WNS: Hope

Last week we ended talking about hope. I asked a simple question for those of you here today that do not believe in Jesus. I asked what hope do you have.

I want to pick up there. There are two questions I would like you to keep in mind, what do you hope in, and what hope do you have?

Back in June we talked about Faith.

Define faith/sidewalk example/Christian faith

But faith is the foundation. It’s what you build on. Think about your hope again, what’s it based on? What is your hope founded on?

It’s like building a building right? You want to start on level ground, preferably something strong like steel reinforced concrete. From there you can build wide and tall like a skyscraper, that’s faith, the foundation, but the building, that’s hope.

Hope is the activity that comes from faith in many ways.

Whatever you have faith in generates hope.

But hope is a double edged sword.

I want to give you two examples tonight about hope. And what that hope costs.

The first is a man named Robert O. Young. If you asked him he had degrees up and down his walls. After years of study he discovered something, that most of the illnesses of the human body were caused by unbalanced acidity levels. He wrote a book called the “ph Miracle.” It became a best seller! He started in 1995 and eventually created a 48 acre compound and promised to cure everyone who would come. Well… come and pay the $10000/wk fee to stay there.

People flocked to him. One such person was named Naima, an officer in the British military who was fighting breast cancer. She paid the hefty price, but was separated from her family. After three months her health deteriorated and she finally died. Fifteen others followed suite, and eventually Robert Young, who had no medical education after all, was thrown in jail. His cure of injecting baking soda into the blood stream gave hope, but that hope was founded on a lie.

Hope, when misplaced, is painful. Think about your lives! I remember a time when I placed my faith in a friend to help me move across campus, and when she flaked on me, I used a luggage cart to move my entire dorm room across campus in front of so many people, I was embarrassed, but that is small potatoes compared to Naima.

One more story about hope if you will.

This one is about a young woman named Sarah. She lives in Nigeria. Her family is muslim. She recently just had a landmark victory in the Nigerian courts. You see, she converted to Christianity, and under the law there her family could kill her or hire someone to kill her. You see, she was arrested and beaten after running to a christian family for help. The judge ruled that her rights were violated, so the Sharia law that allowed her to be killed is being paused.

This was a landmark case, as the hundreds of cases of this happening every year are rarely reported. The family she ran to is being charged with kidnapping, and it will most likely not end well for them. For Sarah herself, while she won a small victory, the 2500 other christians killed for their faith over the past year shows that she will most likely not win in the end, at least in this life.

Why did I tell you all this? Why these two depressing stories? What will happen to Sarah and how does that relate to hope?

1 Peter 1:3–5 CSB

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

All those questions, boil down to two.

What do you have hope in? What hope do you have?

For Naima she hoped for salvation from a miracle man who was just a scammer.

For Sarah, her hope lies in the everlasting Christ. Her faith founded on the empty tomb, emptied by God for her savior who hung on a tree for her.

What about your life?

Where is your faith?

How is it working out for you?

Faith in Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection allows us to build hope. Hope that has lasted persecution from the Romans, the Greeks, the occult in the dark ages, the wayward church, of scientism (not science), of the postmodern destruction of truth, and yet, here today, Sarah against a people that would kill her for that faith.

That’s powerful hope, that’s the kind of hope that leads you to freedom, that lets you know that you can’t do it all and that’s ok. That’s the kind of hope that when you have nothing left and are spent that you can still put one foot in front of the other. Its the hope that looks the death of a loved one in the face and cries with them tears knowing you will be together one day when Christ comes for you.

The alternative is a snake oil salesmen, in fact, he’s a snake himself. He’s been spinning the lie that this is all there is for all he’s worth, and it leaves you empty. Whether you’re rich and have everything you wanted, or have nothing anyone wants, you’re empty. You’re scared.

So, what hope do you have? What is it in?

Jesus is just a prayer away. He calls to you through the Holy spirit. Believe in Him.

John 3:16 CSB

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Believe, have that faith. Don’t leave today without it! Have that strong foundation, knowing He’s in charge and all you got to do is confess it with your mouth and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead.

Then, let Him build that hope.

If you have questions, ask.