Let's read First Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 13.
This series that we're doing here
is based on this passage. Paul writes, "But now faith,
hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these
is love. In the first lesson we talked about
biblical faith and I said that faith - biblical faith -
was made up of three basic elements. The first of
which, precise knowledge, the words of Christ in the Bible. The
Word of God in the Bible. This constitutes our faith. When the
Bible talks about faith it's talking about a certain body of
knowledge of information from God's word. Secondly, an act of the will
in responding to this knowledge in belief, in obedience.
I decide that what I have heard is true and I respond to
that truth in some way, in the way that that truth has demanded or
required for me to respond to it. That also is part of faith.
Faith isn't just one thing, it's made up of several elements. Precise knowledge, an
act of the will, and then of course, the experience of joy and
determination, and confidence or hope, which is the
thing we're going to talk about tonight. Faith is not only in your head, not only a
decision that you make, not only an act of the will that you make, but it's
also something that you feel. Faith has feeling.
And that feeling is one of joy. As I mentioned last week:
determination, confidence, all of this is part of faith.
Now, in the second lesson, as I mentioned, I like to look at one of the
experiences produced by faith and that is Biblical hope.
Now back in the sixties, remember her, Dusty Springfield? You folks might remember
her. A little pop reference here, from way back in the day. She
had a big song, it was a song entitled Wishing and
Hoping. Wishing and hoping and dreaming. During the British invasion, in those days
all the British bands and singers were invading America, and she was one of them.
And that song was about a girl who was waiting and wanting
a guy to really care for her, to pay attention because he
was pretty much ignoring her. And so she was wishing and hoping that he would
respond to her in some way. And I use this example
because I think this is how the world interprets the
idea of hope. It's just another word for wishing and
hoping. Wishing and dreaming about something, for example,
well, I hope I win the lottery.
Or I hope it's - I hope it will be nice for the picnic next week.
Or I hope you'll have a great vacation.
Hope is seen as a fond gesture of goodwill or
the expression of an unfulfilled desire.
This word hope in the dictionary has a much narrower
meaning.
According to Webster's dictionary, the word hope means, "a confident
expectation that a desire will be fulfilled." So even in the
world - the world doesn't have the right idea of what the world
thinks of the word hope. All right. When
the Bible uses the word hope, it uses it
in - actually in this sense right here. A confident expectation that a desire
will be fulfilled. Little history of this word, how it evolved through time.
In the earliest times in the Bible,
in the Hebrew language, the word for hope in the Old Testament was one that meant a cord.
A rope or an attachment signifying being
attached in safety.
By the time of Job, the word included the sense of longing
and expectation. And then David and Solomon expressed
this idea when they include all of the concepts of
security, desire, and waiting. For example,
David writes in Psalm 16, he says, "Therefore my heart is
glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope."
Security, longing, desire.
Solomon writes in Proverbs 14, "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but
the righteous has hope in his death."
Again, security, longing, desire for something
in the future. Then we move to the New Testament.
In the New Testament the writers use this word hope in only one way, and
that is to express the idea that one anticipates, usually with pleasure,
what one waits for. In the world the general use of the
word hope is akin to wishing or dreaming for something. But the
true meaning, which is in harmony with the Bible, is a confident
expectation that you will receive something or something
will take place. Now there's one important difference with the hope that is in
Webster's Dictionary and the hope that is in the Bible.
The hope in Webster's dictionary is based on the idea that one is
relatively sure that things are going to work out.
In other words, you've worked hard in your math class, for example, you've done the
assignments, you've aced all the previous tests, so you
hope that the final will go well. So you have a confident
expectation that you should do well in the final, based on all the work that you've
done. So based on what you know, things should go well.
Your hope, in this case, is well founded. Of course
you could have an accident on the way to the test, or you could
have a bad night before the exam, or the teacher may decide to
test on obscure material not really covered in class.
You never know those teachers what they can do to their students.
In other words, the hope referred to in Webster is
relative. You're relatively sure. That's why they call it hope.
