Patience of Hope

Introduction: The Three Crown Jewels of Christian Virtue

0:07 I would invite you to turn with me to Paul's letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul's first letter to that infant church, 1 Thessalonians, as we resume our studies in this particular section of the Word of God. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1.

0:39 Now, just briefly to review before we move into that section of this first chapter, which will be the object of our study today, after giving general greetings to the church at Thessalonica,

0:57 reminding these people that it was Paul, along with his companions, who was sending greetings to them, and the general apostolic invitation or greeting, salutation, we have then in verses 2 through 10 what is basically an ascription of thanksgiving to God for particular characteristics which mark, the people in the church at Thessalonica. And in giving to us these characteristics which caused his own heart to rejoice, the apostle has given to us several very valuable things. He has given to us in the first place an indication of those factors which are tokens of the grace of God. Paul says in verse 2, We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without sinning, and then he mentions those things which caused him, when he came into the presence of God, to rejoice and give thanks. Now, Paul did not rejoice and give thanks primarily for those things which are common to all men in the common grace of God, but when he wrote to a church, he was giving thanks to God for those particular things which were distinguishing marks of the special grace of God in his saving power. And so we have those things in verses 2, 2 to 10, which are in a peculiar way the fruits of grace, and in giving them to us,

2:26 we also have a standard by which we as a church can evaluate ourselves. We have a goal toward which we should press by the grace of God. Now, at the very top of those lists of the tokens of grace, we have in verse 3, what we have called the three crown jewels in the diadem of Christian virtue, remembering without ceasing, your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father. We have studied the phrase, the work of faith, and the fact that Paul gave thanks to God that here were a people who had a faith that was not mere idle or speculative faith, but it was an operative faith that put them to work. And yet he thanks God that their work was in, in no way an attempt to earn the grace of God, but it flowed out of a principle of faith. And so wherever you find the people who have faith and works, they have them both, and in their proper relationship you have a wonderful indication that the grace of God has been operative. For left to himself, man will either have a work that is not a work of faith, that is a dead work, hoping to commend himself to God by his works, or he will have a dead faith.

3:48 The faith is not a work of faith. The faith is not a work of faith. The faith is not a work of faith. The faith is not a work of faith.

3:49 It is mere notional. It resides in the head. It accepts certain facts, but it is not a living principle that produces works of holiness and obedience. But when you have both joined together, and they are always joined together, whenever God does a work of grace, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, then you have cause to give thanks to God.

Review: Labor of Love

4:13 Then we looked at the phrase, labor of love. Paul was grateful to God that these people had a work of faith, that they had a love to the triune God, that was more than a love that caused them to sit in a rocking chair and think warm thoughts about the deity. They had a love for the triune God that made them put their shoulder to the yoke of Christian responsibility and produced in them labor. And this word labor is the word that is connected with the word travail.

4:43 Paul speaks of labor and travail. It means sacrificial, arduous, sometimes even painful work. And Paul gives thanks to God that these people had a love to God that again was not merely an emotional thing, but it was one that captivated their whole being and brought them under the yoke of Christian obligation. Now we come to the third of these virtues that is mentioned in verse 3, patience of hope.

Defining Patience of Hope: Hope as Confident Expectation

5:16 And Paul not only gives thanks for their work, for their work of faith, and their labor of love, but for their patience of hope. Now the word patience is not describing the hope, but he's speaking of a patience which had its root in hope. Notice the parallel through all of these three phrases. They had a faith that produced works.

5:39 They had a work that was rooted in faith. They had love that produced labor. They had labor that was rooted in love. Now he says, they had, a patience which was the fruit of hope and a hope that produced this patience.

5:57 Now if we're to understand why this should be a cause of rejoicing in the heart of the Apostle Paul, we must first of all understand what the words mean. He said, we give thanks for your patience of hope. Now let's define the words. First of all, what does the word hope mean?

6:16 For patience, whatever it is, was the basis, maybe the child of hope. Hope was the mother. Patience was the child. Hope was the tree.

