A Hope That Does Not Disappoint is a sermon teaching us that Jesus is our hope and there is nothing greater we can have in this world.

Key verses:
Romans 5:1-5

Would you please open your Bible today to the book of Romans 5? I am going to read Romans 5:1-5. I want to speak to you this morning on the topic of hope that does not disappoint, a hope that does not disappoint. Romans 5 and do stand with me as I read the Word of God. We stand to do honor to God’s Word as I read Romans 5:1-5:

Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:2: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in [notice the word now] hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:3: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;”

Romans 5:4: “And patience, experience; and experience, [here is the word again] hope:”

Romans 5:5: “And hope [there it is a third time] maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

You notice in verse two, he talks about rejoicing in hope, in verse four patience plus experience will give us hope, and in verse number five he says this hope does not make ashamed or does not disappoint us.

If I were to ask if there were one topic that you would speak on before you would die what would that topic be? Today, I would say it is the topic of hope. If there is one thing we need today it’s hope. People are searching and seeking hope.

The Idea of Hope

In the great love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul says there are three great characteristics. He said there is faith, he said there is hope, and there is love. And then he said the greatest of these is love. However, we often understand what faith is. Faith is trusting. Faith is for is today. We all understand the importance of unconditional love. But there are occasions when we forget and do not think so much about this idea of hope. But I think if there is one thing that is needed today maybe more than any other one thing in Christ it is the idea of hope.

Back in the 2nd World War when England was going through some of its most trying times, Sir Winston Churchill went to a place called Harrow, an exclusive prep school. He began to give a speech and in the middle of that speech he said these words, he said, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” Then he said it again, “Never give in.” What he was saying at that time to the people of England was, don’t ever give up your hope. And I say to you as a church today the same thing, don’t ever give up your hope.

The book “The Road Less Traveled,” written by Scott Peck, the first three words are these, “Life is difficult.” I do not know Scott Peck but if Scott Peck were to ask me what do I think of starting a book with “life is difficult,” I would say that is not a very good idea, you’re making it difficult to start with. But he sold that book and there were over 800,000 copies that were sold. I guess he did well and in the first few paragraphs, he said life is difficult so get used to the fact that life is difficult and then life is not so difficult.

Some years ago, I preached at Tennessee Temple University at their Bible conference, a spring Bible conference. I spoke with Dr. Bradley Price, he was the other speaker with us and Dr. Price said on a Tuesday night, “I am going to speak on the saddest words in all of the English language.” He said, “I am going to speak on the saddest words.” He said Tuesday night, “I will do that.”

And so, I took him out to lunch on Tuesday and said, “Now, Bradley, you are going to speak tonight on the saddest words in all of the English language,” to which I said, “What are those words?” He said to me, “You come back tonight, and you’ll find out what they are.” So, I went back there that night, and he said the saddest words in all the English language are the words “no hope.” No hope.

Woodrow Crow wrote these words, “Hope is not what you do, hope is what you have.” Alexander Pope on the Essay on Man & Other Poems wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” And of all people, Napolean Bonaparte gave this very unique statement to leaders when he said, “Leaders are dealers in hope.” [reiterated] “Leaders are dealers in hope.”

What is Hope?

Now, if hope is so important what exactly is hope? The Bible says in this passage we are looking at today, it says three times: rejoice in hope, it says experience builds hope, and that hope maketh not ashamed. So, what exactly does the word “hope” mean? If you look the word “hope” up in most dictionaries, you’ll find that hope is speaking about a wish. I wish something would happen. I wish something would take place. But that is not at all the meaning of the biblical word “hope.”

I have some grandchildren and my one granddaughter, who is named Ella, just turned 15. I remember when she was about three or four and was at my house during the Christmas holiday. I was sitting in a room we call the gathering room. I do not remember what I was doing but she came in. She had with her a Christmas catalog. I knew what this meant. She hopped up next to me and she opened up the Christmas catalog and started leafing through the Christmas catalog and said, “Now, Grandpa, I want this and this.” And she turned the page and say, “I want this and this.” I was trying to ignore her, so she put it right on my lap and said, “Grandpa, I want this and this.” I began to calculate, and we were talking now in the hundreds of dollars and then up to the thousands of dollars. I said, “Ella, how are we going to pay for all this?” And her response was, “Grandpa you’re just going to have to work more.” Now that is what you call a wish, alright.

