Sermon Notes
January 19, 2025
“God’s Word Presents Hope”
Series, “Better Together in Hope”
Romans 15:4
John W. Montgomery, D.D.
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
This is part three and the last message in our series, “Better Together in Hope.” We have already established two things that bring hope.
First, persistent prayer produces hope. Jesus told us “don’t quit praying!”
Second, staying closely connected to the Christian community helps us remain hopeful.
Those first two principles remind us that our relationship to God and our relationship to one another must be cultivated in order to remain hopeful. You can’t fudge on your prayer life, nor can you give up on getting together with other Christ followers and stay filled up on hope.
The tug of war goes on in these two areas because they are so vital to our hope. Satan will do anything he can to keep me away from God and other Christians. He wants me hopeless. He wants you to give up. With all the challenges to my hope every day, I must have a constant supply of hope.
The third source of hope is the the Word of God - the Scriptures. Consider what Paul said to the Christ followers of Rome during the first century.
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
I often ask you to circle or underline a key word or phrase of a Bible verse. In this case circle or underline the entire verse! That’s what we’re going to cover today: “The Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope.”
Surveys indicate that 43% of all U.S. adults do NOT read the Bible during a typical week. (Church Leaders Intelligence Report, 6.13.07) It’s sad because this means that one of our greatest sources of hope is neglected by a lot of people.
“The Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope.”
That’s a powerful statement. I can have hope, real hope. I can be encouraged about my life no matter what is going on around me. I can enjoy a positive, productive, happy life if I have hope, and one great source of hope is the Word of God! But if I don’t frequent the pages of the Bible I am not plugged-in to that source of hope.
One man went to a bookbinder to have his well-worn New Testament rebound in leather. He loved it so much and he was so accustomed to reading this particular New Testament and he had so many notes written in the margins that he just couldn’t stand the thought of giving it up for a new one. So he had it rebound.
When the job was finished, the binder explained that he was not able to get all the letters to the words “The New Testament” on the spine, so he abbreviated with the letters, “TNT.” How appropriate!
God’s Word is a powerful source of hope! My relationship to God’s Word determines my level of hope in life. As my hope is challenged every day, all day long, I have at my disposal a powerful resource for replenishing my hope – the Bible – the Word of God!
So the only question for me is how can I effectively make the Bible a part of my daily life so that I will always have the hope it gives me? With that question in mind we’re going to quickly cover - Three Steps to Finding Hope in God’s Word.
1. Step One - Check your Attitude about the Bible.
There are a lot of biases about the Christian Scriptures that are founded on ignorance and misunderstanding. A lot of so-called experts on critical analysis of the Bible talk about the Word of God as if they understood it.
One off-the-wall example: Thomas Cahill in his book, “Gifts of the Jews,” makes fun of those of us who still believe that God inspired the Bible. (Page 245) He rejects the stories in the Bible that don’t reflect his concept of God.
When people approach the Word of God with faulty biases it hinders them from ever seeing what food from heaven it really is! Their pre-conceived ideas keep them from enjoying such tremendous hope from God.
But that’s not the saddest fact about people not being blessed by the Word of God because of their wrong attitudes! The troubling thing is how many of God’s people have biases against the Word of God!
Biases like, The Bible is good on Sunday but I don’t need it the rest of the week.” Or “The Bible is useful for finding out how to get to heaven but it won’t help me learn how to be a better parent. It can’t help me on the job or in my finances.” Not true! The Scriptures provide hope for every area of my life!”
Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and they study it day and night. They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.
Notice, the phrase “they study it day and night.” That represents a proper attitude about the soul food that is found in the Bible.
This doesn’t mean you have to cloister yourself away in some monastery and take a semi-vow of silence while you chant or sing hymns in Latin. That’s another attitude about the Bible that needs adjusting. Don’t be so afraid of something that’s so wonderful. This scripture is simply pointing out that God’s blessings will come to your life if the Bible, God’s Word, is a constant source for your way of thinking.
It’s a natural cause and effect formula. If you feed on the foolishness of the anti-God contingent as this Psalm suggests in verse one, your life will follow what you feed your mind and heart on.
If you get all your financial advice from Wall Street and pay no attention to the Word of God you won’t have hope. You may have a lot of “stuff” but you won’t have hope without the Word of God.
If you feed on pornographic web sites you might enjoy "the pleasures of sin for a season," but your life won’t be filled with hope. It will be filled with lust and exploitation of other human beings. Your life will be focused on using people instead of loving them. There’s no hope in that.
If you follow the lifestyles of America’s entertainment industry you might have glamour and glitz but you won’t have hope. Hope comes from God. And God communicates to us through His Word.
But if you spend time in the Word of God every day as verse 3 suggests, then you will be “like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up.” You will, “succeed in everything you do.”
One preacher stood on the street corner proclaiming the Good News about Jesus to anyone who would listen. A man approached him that looked like he had been homeless forever. “Can I help you?” asked the preacher. “I think you can,” said the vagrant. “Would you like me to tell you about Jesus?” “No.” “Would you like for me to pray for you?” “No.” “Well if you don’t want me to tell you about Jesus and you don’t want me to pray with you then how is it that I can help you?”
