9-23-12 Sermon Notes: Hope

The Giver of Hope... The People of Hope
Romans 15:1-13 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me."  For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name." And again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him." And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope."  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 

Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." Our hope and desire is to see the kingdom flourish and His enemies crushed under His feet. However we don't consistently see that hope before us and so it is deferred (or delayed). 
1 Corinthians 15:24-27 says, "Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For 'God has put all things in subjection under his feet.' But when it says, 'all things are put in subjection,' it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all." He must have everything under His feet. We must always have hope that He reigns even now. 

Our hope is not to be on the short-term but we are to have endurance of hope. We are to always have hope due to the promises of Scripture, the character of God, and the fulfillment of Christ. In practically every area of life we see our hope being deferred: economics, politics, education, family, and even church. We have difficulties keeping up our hope when we see the workers of iniquity who manipulate the world to fit their agenda: against God. They see to corrupt ll minds and they the different areas (church, family, state, education, etc.) to bring about their rule and therefore our hope is continually being delayed. We look out at the overall world and our hope seems vain.

But as we become more and more discouraged we remember why we have hope. If the world was all perfection and nothing was wrong then why would we have any reason to have any hope at all? We would have no reason to have the character of hope within us. We are becoming stronger Christians due to having our hope and through the challenges that give us hope. 
"Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:2-5.
"For in this hope we were saved. now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:24-25
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." Romans 12:12
"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Romans 15:4
Connected to hope we find joy and peace in believing. We are built up with much character and endurance and that will bring about hope. But along with that we gain patience and wisdom through all of it. We see the idea of hope and endurance repeatedly throughout the book of Romans. 

Our hope is based on the promises of Scripture and God. Matthew 16:18 says, "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell will not overpower it." We can stand to defend and continue to stand through anything because we have God on our side as well as our hope which is rested in Christ. Even though it may appear that we are completely surrounded at times, we are the conquerors as we stand with our God who has been predestined to win any war from before time was made. Psalm 2 says this: "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." They who oppose God can do anything they want...but they are like nothing to Him. 

So while our hope is deferred, it is hope nonetheless. We may not know or understand the chapter or the end of the chapter or where the story is at, but we do know the end of the book. We know how it will all go down and how it will turn out. That alone should give us great hope. Hope is no small thing. Hope is what can flow out all other things in our lives. It influences how we live our lives. It determines how positive or negative we will be towards anything that happens to us. This hope is gifted to us by grace...it is of nothing that we, ourselves, have ever done to gain it. So we can say that it is by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that we have been grafted with this hope. 

Christ cannot help but to reign and rule over all. He has always, is, and always will reign every single thing. He has already accomplished the victory. 

What is the character of hope? "...so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory,' is how Ephesians 1:12 describes those who live in hope. Those who are without God are therefore without hope of any kind. Without hope all there could be is dreams and wishes in the dark. Hope rests and is solely based on God. Because of this hope we look to and fully trust God in all kinds of circumstances. Despite all clutter there is a God that is reigning and to Him we are to cling to with all trust and hope. Hope is a huge mark that distinguishes the authentic Christian from his pagan neighbor. It sets us apart as God's own. It is not very fitting of Christians to be pessimistic or negative...gloomy and down-trodden. We are to always remember that even when the odds seem against us, the odds are always in our favor (reference to Hunger Games unintentional). "History has never been dominated by majorities, but only be dedicated minorities who stand unconditionally on their faith." -- R.J. Rushdoony 

Even when we are in the middle of sufferings or trials we can be assured that through our hope there is a direct connection between our trials or tribulations and our eventual eternal weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

We are to include hope in our prayer life: asking God to grant us hope in Him, endurance to hold fast to it, and forgiveness when we give up our hope. Hope is bound up in trust (they are synonymous) and that is bound up in faith. One things leads to another and if you are built up on solid ground and with one or more steady characteristics, then that will lead to another and another till we are solid and firmly secure in many Christ-like characteristics and virtues. If we are truly dedicated and ready to work hard with endurance then we will succeed and win with Christ. With Christ we always win and will always have hope.

Faith, Hope, and Love...the greatest of these is Love. We learn of our salvation and God's love to us and out of that we love Him without limit. And how can we love that which we do not trust and have faith in? Trust and faith can be used interchangeably. So out of love for God then flows out faith, trust, and love. They are all bound up and connected within each other. We can't have one and not another. We are called to be defined as different by having Faith, Hope, and Love. 

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy." Psalm 33:18

The Believer's Hope:
"Most people , if they really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.
At present we are on the outside...the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the pleasure we see. But all the pages of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get 'in'... We will put on glory...that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch. 
We do not want to merely 'see' beauty - though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words - to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it." C.S. Lewis

"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." Romans 15:13

End of notes.