Hebrew scholars tell us that in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, there are many words that speak to us about hope. For example, the word “competence” found in over 180 times, is a word that can also mean hope. The word “shelter” – God is our shelter – meaning that God shelters us. It is the idea that God is our hope. “Rock” the word “rock,” he says, “God is our rock”; God is our hope. God is our refuge; God is our hope.

It is also interesting to notice that in the Bible, three to one, the Bible uses hope as a noun, meaning that it is something that you can have, is hope. And the common definition – I am sure you have heard many times in the New Testament – is that hope is a confident expectation.

Here is another very interesting thing. Thanksgiving is a few days away and then Christmas. When I pastored the two churches, I used to put up signs everywhere that were depicting Christmas. I would say, “Love” and I would say, “Joy” and I would say, “Peace.” I used to put up the word “Hope” and I took it down because in the Christmas story you never find hope because the hope had arrived. The hope was there.

Five Elements of Hope

Hope: Waiting on God

In the section of scripture before us, we find that God speaks to us about what hope really is and there are five elements I want to draw your attention to you today that the Bible tells us about hope. The first element is that hope involves – now, get it – waiting on God.

I do not know what you are like waiting. I am not good at waiting. Driving in South Florida – I came down from New York in a smaller area. Driving in South Florida I plan not to make a left turn. It takes so long. I hope I go somewhere and make a right turn and get to where I want to go. Waiting is not easy. But for hope, you have to learn to wait.

Turn your Bibles to Romans 8 if you would for just a moment. Turn to the book of Romans chapter number eight. I look at Romans 8 and look with me if you would at verse number 24.

Romans 8:24: “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”

He says, “For we are saved by hope [remember refuge, shelter, rock, confident expectation].” Hope is a future word. Hope is something that is still out there. We are saved by hope knowing that we have it. “But hope that is seen is not hope.” If you see it, it is not hope.

Some years ago, one of my sons took me to a huge pageant, a Christmas pageant, and they had the scene of the crucifixion at the end. And I saw the man who was playing Jesus Christ and I thought to myself, “That’s not what Jesus looked like.” The man was limping, he did not have hair long like Jesus had it, I thought that can’t be Jesus.

Then it dawned on me that I’ve never seen Jesus, so what do I know? I have never really seen Jesus. But I tell you this, if Jesus walked into this room today through those doors back there and came and stood right here, I’d close my Bible and sit down there with you. We would know it’s Him. Why? Because of hope, what God has given to us. So, look what it says there:

Romans 8:24: “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”

Now notice:

Romans 8:25: “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

Hope involves waiting on God and you find that through the men and women of the Bible. God said to Noah, “Build an ark.” And he built it, and he built it, and he built it, waiting on God. God said to Joseph, “Joseph, you are going to rule over your brothers one day.” Unfortunately, he told his brothers that and they began to hate him. And yet, he waited, and waited, and waited for years before that took place.

Moses was 40 years in the wilderness attending sheep in the Arabian desert before he began to lead the people of God to the promised land. David, knowing he was told to be king, was running from Saul. The prophets of the Old Testament, Isaiah and Jeremiah, walking and talking in their lives to people and then writing the scriptures down, these infallible scriptures about the coming of the Lord. Yet, they did not even understand some of the things they were writing about, simply waiting on God.

Remember Simeon and Anna at the consolation of Israel in the book of Luke? We read about them and the scriptures say they were waiting, waiting for Messiah and Messiah showed up. Remember the paralyzed man at the pool? He said, “I wish somebody would put me in,” waiting and waiting.

Mary and Martha, you remember when Lazarus died, they went to Jesus and said, “You know, if you would have been here, he would not have died. Waiting, waiting, why didn’t you show up?” And when He did show up, they saw a resurrection, far more than just the healing.

I’ve often wondered about that Lazarus. You know, after Lazarus came back from the grave there is no recorded word in scripture what he said, not one thing that he said. I read one place where a man commentated that was because Mary and Martha were doing all the talking. I do not know if that is really true, but I do know this, he went to Paradise, he just came back from Paradise. You maybe think that he took Jesus’ side at one point and said, “You know, why did you bring me back here? I was where I was supposed to be.”

Waiting and waiting on God. Some of you today are doing that. You’ve been waiting for something, you are looking forward to it, and you are waiting, and you are waiting, and you are waiting. Any of us who have been in the faith in any time at all, we know what it is like to wait.

