Sermon Tone Analysis

VIDEO

RECORD

Okay so that video was just for any of those who may have been thinking of missing church to take a cruise this winter

Okay not really, you’ll see in a couple of moments what that video has to do with today’s message

A few weeks ago we began a series of messages for this month based on an exegesis of

For those of you who were not here for the earlier messages allow me to read for you what this verse says

We began the series by concentrating on that word “remain” and how in the Greek Paul was stressing the importance of all three of these things being present in the life of a believer and not how important it is not to emphasize one at the expense of the other 2

Then last week we looked at the topic of faith and we saw why it is so crucial to the life of every believer, from salvation right on through to eternity

Now this morning we are looking at the next of the three topics Paul mentions and that of course is “hope”

Now let me explain the reason for the video and to do that I’ll ask you to flip over to where Paul gives Timothy, and all of us, this very sobering warning

The King James Version words that verse like this, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”

I prefer the KJV in this instance because I think that it paints a better word picture of what Paul was really trying to say

I mean “terrible” is one of those words that we use so much that it has kind of lost its impact

I asked for extra butter at the restaurant and they never did bring it.

The service was terrible

My hair looks terrible

Not to mention “the terrible twos”

The word that Paul uses is the Greek word “chalepo” and it means “hard, rugged, furious, ferocious, violent”

Paul says that as the final dispensation of time travels towards the end that times would get increasingly ferocious

More like those ocean waves faced by those ships than like not getting an extra butter for your bun

But our focus this morning is not on how difficult or violent things are going to be but rather that in the midst of the storm we can have a hope that overcomes the waves

Turn over in your Bible if you would to Hebrews the 6th chapter beginning at verse 17

Hebrews 6:17-

The winds can howl, the storm can rage and the waves can rise but because of Jesus Christ we have this hope which acts for us like an anchor and keeps us safe

In our first message of the series we pointed out that faith is the foundation but it is hope that is the focus of the life of the believer

So what is hope?

Well simply put, hope is... a future certainty, a security based on the realities that exist in tomorrow

Now I know what you are thinking, ‘That sounds a lot like ‘Faith’ Pastor’

But it’s not, listen to this definition of faith from later on in the book of Hebrews, “Now faith is being sure of what we “hope” for and certain of what we do not see”

Hope is born of faith but it takes faith a step farther and says this is what I am certain of and because of that my life now is better off for it

Faith and hope are interdependent upon one another but not interchangeable

Faith leads to hope and hope leads to greater faith which leads to greater faith which leads to...

So let me share with you three quick points about hope and why it is so important in your life

The first thing is that our hope is founded on nothing less than the promises of God and His immutability

Let’s go back to again but let’s back up a few verses to verse 13

Hebrews 6:13-

Now I want to read for you from

2 Corinthians 1:20-

God has made certain promises to you in His Word and because of who He is and the fact that He cannot change from who He is, those promises are all guaranteed regardless of the raging storm around us

It’s when we realize this that our hope secures us

this is the reason Paul could say with such a certainty,

2 Corinthians 4:8

David said it well in the psalms when he wrote,

Psalm

Hymn writer Kelso Carter wrote in his famous hymn Standing on the Promises, “Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall prevail.

Standing on the promises of God.”

Secondly this hope is meant to bring a calm to your soul even when the storm rages all around you

Verse 18 of our text says that the reason that God gives us these promises and sworn this oath to fulfill them is so that “we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged”

It’s kind of like watching a recording of a sporting event when you already know what the outcome is going to be

You might not know exactly how everything is going to play out but you know what the outcome is and so the individual plays become far less relevant

Because we have the written promises of God we know how things are going to turn out and while we may not know exactly how those results are going to be achieved in our lives we know that they WILL be and so we can be calm even when things appear to be going wrong

Because of the day that I was involved in an altercation with 3 armed robbers and was eventually taken hostage while they committed their crime, I can attest to the reality of this verse

I was in a situation that by any normal response should have caused fear, anxiety and panic, and yet their was a peace that transcended what people understood as the normal response to the situation

Despite the storm around me I was anchored in the hope of Jesus Christ

Now I’m not going to try and portray it as a super spiritual moment with lights from Heaven and guardian angels appearing around me, none of that happened but because of the promises of God that I have read and clung to all my life I knew that I was in His hands and that there was nothing that could happen that didn’t have to go through His approval first

The third thing I want you to know about hope is this, it ultimately leads to love

You may remember the first message when I said that faith is the foundation, hope is the focus, and love is the follow through

Back to but this time back to verses 10 and 11

Hebrews 6:10-11

True hope desires to multiply itself in the lives of others

Penn Jillette is half of the famous Vegas magical duo Penn and Teller and is a very outspoken athiest

This is what he had to say after a member of his audience one night gave him a N.T. and shared with him the gospel of hope

I’ve always said I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize.

I don’t respect that at all.

If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward.

“How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?

How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

Jillette then offered this example to illustrate his point: “If I believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, that that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point that I tackle you, and this is more important than that.”

What an incredible example of Peter’s exoneration to us in his first epistle,

The seas around us may swirl and the tempest may blow but because of our faith in Jesus Christ we can have this assurance, this hope that the promises of God supersede what is going on around us because He is God and He cannot fail and so we can enjoy this calmness this peace that seems illogical in light of the storm, a calmness and peace that will inspire us to impart it into the lives of others through acts of love

Let’s pray