Hopeology, Part 5

If you have a Bible, you can turn to Hebrews chapter 6, but we're not going to be there this morning, even though that's our text. Hebrews 6 talks about God, our anchor of hope, and we're looking at hope. We want you to understand what the Bible says concerning hope.

Our hope is sure and steadfast because it's based on who God himself is, and we want to talk about Hebrews 6. But before we do that, we are looking at what the Bible says concerning hope. J. C. Ryle in his Old Paths says this about hope. He says, But why do they hope? On what is their hope built? Too often they cannot tell you.

Too often it is a mere excuse for avoiding a disagreeable subject, hoping they live on, hoping they grow old, hoping they die at last, and find too often that they are lost forever in hell. I ask the serious attention of all who read this paper. The subject is one of the deepest importance.

We are saved by hope, Romans 8.24. Let us then make sure that our hope is sound. We are trying to help you understand how your hope can be sound. Sound hope is rooted in God, Romans 15 verse number 13.

God is our hope. Without God, there is no hope. So sound hope is rooted in God.

Sound hope is received by grace. It's received by grace. Second Thessalonians 2 verse number 16 tells us that you cannot earn hope, you can't merit hope, you can't somehow achieve hope.

Hope is a gift. So it's received by grace. If it's rooted in God, received by grace, then hope is that which truly is, you know, ratified by the resurrection.

Good. I forgot. Ratified through the resurrection.

First Peter 1 verse number 3. At least you're paying attention. At least you're taking notes. That's good.

I'm glad to see that, hear that. It's ratified through the resurrection, right? It's solidified by the fact that Jesus lives. Because he lives, we live.

Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 15, if we hope in this world, that's all there is, then we are the most miserable people alive. But what we have to hope for is not in this world. It's in Christ who lives.

So because he lives, we live. So hope is ratified through the resurrection. That hope is reinforced by scripture.

Romans 15 verse number 4. These things were written beforehand for your instruction, that through them, through their instruction, you might have encouragement, you might be able to persevere, but most importantly, that you would have hope. God gives us his word so that you and I would be able to have the hope necessary to live from day to day. What is hope? Hope is living in anticipation of everything that God promised.

We anticipate what he says because we know that what he says is true. And because what he says is true, it will happen. So therefore, that hope is reinforced by the scripture.

Hope that's reinforced by the scripture is reassured or reaffirmed by the Holy Spirit. Romans 15 verse number 13 again says very simply that we abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So it's God's Spirit that causes our hope to abound.

So our hope is reassured by the Spirit of the living God. And the hope that's reassured by the living God or the Spirit of the living God is a rampart against Satan's devices. Okay? We need a bulwark.

We need a fortress. We need a refuge. And God's hope is a rampart against Satan and all of his devices because we need protection.

First Thessalonians chapter two verse number eight talks about, excuse me, five verse number eight talks about the fact that we have this helmet of salvation, which is our hope, right? Not what has taken place, our justification, or what is happening right now, our sanctification, but the hope of a future glorification. Listen, we go to work every day to war. We wake up every day and go to war.

And we need a helmet of salvation, which is our hope to show us that what God has said will happen exactly as he promised. So sound hope is a rampart against Satan in all of his devices. Now that should be six, right? You have six.

For those of you taking notes, six, right? If you're not taking notes, by the way, it's still six. Okay? So number seven is this. Hope reproduces joy.

Hope reproduces joy. I wonder if I was in your home today when you woke up at breakfast, got dressed and came to church, if you would have a home filled with joy. I wonder if your life is filled with joy.

Hope reproduces joy. If hope is reassured by the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, and joy, then we know that a byproduct of the Spirit's work in our life is is joy. Romans 15, 13 is that verse again.

It says this. It says, now may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace, because peace is a byproduct of joy, and joy is a producer of peace. And in fact, the Bible says in Romans 14, 17, that the kingdom of God is not just eating and drinking, but it's righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

You're made right with God. And because you're made right with God, you're reconciled to God. You have peace with God.

And now the result of that is absolute joy because of the Spirit of God who lives in you. So hope is that which reproduces joy. And the question comes, do you have joy? The Bible tells us so much about true joy.

And isn't it interesting that a lot of us don't exude joy, and we should. So let me explain this to you from a biblical perspective. If the Lord's going to fill us with joy, it begins with salvation, right? It begins with salvation.

Listen to what Psalm 35, 9 says, my soul shall be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. I have hope because I'm saved.

We are saved by hope. And therefore, because of that hope, we have joy because salvation brings joy. Remember in Acts 8, when Philip was used by the Lord to present the gospel, what took place? Acts chapter 8, verse number 4, therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. And the crowds of one accord were giving attention to what he said, as they heard and saw signs which he was performing. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them and shouting with a loud voice.

