Confident Expectation

Faith is the cornerstone of our belief system

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

And without faith it is impossible to please God

So what is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

So faith involves two components:

Confidence about things that we hope for

Assurance of what we do not see

Now, there’s a third component of faith that I want to talk about today, and I think we lack it in our standard understanding.

Faith is what we believe about what we cannot see - but

Faith is also what we expect

And I want to unpack that one for you.

If you think about it that way, you see that all throughout the the rest of hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11:7 (NIV)

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.

Hebrews 11:8 NIV

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

There’s plenty more stories in hebrews 11:

Isaac and jacob spoke through faith in regards to the future of their children

Joseph told his family about the coming exodus from egypt

moses’ parents hid him because they knew that God had a great plan through him

By faith moses refused to be known as the pharoahs’ son - because he knew that God had a reward in the future.

what’s the common thread behind each one of these stories?

They knew of a greater future that God had - and they EXPECTED it

This section of hebrews 11 really sums it up well.

Hebrews 11:13–16 NIV

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Expectation is the difference between keeping our citizenship here, and waiting for our citizenship in eternity

This is very true, if you think about it.

-GOD GIVES YOU A BIG PROMISE - but you act as if it won’t come true. The future holds no hope for you without expectation - only uncertainty. So you act in there here and now.

But if we EXPECT God to answer our prayers, EXPECT him to move when he says he will - we put our chips in that future.

Faith without expectation is empty

Faith without expectation is just information. And just information isn’t enough to save us.

We can know the truth, we can even believe that the truth is REAL - but if we don’t expect it to make a real and wonderful difference right here and now, are we actually expectantly following the truth?

James 2:19 NIV

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James here, he’s talking about how faith needs to lead to action. HE’S RESPONDING TO ‘FAITH WITHOUT ACTION’ - it’s just info - even the demons know the info.

Faith with expectation is confidence

Ephesians 3:12 NIV

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

(him being Jesus)

Faith is knowing that God promised that he’d always welcome us. Expectant faith is saying, ‘ok, so that means I can be confident to approach him’.

FAITH - our sins are forgiven. EXPECTANT FAITH - I don’t have to condemn myself any longer.

FAITH - Jesus gave me a new life.

EXPECTANT FAITH - I can have a new life - right here and right now.

So I’ll end the message off with this:

What are you expecting?

Are you expecting a loving God, who answers us whenever we cry, no matter what? Or are you expecting God to actually leave you high and dry unless you get everything perfect?

Are you expecting a vengeful God, who’s just waiting to get rid of you? Or are you expecting a loving God that can’t wait to talk to you?

Ephesians 3:16–19 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

We can expect that God has glorious riches - and that he wants to use them to strengthen us.

We can expect that Jesus WILL live with us.

We can expect that God will show us more and more and more of his love, even beyond what we can understand.

We can expect that God wants to fill completely with himself, his goodness, his glory