Acts 24:14-15
Hope Toward God

Paul was standing before Felix, in chains, being tried for his faith
and life as a Christian.  This is at the beginning of his long trip
to Rome and his even longer incarceration which would lead to a
trial before Caesar, the ruler over the Roman Empire. Even so, Paul
was no stranger to persecution, having been jailed several times,
beaten and flogged several times, and run out of several towns.

As I mentioned this morning \\See 2013Notes on "Matt 11:28"\\, for
Paul life was hard.  God has offered those of us who are His several
gifts to help us in this difficult place.  This morning I mentioned
rest and grace.  Tonight, I would like to consider two other gifts
(or graces) God gives to us, hope and faith.

    I. What are these gifts?
        A. Faith
            1. I have spoken to you on faith many times and have
                 given several different definitions of faith in my
                 own attempt to understand it.
                 a. The best definition of faith is in the Bible.
                     Notice this Bible definition ties the two
                     graces, faith and hope, together.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

                b. Faith is the ability to see the invisible things
                    of God.
                c. Faith is the ability to see things as God sees
                    things.
                d. Faith is the ability to believe in this earthly
                    dimension what God has made real in His heavenly
                    dimension.
            2. Most recently, I have been emphasizing that our faith
                needs to be present tense
                a. Faith is believing that God is doing what He has
                    promised to do right now.
                b. It is not enough to believe God will one day do
                    something when we need Him to work now.
        B. Hope
            1. Hope is longing for the fulfillment of God’s promise.
            2. A hope is not a mere possibility that something
                good might happen.
            3. A hope is even more than a probability.  It is a
                certainty for it is built on God’s promise.
        C. These two graces together give us ability and stability.
            1. Faith and hope are Siamese twins.
                a. You can not have hope without faith for you would
                    never be able to see God’s invisible reality.
                    (1) You cannot long for a heaven you cannot see.
                    (2) You cannot long for an answer to prayer if
                         you cannot see God.
                    (3) The beginning of every hope is faith, seeing
                         what God is has promised and given to us.
                b. But faith cannot abide without hope for how could
                    you keep a vision alive that you did not long
                    for?
                    (1) How can you keep believing in a heaven that
                         you do not want?
                    (2) How can you keep believing in a God who you
                         do not love?
                    (3) How can you endure for Christ in a world if
                         you have no heart for God or the things of
                         God?
                c. These two go together.  We must be careful to feed
                    them both.
            2. To make a difference, we must have faith and hope.
                a. The Bible makes it clear just how important faith
                    is.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him.

                b. My thesis tonight is that you can’t keep your
                    faith strong unless you keep your hope strong.
                c. So if it is impossible to please God without
                    faith, I believe it is equally impossible to
                    please God without hope.
                    (1) Every Christian needs to want things, long
                         for things, crave things from God.
                    (2) A dead hope will soon lead to a dead faith.
            3. These two together give us special, spiritual
                abilities.
                a. The two graces that I mentioned this morning, rest
                    and grace, give us enduring abilities.  They make
                    it possible for us to endure whatever trouble
                    might come our way.
                b. Faith and hope give us rejoicing abilities.
                    (1) In our worst days, these two gifts allow us
                         to see and to be a part of a reality not on
                         this plain.
                         (a) These two gifts allow us to see a day
                              and a time when sorrow will be no more.
                         (b) When sickness, accidents, loneliness,
                              hurt, tears, regrets, and all of the
                              other marks of sin will be no longer.
                    (2) Even more, I believe these two are a lasso
                         which helps to pull God’s reality into this
                         earthly plain of existence.
                         (a) They are more than merely comfort tools.
                         (b) They move God to bring His will into our
                              world.

Mr 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst
believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.

                         (c) The whole of the Bible gives testimony
                              to what great works can be done in this
                              life "by faith."

   II. While there is much preaching on faith, there is very little
        on hope.
        A. I have preached very little on hope.
            1. Until recently, I confess that I did not see its
                importance, but to neglect hope is to neglect faith
                and we dare not let that happen.
            2. How do we feed hope?  The answer is we set our
                affections on things above and not on things beneath.

Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God.
2  Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth.

            3. We need to start longing for the invisible, the
                heavenly.
        B. What kind of things should we long for, hope for?
            1. We should hope and long for salvation’s completed
                work.
                a. Paul said,

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy
in part.
10  But when that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part shall be done away.

                b. Not only is our knowledge and ability only a part
                    of what it will one day be, so also is our
                    spiritual life.
                c. Do you realize that God created special gifts to
                    help us survive this phase of our pre-completed
                    salvation?
                    (1) One day, we won’t need faith to see the
                         invisible things of God for all things will
                         be visible to us!
                    (2) One day, we won’t need prayer for we will be
                         able to speak to Him face to face.
                    (3) And one day, our High Priest will be able to
                         leave that position for there will be no
                         more sins to atone for!
                    (4) God’s ongoing gifts of forgiveness, pardon,
                         and mercy will no longer be needed—at
                         least not for us.
                    (5) God’s powers to heal, cleanse, and resurrect
                         will not be needed any longer for we will
                         have incorruptible bodies that will live
                         forever.
                d. This is will be the state of perfection for the
                    human race.  No more sin, no more sorrow.
            2. Along with that same thought, we should hope and long
                for heaven.
                a. For most Christians, heaven is our last desire.
                    (1) We want heaven.  We just don’t want it today.
                    (2) For most of us, heaven is not a place we
                         really desire until we have more loved ones
                         over there than we do over here.
                b. It is unfortunate that we are so carnally minded.
                    (1) I understand it.  I am that way.  I have some
                         in heaven, but I have others on this earth
                         and I want to be with them.
                    (2) But we should let our love and longing for
                         God outshine our love and longing for
                         others—not that we should go out and drink
                         purple Kool-Aid. (Look up Jim Jones and
                         Guyana, South Africa.)
            3. More to this earth, we should hope and long for
                answered prayer.
                a. It is not enough to have prayer requests.
                b. We must have a hunger and thirst that God would
                    answer them.
                c. Perhaps the reason we do not see more answers to
                    our prayers is that we are no more fervent in
                    praying.

James 5:16 …The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.

            4. We should hope and long for the salvation of the lost.
                a. This is one of God’s greatest heart desires.
                b. How can we not make it one of our own?
                c. If it were your soul still lost, would you not
                    want others to do everything in the spiritual
                    power to lasso God and to pull Him close to you?
            5. In fact, we should hope and long for success in every
                aspect of God’s ministry.
                a. We should long for the safety and health of God’s
                    persecuted church.
                b. We should long for missionaries to be supplied and
                    serving in every language group.
                c. We should long for the construction of buildings
                    in godly churches that more can be done for the
                    King.
                d. We should long that the young would be saved at an
                    early age and kept for the glory of God.
                e. We should long for sound doctrine to be preached
                    to and accepted by the body of believers.
                f. We should long for food, both the physical and
                    the spiritual, to feed the hungry of this world.
                g. We should long for God to be glorified and for
                    Satan to be defeated in nations, governments,
                    churches, homes, and lives.
                h. We should long for Israel to be safe and accepted
                    within their boundaries.

In short, we should have hope toward God!  Is this not what Jesus
taught us to pray?

Matt 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven.

If we can see it in the Word, should we not long for it in our soul?
I believe we should and I pray that we will.

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