Faith, Hope, and Love #3

12/29/01 and 12/30/01

Review:

We have been looking at the three eternal virtues of Faith Hope and Love. Two weeks ago we looked at Faith. Then last week we talked about Love. That is a very fitting subject for Christmas. The birth, life and death of Jesus for you and I is the greatest gift.

1 Corinthians 13:13

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Today we are going to look at:  HOPE

1.    WHAT HOPE IS NOT

-Before we plant we need to dig up the weeds.

-I read a definition of hope by a little boy. He said:

Hope is wishing for something you know aint gonna happen.

-That is humorous but very untrue.

-Hope is not a blind wish. We wish we would get a Cartier watch for Christmas. We may or may not get it.

-That is a wish.

-Hope is not an enemy of faith. In fact, real hope is a partner to faith.

-Real faith begins with hope.

Hebrews 11:1

NIV

1 ¶ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

KJV

1 ¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

TCNT

1 Faith is the realization of things hoped for--the proof of things not seen.

-There was a time when hope was seen as the opposite of faith. That is not true. Faith brings what you hope for into reality.

-Hope is not wishing God would help you.

-Hope is more than positive thinking or optimism.

-Even though someone has said they would rather be an optimist and be wrong as a pessimist and be right.

2.    WHAT HOPE IS.

Oxford Dictionary definition of hope:

Expectation and desire combined.

It says to hope against hope means to cling to a mere possibility.

The Greek definition of hope is:

The expectation of something good. (Oral Roberts-“Something good is going to happen to you.”)

In the secular Greek is just meant man’s projection of the future. It was neutral.

The Hebrew terms were more expressive.

To feel secure/to hide, take refuge

To wait

It comes from a root word (elpo), which means to anticipate usually with pleasure.

The verb means to put one’s expectation and trust for the future in something or someone, to hope for something to come to pass. It deals with the future in an anticipatory and positive way. It is to bring the power of the future into the present to give meaning and motivation. It is expectation, trust, and patient waiting.

HOPE IS WHAT YOU BELIEVE FOR

HOPE IS YOUR EXPECTATION/VISION OF THE FUTURE

3.    REAL HOPE HAS ITS SOURCE IN GOD

Ephesians 2

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

-When we were without God, we didn’t have a real hope.

-This is the time when everyone is thinking about the future.

-Lots of New Year’s resolutions are being made by lots of people.

Ps 33:22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

-Your future is as bright as your God.

Ps 42:11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

-I can’t guarantee the future of a nation or the stock market or whether or not we will find Bin Laden.

-But I am sure that the future is bright because of God.

4.    WE HAVE AN ETERNAL HOPE

-There is a future for you that is tied to the return of Jesus.

1 John 3

2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Tit 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

-Our future makes us overcome any circumstance or setback we face.

2 Corinthians 4

17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

-The eternal fire is quenched. You have settled the issue. You are ready to die because you have received Jesus as Lord and Savior.

-You aren’t ready to live until you are ready to die.

-If you have Jesus, YOU ARE READY TO DIE.

-That is our blessed hope. Jesus is returning and we will be like Him and things will be better.

-Earth’s golden age is ahead of it. It isn’t some president’s new world order, but God’s.

5.    WE HAVE A HOPE FOR THIS LIFE

-Thank God for a hope that starts where you live.

-It isn’t just for the future and pie in the sky when you die.

-Godliness is profitable for the life that now is and the life to come.

-The life that now is is WHERE I IS NOW!

-You might call this a personal hope.

Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

DON’T LOSE YOUR DREAM.

EXAMPLE: A lady spoke to an elderly gentleman in a nursing home after staring at him for some time, YOU LOOK LIKE MY THIRD HUSBAND. He said O really, how many times have you been married to which she replied, twice.

-Make sure your dream is of God.

Example: In Bible School, people were claiming other people to marry. You have the right to claim a wife but not someone else’s or someone who isn’t interested.

-There are things that are in your heart and as you spend time with God they become more real.

-Write them down and think about them.

-Test and try all things.

-Girls used to have a HOPE CHEST. It was a young woman’s collection of things for her future marriage. She had a dream and she was taking steps towards it.

-That is a good principle.

-What are you expecting in your future?

-What are you expecting in 2002?

-What if the terrorists strike again? God is bigger. His promises are bigger. His plan is bigger.

-Be specific, what are you and God planning for 2002?

Romans 4

17 ¶ As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed (Weymouth-Under hopeless circumstances/ Williams-In spite of hopeless circumstances/CBL commentary-Against hope Abraham believed in hope. In hope he anticipated; by faith he appropriated. Humanly speaking his case was hopeless.) and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

-Before Abraham could be the father of our faith, he had to be the father of our hope.

-God is a specialist, He specializes in hopeless cases.

6.    HAVE HOPE FOR OTHERS

Read the story of Teddy Stoddard

-We all need someone to believe in us.

-Have hope for your family, your children, other Christians.

-I read a story about a wounded soldier in Viet Nam. The nurses followed the doctors to tag the wounded as “No Hope” “Medical Help Needed” and “Dead”. A nurse heard a faint whisper from a man labeled “NO HOPE”. He persuaded her to change his tag and though he lost his leg, he went home to his family. HOPE SAVED HIS LIFE.

-God believes in you. Believe in someone. Not just your family, find an unlikely candidate and believe in them.

-I have been very fortunate, my parents, my wife and many others over the years have believed in me. (That overcame all of the others who didn’t!)

1Co 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

(NIV)