Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 05/15/2022
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Study Discussion at: Hope Does Not Disappoint Podcast
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Hope does not Disappoint!
“And now abide faith,
hope, love, …” I Cor. 13:13
What is hope?
It seems important to
know since right now, and at any given time, we, and everyone listening to my
voice is hoping for something.
Hope is forward seeking.
It’s difficult for us to imagine that Adam and Eve may have lived in a world
where hope was unnecessary because they were completely satisfied. Satan
dangled a temptation, and opened up a hope in Eve, but it was for something she
already had.
Through their
disobedience, they lost what they already possessed, started the clock ticking,
corruption set in, and they entered the world of hope,”
Hope differs from faith
in that hope is forward looking, whereas faith is possessed in the hear and
now. Rom. 8:24, “but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still
hope for what he sees?”
Our culture is steeped
in hope, but it is a distracted hope. Remember the flags with the purple
square? I believe that if you asked people what they are hoping for, they
wouldn’t know. You may receive a scattered variety of answers focused on very
temporal, and pacifying applications.
This seems to indicate
that there is much to hope for, but begs the question what is of value; world
peace? End of suffering? Chicken in every pot? Winning season for the Red Sox?
In Ps. 42:9&10, the psalmist
identifies his anxiety; the “oppression” and “reproach” of his
enemy. His solution is, “hope in God.” vr. 5&11
As believers our deepest
hope is to see Jesus face to face. Our
I Cor. passage precedes
with vr. 12 which says, “For we see now in a mirror, dimly, but then face to
face…”
Also, Tit. 2:13, “looking
for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ.”
But many lesser hopes
compel us through this life until that day. Otherwise we may despair, like Job,
“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle. And are spent without hope.” Ps.
71:14 compels us to, “hope continually”.
Paul, speaking of
Abraham, “who believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”, in
Rom. 4:18, says, “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed so that he became
the father of many nations, according to what was spoken”.
Abraham didn’t even see
this in his life time, but he was given a promise, and we see the fulfillment
of this which encourages us to hope.
We, likewise, have
promises from God, and of those promises we can
know what we poses and what lies before us.
In the realm of, “what
lies before us” our command is to wait.
Ps. 33:18, “Behold, the
eye of the LORD is upon them that fear Him , upon them that hope
in His mercy; To deliver their soul from death…” Andrew Murray comments, in “Waiting on
God”;
“Fear and hope are
generally thought to be in conflict with each other, in the presence and
worship of God they are found side by side in perfect and beautiful harmony.
And this because in God Himself all apparent contradictions are reconciled.”
Completing the lesson of
Rom 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for
it with perseverance.”
“Now hope does not
disappoint, because the love of God has been pour out in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Rom.
5:5
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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