NU THANG 6
New Hope.
Bruce Chant
generation-j
13/09/2002
New Creations – New Hope.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!”
We have been looking at being a new creation in Christ. The new life Jesus gives us is the best – the old is old and it is gone. We have a life that is brand spanking, still new smelling new.
Intro.
Hope (h
p) \Hope\, n.
- To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
- To have confidence; trust.
- The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
HOPE IS…
Hope is Foundational to a Christian life.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is
love.
Hope is future based.
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
What do we hope in?
Eternal Life.
a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does
not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
God’s Promises.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you
may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious
inheritance in the saints,
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is
faithful.
You are called.
You are God’s child and you share in His inheritance.
Our hope is in God and all He has promised us. If we are sick we have hope why? Because God can heal. etc
Jesus Christ.
HOPE IN A NEW CREATIONS LIFE.
Hope in God will not disappoint.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Those who hope in God will not be let down.
“oh is this all heaven is”. Eg HR Manager joke.
I’ve heard people say oh I want to go to hell not heaven so me and my mates can have a party. Uh, no. Hell is eternal separation and torment. No guys dressed in red with horns and a pitchfork like some freaky Halloween get-up. It’s real uninterrupted evil.
Securing your future as a child of God will not disappoint you.
People seek pleasure and fulfilment in many many different things – idols. They gods out of things – drink, drugs, relationships, hobbies, work, people, tv shows, sporting teams, celebrities, career – in order than they might bring them satisfaction. They put their hope in these things – will it bring them what they are looking for? No. Because idolatry is sin and sin separates us from God, takes us further away from God and leads to death. And death is not pleasure filled. Ultimately, very disappointing. It is the futility of rebellion.
What it is people are looking for is only found in our creator – God. God will not let you down. Sin is the problem. Jesus is the answer. Get closer to Him and you will not be let down. Put your hope, your future, your dreams, your aspiration in Him and you will not be let down.
In fact, you will be amazed. Ephesians 3:20 says God will do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,” Hope does not disappoint if it is placed in God.
Hope in God brings Joy.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
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.
We can be joyful in life – in stark contrast to the rest of the world –
because we have hope filling our lives. Where there is sin and evil and pain
and hurt and suffering – we can still know hope because hope is within us be
the holy spirit who dwells within us.
And because we know the hope we have – in eternal life, in God’s
promises to us for this life and in Jesus Christ, God’s Son – we have something
very worthwhile to be joyful about.
How amazing. How awesome. How great. This incredible, counter-cultural
disposition of joy leads to praise.
Hope Stabilises.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters
the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise
of his glory.
Some people live life like a rollercoaster, up and down with every dip and rise. Others remain stable. Some people are all over the place because their soul is not anchored. What anchors your soul, provides you with stability, provides you with assurance, security? Hope does.
You have a strong and reasonable belief that the world will not collapse in on you tomorrow. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Hope is optimistic. It trusts. It is centred upon God.
People who lack hope are erratic and unstable because life for them is uncertain. There is nothing that is solid and reliable. But as new creations we have God, the rock, one who will never leave us or forsake us and who will always leads us forward even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death – there is nothing to fear.
Hope in God endures.
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,
your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ.
We persevere because of Hope. Why? Because things will get better. Why? Because we trust God.
As new creations there is no need to be stressed. Or depressed. Or worried. Or burdened. If we have hope in our hearts we will trust God in those times (that’s all they are) and God will see us through.
There IS always something to look forward to. Jesus.
Hope leads to Action.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect,
Hope in God and in His promises can not stop with us – it must lead us
on.
Christian living is never stationary – it is dynamic.
The hope that we have within us because of the Holy Spirit must spill
out into other peoples lives.
Summary.
Hope one of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor. 13:13). It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Rom. 8:24; 1 John 3:2). "Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet. 3:15; Heb. 10:23). In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Eph. 1:18; 4:4)." Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph. 2:12; 1 Thess. 4:13). Christ is the actual object of the believer's hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled (1 Tim. 1:1; Col. 1:27; Titus 2:13). It is spoken of as "lively", i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life (1 Pet. 1:3). In Rom. 5:2 the "hope" spoken of is probably objective, i.e., "the hope set before us," namely, eternal life (comp. 12:12). In 1 John 3:3 the expression "hope in him" ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, "hope on him," i.e., a hope based on God.
Back to www.hismethod.com/words/index.html
Return to www.generation-j.com
.