Overview:
Romans 4:18–24; 8:24–25; 15:13
What are the essential ingredients to our survival? Food, water, air . . . and something else we just can’t live without: hope.
What are you hoping for in the New Year? The better question is: who are you hoping in? Those who hope in the Lord have more than wishful thinking; they have assurance. In this message, Chuck Swindoll teaches us from God’s Word that hoping in the Lord is not a passive experience. Hoping in the Lord means that we actively wait on Him, building inner strength and perseverance. We endure trials patiently, and we trust God and His Word.
Ring in the New Year with a promise that God has a plan for our welfare, not our calamity, to give us a future and a hope.
Message Summary:
In the message “Jesus: The Gift of God’s Hope,” Pastor Chuck Swindoll explores the vital anchor that sustains the believer through the “various trials” of life. While human hope is often little more than wishful thinking, biblical hope is a “confident expectation” based on the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Swindoll explains that because Jesus is alive, our hope is a “living hope”—one that is resilient, secure, and oriented toward an eternal inheritance. The sermon emphasizes that even when circumstances are bleak, the believer can choose to “call to mind” the mercies of God, finding that His faithfulness is new every morning.
Message Key Facts:
- The “Living Hope”: 1 Peter 1:3 uses the phrase elpida zosan. Unlike a dead hope based on temporal things, a living hope is powered by the life of the resurrected Savior.
- The Secure Inheritance: The believer’s future is described as “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” Swindoll notes that while earthly treasures rot or are stolen, our heavenly inheritance is “reserved” (guarded) by God Himself.
- The Purpose of Trials: Trials are compared to a “refiner’s fire.” Just as fire purifies gold by removing dross, trials test the “proof” of our faith, resulting in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus.
- The Discipline of Memory: Lamentations 3:21 reveals the secret to endurance: “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.” Hope is a choice to focus on God’s character rather than the immediate crisis.
- The Goal of Faith: The ultimate outcome of this hope is the “salvation of your souls”—a joy that is “inexpressible and full of glory,” even when Jesus is not yet seen.
Message References:
- 1 Peter 1:3–5: The foundational passage on the living hope, the resurrection, and the protected inheritance of the believer.
- 1 Peter 1:6–9: The perspective on trials, the purification of faith, and the inexpressible joy found in Christ.
- Lamentations 3:21–24: The prophet’s mid-crisis realization that God’s compassions never fail and His faithfulness is great.
- Hebrews 6:19: (Contextual) The description of hope as an “anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast.”
- Romans 15:13: (Contextual) The prayer that the “God of hope” would fill believers with all joy and peace in believing.