And many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing in the city. God was doing a great work.

And you know the story about the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53, right? Had no idea what he was reading. And Philip came up to him and the eunuch says to him in verse 34 of Acts 8, please tell me of whom does a prophet say of this, of himself or someone else? And then Philip opened his mouth and began from the scripture he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, water, what prevents me from being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And he ordered the chariot to stop and they both went down to the water and Philip, as well as the eunuch, they baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away and the eunuch was no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

Why? Because he'd given his life to Christ. That's why Jesus says in Luke chapter 10 to the 70 who went out and they came back with joy, the Bible says. They came back ecstatic because they saw great things taking place.

They saw the miracle of God. It says in Luke 10, 17, when they returned with joy, they said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And Jesus said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

And behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Don't, don't rejoice about the great things that God's doing nearly as much as you rejoice of this one sure fact that your names are written down and recorded in glory, because that's where your joy is because your joy is in the hope of eternal life.

Your hope is based on the promises that I've given to you concerning your future in your names are written down in glory. You see, a lot of us don't don't have joy, not because we don't have hope, but because sin has clouded that hope. Remember what David said in Psalm 51, restore to me the joy of thy salvation.

He never lost his salvation. He just lost the joy that surrounded that salvation because of sin. Sin will always squelch joy.

It just does. Because if God's given us a spirit and the spirit is a spirit of joy, why wouldn't we have joy? In fact, Jesus says these words. I love these.

John 14, Christ says, I'm sorry, John 15, verse number 11. These things I've spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. The reason I have said this to you is that my joy will be in you.

Now, what kind of joy is that? The joy that was set before him that caused him to endure the cross. Hebrews 12. And one day we'll get to Hebrews 12, one and two and understand exactly what that joy was.

But there was a joy set before him that caused him to endure the pain and agony of the cross. And Christ says, I want my joy to be in you and I want that joy to be made full. Hope reproduces joy.

And then he says this in John chapter 16. He says, therefore, you too have grief now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you. Why can't your joy be taken from you? Because it's my joy in you.

That's why. And no one could take my joy from me. And if my joy is in you, nobody can take my joy from you either.

And then he says this. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name, John 16, 24, asking you shall receive so that your joy may be made full. I want you to pray.

I want you to seek my face. I want your hope to be based on the promises of my word. So you come and you ask in my name.

And when you do, I'm going to make sure that your joy is made full. Isn't it interesting that when Christ speaks about joy, he speaks about the fullness of joy. He didn't talk about partial joy.

Didn't talk about a third joy, a little bit of joy. It's all about fullness of joy. Great joy.

Great rejoicing. Because it's his joy. And that's what he wants you to have.

He wants you to rejoice in him. Listen to what the psalmist says. Psalm 146, verse number five.

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. That's the blessed man. That's the joyous man.

How blessed is he whose trust is in the God of Jacob and whose hope is in his Lord. That's the blessed man. It says in Psalm 71, verse number 14.

And as for me, I will hope continually and will praise thee yet more and more. I will hope continually. And because I do, my praise, my joy will just abound more and more and more.

The psalmist said in Psalm 33. Psalm 33. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope for his lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help, our shield. For our heart rejoices in him because we trust in his holy name.

Let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in you. Lord, we've hoped in you. Therefore, we trust in you.

Therefore, we hope in your holy name. There is great joy because we have hope. Hope reproduces joy in the life of every believer.

That's what hope does. That's why we're not down all the time. Because we know of the certainty of the future we have with the living God.

That's why we talked about yesterday at Susie Phillipson's memorial service. Revelation 14, 13. Blessed are the dead.

Joyful are the dead. It's the word makariori, which means to be joyful, to be content, to be fully satisfied. Only the dead in Christ are fully satisfied.

Why? Because they rest from their labors, their reward follows after them, because they have a relationship with the living God who has given them hope. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. See that? Because they have hope.

The Bible says that there is no rest for the wicked. None. They don't have rest.

They're always uneasy. They're always unsettled. They have no peace.

Therefore, they can't have any joy because they do not understand the God of hope. So, we need to understand how that happens, because there are times in our lives where we go through very difficult times, very hard times, very tragic times, and our joy begins to diminish. But it shouldn't because of our hope.

Let me show you how that happens. The Bible says these words, Book of Romans, the fifth chapter. Oh, by the way, just let me say this.

You know, a lot of us don't have joy because our hope is not in the Lord. Maybe you're here today and you don't have joy. And ask yourself this question, is my hope in the Lord? Is my hope in something else? Paul said these words because a lot of us are following this category.

