Your hope as a believer is in the Lord. He causes all things in your life (including problems and trials) to work together for good as you continually respond in love (demonstrated through obedience) to Him. Out of the hope that God provides, your faith and love can be biblically expressed in any situation. Understanding and responding biblically to problems glorifies God while He further conforms you to the image of Jesus Christ.
Self-Confrontation Manual, Lesson 6, Page 2, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
The hope that God has provided for you is not merely a wish. Neither is it dependent on other people, possessions, or circumstances for its validity. Instead, biblical hope is an application of your faith that supplies a confident expectation in God’s fulfillment of His promises. Coupled with faith and love, hope is part of the abiding characteristics in a believer’s life.
Self-Confrontation Manual, Lesson 6, Page 6, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called “the rejoicing of hope” (Hebrews 3:6).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 144.
Hope in God’s promises, therefore, is not a wishful longing but a faith-filled confidence for the future. It is simply impossible to trust one of God’s promises and not anticipate its coming true. To know God is to trust Him. And to trust God is to trust His promises. And to trust God’s promises is to be sure of their fulfillment. This assurance concerning the future, anchored in God’s promises, is what the Bible calls "hope."
The God of Promise and the Life of Faith. Crossway Books, 2001, p. 109.
In the midst of an ever-changing world, the good news is that the life of faith is anchored by the power, provisions, and promises of God. Circumstances may change, but the future is as sure as the character of God Himself. No matter what happens, those who trust in God hope in His word.
The God of Promise and the Life of Faith. Crossway Books, 2001, p. 187.
There is a difference between tears of hope and tears of hopelessness.
One Minute After You Die, Moody, 1997, p. 59. Get this book!
All the ideas of Christianity might be discovered in some other religion, yet there would be in that other religion no Christianity. For Christianity depends, not upon a complex of ideas, but upon the narration of an event. Without that event, the world, in the Christian view, is altogether dark, and humanity is lost under the guilt of sin. There can be no salvation by the discovery of eternal truth, for eternal truth brings naught but despair, because of sin. But a new face has been put upon life by the blessed thing that God did when He offered up His only begotten Son.
Christianity and Liberalism, Macmillan, 1923.
Every Christian who struggles with depression struggles to keep their hope clear. There is nothing wrong with the object of their hope – Jesus Christ is not defective in any way whatsoever. But the view from the struggling Christian’s heart of their objective hope could be obscured by disease and pain, the pressures of life, and by Satanic fiery darts shot against them… All discouragement and depression is related to the obscuring of our hope, and we need to get those clouds out of the way and fight like crazy to see clearly how precious Christ is.
Can Christian be Depressed? Ask Pastor John, December 19, 2007, www.DesiringGod.org. Used by Permission.
One’s ability to find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation is directly related to the ability to see God’s hand in that situation. If you are despairing…you are probably not focusing on what God intends to do in your life, and for His kingdom as a result of it.
Divorce: Before You Say “I Don’t,” 2007, P&R, p. 23. Used by Permission.
Christian hope, biblical hope is “a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future.” And from that definition we can see three things that must be true about something if it indeed is to be the object of biblical hope. 1. What we hope for must be something good. 2. What we hope for must be in the future. 3. What we hope for must be certain, not doubtful, so that our expectation of its coming to pass may be confident, not wavering.
Sermon, Our Hope, Eternal Life, June 29, 1986, www.DesiringGod.org, Used by Permission.
Christ’s love towards us, and not our love towards Christ, is the true ground of expectation, and true foundation of hope.
Sickness.
Our vision in the mountain should be our comfort in the valley. In days of rapture, we should store up the lights for days of depression. In solitude the memory of the sanctuary should gladden us. It matters little how dry and weary the land is, so long as we are sure that God is ours.
God commands his people to hope. To be sure, it’s only as He gives us hope that He commands us to hope, yet command us to hope He most certainly does. For this reason the mediaeval rabbis used to say that the arch sin is despair.
You Asked for a Sermon on Hope, March 1999, www.victorshepherd.on.ca.