When I was a pastor in Pennsylvania, our church was really growing and frankly, we had three services, we couldn’t get the people in, so our church voted to buy another piece of ground and we would relocate that entire campus. We bought a piece of ground along the interstate. We were in the process of purchasing it. The leadership voted unanimously. The church voted unanimously. Everybody was excited about this piece of ground.

The Sunday before we were to sign the final document on a Friday, I came home from Sunday night service, and the man who was going to sell us the ground called me and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you the ground, that property.” I said, “Well, why not?” He said, “Because my family decided they wanted to keep it.” I was so determined we needed that property. I was sure that is what God wanted us to have and so I said, “Would you mind if I talk to your family?” He said, “No, you can’t talk to my family about it. They are settled.” I had to go back to the church and say to them, “You know, this piece of ground we voted for? I am sorry. It is not available to us.”

I was so disappointed about that. But you know what? I found out later as our whole church did, there was a kind of a lime rock under that ground and there was no testing for it. And if we would have bought that piece of ground, we could never have built one building on that piece of ground. The church relocated itself to another place, today, 52 acres. I spoke there last Sunday, a beautiful campus they have, beautiful. When I look back on that, we had to wait. What are you waiting on today? It is okay to wait. If that’s God’s plan, it is okay to wait.

My wife and I were years without children. We did not think we could have children and so we decided to adopt children. We made a plan and we found out about twins who were already born. They had bright red hair. My wife used to have dark black hair and my hair used to be dark black. We thought about all these people we talked about with these twins with bright red hair.

We got the room set up; we got the room settled and everything to go and it was time to go pick up the children. Those little babies, they were about a month old. I will never forget. When we got there, we were told the babies were not now available and I can’t tell you how disappointing that was. All of a sudden, we thought we had a family and now we don’t have a family. So, I remember well, my wife and I talked about it. It was very, very upsetting. I was mad. I was mad at them, me, my wife, God. If I had known you back then, I would have been mad at you. I just was mad.

So, we have five people – this is before all the technology today – we got five people to pray for us that we could have children. Some were in the church; some were not in the church. But they prayed faithfully that we would have our own child. It wasn’t long after that we had our first child born. Then we had our second child born. Then we had our third child born. Then we had our fourth child born. And I told all those who were praying, “Quit praying. Stop praying right now. This is way too many children.” I was so glad we did not adopt the redheaded twins by the way. We ended up with four.

I love telling that story. I love hearing you laugh but it was not easy going through that. And you see that is the way life is. That is what hope is. Hope is what God says about something, but it does not happen immediately, and it is hard in a generation that wants it today.

I always use the microwave. My wife does other things with the stove. I don’t even know how to turn the stove on. I want it now. And you see, hope does not work that way. Hope is waiting on God.

You have a child not right with God, you have been praying and saying, “I’m fed up with it.” You’ve been praying for Mr. Right to come into your life and it hasn’t happened, and you’re fed up waiting on that. You’ve made failures in your past and you wonder if you could ever be forgiven by people even though God has forgiven you and so you have to learn to wait.

Serving the Lord is a very important thing. But this whole thing of hope is waiting on God. And I will tell you one thing – there may be many things – but one thing we all have in common today is that we are learning to wait on God. That’s what hope is.

Go back to your Bibles to the book of Lamentations, the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament. The book of Jeremiah, then Lamentations, then Ezekiel. It is not easy to find. Find the book of Lamentations, if you can’t find it that’s alright. If you can’t find it and you do not want anybody to know about it, just sit and look intelligent, they will not know the difference.

I want you to see this very interesting passage. Five chapters of Lamentations and the book is written by Jeremiah lamenting the problems in Jerusalem, lamenting what is happening in Jerusalem. And so, he writes about it with a huge insight on what is going to happen and what God has for the people, even though the destruction of Jerusalem is upon them. Look at verse 21 chapter 3.

Lamentations 3:21: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.”

Notice [paraphrasing]: “This is what I remember,” he says. “I see the destruction. I remember this though, therefore I have hope.” He says, “I see something out there.”

Lamentations 3:22: “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”

“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed,” – wouldn’t we all agree to that today? Because His compassions fail not, aren’t you glad that God has compassion. His mercy is new every day.

