Jesus Is Our Hope!

Intro:

1. Lucy and Linus are sitting in front of the TV set when she says to Linus, “Go get me a glass of water.” Linus looks surprised, “Why should I do anything for you? You never do anything for me!” Lucy responds, “On your 75th birthday, I will bake you a cake.”

Linus gets up and heads for the kitchen, “Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward too.”

2. Every believer has something to look forward too, it is what we call hope.

3. Jesus Christ our Hope.

1 Timothy 1:1-2 (NKJV)

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,

2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

I. First, his Commission.

A. His Gift.

Paul, an apostle – Wuest, “The word apostolos, from the verb apostello, “to send one off on a commission to do something as one’s personal representative with credentials furnished. Paul thought of himself as an official ambassador of Christ.”

All believers have at least one gift, and all are needed and important (1 Cor. 12:14-26).

An airplane pilot said, “A flight from Washington D.C. was uneventful until landing in Indianapolis. The plane was taxing to the terminal but stopped in the middle of the runway. Many of the passengers were beginning to fidget in their seats as the engines idled.” Then the pilot made an announcement that defused the tension:

“I flew this multimillion-dollar aircraft from Washington D.C. at night and found the airport on my first try. However, I have to wait until a guy with a couple of 99 cent flashlights shows me how to park it!”

The Body of Christ is gifted with both pilots and those with 99 cent flashlights type ministries and both are important and needed.

B. His God.

1. God the Father – here called Savior (I Tim. 2:3/Tit.1:3; 2:10; 3:4), the Lord Jesus is also called Savior (2 Tim.1:10/Tit.1:4; 2:13/Phil.3:20/Eph. 5:23).

2. God the Son. 1b, 2b

We have the same God!

II. Furthermore, his Confidence.

A. Jesus is our Peace (Eph. 2:14) because our Past sins have been dealt with.

H. G. Wells, “The time has come for me to reorganize my life, my peace – I cry out [for]. I cannot adjust my life to secure any fruitful peace. Here I am at sixty-five, and still seeking for peace…[it is a] hopeless dream.”

B. Jesus is our Life (Col. 3:4), the One who enables us in the Present, to deal with the stress of life.

Will Durant, “There’s nothing in life that is certain except defeat, death, and despair, a sleep from which seems there is no awakening. Faith and hope disappear. Doubt and despair are the order of my day. It is impossible to give life any meaning any longer.”

Two weeks later he died!

C. Jesus is our Hope, because of Him our Future is going to be glorious.

What is hope? “The believer’s hope cannot be defined as the world defines hope. The believer’s hope is entirely different from the worlds desires and wishes…Believers hope means to expect with confidence; to anticipate, to look and long for with surety, eagerly looking forward to what will happen.” [Practical Word Studies in the N.T.]

• Jesus is the hope, the certainty of all the glorious blessings of God (Col. 1:17)

• Jesus is the hope of our glorified bodies (Phil. 3:20-21)

• Jesus is the hope of attaining to Christlikeness (I Jn. 3:2)

It doesn’t matter if we lose our health, wealth, clout, job, or even our reputation – “our hope is built on nothing less then Jesus blood and righteousness; we dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name!”

G. F. Watt has a famous painting entitled Hope. It pictures a poor woman against the world. Her eyes are bandaged so she cannot see. In her hand is a harp, but all the strings are broken except one.

Those broken strings represent her shattered expectations, her bitter disappointments. But that last string is the string of hope! She strikes it and a glorious melody rings forth.

In the midst of shattered dreams and bitter disappointments we still have the Lord Jesus Christ – our string of hope.

III. Thirdly, his Convert.

Timothy was one of Paul’s converts, one whom we would not normally give much hope. He seems to be backward, timid, and just plain fearful (I Cor. 16:10/2 Tim.1:7).

How does one like me and Timothy have hope? Because it was Jesus, not Timothy, who was his hope. Our Lord comes and overshadows our weakness with His strength.

Some years ago in a mental institution outside of Boston, a young girl known as “Little Annie” was locked in the dungeon. Doctors viewed her as a hopeless case, but then a nurse who was nearing retirement began eating her lunch outside of little Annie’s cage.