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Colin Smith: There are some wonderful things that will happen in our lives as we grow in hope. I've called this "Hope's Surprising Outcomes" because really the range of what comes out of growing in hope is quite spectacular.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're with us today. Colin, I know that there's so much more that we're going to get into in today's message. But as you look at some of the surprising outcomes that come from hope, was there one that surprised you the most?

Colin Smith: Probably the first one that we're going to look at today: that as we grow in hope, we will become a better witness. That wouldn't be the first thing that comes to my mind, but it's very clear in what the Apostle Peter says—that it's giving a reason for the hope that is in you that we're to do with gentleness and respect. That's how we point to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're not going to be effective witnesses if we're not people of hope. The danger is for Christian believers to become so discouraged by the state of the world that we become people marked by despair, whereas actually what we're called to is to be people who are so confident in the ultimate triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ that we're different from the gloom and doom that is around us on all sides. We've got our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and the living hope that he brings, and there's something compelling and wonderfully attractive about that. Steve, that's just the first of the surprising outcomes, and we're going to look today and next time at another three as well.

Steve Hiller: Let's begin our look together as we're in Romans chapter 8, starting at verse 18, and a message called "Hope's Surprising Outcomes." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Over these last weeks, we've been asking the question: How can I grow in hope? We've identified 10 distinct strategies from the Scriptures. From David, we learned that hope comes from God. We saw from his example that if we're to grow in hope, we must speak honestly to God, we must challenge ourselves especially in relation to our darkest thoughts, we must affirm what we know to be true, and we must wait expectantly on God.

Then we learned from the Apostle Paul that hope comes not only from God, but it comes through the Lord Jesus Christ—Christ in you, the hope of glory. We saw there that to grow in hope, we need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to enjoy what he has already given, and we need to anticipate what he has promised for the future.

Last week, we saw that hope comes by grace. We saw that if we would grow in hope, we must think often about the love of God, we must stop counting the good that we have done, and we must receive what God gives by faith.

Today, I want us to see the outcome of growing in hope. What happens if we pursue these strategies? There are some wonderful things that will happen in our lives as we grow in hope. I've called this "Hope's Surprising Outcomes" because the range of what comes out of growing in hope is quite spectacular.

We're going to look today at four distinct blessings that we will enjoy in increasing measure as we grow in hope. Grow in hope, and you will be a better witness. Grow in hope, and you will lead a purer life. Grow in hope, and you will enjoy a deeper comfort. Grow in hope, and you will experience greater strength. We're going to look at these four things from four distinct passages of Scripture, starting in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 15.

Grow in hope, and you will be a better witness. Look at what Peter says: "Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do this with gentleness and respect." Hope is only surprising when it looks like you're losing. If your team is five goals down with seven minutes to play, the fans are more likely to be heading for the exits than to be singing songs of hope and of joy.

No one would be surprised if a person was full of hope on the day that they began a new job. But if a person was full of hope on the day that their company let them go, that would be quite surprising. No one would be surprised if a person is full of hope if the doctor tells them that they're going to make a full recovery from the particular illness that they have suffered. But what would be very surprising would be a person who was full of hope when the doctor told them that there was no more treatment that he or she could give.

Think about the position of these early believers and how striking and even surprising it is that they should have been marked by this marvelous hope. These early believers lived in times much worse than ours. Some of them suffered the confiscation of their property. Some would be thrown to lions for the amusement of vast crowds in great arenas. They lived in a sick culture in terminal decay, and yet what they were known for was their irrepressible hope.

Secular people simply could not understand it. Nothing in the world is going your way. All the forces of business, education, entertainment, and politics are all against you. You're a tiny, oppressed minority, and yet you are full of hope. How come? How can you be so full of hope in a world like this? Peter says you'd better be ready to give an answer. You'd better be ready to explain that your hope is in God, it's through Christ, and it's by grace.

Hope was the distinctive mark of the early Christians. It was the first thing that people saw. It was very striking because it was so surprising. There was a quiet confidence about them, a strength, a resilience, a sense of looking forward. When people saw it, they didn't know what to make of it and couldn't understand it. Because hope is so clearly such a good and desirable thing, people's interest was aroused. People wanted to know: What is it that makes these people so hopeful?

That is the point of this verse. Growing in hope is vital for our Christian witness. For us to shine like lights in the world, we must grow in hope. We should never assume that people will have an immediate interest in our church, our doctrine, or our way of life. Interest has to be stimulated, and the best way to arouse interest is the obvious attraction of living hope.

This is why we must have our minds fixed on the glorious future that lies ahead of every Christian believer—Christ in you, the hope of glory. If we lose sight of our glorious future, we would lose our distinctive mark of hope. We'd become as miserable and as embattled as everyone else seems to be, and we'd no longer have an effective witness that's distinctively different and points to our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why growing in faith and hope and love is at the center of the mission of our church. Grow in faith, hope, and love, and we will be shining lights in this dark world. We'll not be habitually angry. We'll not be afraid. We'll show courtesy and respect, as Peter puts it here, even to people who hate what we stand for. People who do not believe will wonder: Why are you like this? Where does it come from? What is the reason for the hope that is in you?

Growing in hope is vital to our witness to the world. That is why we need to build these 10 strategies into our lives. We must speak honestly to God. We must challenge ourselves, especially in relation to our own darkest thoughts. We must affirm what we know to be true. We must wait expectantly on God. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must enjoy what he has given to us now. We must anticipate what he has promised. We must think often about the love of God. We must stop counting the good we have done, and we must receive what God gives by faith. If we grow in hope, we will shine like lights in the world. The darker this world becomes, the brighter the light of hope will shine.

