Hope is a funny thing. We all want it, but somehow the more we want it or need it we can’t find it. The Bible speaks much about hope. As believers we have in our possession the hope of eternity based on the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ. True hope is a confident expectation. Biblical hope has a faithful affirmation, joyful anticipation, and peaceful assurance. Hope is made up of love, joy, peace, and faith that is “of Him, through Him, and to Him” (Rom. 11:36). Our hope in Christ is in the invitation and reservation that the gospel has given to us by grace to enter into the joy of eternity to enjoy the glory of God. When we see hope through the Bible we understand that this is something that we have received by grace through faith, but by faith our hope (confident expectation) must be exercised. The hope that we have in Christ is eternal, but the circumstances of life, whether sin or suffering often steal our hope, thus stealing our joy and peace. How can we have and keep hope? The hopeful Christian is only hopeful by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is His power not ours. Ps 62 says, “Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. 2 He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. 3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. 4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. 5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. 7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. 9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. 10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. 11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. 12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.” Do you notice the psalmist’s hopeful expectation and affirmation that all power belongs to God alone? For the believer, the only way that we can live as a hopeful Christian is by His power. Man has no real ability on his or her own. It is bestowed and borrowed by God while still being limited by our human capabilities. God is all powerful for He has all power. He alone has authority and ability to actively bring about His eternal purposes.
Our passage today is just one verse. Rom. 15:13 says, “13 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.” This is Paul’s summary prayer that covers both the systematic and practical theology of the gospel, grace, and glory of Christ presented in his letter to the Romans. The power to live the practical application of the gospel is by the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer. We have seen the themes of this verse presented throughout the book of Romans, but here in particular, we see that our joy, peace, hope, and faith is by the power of the indwelling Holy Ghost. These things are after all seen in the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22-26 and also in the previous passage of Rom. 14:17. In the previous section, Paul has been dealing with the practical work of the gospel, grace, and glory of Christ in our life, liberty and unity. For all things in the practical life of the believer such as our holiness, harmony, and hope, it is only experienced and exercised by the Spirit’s power (authority, ability, activity) in our life. The “God of hope” has saved us, secured us, is sanctifying us, and sustains us by His power and performance. He is the “God of hope” who gives us a confident expectation that we can in fact live as a hopeful Christian in this world while we watch and wait for the eternal promises in Christ. Today, we will study this verse to see the God of hope, the gift of hope, the growth of hope, and the goal of hope.
First, let’s look at the God of hope. The verse begins with “now” signifying that the prayer request is coming while also reminding the reader of the summary of the theological transformative truths that have been previously given. In many respects, this verse could sum up the whole book of Romans in a similar way that Rom. 1:16-17 could. There are two things to note in this phrase, “the God of hope.” One, God is the origin of hope. Remember, hope is a confident expectation. It is God’s word and work that give us the hope that His good and perfect will is being and will be accomplished in Christ. Two, God is the object of our hope. You can put hope (confident expectation) in a lot of things. Everyone is hopeful at some point during their day. What you put your hope in matters more than how big your hope is. Hope is founded and fixed in Him. To put your hope in any other object (take your pick) is to put your confident expectation in an idol. To trust in anything but God is idolatry. But notice, because He is the origin and object of our hope, when we look to Him in faith, hopelessness can’t win the day. I feel hopeless when I try to muster it up in my own abilities or my expectations of another and I fail me, or another fails me. He doesn’t fail me. He can’t. He won’t. You and I can’t be hopeless when we are looking to Him. To look at Christ is to look at hope incarnate. C.H. Spurgeon put it this way, “Do not look to your hope, but to Christ, the source of your hope.” Biblical hope grazes upon His Word and gazes upon Him in wonder. All of the Christian life is as we have repeated until the cows come home (I hear them mooing in the distance) is “of Him, through Him, and to Him.” Therefore, the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ is the origin, operation, and object of my hope. We see this as well in Rom. 15:4 and 2 Thess. 2:13-17.
Second, let’s look at the gift of hope. The following phrase of Rom. 15:13 says, “the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.” Everything in our daily practical life as believers is a gift of His grace. Notice that it is God who does the filling with joy and peace, yes through the instrument of faith (“in believing”); however, hope is a gift that was purchased by the blood of Christ. It has been promised and provided in the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ. His incomparable work that we saw in the previous verses is what gives us the blessed hope in Him. The word “fill” is the word “pleroo” which means to fill to the brim. This word was used for a filled net with fish in Mt. 13:48, smell of ointment filling a house in John 12, and of supplying all needs in Phil. 4:19. This same word is also used in Eph. 5:18 which says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” The idea of the word is to make complete in every part, to pervade, or take possession or control. God’s gift of hope through joy and peace ought to control how we live our lives. The word “joy” is the word “chara” from “chairo” (rejoicing). The word is used to describe a sense of well-being not dependent upon circumstances. Paul knew suffering, but he also knew true joy through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy gives the enablement to endure any circumstances with a grateful heart that seeks to glorify Christ. The joy of the Lord is the strength of the believer (Neh. 8:10). We are not always filled with happiness, but we can have the joy as we fix our eyes on Christ. Then, we see the gift of hope involves the gift of peace. The word “peace” is the word “eirene” which means to bind what has been broken or divided. The gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15) has brought us peace with God and one another. Now that we have peace with God we can enjoy or even be filled to the brim with the peace of God. Phil. 4:4-7 says, “4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Any sense of joy and peace that is rooted in anyone or anything but Jesus Christ will not last. Hope is a gift of grace to enable us to enjoy God’s glory, both now and eternally in Christ. Don’t waste the gifts of joy and peace that make up our hope. God has given you what you need to live as a hopeful Christian, but remember that your hope, joy, and peace is in Him. Joy and peace are not performance issues, they are perspective issues.