You're pretty sure, but you're not 100 percent sure, because stuff happens.
Now the difference between this hope and the hope mentioned in the Bible is that when the Bible
mentions hope, it is talking about something that is 100 percent sure.
That's the main difference.
The Bible uses the term hope when it refers to something that is not yet
present or visible, but is nevertheless
100 percent sure. Webster's uses
the term hope when it refers to something not yet present or visible,
but pretty sure. Do you see the difference here?
Hope in the world -
pretty sure. Hope in the Bible - 100 percent sure.
What would you rather have, pretty sure or 100 percent sure? I'd rather have the 100 percent
sure. And that's what the Bible is talking about. The Bible uses
this term when it is referring to something that is - let's use another word -
that it is certain. Certain that it's going to happen.
So why this difference?
The difference between the two concepts of hope is based on the issue of
guarantee. In the world, only human strength,
or intelligence, or honor can guarantee what is hoped for.
Since there is a limit to these things, there is only a limited
guarantee on our hope.
Limited guarantee for something promised in the future. Why? Because you
never know - you never know what could happen, right?
In the Bible, God is the one that guarantees what we hope
for. And since there is no limitation on God, there is no limit
on His guarantee for what we hope for. That's why our hope
is absolutely sure, because the guaranteer is God.
The Psalmist describes this truth so simply in Psalm 71,
I believe, verse 5, he says, "For you are my hope."
Oh, I love that. Think about that for a second.
He didn't say, Oh God, all this stuff that you promised me, oh Lord, I'm
just thinking about the good things you promise. He's not saying that.
He's saying, for you, God,
you are my hope. O Lord, you are my confidence
from my youth. God is the
foundation, the guaranteer, and the provider of
all we hope for.
So the chances of us receiving what we hope for are one
hundred percent sure. Here - there's
always a little good and bad news mixed here.
100 percent sure, you see, that goes for the good stuff, but it also goes for the not so good
stuff too. You know Mark 16, where he says, "Those who
believe and are baptized will be saved". That's a 100 percent sure.
But then he finishes that and said, "But those who disbelieve will be condemned."
Well, you see, the downside is that also is a hundred
percent sure.
So the writer in Hebrews 11, verse 1, tells us about
the things that we hope for. He says, "Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." So the writer tells us
that faith produces a feeling of confidence, that we will receive
the things we hope for. The things that we
confidently expect to receive from God. Not from
man, but from God. There's also another difference between Webster's hope
and the Bible's hope. Hope in this world is for things that we don't have,
but are in the future somewhere, maybe.
Good health.
I hope you have good health in the future. Well, maybe.
I hope that you will have prosperity. Young people get married and then people stand up
make a toast and we hope that this young couple has a large family and
has prosperity. Maybe.
Maybe, because we can get any one of you up here to make a testimony to say,
well, I was young once, and they hoped that for me in my marriage, but you
know what, it didn't quite work out that way. Two years into it my
husband had a car accident and he was handicapped for the
rest of his life, and he suffered for 10 years, and then he died and we had no children.
That wasn't the thing that was hoped for on the glorious wedding day.
That's why they - well, maybe, I hope.
I hope you have success in the future. You've worked hard and you went to school, you got your
degree and you got your training. You ought to have some success. Let's hope for that.
And then the oil that's at 125 dollars a barrel
goes down to $10 a barrel. And you were trained as a petroleum engineer.
Yeah.
Prosperity, maybe.
Hope in the Bible, however, refers to things that we
have, but that we don't see all of yet.
The other reason why Biblical hope is a 100 percent is because God has already given
to us the things that we hope for.
We just do not see it all just yet.
This is what the Hebrew writer means here in Hebrews 11, verse 1.
"By faith we accept as true that God has
already given us the things that we hoped for, but we haven't
seen them yet." Now the best example that I can give
for this concept here in Hebrews 11:1 is Christmas.
It's Christmas.
