Hopeology, Part 3

Hebrews chapter 6, God is our anchor of hope We are looking at what hope really is Before we actually dive into the text, we've taken just a moment, just a few weeks and a few weeks more to understand exactly what hope really is We live in a world that offers no hope. A number of years ago, we published a book called God's Hope for Your Home It was published after the series we went through entitled God's Hope for Your Home Helping people to understand that the only hope for their family was in God alone Not God and something else, just God alone

Not God and my group, whatever my group might be Churches today have groups for every need that you might imagine Yet, we want you to understand what the Bible says concerning how God is your strength, how God is your helper, how God is your only hope In fact, the psalmist said it this way in Psalm 146, verse number three, the psalmist recorded these words, Do not trust in princes, in mortal man in whom there is no salvation His spirit departs, he returns to the earth, in that very day his thoughts perish

But how blessed is those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God Don't trust in princes, don't trust in mortal man In the next chapter in Psalm 147, the psalmist says don't trust in horses or in the legs of a man In other words, don't trust in anything other than God himself But we find ourselves doing that And so when we published the book, it was all about how to find hope for your family because it's rooted in who God is and what God has done We live in a world that's been attacked by the adversary

Ever since the fall of man in Genesis chapter three, in Satan's disruption with Adam and Eve and tempting them to sin and the destruction of the family, it's been relentless since the beginning The marriage unit was designed to portray Christ, the love of Christ to a lost world In fact, marriage is designed primarily for that purpose It's not designed to meet your needs, although it does meet your needs It's not designed for that purpose Primarily, marriage is designed to picture the love of Christ for his church

And once you've missed that, then you missed the basic understanding of what marriage is all about And Satan wants to destroy all that He wants to bring it down He wants to destroy your marriage He wants to break up your marriage He wants to destroy your family And so since Genesis chapter three, he, like as Peter says in first Peter five, eight goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour Because he wants to not just devour you, he wants to demolish you He wants to destroy everything about you and your family, because he does not want God to be seen in and through your family

So the family's attacked by the adversary What is their hope? The family's been manipulated by the media Where is their hope? We forget how badly the media manipulates the way we think You go on your cell phone and you watch someone's Instagram and you wonder why your family doesn't look like that family Why your home doesn't look like that home Why your marriage doesn't represent that marriage Little do you know that the things they're posting are not the reality of life They're only posting what they want you to see They're only telling you a story that they want you to see

They're not telling you the real story behind the scenes But we watch that, we see that, and we wonder how, why does our family fall short? Why things aren't going well for my marriage and someone else is being blessed and I'm not And all of a sudden we're being manipulated into thinking that we're on the downward spiral and things are getting worse and worse for us And we ask, is there any hope? We're seduced by society We are controlled by our culture and not by Christ We are being divided by divorce We are being devastated by the demands we put on one another

We are being ravaged by revenge in our families And the list goes on and on and on And the question comes, where is there any hope? And the only hope is found in God There is no other hope My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness Right? On Christ, a solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand

Oh, we sing it in our churches, but do we really believe it? And do we really live it? In fact, that song by Edward Motis, based on Matthew chapter 7, when Christ said these words as he closed out his sermon on the mount, he said, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, slammed against that house, it fell, and great was its fall The Lord made it very clear that everything needs to be built on what He has said And once you hear it, you act upon it, then you can have the security of God But if you hear His word and don't act upon it, you're the foolish man

And when the winds come, the winds of adversity come, when the rain comes and slams against your house, it comes tumbling down and great is that fall That's why the Bible says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it God has to build your house If God doesn't build it, nobody else can It will come crumbling down So the question comes, where is the hope? The hope is found in God who is our anchor of hope, who is sure and steadfast That's why we told you a couple of weeks ago that a life with Christ is an endless hope Without Christ, a hopeless end

And so the question comes, do we hope in God alone? Do we trust in God alone? So the writer of Hebrews is trying to get this Jewish audience to respond to the one true God, the God who is all sufficient, the God who is all sovereign, the God who is the creator of the ends of the earth, to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to hope only in Him because He is sure and steadfast He is secure and stable You can count on what God has said because hope is living in anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promises Faith is living by the conviction of God's precepts

