A Christian is not like the rest of the world who has a spurious "Hope" for the future of their souls. Our "Hope" is not like theirs at all.
Those having such a blessed hope are joined fast with those who write scriptures as Hebrews 11:1...
All of our HOPE is in a Person; in One whom we know was crucified and is since risen; in One who told us that if we died believing upon Him He would come and resurrect us from the dead even though we had long since died, and if we live until He returns He will catch us up to Himself and we would never know death.
Even though the world's "Hope" may be based on hearing a few words of the Gospel, it never goes further than just a few words. It never goes to the heart of the Gospel: "THE CROSS" and what it's asking us to lose, or let "loose".
So rather than hearing and obeying the whole Gospel, they pick and chose instead. The trouble is that they never go any further than merely hearing it; toying with it; taking what they want out of it and throwing the rest away, all the while continuing to avoid the cross at all costs in order to hang onto their lives and continue all the while to love the world and seek all the benefits that "it" has to offer.
The reality of it all is that there can be no hope gained without our coming to and being dealt with by the cross. We need to become crucified with Christ as well before a new creature can come forth... one that knows the HOPE that Hebrews 1:11 speaks of.
The HOPE of Hebrews 11:1 is solid, real and is a vibrant part of The Faith! It is the same HOPE that Jesus speaks of here...
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
It is an absolute Assurance of Peace, Rest and Trust that cannot be shaken or removed, acting as an anchor to the soul!
It is written: "Faith comes by hearing/understanding the Gospel, and the hearing/understanding of it comes from God." (Romans 10:17)
None of this is of our doing! We hear first (and then because we have heard) we can either respond to what we have heard - OR - we can go our merry way using a million excuses.
"Faith does not originate with man but with God. That means until he obeys; by acting out what the Lord is personally saying to his heart; until he has inwardly heard His voice; until he believes that voice; until he obeys that voice, he is dreaming... dreaming if he thinks that any other kind of a "Faith" will save him. It won't!
One example: Let's say there's someone you can't forgive or won't say you're sorry to. Do you know that you are breaking one of God's commandments? When Jesus says, "Love your enemies, do good to them, pray for them who hate you" (Luke 6:27-28), do you obey Him??? or does your kind of "Faith" break God's commands at will whenever it suits "you"?
For instance, what if the Lord said to you: "Go to that person who you won't forgive and forgive them!" What would "YOU" do??? Seriously! (Read Matthew 6:15)
The kind of faith I speak of isn't "easy" to do at all but "tough", at least at first. In fact without the Lord it is "Impossible" to obey Him from the heart! The nature of Grace and Forgiveness goes against a mans (sinful) nature because such a man is proud (unbroken) and wants to rule and be in charge of his own life. Its "tough" because it is the kind of faith that has to bend to anothers (God's) will in order to do it.
That means the man has to sacrifice/smite his own will (deny yourself!) ; give up his own rights; lay down his own person (take up your own cross!); along with ALL of his own other seemingly rightful (but selfish) thoughts and motives in order to do His will, and do it right from the heart (and follow Me!) !
In other words that man has to... DIE... Die to himself... IF he is to let the Lord and His word live in him, and visa versa!!! (Matthew 16:24-25)
So, the kind of Faith I speak of has intertwined in it Hope and Love! It is not a DEAD but a LIVING Faith!!! The word of God is alive and powerful made so by the revelation of Jesus Christ! His words aren't just "words" anymore. They grab hold of you, they're full of light.
It's like watching a movie. In it are two actors. One is acting out a script that he wrote, while the other isn't acting (in this case, not acting "religious" at all) but doing what He sees his God doing and saying what he hears his God saying... (That is how real and powerful the meaning of Hebrews 11:1 is)... only instead of merely acting in it (like the rest of the world does) you come to find that not only are you "IN" the movie but that "YOU" are the movie... the Lord being the Producer and Director of your soul, and you have no script to read from or follow other than heeding His voice.
By this new and living Hope we have found in Christ we are able to lay hold of Him as the Anchor of our souls because of the very real Hope we now have (been given) in our coming to Him (at the foot of the cross), as well as having the Love we need (in believing He is resurrected and sends the Holy Spirit) in order to motivate us onward by our responding to His voice through obeying His word.
