A TRUSTWORTHY HOPE

WHAT IS TRUST?

Trust is confidence put in someone or something; trust also means depending on someone or something to help us out in life, especially in a time of crisis or need. And learning to trust is the first journey to Christian maturity. Only the Lord is worthy of absolute trust; therefore Bible writers frequently proclaim their trust in the Lord and calls on God’s people to do the same. Because God can be trusted, His Word is also trustworthy and we can depend on it (2 Sam. 7:28), “And now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.” All too often, however, we put our trust in other people to help us out in time of trouble, but the Bible warns that other people can and will often do disappoint and fail us. The Bible also warns us about putting our trust in things, such as material possessions or weapons for war or wicked leaders (Ps. 44:6), “For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me.” See also (Matt. 6:19-24), “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Security is never to be found ultimately in other people or in things, but can be found only in relationship to the Lord, who brings freedom and fullness of life as we trust in Him (Exod. 14:31), “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”

 WHAT IS A ONE SURE HOPE?

Bildad the Shuhite answer in form of a question to the afflicted Job (Job 8:11-13), “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut out, it withers before any other plant.  So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish.”  The friends of Job assumed that the cause of his affliction was due to the sins that he had committed and the paths of those who forget God shall perish, liken him as a hypocrite; but letter they will be proved wrong as the righteous Job had his hope in God who doubled what he had lost. Hope is the desire of something with the expectation of fulfillment. Hope involves trust in someone or something on which the expectation is centered. The Christian’s hope is however, “sure and steadfast” (Heb. 6:19). And any hope is only as sure as its source is dependable. Christian hope is fixed upon God and His Word.  Since God is omnipotent, He can fulfill that hopeful desire that He creates in His children. The hope of the wicked is described as being as fragile as the hope of the reeds when water is removed from their roots. The hope of the godless is as fragile as a spider’s web (v. 14) He trusts in material things (v. 15) and these never endure. So there is only one step between true hope and hopelessness. And all depends upon the source of the hope. Only God and His Word are completely dependable foundations of hope. This is the assurance of our that (Mark 13:13), “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” This is a assure hope and promise; All the things we put our trust in and love in this world will one day pass away. And amazing thing is that, we shall never carry anything with us to the next life; as naked, we came, and naked we shall return. So beloved, why don’t we have our hope and trust in God’s Word which will by no means pass away!

CHRIST AS THE HOPE OF ISRAEL

Apostle Paul rooted his hope in Christ in spite of his chains (Acts 28:20), “For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you. Because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” The hope of Israel and the hope which Paul had found in Christ were not two different things. Wherever he went, he proclaimed Christ to the Jews as the fulfillment of their hope. That hope included not only the resurrection; it also included the Messiah and His kingdom. Paul the apostle to emphasize that the hope which he now proclaims does not undermine the hope of Israel but rather is its divine fulfillment   His devotion to the hope of the fathers was the cause that brought his imprisonment and put him in chains. His demeanor before these Jewish leaders in Rome must have been impressive. As he stood before these men whose influence could result in life or death for him, there was no quaking or fear. He had that hope which made him secure, whatever happened.  The hope inside of a man makes a person do things which are contrary to the law. A good example here is Queen Esther; In spite of her natural fear, Esther decided to approach the king. The attitude displayed in her statement, “If I perish, I perish!” is not one of despair but of submission to the will of God who is a trustworthy God” (Esther 4:16). Be encouraged my beloved with Isaiah’s word of hope (Isa. 25:9), “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

APOSTLE PAUL WAS ACCUSED FOR HIS HOPE

Paul the apostle was overwhelmed to stand before king Agrippa to answer for himself concerning the things that he was accused for by the Jews (Acts 26:4-7), “My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope king Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.” Paul faced a real paradox in his trial before Agrippa. He had been a faithful Pharisee.  He had been a chief among the Pharisees in proclaiming their common hope; that God would be in His tme keep the promise that He had made to the fathers in the distant past. That hope had given life and meaning to all their religious ritual. The worship maintained through the centuries centered in this hope. God was going to come down and visit his people once as He had in Egypt. He would raise up a Deliverer greater than Moses from the house of David. Apostle Paul believed that the Deliverer had come. He believed that the resurrection had validated the claims of Jesus. Herein lay the paradox. He was being persecuted of his proclamation of the fulfillment of that hope. Above all, he was being persecuted by the Jews, even by the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection. But Paul knew that He had found the consummation of their hope.

UNDERSTANDING A TRUSTWORTHY HOPE

The Bible opens up with the stories of creation, the fall of man, and the penalty of death being imposed on all mankind. As the story develops, God gave man a second chance and hope. And this was first enunciated to Eve and was developed in the promises to the fathers and the prophets. Because the Jews had distorted that hope and made it only an earthly, and a national hope. But to Apostle Paul it was much more. The gospel that he was appointed to announce to all was designed to secure the “hope of eternal life” to those who received Christ. He did not view this as a hope newly proclaimed. But he linked it with that promise made “before time began.” The promise was related to God’s purpose in creation- to take out a people who would enjoy eternity with Him. And it was a secure promise because it was made by God, who cannot lie. Our only hope beloved, is in the promise of God.  Moses the servant of God confirmed this to us from (Numb. 23:19), “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said it, and will He not do it? Or Has He spoken, and will He not make it good.”  The promises of God are always Yes and Amen; and He can by no means lie to fulfill His promise to us because He is the Supreme God who can neither repent as He is not a son of man. Hosea the prophet attests to this as well (Hosea 11:9), “I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, The Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” Though our sinful nature as men abhors God, yet His mercy which endures forever makes us have a trustworthy hope before Him.

O beloved brethren, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy. And with Him is abundant redemption. (Ps. 130:7).

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”