Third, let’s look at the growth of hope in the phrase “in believing.” This phrase is the word “pisteuo” which comes from “pistis” which means faith. Here, it is in a present tense verb meaning that believing should be constant and consistent. It is active, not passive. Essentially, the idea is to consider something true and trustworthy. Notice how we can’t separate faith and hope? The two are conjoined twins. You can’t have hope without faith, but to have faith will lead to hope. We are told at the beginning of Paul’s letter that “the just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). Faith has to look to something. True biblical faith looks at, to, on, up, and out to Christ for everything. The Christian life is one of faith from start to finish. When we see Christ, our faith will be made sight, but until then we must walk “in believing” Him at all times and through all trials. The believer’s joy, peace, and hope in this life are dependent upon faith. Whenever there is an issue with joy, peace, and hope it is linked to an issue of faith. Many Christians read their Bible and pray each day, yet they are without joy, peace, or hope. Why? Because they do those things without faith. Rom. 14:23 told us that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Therefore, when I don’t feel joy, peace, or hope it is because my faith is in my fleshly feelings or in something outside of Christ alone to fulfill my needs and satisfy my longings. Faith receives the power and promises of God. There will be no filling of joy and peace without faith. No faith, no filling. Faith unlocks the door to fellowship with Christ and one another. As Christ comes in to fellowship with us in faith He brings to the table His infinite joy, peace, and hope that He has provided by His own worthiness and work. Where there is no surrender to God’s word, work, and will by faith, then there will be no strength to endure the things of life. The hopeful Christian is hopeful because he is faithful. When joy, peace, and hope seem to be absent, ask yourself where your faith is and what it is in. Ask yourself if you are living by faith or your own strength?
Fourth, let’s look at the goal of hope in the remaining part of the verse which says, “that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” The phrase “we may” means that not only is it possible, but it should be the normal Christian experience. Unhopeful Christians have no hope to share with unbelievers and unbelievers will never ask about the hope of the gospel as long as we choose to live faithlessly. The word “abounding” is the word “perisseuo” which means to superabound, exceed in measure, or to overflow. The word was often pictured of a steam or river that ran up and over the banks. To abound means to have all that you need and more as seen in 2 Cor. 9:8 which says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” Whatever fills you flows up and out of you. If we are filled with the joy, peace, and hope that Christ provides by grace through faith then we should be overflowing with hope for the sake of the gospel and glory of Christ. We can only abound in hope by abiding by faith in Him. True abiding in Christ is by faith trusting that He abides and abounds in you by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This was Jesus’ final message to His disciples in John 13-17. Furthermore, this verse makes clear that we can only abound with hope by the power (authority, ability, and activity) of the Holy Spirit. For the sake of clarity, the word “hope” is the word “elpis” which is a present confidence of a coming realization or expectation. It is not wishful thinking, but it is Biblical thinking. Hope is the full assurance and confidence in the promises and provision of God in Christ. We see this in Heb 6:11 and 1 Tim. 1:1; or as Paul puts it in 2 Tim. 1:12, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Then, the word “power” is the word “dunamis” which means inherent power to perform. Notice, you don’t have the power to perform, but Christ does. The indwelling Holy Spirit gives us enlightenment and enablement through the Word of God. It is His authority, ability, and activity for, in, and through me as I yield to Him in faith. The power to abound in hope comes from Him!
Joy, peace, faith, and hope are in Christ alone. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can live as a hopeful and hope filled believer. Rom. 5:1-5 puts all of these things together as it says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” In John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and Hopeful have made it to their journey’s end, but they must now cross the river of death to enter into the Celestial City where the King awaits them. Others had entered the river gladly as they crossed the other side, but as Christian begins to feel the icy waters of death, he begins to worry about past sins, being trapped, etc. Hopeful begins to remind him of the truth. “Hopeful added this word, “Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole “; and with that CHRISTIAN brake out with a loud voice, “Oh, I see him again! and he tells me, ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee’“. Dear believer, do you see Christ? Will you now in faith see Him again and seize the joy, peace, and hope that awaits you? The gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ is all that you need today, and everyday to be a hopeful Christian.
Grow With Pastor Joe 
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