Hope

 2 Corinthians 3:12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

I have to admit something.

I never really noticed 2 Corinthians 3:12 like I have been noticing it lately.

2 Corinthians 3:12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

Hope is defined as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had, that events will turn out for the best.”

The problem with hope is that it is such a common word.

We hear of a tragedy or accident and we hope they are ok.

We hope we did well on a test.

We hope we find a job.

We hope we can do something that we find difficult to do.

We hope our candidate wins the election.

This type of “hope” is equal to what most of us mean when we say that we will “pray” for someone.

We may think it, and we may even say it, but we don’t always do it, because we don’t always mean it, because we don’t really believe that what we do will really make a difference.

Hope has become the Christian word for karma or political correctness or false compassion. Hope is almost a gamble, a toss of the dice.

Why was having “hope” so important to Paul and the apostles?

Look at the following verse again.

2 Corinthians 3:12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

First of all, hope is something you have, meaning something you “possess”.

This is confusing right off the bat because we think that we can’t hold hope in our hands.

We think we can’t hand hope over to the person next to us.

We think we can’t send hope by UPS and we can’t email hope over the internet.

We think that since hope is not physical in nature that that makes hope non transferable.

But isn’t hope an expectation in or of something?

Some of us hope good and some of us hope evil.

Think about it.

“I hope they get what they deserve.”

Ever think or say that? You know you have.

Possibly you are hoping a good person is rewarded in some way, but most often what you are hoping is for a person to get caught and punished for a wrong they have done.

Paul speaks of hope as something that we have so strongly within us that not only do we speak of it, but we speak of what we have hope in, with boldness.

Boldness is confidence.

Since when have you equated hope with confidence? Hope represents something that we think is beyond our control, but Paul says hope and boldness go hand in hand.

Remember, hope is “the feeling that what is wanted can be had, that events will turn out for the best.”

Boldness is also confidence. Confidence is belief in ones powers and abilities, full trust. This is not hope in our power or ability, but hope in Gods power and Gods ability. Hope is fully trusting in God.

Now, take notice that the dictionary calls hope a “feeling” and confidence a “belief”.

Think about this for a moment.

 I “feel” I “believe”.

Do you live your life with this type of hope and confidence?

What is this hope that results in boldness that Paul is speaking about?

Take a look at verses 5 and 6 from the same chapter.

5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Adequate, now there is a word that we all struggle with and wish we felt more strongly about.

Adequate means sufficient to satisfy a requirement or meet a need.

If a believer has a problem, here it is.

Christianity can be broken down into two basic forms.

YOU are either a forgiven believer with a future,

OR

YOU are a forgiven believer with a past.

The question is, where is the believer to live?

To “live” implies that you are alive.

Alive means “having the quality of life”.

What does “quality of life” mean to you?

Well, where do you live?

In the flesh, or in the Spirit?

When Jesus say’s I forgive you, go and sin no more, what is He actually saying?

Is Jesus saying He wants you to obsess about your fleshly human past so you won’t repeat it?

Where’s the hope in that?

Is Jesus saying that you need to have a watchdog mentality so that you notice the same sins in others?

Where’s the hope in that?

Is Jesus saying improve your memory skills by examining every single wrong thing you have done in your entire life?

Where’s the hope in that?

Let me tell you what Jesus is saying…

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Hope follows after forgiveness,

forgiveness follows after love,

and real true love only comes from God.

God is Love that brings Forgiveness which gives us Hope.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

19 We love, because He first loved us.

Why did Jesus come in the flesh?

Love and Redemption.

Love is who God is.

Redemption is what Jesus does.

To be redeemed is to be bought back.

God loves you so Jesus bought you.

Do you believe that, God loves you with a perfect love?

Do you believe that, Jesus bought you completely?

This is the core belief that the devil desires to steal from you.

If you don’t possess this truth, you can not live in this truth and as a result, you can not share this truth.

Do you believe in Gods complete perfect love?

What sin is holding you back?

What event in your past has still has control over you?

What label have you taken upon yourself that has branded you unworthy?

What lies have you embraced?

I mean, the problem does lie with you right?

God can and does forgive, right?

Jesus did redeem you, right?

You do trust Him, right?

Forgive, redeem and trust.

Your part is the trust, Gods part is the redeeming and forgiving, and you are doing your part, right?

Let’s go back, not to mankind’s past,

but to mankind’s beginning…

What did God tell Adam and Eve to do when He placed them in the Garden of Eden?

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

God gave mankind His blessing and then God told them to be…

To be what?

Fruitful, Multiply, Fill, Subdue, Rule.

To “be” means to occupy a place or position.

Then the serpent comes along, tells them a lie that they choose to believe and the result is that they stop “be-ing”,

and it’s a hard life for everyone after that.

Christian, the devil is a liar and a thief and he wants to steal your reason for “be-ing”.

This is not hard to believe.

Just look at the world around you.

The devils work in mankind is everywhere.

It takes no faith to believe that.

And then there is Jesus,

the pivotal point in everyone’s life,

the fulcrum of everyone’s existence.

A fulcrum is the support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns in moving a body.

Vision a teeter totter.

The fulcrum is the center part that makes an up and down movement practically effortless.

So, which side are you on?

Are you easily down?

Depressed?

Defeated?

Feeling used and abused?

Worthless?

Can’t ever get it right?

Do the cares and the worries of the world hang over you like a dark cloud?

Or are you on the upside?

Knowing that you are loved by God?

Knowing that you are bought with a price?

Knowing that you are redeemed by Jesus and not by your righteous life and your good works?

Holy?

Blameless?

Does God find no fault with you because you know and love and have put your trust and faith and hope in Jesus?

Is your salvation a free gift from God?

Is God your loving Father?

Are you free from the penalty of your sins?

Are you smiling yet?

You should be, and it should be your desire for others to be smiling and rejoicing with the knowledge that God is good.

That my friends, is what hope is all about!

Lets look at 2 Corinthians 3:12 this way,

Therefore (since we know this)

having (possessing, owning, being entitled to)

such a hope, (the feeling that what is wanted can be had, that events will turn out for the best.)

we use great boldness (confidence, full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing, belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence)

 in our speech, (freedom in speaking, unreserved in speech,  free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance.)

Peter was a man who at one time in his walk with the Lord had lost hope. All of the boldness he demonstrated for the past 3 and ½ years just flew out the window in his time of great testing. As a result, with cursing and swearing, Peter denied Jesus. The very one he vowed to never desert nor abandon. The very one whom he vowed to die with.

Do you have broken promises before God?

Failures of faith?

Hopes that once caused you to speak of His great love with boldness?

Peter had his hope restored by a life changing encounter with Jesus.

In short, it went like this.

Jesus said to Peter…

Peter, do you love me?

Peter, do you love me?

Peter, do you love me?

And Peter replied, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.

When Peter came to the place of having no hope, no boldness, no confidence in himself, he found himself willingly handing over to Jesus the only real thing that he had to offer… his life.

No promises, just a life.

No bold statements, just a life.

And Jesus restored him.

Where are you in your walk with Jesus?

Is it time for a heart to heart talk?

Do you have faith, but find yourself needing your hope restored?

Let’s let Peter share with us some hard learned, life changing advice that he defiantly learned the hard way…

1 Peter 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Take note that it is God Himself who will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Now that should give you great boldness of speech…