6:26 Patience was the fruit. So let's begin with the mother. Let's begin with the tree. Let's begin with that which gives birth to the other.

6:34 Now when we use the word hope, we usually use it in the sense of a strong wish or desire. We say, well, I hope to take my vacation and go to the shore. Or I hope that I will graduate from high school next year. Now when you say you hope, what you're saying is I have a strong desire, I have an earnest wish that such and such will come to pass.

6:56 Maybe one of you youngsters has been disobedient. And you say, well, I hope daddy won't spank me when he gets home. Now what you mean by that is, you have a very strong wish that daddy will not spank you. You have no confidence that he will not.

7:10 You have no grounds to be assured that he will not. But you sure can wish. Wishing doesn't hurt. Spanking does.

7:17 But you sure can wish anyway. Can't you? Now we usually use the word hope in terms of this strong wish or earnest desire. But that is not the way the word hope is used in its biblical context.

7:31 There are, in a few instances, cases where the word is used in terms of a strong wish, but the overriding use of the word hope in the scripture is poles apart from a mere wish or a mere desire. The word hope in the scripture, means nothing less than a joyful and confident expectation of a promised blessing. A joyful and confident expectation of a promised blessing. Now there are many illustrations of its use in this sense in the scripture, but let me take a few that are representative this morning that we might understand what Paul meant when he said, patience of hope. Will you look with me in Romans chapter 5, where we find the same word used.

8:24 Romans 5, verses 1 and 2.

8:31 Now remember what we're trying to do. We're not trying to preach the whole Bible this morning. We're trying to find why Paul should get so blessed when these people had patience of hope. We can't understand why he got blessed until we understand what this hope is and the patience to which it gives birth.

8:47 And we won't understand what hope means until we see how the Holy Spirit has used that word in the rest of the scriptures. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, now notice, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Paul says not only do we have the present tense blessing of being justified and having peace with God and access, but he said we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now put the word in there, our wishful desire.

9:26 We rejoice in the wishful desire of the glory of God. Why, that's foolish. That's the worst kind of torment in all the world. A man who knows that God is holy and knows that he himself is sinful, who has reason to believe that right now his sins are forgiven through the work of God, through his mighty work in justification, and yet to think that all of those sins might yet rise up against him and condemn him and press him down to the deepest part of hell, who can only say, well, I wish, I sure hope that one day I'll be with him and share his glory.

10:06 That's the most intense kind of misery. I've had to deal with people like that, who say, well, I believe I'm accepted in the Lord, but I've got no degree of confidence that I shall share his glory. But now, define it this way, and not only so, but we, by whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the joyful and confident expectation of the glory of God. Now it makes sense, doesn't it?

10:35 He said, we not only have this present blessing, that the condemnation of our sin is passed, we have present access, but above and beyond all this, we have joyful and confident expectation that we shall gaze upon the glory of God as his redeemed, and we shall share that very glory. Now the word hope makes sense. Turn, please, to chapter 15 and verse 13 of Romans, and you'll find the same word used in another setting. Romans 15 and verse 13.

11:10 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now can you imagine Paul praying that the church would be full of people who abounded in this kind of an attitude, while I sure hope that I'll be saved? I sure wish and desire and hope that I belong to the Lord. Can you imagine him praying that the church would be full of people like that?

11:43 One or two in the church is enough, because you'll always have Mr. Weak Faith, as you have in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Mr. Fearing, Little Faith, you'll always have them.

11:54 But if the whole road to the celestial city was filled with people like that, why misery would have no such consequence? Why would it accompany this side of hell itself? Terrible thing. So what Paul is praying is this, that the believers may abound in hope, not just wishful desire, but in joyful and confident expectations of the power of the Holy Ghost.

