope by God that grows as they grow older. Hope for things in this world slips by when people grow older. Hope is mentioned over 50 times in the New Testament. We will cover just a few verses.

I/ CHRIST IS OUR HOPE

1. "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:"(Col 1:27)

I have chosen this verse first, because Christ is our hope, without him we would not have hope for anything beyond this life. This verse reminds us that Christ is IN US, that knowledge brings us hope. When we look at our lives, and see the imperfection, we are discouraged and loose hope, but when we look at Jesus, that He loves us and dwells in us we are brought back to hope.

2. "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)

Since our God is the source of our hope, we wonder what this hope does for us. This verse tells us that through the power of the Holy Ghost, we can be filled with all joy and peace. People everywhere are looking for happiness, they are looking to wealth, fame, good times, earthly loves ect.. But we know that lasting Joy, and Peace come from within and this verse tells us that God’s hope or hope in God brings these things to us.

3. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;"(1 Tim 1:1)

We can hope because "God our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ" is our Hope. Think of that !! Our Saviour is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the bible says All things were made by him and without him was not anything that was made. This Omnipotent, Omnipresent God is our hope.

II/ THOSE WITHOUT HOPE

1."That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:"(Eph 2:12)

Being without Christ and without God means they are without hope. Oh yes they hope in worldly things, such as money and power and fame, but 99.9 percent are disappointed in even that. The others are disappointed when they grow old and cannot enjoy the world.

2. "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."

(1 Thess 4:13,14)

Those who all there lifetime have lived without eternal hope, have relatives who when they die, also have no hope. So they are hopeless and there relatives are hopeless. Then there are those who have a false hope. Hitler gave young Germans false hope that he was setting up a super race by killing those Jews who would degrade the future generations. They all died to find they hoped in the wrong thing.

III/ HOPE IS GIVEN TO US BY GOD

1."Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you."

(1 Peter 1:3,4)

With all the false hopes given to men by Satan and the world system, how did we get this living hope, the one that lives within us to empower us? It was given to us by God through His mercy when we believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

2. "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;"(Heb 6:18,19)

God in his mercy set hope before us, we received it and it has become an anchor for our souls, which this verse says is steadfast and sure. I remember, when I was first saved, how I thought of one day walking the streets of Gold in heaven and talking with