So when we "hear" the word we respond to it out of Love! We love Him thus we Love His word - not only hearing it but doing it as well. (It can be no other way.) Many times the "Doing of it" is a lot tougher than the hearing of it, but Love has a way (that seems impossible with men) of seeking us to do/obey God's will because we know it's the right thing to do... and we shall IF we Love Him!
Can one say they Love God and not do His will? No! It is a lie! Sooner or later IF one truly does Love God they will have to do His will. It all hinges on the "IF". That "If" is our choice, one based on whether we really do love Him or not.
It is by our every day Obedient Love whereby we Prove that we do have Faith and that our Faith in Christ is real! We are assured of His Love therefore we are able (at times we may not always at first be so quick to love but we are able to and expecting) to Love others in return (as He did while on the cross: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!), no matter the nature of the offense/sin they have done against us personally.
If we were a ship, then....
That too is the hidden beauty of having a Living Hope... one that is Alive... one you can Touch in your spirit and Know for Certain is real! Unlike the world's Hope, our Hope is very real and solid, containing "The EVIDENCE of the unseen God" - "A revelation of the Living and Reigning Christ and Lord".
The same hidden beauty exists in Love too... it is the same kind of Love that the Father has for the Son in giving Him up for our sins, and that the Son has for the Father by coming to do only His will in going to the cross. (Hebrews 10:7)
In a nutshell....
Concerning His first coming -- FAITH is the Power that can and will remove every mountain/obstacle standing in the way of our coming to the Lord!
Concerning His second coming -- HOPE is the Assurance we have been given through Faith that Christ will do all that He says He'll do as the resurrection and the life.
Concerning His resurrection -- LOVE is the Motivator that causes our hearts to swell and our lips to burst forth in praise causing us to endure in our Faith to the end, proving that our initial faith (our initial vision of Him and our response to Him) was no fluke.
Until Christ returns then....
May every blessing in Christ be yours,
The kind of "Hope" I speak of doesn't stem from our wishing it so, or believing in a few words or from our imaginations, but from the Holy Spirit who gives us "A LIVING HOPE", one that is very real and very certain and full of evidence, one that bears in it a personal trust in the crucified Christ and a personal knowledge of the resurrected Christ.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
These are the ones who have come to KNOW personally and for themselves that what all the Scriptures say concerning Christ are indeed true! It has been PROVEN to them by none other than God (The Holy Spirit) Himself through the revelation of God's Blessed Son, The Word made alive Himself.
Jesus dying on a cross PROVES for all time that God has no use for the OLD creation He first made nor for what motivates it to do what it considers righteous and good (on its own apart from Him).
The world believes "Faith in God" operates like this: "It is something that a person can muster up within themselves on their own at any time".
Nothing could be further from the Truth!
In other words, "Faith comes when one "Hears/Believes the Gospel", and the ability to be able to hear and believe the Author of that Gospel in the first place comes from no less than God Himself."
It is in this God-Given Faith which appropriates His Grace, whereby we have everything we need, because everything we have is made Alive and Real to us by the Spirit of God in revealing "the Lord Jesus Christ" (The Living Word of God Himself) to our hearts. It is only because "HE" Lives and has given us Living Proof that we (who have faith) also live because of Him!
For instance: If He says, "Forgive/Love/Pray for your enemies", and we don't, then how can that be Love? "It can't!"
Or if He says to us, "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me", and we don't, then how can we say that we Love Him? "We can't!" It all goes to prove that where there is no Love neither is there any Faith! It's really all as simple as that!
Love would be the wind in our sails (the greater the wind the faster the vessel) --
Faith would give us the needed strength to go on (and so that the ship doesn't rip apart at the first sign of trouble) --
and Hope would act as our rudder (giving us the direction in where we must go)!
Such "Visions and Revelations" are only for the "Individual believer". And only those who have heard and/or seen Him in the Spirit talk the same lingo, having come from the same source.
"And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:1
Biff