12:17 This joyful and confident expectation of promised blessing is something that the Holy Spirit himself produces in the heart of the believer. Now you can find similar references in Galatians 5.5 where Paul speaks, of the hope of righteousness by faith. In Ephesians 1.18, he prays that believers may know what is the hope of their calling. 1 Thessalonians 5.8, he says, For an helmet put on the hope of salvation. Titus 1.2, Paul speaks in hope of eternal life. And then the classic usage, and I want you to look at this one with me please. 1 John chapter 3, where the word know is used as a synonym of the word hope. 1 John chapter 3,

13:08 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, we are assured, it's absolutely certain, that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and every man that hath this hope we know this hope. So you see the word hope is defined as a certain knowledge of future blessing promised by God himself.

13:50 So here you have a very simple and yet authoritative definition given by the Holy Spirit himself where John says that this knowledge that we'll be like him is called the hope of the believer. So whenever you come across this word in the New Testament, don't put the 20th century American meaning on the word hope but put the biblical meaning joyful, confident expectation of promised blessing. Now since most of these blessings that are out there in the future will be realized at the coming of Jesus Christ it's no strange thing that his coming should be called what? The blessed and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Titus 2 and verse 13. It's called in verse John 3 every man that hath this hope the hope what? Of his appearing. For you see all that is future in our salvation almost all of it will become ours in experience when our Lord Jesus comes from the right hand of the Father to take us unto himself that we might be with him forever.

Defining Patience as Endurance

15:01 So when Paul thinks of the people at Thessalonica he rejoices that they demonstrate a patience that was rooted in this joyful and confident expectation. Now I was surprised as I got studying this to see how much this matter of hope is an integral part of saving Christianity. In fact Paul goes so far to say in Romans chapter 8 verses 23 and 24 we are saved in hope. He said our very salvation is bound up in the concept of hope and the concept of hope and then he goes on to say for if what a man has he doesn't hope for it but if he doesn't have something then he with patience waits for it.

15:46 Peter asserts essentially the same thing when he says in 1 Peter 1.3 we have been begotten again unto a lively or living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now so much for the word hope. I hope you understand what the word hope means.

16:06 You get the two different ways I used it? When I say I hope you understand I'm using it in terms of our present use. I hope you understand what the word hope means. Confident, joyful expectation.

16:20 I wish I could use it in that sense that every one of you could give back to me now the definition I've given to you but I won't embarrass you or myself in asking you at the door this morning. Now the word patience. What does this word patience mean? We usually think of patience as the fellow sitting in the car sitting out there in the boat in the calm lake in a sun hat pulled over his eyes hips back in his boat feet up on the edge of the boat his line thrown out in the water waiting for a little fish to nibble on his line and we say the fisherman must be very patient.

16:55 Well again that's not the biblical concept of the word patience. Now that's patience. It takes patience to be a good fisherman. If the fish don't bite I'm ready to jump in there and scold them.

17:06 I get angry with them. I don't have the patience to wait around without getting angry. But some men we say they have the patience of a good fisherman. But the biblical concept of patience is not just sitting by marking time waiting for something to happen.

17:21 It means something far stronger than that. It basically means endurance. To bear up under intense stress and difficulty. It's the word used in Matthew 24 when our Lord says in that context of the great afflictions that will be the portion of God's people at the end of the age.

17:41 He says and he that endureth the same basic word used he that endureth he that has patience unto the end shall be saved. It's used in 1 Corinthians 13 7 love endures all things bears up under all things. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 10 therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake. Now does that mean he sat in a jail somewhere and twiddled his hands and played solitaire?

18:12 No it meant a day and a night in the deep scourging fastings hungering read 2 Corinthians 11 and see what it meant. He said I endure I bear up under the most intense forms of difficulty. It's the word used of our Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews 12 2 where it says of him that he endured the cross. He was patient in bearing the cross.

18:41 What did that mean? It meant an active submission to the will of God in the midst of most intense suffering. So you have the word hope joyful and confident expectation of promised blessing patience means endurance bearing up under stress and difficulty. Now put the two together.

The Thessalonians' Patience of Hope in Persecution

19:02 Paul says I give thanks to God when I remember your patience of hope. Your ability to bear up under stress and difficulty which was rooted in a joyful and confident expectations of promised blessing. You see these people weren't living on easy street. It's hard for us to interpret first Thessalonians against the backdrop of American Christianity.