Love is living by the realization and the subsequent manifestation of God's person But hope is living in the anticipation of everything that God has promised because we can count on Him He is reliable He cannot lie Therefore, what He has promised will happen That's our hope And so we began by telling you that hope is rooted in God Romans 15, verse number 13, because He is the God of hope Christ is our hope in First Timothy chapter one The gospel is our hope, but hope is rooted in God On top of that, hope is received by grace Second Thessalonians 2.16, it's a gift given to us by God

You can't earn hope It's a gift So hope is received by grace And then we saw last week where hope is ratified by the resurrection, right? It's confirmed by the fact that Jesus lives Because He lives, we too will live Think about Mary and Martha when they were concerned about their brother Lazarus who was sick and then he died and Jesus didn't show up And they said, Lord, if you'd have been here, He would not have died And the Lord said, I am the resurrection and the life And He rose Lazarus or raised Lazarus from the dead to give Mary and Martha hope

And that resurrection was so powerful that in John 12, the Pharisees and everybody else went from Jerusalem to Bethany, not just on the account of Jesus, but the very fact that Lazarus was there And many people were believing in Jesus because of the hope that Lazarus gave them because of his resurrection So much hope the Pharisees wanted to kill Lazarus Wow How powerful is that? The fourth thing I want you to see is that hope, because you might be here today and say, well, I know hope was rooted in God and I know hope is received by grace

And I know that that hope is ratified by the resurrection, but why is it I go through each day with very little hope? Why is it I struggle so much to grapple with the hope that God gives me? That's where point four comes in And that is this hope is reinforced by scripture Hope is reinforced by scripture So if you're not in the word, if you're not under the word, if you're not reading the word, if you're not memorizing the word, if you're not studying the word, your hope is going to flounder because once you're in the word, your hope is reinforced reinforced by the truth of what God says

Listen to Romans 15 verse number four For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction So that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope Now think about that Paul says, whatever was written in earlier times, whatever you have read about what God has said, what God has done all throughout the old Testament, it was written for our instruction But that instruction wasn't just in formational It was con formational It wasn't just to give you a lot of information about God and what he did

So you have all these facts about the history of Israel and how God intervened and what God did No, it goes way beyond that It's conformational God wants to conform you to his image And so these things written in earlier times are written for our instruction that through the perseverance and the encouragement of scriptures, we might now have hope That's why we told you a number of weeks ago that those who master the old Testament have a greater hope than those who don't Because the old Testament is a story of how God works in the lives of his people

We need to be masters of the old Testament masters of the old covenant, because it helps us understand the workings of God in and throughout the lives of his people So very, very important When God gave us his word, he wanted us to understand him And so he made sure that there was a record of how he worked in and through the lives of his chosen people, Israel And so he's given us his word He's put it in the print so we can read it We can study it We can understand it

They were given for our instruction that through the perseverance and encouragement of scripture, we can have hope today, because that hope is sure That hope is steadfast It's not a wishful thinking No, it's rooted in God who cannot lie and the promises that he gives So therefore, we know they're going to happen exactly as he said they would So let me give you some illustrations this morning All right Go back with me, if you would, to the book of Joshua The book of Joshua In Joshua chapter 14, Caleb comes to Joshua and asks for a specific portion of the land of Canaan, the promised land

Remember Joshua and Caleb were the two spies that brought back a positive report, while the other 10 spies brought back a negative report And Caleb comes to Joshua and tells him that I have followed the Lord fully God said that I followed him fully And Moses would reiterate that Caleb followed the Lord fully because he did But I want you to listen to what Caleb says, because it's very important Verse number 10 of Joshua chapter 14 Now, behold, the Lord has let me live Just as he spoke, God had promised Caleb that he would live through the wilderness wanderings

And so these 45 years from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness, and now behold, I am 85 years old today So I was 40 We spied out the land. I'm 85 today. 45 years later, God had spoken to him, given him a promise that he would live through the wilderness wanderings And he wanted the land that God promised him He had lived in anticipation of what God had already promised And so it says in verse 11, I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me as my strength was then So my strength is now for war and for going out and coming in

Now then give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day For you heard on that day that Anakim were there with great fortified cities Perhaps the Lord will be with me. I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh for inheritance Ah, Hebron, a place that symbolizes two things, intimacy and victory For it was there Abraham communed with God It was a very significant, a very special place

