This message comes to you in three parts. It is taken from a series of teachings I gave at a Holy Spirit Conference several years ago. The message, however, still holds true today and discusses the concept of Hope.

One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves as Christian believers is, “When life tumbles in, what then?” The title of this series is taken from a sermon by Arthur John Gossip from many years ago. What happens when our best laid plans lie in ashes at our feet or when everything and everyone we have put our trust in has failed us? What happens when those whom we cherish are taken from us in death, or when our own strength and health fails us and we can no longer care for ourselves or those whom we love? Who do we turn to and where do we find comfort, peace and strength to endure with joy?

This is where a Biblical vision of hope comes in. It is a theocentric or God-centered vision of hope. Through this futuristic sense of hope, we can experience suffering and pain in a different way than ever before…with greater joy in anticipation of a glorious and wonderful homecoming to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When the world talks about hope it is in a different set of terms than the Bible. It speaks of hope on a philosophical and social level. For example, we hope in the goodness of man, an educational establishment, the advancement of medical science, a new world order, or a utopian dream for peace. On a personal level, our hopes are more provincial. We might hope for a better job, a mate or children, financial security, material success, vibrant health, or a life of peace, joy, and happiness.

Yet these hopes, even when obtained in this life, all too often, seem to leave us empty, disappointed and lonely. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones rock band several years ago expressed the emptiness and futility we experience when our hopes and wishful thinking are born out of our fleshly appetites in the lyrics to this song:

Wealth, fame, youth and money don’t satisfy our hopes. Time magazine some time ago ran an article about Cheyenne Brando’s death, entitled “Lost Hope.” This young, beautiful, intelligent and wealthy daughter of the late Marlon Brando committed suicide by hanging herself on Easter Sunday morning. She once claimed to be, “the most beautiful, most intelligent, and richest girl in Tahiti,” the article said, but also, was perhaps the most anguished.
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Annually more than 30,000 people in the U.S. commit suicide and over 80%, according to a study, had experienced “an intense psychological pain without any reason to expect it would ever change.”

However, when the Bible talks about hope, it takes on a whole new meaning. It talks about God as the object of our hope, the source of our hope, and the future fulfillment of our hope. It talks about a God of justice and mercy who will one day right all wrong, remove all pain, wipe away all tears, and vindicate us before our enemies. It talks about a God who promises us a future salvation through the resurrection of our bodies and eternal life and a God who, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has defeated death, hell, and the grave. It talks about the parusia or second coming of Christ as an end-time event, but not the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises. And, finally, it talks about a God who has an over-arching plan for an ultimate triumph when He will redeem creation from its bondage to decay and bring it into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

And, we can learn, experience and come to know that kind of Biblical Hope. There are many references to this hope in the Bible. When we have Biblical Hope we have an anchor for our souls. (Heb. 6:17-20) “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

When we have Biblical Hope, we have assurance of immortality. (Acts 24:14) “Paul tells Felix, “I believe everything that agrees with the law and the prophets for I have the same hope in God as these men that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and wicked.”

When we have Biblical Hope, we know God watches over us. (Psa. 33:18) “Behold the eye of the Lord is upon you that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy.” When we have Biblical Hope, our hearts are strengthened. (Psa. 32:34) “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in God.”

When we have Biblical Hope, we share our witness with others. (I Peter 3:15) “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” Biblical Hope inspires us to righteous living. (I John 3:3) “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”

Our countenance brightens when we have Biblical Hope. (Prov. 42:11) “Why are you cast down, o my soul? Why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is my savior and my God.” We are happy when we have Biblical Hope. (Psa. 146:5) “Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord His God.”

And with Biblical hope we are joyful. (Rom. 12:12) “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” These are all examples of a theocentric or God-centered kind of hope!

Now you may say, pastor, that sounds good and that’s what I want I want to do right, be happy, wear a smile, walk on the sunny side of the street, and have it all. But then you say, somehow it just doesn’t work that way for me. Somehow when I get my hopes up, things go awry or life starts to unravel at the seams and my expectations dissolve and dissipate before me. That seems to be the way it is. Just when we think we’ve arrived, our own humanity and creatureliness emerges and disappoints us. We are reminded of what we are and how weak we really are. Our approach to problems and difficulties in our life is to think that if somehow we do it often enough, if we try harder, we can get it right all by ourselves. But it just doesn’t work out that way.

That’s when the Bible can speak most clearly into your life--at the point of your greatest need--and tell you that you don’t have to live a life characterized by disappointment, despair, unresolved spiritual ambivalence, false hope, bitterness and confusion. Oh, you say, that great. Christians don’t experience these feelings. But that’s not really what I’m saying. I’m saying the Bible instructs us that we don’t have to live lives controlled and dominated by these negative powers.

In fact, Jesus said in John 16:33: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Paul applies a similar meaning to Christ’s words in Romans 8:35 and says, “While we will experience pain, suffering, loss, and the unrelenting presence of the evil powers of this world, even death itself, we can be overcomers in all of these experiences and live a life of peace, joy and victory.” And again in Rom. 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose.”

You may be saying that you don’t want to experience these hardships, pain, suffering and loss and as a Christian you thought you didn’t have to experience them. In fact, you thought that somehow, some way, you should be exempt from them. The reason we think that is because there is sin in the world and the father of lies with all his little lying imps are here and they are a part of this emanating presence of evil and deception that plagues us.

You see, in the world we try to deal with suffering, pain and loss by building survival techniques, by creating all sorts of false hopes through alcohol or other forms of addictions, material possessions, or any number of escapism that we develop. In the second segment in this teaching we’ll see how the scriptures define Biblical Hope and how different it is from a secular perception. Understanding that difference and applying it to our lives can bring true joy, peace, and hope.
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Part II