19:33 Here were people who were born in the midst of conflict spiritually. Remember Acts 17 when we looked at the birth of this woman? This church Paul had been there but two weeks when there was a riot in the town and they ran him out of town stoned the house of the young convert who was keeping it and then when Paul writes back to them he says notice in chapter 2 and verse 14 for ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the Jews. What's he referring to?

20:12 That persecution that arose and scattered the believers he said you're in with them you belong to the same union of the suffering. Chapter 3 he says I was so anxious when I knew of your sufferings wondering if perhaps these tribulations had turned you aside notice verse 3 that no man should be moved by these afflictions for yourselves know that we are appointed there unto for verily when we were with you we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass and ye know Paul rejoices that these people are demonstrating the endurance rooted in hope because he recognized this principle that brings us to the heart of the message we've been laying the groundwork now seeking to give you an understanding of the terms but now will you listen closely for this is the crux of the whole phrase Paul realized that perhaps nothing more clearly revealed either the sham or the reality of the truth of the Christian profession as did suffering tribulation difficulty hardship this becomes the laboratory in which the genuineness of the product is either revealed or its ingenuineness its sham is exposed and uncovered so as Paul thought of those infant professors

21:41 of Christ there in Thessalonica and the suffering that was already their portion before them before he left them his heart was filled with anxiety he said I wonder do you have the real thing were my labors in vain is all this to be wood, hay and stubble was your apparent faith genuine faith was your apparent attachment to Christ vital attachment to Christ suffering came along and said I'll tell you whether it is and now when Timothy brings back the report that they're going on with God that the suffering is only served to drive their root deeper into Christ he says oh how I give thanks not only for your work of faith your labor of love but your endurance that is rooted in this hope this confident expectation of future blessings he said I'm so glad that the trial has simply acted as a laboratory in which your faith has been broken down into its component parts and it's been shown to be the real thing now that leads us to the second principle that is vitally joined to this Paul saw in these believers the truth that confident expectation of future blessing was that which produced endurance in present difficult circumstances

23:09 what gave them that endurance to face persecution just babes in Christ what would happen to you if after a month after you professed to be joined to Jesus Christ you began to really get some kicking around for your faith some of our Muslim friends boycotted economically lose their job nobody will hire them they go to buy food no one will sell food to them you see your starving children and a crying wife what would you do all you need to do is renounce Christ you have your job back have your tummy full again have your children's tummies full you have your wife smiling again this is happening right today 1967 1967 1967 what would you do what did they do persecuted abused you know what they did said things may not be so good now man are we going to have glory when he comes what we'll have when he comes let the storm rage men despise deride when our Lord comes back again all that he's promised will be ours and in the light of that day what's a little suffering here what's a little heartache here

The World's 'Now Generation' vs. Christian Hope

24:37 what's a little hardship here so they're in the middle of it when he comes he has no other choice only to come to me and mourn them so he's not going to come back again any way All the advertisement, all the jingles, selling Coke or Pepsi or anything else. This is the now generation. You've got to live it up now. Everything's now. That's the mark of the world. Its whole concern is now.

25:29 And now takes in everything involved in time. You see, people in the now generation are concerned enough about the future to take out insurance and to make out wills. But their whole concern is bounded by the little parenthesis of time. And that's all time is.

25:46 But a little parenthesis in the great expanse of eternity. There's an eloquent description of this in the 73rd Psalm. I'm sorry, in the 17th Psalm. Where the psalmist is speaking of the wicked.

26:04 And notice how he describes the wicked.

26:09 In Psalm 17, verse 14.

26:15 He's asking God to deliver him from the oppression of the wicked. And then in that prayer he describes the wicked. From men which are thy hand, O Lord. From men of this world who have their portion in this life.

26:31 Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. They are full of children. And leave the rest of their substance to their babes. Take that phrase and write it as the descriptive phrase of our own generation.

26:46 Whose portion is this life. They said, we're the now generation. You can talk about pie in the sky by and by and be a dreamer. Live your life by standards of a God whom you've never seen.

