
The Hope of the Word - Romans 4:18
October 2, 2022
what are you currently hoping for that you don’t have right now…
what are you relying on to get it… hope of the world and the hope of the Word are two very different things… produce two very different outcomes…
worldly… desire for something with reasonable confidence in possibility of fulfillment…
biblical… joyful and confident expectation of good; anticipation with pleasure…
several months ago, farmers planted seed hoping for something they didn’t yet have… didn’t happen overnight… but that seed has grown into a harvest…
Gen 26:12… “Isaac sowed seed… reaped 100 times what was sown…”
Mark 4… “man scatters seed… sprouts and grows… he doesn’t know how…”
Luke 8… “seed is the Word… in good heart… produce 30,60,100-fold harvest…”
no seed, no crop… no Word, no harvest… there is little to no hope in the systems of this world (government, education, medicine)… hope has to be found elsewhere…
Psa 119:49-50… “your Word has given me hope… your word has given me life…”
Psa 119:114… “I put my hope in your Word…”
Psa 130:5-8… “I wait and put my hope in His Word…”
Man can live about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air… but only a few seconds without hope. —Hal Lindsey
can’t live without hope… Word gives us hope… that’s why we need to be in the Word… Christian who is immersed in the Word is never without hope… pray…
how does hope work and what can it really do…
Rom 4:17-21… “Abraham believed… God gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did… he believed, hoping against hope… he did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise… but was strengthened in faith… because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, He was also able to do…”
go back a bit… God called Abram father of many nations, but he didn’t have kids… he and Sarai were very old… world offered them no hope for children…
Gen 17… “your name will be Abraham… Sarah will be her name (hei/grace)… I’ll bless her, she will give you a son… Abraham laughed, can a child be born to 100-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman give birth… will confirm My covenant…”
Rom 4:13-16… “promise to Abraham and his descendants… not thru law, but thru righteousness that comes by faith… if only those who obey the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise is cancelled… that is why the promise is by faith… so it may be according to grace… to guarantee it to all the descendants…”
do you see what just happened… no hope in the world… but there was great hope in the Word… hope that rises above hopelessness… supernatural power and results…
Rom 4:18 KJV… “who against hope believed in hope… according to what was spoken…”
NLT… “even when there was no reason for hope… Abraham kept hoping… for God said…”
NIV… “against all hope, Abraham in hope believed… just as it had been said to him…”
CSB… “he believed… hoping against hope… as he had been told…”
was there a temptation to not believe… of course… there always is… listen close… problem is not with your faith (devo)… problem is presence of unbelief…
Matt 13:58… “He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief…”
Mark 6:6… “He was amazed at their unbelief…”
Mark 9:24… “father cried out… I do believe; help my unbelief…”
Mark 16:14… “He rebuked their unbelief and their hardness of heart..”
Heb 3:19… “we see they were unable to enter because of unbelief…”
easy to know when unbelief is present… always accompanied by doubt, fear, worry, anxiety… red flags you’re in unbelief… trusting world, not God’s Word…
Deut 28:66… “you shall hang in doubt… fear day and night… have no assurance of life…”
Job 3:25… “what I always feared has happened… what I dreaded came true…”
Phil 4:6… “do not worry about anything…”
1Pet 5:7… “cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you…”
devil brings thoughts contrary to Word… what if God doesn’t answer… what if His promises aren’t true for you… what if you haven’t been good enough… unbelief will always win until you use your weapon and take those thoughts captive…
Rom 4:16… “that’s why promise is by faith… according to grace… to guarantee…”
2Cor 10:3-5… “use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons… to knock down strongholds of human reasoning… destroy false arguments… lofty opinions raised against knowledge of God… take every thought captive to obedience of Christ…”
Eph 6:17… “take the Sword of the Spirit… which is the Word of God…”
what do you consider the most when you face difficulties (money, doctor, family)… what influences your hope… world or Word… God says I’m not considering anything other than my Word… not your sins, gender, color, past, future, nothing…
1Sam 12:24… “consider what great things God has done for you…”
Job 37:14… “listen to this Job… stop and consider God’s wonders…”
Psa 107:43… “let whoever is wise pay attention… consider God’s faithful love…”
Rom 4:19… “Abraham did not consider his own body… fully convinced in God…”
2Cor 1:20… “all of God’s promises are Yes in Christ… that is why we say Amen…”
2Cor 5:7… “we walk by faith… not by sight…”
spoil God’s promises when we start to focus on our problems… God says I want to give you good success… I want to heal you… I want to prosper you… but all of that comes from the Word, not the world… follows the success of your soul…
Josh 1:7-9… “meditate on My Word… then you will have good success…”
Psa 107:20… “sent His Word and healed them… saved them from destruction…”
Isa 55:11… “Word will not return empty… will prosper in what I send it to do…”
3John 2… “pray you prosper and are in good health… just as your soul prospers…”
the Word is where we harvest our hope… this world will let you down… when you get into Word… will rise above the hope of this world… all comes down to what you treasure most (world or Word)… that determines course of your life… pray…
Prov 4:20-23… “guard your heart… for out of the heart come the issues of life…”
Luke 12:34… “where your treasure is… there your heart will be also…”