“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Since faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, what is it, or better yet, who is it that we hope in? However, before we dive into that, what is hope? The secular definition given us would explain hope as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, or also a feeling of trust. However, what is the biblical view of hope? We would say that hope is a confident expectation of what God has promised, based on the belief that God is faithful. This is not a mere wishing so, but rather a firm belief that God will fulfill His promises. We must be very careful which definition or view we hold to when it comes to hope. The Christian’s hope is not some mushy gushy feelings that aren’t anchored in anything. Why would we be leaning on or trusting in feelings to begin with when we know that they often deceive us. “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Our hearts are indeed deceitfully wicked, contrary to the world’s philosophical mantra that preaches “follow your heart”. Is it then safe for us to be following our hearts, to trust in the feelings that stem from the heart? Is walking according to the dictates of our heart what God desires of us? Once again, biblical hope is not a wishing for or a dreaming of. It is a sure and confident expectation of what God has promised. It is based on the belief that God is faithful and that He will fulfill His promises. Biblical hope is a sure and steady anchor for the soul. Our hope is based on the evidence that we have seen God’s goodness and are confident that we will see it in its fullness.
Let me get you thinking now. When you woke this morning what was the first thing you had hoped for? It may have been for more sleep, maybe a fun day spent with family and/or friends, or maybe it was for a stress-free, relaxing day. It could have been something as trivial as hoping for a nice breakfast or a delicious coffee. Or maybe, by God’s grace, it was a hoping to please the Lord with all that you say, think, and do. Quite possibly, by that same grace of God, it was a hoping for an opportunity to minister and/or witness to some lost person. Whatever it was, we can have hope in things that are both small and great. Biblical hope is an anchor to hold us steady amid the ever-tempestuousr aging sea that is this world. Everyone is motivated by some sort of hope. However, humans are the only part of creation that has hopes in anything. Animals live instinctually, meaning they aren’t hoping for food; when they are hungry, they go and hunt for food; when they are tired, they find a place of security to rest; when they need to relieve themselves, they don’t need to hope to find or make it to a toilet, but they do so where it is convenient for them. Even the most depressed of people share in hoping for something, as we are all driven by hopes. Let’s now look at God’s word and find some passages that help us better understand this “hope” we ought to have and should be fixing ourselves upon. After all, don’t we all want an anchor for the soul, one that is fixed and firm, not wavering and leaving us feeling just as unfulfilled as it does with many of the things we hope for?
“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11) “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him, the salvation of my presence and my God.” (Psalm 42:11) “Yet those who hope in Yahweh will gain new power; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not get tired; they will walk and not become weary.” (Isaiah 40:31) “Yahweh will keep you from all evil; He will keep your soul. Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in from now until forever.” (Psalm 121:7-8) “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) “And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;” (Romans 5:3-4) “But now abide faith, hope, love – these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.” (Psalm 119:14) “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23) “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for Yahweh.” (Psalm 31:24) “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7) “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we eagerly wait for it.” (Romans 8:25) “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12) “‘Yahweh is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I wait for Him.’” (Lamentations 3:24) “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; in You I hope all the day.” (Psalm 25:5) “and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5) “Let Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, be upon us, as we wait for You.” (Psalm 33:22) “I hope for Yahweh, my soul does hope, and for His word do I wait.” (Psalm 130:5) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3) “The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners,” (Isaiah 61:1) “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear,” (1 Peter 3:15) “to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;” (Ephesians 4:4) “it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:6-7) “The expectation of the righteous is gladness, but the hope of the wicked will perish.” (Proverbs 10:28) “Surely wait in silence for God, O my soul, for my hope is from Him.” (Psalm 62:5) “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
Let us recognize that hope can be broken into three basic elements. It is an assessment, which changes into an expectation, but absolutely requires an object of which our hope is fixed upon. The assessment means that our hope begins with our assessing or evaluating our life and concluding that we need ____ to find joy. Our assessments at times can be incredibly misleading, being based upon sinful motives and fleshly or worldly influences. But this ought not be true of us, for that brings no real joy. True joy is found where? In Christ Jesus! Therefore, our assessments must be accurate and true concerning ourselves, grounded in the Scriptures and confirmed through God’s word, as well as align with that of the hope of everyone that truly is the body of Christ, the true church. The expectation that our assessment should drive us toward is a process. But it all begins with searching for whatever that ____ was that we declared would bring true joy. We then pursue it with a hopeful expectancy. If I’ve assessed that healthiness is what will bring ultimate joy, then I’ll change and watch my diet, start exercising and head to a gym perhaps to achieve that joy. However, if it is financial well-being that I believe will bring ultimate joy, I’ll perhaps seek to work more time to earn more, seek a career change, or I may be enticed to take alternate sinful routes to amass financial gain, thinking that is what will bring joy. Are either of those things what are going to bring me ultimate joy though? Not at all. It may provide temporary happiness, but that void will still be unfulfilled, I’ll still be lacking true joy. However, if I assess that my true joy will be found in the person and work of Christ Jesus, then I will seek Him, I will trust His promises as He has laid out for us in His word. I will place my trust in nothing and no-one else, and will find ultimate joy in God, His word, and His bride (the church).
