DISCOVERING HOPE ON THE JOURNEY
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022
Mike Gilland

INTRODUCTION
Hope is one of those well-known and well-used words in our language. As with any popular
term that is heavily used in many different contexts, we can easily lose the core meaning of the
concept. All we need to do to understand that truth is to look at how many of our commonly
used words are used – and “misused” – today.
Let’s rule out what hope isn’t – and then drill down into what we can learn about hope from
today’s study in the Word.
What hope is NOT:
1. Hope is not mere wishful thinking
2. Hope is not happenstance, based on lucky coincidences
3. Hope is not something experienced only by the positive thinkers among us.
4. Hope is not the reward of good behavior
5. Hope is not limited in its effect, and it is not in short supply.
TODAY’S PASSAGE – PSALM 130
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
(Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV).
PSALM 130
This morning, we are all on a path, a journey through life. Some of us may be enjoying times of
blessing, times of rest. Others are experiencing a difficult patch of road. Life seems to have
swallowed them up in difficulty, despair.
Life will bring both experiences…and for either, there is hope.
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the
ending.” – C.S. Lewis
1. HOPE is not absent in the midst of troubles and trials. (Verses 1-4)
It is critical that we understand that God knows we will struggle.
2. HOPE is based on the word. (verse 5)
I am convinced that this is a reason for many believers finding their faith to be
“derailed” on their journey.
“We must hope for that only which he has promised in his word, and not for the creatures of
our own fancy and imagination; we must hope for it because he has promised it, and not from
any opinion of our own merit.”

~ Matthew Henry

3. HOPE is found in His mercy. (verse 7)
The reason the Psalmist would train his mind on the journey to confidently hope in the
Lord – was that in God there is MERCY.
“Mercy is with him; not only inherent in his nature, but it is his delight, it is his darling
attribute; it is with him in all his works, in all his counsels…”

~ Matthew Henry

4. The outcome of our HOPE is redemption (verse 7b-8)
Ephes. 2:12-13 (ESV)
…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have
been brought near by the blood of Christ.
“My hope lives, not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ
died. My trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, Christ is my righteousness. My faith
rests not upon what I am or shall be or feel or know – but in who Christ is, in what He has done,
and in what He is now doing for me.”

~ CHARLES SPURGEON

CLOSING: GOSPEL APPLICATION
Going back to that Ephesians 2 passage, we were all – every person in this room – were
alienated from and strangers to God. Those that are living around us in this culture, even those
that seemingly have it all from a material standpoint, are often hopeless and desperate deep
within.
The reason for any hope – in not our effort, or our best attempts at thinking positively. It is
because true Hope is a PERSON – the Savior of the World, who came to us, died for us, was
raised in resurrection power to pay our debt, and who now has gone to heaven – to prepare for
us an eternal home.
Hope is there for all who understand its source, who recognize that the source is Jesus, and
hold onto that truth - even in the darkest of hours, or the most difficult of circumstances.
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
1. In what areas of my life am I lacking hope?
2. What Scriptures come to mind that help me battle against self-sufficiency and a hope
not based on the Word?
3. Based on today’s message, write out a simple one sentence definition of biblical hope.