Having Hope to Bring

Intro: One of the benefits of reading a book over and over again is that you see themes emerge from the text that you didn’t see before, big concepts that you miss become evident. This is true of all books, it is also certainly true of the Bible, where we see themes that we never saw before. Take Romans for instance, the place of our text this morning. There are themes that are crystal clear. For instance, the Sinfulness of man. The gospel. Justification by faith. But sometimes you miss other themes because you are so use to the themes you know.

ILL: The same is true of movies as well, especially good movies. There are movies we keep going back to because they resonate with us. We don’t mind watching them over and over again because they give us insight into the reality of life. Often our inner lives. Scripture is no different. There are books of the Bible that you will revisit more frequently, Why? Because they speak to you about your inner life, of life with God, and make sense of everything.

In Romans there is a theme, hope. (occuring 17xs) And it is a subtle but pervasive theme throughout the letter, it is also one of what is commonly known as the theological virtues. But hope is grand, so grand that it is put alongside faith and love as one of the three things that will endure into eternity.

The Certainty Attached to Hope

Hope =/= Wishful Thinking

Hope’s Defiance of Shame

Character means we are passing into the “not yet” of the Christian life!

Notice that the perfect tense carries two ideas: (1) completed action and (2) continuing results. The action was completed at some time in the past, and the results continue up to the present.

Giving comes from Having Something to Give

Acts 8:7-8