April 6th, 2022
How many of you are currently hoping for something that hasn’t yet happened? We all should be! An important thing to keep in mind about hope is that the way we use the word in our society is not the way the Bible uses it. When we say we’re hoping for something, what we mean is that we want a particular result out of multiple possible outcomes. It expresses our desire for something to happen, not that it actually will. Biblical hope, on the other hand, is the expectation of something that you know is coming but don’t yet see. If you’ve ever hoped (modern version) for something in life and were disappointed, you know that it can be crippling. After a disappointment, we will often guard ourselves from hoping again under the guise of wisdom, even going so far as to say things like “don’t get your hopes up.” The reality, though, is that we should get our hopes up! Hope is absolutely essential in the life of a believer, and I want to share a couple of thoughts about it this week.
First of all, we have to realize that any disappointment we’ve ever suffered wasn’t because God’s promises failed us. God has never failed, and He never will. If we have our trust and hope fully resting in God and His promises, then there is nothing we could face that could ever dim them. No unbelief made Abraham waver in waiting for the promise of His son, Isaac (Rom. 4:18- 20). Even when it seemed absolutely impossible that He and His wife would have a son, and many years passed, Abraham didn’t stop believing. He knew that God was faithful. We will only waver in our hope if we look at our circumstances, instead of the God of the promise. We will only be disappointed if we place our hope in our plans or abilities. We will only be discouraged if we forget that He’s the God of the impossible!
There is a very interesting verse about hope in 1 Corinthians 15:19 that says, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Now, Paul was writing here to the church in Corinth about the hope of eternal life, the reality of heaven, and the resurrection of the dead. Heaven is the ultimate hope of the believer. It’s a place that we cannot yet see with our eyes, but that we live with an expectation of our entire lives! Think about this verse though. Paul was challenging the believers for living with a carnal, worldly mentality. They were doubting the reality of the resurrection of the dead, living as though the promises of God were meant only for our lives on earth. If that were true, what a miserable people we would be. Thank God, it’s not! The promises of God benefit us in this life and the life to come. We have to live with a sense of the reality of heaven, now. The Bible says the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heaven dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit as a down payment, a deposit, of the glory that we’ll know when we meet Him face to face. Everything God does, every plan He’s made, every word in the Bible, has eternity in it. I’ve heard it said many times that God “writes eternity on the hearts of men.” It's the truth. Every man or woman is created in the image of God and has been given an eternal Spirit that will spend forever either with God or without Him. As believers, we have the promise of redemption! We know that we will live out forever with the God of heaven and earth. We can only be disappointed, without hope, if we forget that promise. Anything we face in this life is absolutely nothing in comparison with the glory that He has promised us in the life to come.
Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus along these lines and I would encourage you to pray this prayer out loud, as if it’s for you. I’ve changed the pronouns a bit to make it personal!
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory would give [me] the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of [my] heart would be enlightened, to know the hope to which he has called [me], that [I] would know what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (adapted from Eph. 2:17-19)
When our hearts are enlightened to realize the hope to which He’s called us and the greatness of His power working in us, we cannot live with disappointment. Colossians 1:27 says,
“God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The glorious mystery of the gospel is the powerful truth that Christ lives in us! That is the power working within us that Paul was talking about in Ephesians. Jesus in US is the hope of glory. If we know the power of this truth, we will only be able to live in expectation of everything He’s promised us, now and in the life to come. The Bible also tells us in Hebrews 7:16 that Jesus did not become our Savior based on legal requirements, but by the power of His “indestructible life.” Jesus was able to take our place because of His absolute perfection, as He walked in intimacy with the Father. He rose from the grave victorious, defeating death and every power of darkness. Think about that! We have the promise of heaven because the life of Jesus, which can never be destroyed, dwells in us.