27:03 In terms of values that you've never seen. In terms of a heaven that you've never seen. You can have all of that. But I've got my substance now.

27:13 And I'm going to live it up now. I'm a part of a now generation. That's as contemporary as Psalm 17. Whose portion is in this life.

27:22 That's the worldling. He will save this life. But by contrast, the Christian is one. Who in his present existence governs everything.

27:36 Not by now, but by then. Not by the world that is, but by the world that is to come. Notice that contrast before we move away from Psalm 17. So you don't have to turn back to it.

27:47 He says, their portion is this life. But listen to his cry. As for me, verse 15. I will behold thy face in righteousness.

27:57 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Men of the world, their portion is now. Me, my portion is there. See the marked contrast between the true child of God and the worldling.

28:14 One has his portion now. Therefore, all of his values are determined by now. All of his actions and reactions are determined by now. But by contrast, the Christian has everything now governed by the prospect of the world to come.

28:32 So he can afford to have things a little inconvenient now. And that's what patience is. Bearing up under the pressures and inconveniences involved in being a child of God. In the midst of a wicked and perverse generation.

Hope Sustains in Present Trials: Paul's Example

28:49 The Apostle Paul describes this attitude of the Christian so beautifully. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

28:57 When looking at all of his problems.

29:02 And he had them.

29:04 You read the extent of them in the verses prior to the one we want to mention.

29:11 Distressed, perplexed, verse 8. Persecuted, verse 9. Verse 10. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.

29:19 Continually delivered unto death.

29:23 And what does he call all of this? Notice verse 18. Verses 17 and 18. For our light affliction.

29:28 He calls it. He calls it. He calls it. He calls this a light affliction.

29:32 Persecution.

29:34 Always going about like a criminal condemned to die. Troubled on every side. Perplexed. Buffeted.

29:42 Treated like the off-scouring of the world. He says light affliction. Why? Well he tells us in verse 18.

29:49 While we look not on the things that are seen. But at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal. But the things that are not seen are eternal.

30:00 You see. Paul had the patience that was rooted in hope. And in the light of the unseen world. Everything Paul bore he said is a light affliction.

30:12 Because in the light of that unseen world. Weeping. Wailing. Gnashing of teeth.

30:18 Outer darkness. Eternal hell. And the torments of the damned. Paul was comparing his sufferings to the sufferings of those who were strangers to grace.

30:29 And he says in the light of that. Eternal world. The unseen world. Anything that I have borne.

30:35 It's a light affliction. In the light of what I shall know when I awake with his likeness. And look upon my savior. And this beaten pain wracked body shall be released from all the effects of sin.

30:49 He said it's a light affliction. What sustained him in those present trials? He said while we look. It was the gaze of his soul upon the world to come.

30:59 It was his hope. His joyful and confident. His expectation as a Christian. That sustained him in the present trial.

Hope Sustains in Present Trials: Heroes of Faith

31:09 In Hebrews chapter 11. We have this testimony borne to those heroes of faith. Hebrews 11 verses 13 and 14.

31:22 These all died in faith. Not having received the promises. But having seen them afar off. And were persuaded of them.

31:30 And embraced them. And confessed that they were strangers. And pilgrims in the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

31:43 What country? The world to come. That was their confidence and joyful expectation. So what did they bear here and now?

31:50 Read the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Some of them sawn asunder. Some of them sewed up in bags. And cast out into the wilderness.

32:01 Others given up to the lions. Others given up to the power. What in the world would make a man do this? All he needs to do is take the edge off his witness and say, Well, Jesus Christ is the Savior.

32:12 But maybe not the only Savior. That's all he needs to do. Just take the edge off the exclusiveness of his faith. And confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

32:22 Why would men endure this? Why would fathers see their own wives and children butchered in their eyes? Only one reason. A joyful and confident expectation.

32:36 That which was to come. Knowing that that butchered child would stand with him in the resurrection. Knowing that that abused wife would stand with him in the resurrection. And beloved, we may need this more than we think.