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith with part of our message, "Hope's Surprising Outcomes." We've been seeing how if you grow in hope, you will be a better witness. When we come back in just a moment, we're going to look at how growing in hope will help you live a purer life.

Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. No matter how you've connected with us—whether over the radio, online, or if you're listening to us through the app—we're glad you're here. We're able to do what we do each day because of your generosity. As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand-new 30-day devotional book based on this series called *Grow in Hope*.

This book is going to show you that hope comes from God, it's found in Christ, and it's yours through grace. It examines the promises of God that bring hope both now and for the future. We'd love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your support. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. If you joined us late, we're in the book of Romans chapter 8. Let's get back to the message. Here again is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Grow in hope, and you will live a purer life. This is a wonderful outcome, and I want us to spend some time on it today. 1 John chapter 3, verses 2 and 3: "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he," that is the Lord Jesus Christ, "is pure."

These are surely among the most remarkable words that have ever been written. They describe our glorious hope. They tell us how our glorious future actually changes the way that we live right now. John makes five distinct and wonderful affirmations. First, we are God's children now. You become a child by birth, not by behavior. When you are born again of the Spirit of God, you are as much a child of God as you will ever be. You don't become more a child of God as you progress in the Christian life; you are born into this when you are born again of the Spirit of God.

That means that you are as much a child of God on your worst day as you are on your best day. It means that you are as much a child of God now as you will be when you're surrounded by his glory in his immediate presence in heaven. John makes this very clear in his Gospel: To those who receive him, to those who believe in him, they have the right to be called children of God because they are born of God. To those who believe, John says here, we are God's children now.

Then he says this: "What we will be has not yet appeared." We're God's children, but right now it doesn't look like it. It certainly doesn't look like it when we suffer. You visit a believer in the hospital, you sit with a believer who has a broken heart, and the question that arises is: If we're really God's children, is God not able to do something better for us than this?

We're God's children now, but it doesn't look like it when we suffer, and it certainly doesn't look like it when we die. We pass through the same dark valley as anyone else. Strength seeps away from the body until life itself is gone. Sometimes we find ourselves struggling with some very profound questions. Why does God sometimes seem to prosper his enemies more than he blesses his friends? If I'm really a child of God, why does he allow this?

There is an incongruity here, an apparent contradiction. We are God's children now, but what we will be has not yet appeared. How are you going to resolve this contradiction? When you face the incongruity, there are two paths that lie before you. They both go in very different directions and lead to very different places. One path is simply to doubt who you are. Perhaps I'm not a child of God after all. That is the path of unbelief, and it leads into great darkness.

John points to a better path. Instead of doubting who you are, anticipate what you will be. That's what he says here: "What we will be has not yet appeared." When you look at the suffering of your own life or the suffering that is in the life of another Christian believer, remember that you are not seeing the full picture. What is the full picture? John tells us: "When he appears, then we shall be like him."

When he appears, our risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ will return in power and in glory. He will appear. And when he appears, we will be like him. There are some ways in which we are like the Lord Jesus Christ already. Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ became like us. From all eternity, he shared the life and glory of God the Father. He has always been at the Father's side. But when he came into the world, he had to walk by faith, not by sight.

He needed to pray. He knew what it was to be hungry, to weep, to fall asleep exhausted. He knew what it was to wrestle with the cost of commitment to God's own will. The Lord Jesus Christ became like us. He had to endure the taunts of unbelieving siblings. He suffered physical pain and mental anguish. He was betrayed by his friends and falsely accused by his enemies. He carried a cross, and he went right into the valley of the shadow of death.

The Lord Jesus Christ became like us in the pain and suffering of his incarnation so that we might become like him in the glory of his resurrection. That's our living hope. The Apostle Paul speaks of it in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, where he speaks about how, as part of our Christian experience, we find ourselves afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.

Why are we not crushed? Why are we not driven to despair? Why are we not destroyed? The answer he gives is this: We know that he who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and bring us into his presence. We have this living hope, and that is why we press forward. When you feel the tension, the contradiction of being a child of God on the one hand and then the pain and suffering of life in this world on the other hand, don't resolve it by denying who you are. Resolve it by anticipating what you will be. Your faith will stand as you look to the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ and find hope in what you will be. When he appears, we shall be like him.

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith with part of a message called "Hope's Surprising Outcomes," looking today at how growing in hope can help you be a better witness and help you live a purer life. Two more surprising outcomes are on our next broadcast, so I hope you make it a point to tune in.

If you ever miss a program, come and listen online at openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your App Store. It's a great way to listen on demand whenever it fits your schedule. One more way to listen to Pastor Colin's teaching on demand is to get a copy of the series on CD. Ask about *Grow in Hope* when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365.

Open the Bible is listener-supported. It's your financial generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching. As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's new 30-day devotional book called *Grow in Hope*. Colin, what's one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: It would be very practical because every Christian knows what it is to go through dark times when we feel discouraged, we're down, we don't know how to move forward. When these times come in your life, you need to know how to handle your own soul—how to encourage and strengthen yourself. David knew what this was like. In Psalm 42, he speaks to himself. He says, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me?" And then he says, "Hope in God."

I hope what people will take away from this is that they'll be helped and encouraged in being able to speak to their own soul in the way that David did and to find hope in God. There is hope in God for every circumstance of life, and it comes to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Steve Hiller: We'd love to send you a copy of this brand-new 30-day devotional from Pastor Colin called *Grow in Hope*. It's our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the Gospel around the world. To that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. In the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. This is where Global Fingerprints comes in.

Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.