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- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 12,167
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13
If you look around at the unbelievers in your life, all of them are lacking one thing: hope, in the eternal sense. Some have earthly hope, finding it in fulfilling work, wealth, or even family. Others have false hope in their good deeds. But most of the people you know outside of the church have no real assurance or peace about their standing before a holy God.
In Romans 15, Paul explains that Christ is the great hope for Jews and Gentiles alike. In fact, in today’s verse, Paul calls Him the God of hope—a title no Gentile could have dared believe in days gone by. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. And belief in Him leads to joy and peace in the here and now, but it also settles eternity in the heart of the believer.
Notice, in fact, that Paul is talking to believers here in Romans 15. You know that it’s possible for even Christians to fall into despair and to feel genuine sadness. Even Jesus, God’s Son, felt sorrow on occasion. But beyond the tears and grief is the great hope of heaven. Not hope in the sense of a child wishing for ice cream, but rather an earnest expectation for deliverance from life’s problems.
If you look around at the unbelievers in your life, all of them are lacking one thing: hope, in the eternal sense. Some have earthly hope, finding it in fulfilling work, wealth, or even family. Others have false hope in their good deeds. But most of the people you know outside of the church have no real assurance or peace about their standing before a holy God.
In Romans 15, Paul explains that Christ is the great hope for Jews and Gentiles alike. In fact, in today’s verse, Paul calls Him the God of hope—a title no Gentile could have dared believe in days gone by. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. And belief in Him leads to joy and peace in the here and now, but it also settles eternity in the heart of the believer.
Notice, in fact, that Paul is talking to believers here in Romans 15. You know that it’s possible for even Christians to fall into despair and to feel genuine sadness. Even Jesus, God’s Son, felt sorrow on occasion. But beyond the tears and grief is the great hope of heaven. Not hope in the sense of a child wishing for ice cream, but rather an earnest expectation for deliverance from life’s problems.