Lamentations 3:23: “He says they are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

This great thought, “great is thy faithfulness.” We’ve all been faithless from time to time. We told people things that we would do, we forget to do them. We haven’t been faithful like God. But notice, “great is thy faithfulness.” Then he says:

Lamentations 3:24: “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”

Notice I “will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:25: “The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”

“The LORD is good unto them” and here it is “wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” Waiting is good, it’s good.

Lamentations 3:26: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”

And “the salvation of the LORD” there means the deliverance of the Lord. It is not salvation and born again, but it is the deliverance of the Lord. He said:

Lamentations 3:27: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.”

And if you go down with me to verse 29:

Lamentations 3:29: “He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.”

My friend, today I want to say to you, yes, there is hope. Whatever you are hoping for, whatever you have given up praying for, I want you to know there is in fact hope. Hope is waiting on God.

Hope: Serving the Lord

Now go back to Romans 5, the passage that we are looking at today and I want you to see that secondly, hope not only involves waiting on God, it involves working or serving the Lord. Very clearly it is given in this passage. Look at verse 3, he says:

Romans 5:3: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;”

Romans 5:4: “And patience, experience; and experience, hope:”

Now, notice he speaks here about experience and patience. They mean endurance, it’s the idea of remaining under when you are carrying a hardship. Patience and experience, he says, will build hope. Hope is found when we are going through stuff in our life. In verse 3, he says we glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation builds us patience, patience builds us experience, and experience, therefore, builds us this hope.

These last, I guess, 18 months have been a trial for so many people. When COVID first came out I knew very few people that have had it. Then all of a sudden it seemed like so many people have had it. Then it seemed almost everybody I talked to had it at one time or another. And then the unfortunate thing is that many loved ones and friends I had died of COVID. And all of a sudden you begin to look at life, you begin to realize how quickly life comes and how quick life goes. It is not here for very long; it is not here because God has other plans for us in the future.

But one of the things about this whole idea of what we experience, what we go through – these pastors who we are helping in Myanmar, these people that are there, can you imagine COVID is worse there than it is here? But then having the government and you are sitting in your house fearing for your life. Where’s the hope? Where’s the hope?

The passage says you need to understand as Scott Peck said, I mentioned it earlier, life is difficult. Life is difficult. The preacher that tells you that life is not difficult is not telling you the truth. Life is difficult. I like to tell you about good things. I like to tell you about wonderful things. I like to take my grandchildren to Disney World much more than seeing their parents having to discipline them. But the discipline is much better than going to Disney World at the end of the day.

Notice, “tribulation worketh patience” and that is how you get experience. I had a dear friend of mine who taught me in college, one of my mentors, a godly man, I said, “I don’t want to embarrass you but how did you get so godly? How do you live like this?” I thought that he would give me some trite answer. He said to me, “I am the way I am because of the trouble I have gone through.” And for a moment I thought, maybe I do not want to be like him. But that is how you get there. But the fact is patience, experience, tribulation builds this thing called hope.

I was speaking in upstate New York, above Albany, New York, a few years ago and I preached on a Sunday through a Wednesday Bible conference. On Tuesday, there was a nice supper at the church and then we went up to the service. There was an elderly man walking up the steps having a real difficult time going up the steps, so I was helping him. I thought we would have a conversation, so I said, “Is your wife here tonight?” He said, “No, she is in Heaven.” And I said, “I am sorry.” You know what he said? What are you sorry about? She’s in Heaven.” I had never had anyone tell me that before.

We got midway up the steps and I said, “Do you have any children?” I was trying to make this conversation go somewhere. He said, “Yes, and they are all in Heaven.” And I said again, “I’m sorry.” And he stopped me, pointing his finger at me like he was going to correct me, “What are you sorry about? They’re in Heaven.” Did you ever have a conversation going nowhere, down the hole? This is one of them right here. We got to the top of the steps, and I said, “Do you have any relatives anywhere?” And he said, “All of them that I know are in Heaven.” I did not say I am sorry again.

But this is what he said to me. He said, “This church is my home. I come here to a lot of things. I even come here sometimes to the youth group because I want people to know whose side I am on around here,” is what he told me. I asked his pastor about him. He said, “He’s a wonderful man of God. One of greatest supporters of this church is that man.” And I began to realize he had something that he had learned. He had learned that the faith that we talk about had become very real to him and had become more than just a conversation piece. And where do you get that from? You get that from the topic of hope. He had a hope that he was living.