We hope one day to be able to retire. Right? But we can't hope to retire until we hope we have enough money to retire. So, I hope I get a better job that will give me more money so I can retire.

See? We live in this cycle because we hope in something. We hope in what Paul calls the uncertainty of riches. Paul says it this way, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Okay? So, fix your hope on God because He will give you the joy that you need. But if you don't fix your hope on God and fix it on the uncertainty of riches, not only will you not have hope, you'll have no joy. Paul would say this earlier.

He would say, those who want to get rich fall into temptation and the snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

He says earlier in 1 Timothy 6. Don't be the kind of person who finds himself completely wanting in life because of the grief that he bears because he has fixed his hope on the uncertainty of riches. That's why he says, but you, oh man of God, you flee these things. What things? The love of money.

You see, you can't be a man of God and love money. You can't be a man of God and pursue money. You can't.

So you, oh man of God, you flee these things and you pursue righteousness. You pursue faith. You pursue those spiritual virtues that will make you the kind of man that will build your character, that will last for eternity.

But don't be the kind of man that pursues riches because if you do, you're going to fix your hope on them. They are uncertain. There is nothing about them that you can trust.

And is it not true that that is a sum of Solomon's life? We read it to you on Wednesday night when Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2, all that my eye desired, I did not refuse. Now think about that. Whatever you look at and you want, you just get.

Because you can do that. You had the money, you had the resources, you had the power. So I look at you, I want you.

I look at that money, I want you. I look at that I want that so I get it. Whatever my eyes looked at, I obtained, I got, I received for myself.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. Now you think about that. Whatever my heart, heart's pleasure was, I obtained.

What is your heart's pleasure today? What are your eyes looking at that you want, that you, if you could, would take? Solomon could take anything he wanted. Remember, the most powerful person who ever lived, the most influential person who ever lived, the most privileged person, the most prestigious person whose ever graced planet earth is the man Solomon. So whatever he wanted, he took for himself.

For my heart was pleased because of all my labor, and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done, and the labor which I had exerted, and behold, all of it was empty. It was striving after the wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

None. And we read that, and we don't believe that. We just don't.

In the background, I said, yeah, but if I could just get a little bit more, if I could just have that, if I could just look at that and take that, I don't want all that Solomon had, I just want half of what Solomon had, a third, a tenth, a portion. I don't want all of it. I'm not that greedy.

I'm just a little greedy. So yeah, I don't want all of it. And then Solomon said this, remember this? Ecclesiastes 5, verse number 10, he who loves money will not be satisfied with money.

But we don't believe that. We don't believe that. Solomon says that it's in the scripture, okay, it's written at the end of his life, having obtained, remember, 666 talents of gold a year, which is somewhere between 10 and 20 billion dollars a year.

That was his annual income. Anybody here make 10 to 20 billion a year? See? That's how much he made. He who loves money will never be satisfied, because he wasn't.

Nor he who loves abundance with its income, that is, whatever you can get with your income, whatever you can buy, a bigger house, a bigger car, a better this, but I was reading the other day that Chevy's coming out with a $100,000 pickup. Who's going to buy that? A $100,000 pickup. I mean, come on, people.

Are we that greedy that we're going to spend $100,000 on a car? But Solomon says that if you have all this money and whatever you obtain with it, it's all empty. It doesn't satisfy. For this, too, he says, is complete and total vanity.

It's empty. It's futile. And yet we continue to put our hope in the uncertainty of riches, and then we wonder why we have no joy.

Because hope reproduces joy, but not hope in the uncertainty of riches, but hope in the certainty of God's promises. What he says, see? That's what reproduces joy. And so if we don't have joy, we must ask ourselves what we have set our hearts and minds on.

Because if you have true, sound hope, it reproduces joy. It just does. Even when you go through the most difficult circumstances in your life.

Paul says this, Book of Romans, 8th chapter, verse number one, I'm sorry, 5th chapter, verse number one, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. We've been reconciled to God. We've been declared righteous before Him.

We were justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into His grace, in which we stand and we exult, we rejoice, we are ecstatic in hope of the glory of God. We are ecstatic, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

In other words, one day, one day we will be glorified. One day we will be able to look at Him face to face. We will see Him as He is, and we will be like Him, and our bodies will be glorified.

It is a, it is a promise of a secure future. Our joy is based on that security. See, because we know, Peter says this way, over in first Peter, chapter one, verse number 18, he says, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold from your futile way of life, inherited from your forefathers, but with a precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ, for He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Your hope is in God. Paul says, we exult because there is a future hope that is centered on the glory of God, that we then will obtain that glory and be able to look upon His face. And then he says this, he says, and not only this, hey, not just this, just wait a second.