“You can give me your Bible.” “Why would you want my Bible if you have no interest in knowing about Jesus?” “I noticed that the pages of your Bible are very thin. I can use paper to roll cigarettes.”
Instead of being offended, a sudden burst of wisdom entered the preacher’s mind. “I’ll give you the Bible on one condition. I want you to agree to read a page of the Bible before you smoke it.” The vagrant agreed, took his new Bible, and left.
The preacher thought he had seen the last of him but he wasn’t worried about the Bible because he knew he could get a new one. And if the man didn’t read the pages before he rolled them into cigarettes at least the preacher knew he tried.
Several months passed and the preacher was once again on the street corner proclaiming the Good News about Jesus. A man came up to him neatly and nicely dressed and said, “You don’t remember me do you?” “No, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you before.” “I’m the man you gave a Bible to four months ago on this very street corner.”
The preacher couldn’t believe his eyes and ears. “What happened? Tell me what happened?” “Well, I smoked Matthew, and then I smoked Mark, and then I smoked Luke – and then John smoked me!”
People say, “they don’t have time for the Bible every day.” That’s another attitude you need to check. You may not actually say that aloud, but if you neglect reading from God’s Word every day you are going hungry spiritually just like you would be hungry physically if you didn’t eat food every day.
Even if you dedicated five or ten minutes to studying the Word of God every morning and every evening it would radically change your life. We will spend our last dime and last minute on the latest resource on success and bypass the one thing that has a proven track record. We’ll devote hours to our favorite TV shows, our hobbies, our recreation, and then we can’t find time to let God talk to us.
” Jesus said., “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.” John 14:26
Every Christ follower has a teacher living inside of him or her! The Holy Spirit is there to help you understand God’s Word. If you have made a faith commitment to Jesus, asking Him to be your Savior then you have the Holy Spirit. With patience and consistent study the Bible will become increasingly meaningful to you as the Holy Spirit guides you from the inside out!
The first step in taking advantage of the hope found in God’s Word is to check my attitude.
2. Step Two - Use the Bible.
After you have made sure you have the right attitude about the Bible then use it! Get in the habit every day of asking yourself, “What does God’s Word say about this?” If you have a question about a certain situation – use the Bible. If you need help parenting – use the Bible. If you need wisdom in dating – use the Bible. If you need encouragement – use the Bible.
Here is the reason for this step. 2 Timothy 3:17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful (circle “is useful”) to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses (circle “uses) it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
Scripture is useful! God uses it! He uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
The Bible is the world’s most practical book and it is such a shame that a lot of people only see it as a book of musty theology. Put it to use in your relationships, use it in your job, use it in your business dealings, and in your recreation. There shouldn’t be an area of your life outside the influence of God’s Word.
Find out how the Bible applies to your problems, to your questions, to your decisions, to your needs. Then use it!
If the Bible doesn’t directly come out and address the issue you’re concerned about then study the principles of the Bible and find the ones that apply to your situation. The principles of God’s Word are tremendously useful.
Take the two biggest principles of behavior in the Bible. An expert in religious law came to Jesus one day in Matthew 22:36-40, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Take a lot of issues in which you need direction in your life and those two principles will go a long way!
But the Bible is filled with many more useful principles. I need to learn them and then use them. As I do my life overflows with hope! I have confidence that I am living God’s way and that He is going to bless my life!
Here’s the next step for laying claim to the hope in God’s Word. After I’ve checked my attitude about the Scriptures and then decided to use them in my daily life I follow this step.
3. Step Three - Hide the Bible in your Heart.
Of course I don’t mean by that “put it in a secret place.” Here’s a well-known verse of Scripture that explains what I am talking about. The Psalmist said: “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalms 119:11 (NLT)
Hide the Bible in your heart. Why is that important? It’s important because sin is the thing that messes me up when it comes to God’s blessings. Sure, God is gracious and merciful and He blesses me even though I don’t deserve it - but He can bless me even more when I am more faithful to His instructions.
The reason hiding the Bible in my heart is important is because it helps me overcome my sinful urges. “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
But we are talking about more than just Scripture memorization here. Hiding God’s Word is more than just memorizing it. Sure we ought to memorize Scripture. But to hide it, especially in my heart, means that I give it a place of highest esteem.
When I say something or someone is "in my heart" or "on my heart" I’m expressing a very intimate and sentimental attachment to it. That’s how I need to feel about the Word of God. It’s not just that I am getting into the Bible – it’s that the Bible is getting into me.
Hiding God’s Word in my heart is a pre-emptive strike against sin. Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. Hiding the written Word of God in my heart begins by hiding the Living Word of God in my heart. Jesus is the Living Word of God.
I need to not only hide the written Word of God in my heart. I need to hide the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, in my heart by making a faith commitment to Him as my Lord and Savior.
Message Preached at
Cedar Creek Baptist Church
Jacksonville, Florida 32205
January 19, 2025