Hope: Walk with God

Look at the third thought that is given in this passage. Look at verse number four, he says:

Romans 5:4: “And patience, experience; and experience, hope:”

One of the words you will find in the New Testament, a Pauline term that is used over and over again, is the word that speaks about walking with God, a walk with God. The Bible says walk in love, for example. Walk in joy. And what it is speaking about is the idea of a Christian character that is a combination of the qualities that distinguish a person and therefore, there can be this idea of this walk with God. There is something in our life that helps us grow in the Lord.

If you turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews for just a moment; turn with me to Hebrews 3 if you would. In Hebrews 3, the Bible has much to say in Hebrews about this topic of hope.

Hebrews 3:6: “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”

“But Christ as a son” – now, you know that the book of Hebrews is about the better one, it is about the superior one, it is about the great one. So, he says in verse six, “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, [notice the confidence – that is one of our definitions] and the rejoicing of the hope [that confident expectation] firm unto the end.”

Look over to verse 14 of this chapter, look at verse 14:

Hebrews 3:14: “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence [there is our definition] stedfast unto the end;”

Turn to Hebrews 6:18, he says:

Hebrews 6:18: “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope [notice] set before us [future]:”

Hebrews 6:19: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”

So, he is speaking here about this hope that is set before us. And then turn over if you will to Hebrews 12. This whole idea of hope is brought together beautifully in the book of Hebrews, and in the book of Hebrews, the Bible says this in Hebrews 12 and look at verse number 2. Again, when we think of hope we are not just thinking of a word. We are not thinking of a definition. We are thinking of someone. Hebrews 12:2, this is what the Bible says:

Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” the beginning and the end of our faith. “Who for the joy” – this is one of the most amazing thoughts in the book of Hebrews, “that was set before him endured the cross.” If you were to say to me today what gives you joy? In my flesh, I would never think of that. If I were to say to you today what gives you joy? You might say, “Jesus gives me joy, my spouse gives me joy, my children, the place I work.

Now, look at, he’s saying, “I am going to go to the cross,” and “who for the joy what was set before him” – set before him speaks about a hope, “despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hope therefore has this idea of a walk with God and it is speaking here about the importance of Jesus saying, “I am going to have to endure the burden of the cross” and He makes it clear here, He says, “I do that with joy.” My dear friend, your Savior went to the cross and if we were the only people He did this for, He would say to every one of you, “I do it with joy.” That, my friends, is quite a Savior. That, my friends, is quite a Deliverer.

I want to say to you today that I think is important. You have no idea; you have no idea of the people you influence in your life. When you do it with hope, you have no idea. You will have people who come into your life someday and say thanks. And you won’t even remember where you met the man. You won’t even remember what they are thanking you for.

And so, I would encourage you don’t get discouraged when things don’t happen like we think they are supposed to happen. Don’t get discouraged when the redheaded twins aren’t yours. Don’t get discouraged about the things that take place that seem to back us up. Because what really takes place is that God is using your life to be an influence. That is why we cannot live unto ourselves; we live unto him that we might be an influence to others.

When my wife and I first met, we were dating and knew that we would be getting married. I was at the Bible college, and I went to a small church in the country, and I taught Sunday School there. It was part of my learning experience to become a pastor. And in the evenings, I used to lead the music, and then after the evenings, I would also work with a youth group there. I remember going to that youth group it was a small youth group. And I really did not know a lot to teach them. I was picking it up from the college and doing the best I could.

There was one girl in there, a beautiful redheaded girl. She was probably 12, 13, 14 years of age but she was always like a thorn in my flesh. She was always doing something. And one day I turned around after writing something on the chalkboard – that is how you would teach back in those days – and she was climbing out the window. I asked, “What are you doing?” She said, “I am climbing out the window.” I said, “You can’t go out there. There is a story down.” She’d break her leg; she can’t do that, and she jumped out the window.

So, I went out to get her and said, “Why did you do that?” She said, “I do not want to be in there.” I said, “This is no way to deal with that jumping out the window.” And I said, “Why don’t you want to be in there?” Here is what she said to me, she said, “Because you are boring.” Now, isn’t that encouraging? “You’re boring.” Boring or not, I said, “You’ve got to go back in there.” So, I brought her back in. It wasn’t long after that we went on to do our own things in life.

