Confident Hope in Christ

Opening

Good morning! Thank you for taking time on a Saturday morning to spend time with your brothers in Christ!

Before we dive into the message, let’s pray.

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Earlier Gary shared with us about the theme for the year based on Romans 12:12, which says

Romans 12:12 (NLT)

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

Today I want to focus in on that first part - our confident hope.

As guys we like being able to portray that we are confident. That we know what we are talking about, that we are secure.

But I’m not sure we are always as confident as we let on.

Think of some areas where you have confidence.

Maybe you’re been confident in your physical strength. You can lift a good amount. You can do pretty well in a fight.

Show of hands if you think you could beat me up? What if I told you I’m a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Jiu Jitsu?

Well I’d be lying. But if I did have that training, maybe your confidence would decrease a little bit.

I’m obviously not very scary, but imagine your confidence level fighting an MMA Champion or someone much bigger than you whose muscles have muscles.

We probably wouldn’t be too confident!

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What if I asked you to walk across a 20 foot bridge that was two feet wide. It’s only a foot off the ground and a very shallow stream running underneath. Most of us would confidently cross.

What if that bridge was 100 feet above the ground and this 2 foot wide bridge didn’t have guardrails and there were high winds and it was very foggy so we couldn’t see where we were stepping? Our confidence would fade wouldn’t it?

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A lot of us are confident with our work, our trade. Maybe you know your job inside and out, you are efficient, whether that’s driving trucks or construction, you’re a salesman, or you run spreadsheets. You’re good at what you do.

But what if you were missing your tools, technology went down, a young slick guy who is even stronger and smarter and skilled came along. Or your health changed or your management changed or your duties changed. . .

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There are a lot of factors around us and even if it were one or two big things that changed, we wouldn’t be so confident.

The reality is that many of the areas that we generally feel confident about are hanging by a thread.

How much more the other things in our lives that we are unsure about? Money, relationships, long term health, our government, maybe even our faith?

But there is one very important area that I am confident in (and I believe you can be too) that at first hearing sounds like the least likely area to be confident . . . we read it earlier. Paul calls it confident hope

Hope for us is not wishful thinking, or a really good chance something will happen.

I’ll get to where our confident hope lies in a couple of minutes, but first hear this warning . . .

Avoid Over Confidence in Yourself and overconfidence in Other People

Should you work hard, do what’s right and have reasonable confidence in yourselves. Sure.

Should you surround yourselves with trusted people who love you and have reasonable confidence in them? Absolutely

I have a healthy level of confidence in my wife, in my fellow pastors, in many of my brothers here. But consider what Paul says . . .

Romans 12:3 (NIV)

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Before we can have confident hope as God intended, we need to deal with our prideful view of ourselves.

We are men. We are meant to be strong and have warrior spirits, but to always do so with God in perspective. Next to Him we are small, we are limited, and that is okay.

I find that it’s actually a relief to not have to be in control of everything, not to have to have it all figured out.

Consider what Paul wrote to the Philippians

Philippians 3:3–12 (NIV)

For it is we who are the circumcision [note he’s writing to gentiles, not all circumcised, his point that is now we are part of the covenant through Christ],

we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. [in other words he the best Jew around]

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Even after coming to Christ, Paul knew there was more work to be done in his life. His confidence was not in himself or any other human. His confidence was in Jesus.

Rejoice in our confident hope . . . IN CHRIST

Here’s how Paul did it. Here’s how I am doing it and I hope you’ll do it too

First, rejoice confidently in Who Christ Is

Jesus proved Himself during His ministry and as we open our heart to Him, He will prove Himself time and time again

He demonstrated his power and authority through his life, death, and resurrection

Hebrews 4:14–16 (NIV)

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Consider some of the names given to Jesus that define who He is

The Savior

The Christ or Messiah - meaning the anointed one

The Good Shepherd

The Light of the World

The Lamb of God - the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sins of the world

Immanuel - meaning God with us

Alpha & Omega - the first and last

The Bread of Life

The Redeemer

The Living Stone

The Word

Teacher

Deliverer

Righteous Judge

Author of Salvation

Man of Sorrows - he suffered for us

The Rock

The Resurrection & the Life

The True Vine

Friend

Prince of Peace

Son of Man

Son of God (at once fully human and fully God)

Rejoice confidently in who Christ is

Second, Rejoice Confidently in What Christ Has Done for Us

Romans 15:4 (NIV)

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

What Jesus did for his disciples in the first century, He has done for you. We are his disciples today!