And because Caleb had walked with the Lord fully, had given his life to the Lord fully, he had walked intimately with the God, he wanted the place that represented intimacy, the place that God had promised him But you see, he lived 45 years in anticipation of the promises of God So when you come to Joshua 23, Joshua says this in verse 14, now behold, today I'm going the way of all the earth And you know, in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one word of all the good words, which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed All have been fulfilled for you

Not one of them has failed It shall come about that just as all the good words, which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you So the Lord will bring upon you all the threats until he's destroyed you from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you In other words, God is true to his word You can count on everything that God says, because all the good words that God had spoken to you have all come true Not one of them has failed

In fact, earlier in Joshua 21, verse number 45, God says, not one of the good promises, which the Lord has made to the house of Israel all came to pass Not one word, all of it has come to pass So crucial was that, that when Solomon dedicated the temple in first Kings chapter eight, he said in verse 56, blessed be the Lord who has given the rest of his people, Israel, according to all that he promised Now he picks up on the words of Joshua

Not one word has failed of all his good promises, which he promised through Moses, his servant, not one, not one word, not one thing that God say that he did not fulfill He promised and he fulfilled it And then you come over to verse 66 It says that on the eighth day, he sent the people away and they blessed the King Then they went to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel, his people

In other words, they realized that all the good words that God had spoken, all the good promises that God had given had happened exactly as God said So now they could leave rejoicing, glad in heart because of all the good words that were fulfilled when they were reminded of God's goodness, they responded with gladness See that? That's why Paul says these things written in earlier times were written for your instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of scripture, you might have hope

What do you trust in? What do you believe in? Our hope is rooted in God, who's given us these promises that we can hold on to because they are sure, they are steadfast, they are an anchor for the soul And therefore, God's word is that which reinforces the hope that you and I have Turn to Psalm 119 for a moment Psalm 119 The psalmist says, remember the word to your servant in which you have made me hope Remember the word that you have given to your servant In other words, he's asking God to be true to his promises, which he always is, because it's your word, Lord, that has given me hope

In verse 50, this is my comfort and my affliction Your word has revived me It says over in verse 73, your hands made me and fashioned me Give me an understanding that I may learn your commandments May those who fear you see me and be glad because I hope in your word That is so good May those who fear you see me and be glad because I hope in your word Let me ask you a question When you walk into the room, is there glory or gloom? When you walk into the room, are people like, oh no, here they come Ah, let's go to another room Or when you walk into the room, do they say, oh wow, look who's here

May those who fear you, though, which is a phrase that signifies those who love the Lord and are committed to him, the salvation of God, see me and be glad because I hope in your word. I trust in your word Listen, we can either walk into a room and spread hope or spread heartache If you hope in God's word, you're going to exude joy and the people around you will see that and they will be glad Now note, Saul said, your hands made me and fashioned me Okay, he could hope in God and trust in God because God created him Very important God fashioned him God created him

Knowing that God created him, God counseled him because he gave him understanding, verse 73, that he may learn the commandments of God Then it says in verse 75, I know, oh Lord, that your judgments are righteous and in faithfulness you have afflicted me Not only did God create him, not only did God counsel him, but God conformed him to his image Verse 76, oh may your loving kindness comfort me according to your word to your servant God created him God counseled him God is the one who conformed him God is the one who comforted him

So therefore, those who see him, those who fear the Lord will see him and be glad because he was the one who truly hoped in all that God had promised How about you? What happens when you walk into a room, when you walk into your workplace, when you walk into your school? What are people's reactions? Do they know that you truly hope in God's holy word? Look at Psalm 119, verse number 114 It says, you are my hiding place and my shield. I hope for your word Wow You are my refuge You are my hiding place You are my shield Wow

Is that the way you see God? You can go and look at scripture and the reference to God being a hiding place or a refuge Psalm 9, Psalm 17, Psalm 27, Psalm 31, Psalm 32, Psalm 46, 57, 59, 62, 91, 94, 142 It goes on and on and on Because the Psalmist understood there was a place of protection, that God was his hiding place And because he could find a place of refuge, God was his protector God was his shield Wow Psalmist said in Psalm 115, verse number nine, Psalm 115, verse number nine, O Israel, trust in the Lord He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord

