Ephesians 1 - Pauls Prayer - Part 6 — Gareth Evans

Christian Hope as Eager Expectation

Hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and the surpassing greatness of his power to us. Now are you a people of hope? It strikes me that that's one of those characteristics of the Christian that we don't speak very much about.

Faith, Hope, and Love in Paul's Teaching

I think it's because we have such a false understanding of what hope is. Paul speaks in a wonderful chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians about now abides these three, faith, hope and love. He ties those three together very often in the first chapter of his letter to the Thessalonians he ties them together and here in this prayer he ties them together.

I thank God for you he says because of your faith and because of your love and I pray for you that you might know the hope of his calling. What is hope? I hope it doesn't rain all the time we're here this week.

Worldly Hope and Its Negative Possibilities

That's the world's kind of hope. I hope the English cricket team can perform better tomorrow. I hope we don't get sunburned too badly. I hope I pass my exams. That's the way the world speaks about hope and the trouble is that that kind of thinking has gone to our Christian minds as well.

Because every one of those hopes that the world expresses has by its very definition a negative possibility. England has collapsed already today they're going to collapse even more tomorrow and Australia is going to score 500 runs in the first inning.

You may fail your exams. You may get sunburned. When we express hope in the sense of the world we are always expressing something that has a possibility of a negative result. The Greek word elpis which is what we translate as hope has no such connotation.

Christian Hope as a Certain Promise

There is no negative involved with Christian hope. It means literally the best way it's been interpreted is eager expectation because it's a sure thing. Peter says it's like an anchor placed in the veil it cannot be shaken.

So I ask you what's your hope? Paul says I pray that you might know the hope of your calling which is solid cannot be shaken it's real it's unchanging it's absolute it's going to happen. I want you to know that I utterly and absolutely convinced as much as a scientist can possibly be and more that I know that I know that I know that my sins are forgiven brothers and sisters.

Assurance of Forgiveness and Salvation

That's my hope. I don't say I hope my sins are forgiven with a possibility they may not be. I say that I know that I know that I know that's Christian hope. Amen. Eager expectation. I know that my savior is coming back for me.

I know that he's prepared a place for me. I know I shall live with him for eternity. I know he can't get death and hell. I know satan is defeated. Why? Because the word of God declares it. I believe it.

It's God's word. It's true. It's my hope. It's not what I'm hoping I'm not wasting and missing out on life by being a Christian. I hope when I die that I don't discover all that I believe really was not worthwhile.

The Christian Life as Exciting Hope

I tell you this is the most exciting life there is is being a Christian becoming a hope. Eager expectation. Hope has got far more to do with believing than faith has and we've mixed the two up. Faith has got to do with obeying.

Hope has got to do with believing. The word of God says it. I believe it. That's hope and that's hope which is an anchor in the veil and Paul says and I pray for you here in Cape and Ray this week that when you leave here this week you'll be able to say I know that I know that I know.

Prayer for Revelation and Hope

That's hope. Paul says I pray that God might reveal himself to you so that you might have hope. Amen. That's my hope. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. An anchor within the veil it cannot be shaken and however old you are however long you've been in the Christian walk you can cling on to Jesus with absolute certainty because he gives you hope.

Listen not the hope that says maybe you'll fail. The hope that says he cannot for he is God.