1 Peter 1:3–9 (NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope [our hope is a person! Our hope is Jesus Himself. So we can rejoice in confident hope because we rejoice in Jesus]

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. [So we are receiving an inheritance from Jesus as his children.]

Do you ever get those emails that you have a rich distant relative from Saudi Arabia who died and you are supposed to inherit all his money? Don’t click on those emails or respond to them! Our inheritance from Christ is better than billions of dollars from grandpa. Money fades, material items will perish, but not so the salvation and rewards we receive in Christ!

This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [Lord knows life is hard down here!]

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Wow! That is all yours through Jesus!

Can you believe that He was willing to lay down his life for you and me? Why? Because He loves us. He loved us when we were sinners and as we are sinners and He offers us His amazing grace.

And it doesn’t stop there. To those who believe in their hearts and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord . . . Paul says there is more.

Romans 5:5 (NIV)

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

God gave us His Spirit. God Himself. The third person of the Trinity!

Why would He trust us with His Spirit? I don’t know.

But I do know that we have the Power of God working in and through us. Talk about confidence. God is permanently dwelling among us and He works through our lives and gives us Spiritual gifts and illuminates our path so that we can live for Him!

And He has sealed us or secured us in Him.

John 10:27–29 (NIV)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Rejoice confidently in who Christ is!

Rejoice confidently in what Christ has done for Us!

And finally . . .

Rejoice confidently in What Christ Will Do for Us

Brothers, He is not done with you yet. If you have breath in your lungs, God has a plan to work in and through you.

God is at work in 2025! People need to experience the love of Jesus and guess who He wants to use . . . YOU! And You and You and you and each of us.

Will you say yes to His plan to use you or are you going to miss out on the opportunity? He can get someone else to do the job. He can make the rocks cry out and do it or open up the mouth of a donkey again. But isn’t it so much sweeter when we say Yes Lord send me!

Maybe you don’t feel equipped. If God calls you He will equip you. And you also need to do your homework. Be in the word, continue in fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ so that you can be more effective for Him. And pray, pray, pray!

Just don’t wait until you feel ready because you never will. I never feel like I’ve been fully prepared.

In Acts 4:13 some pharisees were shocked to see who it was that was so effectively leading people to Christ.

Acts 4:13 (NIV)

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

You don’t all have to go to seminary or be the brightest individuals. Just spend time with Jesus.

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And as we rejoice confidently in what Christ will do for us we can rejoice that He is coming back for us.

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Jesus is already victorious and that will soon be acknowledged. In the end every knee will bow and tongue confess that He is Lord. He will right every wrong and bring heaven and earth together, essentially restoring us to Eden, to paradise.

Rejoice confidently in what Christ will do!

Closing

God Questions.org says,

When we put our trust in God and His revealed Word, our lives take on a new stability, focus, and poise. A biblical self-confidence is really a confidence in God’s Word and character. We put no confidence in our flesh, but we have every confidence in the God who made us, called us, saved us and keeps us.

In a moment we will sing a song called Cornerstone by Hillsong United

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame (anything else framed as good and lovely) But wholly trust in Jesus name

Christ alone, Cornerstone Weak made strong in the Savior's love Through the storm, He is Lord Lord of all

When darkness seems to hide His face - we know what life and the devil throws our way I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale (strong wind) My anchor holds within the veil (that’s a reference to the Holy of Holies - the place where God dwells)

Then verse 3 references the return of Christ, the second coming

When He shall come with trumpet sound Oh may I then in Him be found Dressed in His righteousness alone Faultless stand before the throne - we are made righteous and considered faultless by the blood of Christ that covers each believer.

Benediction - Romans 15:13

Romans 15:13 (NIV)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.