He is their help and their shield You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord, for he is their help, their hiding place, and their shield The Lord has been mindful of us He will bless us He will bless the house of Israel He will bless the house of Aaron He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small and great together Why? Because he is our refuge He is our shield

Over in Psalm 144, Psalm 144, the Psalmist said these words, Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle, my lovingkindness, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge Do you remember where God first refers to himself as a shield? Does anybody remember? Does anybody know? Well, let me read it to you so you understand it It was given to father Abraham, Genesis chapter 15 In verse number one, there are four firsts, okay? It says in verse number one, and after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham

First time the word or the phrase word of the Lord is used in scripture God had spoken to Abraham, but the first time the phrase word of the Lord is used is Genesis 15 verse number one Came to Abraham in a vision saying, Do not fear Okay, so whatever is going on in Abraham's life after he had defeated the kings that had taken his nephew, God wanted him to know he need not fear And how do you learn not to fear? But only through the word of the Lord So the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision and said, Do not fear Then he says, I am a shield to you There it is

First time it's used in scripture Somehow when God speaks, his word becomes a shield for Abraham It becomes his hiding place, his refuge Do not fear. I am a shield to you Your reward. I am your very great reward Literally that's how it says You have nothing to fear, Abraham, because I am your protector and I'm going to protect you in such a way that I am your reward. I am enough for you, Abraham And the only way God will ever be enough for you is if you're in his word The only way you'll ever know that God's a shield for you is if you're in his word

The only way you're going to know how not to fear anything else but God is through his word There is no other way God is your only hope It's not God and It's God only Whenever you say God and, you minimize God It's only God That's it It's just the Lord God of Israel And all throughout the old Testament, that was the story That was the emphasis You need me. I am your reward You need nothing else. I'm everything to you, Abraham You need nothing else

So when it comes to Hebrews chapter six, which we have yet to look at at the end, when it comes to God being the anchor of our hope, there's an illustration given about Abraham because he was given a promise, a promise of a seed And it would not be fulfilled until 25 years later And the illustration is given because every Jew knows the illustration of Abraham and Isaac, right? And how he had to wait 25 years from 75 to the age of a hundred for the fulfillment of that promise But he waited He waited Now, there was that little faux pas in the middle with Hagar and Ishmael Okay

But he learned to wait on the promises of God and to trust what God said Because God is the shield He is the reward He is the one you fear He is your protector He is your refuge That's why the psalmist could say, I hope in your word So let me give you one more illustration Okay If you got your Bible, turn me to the book of Lamentations The book of Lamentations Understand that from 588 BC to 586 BC, Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians So much so that hundreds of thousands of them starved to death And God had given Israel a prophet His name was Jeremiah

Does anybody know what Jeremiah's name means? Very important to understanding the book of Jeremiah and the book of Lamentations Jeremiah's name, would you say? No, he was the wailing prophet That's absolutely correct Okay His name means the Lord throws Okay Literally, the Lord threw Jeremiah into a mess He really did He threw him in the midst of a mess He became the prophet during the reign of Josiah, who by the way was a good king One of eight good kings in Judah But Israel had rebelled Judah had rebelled against God

And for 40 years, Jeremiah would bring God's message to Israel, warning them about captivity, warning them not to turn away from God, warning them to turn back to God But they mocked him They scorned him They ridiculed him And God was so good to Jeremiah, because at the very outset of Jeremiah chapter 1, God wanted to make sure that Jeremiah understood that God had specifically thrown him into this situation It says in verse number 4 of Jeremiah chapter 1, Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you

And before you were born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations In other words, he tells Jeremiah, I shaped you Knowing that I shape you, I set you apart for my purposes, so that you would serve me amidst my people Israel This is how Jeremiah was going to receive hope Then I said, Alas, O Lord, behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go And all that I command you, you shall speak Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord

That phrase, I am with you, would be a resounding theme throughout Jeremiah's life. I am with you, Jeremiah. I am with you, Jeremiah. I shaped you. I set you apart for my service, for my glory, and you will always be in my presence. I will always be there with you In fact, it says in verse number 18, Now, behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land to the kings of Judah and to his princess, to his priests and to the people of the land