You must have noticed that Scripture links faith, hope and love, and groups them together again and again. Hope is the middle term between faith and love. Hope keeps faith from collapsing under the burden of disappointment and delay. Hope keeps love from dissolving under the acids of frustration. Hope fortifies love and lends it resilience. Hope stiffens faith and forestalls collapse.
You Asked for a Sermon on Hope, March 1999, www.victorshepherd.on.ca.
Hope, from a biblical perspective, is a future certainty grounded in a present reality.
You Asked for a Sermon on Hope, March 1999, www.victorshepherd.on.ca.
[Christians] should hope in God confidently, because He hath promised; prayerfully, for He loves to hear from us; obediently, for His precepts are to be observed by us; and constantly, for He is always the same.
The Believer’s Daily Remembrance.
Despondency does not become a prince, much less a Christian. Our God is “THE GOD OF HOPE”; and we should hope in Him. [We] should hope in His mercy, in His patience, in His provision, in His plenteous redemption. [We] should hope for light in darkness; for strength in weakness; for direction in perplexity; for deliverance in danger; for victory in conflict; and for triumph in death.
The Believer’s Daily Remembrance.
Yes, we are promised trouble in the world. Yes, we are not always guaranteed deliverance from our enemies. But we are promised sufficient grace to sustain our soul during all afflictions. And we have the Holy Spirit to give us joy and peace and wisdom and hope during all our afflictions. We have His word that regardless of what happens to us that everything will ultimately turn out for our greatest good. We know our trials are in His hands – hands that are good, loving, wise and sovereign. And when our assigned time on this earth is done we have promises far clearer than anything King David even experienced. We have the hope of being with Him in Paradise for all of eternity.
Sermon, Confused and Assured, Psalm 3:1-8, July 31, 2016.
God’s children know that when the seas give way, God will always be there. They know supernatural intervention will always overpower the so-called freewill of man. They know that God can brighten the heart and instill hope in the darkest situations the world throws our way. Nothing is worse than the thought that God refuses to help during a pressing need. There can be no hope when our situation is cast into the arms of man or the destiny of fate.
Sermon, Confused and Assured, Psalm 3:1-8, July 31, 2016.
Desperation can endure any difficulty as long as it has hope. Desperation will look under every rock possible for hope. It will pore over the Internet and empty its pocketbook or wallet just for a glimmer of hope. It will consult every false teacher in this world and experiment with every opportunity just for a ray of hope. Enduring, all-sufficient hope is the promise Jesus offers us when we place our trust in Him.
The anticipation of a joyous event in the future can oftentimes be as good as experiencing the actual event itself.
Sermon, Reason For Hope, Hebrews 11:8-16, March 17, 2019.|Sermon, Reason For Hope, Hebrews 11:8-16, March 17, 2019.
Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a “wish” (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.
The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 40.
Hope for the Christian is a confident expectation of a guaranteed result.
Sermon, Hope is a Person.
There is hope for the Christian because in our foolishness wisdom has come, it our weakness power has come, in our alienation love has come and in our brokenness peace has come. Get up and believe there is hope.
Sermon, Hope is a Person.
If you are hopeless, there may be many contributors, but two are certain:
1. You have placed your hope in something other than God…and it has let you down.
2. You may understand that Jesus conquered death, but you live as though He is still in the grave. All hopelessness is ultimately a denial of the resurrection.
Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, Punch Press, 2004, p. 253. Get this book!
Other stories are always looking for ways to humanize God and deify us, but God’s story exalts Him and brings appropriate humility to us as His creatures. All wisdom starts here. If you miss it, you are on the wrong path and without hope.
Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, Punch Press, 2004, p. 252. Get this book!
Christian hope rests upon the fact not that evil can be ignored, or that it will simply fade away, but that it has been judged at the cross.
Forward in Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment by Robert Peterson, P&R Publishers, 1995, p. x, Used by Permission. Get this book!
Hope is not defined by the absence of hardship. Rather, hope is found in God’s grace in the midst of hardship. Hope is found in His promise to give us a future. God offers hope to Christians when He promises, “I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom. 8:38-39).
Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Health Lambert, B&H Publishing, 2012, p. 114, Used by Permission.