32:50 Sitting here in the comfort and ease of this building this morning.

32:55 The day may come when a knock will be on your door. It will be your wife and your children or Jesus Christ. Which will it be?

33:02 If you and I haven't learned to feed upon the hope. The joyful and confident expectation. Of promised blessings. We'll deny him in the hour of trial.

33:13 As multitudes have always done. When the sword of persecution has been unleashed.

America's 'Fool's Paradise' and Lack of Hope

33:20 It's interesting in the early history of the church.

33:24 A cycle almost is formed. God would raise up emperors. Who dipped the sword in the blood of the saints. The church was vibrant and pure.

33:34 And grew with a virility as well as with numbers. And an emperor would come to the throne. Who would look upon Christianity with favor. And the church would stand.

33:43 Well, it's ranks numerically. But losing in power. 30, 40 years pass. And then God would raise up an emperor.

33:50 Who'd take out the sword again. And then the ranks suddenly dwindled down again. We've gone 300 years in a fool's paradise here in America.

34:01 Where it's been rather polite to even name the name of Christ.

34:06 That's why the world to come isn't too precious to us. That's why we can sing songs about heaven with dry eyes. That's why we can go weeks and months. And never read the last few chapters of the revelation.

34:18 Which speak of the glorious world to come for the saints. Come on, let's be honest. We don't think much about heaven, do we? Do we?

34:27 How much have you thought about heaven this past week? How much have you fed your mind upon those promised blessings that will be yours when the Lord comes back again? I tell you, if you and I were in a dungeon.

34:42 There'd be no comfort in those dank, dark walls. Maybe heaven might become a little more precious to us. Is God going to have to give us dungeons before we have that hope that should mark the Christian?

34:55 Maybe he will. I don't know. Maybe he will. But what delighted the heart of the Apostle Paul was this.

35:02 That these people had that hope as a living, active principle that gave birth to their endurance in the midst of hardship.

Cultivating Hope: Prayer for Understanding

35:11 Now, may I conclude the message with a word of direction this morning. You say, Pastor, I have to admit, I don't have that hope like they have it. I had to acknowledge that. I had to acknowledge that.

35:20 When you asked that question during this past week, have you thought of heaven? No, I haven't. I've been having such a good time here in spite of the heat. It's been kind of hard for me to think about heaven.

35:29 How can I have this hope that will give birth to endurance that these Thessalonians had? May I be very practical and suggest several things to you. First of all, by earnest prayer, ask God that he may give you eyes to understand, to see in the heart to understand that hope. That's what Paul did for the new Christians at Ephesus.

35:54 For he says in Ephesians 1, 17 and 18, For this cause, he said, I bow my knees unto the Father. Verse 17, I give thanks, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling. Paul says, I plead with God. That God, by his spirit, would bring you people at Ephesus to know experimentally the glorious hope of your calling.

36:33 If only you knew that to which God was calling you out there, you'd live so much better right here.

36:43 Sure, people say, ah, pie-in-the-sky religion. We're being brainwashed in evangelical circles. It hurts me and grieves me. Because the liberals have all cried out, the church must involve itself in social concerns.

36:56 We must be so... We must be socially minded.

36:59 The NAE and all the other groups now are sort of tooting the same little horn. We want to save souls, but we've got to have a social concern. Sure, we have a social concern. A man's heart filled with the love of Christ is concerned about the world that is now.

37:17 But he who lives best now is he who lives with the clearest vision and prospect of that which is to come out there. The whole preoccupation of modern theology is, Now! Now! Save society now! Clear up the ghettos now!

37:36 And as the man who's looked upon as a martyr to the cause of civil rights said, that young minister who was shot and that was a dastardly deed, and God will hold accountable the man who did it. He said, whether people have a soul that'll live in heaven or hell, I couldn't care less. I want to see people helped in the present hour. A man who talks like that's not a Christian.

38:02 Not a Christian. Biblical, true, vital, saving Christianity is vitally concerned with the world which is to come. And those who've served the present generation best have been those who've most lived in the world to come. I gave them the right sense of values to expose the sham, the folly of the now generation.