I kind of forgot about her. I was preaching years later at Madison, Ohio at the Madison Bible College. And my wife was with me, and it was after – I think on a Tuesday morning – the chapel that we had and we were walking over to lunch. My wife was with me and the president of the college, a very godly good pastor there, the president. We were walking the three of us together for lunch and I heard somebody yell out and say, “Oh, there you are.” I turned around and there was a woman, a beautiful woman 24-25 years of age, got her arms stretched out like this coming right at me. I have no idea who she is, and she is running straight at me. I had my wife here and I had, again, the president here and think this is not a very good situation – whoever that woman is – that I’m in right now. So, I took my wife and put my wife right in front of me and she grabbed my wife and hugged and kissed her and she did the same thing with me.

She said, “You don’t remember me.” I said, “No, who are you?” And she gave me her name and she was that girl in the youth group. She said, “I was looking forward to seeing you and I want to thank you for the influence you had in my life.” And I remembered, “You’re the one who said I was boring.” I said, “What are you doing in this school here?” She said, “I teach here.” Honestly, I thought this place must be having a hard time finding teachers from what I remember about her.

But influence; you do not know who you are going to influence. There are people all through life, you’ll make a difference in their life. But you can’t have that influence without living with hope. Hope is what drives us. Hope is what gives us the stimulus. Hope is what encourages us. Hope tells us today may be good and hope is tomorrow and today may be bad but there is hope out there.

Hope: The Worship of God

The fourth thing I want you to notice is in verse five. I want to mention this just very briefly and you can find this in the previous chapter four, the life of Abraham. But hope involves our worship of God. Look at verse five, he says:

Romans 5:5: “And hope maketh not ashamed [that is our text]; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

Notice, hope does not make ashamed. The idea there is that hope will not disappoint you. And he says it is because of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. And what he is talking about here today is the idea of worshipping God. The worship of God.

I love having good music in church, as we did today, that I am whistling on Tuesday of the next week because it so touched my heart. The Psalms, Psalms 145 to 150, the psalmist speaks to this idea of worshipping God with music and praise. But worship is also the idea of understanding who God is. That part of Amazing Grace we don’t sing sometimes, he “promised good to me, His word my hope secures, He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures.” Hope.

What the Bible is telling us here is that this idea of worshipping God – now think of this, your church believes in missions, right? There will be a day there’ll be no missions. Your church believes in evangelism, right? There’ll be a day when there’ll be no evangelism. But there shall never be a day we cease to worship God, that is throughout all eternity. Hope involves the worship of God. And I will tell you this, that in all of us, there is a seed that’s there. There is a desire that’s there. We are condemned, we are lost, we are sinners, but there is something about us when we become the child of God that makes us want to hear and to listen, and to think about Him. And giving Him the worship; He who was worth all the worship.

Tonight, I hope you come back this evening we will be speaking about a woman who all of a sudden began to worship God, with who she didn’t think she had any part. And the fact is, the scripture is telling us here there is this concept of worshipping God.

Hope: Waiting on God

But here is the fifth element I want you to see today, and this wraps up these four elements. Hope involves waiting on God, serving or working for God, walking with God, and worshipping God. But here’s the bottom line. Hope, hope is a possession. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is Jesus Christ, our hope, 1 Timothy 1:1. It is Hebrews 7:19, “a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” There is a place in our life where we needed to have hope.

I preach often at the Keswick Bible conference in America’s Keswick down in Whiting, New Jersey. The men of the Colony of Mercy who go there are addicted and they work hard on their campus. They put signs on the trees on the path you walk. One of the signs speaks about the prophet Joel when he said, “Restore unto us the years that the locusts have taken away. It is a beautiful thought in scripture. When you’ve wasted years, when you’ve wasted some of your life, when you’ve wasted things, to stop and to think what God is giving back to you even when some of it seemed to be so taken away. Hope. Don’t give up on hope. Hope.

I was boarding an airplane in Fort Lauderdale to fly to Baltimore, Maryland to speak to the Grace Bible Baptist Church at a conference there. The plane was going to be filled. I was on the window side of the airplane, and I saw a couple coming down and it looked like everything they owned was with them. I mean they had stuff hanging out of everywhere. And my first, initial thought was I hope they don’t sit next to me and of course, that is where they were going to sit.

