The Glories and Distinctives of Christian Hope (Part 1)

Date: 16th November 2025

Texts: Romans 15:1-13; Ephesians 4:1-7

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The Glories and Distinctives of Christian Hope (Pt 1)

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The Glories and Distinctives of Christian Hope

What Hope Is There in the World?

When we look around today, it’s easy to wonder if there is real hope to be found. Is it in government? In social change? In the next generation? Much of what the world calls hope is thin, uncertain, or disappointingly shallow. At times it feels as though the only that is certain is death. Is there anything truly worth looking forward to?

The Holy Bible says yes – and Christian hope is glorious. The Bible offers a hope that is solid, glorious and anchored in reality.

Christian hope is not flimsy or sentimental. It rests on a firm foundation. It is a treasure cherished by those who know God. It can put steel in your spine, comfort like fire in the winter and be as cement that strengthens the unity of the church. It fuels love, sacrifice, maturity, and endurance. It will last until the moment believers see the New Heavens and the New Earth – when even the greatest expectations of hope will be surpassed.

Definition of Christian hope: it is the confident expectation of the believer for the inheritance Christ has won.

Let us consider two foundational parts of Christian hope.

1. The Object of Christian Hope

Every believer must have something real to hope for. According to Ephesians 4:4-6, there is “one hope” belonging to our calling. This one hope is the great inheritance secured by Jesus Christ. Sometimes, we use the word hope in this way. For instance, when we say “my hope is…” we refer to the thing hoped for. For Christians what is hoped for is eternal joy, eternal peace, eternal communion with God and eternal righteousness. Quite some hope!

More broadly, we hope in all of God’s promises: that He will build His church, keep His people, hear their prayers, and never forsake them, etc. But above all these stands the greatest hope – everlasting life in the presence of God. What the world offers cannot compare. Its hopes are shallow, groundless, or temporary. God, however, promises an eternal life of joy in knowing him and his Son, Jesus Christ.

Why exchange that glory for the hollow offerings of the world? Our hope is an eternity with God Himself.

2. The Basis of Christian Hope

Someone might ask, “But how do you know this isn’t just another empty hope?” Scripture answers: our hope is grounded in Christ. More specifically, today, let us consider how in Jesus Christ God showed his faithfulness. In the coming and life and death of Jesus, God proved that he keeps his promises.

Romans 15 tells us that Christ became a servant to show God’s truthfulness and to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs. God promised a Messiah – and Jesus fulfils those promises in detail. Because God has kept His word in the past, we can trust Him for the future.

Consider only a few of the many prophesies of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus Christ:

• Prophecy: He would be the serpent-crusher (Genesis 3:15); Fulfilment: He crushes the head of the serpent on the cross, as he declares he shall do in John 12:31.

• Prophecy: He would be the ruler born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); Fulfilment: Indeed he was (John 2:4-7)

• Prophecy: He would be the descendant of Abraham and David (Genesis 17, Jeremiah 23, Ezekiel 37);

Fulfilment: He was born of their line and lineage (Matthew 1)

• Prophecy: There are prophestic allusions in Zechariah of the forsaken shepherd (Zechariah 13:7), valued at thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12), which pieces of silver would be cast on the Temple floor (Zechariah 11:13);

Fulfilment: All of which is true of Jesus, (Mark 15:50, Matthew 26:15, Matthew 27:3-5).

• Prophecy: He would be the suffering servant – silent, beaten, pierced (Isaiah 53);

Fulfilment: fulfilled in Matthew 26:63 and 27:24-56

Most astonishing of all is that God sent His only begotten Son to take on flesh and die. If God fulfilled these promises – through the shame, suffering, and crucifixion of His own Son – will He not also fulfil His promise to his people that he will bring them safely to glory (Philippians 1:6, Colossians 3:4)?

God’s track record is flawless. His promises never fail. And He promises His people a glorious, eternal inheritance.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him (Romans 15:13).