38:31 But it's only as we pray that God open our eyes, that we know what is the hope of our calling, that we should begin to understand. Will you pray this day that God may, by His Spirit, give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know the hope of your calling, that the truth of that to which He's called you may burn like fire within your breast. Secondly, not only must we pray, but by diligence searching out of our hope, God has given us something that even the people of Thessalonica didn't have. The Old Testament is pretty fuzzy.

Cultivating Hope: Diligent Search and Meditation

39:06 It's pretty fuzzy. Few beautiful, clear lights. Breaking through once in a while about the world to come and immortality. But the scripture says Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel.

39:20 Job saw a glimmer. I know that my Redeemer lives in the latter days. I'll be with Him. David said, I shall awake, or Asaph, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.

39:33 But for the most part, death and the world to come, it was foggy, it was misty. There wasn't that clear revelation of the hope of the believer. We have it now. Christ has brought it to light.

39:45 He said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go, I will come again. All those wonderful statements in the book of the Revelation. God Himself shall wipe away tears from their eyes.

39:55 He shall be with them. He shall be their God. What clearer light can God give? But how often do we feed our souls upon it?

40:02 Is it no wonder that we're so earthbound when we don't even diligently search out what is our hope? And so let us be. We've been so earthbound this day, the Lord's day, that's what Sunday's for. We've been so earthbound during the week, and much of it necessary.

40:18 Dishes are here on earth. Doing the 40 hours work to collect the paycheck, to buy the groceries, that's an earthly task, and a legitimate one. Now God gives us the Holy Sabbath. Why?

40:30 To get our vision refocused on the world to come. Let's take time today to pray that we'll understand our hope. Let's take time to diligently search out what is our hope. Let us engage in frequent meditation upon this hope.

40:44 Paul said, While we look, not on the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. He said, I fix the gaze of my soul upon the world to come. I meditate upon that which is to be my portion. It says of those worthies in Hebrews 11, They looked for a city which hath foundations.

41:03 The gaze of the soul was often and long upon the world to come. Oh, may I encourage you this day. To make this your spiritual exercise. Is there a word to you here this morning who are not savingly joined to Christ?

Application to Unbelievers: Without Hope

41:20 There is. For the scripture says in Ephesians 2, 12. All who are not joined to Jesus Christ are without hope. Oh, they have lots of wishful desires.

41:31 They say, well, I hope I'll make it. God says they're without hope in the biblical sense. You may say this morning. Well, I hope I'll make it.

41:41 I hope I'll make it. I hope. No, that's not biblical hope. You have no joyful and confident expectation that you'll be with him.

41:50 Unless by the grace of God, you've been awakened to see your lostness, to see that your only hope of mercy is Jesus Christ. You have fled in repentance and faith and laid hold of him as your only hope of access to a holy God. Then you can have a hope, not a hope based upon wishful thinking, but a confident expectation based upon the promises of the word of God. I'd hope we could get to the source and object of these virtues in our Lord Jesus Christ, the climate in which they're exercised in the sight of God and our Father.

Conclusion: Strengthening Patience by Enlarging Hope

42:26 That you'll have to wait for another message. But I ask you as we close this morning, do you demonstrate this virtue, the patience of hope? Are you weak in patience? I don't mean to get upset if you don't catch fish after the first hour.

42:43 Do you find it difficult to bear up under difficult circumstances where the pressure and the heat is on? Well, when you get weak in patience, it's because somehow we've grown weak in our hope. So the way you strengthen patience is not to come directly at patience and try to pump new strength into patience. You need to enlarge your hope.

43:07 For it was the patience that flowed out of hope. And as the strength of our hope is, so the measure of our patience will be. If Paul were writing a letter about you and about me, could he say, how I thank my God for your work of faith, for your labor of love and your patience of hope? May God grant that this virtue shall be wrought in us by the same Spirit who worked it in the hearts of these young believers at Thessalonica.

43:46 Let us pray.