So, we move then to the object of our hope. And it’s hardly needed said, but without an object of hope, whether in someone or something, to deliver true joy, then there is no hope. Hope, by definition, must have an object upon which it fixes itself upon. As we laid out some examples already, those objects may be healthiness, financial well-being, or the Lord Jesus and His work. It is possible that we fix our hope upon someone and something that does not deliver what we expected. We will then lose our hope or blame the person or thing for being no good. It is essential we put our hope in something that cannot fail, for then it will only grow stronger, and we will also grow in confidence. As we consider the last few topics that I’ve taken us through, in what or whom should our hope be fixed upon? It is without a doubt to be fixed upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the unshakeable, unwavering, most trustworthy being in which we can hope. There is nothing and no one truer than He, for God cannot lie; therefore, we can place our hope in the promises He has given us in His word. However, let me be completely honest and vulnerable with you. I don’t always do this to the best of my ability. Do you always do this perfectly? I can find myself failing this in many ways. My assessments can be misguided because I let the flesh take over or let the world influence what I think I ought to have. My expectations then become sinful and selfish. The objects in which I then hope in are not the Lord and His finished and all-sufficient work. From there it is a slippery slope into idolatry, covetousness, pride, and sinfulness as I walk contrary to the word of God and fail to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, instead walking by my flesh and allowing my wicked heart to lead me.
So, as I’ve more so spoke to the differences between worldly hope and biblical hope, let me continue to hone in on this. Biblical hope is much more than a simple wishing or desiring. It is much more than some feelings that we may have that things will work out. Biblical hope as we talked about in the earlier parts of this, is an anchor for the soul. “so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have is an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed and one which enters within the veil, where a forerunner has entered for us – Jesus, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:18-20) It is a resting and holding fast to the God who holds all things in His most wise, perfect, and all-powerful hands. Today we throw around the word “hope” without a second thought as to the true understanding of it, much less the power of true hope. As Mitchell preached a few Sundays back, we do this too with the word “love”, it too is thrown around as if it were a mere feeling. We know that the world’s definition of love is far different than that presented to us in God’s word. The world claims hope and love to be an emotion, or a mere way of thinking. But if our faculties are marred by the sin nature, why, as we’ve already discussed, would we trust in our feelings or our thoughts? “Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
See, even we as born-again children of God, we can use the word “hope” flippantly. We use it in a variety of ways, and we really shouldn’t be so quick to do so. We must find a new word to describe such desires or wishes. That is just it, the way we often use the word “hope” is to describe something we’re wishing for or desiring; and quite often it is something we are wishing for that we have no control over whatsoever. Examples of this would look like, “I hope this day will be better than yesterday,” or “I hope that it doesn’t rain today,” or “I hope that this team wins today”. These are things we wish for, but we would not bank on them being fulfilled. Even at times we use the word “hope” to describe things we think should happen, such as, “I hope that person gets the life sentence for that crime,” or “I hope that she will not tell him what I did,” or “I hope that I’ll be able to get x, y, and z done today”. The word “hope” is used in many ways, as we’ve discussed, it is used for that which we have no control over, that which we think ought to happen, that which is motivational, and more. And motivational hopes are more along the lines of, “I did this with the hope that I would get this,” or “I married her thinking she would be the same person she was when we were together before marriage,” or “I hoped that I would be noticed through doing this good deed”. There are many varieties in which we use the word “hope”. It is vital we understand how the word “hope” is used in God’s word, or better thought of, how it is used in a gospel sense. You see, biblical hope is much, much more than a faint wish for something. Biblical hope is deeper than moral expectations, though it certainly includes that. It is far more than a motivation that compels us to an action, however, it certainly includes that as well.
Biblical hope is the confident expectation of a guaranteed result that changes the way we live. It is as already discussed, a confident expectation of what God has promised, based on the belief that God is faithful. So, biblical hope is confident. It is confident not because of being based on our wisdom, faithfulness, or power. Rather it is confident, because it is based on the power, love, faithfulness, grace, patience, and wisdom of our thrice holy God. Because God is who He is, as He said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” God is immutable, which is a big word to describe the fact that God is unchanging. He never changes, or else He would not be God. Praise God that He is unchanging amidst an ever-changing world and people. Hope in the immutable God is well placed and secure. Biblical hope is also the expectation of a guaranteed result. It is a surety that God will do all that He has planned and promised to do, because once again He has proven Himself to do so in the past, and once again He is immutable, not to mention the fact that He cannot lie. His promises are as good as the extent of His rule, but since He rules everything, everywhere, at all times, we know that resting in His promises of grace will never leave us empty, unfulfilled, or embarrassed. We are finite beings and limited in knowledge and wisdom, so there are many times when we may not understand what is happening, what may be coming our way, but we ought to know and trust that God does and is in control of it all. So, even when we are left puzzled or wondering, we can have hope, because our hope doesn’t rest within our own understanding, but rather on God’s character, rule, and absolute goodness. Biblical hope changes the way we live. We know that our hope we have in God and His promises are guaranteed, and therefore we can live with confidence and courage that we would otherwise never have. That same confidence and courage will cause us to make choices of faith that would appear foolish to those who do not have that same hope. If we have indeed turned from sin and unto Christ by faith, we’ve never a reason for hopelessness, because the hope that we have has come to us in the flesh; the Son of God who although we lived as rebellious to Him, hating Him, and wanting nothing to do with Him because of our love for and bondage to sin; He came for us to ransom us, redeem us, atone for our sin, reconcile us, justify us, adopt us, and cause us to be born again to a living hope, an active faith in Him and His work. He has not left us alone but has given us His Spirit to reside within us. His Spirit is the seal that we have been adopted into His family, made co-heirs with Christ Jesus, and He is the seal of the promises found in Christ.
I urge you this evening to reflect upon what we have talked about. Evaluate your hopefulness or even your hopelessness and find yourself rooting your hope in the person and work of Jesus Christ and His word. “May Yahweh answer you in the day of distress! May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high! May He send you help from the sanctuary and uphold you from Zion! May He remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offerings acceptable! Selah. May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your counsel! We will sing for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May Yahweh fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that Yahweh saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving might of His right hand. Some boast in chariots, and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright. Save, O Yahweh; may the King answer us in the day we call.” (Psalm 20)