THAT WE MIGHT HAVE HOPE

From the apostle Paul, the architect of the message of grace to the New Testament church, comes a powerful word of instruction on how we become people of hope.

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4, ESV).

Paul is not a stranger to writing and teaching on hope; I counted at least 46 times he used the word hope in his writings. In the original language the word hope means, “A confident expectation based on the certainty of God’s Word, His promises.”

Hope is never inferior to faith but is an extension of faith. Faith is the present possession of grace; hope is the confidence in grace’s future accomplishments. In other words, when we use the word hope we are saying, “As God has worked in my life in the past, I know He will work in the future.”

If there has ever been a moment in my lifetime when I have felt the need for an infusion of hope, it is now. It seems like everywhere we turn we see an increasing level of chaos and lawlessness. In the past two weeks at least eight police officers have been killed in the U.S. The stock market is in deep trouble. Europe is being overwhelmed by illegals arriving from the Middle East and North Africa. And America’s political arena can only be described as a circus. As Paul said, “In the last days there will come times of difficulty (troublesome/fierce)” (2 Timothy 3:1).

A few months ago I was reading a book by one of the leaders of the current over-emphasized grace message and I was stunned at one of the statements he made. The writer said that we should not give attention to anything said or taught by Jesus prior to the resurrection, because all of that was “law” and everything afterward was “grace.” The unspoken part of his message was, “Don’t bother with the Old Testament because that’s all law.” I really don’t know how to respond nicely to such a foolish and misleading statement.

The assertions of some of the current “grace teachers” are not only insulting to Scripture, but are also insulting to the life and ministry of Jesus and to the apostle Paul. Both Jesus and Paul referred frequently to the importance of the Old Testament for New Testament believers. Consider what Paul said about the Old Testament: “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NLT).

I was brought up in what would be considered today a “hyper-grace” church. I love the beauty of the message of grace but for me to be the person God called me to be, it must be coupled with a message of personal responsibility. Maybe it’s just for me, but this is the message of balance that keeps me on the pathway to being mature in Him.

Making those statements takes me back to Romans 15:4 and Paul’s message to the church about the involvement of God’s Word in bringing us to the deeply needed message of hope.

Let’s look for just a moment at what Paul is teaching us in Romans 15:4.

1.      “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.”

Paul is referring here to what we know as the Old Testament. At the time when Paul was writing the letter to Rome, what we know as the New Testament had not yet come into being. Many of the letters to the churches and the Gospels had not yet been written.

Paul was validating the value of reading and studying the whole Bible. Those who do not read the Old Testament are missing large segments of the instruction/teaching God has designed for us and they do so to their own detriment.

2.      “That through endurance.”

One of the key messages of the Old Testament is the endurance/patience that we observe in the life of the great men God uses. Over and over we are exposed to the patience of men such as Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Joshua and David as God prepared them to be His vessels of honor.

Today we live in an impatient world whose impatient and demanding systems have crept into the church. One of the reasons the church in America is in decline is because we have not learned to “wait on the Lord.”

Endurance is steadfastness in the face of adversity. “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

3.      “And through the encouragement of the scriptures.”

Encouragement in the Greek is paraklesis, meaning “comfort.” All Scripture is relevant because it flows from the heart of an eternal God who, through the power of Holy Spirit-infused Scripture, understands and speaks to our deepest needs. Through His Word, God brings to us the comfort and power of the Holy Spirit.

4.      We might have hope.

It is through the instruction, the patience and the comfort of Scripture that we are enabled to live with the confident expectation that as God has worked in my life in the past, so He will again. As He has done the impossible, so He will again. As He has shown Himself faithful, so He will again!

“That we might have hope!”