We have the presents, our names are on the presents. When you're a little kid you go
and then you see which presents have your name on it. There, there, there you are. They get the name on
it - the boxes are all wrapped up. One problem, we have to wait until Christmas,
midnight or whenever, so we can get down there and rip open the boxes and see what's inside.
It's ours. It has been given to us. My name is on that thing.
I just don't know what's inside yet.
Paul also talks about this in Romans Chapter 8, verse 24. He says,
"For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is
seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we
eagerly wait for it." Then in Ephesians one, verse three, to
complement this, Paul says again, "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." It doesn't say, "who will bless
us with all the blessings in heaven." He says,
here, who has - He's blessed us - we have them all.
We own them, they're ours, they belong to us. But like those Christmas presents under the
tree, we haven't unwrapped all of them yet.
We haven't been able to see all of them yet.
Note that every - and he also says, "Every spiritual blessing has
already been given to us." Everything that we can ever
hope for. Like what, for example? Well, forgiveness
and the peace that comes with forgiveness. And freedom from
condemnation and punishment. And eternal life and
spiritual power and a new character. All of these things
and more have already been given to us. We haven't fully unwrapped them yet.
That's why we hope.
Now, some of these things we already perceive in ourselves and some
we don't. For example, I see the power of the Spirit of
God working in me to enable me to overcome
sinfulness that I was at one time almost powerless
to overcome. In other words, I see myself becoming a
spiritual man. A Christian man.
I can look back five years, in ten years, and 20 years, and 30 years and say,
boy I am not the man that I was 30 years ago in Christ.
God has helped me to grow.
I see that. I see it.
It is not the work of the devil, that's for sure. And it's not the work of my flesh, because my flesh is not
interested in spiritual things. My flesh just wants the eat candy and ice cream. That's all my flesh
wants to do. Thank you, Marty. Marty only
Amen's the food references.
Those things I see, but there are some things I
have, but I don't see. And that is that glorious body
that I will resurrect to.
I have that. It's been given to me. It's mine, but that one is still - it's to be unwrapped
at a future date, but God has promised that I have - what did He
say? Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Now some of these things, as I said, we already perceive and some we don't. But the
point that the Bible makes is that we already have them. That's
why our hope is secure. Now how do we
obtain hope? We kind of look at the what, who. So how do we obtain
hope? Webster's dictionary doesn't explain it, but the way to have
hope in this world is through effort. Let me explain.
You work hard, you prepare, you invest, your hope for the best. That's Okay.
That's all right. I'll use the student analogy again.
The student who goofs off, never does the homework, pays little attention in
class, cannot have real hope to pass the final.
He can wish, he can dream, but he can't have
hope, because hope is confident expectation usually based
on effort, or some other kind of guarantee. Well, he's done everything wrong.
He cannot expect a right outcome. The Bible explains
that hope, biblical hope, is obtained not through effort,
but through faith in Jesus Christ. Exactly what
Marty was talking about this morning in his lesson. And here's how that
works. We believe that Jesus is
actually the Lord and Savior. We believe that that's true. How do we get to
hope? Well, I start by believing in the Lord of hope, who is Jesus Christ.
And then I respond to Him in obedience, expressed in repentance and baptism.
And this will obtain for me all of the spiritual blessings promised by
God. Now the Apostles, they don't mention every single
blessing that you get when you believe or when you repent and are baptized
every time they mention baptism, because the Bible would be that thick.
You kind of pick it up here and there.
So in Acts 2:38 you find out that you'll be - you
receive forgiveness in the Holy Spirit. I think I've done a lesson on this before. Where in
different places in the Bible. You find out other things that you receive when you become a
Christian. When you repent and are baptized you're added to the church.
Well, there is another blessing, you put on Christ, there's another blessing. You appeal to God
for a clear conscience, First Peter, there's another blessing.
All of these blessings, all of these blessings we receive
through faith and we can have confident expectation
to receive these things.
Why? Because God has promised them to us. None of us have worked,
or prepared, or have any influence that can obtain these gifts or blessings.
