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Sunday 1/25/26
Title: The Person of Hope, the Source of Hope
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The Person of Hope, the Source of Hope
Back in our Word of Faith days, there was no real room in our theology for what I am going to address today.
As you know, one of our first lessons in our new series on Faith, took us to Hebrews 11:1 which tells us that,
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.”
The idea here being that Faith is the substantial and firm foundation for what we may rightly expect of God. It is what allows our expectations to weather all manner of storms, adversity and apparent evidence to the contrary without wavering or falling into despair.
Several of our key condensed bullet point statements about faith can find support in the meaning of this verse alone!
- If faith or relational trust in Who we have come to know God to be is what fortifies our hearts against questions regarding God’s character…
- If this faith is what undergirds our heart’s expectation given by the Spirit against questions which attack the integrity of God’s character…
…then the statement in Hebrews 12 regarding the fortification of our faith becomes all the more clear.
You see, not only is faith relational, so is hope.
Let’s read Hebrews 12:1-4,
“(1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (4) In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
You see the author of Hebrews is telling us that Jesus, the person, is both the Author and Developer of our faith in Him.
It is also telling us that if we begin to waver in that faith, we need only set a hope filled (expectant) gaze upon the person of Jesus, Who Himself also endured opposition against His trust in the Father.
> This is a point that cannot be realized or understood when you think faith is for a thing rather than in the person of God.
What kept Jesus from wavering in unbelief?
The expectation of the Joy set before Him!
That HOPE of Joy, being the person and presence of the Father Himself (John 14:28). THAT is what fortified Jesus’ heart against wavering unbelief.
Hope empowered His trust in the Father with inner strength to stand strong amidst all the unwarranted and violent hostility He sustained from sinners.
Against any and all doubts even in the face of bloodshed that He might not ever allow a shadow or hint of distrust to taint the purity of His relationship with the Father.
And make no mistake… THAT is what ALL temptation, accusation, trials, oppositions and affiliations are aimed at.
Your relational trust in God IS your living testimony. So it isn’t YOU, the enemy is focused upon specifically, it is the living testimony of your trust in God.
And this, I think, offers us another and deeper look at both faith and hope!
So again, the idea set before us in Hebrews 11:1 is that Faith is the substantial and firm foundation for what we may rightly expect of God. It is what allows our expectations to weather all manner of storms, adversity and apparent evidence to the contrary without wavering or falling into despair.
Now, while studying the words in this verse, I ran across a whopper of a gem in terms of confirmation regarding something I’ve been teaching for years now about Faith.
I’ll admit to being frustrated at times that even though it was something I KNEW and could illustrate from scripture was true, I still could not offer a specific Greek word which is defined FAITH as “relational trust”.
The best I could do is illustrate the meaning, by focusing on HOW it is being used in a given context.
Ironically, after over a decade plus of teaching this, I discovered it while looking up our word “Hope” in Hebrews 11:1.
This is the Greek word Hupostassis.
Due to its regular use in connection with the word Faith, Spiros Zodhiates’ in his exegetical lexicon of Greek words, offered an example of faith from the Latin to clarify its meaning.
He said, “Faith is the ground of confidence, assurance, guarantee, or proof;” not fides but fiducia”.
Well I could tell that this ‘fides’ was probably what shows up in our word “con-fides” and ‘fiducia’ was most likely a root to our word fiducia-ry, but I wanted more… so I looked up these words and this is what I found.
Fides is the general Latin term for faith, belief, or reliability, while fiducia specifically denotes the active, personal trust or confident reliance that stems from fides, often involving a deep, relational assurance beyond mere intellectual knowledge.
THANK YOU!!!
So this verse is saying that deep, relational trust in God is that which offers strong support for what we know we can expect of Him, even when we cannot yet see it. Even when all external appearances are contrary.
Faith, relational trust, fortifies our hearts to weather the storm and arrive at our desired destination we knew we could expect from God.
MUCH of this is conditioned upon what we know and believe regarding God’s character, and THAT is the type of hope I am introducing to you today.
Much like the evidence for “faith” not being simply academic knowledge, but a personal trust stemming from a deep and relational knowing – the evidence of Hope being relational is not so much found in the word “hope” itself, as in the way it is used throughout scripture.
I have already offered an example of this in Hebrews 12:1-4.
I told you that the Joy set before Jesus was His Hope in the person and presence of the Father.
While the text does not say this… Jesus’ Own words to His disciples on the evening before His crucifixion told them this.
Jesus said,
“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” – John 14:28
What is this, but an admission that for Jesus, the Joy set before Him, was that He was going to the Father!
How was hope associated with this?
Well Jesus, before He became Jesus… meaning before He became the human called “Jesus” knew with perfect certainty that the plan of redemption would work.
He knew with perfect certainty that the sins of the world being placed upon Him would not ultimately condemn Him and separate Him forever from the Father.
But Jesus in His humanity, was limited and open to being tempted.
God CANNOT be tempted, but humans can and Jesus, as a human was tempted!
His singular statement on the cross of faith and hope was “’Father into Your hands I commit My Spirit’ and having said this He breathed His last”.
What you may not know is what was being said here.
Jesus was quoting from Psalm 31 which is both the words of and about David in his natural life as well as a prophetic word of Messiah on the cross.
It says,
“In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let Me never be put to shame; in Your righteousness deliver Me! (2) Incline Your ear to Me; rescue Me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for Me, a strong fortress to save Me! (3) For You are My rock and My fortress; and for Your name’s sake You lead Me and guide Me;
(4) You take Me out of the net they have hidden for Me, for You are My refuge.
(5) Into Your hand I commit My spirit; You have redeemed Me, O LORD, faithful God.