As they stood there with all of their stuff the man looked over to me and said, “Are you a minister?” I was shocked and I was in relaxing clothes, no book, no Bible, nothing. He said, “Are you a minister?” I answered pretty quickly but there were things going through my mind. Does he like ministers? Does he not like ministers? Was there something in the news that I missed last night? Why is he asking me that? I said, “Yes.” And he replied, “Good.” I was glad he said that.

So, they sat down and finally got everything organized. We were taxiing to go up in the air. I leaned over to him and asked, “Sir, why did you ask if I was a minister.” Now, listen to what he said. He said, “You know, yesterday, my sister fell down the steps in Baltimore, Maryland, and broke her neck and died. And I am going up now to be at the funeral and sing at the funeral. I automatically think he is a Christian, he’s going to sing, and that is how I was thinking. So, as we were going up, he said, “I prayed this morning that when I got on this airplane, I could sit next to a minister.”

I thought to myself, I know what I’m going to be doing. So, as the plane taxied and went up, we began to talk. He was unsaved, his wife was unsaved. She did not get saved that day; she got saved later in our church. We began to talk and had a wonderful conversation. I had the privilege of leading him to Christ on that airplane. When I got off the plane in Baltimore, we both hugged and this was before COVID, by the way. And so, I was thrilled about it.

I went home and stood before the congregation down in Miami and told the story and gave his name. I told about him getting saved and the congregation was all excited about it. After the church service, I was standing in the church lobby. While I was standing there, there was a group of men surrounding me and most of them were with the FBI and CIA in our church. They are surrounding me, and I thought what is this about? The one man said, “Do you know who you led to Christ?” I said, “Yes,” and I gave his name. They said, “No, you don’t understand. That man is our boss and we have been praying for him for a long time.” And the one man said, “Yes, and I just about gave up hope.”

This hope that we are talking about today is Jesus Christ himself. When you go to Heaven, don’t be thinking so much about the streets of gold and all that stuff, but think about I’m going to see Jesus. I’m going to see Jesus. We often say when we go to Heaven, people say you will be at the gate. Frankly, with all due respect to Peter, I don’t want to see Peter. I want to see Jesus. I want to see the Savior. And that is what this hope is all about. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. He is our hope. So, look at that passage again, he says:

Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith [that is our standing with God by faith], we have peace with God [my soul can have peace with God] through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:2: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope [that blessed assurance, that confidence, that confident expectation, that refuge that we have, that shelter we have] of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:3: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;”

Romans 5:4: “And patience, experience; and experience, [here is the word again] hope:”

Romans 5:5: “And hope [there it is a third time] maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

My friends, today I want you to know we have hope when we have Jesus. That hope is not only for today, but that hope is what our future is all about. One day, we shall see Jesus and we shall see Him face to face. And we shall know him, and we shall recognize him. And there is not anything in the world that is greater that we can have.

And I believe that is the message that is most needed today in our world. It is a message of hope. We live in a hopeless society of people who do not know Jesus. Where I live right now there are a lot of people who become my friends, none of them are believers. They’re so hopeless. I talk about Jesus, sometimes there is this blank expression. But one day, I want to see hope in their eyes. One day, I want to see that change with them.

And friends, you have people near you like that too. You have people in your family that need hope and the only way they know about it, to hear about it, the only way they know about it is when they see it in your life. The only way that it’s changed is when hope has come to dwell in their midst. This is a hope that does not disappoint.

Would you pray with me? Our pastor will come and lead the invitation as he feels led to do. But dear friend, I want to encourage you deeply today. Don’t give up hope. I would encourage you today to understand there is hope in this Jesus. There is hope really because of Him. If he said he would with joy endure the cross, think how much he has given to you, provided for you. Truly my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

Father, I thank you for these dear people here today, bless them, strengthen them, and encourage them. And Father, as our pastor comes and leads the invitation as he feels led to do, I pray that the hope that is truth that we talked about today will be ingratiated into our hearts, and may we leave here with this truth upon our hearts and minds. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. God bless you.

---

Watch the prerecorded live version of the entire service and sermon, A Hope That Does Not Disappoint, on Facebook.

A Hope That Does Not Disappoint — Related Sermons

You may also want to listen to or view these sermons:

The God of All Comfort

Wisdom is Better Than Gold