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Colin Smith: Every person relates to God in one of two ways. The default, of course, is that we relate to God on the basis of law, and as we've seen, there is absolutely no hope there whatsoever. The law is our accuser, and if your hope is set on your accuser, you are indeed in trouble.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller. I'm glad you're with us today. Colin, I'm so glad you said that there are two ways that we can relate to God and that it doesn't have to be that first way, that way of law and following the rules. What's that second way?

Colin Smith: The second way, of course, is grace that is found in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where hope is discovered through grace. It's beautifully stated in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 16, which we're looking at today, where the apostle speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Hope comes through grace.

So what we're going to look at today are four very practical strategies for growing in hope. They're applying the grace of God into our lives so that we will have a lively hope and confidence before God. I hope that this is going to be refreshing and renewing for all of us today.

Steve Hiller: Let's look at this. We're in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, continuing our message Hope by Grace. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: I've been reading a book by Andrew Bonar in which he shows how to apply the perfect life of Jesus to your conscience when you find yourself very troubled by a sense of your own failure. Now, I'm putting this in my own words, but I'm drawing from Bonar's examples.

Did you waste your youth? Jesus Christ grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man. See, he lived the perfect youth and childhood for you. He lived the youth and childhood that you didn't. So don't let your wasted youth or childhood lead you to despair.

Have you neglected prayer? Christ rose early in the morning to pray, and he prayed through the night. Bonar says this, "God will impute to me as if I had prayed every day and every night." See, God by his grace and mercy will regard you as if you had prayed as much as Jesus himself did.

Have you sought your own will rather than the will of God? Do you perhaps look back even years ago to a decision you made where you felt God was calling you to something costly and you weren't up for it? You pulled back. Years later, you look back on that decision and the different course that your life took and you have a profound feeling that you let him down. You didn't have the courage to do what you sensed he was calling you to do, and you live with a great sense of regret. Have you sought your own will rather than the will of God?

Jesus said to the Father, "Not my will, but yours be done." He gave what you withheld. God regards you in his grace and mercy in Jesus Christ as if you had been as willing to pursue that costly call as Jesus himself was.

Examples could be multiplied, and you can work this out for yourself. Have you been worldly? Jesus was not of this world. Have you been double-minded? Jesus was always single and resolute in his purpose. All these things he did. He lived the life that we have failed to live, and he lived that life for us.

Then Bonar, because he was a pastor, makes this application. Have I been a good enough pastor? The questions of whether we've been good enough at what God has called us to do go everywhere. Where is a pastor or a missionary or a Christian leader to go when we feel our own failings?

We find hope not in what we are doing for Christ, but in what he has done for us. He is the perfect shepherd that no one else has ever managed to be, and what he did, he did for us. Bonar says, "His shepherd's heart and work cover over ours." Do you see this beautiful truth?

Jesus is everything that we have failed to be. He has done everything that we have failed to do. God counts all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us as if it had been done by us. Hope does not come from the law. Hope does not come from what we do for the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes from what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. The perfect life that he has lived for us and the sin-bearing death that he has died for us. Hope does not come by the law. Hope comes by grace.

Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us, gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Now understand this clearly. Every person relates to God in one of two ways. The default, of course, is that we relate to God on the basis of law. And as we've seen, there is absolutely no hope there whatsoever. The law is our accuser. And if your hope is set on your accuser, you are indeed in trouble.

But God sent Jesus into the world, and in Christ has opened up another whole way of relating to him. Instead of relating to God on the basis of law, you can choose to relate to God on the basis of grace. When you do that, you will have hope.

We said earlier that if you base your hope on obedience to God's law, your experience is going to be that you're tempted to pride when you succeed. You're tempted to despair when you fail, and you'll live under the shadow of the condemning questions: Have I done enough?

What will be your experience if by faith you choose to relate to God on the basis of grace? Grace that he offers you freely in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have a relationship with God that is based on grace, then when you succeed, you will be just so thankful because you know that what has been done is the effect of God's grace working in your life.

When you fail, you will still have hope because you know that your hope does not rest on what you're doing for God or what you failed to do for God, but on what in Christ he has done for you. You will have an answer to these haunting and condemning questions. The answer lies in the perfect life of Jesus, which God graciously counts as yours. Hope does not come by the law. Hope comes by grace.

Now, in the light of what we've learned here, let's draw out again some practical strategies for growing in hope. Here are four directly drawn from the verse of scripture that is before us today.

How to grow in hope? First, think often about the love of God. Notice our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us. Paul wants to get that wonderful truth settled in our minds and in our hearts before we go any further. So we must think about this often. God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us.

Think about it. One sin is enough to make you suspect that God may be against you. We see that, of course, in the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. They had walked with God, but just one sin was enough to send them hiding in the garden because they feared what God may do to them if they got too close to him.

The sinner's first instinct is always to hide from God in fear. As long as you think that God is out to get you, you will not be growing in hope. But if you could believe from the heart that God really does love you and that in Jesus Christ he has proved his love for you forever beyond all question, if you could really believe that, you would have hope.

So think often about the love of God and the proof of it in Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. God shows his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Remind yourself often that God loves you, and you will grow in hope.

Steve Hiller: Well, we do have to pause right here, but we'll come back and continue to look at how we can grow in hope in just a moment. So I hope you'll stay with us.

This is Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and our message Hope by Grace is part of a larger series called Grow in Hope. If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, come and listen online at openthebible.org, or you can listen through the Open the Bible app.

Whether you listen on the radio, through the app, or online, it's all made possible 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. It's our thank you for your financial support. You can find out more or give online at openthebible.org or call 1-877-OPEN-365.