They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord God says, I'm going to give you hope, Jeremiah. I have made you as a fortified city You are a pillar of stone, a pillar of rock, a pillar of bronze You are so strong. I called you. I shaped you. I consecrated you You're the man, Jeremiah So don't give me excuses about how young you are Don't give me excuses about how you can't speak. I'm with you, Jeremiah He would need that

Because later in Jeremiah, chapter 20, verse number nine, he says, But if I say I will not remember him or speak any more in his name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in. I cannot endure it For I have heard the whispering of many, terror on every side That's what they called him They called him the man of terror Terror on every side is Jeremiah Denounce him Yes, let us denounce him All my trusted friends watching for my fall say, perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him

But the Lord is with me like a dread champion. A little translation The Lord is with me as an awe-inspiring, terror-seeking champion They called him terror on every side, but little did they know that the Lord God of Israel was seeking their terror because he was the champion fighting for Jeremiah And what happened to Israel? Well, Jeremiah 2 sums it up Jeremiah 2, verse number 13 It says in verse number 11, Has the nation changed gods when they were not gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which is not profit Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder

Be very desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, to hew for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water They've forsaken me They've forsaken me They've turned away from the true and living God The Canaanites didn't turn away from their false gods, Baal and Ashtoreth, but my people, the Israelites, turned away from the true and living God And they went after false gods And God sent them prophet after prophet, messenger after messenger, 2 Chronicles chapter 36 They mocked them They would not listen

They would not respond And God said, That's it That's it God told Solomon in 1 Kings 9, which follows on Wednesday night, that if my people go after other gods and serve them, I will drive them out of the land And yet God was so long suffering with Israel through 19 kings in the north and 20 kings in the south, told of 39 different kings and all the judges, all the prophets, all the priests He was long suffering with them, but they did not repent

As Jeremiah preached, Jeremiah watched them go off into captivity because of the destruction of the great city of God and the temple, the glory of Solomon's temple So when you come to Jeremiah or Lamentations, excuse me, chapter 1, Jeremiah looks at the city How lonely sits the city that was full of people She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer She weaves bitterly in the night and her tears are on her cheeks She has none to comfort her

Israel is off to captivity and he reminisces about the destruction of Jerusalem, the city of God, the great city of David Says in verse number 12 of chapter 1, is it nothing to all you pass this way, look and see if there is any pain like my pain, which was severely dealt out to me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger All the crying out, the weeping of Jeremiah over his people, Israel, that turned their back on God and would not respond to the message Chapter 2, verse number 1, how the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud of his anger

He has cast from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, that has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger But yet there is hope There's hope Chapter 3, verse number 19 Remember my affliction and my wandering and my wormwood and my bitterness Surely my soul remembers that is bowed down within me This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope Where's this hope coming from? His hope is recalling the words of God The Lord's loving kindness indeed never ceases, for his compassions never fail They are new every morning, great is their faithfulness

The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in him The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth Let him sit alone and be silent, since he has laid it on him Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there is hope Let him give his cheek to the smiter Let him be filled with the reproach, for the Lord will not reject forever For he causes grief, then he will have compassion, according to his abundant loving kindness

For he does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men The whole story of Israel in the book of Lamentations said God's not done There's hope There's always hope to those who turn to God There's always hope for those who repent and forsake their ways, because God's mercies never fail His loving kindness endures from generation to generation He is their hope Jeremiah knew that Jeremiah knew that God in his word was their only hope That's true today for Israel It's true today for you and me God's word reinforces hope

We understand God by what he has said and how he kept his promises, how not one word of the good words of God has ever failed Therefore, when I open his word and I read all of his promises, I know that they will not fail for me either And I can stand strong with conviction, confidence, and courage, knowing that my God will fulfill every word that he promises Let me pray with you Father, we thank you for today, a chance to be in your word once again, how true and how glorious it is My prayer is for every one of us in the room, that Lord, we would be men and women committed to the word of God

That when we open it and read it, we see the work and the plans of almighty God And that these things are written for our instruction, that we might have hope, that we can really count on what you said and trust you more explicitly, not just today, but every day Help us, Lord, to trust you and hope only in your word Thank you that you are the God of hope, who has granted us the grace to receive that hope, that we might live every day in hope In Jesus' name, amen.