(6) I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
(7) I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love, because You have seen My affliction; You have known the distress of My soul, (8) and You have not delivered Me into the hand of the enemy; You have set My feet in a broad place.
(9) Be gracious to Me, O LORD, for I am in distress; My eye is wasted from grief; My soul and My body also.
(10) For My life is spent with sorrow, and My years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
(11) Because of all My adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to My neighbors, and an object of dread to My acquaintances; those who see Me in the street flee from Me.
(12) I have been forgotten like One Who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. (13) For I hear the whispering of many— terror on every side!— as they scheme together against Me, as they plot to take My life. (14) But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are My God.”
(15) My times are in Your hand; rescue Me from the hand of My enemies and from My persecutors!
(16) Make Your face shine on Your Servant; save Me in Your steadfast love!
(17) O LORD, let Me not be put to shame, for I call upon You; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. (18) Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.
(19) Oh, how abundant is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those Who fear You and worked for those who take refuge in You, in the sight of the children of mankind!
(20) In the cover of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You store them in Your shelter from the strife of tongues.
(21) Blessed be the LORD, for He has wondrously shown his steadfast love to Me when I was in a besieged city.
(22) I had said in My alarm, “I am cut off from Your sight.” But You heard the voice of My pleas for mercy when I cried to You for help.
(23) Love the LORD, all you His saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
(24) Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!” – Psalm 31:1-24
So this is clearly a Psalm… a prophetic prayer of hope in the PERSON of God!
Now what I am introducing to you today is a second type of Hope which goes beyond the one we have spent time exploring up until now.
The hope with which we are familiar is hope, revealed to us from the Spirit directly from God’s words. Meaning hope which is grounded in what is revealed about God in the scriptures but which the Spirit directly reveals to you as applying to you.
But there is a secondarily type of hope which is a hope we express towards God, which is based on what we have come to know of Him in our relationship with Him.
David does this a lot!
Faith before specific hope
Psalm 40:1-17, (ESV)
“(1) I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
(2) He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
(3) He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.
(4) Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
(5) You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
(6) In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
(7) Then I said,
“Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: (8) I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
(9) I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
(10) I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
(11) As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! (12) For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
(13) Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!
(14) Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! (15) Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
(16) But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”
(17) As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!”
Faith in how David knew God acted on behalf of the righteous
Psalm 41:1-13,
“(1) How blessed is the one who treats the poor properly! When trouble comes, may the LORD deliver him. (2) May the LORD protect him and save his life! May he be blessed in the land!
Do not turn him over to his enemies!
(3) The LORD supports him on his sickbed; you have healed him from his illness.
(4) As for me, I said:
“O LORD, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
“(5) My enemies ask this cruel question about me, ‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’
(6) When someone comes to visit, he pretends to be friendly; he thinks of ways to defame me, and when he leaves he slanders me. (7) All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another; they plan ways to harm me. (8) They say,
‘An awful disease overwhelms him, and now that he is bed-ridden he will never recover.’
(9) Even my close friend whom I trusted, he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.
(10) As for you, O LORD, have mercy on me and raise me up, so I can pay them back!”
(11) By this I know that You are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.
(12) As for me, You uphold me because of my integrity; You allow me permanent access to Your presence.
(13) The LORD God of Israel deserves praise in the future and forevermore! We agree! We agree!”
Faith in God’s character
Psalm 43:1-5, “(1) Vindicate me, O God! Fight for me against an ungodly nation! Deliver me from deceitful and evil men! (2) For you are the God who shelters me. Why do you reject me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me? (3) Reveal your light and your faithfulness! They will lead me, they will escort me back to your holy hill, and to the place where you live. (4) Then I will go to the altar of God, to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, so that I express my thanks to you, O God, my God, with a harp. (5) Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.”
Faith in what He has come to know of God their past interactions
- 1 Samuel 17:37 (Goliath Encounter): David told King Saul, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine“. This shows him explicitly linking past rescues to future rescues, building confidence in God’s reliability, power and favor.
- Psalm 56:3-4: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”. Here, fear is met by remembering God’s trustworthiness.
- Psalm 22: In another personal, yet Messianic prophetic Psalm, David cries out in deep despair but then shifts to praising God in expectation of future deliverance due to remembering God’s faithfulness to deliver in his past. (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me… Yet you are holy… In you our fathers trusted, they trusted and You delivered them…“).
- Psalm 27: “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? … The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? … Though a host encamp against me… yet will I be confident“. Here David contrasts his current distress with God’s past presence and deliverance.
- 2 Samuel 22 (David’s Song of Salvation): A longer poetic expression where David recounts God as his rock, fortress, and deliverer from enemies, using these memories as a foundation for praise and future hope.
Also faith in times when he “felt” abandoned like in Psalm 13:1-6
“(1) To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? (2) How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (3) Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, (4) lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. (5) But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. (6) I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
So I want you to take heart, and stop protecting your heart against disappointment. Call to mind the faithfulness of the Lord over the coarse of your living experience as well as from scripture and set your heart towards relational trust in God. Even as Jesus taught by way of parable “People should always pray and not lose heart” – Luke 18:1
Consider this last psalm as one more evidence which directs our hearts towards trust in God because they have come know His faithfulness by experience. God goes on record here saying that such relationship based expectation and trust, pleases His heart! Do we really need any other reason?
Psalm 147:1-11,
“(1) Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
(2) The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. (3) He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
(4) He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.
(5) Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
(6) The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.
(7) Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God,
(8) Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.
(9) He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that cry.
(10) He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
(11) The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.”
What is this but God saying that He does not take pleasure in a man who relies upon his own strength, but rather He delights in those who look to Him and expect in His mercy!
Blessings!
Tri