We've all - like the student who has goofed off and has no chance to
pass the test through skill or effort -That's us. No chance to get to heaven through skill
or effort, but God has abolished the test and He
guarantees the rewards to all those who believe in Christ. Something that
everybody is able to do no matter where they're at in their
lives. No matter who they are in life. So we have hope,
because through Jesus Christ we possess all of the heavenly blessings.
We may not see all of them yet, but like those presents under the
Christmas tree, our names are on every single one of them.
And God is saving them for us until the appropriate time.
And what will be the appropriate time? The Bible tells us that when He comes and
when we are resurrected to a glorious body and a glorious
life, and we - if I can say in this way -
we get to open all of the gifts that God has prepared for us.
And so I ask a question and this is one - this is a great
conversation starter if you've run out of things to talk about with somebody, a
friend or a family member, you've run out of - how's the weather, how's school, how's your family
how's your hobby. You're kind of looking for something
to carry on the conversation. And you know that they're not Christians. How about asking him, do you have a
100 percent hope of going to heaven?
You want to surprise them, you want to wake them up, this will either kill the conversation
or it'll bring the conversation in a whole new direction.
Do you have 100 percent hope of heaven?
And usually if I'm talking to someone who is not a Christian, or a nominal Christian,
many times the answer will be, well, I think so.
Or they say, I hope so, but when they say I hope so, they're really saying
I'm hoping and wishing and dreaming. I'm dreaming to go to heaven.
Now, that's one thing for someone who does not know the Lord, someone who does not know the Gospel.
I can forgive them for saying, well, I don't know, maybe. Maybe I'm going to heaven. I'm not sure.
It's when I talk to another Christian and I ask them the
question, so how sure are you that you're going to heaven? And they
go, I don't know. I hope so. I guess so.
And as Christians we are one hundred
percent certain that we are going to
heaven. One hundred percent certain, not
I think so. I hope so.
100 percent absolutely sure kind of hope. This is the
kind of hope that the Bible talks about. This is the kind of hope that we have or
should have. Now, you have this hope if you've obeyed Jesus Christ and are
faithful to Him. And I tell you rejoice in this hope, launch out on it.
Be courageous in it. You already have everything you've hoped for. You've got it
all. You possess it. Don't be afraid to step out in faith.
But if you don't have this kind of hope, ask yourself, why?
Why don't I?
I think I'm preaching to the choir here, right. If I was talking to strangers,
people who are not people of faith, obviously I could go in and explain the gospel, but here
we are among believers, here. So I am just going to twist this a little bit
and say if we're members of the church and we're the body of
Christ, if we call ourselves Christians and we've been Christians a year, five years, 50, years
80 years, whatever, and we answer the question, I don't know. I think so.
Then the next question we should ask ourselves is, why? Why do I have
some kind of uncertainty? Why is it that I doubt, to a certain
extent? Why am I not 100 percent sure
that I'm going to heaven?
Why don't I have that thing?
That's an important question to ask yourselves, to pray about.
Lord, why do I not feel confident about what you've
promised me? What am I hoping for? What's in the way?
That kind of prayer, that kind of prayer, God will answer. That, God will reveal that to you,
if you ask Him. Anyways, if you don't have that kind of hope, and if you don't know why,
and if it's something you need to take care of, then why not attach
yourself with that cord of safety, like the Old Testament writers used to say,
why not attach yourself securely to the Lord Jesus Christ
today? Always, we make the invitation in the hope
that someone who has not yet obeyed the gospel will hear the
invitation and respond to it, by confessing Christ and being baptized.
Or perhaps by answering the question, I don't have that hope because I've doubted it
and I doubt because I've sinned, or because I've fallen, or because whatever,
because there's something between me and God, or there's something between myself and
so-and-so - my wife, my husband, my son, or whatever, my friend. There's something
between us. And that thing right there, that discord is
not permitting me to have a 100 percent hope in
my own salvation. If that's the problem, and you need prayer for that, or you need to confess
that, whatever that is. We're always ready to minister to you here as we stand and sing our closing song.