This book, Grow in Hope, will show you that hope comes from God. It's found in Christ and is yours through grace. Again, we'd love to send you a copy of this new book from Pastor Colin, Grow in Hope, as our thank you for your support. Again, you can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. Back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Remind yourself often that God loves you, and you will grow in hope. Second, stop counting the good that you have done. Stop counting the good that you have done. Look again at our verse. "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace."

Counting the good you have done is what a person does if they are relating to God on the basis of law. You begin to think of the good you have done as you would think of savings in the bank. I did something good, that'll go towards my ultimate salvation. But as we saw earlier, there is absolutely no hope there whatsoever. A relationship with God that is based on law can only ever end in condemnation. The law will be your accuser.

Your accuser will remind you when you're trying to count the good you have done of all the good that you've not done and of all the wrong that you have done as well. So stop counting the good you've done. If you can stop that habit, it'll be an enormous relief to you. Start relying on the good that Jesus has done, and you will grow in hope. Hope diminishes, it's eclipsed, wherever you count the good that you've been doing. Hope rises as you rely on the good that Jesus has done.

And this is very practical. There are some of us who really struggle with a sense of unworthiness. Where does that come from? You say you just feel so unworthy. Where does that come from? It comes from counting the good that you have done and feeling that you have come up short. That's where it comes from. You look at others and you wish that you had done what they have done, but you haven't done it. That's why you feel unworthy.

What is the answer to these feelings of unworthiness? It is to stop acting as if your relationship with God was based on the law and start thanking God that your relationship with him is based on grace.

Then a third strategy: receive what Jesus gives by faith. Notice again in our wonderful verse. "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, may he comfort our hearts." You see that? God gave us eternal comfort. That is a comfort that relates to eternity. The comfort of knowing that all will be well with you forever. God gave us good hope. It's a gift.

Hope is yours by grace. It is a gift. It is given. God gives this gift by grace. But a gift that is given also has to be received. Grace is the way that God gives the gift. Faith is the way that we receive the gift.

So listen to this from the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. He's speaking about hope and he says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Notice that he describes God as the God of hope. Hope comes from God. And his prayer ends with people who are abounding in hope.

So the question is, how does the hope that comes from God through Christ actually get into us? God by his grace gives it to us. We receive it by faith, by believing. Remember that the Apostle Paul is writing these words to believers. In other words, God has called us not only to an act of faith at the beginning of the Christian life, God calls us to a life of faith. We walk by faith, not by sight.

Hope and joy and peace and comfort in the Christian life are all gifts of God. They are all offered to us freely by grace, and they are all received by faith. Believing is the means by which you receive what God gives. As you believe, you will have hope. And the more you believe, the more hope you will have.

How can you grow in hope? Think often about the love of God. Stop counting the good that you have done. Receive what the Lord Jesus Christ offers by faith. And here's the last thing: pursue every good work and word. Notice the outcome of our verse today. "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, may he comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word." Every good work and word.

So notice what grace produces. Notice the outcome of God's grace in a believer's life: every good work and word. The very simple principle here is that what goes in eventually comes out. If someone is treated with continued cruelty, no one would be surprised if over time that person became cruel to others.

But on the same principle, what if God's love and grace were to fill a person's life? What comes out of that is works and words that reflect the grace that that person has received. And notice that this is not something that just happens occasionally. Once in a while a person comes out with a good work or a good word. It's actually normal. It's the overflow of a life that is lived on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that their hearts will be established in every good work and word.

Someone may wonder as you're taking in this wonderful theme from the Bible, wait a minute. If hope comes from grace rather than law, if it comes from believing rather than doing, how will any good work ever get done? And the answer to that question is that grace will take you further than the law ever could.

You will do more for love than you would ever do for law. Taxes are a matter of law. And what do we all do? We all follow the path of minimal compliance. What is the least amount that I am required under the law to pay? Is there anyone who is saying, please, can I pay more taxes? Of course not. The law leads to minimal compliance.

But there are no limits to what a person will do for love. When you receive grace, you want to reflect it to others. It won't be because you're trying to prove something. And it certainly won't be because you're trying to gain something. Grace means that you've received already. And having received, you now really do have a desire to give.

So what good work of grace will you do? What good words of hope will you speak? Here's a wonderful prospect. A congregation of believers filled with hope going out into the world and reflecting the grace that we have received in every good work and word.

Steve Hiller: That's Pastor Colin Smith wrapping up our message Hope by Grace, a look today at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 16. It's part of our series Grow in Hope. If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can always listen through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store, or you can come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at openthebible.org.

Open the Bible is listener-supported. It's your financial generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching whether you listen on the radio, online, through the app, or however you've connected with this ministry. 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, of course, speaks about this. He 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."

So 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 in Psalm 42 and to find hope in God. Because 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. Again, that's openthebible.org or call 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: This is Pastor Colin, and I love the story of the thief on the cross because it's the best story we have to help people understand grace. Many people have the idea that if a person was to get into heaven, they'd get there by living a good enough life. The thief on the cross hadn't lived a good life and he wasn't in a position to start living a good life either. But Jesus said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." If the thief could get into heaven, so can everyone you know and will ever meet.

*Heaven: How I Got Here* is a compelling 60-minute film in which Stephen Baldwin portrays the thief on the cross in a one-person play. We've seen God use this film to help many trust in Jesus as the thief did. So who is there in your life who needs to understand grace? For more information or to watch this film for free, visit openthebible.org/heaven. That's openthebible.org/heaven.