I’ll finish with this. Romans 5:2-5 says,
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Hope will never put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We aren’t supposed to be able to hope on our own and we can’t heal our hearts from the pain of disappointment. It’s not our will or our circumstances that will cause us to dream with God. It’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit, pouring the love of God and the life of Jesus into our hearts, that we are filled! Let the eyes of your heart be opened to that truth and your life will be flooded with hope. God is always good, and we have every reason to believe Him. He is no less faithful now than He has always been, and His promises will never disappoint us. The indestructible life of Christ dwells on the inside of you, as a believer. This is the glorious mystery of the gospel: Jesus in YOU, the hope of glory!
First of all, we have to realize that any disappointment we’ve ever suffered wasn’t because God’s promises failed us. God has never failed, and He never will. If we have our trust and hope fully resting in God and His promises, then there is nothing we could face that could ever dim them. No unbelief made Abraham waver in waiting for the promise of His son, Isaac (Rom. 4:18- 20). Even when it seemed absolutely impossible that He and His wife would have a son, and many years passed, Abraham didn’t stop believing. He knew that God was faithful. We will only waver in our hope if we look at our circumstances, instead of the God of the promise. We will only be disappointed if we place our hope in our plans or abilities. We will only be discouraged if we forget that He’s the God of the impossible!
There is a very interesting verse about hope in 1 Corinthians 15:19 that says, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Now, Paul was writing here to the church in Corinth about the hope of eternal life, the reality of heaven, and the resurrection of the dead. Heaven is the ultimate hope of the believer. It’s a place that we cannot yet see with our eyes, but that we live with an expectation of our entire lives! Think about this verse though. Paul was challenging the believers for living with a carnal, worldly mentality. They were doubting the reality of the resurrection of the dead, living as though the promises of God were meant only for our lives on earth. If that were true, what a miserable people we would be. Thank God, it’s not! The promises of God benefit us in this life and the life to come. We have to live with a sense of the reality of heaven, now. The Bible says the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heaven dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit as a down payment, a deposit, of the glory that we’ll know when we meet Him face to face. Everything God does, every plan He’s made, every word in the Bible, has eternity in it. I’ve heard it said many times that God “writes eternity on the hearts of men.” It's the truth. Every man or woman is created in the image of God and has been given an eternal Spirit that will spend forever either with God or without Him. As believers, we have the promise of redemption! We know that we will live out forever with the God of heaven and earth. We can only be disappointed, without hope, if we forget that promise. Anything we face in this life is absolutely nothing in comparison with the glory that He has promised us in the life to come.
Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus along these lines and I would encourage you to pray this prayer out loud, as if it’s for you. I’ve changed the pronouns a bit to make it personal!
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory would give [me] the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of [my] heart would be enlightened, to know the hope to which he has called [me], that [I] would know what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (adapted from Eph. 2:17-19)
When our hearts are enlightened to realize the hope to which He’s called us and the greatness of His power working in us, we cannot live with disappointment. Colossians 1:27 says,
“God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The glorious mystery of the gospel is the powerful truth that Christ lives in us! That is the power working within us that Paul was talking about in Ephesians. Jesus in US is the hope of glory. If we know the power of this truth, we will only be able to live in expectation of everything He’s promised us, now and in the life to come. The Bible also tells us in Hebrews 7:16 that Jesus did not become our Savior based on legal requirements, but by the power of His “indestructible life.” Jesus was able to take our place because of His absolute perfection, as He walked in intimacy with the Father. He rose from the grave victorious, defeating death and every power of darkness. Think about that! We have the promise of heaven because the life of Jesus, which can never be destroyed, dwells in us.
I’ll finish with this. Romans 5:2-5 says,
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Hope will never put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We aren’t supposed to be able to hope on our own and we can’t heal our hearts from the pain of disappointment. It’s not our will or our circumstances that will cause us to dream with God. It’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit, pouring the love of God and the life of Jesus into our hearts, that we are filled! Let the eyes of your heart be opened to that truth and your life will be flooded with hope. God is always good, and we have every reason to believe Him. He is no less faithful now than He has always been, and His promises will never disappoint us. The indestructible life of Christ dwells on the inside of you, as a believer. This is the glorious mystery of the gospel: Jesus in YOU, the hope of glory!
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