Paul says, I'm just getting started here. Hold on to your socks. Not only this, but we also exult, exult, rejoice in our tribulations, in our distresses.

It's the word philipsis, which means pressure. We rejoice in our pressure. This is so good because it was a word used in ancient times of a press that would press olives and press grapes.

And when you press the olive, out comes the oil. And when you press the grape, out comes the juice. The oil is smooth and the juice is sweet.

So God wants to make you smooth and sweet so that you're able to rejoice. So Paul says, look, not just this. He says, hold on a second.

We know that we have a future glory when we see Him face to face. That's secure. Based on the fact that we've been justified by faith and we're at peace with God.

But it goes way beyond that, Paul says. When he says, we also exult in our pressures. And I don't know what your pressure is today.

I don't know how, what pressure you are facing today. Pressure at work to perform, pressure at home with unsafe family members, pressure at work because you are a believer and you're trying to stand for Christ, pressure because of what's happening with the hardships in your home, whether it's financial, emotional stress. I don't know what it is, but whatever that pressure is, Paul says, we exult in it.

Knowing that, knowing that that pressure brings about perseverance. That pressure allows you to persevere, to stand strong because you have a sure and steadfast hope. You have this pressure that's squeezing you.

And as it squeezes you, because you are a believer in the Lord, out comes oil and out comes juice. Juice that is so sweet and oil that's so smooth that you're able to continue to persevere because nothing sticks to you because you're so smooth. It just slides right off.

See that? Ever lathered your body up with oil? Nothing stays, right? It just slides right off. You're able to persevere and continue amidst that pressure because it doesn't stick to you. It doesn't weigh you down because you're able to endure and persevere and remain steadfast.

And then he says in that perseverance, proven character, proven character. In other words, because of the pressure that's there and because you're able to persevere, what it does is strengthen you, strengthen the inner man to prove the validity of your faith. And the character that you have is molded into the image of the living God.

And then he says this, in perseverance, proven character, and proven character. What's the next word? Hope. Hope.

What? Yeah, hope. You see, no matter what the pressure is, it cannot kill your hope. It can't.

It can't rob your joy. You exult in the hope of glory. You rejoice abundantly because of your future.

And so no matter what the pressure is today, no matter how much you are squeezed today, that squeezing is only going to produce a persevering spirit. And that persevering spirit is only going to produce a proven character. And that proven character is going to produce one thing that you need, and that is hope.

And then he says, and that hope, verse 5, does not disappoint. It doesn't disappoint. It doesn't cause you to say, I just wish I'd never given my life to Christ.

I just wish—I wish I wasn't a Christian. This is such a tragic thing, such a horrible—no, no. Listen, nobody who's given their life to Christ has ever been disappointed.

Ever. Because it's Christ Himself, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Right? And if I was to take you to Peter's epistle, Peter would tell you this, this.

He would say this. He would say, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith be in precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, the reason your hope is filled with joy is because at the revelation of Jesus Christ, that is, the day of His appearing, when you are standing before Him, okay, it's going to result in praise, glory, and honor.

In other words, you'll be praised, you'll receive glory, and you'll receive honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Do you know Romans 2.9 says that God is going to praise you? That's unbelievable. Do you know that when you die and go to heaven, He's going to say, well done, great job, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.

What, what, can you imagine hearing that as you stand face to face before the living God, absent from the body, present with the Lord? Susie Philipson, who just went home to be with the Lord just a few weeks ago, she died and entered into the presence of the Lord, and the Lord says, Susie, great job, well done, now good and faithful, enter into the joy of the Lord, at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. You will receive praise, you will receive glory because you'll have a glorified body, you'll be able to see Him face to face, you will be able to look at Him, in all of His glory, in all of His brightness, in all of His beauty, because you will see Him as He is, and you'll be like Him. And on top of that, honor, honor.

Revelation 22 to 16 says that when I return, my reward is with me. What reward? The reward He's going to give to those who have been faithful servants. And Peter says, listen, Peter picks it up from where Paul left off and just goes beyond measure and says, this is what's going to happen.

This is what's going to happen. That's our hope. And that hope reproduces joy, and I trust you had that joy this morning, that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you stand in His presence, trusting and believing only what He says, living a life anticipating His promises.

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for today. What a great God we serve.

Thank You that we could spend time in Your Word, looking at today, and I pray for every man and woman, boy and girl in the room today, that Lord, we would not hope in the uncertainty of riches, because there is no hope there. We hope only in the certainty of what You've already said, because Lord, our joy is based on Christ Himself. May we live lives that are completely filled with Your joy.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.