The Christian is someone who has a living hope. But what does that really mean? It’s more than wishful thinking or vague optimism—it’s a confident expectation grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This address explores the power, assurance, and daily impact of this living hope, because the Lord Jesus lives.
Bible Scriptures: Darby Translation
1 Peter 1:3-4 “3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through [the] resurrection of Jesus Christ from among [the] dead,
4 to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in [the] heavens for you,5 who are kept guarded by [the] power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in [the] last time.”
1 John 3:1-3 “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called [the] children of God. For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.3 And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as *he* is pure.”
John 14:1-4 “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me.
2 In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place;3 and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be.4 And ye know where I go, and ye know the way.”
Song of Songs 7:10-13 “10 I am my beloved’s, And his desire is toward me.11 —Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the fields; Let us lodge in the villages.
12 We will go up early to the vineyards, We will see if the vine hath budded, [If] the blossom is opening, And the pomegranates are in bloom: There will I give thee my loves.13 The mandrakes yield fragrance; And at our gates are all choice fruits, new and old: I have laid them up for thee, my beloved.”
1 Peter 1:6-8 “6 Wherein ye exult, for a little while at present, if needed, put to grief by various trials,7 that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes, though it be proved by fire, be found to praise and glory and honour in [the] revelation of Jesus Christ:8 whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom [though] not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with [the] glory,
9 receiving the end of your faith, [the] salvation of [your] souls.”
Jude 24-25 “24 But to him that is able to keep you without stumbling, and to set [you] with exultation blameless before his glory,
25 to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, might, and authority, from before the whole age, and now, and to all the ages. Amen.”