THE GOD OF HOPE: The God of Hope 3-20-22

THE GOD OF HOPE: The God of Hope 3-20-22

INTRODUCTION

 

Hopelessness

 

“Hope is for people who can’t see the Truth.”

                            Jeff Lindsey in Dexter is Dead (Dexter #8)

 

Years ago an S-4 submarine was rammed by a ship off the coast of Massachusetts. It sank immediately. The entire crew was trapped in a prison house of death. Every effort was made to rescue the crew, but it ultimately failed.

 

Near the end of the ordeal, a deep sea diver, who was doing everything in his power to find a way for the crew’s release, thought he heard tapping on the steel wall of the sunken sub. He placed his helmet up against the side of the vessel and he realised it was the Morse Code. He attached himself to the side and spelled out in his mind the message being tapped from within.

 

It was repeating the same question. The question was, from within, "Is...there...any...hope?"

 

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength. 

                            G.K. Chesterton, Signs of the Times, April 1993, p. 6.

 

“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 NIV

 

I.  OUR HOPE IS IN GOD

 

Malcolm Muggeridge was a very famous and highly respected British journalist who for many years was an ardent atheist. His opinions and thoughts were coveted by American publishers and he occasionally wrote the editorial page for Time magazine. Toward the end of his illustrious career as the Dean of British broadcasters, he became a Christian.

 

Several years ago he was a guest at a breakfast in Washington, D.C. where he shared his life story. When he had finished his testimony, he made a number of comments about world affairs, all of which were very pessimistic. One of those present asked, "Dr. Muggeridge, you have been very pessimistic. Don't you have any reason for optimism?" He replied, "I could not be more optimistic than I am, because my hope is in Jesus Christ alone."

 

He allowed that remark to settle in for a few seconds, and then he added," Just think if the apostolic church had pinned its hopes on the Roman Empire!"

                            (Halverson/ The Living Body)

 

Immanuel Kant, said that there are three questions that everyone asks:

 

"What can I know?"

"What shall I do?"

"For what shall I hope?"

 

Ravi Zacharias said, "Hope is that indispensable element that makes the present so important. Significantly, the absence of future hope has an amazing capacity to reach into the present and eat away at the structure of life, as termites would a giant foundation."

 

Dr. Emil Brunner said, "What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life." Take oxygen away and death occurs through suffocation, take hope away and humanity is constricted through lack of breath; despair and hopelessness set it."

 

                            A.  The one hope

 

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

                            Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

 

                            B.  Hope comes from Him

 

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”

                            Psalms 62:5-6 NIV

 

“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”

                            1 Timothy 4:10 NIV

 

II.  OUR HOPE IS BASED IN LOVE

 

"Love is the seed of all hope. It is the enticement to trust, to risk, to try, to go on."

 

                            A.  The love that brings hope

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

                            John 3:16 NIV

 

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;”

                            Lamentations 3:19-25 NIV

 

“His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

                            Psalms 147:10-11 NIV

 

                            B.  The results of that love

 

                                          1.  A life of hope

 

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

                            Titus 2:11-14 NIV

 

                                          2.  A hope beyond life

 

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.””

                            Revelation 21:1-4 NIV

 

III.  OUR HOPE IS IN GOD’S CHARACTER

 

A little over a month before he died, the famous atheist Jean-Paul Sartre, when trying to resist strong feelings of despair, would often say to himself, "I know I shall die in hope." Then in profound sadness, he would add, "But hope needs a foundation."

 

“Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

                            Hebrews 6:17-20 NIV

 

                            A.  A promise

 

The 1989 Armenian earthquake needed only 4 minutes to flatten the nation and kill 30,000 people. Moments after the deadly tremor ceased, a father raced to an elementary school to save his son. When he arrived, he saw that the building had been levelled. He looked at the massive stones and Rubble, he remembered a promise he had made to his child: “No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you.” Driven by his own promise, he found the area closest to his son’s room and began to pull back the rocks. Other parents arrived and began sobbing for their children. “It’s too late,” they told the man. “You know they are dead. You can’t help.” Even a police officer encouraged them to give up.

 

But the father refused. For 8 hours, then 16, then 32, 36 hours he dug. His hands were raw, and his energy gone but he refused to quit. Finally, after 38 wrenching hours, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s voice. He called his boys name, “Arman! Arman!” And a voice answered him, “Dad, it’s me!” Then the boy added these priceless words, “I told the other kids not to worry I told them if you were alive, you’d save me, and when you save me, they’d be saved, to. Because you promised, ‘No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.’”

 

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

                            Hebrews 10:23 NIV

 

                            B.  He cannot lie.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A group of students visited a psychiatric institution to observe a variety of mental illnesses. One of the individuals was a tragic case. He was referred to as “No hope Carter.”

 

He was a victim of a venereal disease and was going through its final stages when the brain is affected. Before he began losing his mind, his doctors told him that there was no known cure for him. He begged for a ray of hope but was told the disease would run its course and then end in his death.

 

Gradually his brain deteriorated and he became more and more despondent. Two weeks before his death he paced in his small room. He was in mental agony and his eyes stared blankly. Over and over he muttered two words, “No hope! No hope!”

 

“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

                            1 Corinthians 15:19 NIV

 

There is a story about how the caverns north of Yellowstone National Park were discovered. As the story goes, one of the original explorers was walking along the top of that mountain and fell through a hole, and he dropped down several hundred feet into this cavern and was stuck in almost total darkness for over a week, no food, no water. He cried out every day, "Help me!" hoping that somebody would hear his voice and figure out that he was down there.

 

Sure enough a guy came along and heard this faint sound and looked around and found the hole. They dug him out and that’s how they found this giant cavern. They asked him, "How did you hold on to hope day after day after day in the dark without giving up?" He said, "There was one little pinhole ray of light that was coming through and I just kept focused on that ray of light."

 

Many around us in this nation today are like that man down in the cave. They are in darkness...

 

CHALLENGE

 

What will you do with what you have just heard?  How will you respond to the Holy Spirit working within you?  The Challenge is intended to give us an opportunity to contemplate what God is calling us to do in our lives.  Consider these questions and write down your answers. 

 

              1.           Do you have hope?

              2.  What is the foundation of your hope?

              3.  How do you demonstrate your hope?

              4.  Do others see hope in you?

              5.  Who do you know that needs hope? 

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.